It is Connor that grounds him that tells him this is not so. He does not have to die, that he is not this person. The son who is him but is not. Connor who has two sets of memories - one nightmare and one good. Connor who has chosen which set of memories to be his reality. And Connor tells Angel he can choose as well - it is not written, you can choose who you are.
And Cordy and Wes fade. When Connor dies in the hell LA, Wes gives Angel the key to getting out - via Spike's off-hand remark about the fact that Angel can't be killed. Gunn thought Illyria and Connor were the keys, but no it is Angel's death that is - forcing WRH to do the reset. Connor is alive again, as is Gunn, and Angel is a vampire.
But Connor remembers dying. Connor is what motivates Angel, because Connor is Angel's sole chance at redemption. Through Connor's eyes - Angel obtains the approval he was never able to win from his father. The son and father change places. The son grants the father forgiveness, and approval. The son tells the father that he is a good man.
It's not unsimilar to what they did with Spike in S5 - where he is sinking into hell, and it is Fred who tells him that he is worth saving. That he is a hero, a champion, a good man. She is like a younger sister, neither lover nor mother, and it is she who saves him.
You think the consequences of the mindwipe aren't addressed. But I think they are. Just within the subtext. We often choose what we wish to remember. We choose how we wish to remember it, embellishing bits here and there. Memory lies. Memory is ambigious. I've learned that this year watching my grandmother's memories deterioate and scatter - and fracture. And twist. Is reality what we remember? Connor choses the present - the reality he is in. And treats the rest as but a dream or nightmare. He says as much in Origin. It does not need to be repeated.
But in a way it is - when Connor meets Kate and Gwen, and Spike, he seems to say that he chose the memories that made him happy, yet uses the rest to help him survive. He comparmentalizes. And he says in NFA and ORgin that he is grateful to have a father willing to give him those good memories. To provide him with happy memories that replaced the bad ones. Granted it came at a price, but I can't fault Connor for being grateful. It's a human response. Nor can I fault him for forgiving Angel.
Did the mindwipe cause a worse future than if it had not happened? We have no way of knowing. I think it would have happened any way. Perhaps in a different way, but it would have. Wes was doomed to die the moment he met and chose to walk along Angel's path, as was Gunn, Fred, and Cordelia. But it is not Angel's fault, it is their own flaws that came into play. They all, if you think about, echoed Angel's flaw. It's what drew them together in a way.
Connor...is in a way the hope, the light at the end of Angel's tunnel. Or is he? We don't know. The story is far from over, after all.
Re: Continued...Connor
He does not have to die, that he is not this person. The son who is him but is not. Connor who has two sets of memories - one nightmare and one good. Connor who has chosen which set of memories to be his reality. And Connor tells Angel he can choose as well - it is not written, you can choose who you are.
And Cordy and Wes fade. When Connor dies in the hell LA, Wes gives Angel the key to getting out - via Spike's off-hand remark about the fact that Angel can't be killed. Gunn thought Illyria and Connor were the keys, but no it is Angel's death that is - forcing WRH to do the reset. Connor is alive again, as is Gunn, and Angel is a vampire.
But Connor remembers dying. Connor is what motivates Angel, because Connor is Angel's sole chance at redemption. Through Connor's eyes - Angel obtains the approval he was never able to win from his father. The son and father change places. The son grants the father forgiveness, and approval. The son tells the father that he is a good man.
It's not unsimilar to what they did with Spike in S5 - where he is sinking into hell, and it is Fred who tells him that he is worth saving. That he is a hero, a champion, a good man. She is like a younger sister, neither lover nor mother, and it is she who saves him.
You think the consequences of the mindwipe aren't addressed. But I think they are. Just within the subtext. We often choose what we wish to remember. We choose how we wish to remember it, embellishing bits here and there. Memory lies. Memory is ambigious. I've learned that this year watching my grandmother's memories deterioate and scatter - and fracture.
And twist. Is reality what we remember? Connor choses the present - the reality he is in. And treats the rest as but a dream or nightmare. He says as much in Origin. It does not need to be repeated.
But in a way it is - when Connor meets Kate and Gwen, and Spike, he seems to say that he chose the memories that made him happy, yet uses the rest to help him survive. He comparmentalizes. And he says in NFA and ORgin that he is grateful to have a father willing to give him those good memories. To provide him with happy memories that replaced the bad ones. Granted it came at a price, but I can't fault Connor for being grateful. It's a human response. Nor can I fault him for forgiving Angel.
Did the mindwipe cause a worse future than if it had not happened? We have no way of knowing. I think it would have happened any way. Perhaps in a different way, but it would have. Wes was doomed to die the moment he met and chose to walk along Angel's path, as was Gunn, Fred, and Cordelia.
But it is not Angel's fault, it is their own flaws that came into play. They all, if you think about, echoed Angel's flaw.
It's what drew them together in a way.
Connor...is in a way the hope, the light at the end of Angel's tunnel. Or is he? We don't know. The story is far from over, after all.