More Thoughts on Twilight...

[shadowkat]

Tempting to do a Buffy poll, but don't worry, will restrain myself. My polls have a tendency to get comments such as : you did this all wrong. Why didn't you put such and such? Where is this option? (I have no idea why I get these responses. No one else appears too, and they make the same mistakes.)

Been having rather fascinating discussions regarding the comics...but have mixed feelings regarding them. I find myself agreeing with people with conflicting views. Which I guess makes my thoughts feel a bit dishonest? I want to like the comics, but...they bug me. Thought about doing a meta about Buffy's trust issues (which I think is a major theme), decided not to. Because, mixed feelings.



Dollhouse more or less gave me my aha moment on the whole Twilight arc, which I think is basically if you get right down to it about a betrayal of trust. Although, I probably should have figured it out after reading Fray. Ukron, Fray's demon advisor/watcher (think Giles combined with Angel sans the sex which I doubt would have been possible with Ukron anyhow not to mention slightly squicky (not that that would stop Whedon, impossibility however..definitely) - anyhow, Ukron teaches Fray, calls her to be a slayer, sets up her up to fight him, sets her up to fight his war for him or something to that effect, she discovers his betrayal is completely heartbroken, and kills him.
I think, I may be wrong about this - would have to go back and check - ah, found it:

Melaka has taken in a girl from the streets who looks up to her like a hero, named Loo, who she trusted Ukron not to hurt. Melaka wasn't really being a slayer, she wasn't working it.
She wasn't playing the game that the powers wanted, so Ukron thought she needed a little push.

Melaka: I work it you were twitchy. I wasn't looking a winner. Your creepity masters sent you to bring me to battle and you thought I wasn't gonna fight. Thought I needed a push. So you sanpped a Five Year Old's neck, 'cause hey, you're a demon right? What's one small human life, we got a WAR coming! Am I right?

Ukron: We would have lost.

Melaka: Not good enough. (she drowns him, because she figures out his weakness is water, he can't swim). (Afterwards...she thinks to herself, he was a good teacher. Even a friend. For a Friend I make it quick).

Now regarding how Fray's world came to be:

It was some hundreds of years ago, in the twenty-first century. What we know is this -- there was a battle. A slayer, possibly with some mystical allies, faced an apocalyptic army of demons. And when it was done...they were all gone. All demons. All magicks, banished from this earthly dimension.

(In the art we see a girl in silhouette with a stake fighting demons, none we recognize, then disappearing with a tentacle into another dimension.)

I do not know if she lived. But, the demons being gone, she was the last to be called. The line continued. There were girls with power, but they were never called, never trained, which may be why you have no memories of your heritage. The Council of Watchers fell to ruin, held together ony by fanatics and fools, those that believed the demons would return....

So...this is the world that Twilight wishes to bring about. The world Buffy has seen.
A world that does not remember any slayer but her. No Faith. None of the others.

It reminds me a lot of Dollhouse, actually, where we have a big bad named Rossum Corp (Twilight Org), that wants to bring about an apocalypse to stave off an apocalypse.
It's also Angel's MO in Angel the Series - where he brings about Hell LA to stave off WRH's vision.

And in an odd way it is a bit of an parable on WAR. We are fighting two wars in the hopes of combatting terrorism, when in fact we are merely making things worse. (Depending on your pov).
Fits with BSG - which in of itself was an anti-war drama.

I don't believe Spike is working with Twangel, because I can't see him a) doing it quietly,
b) hanging in the background, c) not laughing at Twangel and making his life a living hell.
and d) I can't see Twangel putting up with him. Granted they got along in S5 ATS - but that was a different situation and you can't really compare being forced to let Fred die in order to prevent over a million people going through the achingly painful death Fred is going through to well attacking a bunch of people doing zen meditation in Tibet. Also, if I recall, Spike was not happy about old Angel killing Drogyn. Granted he went along with killing the members of the Black Thorn - but who wouldn't? Evil. As for Damage? I don't think he was condeming "slayers" plural or saying Dana was irredeemable, so much as well, let's face it the gal chopped off his arms, how would you react? I honestly think he was talking about himself and Angel, and telling Angel that they are monsters, and look at what we wrought.
This is the consequence of our actions. Buffy, gave her power to fight the nightmares. They just gave her nightmares. And for that reason, I don't think Dana's story in Damage was about the spell being a bad idea. The reason, Andrew and the slayers took Dana - was leaving her with the monsters who were responsible for creating people like Dana was not a good idea. It's
a commentary on who Angel and Spike are, not what a slayer is. They "damaged" Dana, they can't, no matter how often or much they atone, ever undo that damage. This is what Spike is telling Angel. You can't change what you did. You can't undo it. Anymore than we can go back and be innocent again. (that's how I read it anyhow and from what I've read of commentary and interviews, how the writers did). The other reason I don't think Spike is working with Twangel - is he died, sacrificed himself, for that spell, for what happened in Chosen to happen. He was part of it. He encouraged her to do it. Supported her even. Having Spike be Twilight or work with Twilight sort of goes counter to that. Sure you can argue he called her the "one" in chosen. But in the context of the speech - it is clear he does not mean the "one" in the sense of sole slayer, but rather in the sense of the one who has the power to change things, the leader. Think of the context of the speech and why he gives it. She has just said why she feels she's not worthy to lead, that she's no good, too hard, blah, blah, blah - and he is trying to tell her that this is simply not true. She is the one to lead.
She is amazing. That she can get it back. That they need her! He needs her! She's inspiring.
The speech is basically a pep talk. It's not - oh, you are the "ONE" slayer in the world, the Chosen one - that's Giles and Angel's speech. His speech is very different. His speech is that you can do this, you can fight Caleb. They were right to follow you. It has to be read in context.

So, no, it doesn't work for me that Spike is working with Twilight or is Twilight. Granted I'm biased. But it still does not work logically. I can see Angel being Twilight for a lot of reasons - he was not part or privey to the Chosen spell.
He has issues with pride and hubris. And he believes that he knows more than Buffy - which was shown when he showed up in Sunnydale in End of Days, and tried to wedge his way into her battle, without being asked, and gave her all this cryptic info from a less than reliable source. That's Angel. Angel reminds me a great deal of Fray's Ukron and a character in Dollhouse. Whedon goes over the same pathways.

Nor does it work for me that Twangel is a hero. Although I guess you could tweak it.

I can see Spike as a prisoner of Twilight - that would explain his absence. But that's about it.


Okay I didn't sleep well last night...so I'm watching telly then bed. Really looking forward to Caprica this year - Marsters roll looks amazing, and I love the issues they are exploring -very topical. With any luck Espenson will do a better job here than she did with the comics, I'm thinking that's a good bet, since Moore is a better plotter than Joss Whedon is.

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[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing your unique perspective.