SSJConan
01-24-2008, 04:54 PM
I kinda got the feeling Season 4 of Angel severely toned down a certain demon alter-ego of Angel's. Anyone besides me notice this to a certain extent? I mean, here we have Angelus, the vampiric demon that lays dormant within the ensouled Angel/Liam; many considerable people have deemed him the most psychotic, cruel creature to ever exist (even Angel himself). Due to Cordelia/Higher-Being-to-be-known-as-Jasmine's insane and bizarre schemes to distract AI from her growing pregnancy, she decides to bring forth Angelus. Hence we get 5 episodes (not counting the very end of "Awakening") of the evil entity that terrorized Sunnydale worse than any other big bad in its time, whom now has two cities worth in southern California to tear through. But before I go further with my point, let's look back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's second season, shall we?
Back when Angel was living in Sunnydale and achieved his "true, perfect moment of happiness" in Buffy's arms during her 17th birthday, he gradually-yet-swiftly was desouled and the demonic b*stard we know from the various flashbacks, Angelus, returned. With his return, he had the memories of Angel's past hundred years as a re-ensouled vampire. What does he decide to do? Attack everyone close to him that was held dear to his counterpart, most particularly the one element that made him feel like a human being again, Buffy Summers. He mentally and emotionally tortured the Slayer (as well as her friends in the process) in gearing her up for the moment he was ready to strike, evidently attempting to top even his "artistry accomplishment" of when he turned Drusilla.
Now, here's the thing. In Season 4 of Angel, this sense of mental and emotional torture, as well as the desire to attack those close to Angel, is retained. However, notice how back in Season 2 of Buffy, we got a great deal more of the mass murdering psychotic side of Angelus. I myself even did a count of all the people we know he killed before Willow re-ensouled him. As you can see:
"Innocence" ~ 2 (Smoking alley lady, Jenny Calander's Uncle)
"Phases" ~ 1 (Theresa Klusmeyer)
"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" ~ 1 (Shop-girl)
"Passion" ~ 2 (Nameless alley girl, Jenny Calander)
According to the First Evil in "Amends" ~ 4 (a Father and his three daughters)
"Becoming, Part One" ~ 2 (Museum Curator and nameless sacrificed guy)
12. Angelus killed 12 people, women and children freakin' included! A point that further emphasized how different an entity he truly was from Angel/Liam and the need for Buffy to kill him. Now, let's compare this insane carnage to what we see of ol' Angelus in his prime return in Angel's fourth season...oh wait, it's practically nonexistent! The toning down is really evident in these episodes, I mean hell, he never kills even one human (although I give the writers props for certainly making him trying to on some occasions). The worse the writers let him get away with was killing some demons (in the process doing Angel's job by killing the Beast), puncturing some shop-guy's lung, and draining Lilah's already-dead body. Although, I will admit that his emotional and mental taunting was certainly at its peek.
But my point mainly is, that's just the thing, his level of physical violence really seems to be extremely toned down. Which frankly, I don't understand, especially considering how much more emphasizing the Angel series was on distincting Angel and Angelus as separate entities (whereas in Buffy, the line was a bit hard to tell at times). Also, Angelus' interest in Buffy and Sunnydale seemed to be toned down just as much (a bit odd considering Angel acknowledged she was still his key to perfect happiness at the end of his fantasy), simply acknowledging the Slayer for being quite "a pistol". One would think he might've gone straight to Sunnydale after escaping, although considering LA was in a literal blackout and he had "friends" to take care of, I can understand him staying (though after the sun is restored, him going straight to a bar for drinks rather than Sunnydale once again irks me).
One thing I did like though was his reaction to hearing "the Slayer's in town", Angelus was straight-up pleased that he may have a chance to get a crack at Buffy. This allowed him to make a phone call to Buffy's place, something I again liked since it was one of the first things he did after escaping. And even though he ultimately learned it was Faith who'd came to LA, he nonetheless was pleased with the possibility of his "ex" returning.
But yeah. My point remains, violence with Angelus in Season 4 was severely toned down. Maybe the writers felt that if he went on another killing spree, the fans and they themselves would want Angel to be punished like he was in Acathla's hell dimension? Not sure. But hell, in the long run, the Angelus of Buffy Season 2 just seems to be FAR more menacing than the wisecracking, mentally-and-emotionally torturing purist we have in Angel Season 4. But heck, this entire post was pretty much me rambling (sorry ^^; ), hopefully I didn't waste anyone's time. If any of ya' agree or disagree, don't be a stranger and say what you think of the matter.
Back when Angel was living in Sunnydale and achieved his "true, perfect moment of happiness" in Buffy's arms during her 17th birthday, he gradually-yet-swiftly was desouled and the demonic b*stard we know from the various flashbacks, Angelus, returned. With his return, he had the memories of Angel's past hundred years as a re-ensouled vampire. What does he decide to do? Attack everyone close to him that was held dear to his counterpart, most particularly the one element that made him feel like a human being again, Buffy Summers. He mentally and emotionally tortured the Slayer (as well as her friends in the process) in gearing her up for the moment he was ready to strike, evidently attempting to top even his "artistry accomplishment" of when he turned Drusilla.
Now, here's the thing. In Season 4 of Angel, this sense of mental and emotional torture, as well as the desire to attack those close to Angel, is retained. However, notice how back in Season 2 of Buffy, we got a great deal more of the mass murdering psychotic side of Angelus. I myself even did a count of all the people we know he killed before Willow re-ensouled him. As you can see:
"Innocence" ~ 2 (Smoking alley lady, Jenny Calander's Uncle)
"Phases" ~ 1 (Theresa Klusmeyer)
"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" ~ 1 (Shop-girl)
"Passion" ~ 2 (Nameless alley girl, Jenny Calander)
According to the First Evil in "Amends" ~ 4 (a Father and his three daughters)
"Becoming, Part One" ~ 2 (Museum Curator and nameless sacrificed guy)
12. Angelus killed 12 people, women and children freakin' included! A point that further emphasized how different an entity he truly was from Angel/Liam and the need for Buffy to kill him. Now, let's compare this insane carnage to what we see of ol' Angelus in his prime return in Angel's fourth season...oh wait, it's practically nonexistent! The toning down is really evident in these episodes, I mean hell, he never kills even one human (although I give the writers props for certainly making him trying to on some occasions). The worse the writers let him get away with was killing some demons (in the process doing Angel's job by killing the Beast), puncturing some shop-guy's lung, and draining Lilah's already-dead body. Although, I will admit that his emotional and mental taunting was certainly at its peek.
But my point mainly is, that's just the thing, his level of physical violence really seems to be extremely toned down. Which frankly, I don't understand, especially considering how much more emphasizing the Angel series was on distincting Angel and Angelus as separate entities (whereas in Buffy, the line was a bit hard to tell at times). Also, Angelus' interest in Buffy and Sunnydale seemed to be toned down just as much (a bit odd considering Angel acknowledged she was still his key to perfect happiness at the end of his fantasy), simply acknowledging the Slayer for being quite "a pistol". One would think he might've gone straight to Sunnydale after escaping, although considering LA was in a literal blackout and he had "friends" to take care of, I can understand him staying (though after the sun is restored, him going straight to a bar for drinks rather than Sunnydale once again irks me).
One thing I did like though was his reaction to hearing "the Slayer's in town", Angelus was straight-up pleased that he may have a chance to get a crack at Buffy. This allowed him to make a phone call to Buffy's place, something I again liked since it was one of the first things he did after escaping. And even though he ultimately learned it was Faith who'd came to LA, he nonetheless was pleased with the possibility of his "ex" returning.
But yeah. My point remains, violence with Angelus in Season 4 was severely toned down. Maybe the writers felt that if he went on another killing spree, the fans and they themselves would want Angel to be punished like he was in Acathla's hell dimension? Not sure. But hell, in the long run, the Angelus of Buffy Season 2 just seems to be FAR more menacing than the wisecracking, mentally-and-emotionally torturing purist we have in Angel Season 4. But heck, this entire post was pretty much me rambling (sorry ^^; ), hopefully I didn't waste anyone's time. If any of ya' agree or disagree, don't be a stranger and say what you think of the matter.