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buffyversemetaAuthor: erin-starlight
Summary: What does it take for Angel to achieve Perfect Happiness.
Spoiler: From BTVS all through ATS.
Word Count: 1956
Introduction
This essay will focus on Angel and episodes that either showed his inner desires or threatened to unleash Angelus. The purpose is to explore what it takes for Angel to reach "perfect happiness" and what does not. This is not meant to be a shipper essay despite areas that I explore but does address and compare them as a result of the curse. As most of the episodes dealing with the curse happen in Angel the series those connections will be mentioned more than the BTVS episodes.
"What does it take for Angel to achieve Perfect Happiness?"
In 1898 the vampire Angelus was cursed with a soul by a gypsy tribe for the lost of their beloved daughter. To ensure that he would keep suffering for the rest of his existence they devised a clause to make sure that he would never forget the horrors he caused. The clause in question was the simply described "perfect happiness." When Angel achieves this state he loses his soul and becomes Angelus again. But what events make it possible for Angel to achieve this?
For years the main concept that most have embraced was that he must be with Buffy Summers and have sexual intercourse with her though as we see later this idea has some conflicts with events that happen on the series Angel. To understand how the curse works one has to understand Angel's state of mind and his desires.
In the years following 1898 we see Angel struggling to cope with his soul having no idea how to deal with the endless guilt. At certain points he has dealt with conflicting emotions, while he wants to help he does not want to risk endangering others with his presence. When he does aid people he finds himself once again disappointed in humanity and the lack of tolerance it has.
At his lowest point Angel lives on the streets drinking from rats having no direction in life other than avoiding people. Whistler is the first person to direct him on the next step to a new path in his life. By witnessing Buffy Summers discover her calling as a slayer Angel finds the desire to help again and falls in love with her innocence, something he has not seen in humans for many years. Inspired by her to fight the good fight the two soon work together and Buffy returns his affections.
By this point Angel is happier than he ever dared dream in his lonely meaningless existence before Sunnydale. While he doesn't quite have friends he is accepted, he has a mission of sorts assisting the slayer and for the first time is in love with a girl that loves him. When he and Buffy have sex for the first time this causes Angelus to return leading many to believe, from viewers and characters alike, that by having sex with Buffy is the only way he can lose his soul.
After the soul is restored and Angel is living in L.A. the view has changed slightly when he and his friends think that the act of sex not the person it occurs with causes it. We first get a hint of there being a deeper meaning when actress Rebecca Lowell foolishly slips Angel a drug that is meant to make the user “relax.”
WESLEY: Powerful tranquilizer. It induces -- bliss.
CORDELIA: Bliss? As in bliss, sheer contentment? Perfect happiness?!
WESLEY: It's synthetic. Not true happiness.
REBECCA: This is really good stuff.
WESLEY: He hasn't really turned. It's an illusion, not real. (ATS season 1, Eternity.)
While the drug does release the control the soul has over Angelus it does not go away completely, it is merely suppressed and the affects are temporary. This proves that the sensation of “happiness” is not enough, it must be based on real emotions Angel feels not fake ones.
Still it was believed that bedding Angel will bring “perfect happiness”. Darla succeeded only because of his depression which ironically enough is what was believed to have kept Angelus in check, even after three times of what Darla thought was perfect love making.
Darla: You *wanted* it!
ANGEL: Yeah. And it *was* perfect, Darla. - It was perfect despair.(ATS season 2, Epiphany.)
Darla does however represent an important part of Angel, she was his creator that brought him into a world that now torments him. Returning to life as a human she took on new meaning to him as what he believed was a chance at redemption. Arriving pregnant from their last tryst Darla manages to give Angel something that no other lover has that will become the most important thing in his life: his son Connor.
Surely the birth of his child is the most monumental moment in his long existence. Why doesn’t he lose his soul? Perhaps because the time was marred by Darla’s sacrifice to save their baby. Though Angel has claimed that he has never been in love with her the two still have a long history together, he has connected with through her humanity and then their child.
Connors’ birth does mark a period in which Angel is more content than he has ever been shown on any season of the series. It’s the high point in his life where things are almost flawless but not quite. Having his feelings for Cordelia grow from their friendship into love he strives to strike up the courage to tell her. Angel’s own fears regarding love, his curse and getting hurt again hold him back making him miss many opportunities. By the end of the third season many things have changed, Connor was taken to be returned as a teenager, Wesley was exiled from the group for his betrayal and Cordelia realized that she loved Angel too. Angel displays signs of bliss at the apparent closeness with his son and a positive outcome with his love life to the point where Fred is worried.
Though he is closer than he has been to breaking the curse than he has been in ages we don’t get to see what Angel defines as happiness clearly until season 4. First in his dreams undersea before the delusions of not feeding for months take the fantasy to dark places. While he does dream of love it is no longer Buffy he desires in these visions but Cordelia. Since leaving Sunnydale Angel has began to yearn for more and come to like having his life filled with friends. In Down Deep he expresses the need for Wesley to rejoin them even though the man took his child from him. Connor is his family, the only true family by blood that he has had in a long time.
In order to awaken Angelus the curse has to be lifted, since Angel is not in a good place a shaman is brought in to give him an illusion of his hearts' desires. Though it is not a real telling of events Angel must believe it is so that it will work where the drugs failed. To achieve this the shaman is killed off in the dream which goes into detail of expressing Angel’s wants:
WESLEY: So, he killed the Beast in this fantasy.
ANGELUS: Had to. To get what he wanted. (ATS season 4, Soulless.)
The Mission/Being the Hero: Whistler guided him to help Buffy with her mission but until Doyle gives him a new option Angel had nothing of his own to fight towards. Liam had no great purpose in life and without it he had no idea what to be. Suffering with the soul Angel also needed guidance of some kind to keep him on track, to be useful otherwise his continued existence had no meaning. It’s a way to repent and help others. While his friends aid him (Awakening) it is Angel that takes center stage as the one to defeat the Beast.
BEAST: Such arrogance. So much like Angelus.
CONNOR: His name is Angel. (ATS season 4, Awakening.)
Connor/Family: Once Angel learns that his and Darla’s child has a soul their son, Connor, becomes the most important thing in Angel’s life. As such he wants a stronger relationship with him. For Connor to know that what he had with Cordelia wasn’t a serious commitment and to accept that Angel wants to be with her. Acceptance has always been something Angel longs for especially with Connor, who he wants to see that he is not Angelus like Holtz said but Angel champion of good. Having the love of his son is a huge step in what it takes for Angel to be truly happy.
ANGELUS: Angel. Not enough to be the hero—couldn't be happy unless the whole gang's pitching in. (ATS season 4, Soulless.)
Wesley/Friends: Like in Down Deep Wesley makes an appearance as part of Angel's surrogate family despite the real life strain after his betrayal. Angel yearns for the easy going friendship he once had with Wesley. The issue of the strain i.e. the taking of Connor is not addressed. Angel knows the reasoning for it and that there are some things you can not say you're sorry for.
Regardless an apology is not what he needs or wants from Wesley at that point. His forgiveness of the former watcher is clear when he chooses to partner him with Connor for the search of the sword, one of the three most important people in his life then to accompany him. All of his friends though are pictured by his side at the end of the battle with the Beast to bask in the moment together.
CORDELIA: No, it's—you need to know that I can look back and see every horrible thing you've ever done as Angelus, and it doesn't matter anymore. Because when I'm with you, all I feel is the good you've done as Angel. I know I've hurt you. I know I don't deserve forgiveness.
ANGEL: Cordy, I don't care what you've done in your past either. (ATS season 4, Awakening.)
Cordelia/Lover: She's the woman he has pined for and the one that got away. Though he doesn't know the truth about Jasmine controlling Cordelia yet Angel still wants to make things right with her. He still wants to be with her and needs to know that she still wanted him not Connor. Angel knows what it's like to be with someone and regret it later, he's done it with Darla, he can forgive her. It's through their union in his fantasy that Angel receives that last piece he needs to lose his soul by sleeping with Cordelia.
Working at Worfam and Hart these desires are taken from Angel or at least estranged. Though Connor is content he is no longer at Angel's side, Cordelia has slipped into a coma before dying and his friends are slowly being corrupted. The mission is even taken from Angel as he has to work within the evil he has fought against. While he does date Nina Ash, a newly made werewolf, he does not express any seriousness with the relationship.
ANGEL: Hey, look, I was gonna call her, and we're just... hangin' out. She's not my girlfriend. (ATS season 5, The Girl In Question.)
When the two do engage in sexual intercourse Angel has his mission back, his friendship with the others is strained and does not express signs of love as he did for Buffy or Cordelia with Nina. After the alley way battle with his allies dead or gone, with no proof of how the mission fared and no Connor or a lover it seems very unlikely that Angel will be able to lose his soul anytime soon.
Summary: What does it take for Angel to achieve Perfect Happiness.
Spoiler: From BTVS all through ATS.
Word Count: 1956
Introduction
This essay will focus on Angel and episodes that either showed his inner desires or threatened to unleash Angelus. The purpose is to explore what it takes for Angel to reach "perfect happiness" and what does not. This is not meant to be a shipper essay despite areas that I explore but does address and compare them as a result of the curse. As most of the episodes dealing with the curse happen in Angel the series those connections will be mentioned more than the BTVS episodes.
"What does it take for Angel to achieve Perfect Happiness?"
In 1898 the vampire Angelus was cursed with a soul by a gypsy tribe for the lost of their beloved daughter. To ensure that he would keep suffering for the rest of his existence they devised a clause to make sure that he would never forget the horrors he caused. The clause in question was the simply described "perfect happiness." When Angel achieves this state he loses his soul and becomes Angelus again. But what events make it possible for Angel to achieve this?
For years the main concept that most have embraced was that he must be with Buffy Summers and have sexual intercourse with her though as we see later this idea has some conflicts with events that happen on the series Angel. To understand how the curse works one has to understand Angel's state of mind and his desires.
In the years following 1898 we see Angel struggling to cope with his soul having no idea how to deal with the endless guilt. At certain points he has dealt with conflicting emotions, while he wants to help he does not want to risk endangering others with his presence. When he does aid people he finds himself once again disappointed in humanity and the lack of tolerance it has.
At his lowest point Angel lives on the streets drinking from rats having no direction in life other than avoiding people. Whistler is the first person to direct him on the next step to a new path in his life. By witnessing Buffy Summers discover her calling as a slayer Angel finds the desire to help again and falls in love with her innocence, something he has not seen in humans for many years. Inspired by her to fight the good fight the two soon work together and Buffy returns his affections.
By this point Angel is happier than he ever dared dream in his lonely meaningless existence before Sunnydale. While he doesn't quite have friends he is accepted, he has a mission of sorts assisting the slayer and for the first time is in love with a girl that loves him. When he and Buffy have sex for the first time this causes Angelus to return leading many to believe, from viewers and characters alike, that by having sex with Buffy is the only way he can lose his soul.
After the soul is restored and Angel is living in L.A. the view has changed slightly when he and his friends think that the act of sex not the person it occurs with causes it. We first get a hint of there being a deeper meaning when actress Rebecca Lowell foolishly slips Angel a drug that is meant to make the user “relax.”
WESLEY: Powerful tranquilizer. It induces -- bliss.
CORDELIA: Bliss? As in bliss, sheer contentment? Perfect happiness?!
WESLEY: It's synthetic. Not true happiness.
REBECCA: This is really good stuff.
WESLEY: He hasn't really turned. It's an illusion, not real. (ATS season 1, Eternity.)
While the drug does release the control the soul has over Angelus it does not go away completely, it is merely suppressed and the affects are temporary. This proves that the sensation of “happiness” is not enough, it must be based on real emotions Angel feels not fake ones.
Still it was believed that bedding Angel will bring “perfect happiness”. Darla succeeded only because of his depression which ironically enough is what was believed to have kept Angelus in check, even after three times of what Darla thought was perfect love making.
Darla: You *wanted* it!
ANGEL: Yeah. And it *was* perfect, Darla. - It was perfect despair.(ATS season 2, Epiphany.)
Darla does however represent an important part of Angel, she was his creator that brought him into a world that now torments him. Returning to life as a human she took on new meaning to him as what he believed was a chance at redemption. Arriving pregnant from their last tryst Darla manages to give Angel something that no other lover has that will become the most important thing in his life: his son Connor.
Surely the birth of his child is the most monumental moment in his long existence. Why doesn’t he lose his soul? Perhaps because the time was marred by Darla’s sacrifice to save their baby. Though Angel has claimed that he has never been in love with her the two still have a long history together, he has connected with through her humanity and then their child.
Connors’ birth does mark a period in which Angel is more content than he has ever been shown on any season of the series. It’s the high point in his life where things are almost flawless but not quite. Having his feelings for Cordelia grow from their friendship into love he strives to strike up the courage to tell her. Angel’s own fears regarding love, his curse and getting hurt again hold him back making him miss many opportunities. By the end of the third season many things have changed, Connor was taken to be returned as a teenager, Wesley was exiled from the group for his betrayal and Cordelia realized that she loved Angel too. Angel displays signs of bliss at the apparent closeness with his son and a positive outcome with his love life to the point where Fred is worried.
Though he is closer than he has been to breaking the curse than he has been in ages we don’t get to see what Angel defines as happiness clearly until season 4. First in his dreams undersea before the delusions of not feeding for months take the fantasy to dark places. While he does dream of love it is no longer Buffy he desires in these visions but Cordelia. Since leaving Sunnydale Angel has began to yearn for more and come to like having his life filled with friends. In Down Deep he expresses the need for Wesley to rejoin them even though the man took his child from him. Connor is his family, the only true family by blood that he has had in a long time.
In order to awaken Angelus the curse has to be lifted, since Angel is not in a good place a shaman is brought in to give him an illusion of his hearts' desires. Though it is not a real telling of events Angel must believe it is so that it will work where the drugs failed. To achieve this the shaman is killed off in the dream which goes into detail of expressing Angel’s wants:
WESLEY: So, he killed the Beast in this fantasy.
ANGELUS: Had to. To get what he wanted. (ATS season 4, Soulless.)
The Mission/Being the Hero: Whistler guided him to help Buffy with her mission but until Doyle gives him a new option Angel had nothing of his own to fight towards. Liam had no great purpose in life and without it he had no idea what to be. Suffering with the soul Angel also needed guidance of some kind to keep him on track, to be useful otherwise his continued existence had no meaning. It’s a way to repent and help others. While his friends aid him (Awakening) it is Angel that takes center stage as the one to defeat the Beast.
BEAST: Such arrogance. So much like Angelus.
CONNOR: His name is Angel. (ATS season 4, Awakening.)
Connor/Family: Once Angel learns that his and Darla’s child has a soul their son, Connor, becomes the most important thing in Angel’s life. As such he wants a stronger relationship with him. For Connor to know that what he had with Cordelia wasn’t a serious commitment and to accept that Angel wants to be with her. Acceptance has always been something Angel longs for especially with Connor, who he wants to see that he is not Angelus like Holtz said but Angel champion of good. Having the love of his son is a huge step in what it takes for Angel to be truly happy.
ANGELUS: Angel. Not enough to be the hero—couldn't be happy unless the whole gang's pitching in. (ATS season 4, Soulless.)
Wesley/Friends: Like in Down Deep Wesley makes an appearance as part of Angel's surrogate family despite the real life strain after his betrayal. Angel yearns for the easy going friendship he once had with Wesley. The issue of the strain i.e. the taking of Connor is not addressed. Angel knows the reasoning for it and that there are some things you can not say you're sorry for.
Regardless an apology is not what he needs or wants from Wesley at that point. His forgiveness of the former watcher is clear when he chooses to partner him with Connor for the search of the sword, one of the three most important people in his life then to accompany him. All of his friends though are pictured by his side at the end of the battle with the Beast to bask in the moment together.
CORDELIA: No, it's—you need to know that I can look back and see every horrible thing you've ever done as Angelus, and it doesn't matter anymore. Because when I'm with you, all I feel is the good you've done as Angel. I know I've hurt you. I know I don't deserve forgiveness.
ANGEL: Cordy, I don't care what you've done in your past either. (ATS season 4, Awakening.)
Cordelia/Lover: She's the woman he has pined for and the one that got away. Though he doesn't know the truth about Jasmine controlling Cordelia yet Angel still wants to make things right with her. He still wants to be with her and needs to know that she still wanted him not Connor. Angel knows what it's like to be with someone and regret it later, he's done it with Darla, he can forgive her. It's through their union in his fantasy that Angel receives that last piece he needs to lose his soul by sleeping with Cordelia.
Working at Worfam and Hart these desires are taken from Angel or at least estranged. Though Connor is content he is no longer at Angel's side, Cordelia has slipped into a coma before dying and his friends are slowly being corrupted. The mission is even taken from Angel as he has to work within the evil he has fought against. While he does date Nina Ash, a newly made werewolf, he does not express any seriousness with the relationship.
ANGEL: Hey, look, I was gonna call her, and we're just... hangin' out. She's not my girlfriend. (ATS season 5, The Girl In Question.)
When the two do engage in sexual intercourse Angel has his mission back, his friendship with the others is strained and does not express signs of love as he did for Buffy or Cordelia with Nina. After the alley way battle with his allies dead or gone, with no proof of how the mission fared and no Connor or a lover it seems very unlikely that Angel will be able to lose his soul anytime soon.
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