from Jean Lorrah is the author of the award-winning vampire romance Blood Will Tell, creator of the Savage Empire series, co-author (with Lois Wickstrom) of the award-winning series of children’s books beginning with Nessie and the Living Stone and co-author (with Jacqueline Lichtenberg) of the cult classic Sime Gen series. Her most recent new novel is Sime Gen: To Kiss or to Kill. Look for Jean’s Savage Empire series from BenBella Books.
On Angel
A World Without Love
By Jean Lorrah
7 Comments
As the television series Angel ended its fifth and final season, the only character left from the opening episode of the first season was the title character, Angel. Compare that to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show which spun off Angel: Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow were present in the first episode of the first season and in the last episode of the seventh season. Is the attrition rate in Angel mere coincidence, caused by the vagaries of the entertainment industry, or is it the byproduct of a theme of the show—a theme that clearly differentiates this series from its parent?
In my essay, “Love Saves the World: the Nontraditional Family in Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” published in Seven Seasons of Buffy, I argued that in the original series a major theme is the self-made family Buffy creates, and that it is the love between the members of that nontraditional family that makes it possible for them to triumph repeatedly over evil—even when evil resides within one of their own.
When Angel first began in 1999, it appeared in the opening episodes that Angel would build a similar family in Los Angeles. After five seasons, however, we see that not only did it not happen, but that it was never intended to happen. Not only can Angel not create a stable nontraditional family—he always has a team of helpers, but they change over time—but when he is given a real, blood-related family (through the machinations of evil law firm Wolfram …
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at 10:48 am
A very impressive essay, Miss Lorrah. The entire arc of Angel from his early Buffy days to his alleyway brawl in the finale of Angel has got to be one of my favourite stories ever plotted. Souled vampire falls in love, loses his soul, and has to leave his love. Makes a little family, and falls in love again… but the family is dysfunctional beyond measure and things fall apart in a much longer and slower burn. Poor bugger can never catch a break, but whether or not this unhappiness is deserved for his misdeeds as Angelus is open for interpretation.
And even in the final episode, his big reward is apparently lost in the Shanshu prophecy, but he still keeps fighting.
at 11:10 am
“(The allusion is to another Greek tragedy, Medea, in which Medea cooks up the children she had with the man who cheated on her and feeds them to their father.) ”
No… Medea simply kills her two sons and taunts Jason with their dead bodies before escaping. I think the example you’re thinking of is Procne and Tereus. Tereus rapes Procne’s sister, Philomela, and in revenge, Procne kills and serves their two sons to her husband.
at 11:22 am
My favorite thing about Angel is the problematic relationships within his crew, which are infinitely more complex and compelling than the dynamics of the Scoobies.
at 11:52 am
“Reading the commentaries on the Internet, I am surprised that fans do not seem to have noticed the theme of incest in the arc, especially taking into account Cordelia’s involvement.”
You are very much mistaken if you think fans did not notice the incest. Clearly you have not read that many commentaries.
at 4:37 pm
I think it’s important to mention that Buffy is the last person (as to my recollection) always alone in the opening credits too.
at 2:07 pm
Atreus also cooks the children of his brother Thyestes and serves them to Thyestes in revenge for Thyestes’ affair with Atreus’ wife Aerope. Medea just kills her children.
at 5:13 pm
Very perceptive. I also think you should check out “The Myth of Sisyphus”, which is very much the point of Angel’s 5th season, in my opinion. The end of the series was really about accepting your fate and embracing your purpose (“let’s go to work”) even though it won’t save you, even though the end picture is inevitably grim. It’s about owning your selfhood in the face of damnation.