RE: ANGEL
Jess and I like to call this bit the battle of the Darla Rants. *g*. See, my ficbitch and I totally disagree with the fundamentals of last night's ep. The only thing we see eye to eye on is that we will both miss Darla.

She *was* a feminist icon, that is, if you like your icons as evil, blood sucking demons. Which I occasionally do. She was the biggest female badass in Jossverse. But she's dead now, for good this time, and hell yes, I shed a tear for the Ice Queen. I know alot of people hated her character, although few could ever give me a reason *why* that didn't involve B/A. But I for one *loved* her. She coulda kicked Angelus' ass to Hell, she took whatever and whomever she wanted, and she did it with a little girl voice that half turned me on, half made me want to offer her free Speech Therapy. So yes, I too shall mourn the loss.

BUT. She went out in the way it has been foreshadowed for *months*.. sorry Jess, and Jenny O, it was not contrived. It had to happen this way, it was hinted at in numerous eps, and finally, finally, it did. 

"What we are informs what we become. The same love infects our hearts, even if they no longer beat". I couldn't have said it better. Darla!Resurrected by W&H was nowhere near the original version 1.0. She was insecure about her existence, she was physically sick, and she was, well, a bit insane. Yea, she was still a holy bitch. Yea, she had no compunction about killing others and making Angel crazy. I'm not saying she was suddenly Saint!Darla. But does anyone remember the final scene in the Trial? Angel was going to turn her. ANGEL. The hero, the martyr, the one who, as Jess says, "looks good on a cross" was going to TURN her. And she REFUSED. She was ready to die, she'd made her peace. She had about twenty seconds of humanity and redemption and Angel snuggles. Then in walks the long lost Drusilla (my favorite nut ever) and does it to her anyway.

Ah, so now she's back to version 1.0, you say. Nope. Sorry. This woman did not want to be a vampire before she was turned, and she was none too happy with the results afterward. In fact, she beat her erstwhile Sire's head into the concrete and tossed her in front of a bus. Anyone remember that?

Yep, she went on to kill alot of lawyers and shopkeepers in the weeks that ensued. Yep, she played fast and loose wtih Lindsey's affections and loyalties. I see the full picture, so I'm not saying she was a white hat by any means. 

But she also was genuinely *hurt* when Angel fucked her, stayed soulful and then threatened her life. The old Darla? Hurt? Pfft. She would have kicked Angelus' balls into the back of his throat. But this one gave him the *same line as Buffy*. "Was it me? Was I not good?" And if that doesn't foreshadow a change in personality, I dunno what the fuck does.

So now she's preggers, alone and really. really. pissed off. Hell, I would be too. The "I must eat children" idea was a bit off, but honestly, this is made up mysticism of the weirdest order, and I for one have no idea how a pregnant vampire without a soul would react to having a soulful being inside of her, and therefore, I'm not about to argue that point. All I will say, is that it is a plot device no more contrived than souling Angel, or chipping Spike. It is a theme which the writers in Jossverse have long played. Take a demon, add something decent, and what do you get? Well, with Angel after a century and a Slayer, you get Martyr. With Spike after two seasons and a Slayer you get...uhm, someone who wears earmuffs apparantly. With Darla...you get someone who realizes she was better off dead. 

She never asked to come back. She states that quite clearly to W&H when she was human, and god knows she made her point to Drusilla after being vamped. She thought she could recapture old glories, but she was wrong. Life sucks. She got that. Reason enough to check out.

Contrived? No. "They gave you a soul! A filthy dirty soul!" Who didn't see that as an anvil? Ok, I didn't either at the time. But Spike gave Angel shit over being a good guy, and now look where he is. They can't go around souling all the vamps, but man, they can sure torture the shit out of them with decency implants, can't they? And really, who does it better?

Darla had a decency implant. She loved the baby she was carrying. For a human mother, no explanation is necessary. Would Darla feel this way? I argue in this case, yes. Yes, she wanted the baby "out". Hell, so did I at 9 months. Yes, the old Darla would 'have roasted it over an open flame', as Jess so eloquently put it. But this was not the old Darla. This Darla felt something she never had before, in her life or her unlife, and she knew once the "goodness implant" (here: baby) was out of her, there was a distinct possibility that she would want to kill it. The fact that she is not Darla 1.0 does not negate the fact that she is still a demon. She knew that much about herself. And Angel either could not, or would not, promise her that he would defend the child from her. 

Darla did what she had to do, what has been building since her resurrection at the hands of W&H. She did the thing Jossverse loves, and Tim Minear writes so well. She died for someone else to live. Was it Darla-like? Maybe not in the strictest sense. But it was believable. It was powerful, well written drama that made me go "GUH!" It was good television.

And most of all, it was a hell of an "inyourface" to my poor long suffering wanna-be martyr, Angel, who has tried more times than I can count to achieve a noble death, and has failed miserably each and every time. The irony that the She-bitch who created him and cursed him to become everything that he is, died a hero's death while he is forced to seek an unguaranteed, lonely and hellish redemption cannot be lost on him. 

It wasn't lost on me.

Bravo Tim Minear. Darla, we'll miss you. But man, you made it *work*.

Stake me
 

RE: BUFFY:

O. My. Fucking. God. 

There was...with the zipper...and the grunting...and and...the *look*..and the zipper...and did I mention with the grunting? And violence as foreplay. And grunting. And whoever this ep's writer is, I officially want to chain him in my closet. Right next to my teddy bear and my favorite pair of shoes.

I'm just....

TAKE THAT REDEMPTIONISTS! Wooo and Hoooo!

Long may evil, twisted, motherfucking Spike reign. And long may he be straddled by this whacky ass version of Buffy who gets off on breaking his nose and having hers broken in return.

Zipper. There was zipper.

Gah.

Break my house down
 

*~*~*~*

OF THE THEN
 

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