3/16: Sleep Tight

[Queen E]

And here's where it all goes horribly, horribly wrong...

[beccaelizabeth]

And hello to the tragedy.

Everyone in this acts in ways that make perfect sense to them. And nobody gets what they would have chosen.

There's a trick in the prophecies. We hear one from burger boy, 'the vampire will devour his son', and that is absolutely true. And we read another in Wesley's notes, and this week the precise translation is 'the father will take the son's life'. And that too is going to be true, we now know. But the large print interpretation, 'the father will kill the son'... that's a whole lot more complicated. And 'devour' and 'kill' aren't even the same incident.

Angel is devouring his son. Because someone put the baby blood in his food. Which is really, really gross. Interesting in effects though, cause Angel does act like a bloodaholic, with highs and withdrawal. Not just a food group. But then that really creepy moment where Angel admits the baby has been smelling like food...

When Wes comes in and offers to take the baby overnight, that conversation with Angel, there's awkward on both sides, but you can read it that Angel figures Wes has heard what's going on and is trying to keep the baby safe. But Wes hasn't heard. He got the guilties and knocked Lorne out before he got the message. But just knowing Angel knows... he trusts Wes to take the baby out of range and keep him safe. And, well, Wes was going to.

I wonder sometimes where Wes was planning to take the kid. Back to Britain? He'd have a plan. Probably for the rest of the kid's life. He'd have taught him how to take care of himself too, partly because that's what he knows to teach, but also to make sure if Angelus ever got there... well. He would have had a plan.

But one moment of being more human, more compassionate, than his enemies...

Wes with his throat slit. Terrible thing.

And stupid woman, to trust a man who'd do that to her, whatever the reason.

Holtz isn't really holding on to sanity though. He's got a direct line on revenge, but everyday common sense? Not so very. So when the demon dimension opens... That is not a choice that makes sense, unless staying away from Angel is the single most important and quite possibly only important thing. His whole life shaped by Angelus. Nasty mess. But making sense in his own narrow way.

So, crash, tragedy.

And you've got to love the writing that can weave it all together.



Wesley was doing what he thought was right. But he was making all the decisions. He ignored free will. He bought in to inevitability - the prophecy - while acting as if he's the lone exception - trying to take the baby away. If he had reached out to his friends, listened, talked, it would not have gone this way. They were protecting the baby pretty good already. Could have done better together.