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I never do this, post my critique of an episode. Discussion is one thing, but...
Well, I've been provoked. Friends-of-skipping, I ran across someone's opinion that s/he was angry with Wes for turning on Gunn, and for forging some sort of truce with Illyria. And it shook me enough to make me consider, no, I don't feel that way.
I see Wes as an allegory, not even as a character resembling lifelike. The principals on A:tS have become mythological characters, used in fables as teaching points, as illustrative behavior models. In a similar situation, would I feel the emotions Gunn is evincing? Would I make the same decisions, if so, here are some of the pitfalls of this decision. Would I react as Angel is doing? Do I have that sort of power over my own life and the actions of my friends? Would I isolate myself as Wes has done? He illustrates my depth of feeling, and I can certainly accept the impulse to lash out the way he's doing, but would I go that far? Would I accept the self-destructiveness of such behavior, the risk to others I may care about, and proceed on such a path to my destruction and theirs? Am I willing to cast aside responsibility for my life and theirs to give outlet to my grief and rage?
While I find Denisof a very attractive and compelling actor, while I find myself in strange sympathy with Wes the character, and while I enjoy and willingly accept the Angelverse as an emotional experience, the rational part of my brain is following the logical steps of each action and the reactions it provokes as a problem-solving model. So, not so much the "hating" of Wes and what he's done or doing, but on the one hand the sympathetic, "I so understand his emotions, I know I could go/have been there," and on the other hand, "Constructively, this would be the better choice, but, oh yes, I expected that reaction--but whoa! Not that one. Oh look there, they've played with the trope again," etc.
Well, I've been provoked. Friends-of-skipping, I ran across someone's opinion that s/he was angry with Wes for turning on Gunn, and for forging some sort of truce with Illyria. And it shook me enough to make me consider, no, I don't feel that way.
I see Wes as an allegory, not even as a character resembling lifelike. The principals on A:tS have become mythological characters, used in fables as teaching points, as illustrative behavior models. In a similar situation, would I feel the emotions Gunn is evincing? Would I make the same decisions, if so, here are some of the pitfalls of this decision. Would I react as Angel is doing? Do I have that sort of power over my own life and the actions of my friends? Would I isolate myself as Wes has done? He illustrates my depth of feeling, and I can certainly accept the impulse to lash out the way he's doing, but would I go that far? Would I accept the self-destructiveness of such behavior, the risk to others I may care about, and proceed on such a path to my destruction and theirs? Am I willing to cast aside responsibility for my life and theirs to give outlet to my grief and rage?
While I find Denisof a very attractive and compelling actor, while I find myself in strange sympathy with Wes the character, and while I enjoy and willingly accept the Angelverse as an emotional experience, the rational part of my brain is following the logical steps of each action and the reactions it provokes as a problem-solving model. So, not so much the "hating" of Wes and what he's done or doing, but on the one hand the sympathetic, "I so understand his emotions, I know I could go/have been there," and on the other hand, "Constructively, this would be the better choice, but, oh yes, I expected that reaction--but whoa! Not that one. Oh look there, they've played with the trope again," etc.