Edited because I was definitely overreacting.

Sorry, folks, nothing to see here.

I only have Buffy S2 on DVD (it's pricey to put a collection together all at once), so I re-watched Becoming #1 and #2. My grand theory is that Whistler worked for the Senior Partners. My philosopy of W&H is that it is an actor favoring evil but also favoring survival so it could continue doing evil. I think Angel S5 provided a great way of exposing that W&H's view of the apocalypse that it was ongoing, manageable and could last a long time. Sudden and unpredictable endings take away the firm's control of things. Better the devil you know...

...so Whistler in my mind wanted Angel prepared to prevent Acathla from swallowing the world because it disrupted things, made a mess, so to speak. W&H's continued viability stemmed from the fact that it doesn't put the world into Hell (or a hell dimension) all at once. Whistler used Buffy as a canard to shape Angel up, because on its face, it's absurd to have a vampire (even a souled one) watch over the fate of a Slayer. Perhaps W&H considered it a good internship before stepping into the big time.

Just my two cents.

When I saw Drogyn, I believed he'd been tortured. There were cuts on his scalp that indicated, to me, that he'd been partially shaved with a sword or other sharp implement not intended for cutting hair. The paler hair, what there was of it, looked blond to me, rather than gray or white. It seemed to me that the beating he was getting was just the latest in a series of abuses that started the moment Hamilton got his hands on Drogyn, and he knew they wouldn't stop. He saw Angel as his savior. I don't think, at that moment, he knew if Angel was there to kill him or to rescue him, but perhaps, through the torture, he forgot that he believed Angel had tried to kill him and just, at that moment, remembered that Angel was his friend. I think Angel did rescue him, because I don't think they would have let either one of them walk out of there alive, even if Angel hadn't killed Drogyn.

No, we realized that trying to denigrate something others were calling the most perfect thing ever, full of deep metaphorical meaning that touched their hearts was cruel and self-defeating. We went to LJ.

Where at LJ? I don't feel the hate, but I'm ambivalent about sections, and would be interested in reading some of this.

I still feel the whole Lindsey offing is weird, though. I know he kept stabbing Angel in the back, but it just felt wrong, somehow.

Might this be a setup for a movie? It seems so unfinished. Also, the unfinished end left me thinking that fighting the good fight was the direction they would go, but ME is notorious for not doing what people think they'll do, except when you think that they won't do the obvious, so then they have to. Argh! It's too late to get my mind around this.

I just spent the last 4-5 hours making 300 very careful screencaps of the finale. Apparently for the last 3-1/2 hours the utility I am using decided to put a big watermark over all the screencaps after about 55 in.

I am so frelling beside myself. There was no warning it would do that. I am 8 days into the 30 day trial period, but it never said it was crippleware.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

ETA: Their website says it does it after 15 days. However, the program's own tracker says I'm at 8 days.

Where at LJ? I don't feel the hate, but I'm ambivalent about sections, and would be interested in reading some of this.

the community mutant_allies has a lot of links to commentary, and will have more when I get a chance to post the ones I collected over the week.

Their website says it does it after 15 days.

15 days used, or 15 calendar days?

Irritating either way.

No, we realized that trying to denigrate something others were calling the most perfect thing ever, full of deep metaphorical meaning that touched their hearts was cruel and self-defeating. We went to LJ.

Really? Where? This sounds like fun!

Eek! Right in my living room, ita. Spies! There are spies, everywhere! Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have gotten the kids Happy Meals. Hot Wheels cars, my arse. There are transmitters in all of them. Oof. I've said too much.

the community mutant_allies has a lot of links

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Wonderful links! Thoughtful, intelligent, and not overwhelmingly negative. Thanks PM.