Blast from the past
Dec. 15th, 2010 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakPostscript to the Dexter season wrap-up, now complete with Jossverse comparison (to be specific, first and second season of Angel comparisons):
Pondering my dissatisfaction with the execution of Lumen's turnaround as opposed to the concept of same, I thought that the way she and Dexter's narrative voice phrase the "dark passenger" thing - Lumen: "it's gone, I don't have it anymore" and Dexter "her dark passenger has left her" - sounds suspiciously demonic possession and/or resouling in a fantasy show. Which naturally brought one or two very specific fantasy shows to mind. The irony is, though, that while the whole concept of the demon/soul dichotymy is literal, not just metaphorical, when it comes to the Joss Whedon vampires, I think AtS specifically actually did a better and more satisfying job with what I guess the Dexter finale was trying to say about Lumen. In Five by Five, the flashbacks reveal the immediate aftermath of Angel getting his soul, to wit, Darla being disturbed, sensing the change in him, and throwing him out in horror. This at the time of first broadcast was news because Angel the episode in BTVS had him claiming to immediately turn a new leaf and leave on his own once he was cursed with a soul. The second season AtS episode Darla gave us more on this, showing that Angel later tracked Darla down and persuaded her to give him another shot. He didn't want the redemption gig then, he wanted the (un)life he had known as Angelus and Darla's companionship, even if neither of them called it love. He tried to be old style Angelus with the soul, but found eventually he couldn't do it anymore, though he really wanted to, and this time he and Darla parted ways for the better part of the ensuing century. Of course, vampire-hood in AtS is one long addiiction metaphor anyway, and Dexter plays with the concept as well. My point is, though, that despite the fantasy frame work and the soul plot device that goes with it I think in this particular case AtS did a more believable job of telling the story of a couple of addicts (to killing) where one of them is able to quit but not (yet?) the other one. And despite the facts the relevant flashbacks of Five by Five and Darla put to gether don't even approach the screentime of one single episode. Even so, we see that soul or no soul, this isn't an easy thing for Angel, it's a struggle, the first instinct is to stay with his partner and the old life, and while his leaving Darla for the second time, in China, is his decision and the genuine first step away from the old life, it's only a step, and it won't be easy.
...so really. If AtS could do it, why oh why couldn't Dexter?
Generally speaking, I agree with this season overview.
Pondering my dissatisfaction with the execution of Lumen's turnaround as opposed to the concept of same, I thought that the way she and Dexter's narrative voice phrase the "dark passenger" thing - Lumen: "it's gone, I don't have it anymore" and Dexter "her dark passenger has left her" - sounds suspiciously demonic possession and/or resouling in a fantasy show. Which naturally brought one or two very specific fantasy shows to mind. The irony is, though, that while the whole concept of the demon/soul dichotymy is literal, not just metaphorical, when it comes to the Joss Whedon vampires, I think AtS specifically actually did a better and more satisfying job with what I guess the Dexter finale was trying to say about Lumen. In Five by Five, the flashbacks reveal the immediate aftermath of Angel getting his soul, to wit, Darla being disturbed, sensing the change in him, and throwing him out in horror. This at the time of first broadcast was news because Angel the episode in BTVS had him claiming to immediately turn a new leaf and leave on his own once he was cursed with a soul. The second season AtS episode Darla gave us more on this, showing that Angel later tracked Darla down and persuaded her to give him another shot. He didn't want the redemption gig then, he wanted the (un)life he had known as Angelus and Darla's companionship, even if neither of them called it love. He tried to be old style Angelus with the soul, but found eventually he couldn't do it anymore, though he really wanted to, and this time he and Darla parted ways for the better part of the ensuing century. Of course, vampire-hood in AtS is one long addiiction metaphor anyway, and Dexter plays with the concept as well. My point is, though, that despite the fantasy frame work and the soul plot device that goes with it I think in this particular case AtS did a more believable job of telling the story of a couple of addicts (to killing) where one of them is able to quit but not (yet?) the other one. And despite the facts the relevant flashbacks of Five by Five and Darla put to gether don't even approach the screentime of one single episode. Even so, we see that soul or no soul, this isn't an easy thing for Angel, it's a struggle, the first instinct is to stay with his partner and the old life, and while his leaving Darla for the second time, in China, is his decision and the genuine first step away from the old life, it's only a step, and it won't be easy.
...so really. If AtS could do it, why oh why couldn't Dexter?
Generally speaking, I agree with this season overview.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 03:22 pm (UTC)I think Lumen/Julia Stiles will come back or be referenced next season, and that they are going to use the events to move forward. Rita's death in the first season, Dexter would've walked on the children, even Harrison. But for the fifth season, we saw Dexter at his finest/most human with Aster, we saw Lumen connect with him in a way that has laid down a path for him to acknowledge that the Dark Passenger does not have to be permanent.
I have faith that next season will continue this. Oh and Quinn and Deb - I was watching LaGuerta in the scenes where she was handling Quinn's arrest, and then handling Deb, and just aching thinking of Doakes as her ghost in the background, and how of all people, she knew what Deb was feeling, and Baptista watching her and - it was just so good.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 05:19 pm (UTC)LaGuerta watching - yes, that was fine acting, and there was so much emotional history between all the characters that it made me love the ensemble even more all over again.