Angel Season 4: Trying to Make a Better World
The moral case for trying to make a better world without destroying it.
We all wish the world was better.
For the most part, people hate that there's war and hunger and disease and all the other things that makes the world feel like it's terrible. We wish we could do something to make it so that people don't hurt each other out of anger or greed or whatever reasons people give themselves to justify doing what they know they shouldn't. If only there was something we could do to make people see that they don't have to be so terrible, the world would be better. All we have to do is get everyone on board with the idea of what a better world we can have, we could bring it about.
Previously in this space, we looked at the idea of leaving childhood behind and developing a more adult way of thinking, then we looked at what it means to actually make adult decisions. More recently we looked at the idea of becoming a parent so we know that some part of us will go forward into the world and maybe give you hope for the future. But that's far from the end of the story. As much as we might want to believe that our children will carry our ideas forward and become part of your desire to have a better world for them to live in, you can't be certain that they will. Children don't always follow in their parents footsteps. They will have their own ideas about what a better world will look like and it might get in the way of your own desires. So what do we do when we know that?
“Nothing in the world is the way it oughta be, it's harsh and cruel, but that's why there's us... champions. Doesn't matter what we've done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be. You're not a part of that yet, I hope you will be.”
This is very much where we find Angel at the beginning of season 4. When Connor was a baby, he and his friends had hope for the future. A belief in the idea that the world would be better because of them. Somehow, the existence of Connor gives Angel hope that he will be a positive force in the world. However, when Connor grows up it's far from clear what this new person will end up becoming. He could be just as bad as Angel or he could actually save the world. There's no way to know for sure. Despite this, they still have to live in the world. Go on with their lives and find something worth doing and hopefully make things better. Which isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. If Angel can't rely on his kid as a source of joy and hope, what can he rely on?
“What do you think he'll do?”
“What he has to, like he always does.”
“Will it make a difference? If we really are just... pieces being moved around a board.”
“Then we'll kick it over and start a new game. Look, monochrome can yap all he wants about no name's cosmic plan, but here's a little something I picked up around the mojos these past couple a years. The final score can't be rigged. I don't care how many players you grease that last shot always comes up a question mark. But here's the thing... you never know when you're takin it. It could be when you're duking it out with the legion of doom or just crossing the street deciding where to have brunch. So you just treat it all like it was up to you, the world in the balance, because you never know when it is.”
Part of the reason why he was relying on Connor as a source of hope is because he's lost hope in himself and the people around him. He no longer sees himself as the kind of person who can make a difference. It's part of the tragedy of not seeing things in black and white terms, instead only living in the grey area. The only thing he can do is work to try and deal with the small problems of the world. Rescuing someone in the middle of the night who is in trouble. Maybe keeping that person alive long enough that when the sun comes up, they will find a reason to smile. Give themselves a little hope to get through the next day, and the next, and so on. He doesn't really have anything else.
“I'm not perfect. Even with a soul there's things I've done which I wish I could take back. I used to think that. There'd be a point where I'd paid my dues. You saw me drink, it doesn't get much lower than that. I thought I could make up for it by disappearing. Our time is never up Faith. We pay for everything.”
Maybe love can be something. The possibility of finding someone who you can turn to in your darker moments or even those moments when the world is feeling very grey. After all, love is fairly simple when it comes right down to it. Or people like to believe it is anyway. Either you are in love or you're not. You want someone to be with you or you don't. Of course the problem with trying to hold onto love is that you have the chance to lose it. Not just in the sense that they might die or choose to live without you, also because the people who you might love are just as flawed as you are. They are going to make mistakes or do things you don't agree with.
“Why is it like this? Life should be beautiful and bright, but no matter how hard I try, everything I touch turns to ashes.”
This is the problem that Angel is dealing with in many ways. After what Connor did to him, he's looking for something else to hold on to. The one thing he still has is his relationship with Cordelia which he denied himself for so long. Mainly because he was afraid of the implications of it. Their relationship has been one of the longest and deepest ones that he's made since leaving Sunnydale. He wants to believe that it will be the kind of long term thing he's always wanted. There have been people who Angel has considered a deeper relationship before. Like Jhiera and Rebecca who he clearly cared for deeply, if not in the way he loved Buffy. Perhaps the most obvious example being his relationship with Darla. They went so far as to have a child together, but they never had the deeper, more adult relationship that he wanted.
Something he thought he could have with Buffy but the consequences of being with her are too dangerous. Cordelia isn't Buffy though. She's more mature than Buffy was when she and Angel were together. In some ways that makes her a better match for Angel because of how they've both grown. But at the same time that means she's more complex. That isn't necessarily better or worse, just different due to circumstances. She's just as likely going to end up disappointing him in the long run though, or he will given the fact that any moment of happiness will make him lose his soul.
“Were we in love?”
“We were.”
You have to be willing to accept that about them and allow them to do that. Otherwise your relationship could end terribly. If you can't come to terms with that, you might not want to go down that road. Although if you run into that problem, you could in every relationship you have. Which makes falling in love and using that as a reason to continue much harder. As a result, you're going to need another reason to get through today. Something to work towards that has more to it than your own personal desire to be happy.
One possibility is the idea of a better world. Not through the creation of a person to pass on your legacy or through love, but by trying to help as many people as humanly possible. To dedicate yourself to a cause like ending homeless, or poverty, or drug addiction, or crime. All of these are fundamentally honourable goals to aspire to. A purpose to give your life that you can see actual results from if you do it correctly. Where it becomes a problem is in the fact that there are so many different causes to try and focus on just one.
“You made a difference, each of you, not just to me but to the world. We've been pushed to the edge so many times, done things we're sure can never be forgiven, but we're always there for each other when it counts. We've never let the darkness win, and it's not because of the Powers That Be, or the super strength, or the magical weapons. It's because we believe in each other, not just as friends or lovers, but as champions, all of us... together.”
Even if you do manage to help a few people in your lifetime and eliminate a real problem like drug addiction, you still have so many other problems to deal with. When you know that, it's tempting to look for someone who seems to have it all figured out. The kind of person who can solve the world's problems all at once, or at least appears to. Someone who can rally large numbers of people towards the goal of making the world a better place.
Jasmine is the natural embodiment of all this. She is someone who came from a better place in order to try and make the world itself better. To truly change the way in which the world operates beyond this constant fight for survival and the murkiness of the grey area. She represents a truly black and white view of the world. Where people are either for or against her. People who follow her will feel her love and be happy, those who are against her will be cut off from everyone and everything around them. It taps into the need people have to feel a part of something rather than against.
“All of you, so loving, so strong... how can I ask you to understand that a man like this? So full of fear, anger, so alone. He will always be alone, but we have found each other.”
There may be a few different people who actually like these terrible things but they tend to be in the minority. Or it should be, though it can sometimes seem like there's more selfish, hate filled people in the world. Even those who do things out of anger or greed usually feel bad about the fact that they're doing it. They feel some level of guilt over the fact that, in their view, they have to do such things, but will act as if they don't because part of them believes that it was necessary.
“You are hurting me, just by being. You're a disease in the body Jasmine, and you will be purged.”
Ultimately, what Jasmine offered is the building of a system which she controls, completely and absolutely. It's that total submission to the system which is what makes it a problem for people. The lack of free choice. If giving up your free choice means that you live in perfect harmony with everybody else, that seems like a good trade doesn't it? But then the question is who gets to decide what the right choice is. What kind of world makes the most sense to create? And what kind of resources might be necessary in order to achieve it?
But we'll get into that when we examine the final season of the show, which is available to paid subscribers now. You can also get into the next series now.
Do yourself a favour and check out Angel as soon as you can on Disney Plus as well as Hulu and Amazon.