Unhappily Ever After

[franceslievens]

Popping in Disc 1 of Angel Season 3, P. observes what distinguishes this series from any other mediocre television show and lifts it way above what's generally on: the uncertainty. "On another show you know the heroes will make it. Which writer will kill off the good guys? No-one will do that, right? But not on this show. It's the bad guys that stick around, because they are cool and have the resources to stay alive. The good guys have to fight for their lives, and they will loose, eventually. Wesley, Cordelia, Gunn... all of them... They are expendable."
"Angel isn't. The series is named after him. If you kill him, there won't be any series."
"Well, they only keep him on, because they can turn him evil once in a while."

Joss is an evil, evil man. P. learned it the hard way in Season 1 with Doyle. There was also an episode (I forget which) that made him cry out that Angel was not going to survive this and that every episode after this one would only be a black screen. He came this close to proclaiming the existence of five seasons of Angel to be the fruit of one big conspiracy theory.
I have to keep my mouth shut, every time he fishes for information. I know he doesn't want it, and it is too cute to hear him say, every time a Wolfram & Hart lawyer walks into the hotel: "They're going to loose their nice hotel. I know it. It's not going to survive this season. That's impossible."

Comments

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's only a matter of bad guys and good guys. The characters served the story Joss wanted to tell that's all. In BTVS it was about growing-up and female empowerment, in Ats it was about a violent man fighting his demons and trying to find his place in a violent and dark world.

The main characters carried the story, the secondary characters supported it, echoed it...but their deaths didn't stop the story and kiling them served the story of the main characters.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but still these shows did kill the "good guys" to tell the story. On another show it wouldn't be the case (scared of dropping ratings when one of the characters dies etc.) Joss has never been scared of these kinds if things. When he's got a story to tell he tells it, not paying attention to what the viewer wants or what someone says they want. That's what makes the show incredible in a way.

And saying "Joss is an evil evil man" is a way of making him into a demi-god. There is no more explanation necessary to understand his 'verse. ;-)