Snowflake Day Three

[cornerofmadness]

Day 3 -In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I decided to put this one in it's own post because it might be long. It's no secret to those who've been on my flist for years I actually love one of the least liked characters on Angel. I've always felt Connor didn't get a fair shake by a lot of fans but that's not what I want to talk about today (though I did some meta on that years ago, even won an ethics scholarship from one of them)



I have to admit Season Three of Angel was almost my last. While I found the idea of Darla's pregnancy amazing with story possibilities, I actually hated Baby!Connor. I was also very disappointed in how the writers were tearing Cordelia back and forth between Groo and Angel (honestly I preferred her with Groo but that's neither here nor there).

And then we got New World, Benediction & Tomorrow

"Angel Trailer - 3.21 - Benediction" (Watch on YouTube)

"Angel Trailer - 3.22 - Tomorrow" (Watch on YouTube)

I was captivated from the moment Connor fell through the rift to Quor-Toth. I was actually surprised by how much a lot of fandom didn't go for this but as an author this idea fascinated me. Forget for a moment that season four is in the future with all the insanity that came with that thanks to them trying to write around Charisma's pregnancy (but I still maintain I want to see the original script ideas for that season done as a What If novel. Hell, I'd love to write it).

So what did I love so much about this bit of canon? Why do I love Connor? THink about it. You have an infant kidnapped by the man who hated his father so much he managed to come forward in time. On top of that Holtz ends up with baby Connor in the worst hell realm known to exist but somehow this doesn't kill them. Imagine the determination and grit it took to survive this, to not only survive but end up clawing your way to the top of the demon pack to be feared as "the Destroyer" before you're even 18 (which we're not even sure Connor is, that seems to be a number plucked from thin air so S4 Cordy isn't guilty of pedophilia).

Connor is tough, single minded and hell, half feral, displaying his abilities in battle by wearing a trophy of kills (creepy but sensible since Connor is tiny, claw-less and fang-less without magic). He might even be clever and crafty (either he is or Holtz is because someone made that stake launcher and the wrist axe. I'll buy they stole the axe either that or Connor has blacksmithing skills (which now I want to see) but the stakes are specifically vampire related so one of them made it. I was sad we never saw either weapon again.For his entire life he's been spoon fed hatred of vampires and of Angel in particular. It's like being raised in a racist household.

Not only does Connor get indoctrinated with Holtz's hate, he gets a first class education on how to kill vampires and all of it is wrapped up in 1700s religious zealotry. (Which is one of the reasons I was a bit stymied by fans who thought Connor should instantly forget all of this the moment he met Angel. I've met my share of people raised by racists, homophobes etc and have listened to their fight to shed their parents' prejudices. It doesn't happen overnight but so many fans expected that of Connor).

So now Connor reappears on Earth to people still expecting Baby!Connor. It's a world that has to absolutely terrify him. He wouldn't know what cars were, electricity, TV etc etc (judging by the fact he's running around in buckskins, I'm assuming that Quor-Toth did not have tech). He loses the gang attack on him, meets Angel and retreats without having a clue where is safe to retreat to because all he wanted to do was kill Angel and go home (Hell it had to be a shock to be immediately faced with his father).

Can you imagine how spun Connor had to be, dropped into a world he doesn't know, faced with drug dealers (and users), a complete lack of knowledge of human females (and learning a bit too fast) and topped off with Angel there blowing hot and cold as he panics over the possibility of Connor taking heroin without knowing what it was but on the other hand sacrificing himself to be a bullet shield for Connor (who probably has no idea what the hell a gun is).

And that's all in one show. The two remaining shows of the year have Connor so gaslit by nearly every character it's a miracle he didn't snap right then and there. To give Angel credit,he tried to get the others to use Connor's other name because hell, Stephen had never heard the name Connor. Fred and Gunn keep themselves distant from him. Lorne and Connor immediately dislike each other because in Connor's world the only good demon is a dead demon.

To top it off Holtz is telling COnnor he needs to be with Angel confusing the hell out of him. He doesn't realize it (nor do we) that this is the beginning of the gas lighting. Both of his fathers do it to him as well. Angel sends him off with Gunn and Fred who believe (and Gunn and Cordy agree with it) Angel is going to kill Holtz. While it wasn't Angel's intent he doesn't make it clear to anyone and his friends inadvertently lead Connor to believe that's exactly what Angel is about to do.

Holtz has already planned to kill himself (either he's dying from the affects of Quor-Toth or this is the only revenge he can think of) and make it look like he's been killed by Angel (after already sending Connor off to live with Angel with a long letter about it, so we learn Connor at least has been educated enough to read, but that's the only time we ever see Connor's education so the times Angel throws him out in S4 makes you wonder how the hell Connor was meant to support himself).

Led to believe Angel is Holtz's murdered, Justine keeps piling it on (even after Connor is then forced to behead and burn the only father he has ever known). She gaslights him right into taking revenge and oh what Angelus-worthy revenge it is. Which is really what sinks him with a lot of fans I know but I found it fantastic, wonderful even in how evil it was. It was an amazing punishment and to me, you can't actually blame Connor for it. Sadly I know people who have had a parent murdered and they have been vocal in things like would like to do to their parents murderer. I see what Connor did as in line with that.

This was some of the most brilliant story telling in the entire Angel series. I would have loved to have seen it played out on the show, them coming back from this major dysfunction (instead we get Angel acting like a jealous ass and the others being grossed out as if somehow Connor remembered Cordy being 'mom' in the first few days of his life, something shared by a lot of fans who were angry with him rather than with Cordelia who is far more to blame for that, which yeah I wasn't a fan of either).

So when you boil it down, Connor is an abused, misled, under-loved young man who was rich with story possibilities and that's why I loved it. See, told you it would run long

Comments

[aaronlisa]

I never really saw Connor's story that way. Thank you for sharing. I often felt that the writers tried to do too much with his story line in too little time. That said, I was always grossed out bu Connor/Cordelia not because of Connor's actions but because of Cordelia's actions. And because I thought that it was the worse thing the writers could have done with either character and the payoff was so weak. I think his character arc was much like Dawn's - very strong to begin with and then the writers just didn't know what to do with him.

[runpunkrun]

It's so great when a show pulls you back in like this, especially if you were about to give up on it. Thanks for sharing!

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Cool! You have a point re: "creepy but sensible", also about other things. :)

[spikedluv]

It's been so long since I've watched Angel, but I really enjoyed reading this.

[cornerofmadness]

I agree with you on a lot of this.

And definitely the Cordy/Connor think was bad because while he would have no idea Cordy was 'mom' or that she was with Angel, Cordy did know (which I guess we were to assume she was possessed. God, I wish they wouldn't have tried to work her pregnancy in like this. It would have been SO easy to just blame Groo). And Angel didn't make it better acting like a jealous jerk instead of worrying about abandoning his son.

[cornerofmadness]

Thank you.

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks. For me there was a lot of interesting moments with Connor's character.

[cornerofmadness]

It's been forever since I've watched it too. I just started rewatching it but already got offtrack.

[aaronlisa]

I think the whole Cordy/Connor thing could have been handled a million times better. I just felt that it was so rushed and after watching the season again, it didn't stand up to the first viewing of it. I think the reason why it doesn't work is due to sloppy writing and just laziness.

I've heard some rumors that Whedon wasn't impressed with Carpenter being pregnant and I have to wonder if the way her character was ruined was because of his pettiness over it.

[cornerofmadness]

No argument. It was badly written and destroyed the potential of two characters.

I hadn't heard that rumor about Charisma and Whedon until last year (which makes sense with the Me Too stuff). It wouldn't surprise me