buffy rewatch 2012, late s2: the thin line between angel and angelus
I just finished watching, for the third time, Becoming, Parts 1 and 2. I didn't cry as much as I probably did at least one of the other times, but it's pretty much impossible to look at Buffy's face when she sees Acathla open over the shoulder of just-reensouled-Angel and not choke up. Anyway, now that I'm (at least somewhat) immune to the creepiness/horribleness of Angelus and can recognize his amusing/compelling sides more (though I suppose he was always compelling in the way that sociopaths tend to be), I've found myself thinking a lot about the Angel/Angelus dichotomy in this rewatch. Partly because I just read David Foster Wallace's analysis/essay about David Lynch in which he argues that the creepiness of Twin Peaks et al lies in Lynch's unflinching exposure of the dark side of humanity, that his movies make us morally uncomfortable: I've been thinking about this idea of being morally uncomfortable, and Angel(us) is the emblem of morally uncomfortable in the Buffyverse.