"One Bit Shy" <OBS@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:fuKdnRXc_tLGFZjVnZ2dnUVZ_tWtnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:4cdb5302-bf6f-4392-a100-8bc04815235b@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> s.com...
>
>> Keep everyone else running around in circles during
>> the few weeks it takes to have herself as a baby. I'll go a
>> step further in the same direction. Rightly or wrongly,
>> Jasmine has fixated on Angel as her greatest enemy, the world's
>> champion. One she's born, he'll be harmless, but until then,
>> he's the threat. She knows that she can't hide the fact of her
>> pregnancy from him forever. And - here's the crux of this
>> argument - she knows for an absolute fact that he will find out
>> quickly, and upon doing so, he will recognize that the birth is
>> an evil thing, and he will stop it. Make it mystical instinct
>> if necessary. Her solution is to do whatever it takes to get
>> him under her control, or, failing that, at least get him out
>> of the world-saving picture (in a way that also ties his
>> sidekicks up). Molding Connor into her champion and going into
>> hiding is plan B, which helps her get through the last few
>> days, but only barely. It wouldn't have been enough had she
>> not kept Angel away until then.
>
> The pregnancy, as we know, is brief. Going low profile would
> have been as simple as telling Angel that she needs a couple
> weeks to work this out on her own, and then taking off to Death
> Valley or something (with Connor in tow if she wants). It
> wouldn't be the first time that she's taken time off.
Some thoughts:
1) Perhaps the way that Jasmine sees the world is still influenced
by how Cordelia saw the world. Jasmine sees Angel as a great
champion who she must neutralize because Cordelia saw him as a great
champion--as a hero who would always find a way to help her.
(There is precedent for this sort of influence. Vampires, for
example. And the First Evil seems to be influenced by the
personality of the beings whose form it takes.)
2) Jasmine concluded, either from prophecies, or from divine
intuition that Angel would be a threat to her plans. So she decides
to eliminate the threat by turning him into Angelus.
(It is not clear whether this actually helped her in the long run.)
>
>> This is fanwank, and clearly so. But what matters is that it's
>> enough to satisfy my narrative sense and let me, personally,
>> get past what would otherwise be the biggest hiccup in my
>> enjoyment of re-watching Season Four. Any irritation left over
>> when things don't fit can be transferred to the Jasmine
>> episodes, which I don't like so much, without tainting my
>> appreciation of the run leading to favorites like "Orpheus" and
>> "Inside Out."
>
> OK. Here's the thing for me. It's not just Angel and Angelus.
> It's the Beast and rain of fire and blotting out the sun too.
> What does *any* of it accomplish other than alerting people that
> trouble's coming?
Two things.
1) The Beast, etc. would have helped Jasmine appear as a Savior.
Various sorts of apocalyptic stuff happens. Then Jasmine appears and
makes it all go away. Even without her mind-control powers that
could get her an impressive following.
And while she didn't really NEED the extra boost that would have
given her, she might have wanted it as insurance in case her strength
didn't build as rapidly as she hoped.
2) In the shorter term, nothing short of apocalyptic events are
going to convince the Fang Gang that it's a good idea to bring out
Angelus.
--
Michael Ikeda mmikeda@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Telling a statistician not to use sampling is like telling an
astronomer they can't say there is a moon and stars"
Lynne Billard, past president American Statistical Association
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