Essay: The Originally Named 'Essay on Soul Purpose - Ats 5:10'

My contribution to the 'Ats - End of Days' project is an essay on 'Soul Purpose' Ats 5:10.

Many thanks to vic_amy_z for the beta and to mogigraphia for the html formatting advice.



The Originally Named ‘Essay on Soul Purpose – Ats 5:10’
By Vampire Fever

Introduction – In which I moan about my initial lack of inspiration

Spike and Angel are my OTP, so when I got 'Soul Purpose' allocated to me as part of the Angel 'End of Days' project, I was very pleased. Here was a serious episode that focused on the two vampires, the issues between them and the roles they were playing in the scheme of things. It also had the added bonus of being the episode directed by David Boreanaz.

It was shaping up to be a really good episode to write about. I was looking forward to discussing souls and destinies and Shanshu's. I expected to be focusing on Angel's fear that joining Wolfram & Hart had made him redundant, irrelevant and unnecessary. The fear that he had been turned away from his path to redemption and, in the process, had been robbed of his hero status. Angel's fear of the damage done by being at W&H was being exacerbated by Spike's presence – another souled vampire, who he suspected was taking over his role and destiny, whilst he faded into obscurity.

Lots of meaty issues – it was going to be a great essay. I was going to analyse all of Angel's demon induced hallucinations and pull out all the little visual clues that show he feared being replaced by Spike and that his friends had no more use for him.

I was going to give an example to show that being a souled vampire had lost its exclusivity and now meant nothing. I was going to quote the scene where in Angel's hallucination, Fred cuts him open and removes various body parts/objects from inside of him:

Angel gasps, as Fred pulls a fish bowl, half filled with water out of him; upon closer inspection she sees a goldfish in the bowl

Fred:There's your soul (notices the goldfish is dead)
Ooh. We're gonna have to flush this. (Hands the fishbowl to a man in a bear suit standing behind her)

A dead goldfish in a bowl. How brilliant is that as a metaphor for a soul!

Then later in another hallucination where Angel is lying in his bed, next to Spike making love to Buffy:

Angel: You're taking Buffy to the prom?
Buffy (her face hidden): Can you say jumping the gun? I kill my goldfish.
Angel: I thought we were going to -
Spike (to Angel): Shh. I can't be a marathon man with all your yammering

There's the goldfish metaphor again. Buffy kills her goldfish, quid pro quo she killed Angel's soul when they made love, but Spike can make love to her without any risk to his soul.

So there's just a snippet of all the references I could use. There was oodles to write about and I was so excited. That was until I re-watched 'Soul Purpose' again and it all went out of the window.

What was the point of writing about souls and destines and Angel's response to being head of W&H, when everything that could be said on the subject was there in the script? I didn't have to tease meanings from Angel's hallucinations because they weren't hidden. Nothing was actually sub-text – it was all plain text. There for all to see.

Was my essay redundant before I even began to write it? I watched the show again and printed out the script and then it dawned on me. 'Soul Purpose' is about Angel and Spike – what connects them and what pushes them apart.

For Angel, the text focuses on his fears of being unneeded, unwanted and replaced. For Spike the text focuses on nefarious means of giving him Angel's destiny. But it does more than that. It shows a much more fundamental connection between the two vampires. The sub-text screams the real thing that both unites and separates them – and its not souls or Shanshu's or destinies. It's loneliness and need.

Part 1 – In which I witter on about how Angel and Spike seem so different

And if loneliness and need is what connects them, what causes them both to be so alone is their inability to recognise the similarities between them.

On the surface the two vampires are direct opposites of each other; Spike is brash and irreverent, Angel is broody and burdened with the weight of responsibility. Their situations are also in total contrast to each other:

Angel	Spike
Lives in a luxurious apartment and is CEO of a wealthy and powerful organisation.	Lives in a pitiful apartment, and, at the urging of 'Doyle', works alone.
Cursed with a soul.	Rewarded with a soul.
Not allowed a moment of true happiness.	Can experience everything life has to offer.
Being marginalized by his friends and colleagues.	Being offered a role at W&H.

But apart from both being vampires with a soul, there are many things that connect the two of them. However, neither of them seem to have worked that out.

Part 2 – In which I make a poor attempt to show how dense Angel is

Angel only sees Spike as an irritant and a rival for his Shanshu.

His first hallucination is a re-enactment of 'Destiny'. In his dream, as the loser in the fight for the enchanted chalice, he burns to dust leaving Spike with the big reward. But let's think back. Spike was the champion in BtVS's 'Chosen' and his reward for that was to burn up. In this dream Angel burns up for NOT being the champion.

However, look how similar their situations are. They both raced for the goblet, both wanted to be the one promised with a reward, but to what end? Spike has already died heroically saving the world and has been resurrected, had been given back his 'life'. Angel has been sent to hell, but survived and returned to 'live' again.

Spike's resurrection was hardly a reward. Is he in a better situation than he was in before? What do either of them actually want the destiny for? Aren't they already heroes? What difference would being human make?

If Spike had not been resurrected would he have gone to heaven, or have they both escaped from hell? Aren't their current lives on earth already their Shanshu's?

Part 3 – In which I show where Spike could do with having his eyes opened

Spike also does not seem to see anything that connects him to Angel.

Lindsey, for his own purposes, by pretending to be a cross between Doyle and Whistler, sets out to convince Spike that he needs to take over from Angel in being the crusading hero. Lindsey reproduces Angel's experiences almost to the letter - same situation, same weapons, same lines. Spike being Spike though, doesn't buy it. He doesn't see himself as lost or wanting.

Spike is approached by a stranger [to him] at a club:

Man in club: A guy like you, whiling away his time in some cheesy downtown strip dive. Look like somebody who's feeling kinda lost.
Spike: Is that right? Funny, thought I knew exactly where I was.

Later on in the episode, Spike approaches a vampire in an alley:

Spike: Evening
Vampire: Get lost!
Spike: Already am, according to some.

Angel has a hallucination that he's lost:

(Lorne is playing the piano)

Angel: I think .. I think I'm lost.
Lorne: Order a drink!
Angel: Everything hurts.
Lorne: Now you're getting it. Everything hurts, and then we die. Or in your case, everything hurts and then you go on and on and on..
Angel: I don't know what to do.

Spike denies that he is lost and Angel needs hallucinations tell him that he is. What is sure is that both of them are floundering in this episode. Spike allows himself to be manipulated by Lindsey and Angel's mind is in turmoil. Neither of them seems to know if they are on the correct path.

Part 4 – In which I make a half baked attempt at pointing out how similar they are and overuse the word 'both'

Although Joss and the other writers seem to attach the doing of good deeds to the having of a soul, BtVS and Ats canon contradicts this. Spike was not wholly evil before he got his soul and Angel did nothing of any note for the first 100 years after getting his. And of course, there's the obvious point that all Joss' humans have souls and that doesn't stop them being evil. For all their personality differences, a fundamental connection between the 2 vampires is that they are both essentially good men trying to do their best in a harsh, cruel world.

They are also both physically alone. Although surrounded by friends and colleagues, Angel lies sick in bed and no one takes the time to check up on him. Until Lindsey intervenes, Spike is homeless with no friends at all.

Neither of them have love in their lives. Spike may have had a brief encounter with Harmony and Angel similar encounters with Nina and Eve, but great passion and romance is absent for both of them. Angel may have been cursed to never find true happiness, but without similar restrictions, Spike is just as unlucky in love.

Conclusion – In which the essay shudders to an abrupt and unsatisfactory end

Then there's the ending of the episode: Manipulated by Lindsey, Spike saves Angel.
To tell the truth, I'm not sure what the point of that was for the writers, but for me the sub-text screams NEED.

Angel needs Spike to survive. Spike needs Angel to be his purpose for living. The fact that they are blind to their mutual need is what pushes them apart and what keeps them lost. They both struggle on alone; unknowingly seeking the answer to the question of whether having a soul actually has, or needs, a purpose. Alone, they search for their Shanshus, ignorant to the fact that their destinies are intertwined.


End.

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