TV Meme Day 30 and Getting to Know You Meme Day 3

[kungfuwaynewho]

To say that I was crushed when Wesley died is kind of an understatement.  I didn't watch an episode of Angel for five years after that.  Even now, I still just have to pretend that it didn't happen, because it was utterly senseless - and not the kind of Jossian "senseless things happen" that I deal with and even embrace when other characters of his die.  It just...there was no reason for it.  That was not how Wesley's character arc should have ended, it served no purpose in the larger narrative, it was just there.  Sigh.

And because this entry isn't long enough for the double cut text to actually hide the above spoiler, I am now including the video of Angel's dance sequence inside his head.

 

When I was two years old, and my parents wanted some time to themselves, or they needed to clean or cook or any other household task and not have a toddler underfoot, or my mom left for work in the morning and my dad came home from his night shift at the ammunition plant and needed a nap, they would put in Poltergeist.  Then they could cook or clean or watch something else quietly in the other room, or my dad could sleep, and I would sit quietly for two hours.

My dad introduced me to science fiction.  My mom taught me how to cook.

Growing up, I sometimes thought they were too strict, but I don't smoke or do drugs, I've never been arrested, I've never gotten a ticket, and I've never been drunk (although that has more to do with my remarkable alcohol constitution than anything else).  Whatever they did worked, I guess.

When my plans to move to LA imploded, they let me move back in with them no questions asked.  It was just the latest move in a lifetime of them supporting me anyway they could.  I know that there's never a problem I can't bring to them, never anything I can't tell them, nothing I can't ask of them.

Comments

[jerusha]

Another Wesley fan! I run into far too few of them, and I think Wesley's death made my top 3, even if it didn't beat out all the other senseless deaths I could think of.

Your parents sound like very cool people, and rather like my own. One of my earliest memories was of going to see Return of the Jedi with my dad, and being freaked out by Jabba the Hutt. I think I was 3.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

How are people not Wesley fans? I ♥ Wesley.

My favorite memory of my dad taking me to a movie was when he took me and my sister to see Interview With the Vampire when it came out. I was 12, she was 9. I was so excited. I think it was the first "grown-up" movie I saw in the theater.

[(Anonymous)]

It's interesting to me that you would say Wesley's death, which I also block out because it was so stupid. When I think of the saddest character death, Cordelia's death actually springs to mind because I think "You're Welcome" was actually really good and had a lot of emotional resonance. As you know, I was a HUGE Wesley fan. And his death on the show didn't move me at all. Didn't he ask Illyria to pretend to be Fred or something as he was dying? God, it was awful. There is a lot I really like about season 5 of Angel, but I thought they really handled Wesley terribly that season for the most part, which was a shame since he had the best arc on the show up until then.

Caroline

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I think Cordelia's death was less sad because she hadn't been on the show, and her death really was the resolution of her storyline. I think I probably sat and cried more when she died, whereas with Wesley I was just, like, what just happened? But I kept thinking about him, and how easy it is for a show to end and to let us just imagine the characters carrying on however we like, and how in the last five minutes of the show Joss was all, "Except Wesley!" It just hurt.

Yes, Illyria pretended to be Fred at the end. Wesley + Fred = blergh. Wesley + Illyria = ALWAYS AWESOME.

Hee, I like how you remind me that you're a huge Wesley fan. Like your commemorative plate didn't remind me enough. ;)

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

I'll admit it's been a long, LONG time since I watched Angel. Probably since the series finale. I had forgotten that Wesley died... so maybe I was blocking it out, too? Or maybe I had just forgotten. Now you've reminded me. Thanks :P

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I'd pretty much forgotten/blocked it out, too, when we started our never-completed rewatch a couple years ago. We were watching a Wesley-centric episode and I was enjoying myself, and then my sister sighed, "It was so sad when he died." Right. I hadn't been thinking about that, but now I am!

Usually I just tell myself that after Illyria left he realized that it wasn't a mortal wound after all, and met back up with everyone about five minutes after the finale ended.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

I should maybe get my hands on Angel on DVD. I watched it from beginning to end when it was on, and then I sort of moved on right away - probably because Bones started not long after that and sort of filled that niche for me. Or maybe it's still in reruns somewhere? I shall ask my DVR.