Dear WB, I Miss Angel

Dear WB,

I miss Angel. Each week on Wednesday (or whatever night you hid it---I think Angel was once scheduled on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before it finally had the same night for a few years), I was riveted by the story lines. I would read about the upcoming episode and think, "This description sounds like crap. How in the world can the son of two vampires have a daughter older than him and of a different race from both of her parents who will take over the world in the same episode? There is no way you can pull this off. "

Then I would watch it and not only think that it was amazing, but that the writers were remarkable for not only making me suspend disbelief, but believe these fantastic storylines. It made it humiliating to explain the story to others who were unfamiliar with the show, but it also taught me a valuable lesson that more overt intellectuals such as J.R.R. Tolkien tried to champion.

Also, it made me rethink what it means to be a "champion." Unlike Buffy the Vampire Slayer(BTVS), Angel was never ultimately vindicated for any thing that he did. He knew that he could never make up for any evil that he did. Certainly Buffy shared in the fear that her fight against evil was futile, but in the end, she won. I am the first to admit that it is a simplification of the BTVS plot, which I loved, but at the end of her series, I felt like the theme of her show was that to win against evil, power and responsibility must be shared. With the power of friendship and the unity of a group, anything, even one's inclination for self destruction, may be overcome.

Angel's plot also asserted this theme. For goodness sake, his group of friends stayed together as they died off one by one (and regardless of frequent betrayals and reverting to their sinful natures), but it was more like the real world. Even if Angel & the Fang Gang did the right thing for the right reason, it did not necessarily make a difference in their time. It was one battle in the war, and they did not reap the rewards.

Angel's writers never coddled them, and they always seemed doomed, but that did not stop them from fighting. I know that you are not going to resume the show, and the characters are probably dead in their fictional universe, but if you watched the last episode (and you probably didn't watch any of the episodes, so I will helpfully summarize it), it ended with our hero, Angel, the vampire with a soul, and his friends battling all the forces of evil in a rainy alley in L.A.

The writers did not even give them an umbrella or a sweater! I always worried about them, but they knew that "Nothing in the world is what it ought to be. Its harsh and cruel, but that is why there is us...champions. It doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done or suffered or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be."

Angel brought to the small screen what I believe as a Christian. By the grace of God, I have a soul and have not been given to the depravity of my nature, not because I deserve it. Actually, it is in spite of my nature and what I deserve that I have been given grace, but grace does not mean that I am suddenly perfect. If anything, it creates a new battle against evil in myself, in the world, among my friends and all those whom I try to help but instead hurt.

Because I can see how wrong I am and the world is, I must reflect this grace by trying to do better through my actions, i.e. works, even if my actions may not be visible in this world. Bad things happen to good people because there are no good people, including me. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:13)

I win by taking a stand. Our choice does matter--regardless of the outcome in our lives. It is not my responsibilty to win in the fight against good and evil, but to try to do good in case my choice or action will be the one that matters "for such a time as this (Esther 4:14)." It may result in something dramatic that changes my life for the better, but even if it does not (Daniel 3:18), I will still try to act as things should be on earth as they are in heaven.

So thank you for Angel. I try to fill my Wednesday nights with ABC action packed drama hits such as Lost and Alias, but it is not quite the same. Angel was not only entertaining, but it meant something and for that reason, I will dearly miss it.