Discussion Angel / TropesFToJ

I'd like to cut down on the Five-Man Band, as-is, it's a bit unwieldy.

Current:

• Five-Man Band: Lampshaded by Fred in "Fredless", right down to naming Wesley as "the brain", Gun as "the muscle", and Cordy as "the heart". Later deconstructed by an incresingly-embittered Gunn ("Guise Will Be Guise"), who resents being the dumb muscle of the group. This gets inverted in Season Five with Gunn's neural implant, then doubly subverted in the series finale, when he rejects those abilities and returns to his old streetfighting persona. A lot of Angel Investigation's members do tend to adopt different roles in the show's run.
  • The Hero: Angel (obviously)
    • During the last third of season two, upon Angel's : firing of his team, his personal realization of his place, and eventual rejoining as a team (deciding to work for them, rather than as their boss) while Wesley and Angel tag-team as Hero and Lancer, trading off levels of importance from episode to episode, the dynamic is practically shifted around, with Wes being the Hero while Angel considers himself Wes' Lancer. Angel takes the role back again after for season 4 Wes betrays the team, albeit in an attempt to save Connor, and becomes abandoned by them.
    • Halfway into season 4, when Angel turns back into Angelus , Faith steps in for a few episodes as the hero.
  • The Lancer: Originally Doyle (season 1), replaced by Wesley (season 1 to season 3, before Wes takes over as Leader and Angel becomes the Lancer) who doubled as The Smart Guy. Cordelia could also be construed as the Lancer. Her more down-to-earth perspective contrasts nicely to Angel's anguished ideals on several occasions. Despite the fact that the Cordelia in Series 4 wasn't actually the real Cordy.. Spike takes over this role when he showed up in season 5.
  • The Smart Guy: Wesley and Fred. Upon the show expanding the Power Trio dynamic to a Five-Man Band one, and after Fred properly settled in and recovered from the hell dimension she was residing in, Fred became the brains, but Wesley still retained some elements of being it before, as well as being the Lancer. However, during Wesley being abandoned by the team towards the end of season 3, until mid season 4, Fred was free to hold this position alone. When Fred becomes The Chick and Spike becomes The Lancer in season 5, Wesley takes the role of The Smart Guy once again. This is what Gunn attempts to be with his brain implant in season 5, but it doesn't last.
  • The Big Guy: Gunn (he's the only Angel Investigations member that actually sticks to the same role throughout).
  • The Chick / The Heart: Cordelia in seasons 1 - 4 (when she isn't being considered a Lancer), Fred takes over for season 5. Also, possibly Lorne, given that he's a pacifist, the most morally right and compassionate, and there to mediate the mood. (In that his OOC moments in season 5 are enough to show him wavering.) But he initially starts off as a neutral ally to Angel Investigations, and he doesn't really move in with them till season 3, and even then doesn't become a full member till 4. After Fred's body is shelled out and is killed by Iyrilla mid season 5, Lorne presumably takes this role over, not that it's much good given that he's already a broken mess.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Lorne for most of the show's run he guest starred (seasons 2 - 4), as he was the last to join, wasn't officially a member for most of it, wasn't even billed in the credits, and even when he did join them he still wouldn't come with them on every mission. Spike could initially be seen as this for the start of season 5 (given that there were five others in defined roles, and he was literally the 6th member who rivaled The Hero), but Spike quickly develops himself as Angel's rival again to the point of becoming more of a Lancer than Wes, so Lorne retains his Sixth Ranger role, despite actually being the Fifth Ranger. After Fred's body is shelled out and is killed by Iyrilla mid season 5, along with being the Token Evil Teammate, Iyrilla takes this role for Lorne (who becomes The Chick after Fred).

Proposed:

• Five-Man Band: Lampshaded by Fred in "Fredless", right down to naming Wesley as "the brain", Gun as "the muscle", and Cordy as "the heart". Later deconstructed by an incresingly-embittered Gunn ("Guise Will Be Guise"), who resents being the dumb muscle of the group. While the Fang Gang's roster does shift and they move in roles, from seasons 2-4 they form a pretty consistent band:
  • The Hero: Angel. As Gunn points out, it's his name on the cards.
  • The Lancer: Wesley. Despite being referred to as The Smart Guy by Fred and Gunn, he really exists as a foil to Angel and to be his second-in-command. As such, he even winds up coming into conflict with Angel on multiple occasions, butting heads as Lancers are wont to do.
  • The Smart Guy: Fred. Wesley has some smart guy tendencies, but Fred's role in the team is solely to help with the science-y stuff.
  • The Big Guy: Gunn. He even resents that he's basically a blunt instrument to do the smashing.
  • The Chick: Cordelia. It's mentioned many times that she's what's holding the gang together (being explicitly referred to as The Heart), and that she's their moral compass. To the point that after she's gone, the gang finds themselves a part of Wolfram & Hart.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Lorne. For the most part not one of the group (they didn't even know his name for most of a season), Angel Investigations was just a favorite client of his whom he'd help out when he could. It's only after Caritas was destroyed that he really joined the group.

Edited by 156.33.241.3 Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them. Hide / Show Replies