An overarching
characteristic of megalomaniacs is how quickly the petty priorities of one's
followers become ... boring.
Jasmine: Oh, it's always about you. [mocking] "I'm burning! I'm
on fire! Put me out!" [/mocking] What about my needs? I hurt
my hand while commandeering your brain. You were barely able to menace
properly before that whole immolation thing shut down your higher functions and
now she got away!
This was the best and most important argument for why having Jasmine as your
god isn't necessarily the best choice -- not that it is a choice, of
course. People don't seem to have any say in the matter. All one has to do is
experience Jasmine's presence and mind warp.
As a metaphor for organized religion, this is where it gets a little sketchy.
People who follow Jesus, or Muhammed, or the teachings of Zoroaster are all
making, on some level, a conscious decision.
Once they've had their conversion experience they do -- from the
perspective of any self-respecting atheist -- sometimes seem to act with a hive
mentality that seems like the townspeople all converging on the heretic. Public
stonings, the burning of witches, the waging of a Crusade against the infidel,
the lesser jihad, flying airplanes into buildings -- all of it looks
like mob mentality.
And, as illustrated in this arc, it can be frightening.
A more useful metaphor is the thrall that Jasmine casts, the unquestioning
abdication of self-direction of a cult. As Fred discusses with the creepy
bookstore guy, Jasmine represents a mind control that overrides your moral and
critical thought processes. When Gunn, Wes and Lorne are discussing what's
happened to Angel, they are as impassive concerning the killing of Angel as
they might be about eating a sandwich.
As for whether what Jasmine offers is actually a lie, she does play fast and
loose with the truth, per se. When asked how Fred managed to turn Angel
against them, Jasmine said it was her kindness -- not her blood, even
though she herself had come to that realization in the confrontation in the
book store -- to the extent that she'd rather burn the place to the ground
rather than risk losing anyone else through contact with her blood (even though
there is some question as to whether the creepy bookstore guy escaped that
little firetrap).
Later, she comes right out and tells Connor she ate some of her followers, and
Connor's completely OK with that.
Even in his first night back from Qor-toth -- where incidentally there are,
apparently, trees growing since he said Holtz would tie him to trees and then
run away -- Connor had some sense of morality. When he saw Sunny being hurt (in
S3x20 "A New World") his instincts were to defend her.
So his response to this realization -- "Cool" -- seems to indicate
that Fred is right -- that the thrall in fact shifts all sense of right and
wrong.
So what you have, objectively, is a demon who invades the mind (you saw how
Jasmine distracted everyone from her hand by making them think about the
plumbing on the third floor) and keeps everyone marinating in a Demerol high
until she eats them, and there are those who would argue that she's not
evil?
What are the standards for good and evil these days? If you're only helping
people through ignoring other realities (how “helped” was that guy on fire,
exactly?) then when do the other realities get addressed?
I guess if Jasmine was able to make everyone love each other and bring about
world peace while only eating plankton, perhaps, there'd be several points in her
favor. But naming all 37 of your cats "Jasmine" doesn't solve world
hunger and doesn't address the hole in the ozone layer and it doesn't ... a guy
was willing to leave his family homeless to get a room near Jasmine, for
Jasmine's sake.
To borrow another line from another series, does that seem right to you?
To gain a little perspective on how far speculative fiction has come, the vibe
at the end of "To Serve Man" is pretty uncompromising. The Kanamites
were hailed as heroes when they solved world hunger and ended poverty and
disease and turned the planet into their own personal people ranch -- until
someone found out about it, at which point it was pretty horrifying.
So ... maybe if they'd been played by Gina Torres there'd be more sympathy for
them at the end.
SIDE NOTES: Fred's interaction with that little asparagus demon was very cool,
and it made me wonder what kind of a thrall was going on when people could be
missing their hands and not raise some sort of an outcry, but then I figured he
went dumpster-diving at the local morgue, so it was probably OK.
- Also compelling in the discussion of Jasmine as evil or not evil was Angel
and Connor mangling a retrofit karaoke version of Barry Manilow's
"Mandy."
- The kiss between Fred and Angel not fooling anyone was still a nice try.
- And the plan to use some of Cordy's blood to shift perspectives on Jasmine
was pretty wild. I'm glad it worked, but ... wow. Lorne's discovery was a
little weird, tho. He saw the blood on Cordy's pillow, but he didn't see the
two unmistakable shapes of Angel and Fred kneeling there? Even from the back,
all that sticky-up hair alone ...
- How about everyone holding hands in Jasmine's room before the painful kink
that needed working out? Somebody sing "Kum-Bah-Ya" already ☺
- The reference of Wes kidnapping Connor was interesting. I think that that was
one of the things Wes would love to forgive himself for, and while under the
thrall, he was probably almost able to, giving some shape to the pain that
accompanied the lifting of Jasmine's thrall. But it's another point against
her, ultimately. In Jasmania, no one has to face consequences or take
responsibility for their actions -- which might be another dig at organized
religion (though Christ, for example, in Matt. 5:23 says to try to make things
right with your fellow beings to achieve forgiveness, and in Matt. 6:14, he
says we need to offer forgiveness whether it's asked of us or not). Oftentimes,
the hardest thing to do is to forgive yourself, of course, and that thrall just
seemed to make that part easier.
- Another Wes note, his presentation before open-mike night of the gentle
graceful Fred as an armed, dangerous and quite possibly insane heretic was just
fun.
- Bringing that home was that absolutely artistic vision of Amy Acker making a
run for it in the sewers of Los Angeles in the opening sequence, her graceful
form disappearing into the shadows. That was one emotionally powerful image.
Well, I see our old friends The Powers that Sit There Drinking Maragritas
Poolside seem bent on closing the bar down, so here's one final point to
ponder: Did Team Angel ever actually apologize to Fred for hunting her down
like a dog? I know Fred apologized for breaking the thrall on Angel, but ... it
feels like some apologies for not believing her and threatening death were in
order.
Maybe, as Gunn said, it was indeed, "Thanks for nothing."