Wes: I've
been unreasonable. Because I've lost all reason.
I don't know why his shooting of Knox came as such as surprise.
From the beginning of this episode, from breaking a tempered axe on Illyria's
unmoved hair, from his attempts to disgust her with her current condition --
humans are everywhere, puking their emotions on you from every direction go
back to where you were -- he was listening, strategizing, recategorizing
his loss and grief and rage into assault.
His emptiness at the hollowed out husk of Fred, this glowing power inside of
it, whose every utterance was madness, vertigo, complete, merciless,
unassailably shifting perception -- you are all so tiny, so insignificant
-- when seconds before he was her entire world.
Illyria had no patience for worship. Humanity's regard for her was immaterial.
She Was. Knox's awe and rapture was as unbidden and as inconsequential as
Wesley's rage.
In many respects, Wesley became her true Kwa'ha-zan, her high priest, but
getting there was an episode of pain.
Step One: The doctor, who testified from his limitless medical knowledge that
Winifred Burkle's eternal soul was "consumed in the fires of
regeneration." Stick to brain boosts and Xray vision, doc, and leave the
condition of the soul to more practical theologians like Willow.
Step Two: Vulnerability. Illyria's mastery over time and space was
demonstrated, unassailable. Her raiment -- two rolls of electrical tape
(homina) and the very fact of her being made her invulnerable, but her little
time-freezing trick made her untouchable. Angel's intuition that the gemstone
from the sarcophagus gave him power was dead on.
Step Three: Devastation. As powerful as Illyria was, her army, her temple,
these assets, in their destruction, knocked her harder than an axe to the back
of her head. Even Wesley's murder of Knox was immaterial to her. On seeing the
devastation in her absence, she lost part of her divinity.
Sacrifice: Knox was only part of it. The refusal of the Scoobies to help lost a
phone to the effort. But when Wesley discovered Gunn's part in the arrival of
the god-in-the-box ...
Stab.
Knife in the gut.
If Wes could ... share the feelings he'd had for the past 24 hours into a
single, physical attack ...
Observation: This is another compelling reason for why "A Hole in the
World" and "Shells" needed to be aired back-to-back rather than
separated by a week, the sequence in "A Hole in the World" featuring
Gunn singing "Three Little Maids" included Gunn looking into Wesley's
eyes saying "If you ever do
anything to hurt her ..."
Gunn tuneful brain boost came ultimately at the cost of Fred, his goodwill with
Team Angel -- which had been
bruised before, but which was entirely broken with the realization of his
involve- ment, however tangential and
unintended -- in her death -- and in the face of Wesley's rage, his physical
well-being.
Knife to the gut.
Devastation in every direction.
Illyria's temple.
Wesley's grief.
Knox's guilt.
Gunn's complicity.
Lorne's collapse.
Angel's ineffectuality.
Fred's death.
And … a flicker of hope.
Illyria, in her loss, returns to W&H, to her sarcophagus, to Wesley.
With no army, no priest and no power base, she's at loose ends to walk in this
world.
Based perhaps more on the acuity of his loss than anything else, Illyria is
drawn to him as her guide.
“Shells” ends
with a fragile alliance between Illyria and Wesley, and through him, with
W&H.
It ends with Wesley packing the contents of Fred's life into cardboard boxes.
Packing away the master of chaos.
With Fred packing into a pickup on her way to her new life.
And everything we know awaits her on that journey.
A tearful goodbye.