I must first of all confess that I am nowhere near as familiar with "Angel" as I am with "Buffy". I have seen the former and I know its plots and whatnot, but I haven't paid it as much attention as I have to its parent series. One character in particular, however has made me become a big fan of "Angel" recently, and that is Winifred "Fred" Burkle. As soon as she was introduced in season two's "Belonging" as a slave girl in Pylea, I was captivated by her character. I loved her eccentric nature, her sweet voice and her general adorable demeanor. Though she was initially (understandably) shaken up by the five years that she had spent in Pylea, when she was returned to Los Angeles, she developed and grew into a fantastic character. Fans were enchanted by her caring, intelligent and curious nature -- the same curious nature that inadvertently got her killed.
Fred's death is arguably the saddest on-screen death from the entire Buffyverse. The episode "A Hole in the World" was essentially solely focused on it. She did not die quickly either, it was excruciating and agonisingly slow. It is a brutal episode to watch, especially when you consider how much of a lovely character Fred was. At this point in the series, her and Wesley had just started becoming an item, but due to her departure, they barely even had a chance to be together. The scene where Wesley cradles her on the bed and she weakly asks him why she can't stay between fits of sobs before dying in his arms is beyond heartbreaking to watch. Not only is Fred's death scene an undeniable tear-jerker, when you consider how she died, it is truly awful. She was obliterated from the inside; her organs were cooked then liquefied and her skin was hardened (turning it slightly blue). It isn't just the physicality of Fred's death that was heinous though, her soul was also destroyed, meaning that she would not be able to be resurrected or even get to rest in peace. The episode is certainly a massive departure from the previous episode "Smile Time", which is often revered as being the funniest episode of "Angel".
To me, the most tragic part about Fred's death is not even really the death scene, it's more of how the rest of Team Angel have to see "her" after, with Illyria using Fred's body and branding Fred as a, quote-en-quote, "shell".
As horrific as Fred's death was, though, Illyria's awakening was frankly, awesome. After Fred dies in Wesley's arms, the camera pans in on "her" eyes which turn from her usual deep brown to a chilling bright blue. Then "she" pushes him off the bed, sending him flying across the room. "Fred" convulses and writhes on the floor before suddenly standing up, now with a blue tint all over her skin and blue-streaked hair: this is Illyria. She delivers just two words, "This'll do." in a cold, strict tone as she examines her new human vessel by slightly flexing her left hand. Illyria then proceeds to look at herself in the mirror, she moves her mouth around, no doubt adjusting to having a human mouth instead of the large jaws that she once had. Illyria is not your standard demon, such as a vampire or anything of that ilk, she is an Old One -- a pure bred ancient demon that had inhabited the earth long before humans. So naturally, when she is thrust into a world teeming with humans millions of years later, she rapidly becomes confused. This is exacerbated once she discovers her temple and kingdom in ruins ("Shells"). By the end of the episode, Illyria requests for Wesley's help in integrating into the human world; this marks the beginning of, in my opinion, one of the most interesting character dynamics from the whole Buffyverse.
Due to Illyria being so out of touch with the modern world, she needed help in understanding basic concepts, such as time. Wesley worked as, she said, her "guide", even though it was blatantly extremely painful for him to do so. He even admits to Illyria that he is only helping her because she looks like Fred. During the seven full episodes that Illyria is present in, my heart aches for Wesley in particular. The woman he loved had been hollowed from the inside out and taken over by a murderous former God King who did not take kindly to the human world. Quite a departure from a good-natured physicist, yes?
Perhaps this is somewhat odd of me to declare, but I also felt bad for Illyria. Theoretically, I really shouldn't. Illyria was the cause of my favourite "Angel" character's death, but she was so much more than a standard villain, if you can even call her that. Although her time on the show was unfairly short (thanks to the cancellation of the series), she had a huge impact and she had developed a great deal over the episodes that she was present in. One of the biggest developments for her occurs in the finale, "Not Fade Away" when Wesley dies in her arms, somewhat echoing Fred's death in "A Hole in the World". She appears to him as Fred and offers him comfort as he dies from a fatal stab wound. Once he his dead, Illyria immediately takes vengeance and she epicly punches Vail's skull, smashing it spectacularly. She later confesses to the others that she cannot control her grief for him and that she wishes to do more violence. Unfortunately, we do not get to see more of Illyria with her newfound emotions. It is difficult to not feel bad for her when her guide to the human world is taken from her; the only thing that she actually had in this world. I also couldn't help but see Illyria as somewhat vulnerable. She truly was exceptionally confused and almost child-like within her approach to certain things (such as playing video games). Ultimately, Illyria was lost and she felt purposeless. This was further perpetuated in the episode "Time Bomb" where due to Fred's body not being able to handle Illyria's immense power, her powers were forcibly depleted somewhat so that she could live. Naturally, Illyria's ego was seriously jaded afterwards and she felt, in her words, "defeated". She had even stated that she felt it was worse than death.
"The Girl in Question" is an episode in which something pivotal to Illyria's character occurs. Fred's parents come to visit and Wesley is preparing himself to tell them what happened to their daughter. Noticing this, Illyria poses as Fred and interacts with her parents in an extremely convincing way. Illyria's motivations behind this are implied as her wanting to understand emotions better and her wanting to save more inconvenience from grief. Fans frequently discuss this scene and many describe Illyria's actions as cruel, as some fans think that Fred's parents ought to have known the truth. I agree to an extent, but ultimately, I think that by Illyria posing as Fred, it helped her out a lot in her path to becoming more sympathetic towards others. This, of course factors in when Wesley dies, two episodes later.
One aspect I like to mull over in my mind about Illyria is what side she was on. Was she truly evil? I do not think so. Yes, when she was first introduced into the series, she had immediately attempted to carry out her plans of raising her Army of Doom and eradicating humans from the earth, but once she realised that she could not, she attempted to learn more about the ways of the world and fit in. Though Illyria was not by any means kind and compassionate, she was still an ally to Team Angel, which was proven when she stood by their side for the apocalyptic battle against the Black Thorn in "Not Fade Away". Of course the ending is ambiguous as we do not know if she actually did end up helping them, but taking it at face value, she seemed to be on their side.
Illyria did think of herself as being above the others, but she was royalty so it is understandable. It isn't the first time that a character has thought of themselves as being better than others, either. Buffy, who was undoubtedly a hero had a superiority complex ("Conversations with Dead People", so Illyria's colossal ego did not equate to her being evil, by any means.
I have referred to Illyria's interactions with Wesley a fair amount during this essay, but Wesley aside, she had great interactions with numerous other characters, too. My favourite of which was certainly Spike. Spike and Illyria had some terrific scenes together -- I particularly enjoyed the scenes where the two sparred together. Whenever the two interacted, Spike always maintained his cocky and casual demeanor towards her which often led to some hilarious moments. I like to think that had they survived the battle at the end, Spike would have shown Illyria a bar and taught her how to drink alcohol. Can Old Ones get drunk? What a funny thought.
To me, it is extremely evident that Amy Acker is a phenomenal actor. Not only did she do a great job at portraying Fred's character, but she was outstanding as Illyria. A scene in "Shells" is a great example to use, when Illyria suddenly channels a memory of Fred's and briefly reenacts Fred's death scene to Wesley, even using Fred's voice. Everything about Illyria was different to Fred, particularly her personality and her actions. Amy made her voice lower and there was absolutely no trace of a southern American accent when she portrayed Illyria. Illyria had stiff, jerky movements compared to Fred's bounciness. Little nuances all combined together really convinced me that Amy Acker is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best actors from the entire Buffyverse.
My only complaint about the Illyria arc is that I truly wish that we could have been treated to more. Had the series continued, perhaps there would have eventually been romance between her and Wesley (or maybe even Spike!). I wish that we could have seen her develop even more so. Could you imagine the possibilities with a whole other season of "Angel"? In fact, I would have liked to have learned more about the Old Ones in general. It truly is such a tragic shame that the series didn't continue, and I know that I am not alone in thinking that.
So, what do you think about Illyria? Love her? Hate her? Let me know!
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*Last edited and re-vamped on 20/05/15 in order to fit more extensive research and thoughts in.
To me, it is extremely evident that Amy Acker is a phenomenal actor. Not only did she do a great job at portraying Fred's character, but she was outstanding as Illyria. A scene in "Shells" is a great example to use, when Illyria suddenly channels a memory of Fred's and briefly reenacts Fred's death scene to Wesley, even using Fred's voice. Everything about Illyria was different to Fred, particularly her personality and her actions. Amy made her voice lower and there was absolutely no trace of a southern American accent when she portrayed Illyria. Illyria had stiff, jerky movements compared to Fred's bounciness. Little nuances all combined together really convinced me that Amy Acker is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best actors from the entire Buffyverse.
My only complaint about the Illyria arc is that I truly wish that we could have been treated to more. Had the series continued, perhaps there would have eventually been romance between her and Wesley (or maybe even Spike!). I wish that we could have seen her develop even more so. Could you imagine the possibilities with a whole other season of "Angel"? In fact, I would have liked to have learned more about the Old Ones in general. It truly is such a tragic shame that the series didn't continue, and I know that I am not alone in thinking that.
So, what do you think about Illyria? Love her? Hate her? Let me know!
X
*Last edited and re-vamped on 20/05/15 in order to fit more extensive research and thoughts in.