There Are No People Like Us

“There's a kind of head canon I've developed about the idea of Cangel and how, like, I think Cordelia and Angel would have worked as a couple [re: Angel's curse] because I think--”

“So you're speaking specifically of—my objection has been Angel can't have a romance because it's damned if he doesn't turn evil, because the person that he's with is like ‘Wait, you're not evil??? I don't make you perfectly happy??? D': — or he turns evil.”

“And my counter to that is Angel only turned evil in season two of Buffy because he didn't know that the curse was a thing.”

“Interesting.” 

“Angel with the knowledge—with the person he is and the character he has—knowing that he could go evil is that thorn in his conscience that could never let himself be content, and be happy, and actually achieve perfect happiness.”

“I like that. One of the necessities of perfect happiness is the ability to feel safe.”

“Yeah. Uh, like, safe and content and not in fear. So, in my opinion, like the only way for him to become Angelus again, it requires some sort of mind mojo that would make him forget that fact.  And that is—I think that's kind of what we see happen in the season four arc when he does; when they take his soul away. Because not only does that arc require an entire hallucinated sequence of every loose end in the season, and in the character arcs coming down in a way that stops hurting him. But also with an entire hallucination sequence, it would be a relatively minor edit to, like, make that detail drop out of his mind as part of that.”

“Yeah. No, I like that.” 

“So that spell works by that same thing. But on the other hand, the fact that if he knows it, there's a part of him that can never be happy. Even if he finds some happiness, there's no way he could be perfectly content and happy."

“So, one thing he didn't have in Buffy season two was— all he had was Buffy. There wasn't this world of responsibility. There wasn't the team to manage. There wasn't the company to run. And so it was sort of… easier to sink into that being his reality entirely. And, uh, his life is significantly more complex [in Angel the Series]. So I think that tracks. But, no, I like the idea of safety as a necessity for perfect happiness. And how can he feel safe ever if this [losing his soul] is going to be a thing."