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Watching the post-high school seasons of BtVS, I get the feeling that the writers weren't sure how to fit Xander's problems in with the show's themes. Which, I guess, would be fine if there was supposed to be a juxtaposition of personal issues (rather than powers), but it's like tossing in a major key in a minor-key song: Do it with caution.
That's not to say that all Xander's episodes post-S3 are bad, exactly. Seasons 4-5 rehash the same developments (Xander realizes he's ready to commit to a woman; Xander has an epiphany regarding his competence) in different settings, something that does happen with real-life people. The problem is that, without also giving him new developments, the only way to keep making drama is to keep erasing his growth. Season 6 essentially returns him to who he was in the earliest seasons, only, y'know, without the part where he was moving forward, like a shark, but with feet and much less fins.
Now, I'm not saying that you can ever completely bleach out the way Xander's abusive upbringing colors his worldview, but, at least in situations where he has time to think things through, Xander has gained the ability to make reasonable decisions (by Hellmouth standards anyway). He came to realize that Cordelia didn't owe him a second chance; why can't he do the same with Anya? He supported Buffy through the Parker drama; why does he slut-shame her for Spike? As early as season 2, he girded his loins and told Giles that his dabbling in magic was behind the female population's temporary derangement. Why does it take him so long to come clean about summoning Sweet?
BtVS is a coming-of-age drama, which makes Xander's retrograde development in later seasons stand out. It's discordant, and would probably need a lot of time devoted to it for it to feel right for the show. OTOH, Angel is full of characters who keep making the same mistakes for the same reasons. Every few months, Angel gets a revelation about how-- shockingly-- the right thing to do would be the right thing; every time, he forgets it. Half the things Wes does, including kidnapping Angel's son, seem influenced by his belief that all father figures are inevitable abusers. Gunn keeps trying to protect people by being tougher and meaner than they are (think killing the professor instead of letting Fred do it herself), and being tougher and meaner keeps hurting them. By the we reach time the series' last major arc, every there are no remaining team members able to cope with their pasts. If there had been, IMO, Angel's Circle of the Black Thorn scheme would never have gotten off the ground.
Granted, they're not just being brats. W&H loads the dice by seeking out their deepest temptations and weaknesses. It's a sustained moral assault of a kind that doesn't happen on BtVS. Nonetheless, it does tamp down on their development. If BtVS is about achieving maturity, Angel is about constrained maturity.
This is why I think that, in the absence of a plan for Xander's growth, his character would've been better-served by being on Angel. He would've stood out less, and the constant interference by W&H might've provided a narrative justification for his backsliding. Of course, I could be wrong, and maybe the move to Angel would just have enabled lazy writing. Thoughts?
That's not to say that all Xander's episodes post-S3 are bad, exactly. Seasons 4-5 rehash the same developments (Xander realizes he's ready to commit to a woman; Xander has an epiphany regarding his competence) in different settings, something that does happen with real-life people. The problem is that, without also giving him new developments, the only way to keep making drama is to keep erasing his growth. Season 6 essentially returns him to who he was in the earliest seasons, only, y'know, without the part where he was moving forward, like a shark, but with feet and much less fins.
Now, I'm not saying that you can ever completely bleach out the way Xander's abusive upbringing colors his worldview, but, at least in situations where he has time to think things through, Xander has gained the ability to make reasonable decisions (by Hellmouth standards anyway). He came to realize that Cordelia didn't owe him a second chance; why can't he do the same with Anya? He supported Buffy through the Parker drama; why does he slut-shame her for Spike? As early as season 2, he girded his loins and told Giles that his dabbling in magic was behind the female population's temporary derangement. Why does it take him so long to come clean about summoning Sweet?
BtVS is a coming-of-age drama, which makes Xander's retrograde development in later seasons stand out. It's discordant, and would probably need a lot of time devoted to it for it to feel right for the show. OTOH, Angel is full of characters who keep making the same mistakes for the same reasons. Every few months, Angel gets a revelation about how-- shockingly-- the right thing to do would be the right thing; every time, he forgets it. Half the things Wes does, including kidnapping Angel's son, seem influenced by his belief that all father figures are inevitable abusers. Gunn keeps trying to protect people by being tougher and meaner than they are (think killing the professor instead of letting Fred do it herself), and being tougher and meaner keeps hurting them. By the we reach time the series' last major arc, every there are no remaining team members able to cope with their pasts. If there had been, IMO, Angel's Circle of the Black Thorn scheme would never have gotten off the ground.
Granted, they're not just being brats. W&H loads the dice by seeking out their deepest temptations and weaknesses. It's a sustained moral assault of a kind that doesn't happen on BtVS. Nonetheless, it does tamp down on their development. If BtVS is about achieving maturity, Angel is about constrained maturity.
This is why I think that, in the absence of a plan for Xander's growth, his character would've been better-served by being on Angel. He would've stood out less, and the constant interference by W&H might've provided a narrative justification for his backsliding. Of course, I could be wrong, and maybe the move to Angel would just have enabled lazy writing. Thoughts?
I think Xander works much better on BtVS, but the writers clearly lost interest in the character, because there are plenty of loose ends that were not solved, and S10 of BtVS proves that Xander can have a much bigger role to the plot. The writers were just not that interested during the later seasons. Even if someone would mention NB's alcoholism, we still got a semi-Xander centric episode "First Date" which could have been used to give us something deeper about Xander instead rehashing old tired storylines. Maybe have him lose his eye there, so we could see how it affects his life in the rest of the episodes.
But he really is an excellent inclusion on BtVS to me and the core group would have felt very different without him.
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