Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

'Why Don’T You Just Go Back Where You Came From?' Or 'Slight Yams': 'Pangs' Of Regret And Unresolved Ambivalence In Joss Whedon’S California, Tereza M. Szeghi, Wesley Dempster

English Faculty Publications

Joss Whedon’s two longest-running television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004), which together constitute the “Buffyverse,” often focus on questions about the degree to which past actions bear on one’s present moral character. Particularly in the case of reformed demons and vampires, regret for past sins weighs heavily on the present and motivates current benevolent and heroic deeds.

For the ensouled vampire Angel most especially, the need to make amends for centuries of sadistic cruelty and bloodshed stamps him with his ever brooding-personality and his nearly ceaseless attempts to balance the scales—while knowing that the scales …