Sunday, 22 August 2021

So, How Does This - Work?




Faith
You're gonna die!

Wesley is almost done sawing through his ropes. 

Faith keeps hitting and kicking Angel. 

Halfway through this it starts to first rain then pour. 

Faith: 
You hear me? 
You don't know what evil is! 
I'm bad! Fight back!

Wesley has freed his hands and is untying the other ropes. Faith keeps whaling on Angel, sometimes he ducks, sometimes the hits connect. 

Angel grabs a hold of her: 

Angel :
Nice try, Faith.

He tosses her away from him.
 Then walks after her. 

Angel
I know what you want.

She hits him and he hits back dropping her. 

She comes back up hitting and screaming, 
but not making much of a dent. 

Wesley leans out of the window and sees Faith beating up on Angel. 

He goes into the kitchen 
and grabs a butcher knife, 
then heads for the door.

Angel as he dodges another hit: 
I'm not gonna make it easy for you.

Faith throws herself against Angel screaming: 
I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! 
Do you hear me? I'm bad! 
Angel, I'm bad

She begins to sob, grabbing a hold of Angel's shirt and shaking him

I'm ba-ad. 
Do you hear me? I'm bad! 
I'm bad! I'm bad. 
Please. Angel, please, just do it.


Wesley comes running out of the house. 

Faith sobbing: 
Angel please, just do it. Just do it. 
Just kill me. Just kill me.

Angel wraps his arms around her shoulders and pulls her against him. 
She over balances them and they sink to their knees, Angel still holding her as she cries. 

Angel
Shh. It's all right. It's okay. 
I'm here. I'm right here. Shh.

The camera shows the knife dropping from Wesley's hand 
as he stands in the pouring rain, staring at them, 
while Faith cries and thunder rumbles overhead.

FADE TO BLACK









Faith is leaning on the Microwave in Angel's kitchen. 
The box of doughnuts is sitting on top of it still closed. 
Angel comes in.

Faith: 
So, how does this - work?

Angel:
There is no real simple answer to that.
I won't lie to you and tell you that it'll be easy - 
because it won't be. 

Just because you've decided to change 
doesn't mean that The World is ready for you to.

The Truth is - no matter how much you suffer, 
no matter how many good deeds you do to try to make up for The Past - 
you may never balance out the cosmic scale. 

The only thing I can promise you 
is that you'll probably be haunted - 
and may be for the rest of your life.

Faith indicates the Microwave 

FAITH, 
The Vampire Slayer :
So how does this work?

Angel blinks a couple times, then walks over to program it

ANGEL,
Vampire with a Soul :
Uh - power level, time, start. 
Sure that popcorn is gonna be enough for you?

Faith
Yeah. I can virtually live off the stuff
Tell Cordelia I'll pay her back.

Angel:
Actually I think it belonged to Wesley.

Faith: 
Oh, maybe we - 
just don't mention it then.

Angel
Maybe we do.

Faith: 
Are you saying I got to apologise?

Angel:
Think you can?

Faith: 
I don’t' know. How do you say 
'Gee, I'm really sorry I nearly tortured you  to death?'"

Angel
Well, first off I think I'd leave off the 'Gee.' 
And secondly I think you have to ask yourself: Are you?

Faith
What?

Angel: 
Sorry.

Faith: 
And what if I can't say it? 
There are some things you can't just take back, 
no matter how sorry you are, right?

Angel
Yeah, there are. 
I've got some experience in that area.

Faith: 
Right. And you've been doing this for a hundred years! 
I'm not gonna make it through the next ten minutes.

Angel
So make it through the next five, the next minute.

Faith
I don't think I can.

Angel
Yes, you can.
Faith walks away: 

God, it hurts
I hate that it hurts like this.

Angel follows her

ANGEL,
Vampire with a Soul : 
Oh well, it's supposed to hurt. 
All that pain, all that suffering you caused 
is coming back on you. 
Feel it! Deal with it! 
Then maybe you've got a shot at being free.


Faith lets out something between a laugh and a sob: 
I've got to be the first Slayer in history 
to be sponsored by a vampire.

Angel: 
Yeah, well, I've got some experience 
in that area, too.

Faith: 
Oh god. 
B - how am I ever going 
to make things right with her?

Angel: 
Faith, this isn't about Buffy.

Faith: 
All my life there was only one person 
that tried to be my friend, went out of her way 
when I had no right or reason to expect her to - 
and I screwed her. 

Not to mention her boyfriend, 
only - him literally.

Angel: 
Faith, you and I never actually...

Faith: 
No, not you. The new one. 
(Angel stares for a moment then looks down
Oh, my god. 
Angel, I'm so sorry I...

Angel: 
No, there -- You can say it.
That's good. (Turns away to leave) Good.



Wesley: 
I have some conditions of my own. - Just one actually. 
No harm must come to the vampire."

Weatherby
Oh, don't be a ponce!

Wesley pushes the syringe away: 
That's it. Unless you agree to that 
you won't get any help from me.

Collins looks at Weatherby as he pushes the syringe back: 
We have no quarrel with the vampire.

Weatherby: 
Unless you count the fact that he is a vampire!"

Wesley: 
He's a special case. He is reformed. 
He has a soul. (The three goons look away from Wesley) 
In point of fact I've confronted more evil - slayed more demons 
(notices the waitress coming by and lowers his voice) 
slayed more demons - in short, done more good while working with Angel than I ever did while in the Council's employ.

Collins:
We'll make every effort. 

Wesley: 
No. Not every effort - no harm. 
I must have your word.

Collins holds out his hand after a moment's hesitation: 
Done.


They shake.

Faith is eating popcorn while flicking through the channels on Angel's TV. 
Some thing scampers by behind her unnoticed. 
A wet and steaming Angel sticks his head out of the bathroom.

Angel
Is everything okay in there?"

Faith: 
It was touch and go for 
the four minutes you left me alone, 
but somehow I got through it.

Angel goes into his bedroom to finish dressing 
while the thing skitters along the ceiling above Faith. 

She changes the channel to a police report.

Announcer: 
Los Angeles police in conjunction with Federal authorities are looking for this woman tonight, (Picture of Faith on the TV) 
a felony suspect from the California town of Sunnydale. (Faith reaches for her drink and spills it) The young woman..."

Angel hears the glass fall as he is putting on his shirt.

Angel: 
Faith?

Announcer: 
"...has fled to Los Angeles in recent days."

Angel coming into the living room: 
Faith.

Announcer: 
Eyewitnesses identified her...

Angel: 
What is it?

Announcer: "...as being involved in several recent assaults. Police want your help in finding her."
Angel sees Faith's picture on the TV and crouches down beside her chair.
Angel: "Faith, it's ok, alright? We knew about this."
Announcer: "A press conference was held earlier."
Angel: "Nothing's changed, alright? Nothing's..."
Kate on the TV: "Anyone with any information about the whereabouts of this subject should get in touch with law enforcement immediately. (Angel looks over at the TV) Do not approach her. She is violent and unpredictable. I'll take a few questions."
Angel hits the power button on the remote.
Angel: "Listen to me Faith. You're safe here. You hear me? You're safe."
The thing hanging on the ceiling picks that moment to drop down on top of them. It throws Angel off Faith, then tosses Faith onto the sofa, over turning it, when Angel comes right back at it. The thing tosses Angel towards Faith and he pushes her into the kitchen to get her out of harms way then takes a hold of an overhead beam and swings both feet into the things face.
In the kitchen Faith grabs a hold of the big butcher knife and hurries back to the fight. Angel comes sliding past the opening to the kitchen. The thing is charging a slightly dazed Angel as Faith comes up behind it and stabs it with the butcher knife.
A few blows later the thing lies dying in the floor.
Faith is staring at the bloody knife in her hand as Angel picks himself up.
Faith: "No."
She drops the knife and stares at her hands, gasping and shaking her head.
Angel: "Hey. Hey. Hey. Shh. Hey. (Leads her over to the day bed) Sit down. Shh. It's- it's okay. (Faith wraps her arms around Angel's neck, careful not to touch him with her bloody hands) Hey. It's gonna be okay. Okay? (Angel holds her) Shh. Alright."
Angel looks over as he hears someone come down the stairs. It's Buffy.

Angel gets up: 
Buffy. 
(Buttoning his shirt
I didn't know you...

Buffy: 
What...

Buffy looks from him to Faith still sitting on the day bed staring at her bloody hands, then back to Angel.

Buffy: 
How... What are you doing?

Angel: 
She - we were attacked.

Buffy: 
We? You and...

Angel
Faith.

Buffy
You and Faith.

Angel: 
Oh, it's not what you think."

Buffy
You actually think that I can form a thought right now? 
Giles heard that - that she tried to kill you.

Angel: 
That's True.

Buffy: 
So you decided to punish her 
with a severe cuddling.

Angel
Is that why you're here? 
To punish her?

Buffy: 
I was worried about you."
Faith: "Buffy. (Buffy looks at her) Oh, god."
Buffy walks closer to Faith who is cringing away form her.
Buffy: "You didn't think I was going to find you, did you?"
Angel: "Buffy, let's talk."
Buffy: 
Oh, I don't think talk is in order right now."

Angel
She needs help.

Buffy whips around to face Angel: 
Help? Do you have any idea what she did to me?"

Angel: 
Yes.

Buffy: 
Do you care?

Angel: 
She wants to change. 
She has a chance to..."

Buffy: 
No. No chance. Jail.

Faith slowly gets up.

Angel:
You think that'll help?

Faith:
Buffy... 
(Buffy whips around to face her) 
I'm sor...

Buffy: 
Apologise to me 
and I will beat you to death."

Faith quietly
Go ahead.

Angel steps in front of Faith
This is not gonna happen.

Buffy: 
You're gonna stop me? 
Because you're gonna have to.

Faith shakes her head: 
Don't - so this."

Angel: 
Faith, go upstairs - now.

Buffy: 
You think I'm gonna let her out of my sight?

Angel: 
Buffy, just back off.

Buffy: 
There is no way I'm letting her out of my sight."

Angel: 
Faith, go!

Faith goes up the stairs and Buffy moves to stop her.

Buffy: 
Don't you move a...

Angel catches her arm and she turns 
to punch him full in the face. 

She hauls back to hit him again, 
but Angel blocks her fist and hits her across the face in return.

Angel steps back as Buffy stares at him 
with a hand over her mouth.

Angel: 
I'm sorry. - I'm sorry.

Faith opens the upstairs door and steps into Angel's office.

Wesley comes in from the outer office as Faith stares down the stairs.

Wesley: 
Faith? 
(Faith turns to look at him) 
Going somewhere?
Faith turns to stare back down the stairs: 
No. Just wanted to be alone.

Wesley comes closer: 
Angel downstairs?

Faith: 
Yeah.

Wesley: 
Right.


Angel: 
She's not gonna run, Buffy.

Buffy: 
Well, why would she? When she has her brave knight to protect her? - Got you. - Does she cry? - Pouty lips - heaving bosom? - I thought you needed help."

Angel: 
You think I wanted this to happen?
Buffy: "You hit me."
Angel: "Not to go all schoolyard on you, but you hit me first. In case you've forgotten - you're a little bit stronger than I am."
Buffy: "You did it for *her*."
Angel: "You were about three seconds - from making her run - you know that. She's at a crucial stage."
Buffy: "She's playing you. She tried to kill you!"
Angel: "That was just - that was just a cry for help."
Buffy: "A cry for help is when you say 'help' in a loud voice."
Angel: "I know Faith did some bad things to you."
Buffy: "You can't possibly know."
Angel: "And you can't possibly know what she's going through."
Buffy: "And of course, you do? - I'm sorry. I can't be in your club. I never murdered anybody."
Footsteps coming down the stairs.
Angel: "Faith, I told you..."
Wesley pushing Faith down the stairs in front of him: "Slight change of plan. (To Faith) Get your coat."
Angel: "Wesley, what's going on?"
Wesley: "In about twenty minutes the Council's operations team is coming in here. They'll expect to find you gone (holds up the syringe) and her drugged."
Angel: "How many?" 

Wesley: 
Three. Hello Buffy. 
I'm afraid you've come at a bad time.

Buffy: 
I'm feeling that." 

Angel: 
Why did you bring them here?"

Wesley: 
Couldn't shake them. 
Had to pretend I was helping them.

Angel: 
Why aren't you?

Buffy: 
I know these guys. 
They're killers.

Wesley: 
They've surrounded the building.

Angel: 
I'll check the sewers, if they're clear we all head out. Faith?

They turn to look for her but she is gone.

Wesley: 
She must have slipped out."
Angel: 
She'd head for the roof. 
(Buffy turns to go, Angel moves to go after her) 
They may have it covered.

Wesley stops him: 
We need a plan. Buffy can protect Faith.

Angel turns towards the sewer entrance: 
I'm not sure that's her agenda."

Wesley follows him: 
The sewers are still our best route.

Angel: 
If they don't know about our access.

Wesley: 
Angel, it wasn't for her.

Angel: 
I know.

Wesley: 
It's because I Trust You. 
(Angel drops down into the sewers, Wesley follows) 
Well, more than three gun-toting maniacs at any rate.


Buffy comes out on the roof to see Faith standing there. We can hear a helicopter flying in the background.
Buffy: "You're not gonna run, Faith."
Faith: "What do you wanna do? You're gonna throw me off the roof -again?"
Buffy: "Any reason why I shouldn't?"
Faith turns to look at Buffy: "There is nothing I can do for you, B. I can't ever make it right."
Buffy: "So you're just going to take off again. Leave us to clean up yet another one of your messes."
Faith: "It would make things easier for you."
Buffy: "Till you got bored with the whole guilt thing - decided to come back to shake things up?"
Faith: 
That's not gonna happen.

Buffy: 
You're right. It's not.

Faith, The Vampire Slayer
Angel said there was no way you were gonna give me a chance.

Buffy, The Vampire Slayer
I gave you every chance…! 
I tried so hard to help you, 
and you spat on me. 

My life was just something for you to play with. 
Angel… Riley…. 
anything that you could take from me - you took

I've lost battles before - 
but nobody else 
has ever made me A Victim."


Faith, The Vampire Slayer
[ Having a Revelation — ]
And you can't stand that..!
You're all about control. 

You have no idea what it's like on the other side! 
Where nothing's in control, nothing makes sense

There is just Pain and Hate 
and nothing you do means anything
You can't even..

Buffy, The Vampire Slayer
Shut up!

Faith, The Vampire Slayer
Just tell me how to make it better.


The door to the roof bursts open and Collins steps through, machinegun in hand. Buffy tackles Faith to safety as Collins opens fire.
Angel and Wesley, standing next to the sewer entrance in his apartment, hear the shots.
Angel: "That's coming from the roof."
Just then Weatherby comes in shooting at them with his machine gun. Angel and Wesley take cover.
Wesley: "I didn't give you the signal."
Weatherby: "Shut it. (Smiles at Angel as he lifts a loaded crossbow) Vampire."
Buffy: "I think we can make it to the other building."
Faith: "Go."
Buffy: "Now."
They run but before they reach the edge a black helicopter comes to hover in front of them. Smith is in the open door, machinegun in hand.
Buffy and Faith run to hide behind a skylight. Collins has to reload and Buffy and Faith change skylights.
Wesley: "Weatherby, listen to reason."
Weatherby: "Reason. A Watcher working for a vampire. It's perversion."
Buffy: "I have to take this guy out. The guy with the gun up there will go for me. You stay here."
Faith: "Okay."
Buffy lunges over the skylight and tackles Collins. They fight with Smith unable to shoot without hitting Collins.
Smith to pilot: "Try and keep her steady."
Wesley: "Weatherby..."
Weatherby: "Do the sacred oaths you swore as a Watcher mean nothing to you now?"
Wesley: "As a matter of fact they do. I swore to protect the innocent. (To Angel) Get to the roof. Help them."
Angel: "What?"
Wesley: "Now!"
Angel runs for the stairs while Weatherby drops the crossbow and shoots at Wesley as he runs for the cover of another pillar.
Wealtherby: "Bastard!"
Buffy is fighting Collins.
Wesley takes the cap from the syringe and throws it like a dart. It hits Weatherby in the side of the neck and he drops his gun.
Wesley with a smile: "180."
Weatherby pulls the needle out. While he stands there swaying Wesley walks up to him and knocks him out with a right cross.
Wesley: "That's for calling me a ponce."
Angel is running up the stairs to the roof.
Buffy and Collins are still fighting.
Angel sees the helicopters spotlight through the milky Skylight above the top landing.
Buffy knocks Collins down and turns to face the helicopter just as Angel comes shooting through the skylight, catching it's left rung with his arms.
He reaches up and pulls Smith out of the door. Smith lands at Buffy's feet, while Angel climbs up to stand on the rung.
Angel, in vamp face to the pilot: "Down! Take it down."
Buffy watches the helicopter leave then turns around.
Buffy: "Faith.'"
But Faith is nowhere to be seen.
A bunch of police cars drive up with lights and sirens as the helicopter sets down.

Kate: 
Where is she?
You got one shot here Angel, where is she?

Angel just looks at her.

Kate: 
Arrest him. 
Start with aiding and abetting a wanted felon.

The cops cuff Angel and lead him away.
Wesley and Buffy arrive at the police station in Angel's car.

Kate: 
I think you're gonna like the cell we have for you, Angel. 
It faces East. 
It'll give you a great view of the sunrise in about four hours."

Buffy walking behind them: 
What?

Angel: 
It's okay."

Buffy: 
You know what he is."

Kate: 
Who are you?"

Angel: 
She's nobody."

Buffy steps between Angel and Kate 
as the reach they reach her desk.

Buffy: 
Wait. This is murder."

Angel: "Buffy, it's alright."

Buffy: "It is not alright."

Kate: "Get her out of here!"

Buffy pushes the cop off her: 
You are not taking the fall for her, Angel."
Kate: "OUT!"
Angel looks over and sees Faith sitting at another desk with her back to them.
Angel: "Buffy."
Everyone in their group turns to look. 
A cop tries to pull Angel away and Buffy pushes his arm away. 

Faith looks over her shoulder at them 
and slowly stands up as Kate walks over to her.

Faith
I'd like to make A Confession.

Buffy and Angel are standing alone 
in the hallway of the police station.

Buffy: 
You should have told me what was going on.

Angel: 
I didn't - 
I didn't think it was Your Business.

Buffy: 
Not my business?

Angel: 
I needed more time with Faith. I'm not sure.."

Buffy: 
You needed - 
Do you have any - idea what it was like for me 
to see you with her? 
That you went behind my back..."

Angel
Buffy, this wasn't about you
This was about saving somebody's soul
That's what I do here, 
and you're not a part of it. 

That was your idea, remember? 
We stay away from each other."

Buffy: 
I came here because you were in danger.

Angel: 
I'm in danger every day
You came because of Faith
You were looking for vengeance.

Buffy: 
I have a right to it.

Angel: 
Not in My City.

Buffy turns away for a moment then turns back.
Buffy: "I have someone in my life now. (Angel looks away from her but otherwise doesn't move) That I love. (Angel swallows hard) It's not what you and I had. - It's very new. (She steps closer) You know what makes it new? - I trust him. - I know him."
Angel lets out a sharp breath: "That's great. - It's nice - you moved on. - I can't. You found someone new. - I'm not allowed to, remember? I see you again it cuts me up inside and the person I share that with is me! You don't know me anymore. So don't come down here with your great new life and *expect* me to do things your way. - Go home!"
Buffy looks at him for a moment then goes to pick up her jacket, while Angel walks over to the wall and braces his hands against it.
Buffy: "See? - Faith wins again."
Angel without looking at her: "Go."
Buffy goes. After a moment Angel slams his hands against the wall and sighs.
Wesley: "You all right?'
Angel: "For a taciturn, shadowy guy - I've got a big mouth."
Wesley: "Did you want to go after her?"
Angel: "Yes."
Wesley: "I don't know how much my opinion counts for, but - I think you did the right thing."
Angel: "Yelling at Buffy?"
Wesley: "No. - The other thing."
Angel shakes his head: "I didn't do it. - Faith did."
We see Faith sitting alone in a jail cell, leaning back against the wall.
Wesley voice over: "I hope she is strong enough to make it. - Peace is not an easy thing to find."
Blend into a close-up of Faith's face.
Angel v.o.: "She has a chance."
Faith closes her eyes.
Fade to black.

Saturday, 21 August 2021

The Judge















“If there is any thought at which a Christian trembles it is the thought of God’s ‘judgement’. 

The ‘Day’ of Judgement is ‘that day of wrath, that dreadful day’. We pray for God to deliver us ‘in the hour of death and at the day of judgement’. Christian art and literature for centuries have depicted its terrors. This note in Christianity certainly goes back to the teaching of Our Lord Himself; especially to the terrible parable of the Sheep and the Goats. 

This can leave no conscience untouched, for in it the ‘Goats’ are condemned entirely for their sins of omission; as if to make us fairly sure that the heaviest charge against each of us turns not upon the things he has DONE but on those he never •did• — perhaps never dreamed of doing. 

It was therefore with great surprise that I first noticed how the Psalmists talk about the judgements of God. 

They talk like this; ‘O let the nations rejoice and be glad, for thou shalt judge the folk righteously’ (67:4), ‘Let the field be joyful … all the trees of the wood shall rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth’ (96:12, 13). 

Judgement is apparently an occasion of universal rejoicing. People ask for it: ‘Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness’ (35:24). 

The reason for this soon becomes very plain. The ancient Jews, like ourselves, think of God’s judgement in terms of an earthly court of justice. 

The difference is that the Christian pictures the case to be tried as a criminal case with himself in the dock; the Jew pictures it as a civil case with himself as the plaintiff. 

The one hopes for acquittal, or rather for pardon; the other hopes for a resounding triumph with heavy damages. 

Hence he prays ‘judge my quarrel’, or ‘avenge my cause’ (35:23). And though, as I said a minute ago, Our Lord in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats painted the characteristically Christian picture, in another place He is very characteristically Jewish

Notice what He means by ‘an unjust judge’. 

By those words most of us would mean someone like Judge Jeffreys or the creatures who sat on the benches of German tribunals during the Nazi régime: someone who bullies witnesses and jurymen in order to convict, and then savagely to punish, innocent men. 

Once again, we are thinking of a criminal trial. We hope we shall never appear in the dock before such a judge. 

But The Unjust Judge in the parable is quite a different character. There is no danger of appearing in his court against your will : the difficulty is the opposite — to get INTO it. 

It is clearly a civil action. 

The poor woman (Luke 18:1–5) has had her little strip of land — room for a pigsty or a hen-run — taken away from her by a richer and more powerful neighbour (nowadays it would be Town-Planners or some other ‘Body’). 

And she knows she has a perfectly watertight case. If once she could get it into court and have it tried by the laws of the land, she would be bound to get that strip back. 

But no one will listen to her, she can’t get it tried. 

No wonder she is anxious for ‘Judgement’. 

Behind this lies an age-old and almost world-wide experience which we have been spared. In most places and times it has been very difficult for the ‘small man’ to get his case heard. 

The judge (and, doubtless, one or two of his underlings) has to be bribed. 

If you can’t afford to ‘oil his palm’ your case will never reach court. 

Our judges do not receive bribes. (We probably take this blessing too much for granted; it will not remain with us automatically.) 

We need not therefore be surprised if the Psalms, and the Prophets, are full of the longing for judgement, and regard the announcement that ‘judgement’ is coming as good news. 

Hundreds and thousands of people who have been stripped of all they possess and who have the right entirely on their side will at last be heard. Of course they are not afraid of judgement. They know their case is unanswerable if only it could be heard

When God comes to Judge, at last it will. Dozens of passages make the point clear. 

In Psalm 9 we are told that God will ‘minister true judgement’ (8), and that is because He ‘forgetteth not the complaint of the poor’ (12). 

He ‘defendeth the cause’ (that is, the ‘case’) ‘of the widows’ (68:5). 

The Good King in Psalm 72:2, will ‘judge’ the people rightly; that is, he will ‘defend the poor’

When God ‘arises to judgement’ he will ‘help all the meek upon earth’ (76:9), all the timid, helpless people whose wrongs have never been righted yet. 

When God accuses earthly judges of ‘wrong judgement’, He follows it up by telling them to see that the poor ‘have right’ (82:2, 3). 

The ‘just’ judge, then, is primarily he who rights a wrong in a civil case. He would, no doubt, also try a criminal case justly, but that is hardly ever what the Psalmists are thinking of

Christians cry to God for Mercy instead of Justice; They cried to God for Justice instead of Injustice. 

The Divine Judge is The Defender, The Rescuer. 

Scholars tell me that in the Book of Judges the word we so translate might almost be rendered ‘Champions’; for though these ‘Judges’ do sometimes perform what we should call judicial functions many of them are much more concerned with rescuing the oppressed Israelites from Philistines and others by force of arms

They are more like Jack the Giant Killer than like a modern judge in a wig. 

The Knights in romances of chivalry who go about rescuing distressed damsels and widows from giants and other tyrants are acting almost as ‘Judges’ in the old Hebrew sense: so is the modern solicitor (and I have known such) who does unpaid work for poor clients to save them from wrong. 

I think there are very good reasons for regarding the Christian picture of God’s Judgement as far more profound and far safer for our souls than the Jewish. But this does not mean that the Jewish conception must simply be thrown away

I, at least, believe I can still get a good deal of nourishment out of it. It supplements the Christian picture in one important way. 

For what alarms us in the Christian picture is the infinite purity of the standard against which our actions will be judged. 

But then we know that none of us will ever come up to that standard. We are all in the same boat. 

We must all pin our hopes on the mercy of God and the work of Christ, not on our own Goodness. 

Now the Jewish picture of a civil action sharply reminds us that perhaps we are faulty not only by the Divine standard (that is a matter of course) but also by a very human standard which all reasonable people admit and which we ourselves usually wish to enforce upon others

Almost certainly there are unsatisfied claims, human claims, against each one of us. For who can really believe that in all his dealings with employers and employees, with husband or wife, with parents and children, in quarrels and in collaborations, he has always attained (let alone charity or generosity) mere honesty and fairness? 

Of course we forget most of the injuries we have done. 

But the injured parties do not forget even if they forgive
And God does not forget. 

And even what we can remember is formidable enough

Few of us have always, in full measure, given our pupils or patients or clients (or whatever our particular ‘consumers’ may be called) what we were being paid for. 

We have not always done quite our fair share of some tiresome work if we found a colleague or partner who could be beguiled into carrying the heavy end. 

Our quarrels provide a very good example of the way in which the Christian and Jewish conceptions differ, while yet both should be kept in mind. 

As Christians we must of course repent of all the anger, malice, and self-will which allowed the discussion to become, on our side, a quarrel at all. 

But there is also the question on a far lower level: granted the quarrel (we’ll go into that later) did you fight fair?’ 

Or did we not quite unknowingly falsify the whole issue? 

Did we pretend to be angry about one thing when we knew, or could have known, that our anger had a different and much less presentable cause? 

Did we pretend to be ‘hurt’ in our sensitive and tender feelings (fine natures like ours are so vulnerable) when envy, ungratified vanity, or thwarted self-will was our real Trouble? 

Such tactics often succeed
The other parties give in. 

They give in not because they don’t know what is really wrong with us but because they have long known it only too well, and that sleeping dog can be roused, that skeleton brought out of its cupboard, only at the cost of imperilling their whole relationship with us. 

It needs surgery which they know we will never face. 

And so We Win; by cheating. 

But the unfairness is very deeply felt

Indeed what is commonly called ‘sensitiveness’ is the most powerful engine of domestic tyranny, sometimes a lifelong tyranny. 

How we should deal with it in others I am not sure; but we should be merciless to its first appearances in ourselves

The constant protests in the Psalms against those who oppress ‘the poor’ might seem at first to have less application to our own society than to most. But perhaps this is superficial; perhaps what changes is not the oppression but only the identity of ‘the poor’. 

It often happens that someone in my acquaintance gets a demand from the Income Tax people which he queries. 

As a result it sometimes comes back to him reduced by anything up to fifty per cent. 

One man whom I knew, a solicitor, went round to the office and asked what they had meant by the original demand. 

The creature behind the counter tittered and said, 
‘Well there’s never any harm trying it on.’ 

Now when the cheat is thus attempted against Men of The World who know How to Look After Themselves, no great harm is done. Some time has been wasted, and we all in some measure share the disgrace of belonging to A Community where such practises are tolerated, but that is all

When, however, that kind of publican sends a similarly dishonest demand to A Poor Widow, already half starving on a highly taxable ‘unearned’ income (actually earned by years of self-denial on her husband’s part) which inflation has reduced to almost nothing, a very different result probably follows. 

She cannot afford legal help; she understands nothing; she is terrified, and pays — cutting down on the meals and the fuel which were already wholly insufficient. 

The publican who has successfully ‘tried it on’ with her is precisely ‘the ungodly’ who ‘for his own lust doth persecute the poor’ (10:2). 

To be sure, he does this, not like the ancient publican, for his own immediate rake-off; only to advance himself in the service or to please his masters. This makes a difference

How important that difference is in the eyes of Him Who Avenges The Fatherless and The Widow I do not know

The publican may consider the question in the hour of death and will learn the answer at the day of ‘judgement’. 

(But—who knows?—I may be doing the publicans an injustice. Perhaps they regard their work as A Sport and observe Game Laws; and as other sportsmen will not shoot a sitting bird, so they may reserve their illegal demands for those who can defend themselves and hit back, and would never dream of ‘trying it on’ with The Helpless. If so, I can only apologise for my error. If what I have said is unjustified as a rebuke of what they are, it may still be useful as a warning of what they may yet become. Falsehood is habit-forming.) 

It will be noticed, however, that I make the Jewish conception of a civil judgement available for my Christian profit by picturing myself as the defendant, not the plaintiff. 

The writers of the Psalms do not do this

They look forward to ‘judgement’ because they think they have been wronged and hope to see their wrongs righted

There are, indeed, some passages in which the Psalmists approach to Christian humility and wisely lose their self-confidence. 

Thus in Psalm 50 (one of the finest) God is The Accuser (6–21); and in 143:2, we have the words which most Christians often repeat—‘Enter not into judgement with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.’ 

But these are exceptional. 

Nearly always the Psalmist is the indignant plaintiff. 

He is quite sure, apparently, that his own hands are clean. 

He never did to others the horrid things that others are doing to him. 
‘If I have done any such thing’—if I ever behaved like so-and-so, then let so-and-so ‘tread my life down upon the earth’ (7:3–5). 

But of course I haven’t. 
It is not as if my enemies are paying me out for any ill turn I ever did them

On the contrary, they have ‘rewarded me evil for good’. 

Even after that, I went on exercising the utmost Charity towards them. 

When they were ill I prayed and fasted on their behalf (35:12–14). 

All this of course has its spiritual danger

It leads into that typically Jewish prison of self-righteousness which Our Lord so often terribly rebuked. 

We shall have to consider that presently. 

For the moment, however, I think it is important to make a distinction: between the conviction that one is in the right and the conviction that one is ‘righteous’ is a good man

Since none of us is righteous, the second conviction is always a delusion. 

But any of us may be, probably all of us at one time or another are, in the right about some particular issue. 

What is more, the worse man may be in the right against the better man. 

Their general characters have nothing to do with it. 

The question whether the disputed pencil belongs to Tommy or Charles is quite distinct from the question which is the nicer little boy, and the parents who allowed the one to influence their decision about the other would be very unfair. 

(It would be still worse if they said Tommy ought to let Charles have the pencil whether it belonged to him or not, because this would show he had a nice disposition. That may be True, but it is an untimely Truth. An exhortation to Charity should not come as rider to A Refusal of Justice. It is likely to give Tommy a lifelong conviction that Charity is a sanctimonious dodge for condoning theft and whitewashing favouritism.) 


We need therefore by no means assume that the Psalmists are deceived or lying when they assert that, as against their particular enemies at some particular moment, they are completely in the right. 

Their voices while they say so may grate harshly on our ear and suggest to us that they are unamiable people. But that is another matter. 

And to be wronged does not commonly make people amiable.

Friday, 20 August 2021

The Miser's Coat




Batman Begins - "Thats a Nice Coat"


Bruce Wayne has been turned out violently onto The Street by Falcone's bodyguards in front of Falcone's Place, a scene witnessed by nobody except for the crazy homeless man across The Street


The Prophet of Gotham Harbour :
*grunts*
Shoulda tipped better..!!

Bruce approaches him and offers him some cash



The Prophet of Gotham Harbour :
For what?

Your jacket.

The Prophet of Gotham Harbour :
Okay.

He indicates Bruce's own, very expensive, 
very warm designer coat --

The Prophet of Gotham Harbour :
Hey, hey, hey. 
Let me have it.

Pulling it on, he suddenly realises 
the richness of the fabric, 
how well-made and tailored it is --

 It's a nice coat.

Bruce Wayne :
Be careful who sees you with that.
They're gonna come looking for me. 

The Prophet of Gotham Harbour :
Who?

Bruce Wayne :
Everyone.

The Prophet of Gotham Harbour :
It's.... 
It's a nice coat.

Ra's al Ghul :
When you lived among The Criminals, 
did you start to pity them?

Bruce Wayne :
The first time I stole so that I wouldn't starve, yes.
I lost many assumptions about 
The Simple Nature of Right and Wrong.

And when I traveled...
...I learned the fear before a crime...
...and the thrill of success.
But I never became one of them.

Fool. What do I care what your name is? 
You're a criminal.

Bruce Wayne :
I'm not a criminal.

Tell that to the guy who owned these.


Ra's al Ghul :
You've traveled the world to understand the criminal mind...
...and conquer your fears.
But a criminal is not complicated.
And what you really fear is inside yourself.

You fear your own power.
You fear your anger, the drive to do great or terrible things.
Now you must journey inwards.

You are ready.
Breathe.

Breathe in your fears.
Face them.

To conquer fear, you must become fear.
You must bask in the fear of other men.
And men fear most what they cannot see.

You have to become a terrible thought.
A wraith.
You have to become an idea!

Feel terror cloud your senses.
Feel its power to distort.
To control.

And know that this power can be yours.

Embrace your worst fear.
Become one with the darkness.
Focus.
Concentrate.
Master your senses.
You cannot leave any sign.

Bruce Wayne :
I haven't.

Ra's al Ghul :
Impressive.
We have purged your fear.
You are ready to lead these men.
You are ready to become a member of the League of Shadows.
But first, you must demonstrate your commitment to justice.

Bruce Wayne :
No. I'm no executioner.

Ra's al Ghul :
Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.
That's why it's so important.
It separates us from them.
You want to fight criminals. 

This man is a murderer.

Bruce Wayne :
This man should be tried. 

Ra's al Ghul :
By whom?
Corrupt bureaucrats?
Criminals mock Society's laws.
You know this better than most.
You cannot lead these men unless you are prepared to do what is necessary to defeat evil.

Bruce Wayne :
And where would I be leading these men?

Ra's al Ghul :
Gotham.
As Gotham's favored son you will be ideally placed to strike at the heart of criminality.

Bruce Wayne :
How? 

Ra's al Ghul :
Gotham's time has come.
Like Constantinople or Rome before it, 
The City has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice.
It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die.
This is the most important function of the League of Shadows.
It is one we've performed for centuries.
Gotham... must be destroyed.

Bruce Wayne :
You can't believe in this.

Ra's al Ghul :
Ra's al Ghul rescued us 
from the darkest corners of our own hearts.
What he asks in return is the courage to do what is necessary.


Bruce Wayne :
I will go back to Gotham and I will fight men like this...
...but I will not become an executioner.

Thursday, 19 August 2021

I Love Almost Everybody

“I been runnin' up and down these steps for years —
And I never knew there was valuable pictures in this building.”

“You're never too old to learn somethin' new. 
You're gonna love Picasso.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, 
I love almost everybody.”


Buffy comes out on the roof to see Faith standing there. 
We can hear a helicopter flying in the background.

Buffy
You're not gonna run, Faith.

Faith
What do you wanna do? 
You're gonna throw me off the roof - again?

Buffy
Any reason why I shouldn't?

Faith turns to look at Buffy

Faith :
There is nothing I can do for you, B. 
I can't ever make it right.


Buffy
So you're just going to take off again —
Leave us to clean up yet another one of your messes.

Faith
It would make things easier for you.

Buffy
Till you got bored with the whole guilt thing - 
decided to come back to shake things up?

Faith
That's not gonna happen.

Buffy
You're right. It's not.

Faith
Angel said there was no way  you were 
gonna give me a chance.

Buffy
I gave you every chance! 

I tried so hard to help you, 
and you spat on me. 


My life was just something 
for you to play with. 

Angel - Riley - 
Anything that you could take from me - you took


I've lost battles before - 
but nobody else has - ever - made me A Victim.

Faith
And you can't stand that —
 You're all about Control. 

You have no idea what it's like on the other side
Where nothing's in control, nothing makes sense! 

There is just pain and hate 
and nothing you do means anything. 

You can't even..


Buffy
Shut up!

Faith
Just tell me How to Make it better.

I Dare Say I am a Much More Annoying Person than I Know.




“There are few people in my life 
who I instinctively and viscerally DISLIKE
and you’ve always been 
ONE of them — 

But I’ve been THINKING —

I Think YOU can HELP Me 
Save The World, 
for REAL this time, 
Manchester Black.”


My Powers are not 
What They Were —

If I can’t stop the Zonedroids, they could wreak untold havoc.

Right now, YOU 
could make The Difference.

“This is not a work of scholarship. I am no Hebraist, no higher critic, no ancient historian, no archaeologist. 

I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself

If an excuse IS needed (and perhaps it is) for writing such a book, my excuse would be something like this. 

It often happens that two schoolboys can solve difficulties in their work for one another better than The Master can

When you took the problem to a master, as we all remember, he was very likely to explain what you understood already, to add a great deal of information which you didn't want, and say nothing at all about the thing that was puzzling you. 

I have watched this from both sides of the net ; for when, as a teacher myself, I have tried to answer questions brought me by pupils, I have sometimes, after a minute, seen that expression settle down on their faces which assured me that they were suffering exactly the same frustration which I had suffered from my own teachers

The fellow-pupil can help more than the master because he knows less. The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met. 

The expert met it so long ago that he has forgotten. He sees the whole subject, by now, in such a different light that he cannot conceive what is really troubling the pupil ; he sees a dozen other difficulties which ought to be troubling him but aren't. 

In this book, then, I write as one amateur to another, talking about difficulties I have met, or lights I have gained, when reading the Psalms, with the hope that this might at any rate interest, and sometimes even help, other inexpert readers. 

I am "comparing notes ", not presuming to instruct

It may appear to some that I have used the Psalms merely as pegs on which to hang a series of miscellaneous essays. 

I do not know that it would have done any harm if I had written the book that way, and I shall have no grievance against anyone who reads it that way. 

But that is not how it was in fact written. 

The thoughts it contains are those to which I found myself driven in reading the Psalms; sometimes by my enjoyment of them, sometimes by meeting with what at first I could not enjoy. 

The Psalms were written by many poets and at many different dates. Some, I believe, are allowed to go back to the reign of David ; I think certain scholars allow that Psalm 18 (of which a slightly different version occurs in I Samuel 22) might be by David himself. 

But many are later than the "captivity", which we should call the deportation to Babylon. 

In a scholarly work, chronology would be the first thing to settle : in a book of this sort nothing more need, or can, be said about it. 

What must be said, however, is that the Psalms are poems, and poems intended to be sung: not doctrinal treatises, nor even sermons

Those who talk of reading the Bible "as literature" sometimes mean, I think, reading it without attending to the main thing it is about; like reading Burke with no interest in politics, or reading the Aeneid with no interest in Rome. 

That seems to me to be nonsense.

But there is a saner sense in which the Bible, since it is after all literature, cannot properly be read except as literature; and the different parts of it as the different sorts of literature they are. 

Most emphatically the Psalms must be read as poems; as lyrics, with all the licences and all the formalities, the hyperboles, the emotional rather than logical connections, which are proper to lyric poetry. 

They must be read as poems if they are to be understood; no less than French must be read as French or English as English. 

Otherwise we shall miss what is in them and think we see what is not. Their chief formal characteristic, the most obvious element of pattern, is fortunately one that survives in translation. 

Most readers will know that I mean what the scholars call "parallelism"; that is, the practice of saying the same thing twice in different words. 

A perfect example is "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: the Lord shall have them in derision" (2, 4), or again, "He shall make thy righteousness as clear as the light ; and thy just dealing as the noon-day" (37, 6). 

If this is not recognised as pattern, the reader will either find mares' nests (as some of the older preachers did) in his effort to get a different meaning out of each half of the verse or else feel that it is rather silly

In reality it is a very pure example of what all pattern, and therefore all art, involves. 


The Principle of Art has been defined by someone as 
The Same in The Other”


Thus in a country dance you take three steps and then three steps again. That is The Same

But the first three are to the right and the second three to the left. That is The Other. 

In a building there may be a wing on one side and a wing on the other, but both of the same shape. In music the composer may say ABC, and then abc, and then a.f3y. 

Rhyme consists in putting together two syllables that have the same sound except for their initial consonants, which are other. 

" Parallelism '' is the characteristically Hebrew form of The Same in the other, but it occurs in many English poets too : for example, in Marlowes Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight And burned is Apollo's laurel bough, or in the childish!) ?imple form used by the Cherry Tree Carol) ‘Joseph was an old man and an old man was he.’ 

Of course the Parallelism is often partially concealed on purpose (as the balances between masses in a picture may be something far subtler than complete symmetry). 

And of course other and Piore complex patterns may be worked in across it, as in Psalm I 1 g, or in I 07 with its refrain. I mention only what is most obvious, the Parallelism itself. It is (according to one's point of view) either a wonderful piece ofluck or a wise provision of God's that poetry which was to be turned into all languages should have as its chief formal characteristic one that does not disappear (as mere metre does) in translation. 

If we have any taste for poetry we shall enjoy this feature of the Psalms. Even those Christians who cannot enjoy it will respect it; for Our Lord, soaked in the poetic tradition of His country, delighted to use it. "For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matthew 7, 2). 

The second half of the verse makes no logical addition; it echoes, with variation, the first, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you" (7, 7) . 

The advice is given in the first phrase, then twice repeated with different images. 

We may, if we like, see in this an exclusively practical and didactic purpose; by giving to truths which are infinitely worth remembering this rhythmic and incantatory expression, He made them almost impossible to forget. I like to suspect more. It seems to me appropriate, almost inevitable, that when that great Imagination which in the beginning, for Its own delight and for the delight of men and angels and (in their proper mode) of beasts, had invented and formed the whole world of Nature, submitted to express Itself in human speech, that speech should sometimes be poetry. 

For poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible. 

I think, too, it will do us no harm to remember that, in becoming Man, He bowed His neck beneath the sweet yoke of a heredity and early environment. 

Humanly speaking, He would have learned this style, if from no one .else (but it was all about Him) from His Mother. "That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant." Here is the same parallelism. (And incidentally, is this the only aspect in which we can say of His human nature "He was His Mother's own son"? There is a fierceness, even a touch of Deborah, mixed with the sweetness in the Magnificat to which most painted Madonnas do little justice; matching the frequent severity of His own sayings. I am sure the private life of the holy family was, in many senses, "mild" and "gentle", but perhaps hardly in the way some hymn writers have in mind. One may suspect, on proper occasions, a certain astringency; and all in what people at jerusalem regarded as a rough northcountry dialect.) I have not attempted of course to" cover the subject" even on my own amateurish level. I have stressed, and omitted, as my own interests led me. I say nothing about the long historical Psalms, partly because they have meant less to me, and partly because they seem to call for little comment. I say the least I can about the history of the Psalms as parts of various "services''; a wide subject, and not for me. 

And I begin with those characteristics of the Psalter which are at first most repellent. Other men of my age will know why

Our generation was brought up to eat everything on the plate ; and it was the sound principle of nursery gastronomy to polish off the nasty things first and leave the titbits to the end. 

I have worked in the main from the translation which Anglicans find in their Prayer Book; that of Coverdale. Even of the old translators he is by no means the most accurate; and of course a sound modern scholar has more Hebrew in his little finger than poor Coverdale had in his whole body. 

But in beauty, in poetry, he, and St. Jerome, the great Latin translator, are beyond all whom I know. I have usually checked, and sometimes corrected, his version from that of Dr. Moffatt. 

Finally, as will soon be apparent to any reader, this is not what is called an " apologetic" work. I am nowhere trying to convince unbelievers that Christianity is True. I address those who already believe it, or those who are ready, while reading, to " suspend their disbelief". 

A man can't be always defending The Truth; there must be a time to feed on it

I have written, too, as a member of the Church of England, but I have avoided controversial questions as much as possible. 

At one point I had to explain how I differed on a certain matter both from Roman Catholics and from Fundamentalists: I hope I shall not for this forefeit the goodwill or the prayers of either. 

Nor do I much fear it

In my experience the bitterest opposition comes neither from them nor from any other thoroughgoing believers, and not often from atheists, but from semi-believers of all complexions. 

There are some enlightened and progressive old gentlemen of this sort whom no courtesy can propitiate and no modesty disarm. But then I dare say I am a much more annoying person than I know. 

(Shall we, perhaps, in Purgatory, see our own faces and hear our own voices as they really were?) 

Great Work








I got the early edition, hot off the presses! 

Ed Wood :
This is the big moment.
[Exhales] 

Bunny Breckinridge :
……Oh, what does •that• old queen know? 
She didn't even SHOW —
Sent her copy boy to do the dirty work. 
Sc-rew you, Miss Crowley.”

Delores :
“Do I really have a face like a horse?” 

“What does "ostentatious" mean?”

Ed Wood :
“Hey, it's not that bad. You can't concentrate on the negative. Look, he's got some nice things to say here. 
"The soldiers' costumes are very realistic." 
That's positive!

Bunny Breckinridge :
Rave of the century.

Ed Wood :
Well, I've seen a lot worse reviews. 
I've seen reviews where they didn't even mention the costumes. 
Like that last 
Francis the Mule picture —
It got terrible notices : Huge hit!

Bunny Breckinridge :
Lines around the block. 

Ed Wood :
That's right. Don't take it too seriously. 
We're all doing great work.

Do you really think so?

Ed Wood :
Absolutely.

Tuesday, 17 August 2021

The Malevolent Dwarf





"He who dies with the most toys, wins."



Writer Shari Goodhartz related, 
"I asked Brent Spiner whether he thought Data •purposefully• pulled the trigger or not, and he was adamant that Data DID fire the weapon, which was my intent as well, but the powers-that-be wanted that kept ambiguous, so it was. 

If I had a chance to do it over, with all the experience I have behind me now, I would argue passionately for Data's actions and their consequences to have been clearer, and hopefully more provocative."







Manure. I Love Manure







In a 1787 letter to William Stephens Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson used the phrase "Tree of Liberty":

I do not know whether it is to yourself or Mr. Adams I am to give my thanks for the copy of the new constitution. 

I beg leave through you to place them where due. It will be yet three weeks before I shall receive them from America. 

There are very good articles in it: and very bad. I do not know which preponderate. 

What we have lately read in the history of Holland, in the chapter on the Stadtholder, would have sufficed to set me against a Chief magistrate eligible for a long duration, if I had ever been disposed towards one: and what we have always read of the elections of Polish kings should have forever excluded the idea of one continuable for life.

Wonderful is the effect of impudent and persevering lying. The British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, and what is more wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. 

Yet where does this anarchy exist? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusets? 

And can history produce an instance of a rebellion so honourably conducted? I say nothing of it’s motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness

God forbid we should ever be 20. years without such a rebellion.1 The people can not be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independant 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half for each state. 

What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? 

And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? 

Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them

What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure. 

Our Convention has been too much impressed by the insurrection of Massachusets: and in the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the hen yard in order. 

I hope in god this article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted.