OK, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out Lindsey's motivations when I rewatched Angel-5 2 years ago.
Yes, I know they just threw him in to be there and to dramatically kill him in the end. But I love Lindsey and can't just go with it.
So that's what I came up with. Lindsey always had 3 defining motives for his actions: 1) not to be stepped upon, matter in the large scheme of things, 2) matter to Angel, in whatever way - partially because of 1) as he sees Angel as the biggest player of them all, someone never stepped upon - see him admiring his "brass balls" in NFA, 3) genuine humanity which never died in him. We can see the mix of all 3 in each major decision he took in his life.
In Blind Date it's all 3 - he does it because he feel for children, to impress Angel and to stick it to W&H - and eventually goes back to W&H because of 1).
In leaving W&H it's again all 3 - he felt for those whose organs were taken, he wanted to matter to Angel again, and also he was offended by W&h "stepping" on him with giving him that junk hand.
But after he left W&H we learned another thing about it in seasons 4 and 5 - you can't actually leave it, even after death. There are binding undestructable contracts for souls of any major W&H player. I can't believe Lindsey didn't have one, and he probably discovered it after he left. I can see all those runes, hiding in Japan, etc. as an attempt to beat W&H and get around that contract - to be a bigger player then W&H management eventually. He wanted to challenge W&H like Manners gave him credit for in the end of Blind Date.
And then, while doing that, he discovers that Angel, of all things, is now CEO of W&H! That would increase his motivation to beat W&H hundred fold - because now he is both jealous of Angel and also hurt and betrayed by him - as Angel never let him in, never gave him a quarter - exactly because Lindsey sold himself to W&H. There was always this moral superiority in Angel - but what of it now? In light of that I can see Lindsey being as conflicted as ever in S5 and in NFA - he wants to both undermine Angel, matter to him, take more power than Angel and W&H both, thwart them both, and be accepted by Angel as an equal player. And humanity is in there too - with Eve, and I believe in his final decision to join Angel in NFA. There, again, all 3 motives were intertwined - to play the biggest game of all, to be bigger than W&H and maybe than Angel - but also be alongside Angel and matter to him - and also a human desire to belong and to do something right under Angel's lead.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-03-17 04:16 pm (UTC)Yes, I know they just threw him in to be there and to dramatically kill him in the end. But I love Lindsey and can't just go with it.
So that's what I came up with.
Lindsey always had 3 defining motives for his actions: 1) not to be stepped upon, matter in the large scheme of things, 2) matter to Angel, in whatever way - partially because of 1) as he sees Angel as the biggest player of them all, someone never stepped upon - see him admiring his "brass balls" in NFA, 3) genuine humanity which never died in him. We can see the mix of all 3 in each major decision he took in his life.
In Blind Date it's all 3 - he does it because he feel for children, to impress Angel and to stick it to W&H - and eventually goes back to W&H because of 1).
In leaving W&H it's again all 3 - he felt for those whose organs were taken, he wanted to matter to Angel again, and also he was offended by W&h "stepping" on him with giving him that junk hand.
But after he left W&H we learned another thing about it in seasons 4 and 5 - you can't actually leave it, even after death. There are binding undestructable contracts for souls of any major W&H player.
I can't believe Lindsey didn't have one, and he probably discovered it after he left. I can see all those runes, hiding in Japan, etc. as an attempt to beat W&H and get around that contract - to be a bigger player then W&H management eventually.
He wanted to challenge W&H like Manners gave him credit for in the end of Blind Date.
And then, while doing that, he discovers that Angel, of all things, is now CEO of W&H! That would increase his motivation to beat W&H hundred fold - because now he is both jealous of Angel and also hurt and betrayed by him - as Angel never let him in, never gave him a quarter - exactly because Lindsey sold himself to W&H. There was always this moral superiority in Angel - but what of it now?
In light of that I can see Lindsey being as conflicted as ever in S5 and in NFA - he wants to both undermine Angel, matter to him, take more power than Angel and W&H both, thwart them both, and be accepted by Angel as an equal player. And humanity is in there too - with Eve, and I believe in his final decision to join Angel in NFA.
There, again, all 3 motives were intertwined - to play the biggest game of all, to be bigger than W&H and maybe than Angel - but also be alongside Angel and matter to him - and also a human desire to belong and to do something right under Angel's lead.