EPISODE 5.09

Harm's Way

Written by: Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft

Directed by: Vern Gillum

Everyone Matters

“Harms’ Way” opens with one of those really cheesy promotional videos with the 1950’s style voiceover.  Its subject is Wolfram and Hart and initially at least it concentrates on the old image of the firm:

“We're the oldest and most powerful law firm in the city. Founded in 1791 on ground deconsecrated by the blood of mass murderer Mathias Pavayne, Wolfram & Hart has put roots down in this glamorous city that grow deep, and branches that reach right into the heart of every major corporation, including Yoyodyne, Weyland Yutani, and Newscorp. That captain of industry? We own his soul. That fabulous movie queen? She owes us her first born.”

As an aside, let me say that, while the reference to Yoyodyne went initially over my head, I loved the way Weyland Yutani and Newscorp were bracketed together. Weyland Yutani is, of course, the menacing corporation featured in the first three ALIEN movies and Newscorp is Rupert Murdoch’s evil corporate empire.  It is also the parent company of 20th Century Fox who make ANGEL.

Be that as it may, however, the message of the first part of the promo was that people do not matter; what matters is power and the control of others is the way to achieve this.  Under new management things are supposed to be different:

“Under our new C.E.O., Angel, we're focusing less on power and more on using that power for good.”

Using power for good means, of course, that the employees themselves cannot behave as they did under the old regime; so:

“We have a zero tolerance policy for killing, and that includes you, vampires.”

But otherwise the employees themselves are intended to be as much beneficiaries of the new dispensation as ordinary Angelinos.  Instead of being treated as disposable tools in the corporation’s quest for power they matter individually

“That's right, no more employee sacrifices. At Wolfram & Hart, you're part of a family now. You can work your way up the ladder, and there will always be a hand to help you up it. Every life and unlife is as important to our new management as their own. So go ahead, relax, and enjoy your new Wolfram & Hart family. Because at our firm, everyone matters.”

So, it is very interesting that the very next scene features Harmony.  And here the emphasis is very much on normalcy.  She is just an ordinary working girl who needs an alarm clock to waken her, needs to brush her teeth in the morning, can’t make up her mind what clothes to wear and occasionally loses a shoe under a dresser.  Except we are also reminded that Harmony isn’t just an ordinary working girl.  The teeth she brushed are also fangs and she has the strength to physically lift the dresser with one hand.  She is after all a vampire and it’s no wonder her neighbor’s dog growls at her.  This then is the fundamental contradiction in Harmony’s life.  She is simultaneously both potentially a dangerous killer and at the same time someone who just wants to earn a living and get on with her life…unlife…in the same way as anyone else.  This is a fine line to tread but quite early we have confirmation that she is doing so successfully as she passes the human blood detection test and swears that she has been off the stuff for months. 

She is, in fact, doing rather better than Eli, another Wolfram and Hart employee, who spent his free time dismembering virgins for his own amusement and was beheaded as a result.  Juxtaposing Harmony’s passing her test to Eli’s demise was obviously intended  first of all to show the difference between Harmony, who played by the new Wolfram and Hart rules, on the one hand and Eli, who didn’t, on the other.   But it also reminded us of the consequences for those who didn’t follow those rules, something that would assume an importance all its own in due course.

If the “everyone matters” message of the promotional video meant anything, therefore, Harmony should have been accepted as part of the Wolfram and Hart family and treated accordingly,  a fortiori because – counter intuitively -  she was actually rather good at the job.  Her first meeting with Angel serves to illustrate the point as she reels off everything that she had done:

“So, you've got the department heads at 11:00, your 1:00 with Mistress Shriva from human—I'm sorry—non-human resources got moved to 2:00. Swung by the cleaners. Zippo luck getting out the Frophla slime. Oh, and I took care of the catering for the big feuding demon clan confab, unless you have any requests.”

This would, of course, be regarded as part and parcel of her normal duties.  But then we learn that in preparation for a conference to mediate between two warring clans she has been putting in a little extra work:

“You don't know the half of it. I've been doing a whole bunch of research on these guys, their customs and stuff? Did you know that they think poodles are wicked bad luck?”

And as a result of this research she hits on what on the face of it sounds quite a good idea: a camel.

“Camel meat's a delicacy, so I thought it would be a great way to kick off the summit, 'cause of the clans being so uptight? Like... comfort food.”

And as if that isn’t enough she shows an entirely unexpected degree of insight into Fred’s life when she realizes that the “old” triangle between herself, Gunn and Wesley has been replaced by a new one involving Knox and Wesley.  So here we see Harmony displaying a degree of competence, intelligence and insight.  But in spite of this and in spite of the fact that she has been abiding by the rules she is not valued.

This is in direct contrast to Dan for whose work Lorne shows great appreciation:

“This kid was up all night jigsawing who's going where tomorrow. He's a real up-and-comer, this one.”

And the same co-workers who ignore Harmony all seem to know Dan’s star is on the rise and suck up to him accordingly:

            “He's totally grooming you.”

For Dan the Wolfram and Hart promise that “everyone matters” does indeed seem to be coming true.  So, here we have central conflict in “Harm’s Way” – the contradiction between the promise held out in the promotional video and the sterling work done by Harmony on the one hand and the treatment meted out to her on the other. 

Harmony of Thought and Deed

But what is the purpose of showing this conflict?  I referred earlier to the fundamental contradiction in Harmony’s life between her being a potential killer and someone who is just trying to make her way in an organization with a new ethos such as Wolfram and Hart.  It might have been a neat idea to try to explore the ambivalence that Angel clearly feels towards the Law firm through his relationship with Harmony.  Even if someone is playing by the rules are they not still untrustworthy merely because they work for Wolfram and Hart?  And is this question not posed in its most acute form in the case of a vampire?

But that is not what we have here.  This episode is seen entirely from Harmony’s perspective.  The writers never try to explore how Angel feels about her or why he treats her so badly.  They are only interested in the fact that he does so.  Indeed there is no evidence that his behavior towards Harmony ever changes or develops.  For example at the end Harmony recalls bitterly:

“So I save the summit by killing the skank who tried to frame me, and all I get is, "get me some coffee." You believe that?”

So we must conclude that Angel’s attitudes are not the focus of the episode.  Moreover, it’s not only Angel who is seen to treat Harmony badly – Lorne, Gunn and Wesley all do as well.  And the ambiguity of their position in Wolfram and Hart is far less an issue for them than it is for Angel.  More significantly so too do her co-workers in the firm. And that ambiguity is no issue at all for them. And finally, in Dan we have someone who works for Wolfram and Hart but is valued.   So, this has nothing to do with the fact that Harmony is evil and is trying to work for Wolfram and Hart at all.  I can only conclude, therefore, that this episode was essentially a character driven piece, one intended to explore Harmony in a bit more depth, to let us see the real her.  And for the purpose the writers seem to have concentrated on two different aspects of her personality.

The first is her general feeling of insecurity. The number one question I ask when I contemplate Harmony is: why is she still in LA at all, let alone why is she continuing to work for Wolfram and Hart?  After all from the start of the episode the consequences of falling off the wagon are made plain for her.   And, as she says herself, without a soul, she has to work really hard not to do so.  The answer she gives is convincing enough:

“I tried being out on my own, all independent and evil. I'm just no good at it.”

And we see the same insecurity in her behavior on discovering the body on her bed.    When she realizes that she could be blamed for Toby’s death, what does she do?  She tries to hide the evidence. She contemplates running away.  At no stage does she voluntarily confide in one of the others – not even Fred who was so sympathetic to her only the night before.  And when Fred does find out she tells Harmony to go to Angel.  But Harmony won’t.  She seems to believe that Angel will kill her simply out of principle without investigating the matter further:

“He's not a helper. He's a chopper. He'll cut my head off before I get 2 words…”

So not only does she not trust herself, she simply cannot bring herself to trust anyone else either. But, as Angel later confirms, she could have trusted him and he wouldn’t have condemned her without a hearing.   And if she had done so, things would have gone a whole lot easier. 

The second aspect of Harmony that we see emphasized here in her isolation from others.  Before the final conversation between her and Spike, there is only one occasion in the whole episode when Harmony opens up to anyone, helping to give any real insight at all into how she feels or thinks.  That was when she was talking to Fred and said:

“I just…I don't get it. I used to be way popular in high school.  Just since I got vamped at my graduation, I've had trouble connecting with people. “

Harmony’s popularity in High School had nothing to do with connecting with other people.  It had everything to do with status, a status based on the right clothes, the right accessories and being part of the right group.  These are still the things that are important to her.  She still sets a lot of store by her clothes.  Hence her remark to Fred:

“We're like gal pals! This is awesome! You can teach me about life, and I can teach you how to dress better.”

And she still obviously sets a great deal of store by creating the right image for herself, hence the carefully coordinated mug and purse as well as the carefully labelled thermos and the unicorns.  She is also very rank-conscious.  When Dan complains about heating blood in the microwave she puts him in his place, just like she would have done in the old days at school:

“Oh, I know. It's so unfair. Just because my boss is your boss's boss, his needs coming first and all.”

She just doesn’t care about people.  The way she treated Tamika was instructive:

Tamika: “You don't remember? Think steno pool. I sat next to you.”

Harmony: “Sambuca?”

Tamika: “Tamika!”

Harmony: “Right”

Tamika: “Well, you were only there for, what was it? 5 weeks?”

Or, when at the beginning of the episode, Harmony knocked into Tamika and spilled coffee all over her she made a very perfunctory apology without bothering about the damage to Tamika’s clothes. When she tries to join the others in conversation it’s to talk about herself, whether that be the pay rise she deserves because of her work or how important that work is and how close to Angel she is.  And when she sees Toby Dupree at the bar all she is interested in is that he’s a cute guy.  Anything about him such as where he is from or what he does is “the boring stuff”.  The fact that Harmony can’t make a connection after High School is all down to her.

And here we come to the heart of the problem with “Harm’s Way”  Character exploration can be used to develop someone like Harmony in some way or at least to give her a bit more depth to make us see beyond the stereotype of a dumb selfish blonde and thus to actually make her more sympathetic.  But for me it failed utterly. 

First and foremost, as written Harmony has no depth.  She is self-absorbed, interested only in the superficial and unable to understand that there is any other way to behave.  This is of course entirely consistent with the character we have seen in the past and as such is quite credible.   It can also work at a fairly undemanding level when it comes to a broadly comedic treatment of the character but it is disappointing that ME writers seem to have no higher ambition than this. The only attempt to add any texture at all to this picture lay in the suggestion that Harmony was actually very competent and was unappreciated for it.  A major problem here though is that this is a proposition that is very difficult to reconcile with her supposed insecurity.  Someone as insecure as she is supposed to be would volunteer suggestions at meeting with the Senior figures in the Office in which she was only there to take notes and she certainly wouldn’t have acted on her own initiative in trying to make arrangements for such an important meeting.  It is also very hard to square with the stupid, almost childish way in which she tries to hid e the evidence of Toby's death.  So, the characterization lacks a certain amount of coherence as well as depth.

And it’s not as if we see any development in the character, a feeling that something happens in the episode which at least promises some change. The only development that occurs is a small boost to her ego.  As we have seen she is deeply insecure and convinced that she doesn’t matter.  The fact that someone tried to frame her becomes comforting:

Harmony: “Yeah…not mattering.  I know that feeling well.”

Spike: “Oh, come on, Harm, you matter to someone.”

Harmony: “I do?”

Spike: “Yeah. Girl tried to frame you, didn't she? Must have mattered to her. Everybody's talking about it.”

Harmony:” You're right. That girl hated me. She wanted me dead. I matter.”

And this leads us on to the second problem, namely  that this conclusion is entirely misconceived.  Tamika identifies the reason for her hatred in the following terms:

“Oh, I see you in all the important meetings. You're on the fast track. Well, that's all about to change.”

This is completely at odds with the reality  (not just her perception) of Harmony’s position that she is only there to, as Angel put it,

“answer the phones, make appointments, and anticipate my needs.”

There is nothing there really to engender that sort of hostility and, if we discount the probability that this is just a screw up by the writers, it simply confirms how stupid Harmony was to fall for Spike’s words of comfort.

The emphasis of the writers seems to have been on making Harmony a sympathetic character rather than a particularly rich one.  Among the tools that they used here were the feeling that she was unjustly treated by Angel when all she was trying to do was to help, the fact that she was isolated by her co-workers and finally that she was a victim of her own insecurities.  I have already referred to the fact that I do not think her newly found competence quite works and to the fact that her social isolation is essentially her own doing.  Neither factor seems calculated to help make her more sympathetic. But the principal means used to make Harmony a sympathetic figure was the fact that she was unjustly accused of murder.    But, as we have seen, her peril was in large measure attributable to her own stupidity.  She tried  to cover up evidence, she refused  to communicate with Angel, or especially Fred, and, to avoid not being killed but simply being made to talk to Angel, she attacked both  Fred and Lorne.  Then she accuses and attacks Dan on far flimsier evidence than exists against her.  So, just as Harmony complains about being ignored while ignoring others, so she  complains that no-one will trust her when she trusts no-one herself.  This stupidity and distrustfulness for me destroys any temptation to be sympathetic.

But at the end of the day this is all incidental to the real problem.  Harmony is after all a soulless Vampire.  When Angel kills Eli he says:

“Called a zero tolerance policy, not a "maybe this once" policy. Nobody in this office gets away with murder, not anymore.”

But Harmony has killed, maybe lots of times.  She says herself:

“I'm not a killer! Well, I am, but I've been clean for 8 months... except for today, but that is different because it's not me!”

Objectively the only difference between her and Eli is timing.  Where is the justification for treating her differently?  If someone were to offer an amnesty to an individual who had committed a murder a few months ago we would say that was an insult to the victim.  And punishment for past crimes isn’t even the issue.  The real issue is stopping future killings.  The only thing stopping Harmony from killing is the fear of detection and retribution.  Harmony could leave Wolfram and Hart at any time.  When she did so she could kill again.  Anyone she does kill will be a death that can be laid directly at the door of Angel and his decision to keep her alive now.  So how can we be expected to feel sympathetic to Harmony because she isn’t appreciated or because no-one listens to her or because she was wrongly suspected of murder?  She should be dead now.