What You Want, Not What You Need, Part Two

What You Want, Not What You Need, Part Two is the twenty-second issue of the Angel & Faith comic book series. Written by Christos Gage and illustrated by Rebekah Isaacs, it was originally published on May 29, 2013, by Dark Horse Comics.

Synopsis[]

Giles's resurrection has been pushed to the back burner while Angel and Faith tackle Season 9's Big Bads — Pearl, Nash, and Whistler — who threaten to release boundless magic over the planet. Only the strong will survive!

• Executive Producer Joss Whedon.^[1]

Summary[]

As Giles continues to scream, Faith asks Angel what is happening. With the resurrection spell interrupted, Alasdair recovers and orders everyone to focus their thoughts on Giles while he continues chanting. Lavinia and Sophronia think of ten-year-old Giles and express their desire to give their nephew a second chance. Faith thinks of her travels with Giles and asserts she still needs him. Angel recalls Giles' death and asks to be allowed to fix it. The light fades, and Alasdair asks for Giles.

Giles, alive with the appearance of a young teenager, demands they overcome their surprise and focus on the upcoming apocalypse.

Alasdair questions if Lavinia and Sophronia envisioned Giles as a young boy, and Giles accuses them of ruining his life again. Angel is satisfied they managed to resurrect him in a world without magic, confident they will find a way to fix his age. Faith asks Giles if he is still the same man in his head; he gets distracted by her cleavage, but quickly confirms he has the same memories and thought process. Angel asks if he is feeling well after being taken from peace back to life, but Giles complains he had been under the thrall of a demon and then trapped within Angel, feeling both Angel's guilt and delight over his past atrocities.

Alasdair agrees with Giles they should focus their attention on Whistler, Pearl, and Nash for now. Giles scolds Angel for offering to go by himself, and Angel gets the idea of telling Buffy. Giles cuts him and says Buffy can't travel to London in time to help and feels it is too soon for her to know he is alive. Angel then gets everyone to search for ways to deal with the trio of half-demons.

Later, Giles finds Faith crying alone. He apologizes for acting inappropriately, but she says it wasn't his fault. He apologizes for failing her and not coming back as someone she needs. Faith says she needs to stop looking for a father figure and she didn't lose anything because she never had it in the first place. Giles tells her it is something every child deserves, and it is as important to grieve as it is to move on. Faith cries and hugs Giles, telling him it's his shot after spending a whole life helping people figure out theirs.

Giles seeks Alasdair and they talk about the resurrection. Alasdair asks how Giles got this age when his great-aunts envisioned him younger, and Giles guesses he always thought how his life would have been if he entered the Watchers Academy as an older boy and fought against being that age again. Alasdair asks what he will do now that he got his wish.

With Angel, Faith, Giles, Alasdair, Lavinia, and Sophronia reunited, Giles goes over their combat strategy to prevent the enemy from carrying out their plan. Giles then uses an enchanted lodestone on a map to find concentrations of mystic energy. It explodes when it pinpoints Hackney; Whistler, Pearl, and Nash never left London and must be unleashing the plague now. As the group leaves quickly, Nadira follows them. Supervising Pearl and Nash's work, Whistler declares: "One way or another, it all ends here."

Continuity[]

• Flashbacks feature Faith and Giles together at some point between No Future for You, Part Four and Retreat, a ten-years-old Giles previously shown in Women of a Certain Age, and Angel killing Giles in Last Gleaming, Part Four.
• Angel expects to find an artifact that will age Giles. Willow will find a temporary spell in Freaky Giles Day and eventually find one that permanently ages him (One Year Later).
• Giles references his time inhabiting Angel's body, which was most strongly seen in Death and Consequences, Part Four and Spike and Faith.
• Giles complains about not being able to have an adult relationship without getting the woman jailed. Olivia will refuse his attempt to rekindle their relationship in Love Dares You, Part One, but Giles will find a chance with the fairy Sundrop in In Pieces on the Ground, Part Four.
• Giles tells Faith no one needs him to guide them anymore. Giles had frequently felt unnecessary to others in the past, especially during his period of unemployment throughout Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 4, most notably in "The Yoko Factor," and when he concluded he was holding Buffy back ("Once More, with Feeling"), prompting him to leave her in "Tabula Rasa."
• Giles tries to drink scotch, but Alasdair take it away from him and give him a soda because Giles is "underage." This echoes a similar instance with Anya, a thousand-years-old demon turned teenager, when she tried to get beer in "Doppelgängland."
• Giles shows gratitude to Angel for bringing him back and freeing his soul from Eyghon's hold during Death and Consequences, Part Four.
• The moment when Angel and the others acknowledge the strong possibility they may die in the fight against Whistler mirrors that of "Power Play."
• Angel says he should've died three centuries ago; he was sired in 1753 ("The Prodigal").
• Giles and Lavinia detect a rise in energy in the Deeper Well in Cotswold. Unbeknownst to them, the energy is due to the battle between the Scooby Gang and the Magic Council in The Core, Part Two.

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

• Angel
• Alasdair Coames
• Eyghon (Only mentioned)
• Mr. Giles (Only in flashbacks)
• Rupert Giles
• Lavinia Fairweather
• Sophronia Fairweather
• Nadira Kureishi
• Faith Lehane
• Nash
• Pearl
• Willow Rosenberg (Only mentioned)
• Buffy Summers (Only mentioned)
• Whistler
• Alasdair Coames' cat

Organizations and titles[]

• Slayer
• Watcher
• Witch (Only mentioned)

Species[]

• Demon (Only mentioned)
• Fairy
• Human
• Half-demon
• Old One (Only mentioned)
• Vampire

Events[]

• Apocalypse (Only mentioned)
• End of magic

Locations[]

• Buffy Summers' heaven (Only mentioned)
• Cotswolds (Only mentioned)
  • Deeper Well (Only mentioned)
• London
  • Alasdair Coames' residence
  • Demontown (Only mentioned)
  • Giles residence
• Sunnydale (Only in flashbacks)
  • Church (Order of Aurelius) (Only in flashbacks)
• Watchers Academy (Only mentioned)

Objects[]

• Enchanted lodestone

Rituals and spells[]

• Lazarene incantation

Death count[]

• None.

Behind the scenes[]

Collections[]

• What You Want, Not What You Need
• Angel & Faith Season Nine Library Edition, Volume 3

Pop culture references[]

• Faith compares Giles to Mr. Miyagi and herself to Daniel-san, the mentor and student in the 1984 film The Karate Kid.
• Lavinia and Sophronia shop at the men's clothing store Topman.
• Lavinia compares Giles' new clothes to the fashion wore by the musicians David Bowie and Mick Jagger.
• Giles argues he wears Savile Row tailoring, drinks Darjeeling tea, and reads Fyodor Dostoevsky's novels.

Gallery[]

Covers[]

Main cover

Variant cover

Cover artwork[]

Steve Morris

Rebekah Isaacs

Quotes[]

References[]