Hypothetically, Wes might be playing some kind of deep game with Harmony. If he is aware that she's irredeemably evil and decided to keep her anyway, he might be using her as part of some as yet unrevealed long range plan.

My prediction of what will become of Harmony is that due to a new rule at Wolfram & Hart (no soul, no service), she will travel to Africa (coughSomeBeachcough), flirt with Weird Voice Demon, get a free soul, never call him again ('cause that's what ensouled people do) and become the only non-annoying ensouled vampire left. Then of coarse she'll recieve shanshu and the show will be renamed "Harmony's Closet" but'll get cancelled after two seasons of gold and one of pure total "season seven" level crap (it will be redeemed by the stunning series finale written by Jeffrey Bell). She will do some guest spots on Faith: The Vampire Slayer (shut up, it could still happen).

eta: That Phantom Dennis will start dating Harm, and she'll finally get a real man.

Well, now that "Harm's Way" has been aired maybe there'll be more chat about our favourite Girl Friday.

I didn't think this episode "destroyed canon" so much as it expanded on it. Harmony has always been a "sheep" ( BB,&B from B:TVS) and didn't do very well when she tried to strike out on her own, so it's no surprise to me that she gravitated towards W & H. She's a survivor, in her own fluffy self-help book reading way. I hope she never gains an interest in "redemption" or "soul-having" because she does exemplify a different way of vamps co-existing in this world. I don't want to see her paired with any of the MoG either.

BTW, while I don't expect a huge long explanation from the writers, I am curious about the details of her vamping. It would seem that vamping requires some kind of consent from the victim, so how/why did she get vamped during graduation?

'Voluntary' might be too strong a word. Spike and Angel were lured into dark alleys by beauties, that's true, but both sure screamed when their throats were being bitten. What happens is that the sire must feed the victim some of his or her blood, but 'feed' seems to be served by injuring oneself and then pressing the victim's lips to the wound while they're screaming; ingesting the slightest amount seems to work.

Poor Harm was knocked down by a strange vamp during a fight and was certainly struggling. The vamps weren't supposed to be feeding, let alone vamping others, but they were Redshirts and didn't care. If her mouth touched the bleeding vamp after she was bitten, that was it. Her sire doubtless didn't stick around so her parents probably buried her and she had to do the claw-her-way-up thing. Brrrr.

The first step, draining the victim, leads to diminished capacity to make decisions, since there's less blood carrying oxygen to the brain. Beyond that, there's an obvious power differential between a blood-engorged bloodsucker and a weak, defenseless victim.

In Ford and Darla's case, they willingly became what they became. In fact, Ford sought it out. For William and Liam, they were looking for a change, a chance to go somewhere different and be someone different, but once the process started, they were both horrified, yet powerless to make it stop. For Dru, the poor thing was scared to death, screaming "Snake in the woodpile!" over and over again when we last see her alive.

From what we saw, there should be no way she's still alive but the writers love writing her. Much like Andrew.

I figured he just threw her over his shoulder and ran like hell, but I guess that works too. Heh.

My personal wank is that while Harmony was being drained, she bit the vamp in self defense. Because who in their right mind would sire her?

As far as destoying cannon, I didn't see. Harmony was and is totally motivated by self interest. She wasn't upset that she killed a guy, she pretty nonchalantly tossed him down the garbage chute. She was only worried that she'd be staked for doing so.

Yeah, I wasn't implying that vamp victims "asked for it" but I did wonder how people got turned when they hadn't been verbally seduced by the idea of immortality or what-have-you.. most vamps just feed til their victims are dead anyway. I think I like a2zmom's theory that it happened by accident, heh.

I'm not sure what the writers intend to make of her relationship with Spike now that he's a part of this show but I did find their relationship on B:TVS to be really baffling. I don't want that for her again.

Harmony was a pretty, young, blond girl. I can absolutely see some random minion/vamp of the Mayor's might have thought she was a cutie or a hottie and that she might be fun to have around... But even if not, didn't the Mayor tell the the minion/vamps "no feeding" before the big snake-athon? Maybe Harmony's sire was afraid the MayorDemon would be mad that he took a snack, so he turned her instead because he could make her a childe...? eh, wank-wank-wank.

yeah, I never saw a big problem with her having been vamped. So one of the Mayor's soulless evil henchmen didn't follow instructions and snacked on the attractive blond while he knew his boss was otherwise engaged? Eh, typical.
I really liked in the most recent ep that Harmony established her current motivation, in addition to her fear that Angel will kill her, as her having given up on any possibility of her being a competent evildoer. Buffy's contemptuous attitude toward her as a vamp ("harmony, you idiot") must have fed into that. I see that as nice continuity.

I also like the daily testing.

Harmony may well be trying to play ball, and fit in by societies rules. But, IMHO, for most Vampires going off Human blood is kind of like a really unfortunate fad diet. I still wouldn't trust her willpower not to slip, no matter her intentions.

In terms of cliché plot contrivances, the ones that are most annoying are those propelled by an otherwise intelligent, resourceful character, refusing to use the problem-solving person/object due to some illogical reason just so a story can be plotted out. i.e. In T3, The future Mrs. John Conor doesn’t send Arnold back to stop her dad from initializing the AI [I'm ignoring the whole time travel paradox thing].

However, I love that Harmony is a character who is so stupid, a cliché plot device can be used by her; she refuses to go to any senior staff member for help, and it makes perfect narrative and characteristic sense. I love that ME can still pull this kind of twist off. They used to be so good at taking cliché themes, genres, plot devices, and characters, and were able to improve on them and/or thwart the audience’s expectations; it makes me so happy to see it again.

I just wish they could figure out how to write character development again. Although, Harmony’s growth is the one in which I’m least interested.

I used to make up this game on, Who Would Harmony Hookup With On Angel". My matches stems from DisHarmony and I felt Gunn and Wes were good matches. But after Harm's Way, I can't see anyone with her.
She seems so stupid and needy. I guess that why Spike just moved on and uses her only for sex.

Not bashing the character but I felt the little intelligences she showed previously was lost in Harm's Way. Not because of what she did but the way she acted. A young ditz can be excusable(sorta cute n' sexy, I guess) but when you're mature, it comes off as pathetic!

As I recall, this was the general concensus on the BtVS boards at the time, wasnt it, a2zmom? IRC, we (BtVS addicts) had some long debates on the subject. *laugh*

I enjoyed the way Harmony was portrayed in "In Harms Way". I thought the fact that she had actually researched the demons culture was agreat way of showing how hard she was trying to help out. And, the fact that Angel just ignored all of her efforts, just made him out to be a total asshat, but didnt detract from what she had done.

I thought her attempts at trying to make the other secreteries jealous was very in charecter for the Harmony I knew on BtVS. If she hadn't become a vampire, maybe she would have outgrown such silly stuff, but, I always figure that being vamped kind of stops the emotional maturity just like it does the physical age. That is also how I explain to myself why she acts the way she does about Spike.

I think you might be right. As I recall, I was the original one with that theory other there too; at least I'm consistent in my insanity.

I agree with you about the emotional maturity just stopping. They are dead things after all. I think it's one of the things the soul provides; the chance for personal growth.

Wasn't the vampire who attacked Harmony during ‘Graduation Day part II’ a woman? It looked like the same vamp we see Percy grappling with (lucky vampire...) at the bottom of the stairs. Still, as Vamp Willow proved, vamps can be same-sex oriented. I personally don't have a problem with the whole ‘could she have been vamped?’ question. The other kids seemed more concerned with getting away than stopping to help Harmony, and surely the vamp would only have needed to cut its wrist say, and force a little blood down her throat after draining her?

I'm not really prepared to judge Harmony harshly for the admittedly somewhat pathetic way she acts around Spike. People seem to find him attractive and cool, and so does she: without saying that people (or vampires...) aren't responsible for their actions, when you're in love sometimes you make a fool of yourself. She can't help her feelings--though clearly she should have more self-respect than to let him treat her so, so poorly. I actually find it kind of a realistic relationship in that sense though, unfortunately--

This goes back to what I said earlier about a vamp's emotional maturity ending just like the aging process does. Harmony's actions and reactions to Spike remind me of a high school girl who got dumped by the guy she really likes. She keeps giving him openings and telling him that she still wants to be with him in hopes of his "coming to his senses" and saying he wants her back. I don't blame Harmony at all. I think it's very in charecter.

I watched "Disharmony" from Season two tonight (a pretty good ep), and it does establish some of Harmony's traits in a tentative way that have been more apparent this year--utter incompetance, but at least a half hearted desire to do good (nice continuity?). Boy she and Cordy ended up on bad terms though--at least on Cordy's part--Harmony tearfully asking if they were still friends, and Cordy telling her, essentially, no and she would kill her if she didn't get out of L.A.
So I'm wondering how that will work if they meet (I assume?) when & if Cordy returns--Harmony will be glad to see Cordy, and Cordy will kill her? (probably not, but I am looking forward to seeing how it works out).

I just want to give props to Harmony for being proactive and a good team player. Way to utilize your talents and think outside the box! (I tried to work "synergy" into this, but couldn't).

My wish for Harmony for the rest of the season is to have Angel acknowledge that she's a good asset (he won't, because he hates her more than Howard Dean hates Iowans. But it would be nice). And to eat Eve. "I tried to get her to run" was the line of the episode.

Yeah, Harmony is a good secretary. She anticipates her boss's needs, and takes care of the distasteful stuff that he doesn't want to dirty his hands with. But I wonder if her "torture" of Eve will come back to haunt her. She may end up being a target of whatever lame-ass revenge scheme Eve comes up with.

"I don't mind torturing her for the team"...good ol' Harmony, still trying to be accepted as part of the group. And I guess it worked because that lobby scene near the end was like, the first time all season (outside of Angel's dreams) where she actually looked like part of the MoG. It's nice that they took her along for drinks. I wish she had interacted with Cordelia more though.

Also, I have a feeling that Angel doesn't actually hate Harmony herself. As in, it isn't really personal. I think he was just grumpy over having to work with evil, and he just took it out on Harm because she's a convenient symbol of the whole thing. Maybe they'll get along better now.

Harmony is a good secretary to Angel and provides some comic relief in a way that Spike just can't. A whole episode devoted to her was a bit much as I think she works better when she's just Angel's secretary; his support staff. I just wish Angel would see that she tries and isn't completely incompetent. The whole Eve scene proved that she's good for something other than scheduling meetings.

ITA. And I loved "Harm's Way"; how perfect was it that she had mirrors, even though she didn't reflect? Hope springs eternal, I guess.

Due to some Spike-related issues (primarily because I despise him), I've only been half-heartedly watching this season, but I will go out on a limb and say that amidst all the bad (Eve, Andrew, Spike, necro-fucking-tempered glass, etc.) Harmony stands out (along with CK, of course!) as one of the good things to come out of the season.

I agree with the above posts that Harmony is a great tool to have to give otherwise epository or anvilicious plot points. I further think MM has great comedic timing, and plays this character with such gusto that it's hard not to like her. And TPTB wisely (for the most part!!) keep her in teh background rahter than at the forefront.

For instance, the scene where Angel and the MoG confront Eve? Who's the one to go and beat the crap out of her because they can't? Harmony. And it was one of the few scenes I laughed aloud at during this season.

I really hope that MM goes to bigger and better things post-Angel.

I was just thinking about Harmony a little bit today& It occurs to me that her human half is stronger than her demon half, granted Harm comes across as shallow and flighty but all in all maybe her willpower is more than what people give her credit for,end ramble.

In the aftermath of the cancellation announcment, I've been thinking about coming here and posting something like this:

You know what I said in the beginning of the topic about not wanting Harm to have any development? Well forget it! I want her to have a full-blown character arc, and to be a major player in the rest of the season, and to get her own spinoff, damn it!

Well, I get emotional sometimes, but I really am going to miss Harmony, and I kind of mean it. I do want to see some character development, and I was really happy with tonight's episode. She's such a sweet and caring... evil monster. Heh.

Canon, schmanon. Give me Harmony the Friendly Vampire.

I thought Harmony came off as a little too sympathetic in the last episode. I can't see her giving a rat's ass about Gunn and Wesley's emotional pain unless there's something in it for her.

I just saw the episode, and yeah, at first, I was all, "when did Harmony become Shoulder-to-Lean-On Girl?", but y'know, in the end, I didn't really care. I still loved it. Besides, it's really not that inconsistent. Her first priority has always been wanting to be accepted, and hey, if you want people to like you, then you behave accordingly.

Even when she was at Gunn's bedside calling him on what he did, I didn't get the impression that Harmony was judging him or trying to take the moral high ground. I think she just wanted to hear his side of the story. When she asked "how could you do that to your friends", I thought it was more of a question than an accusation. She didn't seem angry at him or anything.

It was nice to see flashes of old-school name-calling Harmony to go with her newfound kindness. I was wondering where the Harmony who sneered, "I'm glad your mom stopped working at the drive-thru long enough to dress you!" had disappeared to. That was kind of awesome. Even if we never see her again after episode 22, I'll be happy knowing that she did end up becoming more well-rounded & fleshed-out, yet managed to retain many of her old bitchy traits. I'm with Tanker....I'm going to miss her a lot.

Oh, also, at first, I thought that her line about wanting a "pound of flesh" from Knox sounded a little strange coming from her. It wasn't the kind of reference I'd expect Harmony to make. On the other hand, she was sitting right next to Cordelia in English class when they were discussing The Merchant of Venice, so it's not like she's unfamiliar with the play. That was a subtle piece of continuity, if it was intentional.

Yeah, that sweater did look good on her. [rimshot]

When Harm decides to be someone, she dives in with both feet.
When she decided that Fred was her friend, she became Fred's Best Friend. I loved it when she said "We've hung out lots of... well, once," as if she realized at the last second that the facts didn't really support her, but she plowed ahead anyway with the I Loved Fred theme. The upshot of this is that I wasn't thrown too much by her question to Gunn, after I thought about this.

She showed a lot of confidence in this ep, and seemed to be at ease with her role at W&H. I guess slapping Eve around really did wonders for her self-esteem. Torture and destruction -- she's found her niche! For the umpteenth time, and only for this week, but who's counting?

Anyone else think Wes and Harm made a cute research/destruction team? I think both actors have chemistry with just about anyone (ME seems to get a lot of those). She seemed to be genuinely concerned that Wes was losing it, too. She has no moral problem with her own destructive impulses, but she realizes that it's not healthy for normal humans to act them out, and tried to calm him down. Interesting.

God, I'm going to miss Mercedes. I hope she gets another series, or movies.

Edited because I just had a thought. She thought Wes was acting self-destructively, and tried to stop him. She offered to torture Eve for the team because she (Harm) is evil, so it doesn't matter. She understands that doing evil things is harmful to humans with souls. This is a realization that Spike was unable to make pre-soul (in a BtVS episode also written by Steven DeKnight).

Word, Tanker. Funny. I was commenting in the “Shells” thread about how I loved that Wes/Harm destruction scene in the UberLab. Got a thrill out of that. Here insane Wes is standing around and being chatty while Harm is bustling around cracking open cabinets. I’m lovin’ more and more on Harmony as this season goes by. Hell, she gets more screen time than some of the MoG. And I have no qualms with that /at all/.

Bring on the character development for Harm, I say. Make her a full fledged main character. Wait... on second thought don’t make her a main character if it’ll destroy her screen time and persona (a la hardly used Lorne now that he’s in the credits). Just keep her in the way she is and don’t do any extraneous arcs that might change her core personality (selfish, quippy, destructive, a follower...).



I liked that. I never ‘noticed’ that angle before. Not /really./ Inklings and abstract thoughts don’t count. It just clicked together like puzzle pieces when I read that line. She must have realized this because she has batted for both teams. Goodies and Baddies. Harmony never garnered happiness or satisfaction from wreaking havoc and doing evil deeds. At least not in my mind, what with all her failed, frustrated plans when trying to be evil. Spike on the other hand got vamped and preferred staying evil and doing evil things. In that repsect, he never saw “both sides” of the fence like Harm since he was content and effectively efficient in his carnage. That’s the main difference I see that would force Harmony into such a realization/introspection.

That, and the MoG possibly cramming crappy spiels about 'human innocents' and 'help the helpless' into her head.

I wanted to point out that I don't think Harmony has actually internalized any moral lessons for herself (yet). That is, I don't think she's "reformed." She still sees herself as evil, and thinks that's fine. She avoids feeding on humans more out of a sense of self-preservation than because it's wrong, I think. She understands that it's wrong, but I don't think she really cares that much. It's more that she a) doesn't want to be staked and b) doesn't want to lose her new friends.

I think b) is what makes Harm different from other vamps we've gotten to know -- she's the most gregarious vampire we've ever seen. Her feelings for her friends seem to be genuine. How much this came from the human Harmony is hard to say. But she's certainly the least evil Evil Evil Thing.

I do like the idea that playing for both teams has helped her understand things that most vamps never even think about. I also like the idea that the MoG's spiels are worming their way into her brain. She's always been portrayed as heavily (and easily) influenced by others.

This sure is a lot of thinking about a comic-relief character.

This part is the one that bothered me the most. She was getting into the destruction of the lab when Wes started to lose it. At that point it was just the two of them. For him to act that way should have brought her a sense of relief; a feeling as if she could let her guard down, because a) he was too busy to be judging her, b) he was acting irrationally, and c) he was becoming violent. All of that should have appealled to her enough to make her feel like she could take a vacation from "acting" like a concerned person. IMO she should have said something like "Wes, I'm so impressed", or "I can be myself around you...cool!" or "Here, Wes, you hold it like this" and proceeded to start banging on the sarcophagus herself.

Even the scene with Gunn didn't bother me as much as the one with Wesley. In that case she was on orders from Angel, she was in secretarial mode, and I guess I can buy that she was just being curious about the rumours and there weren't any feelings behind the pat. Vampires have loyalty, and Gunn was once part of the group, so...anyway, I can somewhat fanwank that scene. Not the other one.

I think one of the most telling lines Harmony comes out with is in ‘Harm's Way’, when she says something like ‘I don't have a soul - it's harder for me’. I agree with seamus that Harmony's will is stronger than she's given credit for - isn't she about the only soulless vampire we've seen who's chosen not to feed off humans?

Ok, maybe it is for self-preservation reasons, but I see Harmony as making the best of a bad situation. She didn't choose to be vamped, but she's trying to have a career (surely one of the only vamps to do that - ok, apart from that Tamika girl I guess), by working for the only company that would hire the undead.

I compare her to other soulless vampires like Angelus, Darla, and pre-soul Spike, who revelled in killing, far more than they needed to for sustenance. I guess I'd compare them to cats who kill birds or mice just to play with them. Finding that pig's blood with otter seemed to do the trick for her sustenance-wise, Harm gives up on hunting humans altogether.

speaking of the mixed pig/otter blood...wtf? How the hell did she find this out? I'm not sure I want to know.

After seeing ‘You're Welcome’ for the first time yesterday, I think I have to say the scene where the MoG confront Eve and Harmony starts battering her ‘for the team’ is my favourite from the season so far. Hee! People should beat up Eve more often. A lot more often. Hell, even Lorne wanted to snap her into little bits.

Harmony's eager-to-pleaseness has to be one of her most redeeming features IMO. It was nice to see the MoG becoming more appreciative of that side of her too.

I just wanted to bump this up, although there really isn't a lot more to say about Harmony, is there? I'm pretty pleased with the way the writers used her this season, although I wouldn't have minded her getting a little more involved. Maybe she'll have a big moment in the finale. I'm sure she'll look fabulous, as always. I'm glad they made Mercedes a regular, even if it is just at the end. She's been with ME from the beginning.

Sigh. I'm going to be so depressed next week.

I love Harmony. In Power Play her delivery of the line that I wish I could remember--about a really imp call from someone really important etc--was priceless. I still think Joss writes the very best lines for Harmony, but this wasn't bad either.

Also I loved it that she went back to corporate-suiting with a twist. She's been a lot of fun and I will miss her.

Strega--Does betrayal make one a Fiend now or since the series is finished, is it a moot point?

Harmony continues to make her name an ironic joke. :b

I liked Harmony's conversation with Angel about remembering mortality. I was simply puzzled by how he handled her betrayal. I suppose that he understood her weaknesses and used them to his advantage without holding it against her.

And I have to admit, I'm slightly jealous of her getting to sleep with Hamilton!

Ah, Harmony. Remember back in my first post in this thread where I said I didn't want them to develop her character at all? Mission accomplished. She goes out as she came in: souless, self-absorbed, and basically clueless. And sexy.

Yeah, fadooski, I think Angel wouldn't hold a grudge because he knows what she is. He doesn't take a souless vampire's nature as a personal insult. As Harmony might say, "Helloooo, I'm evil!"

I have to wonder about what she'll do with her reference. How many places have 1. admins who work night shift, or 2. necrofuckingtempered glass?

I suppose she could move to W&H's Roman office. She'd fit right in and Ilona would love her. The Senior Partners aren't going to go after er since she betrayed the MoG, so she's come out on top.

That's true about the SP but I know of a group of young ladies who are going to come after her when they receive some correspondence from Angel he sent off before he headed into battle explaining what happened.

I have to admit it, I did NOT see Harmony's betrayal coming. I feel like a moron about that fact now, though. It was so in charecter for her to do what she did. And I got a big chuckle at the fact that she was boffing Hamilton. Harmony may be a half-wit, but she does have enough sense to keep her pretty little neck intact.

I really liked her dialogue with Angel about what she missed about being human. Mercedes is a better actress then I have ever given her credit for, I guess. I fear that, no matter what else I see her in, she will always be Harmony to me. Here's hoping she ran off to the Rome Offices and is currently guzzling blood with the rest of the steno pool.

Are we assuming the blood on Harmony's lips is hers from Hamilton's rough sexual techique? Just sayin' cuz she didn't seem all supercharged with uberblood.

I think Harmony was handled perfectly throughout the whole run of Buffy and Angel. It was just so in fitting with the wonderful wackiness and quirkiness of this show that she escapes after betraying Angel with a handy job reccomendation.

I think her scene with Angel about humanity was awesome and so very Harmony. I think that that was my favorite Harmony scene ever because it was touching and funny. Great bonding over the lack of living-ness.

I was also pleased that Harmony survived. It seemed almost respectful of Mercedes Mcnab who had been with Joss since the beginning to let her escape.

I think a Harmony spin-off would be awesome. Or maybe not. I would sure watch it though.

Maybe not, but she should totally show up if there's ever an Angel movie. She's such a goofy, generally unthreatening character that they could work her back in with minimal effort.

That said, I think they kind of blew it with her character in the very last episode. The betrayal was fine, and her speech about her heart was nice, but the part that annoyed me was that when Angel said "Do you ever miss it?" while staring at the sun, she had this sad look on her face. Then he clarified and said "Being human" or something, and she said "Ohhh," like she didn't know what he was talking about. It would have been better if she had just said "Sometimes," in a sad voice, like she immediately knew. It would have contrasted her unobservant character in a nice way & been a good sendoff for a character who's been around since the first (2-hour) episode of Buffy.

What I hated about how they ended Harmony's character, was Angel's speech to her that he knew she would betray them, because she was a souless vamp. I hope that she didn't buy his bull. Because that is what it was.

How was that not accurate?

Perhaps Harmony was going to betray Angel, not because she was a soulless vamp, but because she was Harmony. And she would have done that whether or not she had a soul.