Why can't Angel do CPR?

The most ridiculous thing is he's panting heavily as he says it *shakeshead* theres no reason why he couldn't do CPR by just simulating breathing, he may not need to but he can breath, its just a matter of doing so.

Then again if the heart doesn't beat and they don't have blood flow then there are other things he shouldn't be able to do either...
 
C
Cordelia Chase*
ewwww! LOL
I agree with the theory that their blood does not possess life giving qualities. We know that in the Buffyverse, the brain and blood have mystical and physiological qualities. Perhaps breath is the same. The breath from a vampire lacks the synergy of mystical and physiological attributes to be life giving. This is sort of like Darla and her problem with pregnancy.
 
The whole issue with breathing I found problematic on the show with regard to the vamps. In a couple of shots the actor's/vamp's breath could clearly be seen, when they shot outside in the cool night air. For example, I recently rewatched the ep in Angel when Darla sires Angel and he rises up from the grave at night and snacks on the caretaker. Both Darla's and Angel's breath could be seen. In an ep of Buffy, Spike's breath was also visible during a night shoot. Now if a vamp is a dead corpse (i.e. not generating body heat) why would we be seeing their breath? It constitutes a major Goof in the 2 shows, but you'd think the prod. company would have done something to get around this problem early on. I know, we're being nit-picky. LOL
 
you guys amaze me...the fact is, you are disecting the show and it quite frankly makes me think wow!...they actually thought of that...and then I too find myself thinking hmmm. GRRRR. THANKS LOL

but yeah I am gonna have to go with the theory that a vampire doesnt breath in the same way a human actually does and therefor he really didnt have "breath" to give...

I mean if you think about it...someone else posted a thread about them being able to "breath under water"...can a human do that? no...so that means their breathing is essentialy diffrent than a humans...

to go a step further a Vampire is "living" in a sense, only in form, truly though it has no heart beat..which is essential to life. That is why they are called the "un-dead." which is mind boggling on its own.
 
Now that I think of it, kissing a vamp would be easier: you wouldn't have them breathing all over you! LOL
Of course I'd have to watch out for those teeth! 😀

*goes off to fantasize about Vamp Harmony...*
 
Vampires obviously breathe involuntarily despite not having to do so. Wouldn't that mean that his body wouldn't absorb the oxygen, and therefore make him a better candidate for giving CPR than a human?
 
The Chosen
The Chosen
ohh -- nice point!
Ok, slightly off topic, but not really. In "Prophecy Girl" when Angel & Xander find Buffy dead, why the heck is Angel panting? If he supposedly has no breath, then why is he panting, obviously breathing? I would think that they could have easily filmed it so that he wasn't so obviously breathing loudly. I just noticed this upon rewatching it, and it annoyed me.
 
They probably didn't think about it at the time, so they've made them run to find her, and so Angel's panting because he's probably run to find her, and during the filming they've forgotten to edit it.

Either that, or, its said in a couple of episodes every now and then (both in Angel and Buffy) that while vampires don't directly need to breathe, they do it out of habit, which I guess I can understand... so maybe that's why... even though he doesn't actually need to breathe, its a habit thing that he doesn't realise he's doing, hence the panting after physical exertion of some sort... but then it leads you straight back to "well if he's panting, he has breath, and if he has breath, then why can't he give CPR?"... bit annoying really...
 
See, I always saw it as, yes they can simulate breathing, to make it look like they are doing so, but since they're dead their lungs wouldn't work in the same way as ours. Taking oxygen in and converting etc. So while it can look like they're breathing, we're not seeing actual breath. More like Imititation Breath which, in my opinion, explains why he couldn't do CPR. It looks like he's breathing, but it's not real breath and so he couldn't perform the CPR and save Buffy.

I hope that rambly explanation made sense. Hehe
 
I'm going to go with it was probably something that the writers came up with at the time, because at the end of season 2 "in becoming pt2" Spike chokes Dru until she passes out, which if vampires don't breathe or need air then this wouldn't have been possible.
 
T
tearsong
[No message]
J
Joyce Summers
Yeah I was always puzzled at that
Slayerfest 99 said:
I'm going to go with it was probably something that the writers came up with at the time, because at the end of season 2 "in becoming pt2" Spike chokes Dru until she passes out, which if vampires don't breathe or need air then this wouldn't have been possible.
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I don't think he was choking her; I think he was pinching a nerve or an artery. I've watched the scene a few times and that's the conclusion I came to, anyway.
 
E
Edmund Blackadder
An artery - interesting
Blondie Bear said:
I don't think he was choking her; I think he was pinching a nerve or an artery. I've watched the scene a few times and that's the conclusion I came to, anyway.
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Yeah, apparently, he cut off the bloodflow to her brain, so she passed out. As Spike said, blood does have some mystical qualities which is why vampires eat it.
 
I just went back and watched that becoming epi, then I looked up on the net and it looks like what Spike did is called a sleeper hold, where an oppent puts pressure on the other opponents carotid, cutting off blood supply to the brain, which then leads you to pass out. So if Dru had the blood to her brain stopped then yeah she would pass out, but i kinda figured if a vampires heart doesn't beat then the blood supply does not run through the body (so how can you cut off the blood supply if the blood isn't even being pumped) and red blood cells carry oxygen (among other things) which vampires don't need........: erm : ok I'm getting a little confused because now everything sounds conflicted....
 
Slayerfest 99 said:
I just went back and watched that becoming epi, then I looked up on the net and it looks like what Spike did is called a sleeper hold, where an oppent puts pressure on the other opponents carotid, cutting off blood supply to the brain, which then leads you to pass out. So if Dru had the blood to her brain stopped then yeah she would pass out, but i kinda figured if a vampires heart doesn't beat then the blood supply does not run through the body (so how can you cut off the blood supply if the blood isn't even being pumped) and red blood cells carry oxygen (among other things) which vampires don't need........: erm : ok I'm getting a little confused because now everything sounds conflicted....
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Have we discussed no beating heart must mean no pumping blood yet?
 
Like I said, blood does seem to have mystical qualities that vampires need (as opposed the physiological reasons we need blood flow). And yes vampires do bleed and have sex etc so despite the lack of a beating heart, they do have blood flow.
 
Vampires = mystical creatures = magic = it doesn't have to make biological sense.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
Blondie Bear said:
Vampires = mystical creatures = magic = it doesn't have to make biological sense.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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With that logic this must apply

Fantasy show = mystical creatures/beings = magic = it doesn't have to make sense.

Fine then, I never want to hear you complain or question something in the show because I'll just post that!!
 
A lot of stuff in Fantasy doesn't make "realistic" sense. Like oh, say, magic. Usually it has to be internally consistent, though. Whedon's vampires aren't internally consistent. I've given up trying to make them internally consistent.
 
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