"Heroes don't accept the world the way it is. They fight it." -Lindsey, Underneath
First! angel_q! I got the newspapers, thank you so much! :) Waiting paid off, because I got the Inauguration paper, too!
Someday, I'll make a post like a regular person. But for now, I have an epic tv review I have to get out of my system.
Earlier today on the phone..
Me: "I finally finished my Angel post today. Whew!"
Koko: "It sounds like you're just happy to be finishing a school paper or something."
This past Monday, I finished watching all five seasons of Angel. More or less, all in a row. It was my DVD collection of choice at work for the last couple of weeks. Depending on how busy the day, I would watch anywhere from one to seven (!) episodes a day. I may complain about my job sometimes, but on really slow days where I get to catch up on good TV, it's not so bad. During my recent viewings, I found a lot of old feelings resurface and a lot of new feelings that weren’t there the first time. So, I want to just jot down all these thoughts before I forget them. I put in a lot of time to watch all 112 episodes and somewhere along the road, the show became important to me again.
DISCLAIMERS
I supported AtS as much as anyone possibly could. I was thrilled when I heard it was being spun off, so I never had any issues about the show taking anything away from BtVS. Season 3 Buffy was great, but the cast was huge, and taking a couple of them away - but not too far away - seemed like a perfect way to spread the wealth. I also think they picked the perfect two characters to pluck. Pairing Angel with Cordelia was an inspired choice.
In order to see what kinds of lasting memories the show gave me, I'll first write down what I remember from my first viewings of the show back in the day.
I remember season 1 with a great deal of fondness. I remember it being fun, I remember Doyle's death and Wesley's entrance, and I remember really loving the direction the show was going in. The biggest thing I remember from season 2 is Pylea and Fred being introduced in the last few episodes; also remember a general fondness for that season. What I remember after that was feeling increasingly frustrated as the episodes continued. Starting around half-way through season 3 and finishing me off in season 4, which was when I eventually turned into a giant flaming ball of ire and resentment. Ah, memories.
If I remember correctly, season 4 contained an episode that upset me so much, that I felt so utterly fed up by everything that had transpired, that I literally flung my radio microphone as far as I could (thankfully, it was secured to the mic arm and didn't hurt anyone). Unfortunately, I can’t say that I remember the episode that pushed me over the edge, but I have some strong candidates in mind. I remember season 5 quite well, most likely because it was the most recent. I remember Spike and I remember Illyria, and I remembered generally enjoying the season as a reset of all things past. But the most lasting feeling from that season was hating, with the fire of a thousand suns, the series finale.
So this was a chance to re-visit all of it, to view everything with a new perspective and a new set of eyes. I entered into this with a great sense of anticipation to see all the great episodes again, and also with a great sense of dread for things to come. I also imagined that there were going to be a few episodes that I had never seen. Around the middle of season 6 of Buffy (the night after "Doublemeat Palace," which I still can't watch to this day) and season 3 of Angel (between "Provider" and "Waiting In The Wings"), my mom passed (it was actually 7 years ago tonight). It turns out that I was right. While I clung to Buffy and the darkness she was going through like a lifeline during that time, apparently I completely shunned Angel and the rest of that season, because there ended up being moments and whole episodes that I swear I never saw the first time.
I want to try to do this season by season, but I can’t promise I won’t be jumping back and forth from time to time.
Despite the praise I heaped on this season up above, by no means do I mean to imply that it was flawless. It was newly formed, still working out its kinks, and, in comparison to later seasons, incredibly simple. But it's a necessary staple in new shows. It had to fully establish Angel as his own character, in a new city. It had to re-introduce Cordelia and give her a life of her own, without the Scoobies. It had to bond the two of them together in a way that they were never bonded in Sunnydale.
And it had to introduce a whole new character to us, Doyle, the half-demon with a heart of gold and a talent for getting into trouble. Oh, Doyle. I absolutely loved that character from the moment he arrived. His adorable crush on Cordy, and the way he believed in Angel's purpose; Doyle endeared himself to me immediately. I was crushed when they killed him off. I’m going to try my best not to even bother with backstage politics, but we all heard what we heard back in the day, and it’s impossible to ignore. But I’ll do my best, because I want to remember Doyle the way they left him, a hero. And in retrospect, giving Cordy the visions was one of the best things they’ve done for her.
I resisted Wesley when he arrived. I wasn’t his biggest fan on Buffy, so having him ride in as a replacement the week after Doyle died, was rather hard for me to take. Although, the whole “What’s a rogue demon hunter?” shtick was classic.
We had the introduction of Wolfram & Hart, which, imo, was a masterful big bad backdrop. Much love for Lindsey and Lilah, who were everything I could want in an enemy. Lilah was deliciously and unapologetically evil, and Lindsey had feelings of both immeasurable contempt and misplaced awe for Angel. It was so much fun to watch two people who wanted to both kill and bone Angel at the same time.
We also had Kate, a character that not too many people liked. I never hated her, and I saw the purpose of her being there. As mentioned in a season 2 episode, I believe, they DO need sources in the police department, and this was an interesting way to introduce the LAPD in conjunction with all the death and destruction that Angel himself was fighting against. I do think they made the right call in turning her against Angel (to a degree) once she found out what he was, though. And after that, they slowly phased her out, which was the right thing to do.
And, we’re introduced to Gunn late in the season, who provided a much needed point of view - a street warrior who would end up never fully trusting Angel, but knew the good fight when he saw it. I loved Gunn a lot. From his first episode (“War Zone”) and through all five seasons, which is kindof amazing.
Overall, it was a nice season to see Angel, Cordy, and Doyle/Wesley come together as a little crimefighting family. The last episode, where the offices blow up and Cordy is in the hospital with all those visions, waking up in tears, pleading with Angel, "I saw them all. There is so much pain. We have to help them." is one of my favorite episodes.
Well, except for the ending. Oh, Darla.
FAVORITE EPISODE: Hero
Season 2 was hard to watch in some ways. And yet, I still enjoyed it as deemed it as a necessary evil (much how I viewed BtVS season 6). In fact, that’s how I classify Darla. A necessary evil that I didn’t really want to watch, but one that I knew I had to endure. Mostly to recognize how important she was to Angel, and how important she was for filling in empty pockets of his past that we needed to know about. But yeah, Darla. Here is where I start speaking in blasphemous tones, and it will continue throughout the seasons.
Despite all those reasons that people could name off as to why her return was good for the show, my static response is still, "Yeah, but I just don’t like her." I don’t. She’s wicked and evil and a very important part of Angel’s history and all that, blah blah. I get it, I really do. But the whole ‘seducing Angel while he’s asleep’ crap lasted far too long, and it dragged the show down SO much during the first half of the season. And then the kicker - Angel turning his back on his crew just so he could go after Darla and Dru was just .. well, hard to watch, like I said. But, in retrospect, it had to happen.
It had to happen because we really needed to see Gunn bond more with Wesley and Cordy, and nothing solidified them more than Angel turning on them (oh dear, when Angel needed to get that book from the new office and Cordy wouldn’t let him have it? That was... HOT. Erm, I mean, wow, that was really good psychological drama, yo.) It also had to happen because, as hard as it was for me to understand why the hell he cared so much about trying to save Darla, I eventually got there. It took a while, and maybe another season or so, but I eventually realized that saving Darla was Angel trying to save himself. And it made the whole, “And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care.” line Angel casts as he locks Dru and Darla in the wine cellar with the W&H elite even more ruthless and important to learning what walls Angel was hitting. That was good stuff. I love Angel as a tortured hero like whoa, but those moments when he plays in the murky grey water are a lot of fun to watch.
It didn’t last the whole season, though, and 2/3rds of the way through, Angel had his big epiphany and begged for forgiveness, in that non-begging way that Angel has. Agreeing to let Wesley run the Agency was a great plot turn as well, as we got to see Angel in a more subordinate position, which was really difficult for him (and funny for us). Along the way, we saw my beloved EVIL HAND episode where we said goodbye (for now) to Lindsey, we had a fun return from Harmony, and the best scene ever - Angel buying back Cordelia’s forgiveness with a whole new wardrobe.
Through it all, we also met Krevlorneswath of the DeathWok Clan and visited his home dimension of Pylea to finish out the season. And that’s where we met Fred, who, yeah, I didn’t really care for. I know, I know. I don’t like anyone, apparently. :D The thing is, I can’t stand weak, mousey female characters. Over on Buffy, I couldn’t stomach Tara until she actually broke up with Willow and grew a spine. After that, I had a whole new respect for her and we all found that she had a personality all on her own. I LOVED THAT. The same applied to Fred. I mostly just dismissed her until she and Gunn broke up in season 4, because even though she had gone through 5 years of hell on Pylea, she was just a crazy, mousey little girl that I had no time for. But after turning that corner and wanting to kill her professor for sending her through the portal, I saw a stronger side that I could connect with, and I started to warm to her a lot.
The season ended well, with them all coming home to the hotel, to a waiting Willow. I loved the continuity here, with her waiting to tell them that Buffy had died.
FAVORITE EPISODE: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
I’m not sure if my reviews will get shorter as I get more frustrated, or longer.
During this re-watch, I found that I actually really, really liked the beginning of this season. Angel had been gone for a while, dealing with Buffy’s death, and he came back to his little family and all was well. Fred was trying to make her way through her days as best she could, slowly coming out of her room and joining the gang in their crimefighting ways. However, in those early episodes we got a glimpse of Darla, pregnant, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I audibly groaned. This can’t be good, I thought. And wow, was I right. I was so right. I was the rightest I've ever been about anything. Ever. EVER.
But before I get to that, I’ll talk about something that I know a LOT of people hated at the time, the budding Angel/Cordy relationship. While I agree that having them train in that same mirroring way (!?) was a blatant ripoff of him meditating with Buffy or whatever, I cannot fault Cordy for wanting to learn to fight. There's nothing wrong with it, and I think that was something that had to happen. They did push the romance a bit too hard in season 3, but I wasn’t hating it. But that's probably because......
Ready for more blasphemy? I never understood Buffy and Angel’s “FOREVER LOVE!!!” (that was for you, Jessa, and omg I had totally forgotten that he actually uttered that phrase about them in season 5, is that where it came from?). I mean, hey, I cried as much as anyone when he turned evil, completely humiliated her, and when she had to kill him, and during “I’ll never forget! I won’t forget!” because it was all very sad! But for as tragic as they were, I never understood why they actually loved each other so much. So they were a couple that I could easily let go of.
That all being said, I wasn’t against an Angel/Cordelia relationship, as long as it was done slowly. I mean, come on, you can’t say that Cordelia hadn’t grown up a lot in those two seasons and I'm pretty sure most people would agree that she and Angel had a wonderful friendship, right? Now, personally, I would’ve been happy with them just being BFFs, but they were also kindof precious together. She brought out this happy litle light in him and at the same time, she could ground him when he needed it the most. I loved them a lot together, but I know a lot of people hated them. So, we shall agree to disagree about that, I suppose.
Unfortunately, they went from having Cordelia be half of this potentially huge love story to… oh, completely assassinating her character! The real crime didn't occur until season 4, but the seeds were planted right here in season 3! Seeds. As in the seeds of the DEVIL. The spawn of hell. The baby that ruined everything. The single event to which I attribute most of my AtS hatred - thy name is Connor!!!!
Oh, you have no idea how much I hated that kid. Now, as a baby, he was kindof cute. And having Darla off herself for him was actually more poignant than I thought it would be. Plus, bonus, she was finally gone. And for a few episodes there, seeing Angel as a new father, and seeing everyone rally around the kid, and seeing Cordy act like a surrogate mother was totally presh. But that hellspawn was responsible for so much badness on this show, that those sweet little memories are tarnished for me. Mostly. Okay, maybe that visual of Angel/Connor/Cordy falling asleep on the bed at the end of “Provider” will remain with nary a blemish. BUT STILL. HELLSPAWN!!
Anyway, I digress. After teasing some of us with Waiting In The Wings, they immediatly spring Groosalug on us (Mark Lutz is far more good looking in person, btw) and pair him with our fair Cordy and then shit just gets all weird. Angel’s super jealous, Cordelia’s completely oblivious and horny, and then in a snap, Angel sends them away on a vacation with a huge wad of cash. And THAT, my friends, was the beginning of the end. Why the hell was Cordy out of town for one of the worst events in Angel’s life? Was there a reason for that? Because she was sorely missing through it all, and I can’t help but wonder about the reasons behind that. Honestly, I probably don’t want to know. I’m still working through my Cordy issues. OBVS.
While all that is going on, we’d been introduced to Holtz. Who, as a nemesis, wasn’t so bad. He had a good background and history with Angel, and having SahJahn bring him back to destroy Angel was pretty good. I could buy it all. You want to know who I hated? His little red-headed slayer-wannabe sidekick, Justine. Good god, what a waste of space. Or, for heaven’s sake, at least get a decent actress for the role.
Before I go much further, I need to explain that even within larger story arcs that I hated, I was usually able to find pieces within it that I actually liked, and somet hat I thought were absolutely brilliant. And that, in a nutshell, is why I will be eternally conflicted about this show. Because I saw how good it could be, I could see parts and slivers of potentially wonderful storylines or plot twists or character attributes and changes, but they were all usually nested within a much larger, WTF-lined construct.
As an example - as much as I hated Connor for everything he did to this show, I can thank his inclusion for bringing about one of the more fascinating and successful character arcs in the Whedonverse - that of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. His reasoning behind stealing Connor and giving him to Holtz was faulty, but done with good intentions. He really was trying to protect the boy and even protect Angel. But I’m with Fred on this one, when she told him that even if he had good intentions, he should’ve come to them for help. He shouldn’t have done this all on his own. It was stupid. But hey, it gave them mileage for a story, huh? Unfortunately, sometimes I feel like that’s more important than truly doing right by the characters. And this is a problem on nearly every TV show, not exclusive to AtS. It happens more often than not.
That all being said, the moment Wesley got sliced in the throat, I almost threw up. This was back in the day when spoilers weren’t as readily available, so I had no idea it was going to happen, and I’m grateful for that. And when Angel tried to kill Wesley in the hospital room in “Forgiving”? I gasped and cheered, then immediately felt horrible, for everyone. They weren’t just dipping a toe in the grey water at this point, they were swimming in it. It was good stuff, I can admit that much.
But then it all went to hell in a handbasket, no? Because two episodes later, Connor, cleverly disguised as a 14-year-old girl, came thrashing down through a dimensional rift in the hotel lobby and sarcastically said, “Hi Dad.”
*headdesk*
The final three episodes of the season, so diametrically opposed to the last three episodes of season 2, focus on this whiney little girl-child roaming around Los Angeles with Daddy issues. I just. I just can’t.
Now, back here in 2009, I happily watch Vincent Kartheiser on Mad Men and enjoy him tremendously. He was very well cast for the role he has on that show. I want to make that clear, that it’s not that I dislike him as an actor in general. I just think that he was horribly miscast on Angel.
That was only one aspect of my problem with him. The way he was presented to me made it really difficult to understand his point of view, or to care about him even in the slightest. Hell, they gave Holtz more motivation, I actually felt his pain and saw his point of view for the actions he took. I understood his sense of justice and loss and felt his justification for taking Angel’s son. As horrible as it all was, I got it. Joss and Co have had great success in taking smaller, supporting characters and creating personas that are interesting and sometimes sympathetic, even if they’re evil to the core. It’s something I got used to over the years. So, writing such an important character like Connor - he’s ANGEL’S SON, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE - as a whiney little bitch with absolutely no endearing qualities whatsoever, was incredibly disappointing.
They had a shot. They really did, when they had Cordelia go all glo-worm on him to take away all his anger and pain. They could’ve begun the healing there, and really done a beautiful story of two fathers that love the boy and want the best for him. But did they? OH HELL NO. They killed Holtz, who was finally atoning for HIS sin in taking Connor away in the first place. He told Connor to go back to his biodad and forge a relationship with him, because he belonged with Angel. (I really did like that choice for him, btw.) And not only did they kill him, but they made it look like Angel did it so Connor would turn on him. (Well, wait, was it ever said whether or not Holtz wanted Justine to kill him in that way to set up Angel? And if so, why the big show about how he was better off with Angel in the first place? Was it just a really strange coincidence? Was this Justine taking initiative and getting revenge on Angel any way she could? Augh, the show, still killing my brain cells, one at a time.)
Meanwhile, Groo becomes a complete non-entity in Cordelia’s life, no matter how much he dresses like and acts like Angel. After a full day goes by where she doesn't even realize that Groo isn't there, he sees this as a sign to move out. Where he's going, I have nooo idea. He tells her she's in love with Angel, because homegirl can't figure it out on her own, and after sitting down and thumbing through some old pictures, she quickly realizes that - hey! I am in love with Angel! So, hey! Instead of just meeting at the hotel like we normally would, let’s go way out of the way to some cliff along the ocean, because it’s just SO romantic. SIGH. How convenient for Connor and Justine, Angel just happened to be right there by the oceanside, AND he just happened to drop his cellphone off the side of the cliff. Wow.
*shoots self*
Blah blah Cordelia gets stopped in traffic by Skip, who convinces her that she’s ascended. I need to check the airdates on this stuff, to see who stole what from who, because right around here, I think Daniel was ascending over on SG-1. (Note: I checked the airdates for both episodes and they’re literally 10 days apart. Trip.)
Now, a thing about Cordy’s ascension. Again, if you look at this as a potential storyline for her, it could’ve been really good. It was a little quick, but the *idea* of Cordy being such a faithful little vision girl for TPTB that she got promoted or whatever.. it could’ve worked. And her choosing to ascend or stay on Earth? Could’ve been good. Even having her ascend and then bringing her back with new knowledge or power or whatever.. could’ve been good! But knowing now what they were doing then, and how it was just one more way to completely ruin this beloved character? It couldn't have been worse.
FAVORITE EPISODE: That Vision Thing
This was just such a monumental clusterfuck of insanity and character annihilation that I don’t even know if I can calmly or rationally tell you WHY or even HOW MUCH I HATE THIS SEASON. I’m going to venture a guess that the aforementioned microphone throwing incident happened right around this time.
Even with the amount of hatred seething in me just by thinking about this season, I’ll try and start with any positive things I can think of.
- Hallucinating!Angel trapped in a tomb at the bottom of the ocean was kinda cool. If only to exorcise my own frustration, maybe. Mostly because I didn’t know WTF was going on or what anyone in the writer’s room was smoking when they brought Connor back so I felt like I was trippin’ right along with Angel. Or maybe I was just wishing I was locked up down there at the floor of the Pacific so I wouldn’t have to see what happens next.
- Wesley secretly keeping an eye on all things AI and finding Angel on his own (with the help of his manbitch, Justine - okay, I liked that part a little bit). Like I had said before, the Wesley arc was pretty much one of the only good things to come out of the maze of disgusting and heinous ickyness that stemmed from the very existence of Connor.
- Fred finding out her professor tossed her in a portal, smacking her innermoppet around and the HOLYSHIT final act of “SuperSymmetry” where Gunn snapped the dude’s neck and threw him in the portal. All made of goodness.
- “Spin The Bottle” was a nice way to step outside of the agony that was season 4 and just enjoy some good ol’ fashion Angel fun.
- The Wesley/Lilah relationship continued to be surprisingly endearing, all the way through to her death.
- Willow’s return in "Orpheus" was just lovely.
Other than that, I got nothing. The rest of it was just crap.
More blasphemy - even Faith returning didn’t do a damn thing for me. But then again, she was always just an “eh” character to me anyway. I think I was having a hard time liking or appreciating anything at that point because WTF. They just let Angelus go free because he’s the onnnnnly one who can help them defeat The Beast? Huhhhhhhhhh!?!?!? I can see now why I had forgotten so many of the specific details of season 4, because it was just SO FLIPPIN’ STUPID.
And don’t get me started on Jasmine. I could barely make it through these episodes. I was watching and suffering because I knew that one day I'd get to the final episode where they reached out and hit the shit out of the big, shiny, red Reset Button. I’m usually not a fan of these things, but HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, this show needed it.
And lookie here, I haven’t even touched on the most disgusting, vile act of the entire season yet. I think you can tell by now how angry I was with their decision to not only tear away the very heart of AI from the show (nope, sorry, it’s not Fred, no matter how much people want to tell me it is), but then take that heart and stomp on it, and beat it to a bloody pulp so it can never come back. What flippin’ genius decided it would be OH SO AWESOME to have Cordelia, no matter how possessed, SLEEP WITH CONNOR!?!?! I mean, really. On what plane of existence is this anything but DISGUSTING!?!? She. Changed. His. Diapers.
Dear Stupid Writers, I get it. You were pulling one on us. Okay? I GET IT. But there are lines. Certain lines that you don't make characters as loved as Cordelia cross. And this was one of them.
Look. There are ways to do this, there are ways to turn a beloved character into a big bad. It’s not easy, but it can work. This is where it’s dangerous to keep comparing this show to Buffy, but I have to do that here. Buffy took, arguably, ITS very heart and soul and turned her into a menacing, powerful monster who was hell bent on destroying the entire world. Love it or hate it (I loved it), you can’t deny that the show planted seeds well in advance and made this horrific turn, and her actions, and her rehabilitation MEAN something. Willow’s turn was a slow burn.. from seeing her addiction to magic get out of control, to seeing how it impacted her relationship with Tara, to seeing the reunion within her grasp, only to have Tara taken away with such random violence.. it was all too much, and she turned. For her, there were reasons, and after it was all over, there were consequences, and they were dealt with well into season 7.
With Cordelia, she was just chosen from the evil PTB to be a vessel for this Jasmine demon to destroy the world. And when they didn’t need her anymore, they let her rot in a coma. How can anyone say that she was treated in a way that was respectful to the fans or to the character herself? She was beloved for 7 seasons and that’s how she’s written out of the show? In a coma? And I don’t give two craps about the backstage politics when it comes to this issue. It was a disservice to the fans, and it’s something for which (discovered through this return to the AngelVerse) I’m still having a hard time forgiving Joss.
Which brings us to “Home,” the season finale, and the return of one of my favorite Whedonverse people. No, not Lilah, though it was really nice to see her again. Nope, this episode brought home Tim Minear, writer/producer extraordinaire. He, like Joss, had found a new and shiny toy in Firefly and left Angel behind him for all of season 4. Coupled with the loss of David Greenwalt as showrunner after season 3, it dealt an agonizing blow. But Tim came back for one more episode, saw the mess in front of him, and wrote the season finale which turned everything upside down. And I was so grateful for that.
In one hour, he got rid of Connor, and gave everyone else (aside from Cordy, grr) great new stories to delve into the following season. Taking over Wolfram & Hart? Genius! Weird. But genius! It’s like he came back just to make things right before galloping off again to make Wonderfalls. Oh, Tim. You and your tv shows that never make it more than a half-season. I love them so.
I was really happy with how the season left off, just in case it didn’t get picked up for season 5.
FAVORITE EPISODE: um. I’ll go with Spin The Bottle, just because it was a nice break from the insanity.
No matter how much I did essentially enjoy this season, I’m going to get a few bad things out of the way. I think my biggest storyline problem this season was Nina. Do you remember Nina? Because I sure as hell didn’t when I started re-watching these eps. Sure, I vaguely remembered there was a werewolf episode, whatever. But for some reason, somewhere between Angel and Spike’s fighting and bonding, Fred dying, Cordelia’s triumphant return, and the end of the series, I completely forgot that ANGEL HAD A GIRLFRIEND.
Sure, she only showed up in, like, 3 episodes, but I suppose it was supposed to count for something. I have to wonder what the point of it all was; because I’m pretty sure not many people really cared enough about this “relationship” to warrant all those scenes wasted on them.
Okay, that’s pretty much my only big gripe about season 5. Well, aside from the ludicrous attempt to fake us out with a blonde wig AND the fact that Cordelia was left to waste away in a coma. But I’ll get back to that. Really, there were a lot of positives to discuss.
So let’s start at the beginning, and the re-introduction of Spike. A tricky thing to pull off, no doubt. For the record, I love the CRAP outta Spike. He had me at “Home sweet home.” Now, this casting move was not loved by all. Because, after all, not only does it smell like a cheap ratings ploy for a somewhat-struggling show, but one could say that it also cheapens Spike’s big, heroic end in “Chosen.” Let’s face it, a lot of people already had problems with Spike getting a soul in the first place, but to put him on the show that already has a vampire with a soul? What were they thinking!?!?
Oh, I don’t care. IT’S SPIKE!! Really, all those points above are absolutely valid and important, and I don’t necessarily disagree with them. But the show was dragging, folks. Without Cordelia, and with Gunn turning all lawer-y and Wesley slowly working his way back from The Ultimate Brood, the show needed some sharp-tongued pep. I, as a viewer, was willing to overlook the previously mentioned valid points for this.
And look at all the history that he and Angel share. After all these years, we really knew next to nothing about their time together; only the bits and pieces we’d get in flashbacks. This was a great opportunity to get to know both of them better, and the show didn’t disappoint me in that regard. As a result, we got some of their character’s best and most compelling introspection. I loved learning more and more about their complicated and psychologically torturous relationship. And there’s no denying that the EPIC BATTLE in “Destiny” was one of the best fights in the Whedonverse. Heh. Mountain Dew. That still cracks me up.
Good ol’ Lorne finally made cast, but then they did nothing with him. He got a shot in “Life Of The Party” and then slowly turned him into depresso boy, but other than that, he was pretty forgotten.
Wesley. Oh, dear Wesley. What a year for him. Not only did he have to endure the psychological trauma of believing that he shot and killed his own father - of his own free will, and with a faster trigger finger than he probably knew he had - but then within days of finally getting together with Fred, she goes and becomes a vessel for a demon God (how original.). Poor baby. But wow. When you talk about the best and most complete transformational character arcs in the Whedonverse, Wesley is right up there at the top of the list. I never would’ve thought, back in BtVS season 3, that Wesley would become one of the most damaged and most fascinating characters to watch.
What I had to come to terms with during this new viewing was the realization that, wow, Wesley was a pretty self-righteous prick sometimes, wasn’t he? He did whatever he wanted to do because he was hurting, damn the consequences. After all the Connor crap went down, he did whatever was necessary to get any job done. Lock up a girl in a closet like a dog? Sure, no problem. Gun down a human being (albeit a psycho who willingly allowed the love of your life to be totally consumed by an evil demon God)? Without a second thought. However, they seemed to take really good care with Wesley. They made sure that he had stopped his judgmental gibberish at the same time. He had changed. As he succinctly said in “Spin The Bottle”:
Gunn: What happened to you, man?
Wesley: I had my throat cut, and all my friends abandoned me.
Pretty much puts it all in perspective, yeah?
But, question! And this bothered me back when it first aired and is bugging me even more this time around. If nobody was supposed to remember Connor, did that mean that they didn’t remember any of the events that Connor was directly and indirectly responsible for? Like, did that mean that Wesley’s throat wasn’t sliced? Did it mean that the group never abandoned him? How did it explain why Cordelia was in a coma to them, if she never gave birth to Jasmine, since she never slept with Connor? I don’t think I ever got a satisfying answer to any of that. But in turn, it gave “Origin” and Wesley getting all his memories back have all the more impact. (Although, again there’s Wesley doing whatever the hell he wants, not even thinking that there could be reasons why Angel did what he did or that there would be consequence to his actions.. he’s just all ME IN PAIN, THIS MAKE IT ALL BETTER! UGH!
I’m kindof running all over this season, but I have to talk about the obvious Fred/Illyria storyline. You know, it wasn’t until this death that I started wondering why Joss felt it necessary to just keep killing all his beloved female cast members. Not that he hasn’t killed men over the years, but it just seems to be a lot more women. Anyway. I thought this was a brilliant turn of events, and it’s one that I could’ve seen play out over a few more seasons, even.
I was mostly impressed by Amy Acker. Prior to this, I assumed she was a one-trick pony, but she brought out Illyria and completely blew me away. Props to everyone involved, including the wicked make-up artists, for giving us a character to remember, even if she was only around for about 7 episodes.
A review of season 5 would be sorely lacking without at least a quick mention of one of my favorite episodes in “Smile Time.” Oh, Ben Edlund, I worship at the feet of your supremely cracktastic imagination. And I still want an Angel Puppet.
And now to the episode that MADE this season for me, “You’re Welcome.” It was the show’s 100th episode and made of so much win, I could hardly stand it. As with everything else, however, it has its flaws. Mostly behind the scenes, though, which I know I said I was going to stay away from. But I'm only human. For as angry as I was at what they’d done to Cordelia, I had appreciated, all these years, that AT LEAST they brought her back to give her (and the fans) a proper goodbye. Unfortunately, during this recent sojourn into the Angelverse, I did a little research and found this:
The character of Buffy Summers was originally intended to appear in the 100th episode to get Angel 'back on track', but Sarah Michelle Gellar had other obligations. Writer/director David Fury explains that since "we couldn't get Sarah", the episode was instead written for Cordelia Chase. He adds, "This turned out to be a Godsend because Charisma was fantastic."
Blerrrrrgh. I just don’t see how Buffy would’ve been the right person to get Angel back on his path. Cordelia just made so much more sense in every way possible, so it pisses me off that if SMG had been available, we may not have ever gotten this brilliant episode. But! I need to get over that, because Charisma WAS amazing. And it helps that I found this, too (thank you, WikiPedia):
Although David Fury wrote the draft, Joss Whedon ended up writing the final scene between Cordelia and Angel. In the DVD commentary for this episode, Fury says that David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter were extremely emotional during the scene in Angel's office and that their tears and sadness interrupted the filming process a few times. "Charisma is really losing it here, these are not acting tears...Both actors were very moved during this and both wept, and I have to say I joined them," Fury confesses. Of the episode, Boreanaz explains that his character needed to be re-invested in the cause of good, despite running an evil operation: "Cordelia brings that back to him."
Carpenter says she was satisfied with the way her character left the show, as she feels Cordelia's story has been fully resolved. Creator Joss Whedon agreed, saying, "In seven years, we'd sort of run through our course of [the] character and didn't want to start just doing hollow riffs on what we'd done." Since Whedon suspected this season would be the last, Carpenter says, "we didn't want to just leave Cordelia in a coma..this would be a very big story left untold." Carpenter says the 100th episode was a momentous time to have her character die, calling it "bittersweet...a love letter to Cordelia." David Fury agrees: "It's a beautiful farewell to Charisma for the series."
Run through their course of Cordelia!? Yeah, whatever, Joss. Thank goodness for David Fury. Even after he insulted Spike fans all those years ago, I came to fully respect and love him as a writer, a producer, and interview subject. He’s such a warm and caring individual, and you really felt like he loved these characters. *smoosh*
I’m rambling now, but I want to post a link to an essay that I just love: The Assassination of Cordelia Chase by Jenny Crusie. It’s a great read if anyone feels the same way I do about season 4 Cordelia and the impact of You're Welcome. It says so much more, in far more eloquent ways than I could ever hope to.
This brings me to the series finale, “Not Fade Away.” When it first aired in 2004, I was only a year removed from the Buffy finale, which I was very, very happy with. It satisfied me as a viewer and the last shot told me everything I needed to know about Buffy’s life to come. For the record, I own Season 8, but I don’t really consider it canon, no matter what Joss says.
With the Angel finale, which I thought they had set up brilliantly (I loved the Black Thorn stuff), I was hit in the face with Wesley’s death, Gunn’s likely death, Lindsey’s death (executed by Lorne! Wtf!) and I just wanted some kind of hint that something would ultimately turn out okay for these guys. Because, as much as I’ve complained about them, they’re family, ya know? Of course I’m pulling for them!
So when they met up in the alley, in the rain (of course), and it was just the four of them taking on huge armies, and a freakin’ dragon, I was mad. I hated it so much at the time. But now, in looking back, it really was the best possible ending they could’ve given us. Because the point that they had hammered home throughout season 5 was that evil was always going to be there. It’s in everything we do every day. You can’t beat it, but that doesn't mean you should give in to it, and you sure can show the big bad evil PTB that you’re not going to give up. And back when it first aired, I had completely overlooked what Angel had said in “Power Play”:
“10-to-1, we're gone when the smoke clears. They will do everything in their power to destroy us. So...I need you to be sure. Power endures. We can't bring down the senior partners, but for one bright, shining moment, we can show them that they don't own us.”
Looking back at the entire season, once Angel put it all together - getting the visions from Cordelia (LOVE that they brought that back, btw), all of the actions Angel took that didn’t seem quite right at the time, how everything else fell into place - it was pretty genius. And I think I’m also going to credit living these last five years, gaining a whole new perspective on the grander scheme of it all, to say that I actually understood what he meant this time.
In re-treading through the good, the bad, and the disgusting, I seemed to gain a whole new feeling of love and respect for the series, for the characters, and for the message they were trying to convey. There’s an Angel quote that I’ve had here on my LJ sidebar for a very long time, that I believe in with my whole heart. From “Epiphany”…
"If there is no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. Cause that's all there is - what we do, now, today."
AtS is like that guy that you loved a lot, but then he went all psycho and cheated on you, only to beg you to come back to him later. He promised he had changed. He got a whole new wardrobe, a whole new life, it was a whole new him! You were cautious to believe him, but eventually gave him another chance. And in the end, he became the boy he once was, and made up for all the bullshit crap he put you through.
Someday, I'll make a post like a regular person. But for now, I have an epic tv review I have to get out of my system.
Earlier today on the phone..
Me: "I finally finished my Angel post today. Whew!"
Koko: "It sounds like you're just happy to be finishing a school paper or something."
This past Monday, I finished watching all five seasons of Angel. More or less, all in a row. It was my DVD collection of choice at work for the last couple of weeks. Depending on how busy the day, I would watch anywhere from one to seven (!) episodes a day. I may complain about my job sometimes, but on really slow days where I get to catch up on good TV, it's not so bad. During my recent viewings, I found a lot of old feelings resurface and a lot of new feelings that weren’t there the first time. So, I want to just jot down all these thoughts before I forget them. I put in a lot of time to watch all 112 episodes and somewhere along the road, the show became important to me again.
DISCLAIMERS
- It had been a long time since I’d watched Angel. It’s not a show I seek out in reruns these days, and before a few weeks ago, it wasn’t a show I ever had on DVD. I think that, more than anything, tells you about my general feelings toward the show.
- I don’t think I have to mention this due to the overwhelming obviousness, but watching a series as it airs for the first time - waiting for a week between episodes or months between seasons - is much different than watching it again many years later all in a row. The pacing is different, and we're also going into it knowing how it all ends. Sometimes it makes feelings more clear, and sometimes it gives you the proper perspective a TV show deserves. And sometimes it just enables you to get through the CRAP faster.
- Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a Buffy girl. Not just the character, but the show itself is my ultimate. It’s my favorite TV show of all time, and I’ve seen every episode at least twice, if not 12 times. It’s the show that I use as a measuring stick against almost every other show I watch to this day.
- From season three of Buffy through to the end of the fifth season of Angel, I did a radio show almost every week, talking about those very things - BtVS and AtS. We reviewed the good, the bad, the most awesome, and the most frustrating. We talked to writers and producers (and some minor actors) from both shows; we were completely embroiled in everything that had to do with the Whedonverse for over 5 years. Now, as much as my partner and I would have to remind ourselves not to directly compare the two shows (because that would be WRONG!), it was increasingly hard not to do just that. To my own detriment as an objective viewer, we intertwined the two verses more than the shows ever asked us to. But come on, with the two shows sharing characters, writers, producers, directors and simply cohabitating in the same time and in the same general vicinity, it was a pretty impossible task.
- And finally, all of this is just my little opinion, and shouldn't be taken too seriously.
I supported AtS as much as anyone possibly could. I was thrilled when I heard it was being spun off, so I never had any issues about the show taking anything away from BtVS. Season 3 Buffy was great, but the cast was huge, and taking a couple of them away - but not too far away - seemed like a perfect way to spread the wealth. I also think they picked the perfect two characters to pluck. Pairing Angel with Cordelia was an inspired choice.
In order to see what kinds of lasting memories the show gave me, I'll first write down what I remember from my first viewings of the show back in the day.
I remember season 1 with a great deal of fondness. I remember it being fun, I remember Doyle's death and Wesley's entrance, and I remember really loving the direction the show was going in. The biggest thing I remember from season 2 is Pylea and Fred being introduced in the last few episodes; also remember a general fondness for that season. What I remember after that was feeling increasingly frustrated as the episodes continued. Starting around half-way through season 3 and finishing me off in season 4, which was when I eventually turned into a giant flaming ball of ire and resentment. Ah, memories.
If I remember correctly, season 4 contained an episode that upset me so much, that I felt so utterly fed up by everything that had transpired, that I literally flung my radio microphone as far as I could (thankfully, it was secured to the mic arm and didn't hurt anyone). Unfortunately, I can’t say that I remember the episode that pushed me over the edge, but I have some strong candidates in mind. I remember season 5 quite well, most likely because it was the most recent. I remember Spike and I remember Illyria, and I remembered generally enjoying the season as a reset of all things past. But the most lasting feeling from that season was hating, with the fire of a thousand suns, the series finale.
So this was a chance to re-visit all of it, to view everything with a new perspective and a new set of eyes. I entered into this with a great sense of anticipation to see all the great episodes again, and also with a great sense of dread for things to come. I also imagined that there were going to be a few episodes that I had never seen. Around the middle of season 6 of Buffy (the night after "Doublemeat Palace," which I still can't watch to this day) and season 3 of Angel (between "Provider" and "Waiting In The Wings"), my mom passed (it was actually 7 years ago tonight). It turns out that I was right. While I clung to Buffy and the darkness she was going through like a lifeline during that time, apparently I completely shunned Angel and the rest of that season, because there ended up being moments and whole episodes that I swear I never saw the first time.
I want to try to do this season by season, but I can’t promise I won’t be jumping back and forth from time to time.
Despite the praise I heaped on this season up above, by no means do I mean to imply that it was flawless. It was newly formed, still working out its kinks, and, in comparison to later seasons, incredibly simple. But it's a necessary staple in new shows. It had to fully establish Angel as his own character, in a new city. It had to re-introduce Cordelia and give her a life of her own, without the Scoobies. It had to bond the two of them together in a way that they were never bonded in Sunnydale.
And it had to introduce a whole new character to us, Doyle, the half-demon with a heart of gold and a talent for getting into trouble. Oh, Doyle. I absolutely loved that character from the moment he arrived. His adorable crush on Cordy, and the way he believed in Angel's purpose; Doyle endeared himself to me immediately. I was crushed when they killed him off. I’m going to try my best not to even bother with backstage politics, but we all heard what we heard back in the day, and it’s impossible to ignore. But I’ll do my best, because I want to remember Doyle the way they left him, a hero. And in retrospect, giving Cordy the visions was one of the best things they’ve done for her.
I resisted Wesley when he arrived. I wasn’t his biggest fan on Buffy, so having him ride in as a replacement the week after Doyle died, was rather hard for me to take. Although, the whole “What’s a rogue demon hunter?” shtick was classic.
We had the introduction of Wolfram & Hart, which, imo, was a masterful big bad backdrop. Much love for Lindsey and Lilah, who were everything I could want in an enemy. Lilah was deliciously and unapologetically evil, and Lindsey had feelings of both immeasurable contempt and misplaced awe for Angel. It was so much fun to watch two people who wanted to both kill and bone Angel at the same time.
We also had Kate, a character that not too many people liked. I never hated her, and I saw the purpose of her being there. As mentioned in a season 2 episode, I believe, they DO need sources in the police department, and this was an interesting way to introduce the LAPD in conjunction with all the death and destruction that Angel himself was fighting against. I do think they made the right call in turning her against Angel (to a degree) once she found out what he was, though. And after that, they slowly phased her out, which was the right thing to do.
And, we’re introduced to Gunn late in the season, who provided a much needed point of view - a street warrior who would end up never fully trusting Angel, but knew the good fight when he saw it. I loved Gunn a lot. From his first episode (“War Zone”) and through all five seasons, which is kindof amazing.
Overall, it was a nice season to see Angel, Cordy, and Doyle/Wesley come together as a little crimefighting family. The last episode, where the offices blow up and Cordy is in the hospital with all those visions, waking up in tears, pleading with Angel, "I saw them all. There is so much pain. We have to help them." is one of my favorite episodes.
Well, except for the ending. Oh, Darla.
FAVORITE EPISODE: Hero
Season 2 was hard to watch in some ways. And yet, I still enjoyed it as deemed it as a necessary evil (much how I viewed BtVS season 6). In fact, that’s how I classify Darla. A necessary evil that I didn’t really want to watch, but one that I knew I had to endure. Mostly to recognize how important she was to Angel, and how important she was for filling in empty pockets of his past that we needed to know about. But yeah, Darla. Here is where I start speaking in blasphemous tones, and it will continue throughout the seasons.
Despite all those reasons that people could name off as to why her return was good for the show, my static response is still, "Yeah, but I just don’t like her." I don’t. She’s wicked and evil and a very important part of Angel’s history and all that, blah blah. I get it, I really do. But the whole ‘seducing Angel while he’s asleep’ crap lasted far too long, and it dragged the show down SO much during the first half of the season. And then the kicker - Angel turning his back on his crew just so he could go after Darla and Dru was just .. well, hard to watch, like I said. But, in retrospect, it had to happen.
It had to happen because we really needed to see Gunn bond more with Wesley and Cordy, and nothing solidified them more than Angel turning on them (oh dear, when Angel needed to get that book from the new office and Cordy wouldn’t let him have it? That was... HOT. Erm, I mean, wow, that was really good psychological drama, yo.) It also had to happen because, as hard as it was for me to understand why the hell he cared so much about trying to save Darla, I eventually got there. It took a while, and maybe another season or so, but I eventually realized that saving Darla was Angel trying to save himself. And it made the whole, “And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care.” line Angel casts as he locks Dru and Darla in the wine cellar with the W&H elite even more ruthless and important to learning what walls Angel was hitting. That was good stuff. I love Angel as a tortured hero like whoa, but those moments when he plays in the murky grey water are a lot of fun to watch.
It didn’t last the whole season, though, and 2/3rds of the way through, Angel had his big epiphany and begged for forgiveness, in that non-begging way that Angel has. Agreeing to let Wesley run the Agency was a great plot turn as well, as we got to see Angel in a more subordinate position, which was really difficult for him (and funny for us). Along the way, we saw my beloved EVIL HAND episode where we said goodbye (for now) to Lindsey, we had a fun return from Harmony, and the best scene ever - Angel buying back Cordelia’s forgiveness with a whole new wardrobe.
Through it all, we also met Krevlorneswath of the DeathWok Clan and visited his home dimension of Pylea to finish out the season. And that’s where we met Fred, who, yeah, I didn’t really care for. I know, I know. I don’t like anyone, apparently. :D The thing is, I can’t stand weak, mousey female characters. Over on Buffy, I couldn’t stomach Tara until she actually broke up with Willow and grew a spine. After that, I had a whole new respect for her and we all found that she had a personality all on her own. I LOVED THAT. The same applied to Fred. I mostly just dismissed her until she and Gunn broke up in season 4, because even though she had gone through 5 years of hell on Pylea, she was just a crazy, mousey little girl that I had no time for. But after turning that corner and wanting to kill her professor for sending her through the portal, I saw a stronger side that I could connect with, and I started to warm to her a lot.
The season ended well, with them all coming home to the hotel, to a waiting Willow. I loved the continuity here, with her waiting to tell them that Buffy had died.
FAVORITE EPISODE: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
I’m not sure if my reviews will get shorter as I get more frustrated, or longer.
During this re-watch, I found that I actually really, really liked the beginning of this season. Angel had been gone for a while, dealing with Buffy’s death, and he came back to his little family and all was well. Fred was trying to make her way through her days as best she could, slowly coming out of her room and joining the gang in their crimefighting ways. However, in those early episodes we got a glimpse of Darla, pregnant, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I audibly groaned. This can’t be good, I thought. And wow, was I right. I was so right. I was the rightest I've ever been about anything. Ever. EVER.
But before I get to that, I’ll talk about something that I know a LOT of people hated at the time, the budding Angel/Cordy relationship. While I agree that having them train in that same mirroring way (!?) was a blatant ripoff of him meditating with Buffy or whatever, I cannot fault Cordy for wanting to learn to fight. There's nothing wrong with it, and I think that was something that had to happen. They did push the romance a bit too hard in season 3, but I wasn’t hating it. But that's probably because......
Ready for more blasphemy? I never understood Buffy and Angel’s “FOREVER LOVE!!!” (that was for you, Jessa, and omg I had totally forgotten that he actually uttered that phrase about them in season 5, is that where it came from?). I mean, hey, I cried as much as anyone when he turned evil, completely humiliated her, and when she had to kill him, and during “I’ll never forget! I won’t forget!” because it was all very sad! But for as tragic as they were, I never understood why they actually loved each other so much. So they were a couple that I could easily let go of.
That all being said, I wasn’t against an Angel/Cordelia relationship, as long as it was done slowly. I mean, come on, you can’t say that Cordelia hadn’t grown up a lot in those two seasons and I'm pretty sure most people would agree that she and Angel had a wonderful friendship, right? Now, personally, I would’ve been happy with them just being BFFs, but they were also kindof precious together. She brought out this happy litle light in him and at the same time, she could ground him when he needed it the most. I loved them a lot together, but I know a lot of people hated them. So, we shall agree to disagree about that, I suppose.
Unfortunately, they went from having Cordelia be half of this potentially huge love story to… oh, completely assassinating her character! The real crime didn't occur until season 4, but the seeds were planted right here in season 3! Seeds. As in the seeds of the DEVIL. The spawn of hell. The baby that ruined everything. The single event to which I attribute most of my AtS hatred - thy name is Connor!!!!
Oh, you have no idea how much I hated that kid. Now, as a baby, he was kindof cute. And having Darla off herself for him was actually more poignant than I thought it would be. Plus, bonus, she was finally gone. And for a few episodes there, seeing Angel as a new father, and seeing everyone rally around the kid, and seeing Cordy act like a surrogate mother was totally presh. But that hellspawn was responsible for so much badness on this show, that those sweet little memories are tarnished for me. Mostly. Okay, maybe that visual of Angel/Connor/Cordy falling asleep on the bed at the end of “Provider” will remain with nary a blemish. BUT STILL. HELLSPAWN!!
Anyway, I digress. After teasing some of us with Waiting In The Wings, they immediatly spring Groosalug on us (Mark Lutz is far more good looking in person, btw) and pair him with our fair Cordy and then shit just gets all weird. Angel’s super jealous, Cordelia’s completely oblivious and horny, and then in a snap, Angel sends them away on a vacation with a huge wad of cash. And THAT, my friends, was the beginning of the end. Why the hell was Cordy out of town for one of the worst events in Angel’s life? Was there a reason for that? Because she was sorely missing through it all, and I can’t help but wonder about the reasons behind that. Honestly, I probably don’t want to know. I’m still working through my Cordy issues. OBVS.
While all that is going on, we’d been introduced to Holtz. Who, as a nemesis, wasn’t so bad. He had a good background and history with Angel, and having SahJahn bring him back to destroy Angel was pretty good. I could buy it all. You want to know who I hated? His little red-headed slayer-wannabe sidekick, Justine. Good god, what a waste of space. Or, for heaven’s sake, at least get a decent actress for the role.
Before I go much further, I need to explain that even within larger story arcs that I hated, I was usually able to find pieces within it that I actually liked, and somet hat I thought were absolutely brilliant. And that, in a nutshell, is why I will be eternally conflicted about this show. Because I saw how good it could be, I could see parts and slivers of potentially wonderful storylines or plot twists or character attributes and changes, but they were all usually nested within a much larger, WTF-lined construct.
As an example - as much as I hated Connor for everything he did to this show, I can thank his inclusion for bringing about one of the more fascinating and successful character arcs in the Whedonverse - that of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. His reasoning behind stealing Connor and giving him to Holtz was faulty, but done with good intentions. He really was trying to protect the boy and even protect Angel. But I’m with Fred on this one, when she told him that even if he had good intentions, he should’ve come to them for help. He shouldn’t have done this all on his own. It was stupid. But hey, it gave them mileage for a story, huh? Unfortunately, sometimes I feel like that’s more important than truly doing right by the characters. And this is a problem on nearly every TV show, not exclusive to AtS. It happens more often than not.
That all being said, the moment Wesley got sliced in the throat, I almost threw up. This was back in the day when spoilers weren’t as readily available, so I had no idea it was going to happen, and I’m grateful for that. And when Angel tried to kill Wesley in the hospital room in “Forgiving”? I gasped and cheered, then immediately felt horrible, for everyone. They weren’t just dipping a toe in the grey water at this point, they were swimming in it. It was good stuff, I can admit that much.
But then it all went to hell in a handbasket, no? Because two episodes later, Connor, cleverly disguised as a 14-year-old girl, came thrashing down through a dimensional rift in the hotel lobby and sarcastically said, “Hi Dad.”
*headdesk*
The final three episodes of the season, so diametrically opposed to the last three episodes of season 2, focus on this whiney little girl-child roaming around Los Angeles with Daddy issues. I just. I just can’t.
Now, back here in 2009, I happily watch Vincent Kartheiser on Mad Men and enjoy him tremendously. He was very well cast for the role he has on that show. I want to make that clear, that it’s not that I dislike him as an actor in general. I just think that he was horribly miscast on Angel.
That was only one aspect of my problem with him. The way he was presented to me made it really difficult to understand his point of view, or to care about him even in the slightest. Hell, they gave Holtz more motivation, I actually felt his pain and saw his point of view for the actions he took. I understood his sense of justice and loss and felt his justification for taking Angel’s son. As horrible as it all was, I got it. Joss and Co have had great success in taking smaller, supporting characters and creating personas that are interesting and sometimes sympathetic, even if they’re evil to the core. It’s something I got used to over the years. So, writing such an important character like Connor - he’s ANGEL’S SON, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE - as a whiney little bitch with absolutely no endearing qualities whatsoever, was incredibly disappointing.
They had a shot. They really did, when they had Cordelia go all glo-worm on him to take away all his anger and pain. They could’ve begun the healing there, and really done a beautiful story of two fathers that love the boy and want the best for him. But did they? OH HELL NO. They killed Holtz, who was finally atoning for HIS sin in taking Connor away in the first place. He told Connor to go back to his biodad and forge a relationship with him, because he belonged with Angel. (I really did like that choice for him, btw.) And not only did they kill him, but they made it look like Angel did it so Connor would turn on him. (Well, wait, was it ever said whether or not Holtz wanted Justine to kill him in that way to set up Angel? And if so, why the big show about how he was better off with Angel in the first place? Was it just a really strange coincidence? Was this Justine taking initiative and getting revenge on Angel any way she could? Augh, the show, still killing my brain cells, one at a time.)
Meanwhile, Groo becomes a complete non-entity in Cordelia’s life, no matter how much he dresses like and acts like Angel. After a full day goes by where she doesn't even realize that Groo isn't there, he sees this as a sign to move out. Where he's going, I have nooo idea. He tells her she's in love with Angel, because homegirl can't figure it out on her own, and after sitting down and thumbing through some old pictures, she quickly realizes that - hey! I am in love with Angel! So, hey! Instead of just meeting at the hotel like we normally would, let’s go way out of the way to some cliff along the ocean, because it’s just SO romantic. SIGH. How convenient for Connor and Justine, Angel just happened to be right there by the oceanside, AND he just happened to drop his cellphone off the side of the cliff. Wow.
*shoots self*
Blah blah Cordelia gets stopped in traffic by Skip, who convinces her that she’s ascended. I need to check the airdates on this stuff, to see who stole what from who, because right around here, I think Daniel was ascending over on SG-1. (Note: I checked the airdates for both episodes and they’re literally 10 days apart. Trip.)
Now, a thing about Cordy’s ascension. Again, if you look at this as a potential storyline for her, it could’ve been really good. It was a little quick, but the *idea* of Cordy being such a faithful little vision girl for TPTB that she got promoted or whatever.. it could’ve worked. And her choosing to ascend or stay on Earth? Could’ve been good. Even having her ascend and then bringing her back with new knowledge or power or whatever.. could’ve been good! But knowing now what they were doing then, and how it was just one more way to completely ruin this beloved character? It couldn't have been worse.
FAVORITE EPISODE: That Vision Thing
This was just such a monumental clusterfuck of insanity and character annihilation that I don’t even know if I can calmly or rationally tell you WHY or even HOW MUCH I HATE THIS SEASON. I’m going to venture a guess that the aforementioned microphone throwing incident happened right around this time.
Even with the amount of hatred seething in me just by thinking about this season, I’ll try and start with any positive things I can think of.
- Hallucinating!Angel trapped in a tomb at the bottom of the ocean was kinda cool. If only to exorcise my own frustration, maybe. Mostly because I didn’t know WTF was going on or what anyone in the writer’s room was smoking when they brought Connor back so I felt like I was trippin’ right along with Angel. Or maybe I was just wishing I was locked up down there at the floor of the Pacific so I wouldn’t have to see what happens next.
- Wesley secretly keeping an eye on all things AI and finding Angel on his own (with the help of his manbitch, Justine - okay, I liked that part a little bit). Like I had said before, the Wesley arc was pretty much one of the only good things to come out of the maze of disgusting and heinous ickyness that stemmed from the very existence of Connor.
- Fred finding out her professor tossed her in a portal, smacking her innermoppet around and the HOLYSHIT final act of “SuperSymmetry” where Gunn snapped the dude’s neck and threw him in the portal. All made of goodness.
- “Spin The Bottle” was a nice way to step outside of the agony that was season 4 and just enjoy some good ol’ fashion Angel fun.
- The Wesley/Lilah relationship continued to be surprisingly endearing, all the way through to her death.
- Willow’s return in "Orpheus" was just lovely.
Other than that, I got nothing. The rest of it was just crap.
More blasphemy - even Faith returning didn’t do a damn thing for me. But then again, she was always just an “eh” character to me anyway. I think I was having a hard time liking or appreciating anything at that point because WTF. They just let Angelus go free because he’s the onnnnnly one who can help them defeat The Beast? Huhhhhhhhhh!?!?!? I can see now why I had forgotten so many of the specific details of season 4, because it was just SO FLIPPIN’ STUPID.
And don’t get me started on Jasmine. I could barely make it through these episodes. I was watching and suffering because I knew that one day I'd get to the final episode where they reached out and hit the shit out of the big, shiny, red Reset Button. I’m usually not a fan of these things, but HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, this show needed it.
And lookie here, I haven’t even touched on the most disgusting, vile act of the entire season yet. I think you can tell by now how angry I was with their decision to not only tear away the very heart of AI from the show (nope, sorry, it’s not Fred, no matter how much people want to tell me it is), but then take that heart and stomp on it, and beat it to a bloody pulp so it can never come back. What flippin’ genius decided it would be OH SO AWESOME to have Cordelia, no matter how possessed, SLEEP WITH CONNOR!?!?! I mean, really. On what plane of existence is this anything but DISGUSTING!?!? She. Changed. His. Diapers.
Dear Stupid Writers, I get it. You were pulling one on us. Okay? I GET IT. But there are lines. Certain lines that you don't make characters as loved as Cordelia cross. And this was one of them.
Look. There are ways to do this, there are ways to turn a beloved character into a big bad. It’s not easy, but it can work. This is where it’s dangerous to keep comparing this show to Buffy, but I have to do that here. Buffy took, arguably, ITS very heart and soul and turned her into a menacing, powerful monster who was hell bent on destroying the entire world. Love it or hate it (I loved it), you can’t deny that the show planted seeds well in advance and made this horrific turn, and her actions, and her rehabilitation MEAN something. Willow’s turn was a slow burn.. from seeing her addiction to magic get out of control, to seeing how it impacted her relationship with Tara, to seeing the reunion within her grasp, only to have Tara taken away with such random violence.. it was all too much, and she turned. For her, there were reasons, and after it was all over, there were consequences, and they were dealt with well into season 7.
With Cordelia, she was just chosen from the evil PTB to be a vessel for this Jasmine demon to destroy the world. And when they didn’t need her anymore, they let her rot in a coma. How can anyone say that she was treated in a way that was respectful to the fans or to the character herself? She was beloved for 7 seasons and that’s how she’s written out of the show? In a coma? And I don’t give two craps about the backstage politics when it comes to this issue. It was a disservice to the fans, and it’s something for which (discovered through this return to the AngelVerse) I’m still having a hard time forgiving Joss.
Which brings us to “Home,” the season finale, and the return of one of my favorite Whedonverse people. No, not Lilah, though it was really nice to see her again. Nope, this episode brought home Tim Minear, writer/producer extraordinaire. He, like Joss, had found a new and shiny toy in Firefly and left Angel behind him for all of season 4. Coupled with the loss of David Greenwalt as showrunner after season 3, it dealt an agonizing blow. But Tim came back for one more episode, saw the mess in front of him, and wrote the season finale which turned everything upside down. And I was so grateful for that.
In one hour, he got rid of Connor, and gave everyone else (aside from Cordy, grr) great new stories to delve into the following season. Taking over Wolfram & Hart? Genius! Weird. But genius! It’s like he came back just to make things right before galloping off again to make Wonderfalls. Oh, Tim. You and your tv shows that never make it more than a half-season. I love them so.
I was really happy with how the season left off, just in case it didn’t get picked up for season 5.
FAVORITE EPISODE: um. I’ll go with Spin The Bottle, just because it was a nice break from the insanity.
No matter how much I did essentially enjoy this season, I’m going to get a few bad things out of the way. I think my biggest storyline problem this season was Nina. Do you remember Nina? Because I sure as hell didn’t when I started re-watching these eps. Sure, I vaguely remembered there was a werewolf episode, whatever. But for some reason, somewhere between Angel and Spike’s fighting and bonding, Fred dying, Cordelia’s triumphant return, and the end of the series, I completely forgot that ANGEL HAD A GIRLFRIEND.
Sure, she only showed up in, like, 3 episodes, but I suppose it was supposed to count for something. I have to wonder what the point of it all was; because I’m pretty sure not many people really cared enough about this “relationship” to warrant all those scenes wasted on them.
Okay, that’s pretty much my only big gripe about season 5. Well, aside from the ludicrous attempt to fake us out with a blonde wig AND the fact that Cordelia was left to waste away in a coma. But I’ll get back to that. Really, there were a lot of positives to discuss.
So let’s start at the beginning, and the re-introduction of Spike. A tricky thing to pull off, no doubt. For the record, I love the CRAP outta Spike. He had me at “Home sweet home.” Now, this casting move was not loved by all. Because, after all, not only does it smell like a cheap ratings ploy for a somewhat-struggling show, but one could say that it also cheapens Spike’s big, heroic end in “Chosen.” Let’s face it, a lot of people already had problems with Spike getting a soul in the first place, but to put him on the show that already has a vampire with a soul? What were they thinking!?!?
Oh, I don’t care. IT’S SPIKE!! Really, all those points above are absolutely valid and important, and I don’t necessarily disagree with them. But the show was dragging, folks. Without Cordelia, and with Gunn turning all lawer-y and Wesley slowly working his way back from The Ultimate Brood, the show needed some sharp-tongued pep. I, as a viewer, was willing to overlook the previously mentioned valid points for this.
And look at all the history that he and Angel share. After all these years, we really knew next to nothing about their time together; only the bits and pieces we’d get in flashbacks. This was a great opportunity to get to know both of them better, and the show didn’t disappoint me in that regard. As a result, we got some of their character’s best and most compelling introspection. I loved learning more and more about their complicated and psychologically torturous relationship. And there’s no denying that the EPIC BATTLE in “Destiny” was one of the best fights in the Whedonverse. Heh. Mountain Dew. That still cracks me up.
Good ol’ Lorne finally made cast, but then they did nothing with him. He got a shot in “Life Of The Party” and then slowly turned him into depresso boy, but other than that, he was pretty forgotten.
Wesley. Oh, dear Wesley. What a year for him. Not only did he have to endure the psychological trauma of believing that he shot and killed his own father - of his own free will, and with a faster trigger finger than he probably knew he had - but then within days of finally getting together with Fred, she goes and becomes a vessel for a demon God (how original.). Poor baby. But wow. When you talk about the best and most complete transformational character arcs in the Whedonverse, Wesley is right up there at the top of the list. I never would’ve thought, back in BtVS season 3, that Wesley would become one of the most damaged and most fascinating characters to watch.
What I had to come to terms with during this new viewing was the realization that, wow, Wesley was a pretty self-righteous prick sometimes, wasn’t he? He did whatever he wanted to do because he was hurting, damn the consequences. After all the Connor crap went down, he did whatever was necessary to get any job done. Lock up a girl in a closet like a dog? Sure, no problem. Gun down a human being (albeit a psycho who willingly allowed the love of your life to be totally consumed by an evil demon God)? Without a second thought. However, they seemed to take really good care with Wesley. They made sure that he had stopped his judgmental gibberish at the same time. He had changed. As he succinctly said in “Spin The Bottle”:
Gunn: What happened to you, man?
Wesley: I had my throat cut, and all my friends abandoned me.
Pretty much puts it all in perspective, yeah?
But, question! And this bothered me back when it first aired and is bugging me even more this time around. If nobody was supposed to remember Connor, did that mean that they didn’t remember any of the events that Connor was directly and indirectly responsible for? Like, did that mean that Wesley’s throat wasn’t sliced? Did it mean that the group never abandoned him? How did it explain why Cordelia was in a coma to them, if she never gave birth to Jasmine, since she never slept with Connor? I don’t think I ever got a satisfying answer to any of that. But in turn, it gave “Origin” and Wesley getting all his memories back have all the more impact. (Although, again there’s Wesley doing whatever the hell he wants, not even thinking that there could be reasons why Angel did what he did or that there would be consequence to his actions.. he’s just all ME IN PAIN, THIS MAKE IT ALL BETTER! UGH!
I’m kindof running all over this season, but I have to talk about the obvious Fred/Illyria storyline. You know, it wasn’t until this death that I started wondering why Joss felt it necessary to just keep killing all his beloved female cast members. Not that he hasn’t killed men over the years, but it just seems to be a lot more women. Anyway. I thought this was a brilliant turn of events, and it’s one that I could’ve seen play out over a few more seasons, even.
I was mostly impressed by Amy Acker. Prior to this, I assumed she was a one-trick pony, but she brought out Illyria and completely blew me away. Props to everyone involved, including the wicked make-up artists, for giving us a character to remember, even if she was only around for about 7 episodes.
A review of season 5 would be sorely lacking without at least a quick mention of one of my favorite episodes in “Smile Time.” Oh, Ben Edlund, I worship at the feet of your supremely cracktastic imagination. And I still want an Angel Puppet.
And now to the episode that MADE this season for me, “You’re Welcome.” It was the show’s 100th episode and made of so much win, I could hardly stand it. As with everything else, however, it has its flaws. Mostly behind the scenes, though, which I know I said I was going to stay away from. But I'm only human. For as angry as I was at what they’d done to Cordelia, I had appreciated, all these years, that AT LEAST they brought her back to give her (and the fans) a proper goodbye. Unfortunately, during this recent sojourn into the Angelverse, I did a little research and found this:
The character of Buffy Summers was originally intended to appear in the 100th episode to get Angel 'back on track', but Sarah Michelle Gellar had other obligations. Writer/director David Fury explains that since "we couldn't get Sarah", the episode was instead written for Cordelia Chase. He adds, "This turned out to be a Godsend because Charisma was fantastic."
Blerrrrrgh. I just don’t see how Buffy would’ve been the right person to get Angel back on his path. Cordelia just made so much more sense in every way possible, so it pisses me off that if SMG had been available, we may not have ever gotten this brilliant episode. But! I need to get over that, because Charisma WAS amazing. And it helps that I found this, too (thank you, WikiPedia):
Although David Fury wrote the draft, Joss Whedon ended up writing the final scene between Cordelia and Angel. In the DVD commentary for this episode, Fury says that David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter were extremely emotional during the scene in Angel's office and that their tears and sadness interrupted the filming process a few times. "Charisma is really losing it here, these are not acting tears...Both actors were very moved during this and both wept, and I have to say I joined them," Fury confesses. Of the episode, Boreanaz explains that his character needed to be re-invested in the cause of good, despite running an evil operation: "Cordelia brings that back to him."
Carpenter says she was satisfied with the way her character left the show, as she feels Cordelia's story has been fully resolved. Creator Joss Whedon agreed, saying, "In seven years, we'd sort of run through our course of [the] character and didn't want to start just doing hollow riffs on what we'd done." Since Whedon suspected this season would be the last, Carpenter says, "we didn't want to just leave Cordelia in a coma..this would be a very big story left untold." Carpenter says the 100th episode was a momentous time to have her character die, calling it "bittersweet...a love letter to Cordelia." David Fury agrees: "It's a beautiful farewell to Charisma for the series."
Run through their course of Cordelia!? Yeah, whatever, Joss. Thank goodness for David Fury. Even after he insulted Spike fans all those years ago, I came to fully respect and love him as a writer, a producer, and interview subject. He’s such a warm and caring individual, and you really felt like he loved these characters. *smoosh*
I’m rambling now, but I want to post a link to an essay that I just love: The Assassination of Cordelia Chase by Jenny Crusie. It’s a great read if anyone feels the same way I do about season 4 Cordelia and the impact of You're Welcome. It says so much more, in far more eloquent ways than I could ever hope to.
This brings me to the series finale, “Not Fade Away.” When it first aired in 2004, I was only a year removed from the Buffy finale, which I was very, very happy with. It satisfied me as a viewer and the last shot told me everything I needed to know about Buffy’s life to come. For the record, I own Season 8, but I don’t really consider it canon, no matter what Joss says.
With the Angel finale, which I thought they had set up brilliantly (I loved the Black Thorn stuff), I was hit in the face with Wesley’s death, Gunn’s likely death, Lindsey’s death (executed by Lorne! Wtf!) and I just wanted some kind of hint that something would ultimately turn out okay for these guys. Because, as much as I’ve complained about them, they’re family, ya know? Of course I’m pulling for them!
So when they met up in the alley, in the rain (of course), and it was just the four of them taking on huge armies, and a freakin’ dragon, I was mad. I hated it so much at the time. But now, in looking back, it really was the best possible ending they could’ve given us. Because the point that they had hammered home throughout season 5 was that evil was always going to be there. It’s in everything we do every day. You can’t beat it, but that doesn't mean you should give in to it, and you sure can show the big bad evil PTB that you’re not going to give up. And back when it first aired, I had completely overlooked what Angel had said in “Power Play”:
“10-to-1, we're gone when the smoke clears. They will do everything in their power to destroy us. So...I need you to be sure. Power endures. We can't bring down the senior partners, but for one bright, shining moment, we can show them that they don't own us.”
Looking back at the entire season, once Angel put it all together - getting the visions from Cordelia (LOVE that they brought that back, btw), all of the actions Angel took that didn’t seem quite right at the time, how everything else fell into place - it was pretty genius. And I think I’m also going to credit living these last five years, gaining a whole new perspective on the grander scheme of it all, to say that I actually understood what he meant this time.
In re-treading through the good, the bad, and the disgusting, I seemed to gain a whole new feeling of love and respect for the series, for the characters, and for the message they were trying to convey. There’s an Angel quote that I’ve had here on my LJ sidebar for a very long time, that I believe in with my whole heart. From “Epiphany”…
"If there is no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. Cause that's all there is - what we do, now, today."
AtS is like that guy that you loved a lot, but then he went all psycho and cheated on you, only to beg you to come back to him later. He promised he had changed. He got a whole new wardrobe, a whole new life, it was a whole new him! You were cautious to believe him, but eventually gave him another chance. And in the end, he became the boy he once was, and made up for all the bullshit crap he put you through.