Angel Season Four Review (Spoilers)
Angel Season Four
Cordelia is EEEEEEEEVVVVVVIIIIIIIILLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
That is the big twist of season four. I think whether or not you enjoy this season all depends on whether or not you buy that twist or if you think it comes out of nowhere.
The people who think it comes out of nowhere have SOME level of credibility with me. We see Cordelia alone a couple of times when she is supposedly evil and she is acting suspiciously like herself. If she HAD planned on screwing with Angel's head by having sex with Connor WHY did she seem so surprised when he confronted her in Habeas Corpses? And what the frell was she doing acting GOOD in the dream sequence she had in Apocalyspe Nowish? Also what about the look on her face when she woke up with Connor?
I suppose you could explain these things away but certainly not tidily. Maybe the dream was Cordelia's and NOT Jasmine's? I still cannot wrangle an explaination of "Oh God". It seemed like Cordelia knew Angel SAW them together and sometimes she didn't know HOW Angel knew. Very inconsistant.
Charisma Carpenter's crappy performance as an evil pregnant lady didn't help matters. Seriously, if they were ALWAYS planning on making Cordelia go apocalyptically evil couldn't they at least have screen tested Carpenter first?
That said, I think the revelation makes perfect sense. Not because it follows a course of flawless logic but because if she WASN'T evil then that makes Cordelia the stupidest person on the face of the Earth.
Knowing this makes me regret not seeing her being evil coming but I'm not perfect. ALL of Cordelia's pre-evil-reveal scenes are HORRIBLY written. She and Angel go around spouting the absolute worst Buffyverse dialogue since I Robot, You Jane. (A good season four drinking game is the get hammered whenever somebody says the cliche "Can we not do this right now?") Angel doesn't really have an excuse for his crappy dialogue but as Cordelia noted in "Billy" he IS kinda melodramatic.
But the absolute worst cliches and stupidest statements coming out of Cordelia make PERFECT sense if she's evil. Whether this was planned all along or the writer's bad dialogue being retconned being just a happy accident hardly matters. During the earlier part of the season Cordelia ISN'T being a stooge but the most Machievellion person in the Buffyverse ever.
To be fair, you can't really blame us for falling for it. At the end of season three the writer's threw us the unforgivably lame twist of Cordelia ascending to becoming a higher power (which was ALSO slyly retconned this year, thank you Skip) because even IF it was a grand scheme to infect Cordelia to give birth to Jasmine there is no question that Cordelia was a big enough sap to fall for it.
That alone says that we never really had a shot of not thinking Cordelia was just being an idiot throughout the first part of year four because, hey, EVIDENCE!
Let's look at Cordelia's behavior in Apocalypse, Nowish first. Her sleeping with Connor was unforgivably stupid. Even amnesia Cordy was an idiot for shacking up with him in the first place. But even if her boning Connor DIDN'T turn out to be part of a bigger scheme her dialogue with him was atrocious. He kept saying REALLY lame and cliched things and she kept telling him how he was great with words. WTF? Are you kidding me? The ONLY explaination (that doesn't involve bad writing) is she's trying to get Connor into bed and is flattering the pants off him.
And in Habeas Corpses her telling Angel that Connor was a "sweetie pie" and that he was "special" and "just like Angel" seemed to be the absolute stupidest things she could have possibly said at those moment. But if she's EVIL they are absolutely brilliant. Because those are the things that she could have said that would have pissed off Angel the most if he knew she slept with Connor (which indicates she SHOULD have already known Angel knew with the "Oh God" but I digress).
She is like the Richard Hatch of the Buffyverse. She says incredibly stupid and cliched things to manipulate the people she has figured out by telling them what they do and don't need to hear. It's brilliant and sick and only makes sense if she's evil.
The other big twist of the year was Angelus returning. Now David Boreanaz, HE can act evil. He obviously relished the role and it was a blast seeing him chew the scenery.
This is the year in which Wesley became my absolute favorite character. There wasn't a scene he was in that I didn't enjoy and him and Lilah had great chemistry.
Fred kind of pissed me off this year for putting Gunn in a horrible position and then abandoning him after she sets him up to do it. Really annoying.
Speaking of annoying, Angel was getting on my nerves before he turned into Angelus too. Aside from the afore-mentioned bad dialogue he REALLY pissed me off when he had his "talk" with Cordelia in Long Day's Journey. What was especially galling to me was that he took Cordelia sleeping with Connor as a thing to be jealous over when he SHOULD have yelled at her for hurting Connor. What she did was despicable and it was sure to hurt Connor in the long run but he was too selfish to even think of that. It was all about Angel.
As for Connor, I think his happy ending in Home was unearned. He always wound up doing the wrong thing and making bad choices and the fact that Angel set him up with a great family in the end was unfair to the people who died because of him. When he killed Jasmine, he didn't even look her in the face which would have been SOMETHING to have redeemed him. As it stands, Connor doesn't deserve this happy of an ending, and Angel this crappy of one.
Some fun characters this year included the welcome and long overdue return of Faith and the new character of Gwen Raiden. Andy Hallett's Lorne finally became a regular this year too. And Gina Torres IS the most beautiful woman on the face of the Earth.
I think Angel season four is flawed and not as epic in scale as it was reaching for. However I think the good handily outways the bad and it is easily the most unpredictable and twist filled Buffyverse season of all time. Whether those twists were earned or cheats is up to debate but it sure was a fun ride.
Deep Down: I am SO glad it was Wesley who rescued Angel. It needed to happen that way and I'm glad they decided to go there. Angel's speech to Connor about champions at the end is so great that they rightly kept repeating bits of it throughout the year. And the last shot of a bored Cordy was funny. ****.
Ground State: Gwen Raiden is a great character and this episode starts off with a great X-Men send-up and turns into a heist movie. Gwen and Angel locking lips when his heart started beating was the best scene in the episode. I also loved Wesley giving Angel the brush-off after he tells him that they're "okay again". ****.
The House Always Wins: Great Lorne spotlight and the Las Vegas show was funny. I love how Fred and Gunn kept getting less and less impressed with Angel's Vegas name dropping as the show went on. Fred was adorable in her demon make-up and Lorne's "Being Green" is a high point for the character. ****.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Great Wesley and Lilah stuff as their relationship takes two steps forward and one step back. Cordelia deciding to stick with a guy who's admitted trying to kill her because he's "honest" is one of those things that makes the idea of believing Cordelia IS actually an idiot plausible. I love the phrase "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" too. Between this and "From Beneath You It Devours" this was NOT a good year. ****.
Supersymmetry: The Connor and Cordelia stuff is just plain bad and Fred is especially annoying here (even though we Wes/Fred shippers WERE thrown our first bone). I DID like the set-up at the lecture with everyone in place and Angel recreating it later and this episode contains probably the funniest Angel/ Lilah confrontation of the series. Still, Fred sucks here. ***.
Spin the Bottle: Leave it to a Joss Whedon episode to be the funniest of the season. Lorne was great throughout as the emcee and it was wonderful seeing Alexis Denisof being allowed to play goofy again even if it WAS only temporary. Dude's got range. David Boreanaz was a riot too although Charisma Carpenter seems a little off her game. Only downside: the ending was surprisingly and innapropriately downbeat considering nothing bad really happened during the episode. ****1/2.
Apocalypse, Nowish: Wow. What an episode. Aside from the Cordy/ Connor stuff it was very well-written and contains the best fight scene of the entire series. I LOVED seeing Wes and the shot-gun and the Fang Gang throwing everything at the Beast and getting their butts handed to them. Wow. THAT was an epic fight. The ending of Cordy banging Connor IS creepy but also cool because it's the one thing an Angel who has been so badly beaten up shouldn't have to see. Naughty and wrong. *****.
Habeas Corpese: Okay, the Cordelia and Angel stuff was excruciating but seeing the Beast slaughter Wolfram and Hart was scary. I also think Angel had great dynamic with Connor here (the zombie conversation was classic) and the White Roon ALWAYS elicits chills. Good episode. ****.
Long Day's Journey: God, I love Manny. I am SO bummed they had to kill him off. He was hysterical. Loved Gwen's new pad too and how crazy she made Cordelia. The end with Wesley telling Angel he was a suspect and that they needed Angelus was an awesome cliffhanger. And as Wesley noted about Permanent Midnight, as evil plans go it doesn't suck. ****.
Awakening: The first fifteen minutes of this episode are good but Angelus is totally right in the next episode that Angel's fantasy was lame. It really, REALLY was and had EVERYBODY acting out of character. (Since when has Wesley NEVER apologized? Answer: in Angel's mind!) Even knowing that it makes sense at the end to bring forth Angelus doesn't stop this from feeling like a waste of 45 minutes. **.
Soulless: A good episode, but not great since Angelus is stuck in a cage for the entire time. I LOVE how he set everybody against each other and the looks of horror on Fred and Gunn's faces when they learn Cordy slept with Connor. Best line goes to Angelus to Connor: "Trying to kill your father and sleeping with your mother... They should write a play." ***1/2.
Calvary: Say what you will about the "twist" at the end but this episode was STILL a lot of fun. Cordy letting Angelus out WAS a really stupid move until we learn she's evil at the end and I loved Angelus chasing Lilah through the hotel. Very "The Shining". ****
Salvage: Faith! Faith! Faith! A little Buffy crossover mania is a GOOD thing! Cordy's kiss with the Beast was gross and Wesley's goodbye to Lilah was so sad. I loved Wes taking charge and bringing in Faith to um, take charge and I loved her smackdown of Connor. Her final battle with the Beast and Angelus was cool and the twist at the end was even creepier especially considering Charisma Carpenter was really pregnant. I LOVED Wes breaking Faith out of prison and telling her he was "five by five". ****1/2.
Release: I loved the Wes/Faith scenes in this episode especially him reminding her how she tortured him in season one. Angelus was a lot of fun too especially when he kept hearing the Beast's Master's voice in his head. (And the Master was voiced by Peter Renaday who voiced Splinter on the old Ninja Turtles cartoon!) The end with Angelus feeding off of Faith was a great cliffhanger too. ****.
Orpheus: Willow! Hooray! THIS was the conflict we finally needed: Angel versus Angelus. I loved Angelus' tour with Faith into Angel's past. Him saving the puppy was hilarious as was him with a seventies mullet playing Mandy. And I just have to say, that Willow was a lot more fun and in character in this episode than she was during ALL of season seven of Buffy. And for a lesbian her and Wesley sure have a lot of chemistry. Faith's beatdown of Connor at the end was awesome: "Break me off a switch, son. There's gonna be a whoopin'!" ****1/2.
Players: Great Gwen episode even though it's sadly her last appearance. She was right about the Gang brain-washing Gunn into believing he was only "the muscle". Great chemistry between Alexis Davalos and J. August Richards too. The end reveal of everyone surrounding Cordelia was one of the best last shots of the season. ****.
Inside Out: I love how this episode tried to tie in all of the continuity of the series to make it make more sense. I think it was largely successful even if not every piece fitted perfectly into the puzzle. It was awesome to see Julie Benz as Darla again and was a pleasant surprise that she was working for the side of good. I think this episode is Connor's path of no return. But *sob!* I don't WANT Skip to be evil (although Wes's marksmanship with a gun is still great). And the episode ended with one of the best "Oh, s***!" moments ever because I had NO clue how they were going to get out of it." *****.
Shiny Happy People: I'll admit that this episode is a little bit slow but it makes up for it with creepiness in spades. I think it did a good job of establishing Jasmine as evil while also playing up her good qualities. The end shot of Fred walking alone down the street is a very iconic moment for this show. ****.
The Magic Bullet: Two great new characters (the executive demon and the conspiracy bookshop owner) make this episode fun to watch, despite how disturbing it is. The last scene of everybody realizing that Connor is lost to them is yet ANOTHER great closing shot. ****.
Sacrifice: Great episode. I loved the sewer monster and Wes' conversation with it and teaming up with those street kids was a good move (and Lorne's reaction to their insults was priceless). The Children of the Corn people were REALLY scary and the cliffhanger was one of the best this series has ever done. But... ****1/2.
Peace Out: Worst. and Cheapest. Cliffhanger. Resolution. EVER! Seriously man, don't leave us expecting a giant spider battle and not deliver. Other than that the episode is good but I have to take marks off because of it. What I really liked was how upset Jasmine was when she lost her followers and she was sympathetic. Even though she was enslaving mankind I got the feeling that she had wanted what was best for it. Her kissing Angel was creepy. And I would have LOVED to have been surprised by Lilah's last second return but Stephanie Romanov's name was in the beginning credts! Way, to spoil it, producers! ****.
Home: I love that this episode set up Angel and Company running Wolfram and Hart in season five (had JLU been back for a fourth season, I'd have liked to have seen the League running the Legion of Doom). Gunn and the panther in the White Room was REALLY cool and I loved Wesley trying to save Lilah's soul. The scenes between Connor and Angel were heart-breaking in this episode and even though Connor didn't deserve a happy ending, I'm glad for Angel that he got it. I love this episode and it is a great set-up to season five. ****1/2.
Season Overall: ****.