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Last night Jorn and I watched disc 4 of Angel season 4. At least Angel has his stupid soul back. I'm not really liking this season that much, I don't know. It really seems like a departure from the previous seasons. Stuff is just so fucked up! The writers seem to be fucking with the characters in ways they weren't meant to be fucked with. Primarily I'm talking about Cordelia (who I've heard called Whore-delia, and this season makes me understand why). What the fuck are they doing? At the end of last season, before the whole higher power thing, her character was in a really good place. She was still snitty and catty and all about clothes, but she also had a feeling of having a calling and a higher purpose and believing in what she was doing. It was a good, and even a logical, place for her character to evolve to. And they've taken her so far from that, it's just unbelievable. What they've done with her character is kind of... unforgiveable? She hasn't been the Cordelia we know and love since she got back from HigherPowerLand, but now with all this evil mastermind stuff I'm just getting pissed off.
I'm not entirely sure what's coming, but my theory is that the baby is controlling her and making her all evil, and that this would go back all the way to when that member of the Ratet died in electrogirl's safe. I'm thinking that the Beast came out just to have some fun and then got hired on by the baby-whatever, or maybe it was prophecied that whatever Cordy's pregnant with would get (re)born at a particular time and that's why the demon showed up, because he's got a history with this thing. That would also explain the connection between the Beast and Connor. Whatever, this story arc is pissing me off. When Willow went evil, there was a clear reason, and the writers built up to it for over a season with her magic addiction problems, so it wasn't totally unexpected when it happened. I, at least, didn't feel betrayed by it. Cordy ascending to the higher plane was I guess handled similarly, that they built up to it with her becoming part demon and such, but this stuff that's going on now is just mindfuck after mindfuck. It's not unfolding, it's clunking out bit by bit. You know what it feels like? The rest of the seasons had foreshadowing and gradually developing plots, but this feels like the writers are writing the episodes without thinking about where it's going, just "hey wouldn't it be neat if Cordy was the evil one!" and then later on trying to figure out how to explain how that happened. Maybe they'll find a way to make it all fit together at the end, I don't know. I feel like it's not going to make sense until the end of the season (if then), and I don't like that. Not that I need to know all the information right this second--I don't. But this just came out of nowhere, with Cordy making out with Rock-head and manipulating Connor and trying to kill Angel. I feel like they're betraying her character, and they're taking her and the cast and the whole show to a place that there's no going back from. I do not like it. I know there's some of you out there that love this season the best, and maybe I'll feel differently once I see all the episodes, but right now I'm not loving it.
Lest ye think I'm a total hater: I like what's going on with Wesley's character very much. I liked how Faith was the only one who could save Angel from Angelus, and I like how her character has evolved offscreen. I even sort of like the Gunn/Fred storyline. I like how Willow showed up to help out (and I liked the interplay between her and Fred). I liked how Connor was drawn to Faith.
I was shocked that Lilah died, though. That threw me. And the soap-opera-ness is kind of getting to me. The sun has been blacked out and all we can think about is sex? And how was no one noticing that Cordy spent three episodes in bed? The "real" Cordy would've been downstairs trying to help out even though she'd been wounded. Remember when she started having the false visions sent by Wolfram & Hart and they caused all those wounds all over her? She dealt with it because she knew the others needed her, and only the horrific boils got her down. That's the real Cordy. They should know that. Fred and Gunn kind of talked about how odd things were between Cordy and Connor, but they didn't *do* anything. Nobody's acting like themselves this season. Except Wes and Lilah, but she's dead now. I'm going home.
I'm not entirely sure what's coming, but my theory is that the baby is controlling her and making her all evil, and that this would go back all the way to when that member of the Ratet died in electrogirl's safe. I'm thinking that the Beast came out just to have some fun and then got hired on by the baby-whatever, or maybe it was prophecied that whatever Cordy's pregnant with would get (re)born at a particular time and that's why the demon showed up, because he's got a history with this thing. That would also explain the connection between the Beast and Connor. Whatever, this story arc is pissing me off. When Willow went evil, there was a clear reason, and the writers built up to it for over a season with her magic addiction problems, so it wasn't totally unexpected when it happened. I, at least, didn't feel betrayed by it. Cordy ascending to the higher plane was I guess handled similarly, that they built up to it with her becoming part demon and such, but this stuff that's going on now is just mindfuck after mindfuck. It's not unfolding, it's clunking out bit by bit. You know what it feels like? The rest of the seasons had foreshadowing and gradually developing plots, but this feels like the writers are writing the episodes without thinking about where it's going, just "hey wouldn't it be neat if Cordy was the evil one!" and then later on trying to figure out how to explain how that happened. Maybe they'll find a way to make it all fit together at the end, I don't know. I feel like it's not going to make sense until the end of the season (if then), and I don't like that. Not that I need to know all the information right this second--I don't. But this just came out of nowhere, with Cordy making out with Rock-head and manipulating Connor and trying to kill Angel. I feel like they're betraying her character, and they're taking her and the cast and the whole show to a place that there's no going back from. I do not like it. I know there's some of you out there that love this season the best, and maybe I'll feel differently once I see all the episodes, but right now I'm not loving it.
Lest ye think I'm a total hater: I like what's going on with Wesley's character very much. I liked how Faith was the only one who could save Angel from Angelus, and I like how her character has evolved offscreen. I even sort of like the Gunn/Fred storyline. I like how Willow showed up to help out (and I liked the interplay between her and Fred). I liked how Connor was drawn to Faith.
I was shocked that Lilah died, though. That threw me. And the soap-opera-ness is kind of getting to me. The sun has been blacked out and all we can think about is sex? And how was no one noticing that Cordy spent three episodes in bed? The "real" Cordy would've been downstairs trying to help out even though she'd been wounded. Remember when she started having the false visions sent by Wolfram & Hart and they caused all those wounds all over her? She dealt with it because she knew the others needed her, and only the horrific boils got her down. That's the real Cordy. They should know that. Fred and Gunn kind of talked about how odd things were between Cordy and Connor, but they didn't *do* anything. Nobody's acting like themselves this season. Except Wes and Lilah, but she's dead now. I'm going home.
