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fearlesstempIt is natural, then, that I would be discussing casting information about Angel below.
So, the squicky double-C duo of season 4, Connor and Cordelia: Status ambiguous for next year. And while I do understand the motivations for such decisions (or at least can speculate about them), and am not as nervous about the shift in tone and atmosphere that's sure to come with next season (I have a pretty good amount of faith in the Angel staff to pull it off well; even if it is less arc-heavy and more prone to stand-alone case-of-the-weeks, there's a good chance I'll like it, since that sounds a lot like the first three-quarters of the first season, which I did enjoy, if not as much as season two or four), I am kind of sad.
I'm generally happy with what ME has done with Angel, but the one area where they really did drop the ball (and I think most people can agree on this) was with the Cordelia/Angel romance. It was something that I truly believe could have been done well, if it had been more organic, not as forced. There was a moment earlier this season, when Amnesiac!Cordelia asked Angel if she and he had been in love, that I just loved: he turned to her and said that he didn't know, and that all he did know was that she was his dearest friend. I loved that phrasing, "dearest friend." It really encapsulated what I loved most about the Cordelia/Angel dynamic -- how close their friendship was because of how long and how well they'd known each other, and how very dear she was to him. Angel really seemed to genuinely enjoy Cordelia, even as far back as the Buffy days, when she was likely little more than a ridiculously clueless girl to him (the only moment I can recall offhand is that scene where Buffy walks into the Bronze to find the two of them sitting together, laughing, and Buffy feels like crap because she's all gross from fighting. Moment of awww for Buffy, because really. That does suck, slaying the forces of evil and hurrying so to meet your boyfriend that you forget to check for sticks in your hair, only to find him sitting with a perfectly-coiffed Cordelia Chase).
My point (and I do, believe it or not, have one) is that I always got the sense that Angel genuinely liked Cordelia, liked being around her and enjoyed her friendship for reasons that extended beyond their shared history and united mission. He knew her well enough to know that buying her new clothes would forgive all sins! He bounced up and down and did a little dance with her after she found them! I loved that sequence so much. If romance had grown out of that, how dear she was to him and how important his friendship was to her, instead of out of the forced destiny/champions/kyerumption thing, I probably would have bought it and enjoyed it. Instead, for most of last season I was left with this vague sense of, "Who are these people?"
See, like most people, the Angel/Cordelia/Wesley dynamic was really the heart of the show for me, even though I do like and most of the time love the additions of Fred, Gunn, and Lorne. One of the things I loved most about the second half of this season was the reconciliation between Angel and Wesley, and how moving and realistic it was. Well, realistic in a world containing vampires and renegade powers and the like. I wish we could have a similar reconciliation for Cordelia and Angel next year, and for Cordelia and Wesley (the most underwritten core relationship of the show over the last year). But I suppose odds are we won't, and so I'll just have to satisfy myself with that one moment between Cordelia and Angel that felt true to me, out on the patio of the Hyperion when Cordelia didn't even know who she was. It's not much, but it's something.
So, the squicky double-C duo of season 4, Connor and Cordelia: Status ambiguous for next year. And while I do understand the motivations for such decisions (or at least can speculate about them), and am not as nervous about the shift in tone and atmosphere that's sure to come with next season (I have a pretty good amount of faith in the Angel staff to pull it off well; even if it is less arc-heavy and more prone to stand-alone case-of-the-weeks, there's a good chance I'll like it, since that sounds a lot like the first three-quarters of the first season, which I did enjoy, if not as much as season two or four), I am kind of sad.
I'm generally happy with what ME has done with Angel, but the one area where they really did drop the ball (and I think most people can agree on this) was with the Cordelia/Angel romance. It was something that I truly believe could have been done well, if it had been more organic, not as forced. There was a moment earlier this season, when Amnesiac!Cordelia asked Angel if she and he had been in love, that I just loved: he turned to her and said that he didn't know, and that all he did know was that she was his dearest friend. I loved that phrasing, "dearest friend." It really encapsulated what I loved most about the Cordelia/Angel dynamic -- how close their friendship was because of how long and how well they'd known each other, and how very dear she was to him. Angel really seemed to genuinely enjoy Cordelia, even as far back as the Buffy days, when she was likely little more than a ridiculously clueless girl to him (the only moment I can recall offhand is that scene where Buffy walks into the Bronze to find the two of them sitting together, laughing, and Buffy feels like crap because she's all gross from fighting. Moment of awww for Buffy, because really. That does suck, slaying the forces of evil and hurrying so to meet your boyfriend that you forget to check for sticks in your hair, only to find him sitting with a perfectly-coiffed Cordelia Chase).
My point (and I do, believe it or not, have one) is that I always got the sense that Angel genuinely liked Cordelia, liked being around her and enjoyed her friendship for reasons that extended beyond their shared history and united mission. He knew her well enough to know that buying her new clothes would forgive all sins! He bounced up and down and did a little dance with her after she found them! I loved that sequence so much. If romance had grown out of that, how dear she was to him and how important his friendship was to her, instead of out of the forced destiny/champions/kyerumption thing, I probably would have bought it and enjoyed it. Instead, for most of last season I was left with this vague sense of, "Who are these people?"
See, like most people, the Angel/Cordelia/Wesley dynamic was really the heart of the show for me, even though I do like and most of the time love the additions of Fred, Gunn, and Lorne. One of the things I loved most about the second half of this season was the reconciliation between Angel and Wesley, and how moving and realistic it was. Well, realistic in a world containing vampires and renegade powers and the like. I wish we could have a similar reconciliation for Cordelia and Angel next year, and for Cordelia and Wesley (the most underwritten core relationship of the show over the last year). But I suppose odds are we won't, and so I'll just have to satisfy myself with that one moment between Cordelia and Angel that felt true to me, out on the patio of the Hyperion when Cordelia didn't even know who she was. It's not much, but it's something.
