Season 4 is again very good. I have some minor quibbles, but it starts very strong with several good individual episodes, and the middle is quite scary, and the second half is very very scary -- perhaps too scary.
There's definitely some of that (all of Buffy and Angel does some of that). I was annoyed that Cordelia seemed to go straight from love-with-Groo to love-with-Angel to higher-being to memory-loss to controlled-by-evil. With never a moment to actually develop personally with anyone.
And that Wesley, only once he developed some drive, did he get back into a romantic relationship with an adult rather than a simperer (however nice), but it was all doom.
And several other things such as cordelia-angel-cordelia-connor-cordelia-angel etc.
But I felt the roots of it started in season 3; I was able to overlook most of the bits that aggrieved me.
It's been a long time since I watched it, in fairness (according to my records, 6 years!)
I agree with your points on earlier posts about whether the audience is supposed to buy into the Powers That Be being good. They never sold me enough that I was surprised when they turned, and I was never really convinced that the characters had sufficient reason to believe it, either.
I find part of the problem is that although Angel is clearly set in a shared-universe with Buffy, it does rather seem to be based around a completely different cosmogony/mythology.
I found this particularly problematic at the end of season 4, when Jasmine explicitly is a regional threat whose influence extends beyond Los Angeles. (I can't remember how long the sun was out for, whether that was an entire episode or what, but still, Sunnydale ought to have noticed). After that all goes down, Angel visits Sunnydale to deal with *their* apocalypse, which throws the earlier lack of crossover into sharp relief.
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jack
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Date: 2011-02-25 12:15 am (UTC)And that Wesley, only once he developed some drive, did he get back into a romantic relationship with an adult rather than a simperer (however nice), but it was all doom.
And several other things such as cordelia-angel-cordelia-connor-cordelia-angel etc.
But I felt the roots of it started in season 3; I was able to overlook most of the bits that aggrieved me.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 12:43 am (UTC)I agree with your points on earlier posts about whether the audience is supposed to buy into the Powers That Be being good. They never sold me enough that I was surprised when they turned, and I was never really convinced that the characters had sufficient reason to believe it, either.
I find part of the problem is that although Angel is clearly set in a shared-universe with Buffy, it does rather seem to be based around a completely different cosmogony/mythology.
I found this particularly problematic at the end of season 4, when Jasmine explicitly is a regional threat whose influence extends beyond Los Angeles. (I can't remember how long the sun was out for, whether that was an entire episode or what, but still, Sunnydale ought to have noticed). After that all goes down, Angel visits Sunnydale to deal with *their* apocalypse, which throws the earlier lack of crossover into sharp relief.