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sienamysticSpoilers yonder - and I may be bringing up stuff I've been spoiled about for later seasons of the show, so be warned.
So. After getting involved in watching Buffy, lo these many years after the show stopped airing, the most sensible thing to do was to pick up Angel and see what I thought.
I like many things about Angel - the lean into noir, the slightly scratchier feeling to the show, the deadpan humor with Angel as straightman. I vastly like the characters, especially the deeper take on Cordelia (I liked her presence on Buffy, but never felt she was really integrated into the group and obviously was never completely distinct from it, and that half-and-half thing felt a bit off to me) and Kate (she doesn't stick her head in the sand and go lalala, she does research and *arms* herself! Awesome!), and Doyle (I haven't met Gunn yet, but judging from the featurette, he's coming up soon). Alas, poor Doyle - if only the actor had gotten a handle on his life, I'd be much happier because maybe then his ending wouldn't have been...an end.
The biggest issue I have with the show is one that may just be a larger Joss Whedon thing. The whole Powers That Be stuff irritates me, because Joss's theory of How The World Works seems to have no problem with larger forces that are actively evil, but doesn't want to deal with forces that are good. This seems to play into the origin of the Slayer and, if what I'm interpreting what I've read correctly, has something to do with the Powers that Be as well (rendering the "miracle snow" during the Buffy episode something much less positive). Somebody said the last time I poked at something like this that this was the bad end result of getting into a show after being spoiled by the fandom first - I'm obviously coming into this with preconceptions. I'm also bumping into storytelling preferences of my own - while I don't mind a good angstfest, I do prefer a happy ending or two somewhere along the line. Judging by I Will Remember You, Joss is very happy to plunge the knife in deep and then twist it, and I'm not so sure how often I'll be willing to deal with this. I was really, really pissed about IWRY. (BTW, it would seem that I am indeed a Buffy/Angel shipper. Strangly enough, I'm perfectly happy to see him on his own, and I wouldn't object to something with him and Kate. I am perhaps a little odd.) Anyway, parentheticals aside, it was so damn gratuitious to play the "we have to turn back the clock and eradicate the joyful moment for everybody except you, Angel, because god forbid we ever miss a chance to torture the fuck out of you" card. It just...made me grind my teeth a little bit.
At any rate, I deeply distrust the PTB stuff, and also that based on what I know about it, the Connor story looks vastly uninteresting to me. Is that season two, or three for Angel? Is it as bad as it sounds?
Still planning to watch Buffy at least up through Season 4. Not sure about how much further I'll go with Angel, even given the stuff I really like about the show.
So. After getting involved in watching Buffy, lo these many years after the show stopped airing, the most sensible thing to do was to pick up Angel and see what I thought.
I like many things about Angel - the lean into noir, the slightly scratchier feeling to the show, the deadpan humor with Angel as straightman. I vastly like the characters, especially the deeper take on Cordelia (I liked her presence on Buffy, but never felt she was really integrated into the group and obviously was never completely distinct from it, and that half-and-half thing felt a bit off to me) and Kate (she doesn't stick her head in the sand and go lalala, she does research and *arms* herself! Awesome!), and Doyle (I haven't met Gunn yet, but judging from the featurette, he's coming up soon). Alas, poor Doyle - if only the actor had gotten a handle on his life, I'd be much happier because maybe then his ending wouldn't have been...an end.
The biggest issue I have with the show is one that may just be a larger Joss Whedon thing. The whole Powers That Be stuff irritates me, because Joss's theory of How The World Works seems to have no problem with larger forces that are actively evil, but doesn't want to deal with forces that are good. This seems to play into the origin of the Slayer and, if what I'm interpreting what I've read correctly, has something to do with the Powers that Be as well (rendering the "miracle snow" during the Buffy episode something much less positive). Somebody said the last time I poked at something like this that this was the bad end result of getting into a show after being spoiled by the fandom first - I'm obviously coming into this with preconceptions. I'm also bumping into storytelling preferences of my own - while I don't mind a good angstfest, I do prefer a happy ending or two somewhere along the line. Judging by I Will Remember You, Joss is very happy to plunge the knife in deep and then twist it, and I'm not so sure how often I'll be willing to deal with this. I was really, really pissed about IWRY. (BTW, it would seem that I am indeed a Buffy/Angel shipper. Strangly enough, I'm perfectly happy to see him on his own, and I wouldn't object to something with him and Kate. I am perhaps a little odd.) Anyway, parentheticals aside, it was so damn gratuitious to play the "we have to turn back the clock and eradicate the joyful moment for everybody except you, Angel, because god forbid we ever miss a chance to torture the fuck out of you" card. It just...made me grind my teeth a little bit.
At any rate, I deeply distrust the PTB stuff, and also that based on what I know about it, the Connor story looks vastly uninteresting to me. Is that season two, or three for Angel? Is it as bad as it sounds?
Still planning to watch Buffy at least up through Season 4. Not sure about how much further I'll go with Angel, even given the stuff I really like about the show.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-23 03:39 am (UTC)Wesley?
*cough*
At least stick around for the Darla story-arc in season 2 is my advice. If you're not hoooked by then. . .
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-23 04:08 am (UTC)Right now he's one of those characters you love because they're there to be mocked, but I expect he gets some character development of his own in the near future *g* I do love him showing up, all Rogue Demon Hunter! and then Cordy wondering what a Rogue Demon is...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-23 04:11 am (UTC)Have you seen the demon-possesion episode yet?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-23 04:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-23 04:20 am (UTC)OK, i'll stop now. Just -- well, the fun is just starting.
And by fun I mean pain. In a lovely way.