Interesting discussion. We don't agree but It's a good opportunity to talk about the show from different perspectives.
Thanks for sharing the dvd commentary.

What was said about Wolfram and Hart is small but i'll take anything. For people who didn't know where they were heading with this continuous subplot, the writers managed to stay remarkably consistent through the complete run of the show.
I always wanted to know more about the process of fleshing out something as vague, large and and multiple as this kind of evil. I love the fact that the firm is made of so many people and looked so different with each incarnation. Also the idea of evil law actions is so relatable from a real life point of view (i was a lawyer a long time ago and my work caused me a lot of ethical problems, so i left).
I really enjoyed reading the part about the dynamic of the AI team as drifters looking for a place where to belong. I agree that it was well executed. It made their interactions a lot more mature, complex and compelling to see them slowly grow into something closer, more intimate and yet still fractured and precarious. They totally acted like a chosen blended family, although a dysfunctional one which explains why they tried so hard later to keep Wesley a part of it despite everything that went wrong with him.
I'm not surprised that David Boreanaz liked the pilot better. Doing this rewatch out order made realize how much season 1 can carry a major feeling of nostalgia. It was on small scale but everything seemed possible : exciting, new and fresh. The fragility, doubts and closeness between the initial characters, the fact they were embarked together on the same journey facing unknown threats that could come from anywhere, were more tangible.
I don't think the writers were taking a dig at Charisma.
It can be hard to accept but the fact that Charisma was used is not incompatible with the fact that the writers, cast and crew enjoyed working with her and appreciated what she brought to the show. The producers had no problem to admire that she found a way to make Cordelia hers (she got perfectly her character in term of physical language and personality) and that she earned the fans support, while still deciding at one point that as showrunners they didn't want more of her.
I think they reached this conclusion that they didn't have more stories to tell about her because they had a limited view of Charisma. They underestimated her and her acting ability.
It started on BTVS where she was compared to younger actresses (and had difficult times on set), and it was transferred on ATS on a more or less conscious level. She was stuck with this image even when she became a lead.
The first clues that Cordelia wasn't indispensable in the writers minds (which is different from being important) are in the pilot : she couldn't get more than 15 minutes of screen time, her scenes in this episode could be easily cut without altering the plot, she has the same attitude between the start and the end of the episode (her potential was never enlightened).
In my opinion, that's why they never bothered to write for her a bigger arc and simply choose to let her play herself (the young hot and really pretty girl who wants badly to be an actress but can't succeed on her own) with few improvements (like when they toned down the most offensive parts of her personality and added more empathy). I think the behind the scene drama that happened in season 4 has his roots in their perception.
I'm convinced It was not related to Charisma's pregnancy - a myth that she refuted herself - but to the idea that Cordelia being more than she was during season 1 and 2 would simply not work on ATS and can only lead the character to its end. The evidence for me is in the fact that Cordelia got her biggest development/twists in season 3 before season 4 put her on hold. What happened to her in season 4 didn't serve the character or its development. She was used as a plot device, sometimes as deus ex machina, nullifying all her previous agency and choices.
For me, the writers were unfair because of the way they picked the actresses to who they gave challenging work, making their choices based on how they (mostly thirty/forty years old white men) judged them.
Julie Benz/Darla got fantastic arcs, the most powerful stories of all the women characters of ATS, be it in flashbacks or during the present days.
Stephanie Romanov/Lilah got a constant quality writing, allowing her to play a large range of emotions and situations.
Julia Lee/Anne had a limited screentime but the most/best was made of it with her spectacular character development. They worshipped Amy Acker/Fred, so much they actually made it something literal but not before solidifying her persona through different stages and experiences and not until she was fully balanced/wholesome.
However, like Charisma Carpenter, Elizabeth Rohm despite the hype on Kate's introduction failed to deliver what they expected from her (acting ability, chemistry with David, fans support) and so Kate was sidelined in season 2 (she lost the place of love interest).
I rewatched this episode and there's few additional things i noticed:
- Cordelia could totally have taken Tina's place. Their destinies were interchangeable and i don't mean it in a negative way this time more like a statement that Cordelia wouldn't have survived long without Angel. She was meant to die, which gave her line about working for the agency only temporarily a deeper meaning. Meeting Angel delayed her fate but didn't change it. It makes me wonder what could have been her path if she had stayed on BTVS.
- Is it the fear of dying that pushed her to join the agency? Did she feel that after everything she saw and knew that it was more safe to stay around Angel rather than to pretend that "his" world didn't exist? Because i still have a hard time to believe that she couldn't find an another work to pay the bills like Tina did. She was presented as an overachiever on BTVS, she was far more competent than she appeared to be on ATS.
- I don't like the scene where she basically asked Angel to hire her. I felt it was unnecessary humiliating for her. She had to make puppy eyes and accept that Angel got power over her only because she was starving. i hate the most the dialogues. He didn't care about what she could add to the team and didn't even hide it. She tried to tell him that she could be helpful with maintenance and administrative tasks, even Doyle tried to enhance the fact that she could help them connect to the human helpless people of L.A, that she could have an humanizing influence on the team too, but Angel reduced Doyle's perceptive observations to a pretext to keep her around because she was hot. It wasn't true of course. Doyle watched her with attention and noticed her vulnerability under her looks and attitude. The only argument that Angel approved - to justify the place he was making for her - was that she needed his help, which made it more about him (and his savior complex).
- I wonder if a love triangle was in the cards with Doyle/Cordelia/Angel. The way Angel, after hiring Cordelia, walked past Doyle and came leaning on the wall in front of Doyle while never taking his eyes off Cordelia (who was off screen) while discussing her hotness, conveyed in my view a real sexual attraction for her (which might have influenced more or less consciously his decision to hire her) and a feeling of competition with Doyle. I wonder how he would have reacted if Doyle stayed and his relationship with Cordelia had taken a romantic turn as it was strongly teased. Angel was quite protective, bordering on intrusive and possessive when Cordelia tried to date few hot rich guys. But things would have been on another scale of awkward and tension with Doyle being his friend and the three of them working so closely together.