Finished my First Watch of the Season

CrypticMystic

CrypticMystic

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I just finished season 4 of Angel for the first time.

Hooboy.

I wanted to hate this season, but I couldn't.
I wanted to love this season, but I couldn't.

So, I'm kind of in this weird middle ground where I don't hate it but I don't love it, but it makes me feel some kind of way.
It started out fantastic. Dark Wesley made me want to high five him. In the face. With a brick. A lot. But the character growth was incredible and Alexis Denisof was amazing.
It was honestly great until the end of Apocalypse Nowish.

The whole Cordy/Connor thing was just not a good decision. It felt totally unnecessary to me, personally.

The bones of the season were solid, they were great! There were some really good episodes. I did enjoy Spin the Bottle and Teenage!Angel freaking out over the modern world.

The Angelus storyline was really good and those were some of my favorite episodes. You can tell Boreanaz had a lot of fun with Angelus. Faith coming back was a surprise but a pleasant one. I loved Orpheus because it was fun to see Willow over there, doing her thing.

I admit that Lilah's death surprised me and I was actually a little sad. I hate her, but also kind of liked her. Lol, it's complicated.

Gina Torres was someone I'd seen on multiple shows, since I never watched Angel while it was on the air, so I'm familiar with her work and talent. It was fun to see her as a Bif Big Bad here.

The Cordy/Connor debacle aside, I really enjoyed it, I did, but I hate what happened to Cordy's character since she went through so much growth to become a character I genuinely liked. And I definitely feel some kinda way about Cangel
😉


The season finale though? That was for me, great. The moment between Wes and Lilah in records hurt, bravo to both Stephanie Romanov and Alexis Denisof there, and then there was the whole Angel/Connor part... Maybe it just hits me harder because I'm a parent. It was genuinely the first time I cried at a season finale of Angel. Like it just shanked me in the emotional kidneys.

Well... now onto the last four episodes of Buffy season 7 and then Angel season 5!

Then I get to start watching Buffy all over again, but with a completely different mindset than I had the first time! And, even better, my husband has asked to join in and watch from the beginning with me with both shows.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
I agree with all you've said here! And also that I believe Wes went through the most character development of anyone on the series.
CrypticMystic said:
So, I'm kind of in this weird middle ground where I don't hate it but I don't love it,
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Agreed. It's not a season I hate, it's not a season I love, it's just one I don't particularly like that much. Pretty much one of the worst responses to have for something is to go "Meh."

CrypticMystic said:
The whole Cordy/Connor thing was just not a good decision.
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That was just so ick.

CrypticMystic said:
The Angelus storyline was really good and those were some of my favorite episodes. You can tell Boreanaz had a lot of fun with Angelus.
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Given that his normal role in the series is Mr DarkAndBroody, he does seem to enjoy being able to totally ham it up with Angelus.

CrypticMystic said:
I admit that Lilah's death surprised me and I was actually a little sad. I hate her, but also kind of liked her. Lol, it's complicated.
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She was a fun villain, in a gorgeous, ruthless way.
 
NotASlayer said:
Agreed. It's not a season I hate, it's not a season I love, it's just one I don't particularly like that much. Pretty much one of the worst responses to have for something is to go "Meh."



That was just so ick.



Given that his normal role in the series is Mr DarkAndBroody, he does seem to enjoy being able to totally ham it up with Angelus.



She was a fun villain, in a gorgeous, ruthless way.
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I adored the Angelus storyline. It was such fun!

Lilah was a very interesting character I had a love/hate relationship with haha. I was genuinely sad about her fate, so bravo, heh.

I think I might like this season more on rewatch, maybe. It has some genuinely great episodes. I loved Orpheus!
 
I hate cordy/connor.

Were it not for that 4 could have been the best season IMO. Just so imaginative and visually arresting. Were it not for Joss's need to be vile to charisma, it might have been a great season and not needed to borrow Spike to replace Cordelia and still not be able to save the show.

Had Cordelia and Fred remained, i think it could have gotten 7 seasons. All the actors were growing. Even adult connor could have been interesting.

I love Spike and he was entertaining but Angel was always more about found family saves the world than slapstick. Season 4 handled differently could have grown the show. Spike did not belong.
 
NotASlayer
NotASlayer
No spoilers for CrypticMystic, but I think S5 was a good season... just not a good season of Angel.
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Cordy/Conner is just cringe, agree.
CrypticMystic said:
I adored the Angelus storyline. It was such fun!

Lilah was a very interesting character I had a love/hate relationship with haha. I was genuinely sad about her fate, so bravo, heh.

I think I might like this season more on rewatch, maybe. It has some genuinely great episodes. I loved Orpheus!
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Faith was awesome
Angelus was great in the cage but a bit incompetent outside of it
 
S4's best feature is the momentum, which really can't be replicated on a second watch, the unpredictability of everything and being innocent of knowing that this won't end in a massive crossover that ties up a decade of storylines. Once that's done, it loses a lot.
 
AlphaFoxtrot said:
S4's best feature is the momentum, which really can't be replicated on a second watch, the unpredictability of everything and being innocent of knowing that this won't end in a massive crossover that ties up a decade of storylines. Once that's done, it loses a lot.
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That was never going to happen they were on different networks for a start.
Even when they were both on the same network it still probably wouldn't have happened
 
Btvs fan said:
Even when they were both on the same network it still probably wouldn't have happened
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Massive crossovers really aren't a thing; my understanding is that the wage bill makes them very expensive to make for more than a character or two. Even most of the Arrowverse crossovers tended to only have 1-2 characters from one show appear on another. I think some of the later ones may have been different, but things were getting truly complex by that point, to the degree of making the different series unwatchable on their own.
 
NotASlayer said:
Massive crossovers really aren't a thing; my understanding is that the wage bill makes them very expensive to make for more than a character or two. Even most of the Arrowverse crossovers tended to only have 1-2 characters from one show appear on another. I think some of the later ones may have been different, but things were getting truly complex by that point, to the degree of making the different series unwatchable on their own.
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Even 1 or 2 characters can create difficulties even more so for finales. You're basically asking the audience to do extra homework for characters from a show you may or may not have watched.

Look at Faith in Dirty Girls as an example, they literally had to write a whole exposition scene of what she was doing on Angel S4 to explain things for audience members who may not have watched Angel. Now imagine having to redo that with multiple characters.
 
Btvs fan said:
Even 1 or 2 characters can create difficulties even more so for finales. You're basically asking the audience to do extra homework for characters from a show you may or may not have watched.
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Yes; that's why there's such a problem with later Arrowverse crossovers. The sheer amount of material you need to watch to know what's going on is difficult. And the homework thing is exactly what I said about trying to understand recent MCU films; they depended on you having watched so many other things to know what was going on that it felt like you had to do homework just to watch a film.
 
Btvs fan said:
That was never going to happen they were on different networks for a start.
Even when they were both on the same network it still probably wouldn't have happened
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The WB granted permission for David to appear on Buffy, the shooting schedule for Angel was the issue. Charisma was probably on maternity leave at that point. Those are the only two actors I care about making a crossover. Aside from Faith and Willow.

But that's not really the point. The Season made it feel like there could be a big finale crossover. They were clearly pulling out all the stops, they were clearly co-ordinating things, they were clearly having crossovers. Because what was this all leading to? Where was this all going? Who knows? It was a very exciting time to watch the series.
 
AlphaFoxtrot said:
S4's best feature is the momentum, which really can't be replicated on a second watch, the unpredictability of everything and being innocent of knowing that this won't end in a massive crossover that ties up a decade of storylines. Once that's done, it loses a lot.
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I duno, the big question of Free will vs World peace is eternal, and I still get stuck on it now. The biggest reveal for me was that connor knew what jasmine was all along and I wonder if anyone in the same shoes as Connor, would believe in the same.
 
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