In Joss We Trust or Waaaait for iiiiiiiittttt

Well, good points made all around. Again, I agree. Just kidding. Actually, some good points are made, and I see where Mr. Ron is coming from. However, let's take a step back. Is this such a bad thing in the course of the show? Well, yes. I did sit back, watching Cordy and Connor (isn't that cute? Two C's. That's why Angel couldn't get together with Cordy, his name doesn't start with a "C".) and I got sick beyond all words. Aside from the demi-incestuous connotations involved (not quite incest, but akin to sleeping with your stepmom) it was the worst possible moment to do that.

I could list excuses ranging from "Cordelia is in a bad mental state, doesn't quite feel alive, feels detached from the situation and is just giving up," to "she is still shallow, just with a devil-may-care attitude akin to her brief liplock with Wesley in Graduation (albeit they didn't do that during the climactic flight) " to "she's just not thinking rationally (after all, she didn't even go to tell Angel after she and Connor met up with the beast -- IN EXACTLY THE SPOT WHERE CONNOR WAS BORN - something Angel would have been interested in.)" Instead, let me sidestep that issue. After all, we may just be pleasantly surprised in the next episode.

In sidestepping that issue, let me get to the blood and guts of the argument: Should Cordelia have returned at all?

While I do see the whole "Den Mother/Mother Superior" argument that everyone is making, let's not forget what we just saw a few scant weeks ago. When she was up there, being a pure energy and light, we got a few glimpses to some of the qualities which drew us to her in the first place. She had that old Cordelia 'tude that we all know and love. Abviously she couldn't be all superficial, seeing as how she was beyond material things, but we were shown that the core of her was there.

That being said, I believe that Cordy's current personality droning is a direct result of the current, Earth-shattering storyline. If we can get past this, I think we'll see a return of the Cordelia of semi-old.

Cordelia had to grow. There is no changing that. She can't be the exact same character that she was in High School (as fun as that would be.) She eventually grew into an amalgam of her old persona and a true adult. She was still greedy with clients, terribly blunt with the staff at A.I. and still a sucker for beefcake (remember Gru?) I want to liken (as I have before) this season of Angel to last season of Buffy. It's a darker, meaner season with sporadic bouts of hysteria. Only this one works for the general publilc (I think) because it is a newer show. If it were older and had more media exposure (like Buffy) perhaps there would be a backlash.

Buffy's backlash was because last season did not fit the expectations of everyone who had heard something about the show. Witty Banter was lost in a sea of raw emotion. Fun was traded in for fear, and friends either died or tried to kill you. Since the public at large has been more or less isolated from the public, they have no expectations and therefore enjoy the writing that maybe we have taken for granted as being good.

Cordy is bad to us because she is a beloved character who is not acting the way we want her to. To the people that don't know her she is a character in a good drama, who is engaging.

Before I step off the soapbox for the time being, let me just say this. A good friend introduced me to the phrase "In Joss We Trust." Yes there has been a creative staff upheaval behind the scenes of Angel, but Joss still has control here. I personally was put off by the fact that Darla got pregnant and that Angel had a baby. I rolled with it and look what happened. We got great characters, an awesome cliffhanger and a season premiere filled with some of the coolest moments in the history of the series.

For now, I'm going to roll with it. And I'm going to say that for now, let's see what happens to Cordelia. At the very least, maybe we'll get the scene from the next morning, where she rolls over, realizes what she's done, and buys a few dozen Brillo pads.

  posted by J @ 08:42