Angel - The Series

[luciano]

After the first few episodes, Spike didn't bug me as much on Angel as I thought he would. I really, really hated the character during the last few seasons of BtVS, to the point that watching the earlier, non-sucky Spike episodes was ruined because I just couldn't stand his character. I think he needed to get de-Buffyfied before I could, like, watch him without wishing for a stake to just appear from somewhere, anywhere, to finish him off. In terms of the Angel storyline, this urge reached its peak during Destiny, when the wanker managed to back his ass into Angel's Shanshu prophecy thingamajig. However, in the second half of the season, he didn't bug as much since the storyline didn't seem as focused on him as before. Plus, kick-ass Illyria was around and she made everything better for me.

Angel was one of my favorite Buffyverse characters, for the reasons kathy1977 stated. Plus, I ended up loving David Boreanaz and his portrayal of the character, which is shocking to me considering my initial reaction to him ["It's Log, Log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood!"]. Dude really improved and it rocked to see that.

Also, Angel broke the cardinal rule of tv: the quality of any show goes in the toliet immediatly after a main character has a child. Now THAT'S impressive!

Heh. I loved Connor.

[shriekingeel]

Contrarian here: I loved Fred, as I always thought Amy Acker is gorgeous. (though I found the character of Illyria a little tiresome). My favorite season was 4, if Connor could somehow have been removed from it (though Vincent Kartheiser rocks the character of Pete on Mad Men IMO).

Overall I thought the series kind of painted itself into a corner in the fifth season, and though there are some entertaining individual episodes, Season 5 is difficult for me to watch, almost at the Season 7 Buffy level.

[kathy1977]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I always thought that Rupert Giles would have fit in perfectly on ATS. My God the possibilities! Anthony Stewart Head is a fantastic actor. Sexy as hell too. Giles had that perfect blend of humor, darkness, physical strength, and intelligence. He could hold his own in ANY situation. Giles and Wesley in a scene together would have been pure gold.

[bee]

S7 Giles was pretty crap though, and he had the whole tortured thing with Angelus that put him right off Angel. Plus of course the fact that he was trying to protect Buffy from all the badness that was Angel.

Aww. Now I'm having inappropriate (to the thread) Watcher-Slayer bond memories.

I thought Spike was great on ATS, although I grew frustrated when they didn't do a lot with Gunn. But Angel and Spike bitching at each other is always hilarious. I always fully agreed that the perfect foil / partner for Angel was Spike. Not in a manpire love way, I just found anything with them together was always so much funnier or was a bigger fight or was more poignant or whatever.

[Laira]

I wish they'd gotten rid of Wesley and brought in Giles. Wesley was just too creepy for me after S3.

[grumpygirl]

laira said:

I wish they'd gotten rid of Wesley and brought in Giles. Wesley was just too creepy for me after S3.

What, just because he kept that woman locked in the closet while boinking Lila he was creepy!? Yeah, well, you're right. However he was so damned HOT that I forgot. Wesley and Giles were definitely my favorites. Yum, Giles.

[ebfarnum]

Damn. Damn. DAMN!! I'd never watched this series, but have recently been catching up with TNT's re-runs, and thought it was okay for the most part and was really happy to find this thread to fill in some of the blanks. Although it seems I came in somewhere in season 2, I've seen enough to know that Cordelia (my favorite BTVS character, probably) should've been left shallow and was best in smaller doses. Did not like her as main character/goody goody. The over-mugging was way distracting, given the fact that her mouth seemed to grow 3 inches wider every episode and seemed to be her main acting tool. Ewww.

But...and it can't be said enough: DAMN!!! Reading this thread gave me some hope that if I stuck it out til the end of the series, I might be able to actually enjoy some Fred-Free episodes, since she like dies, right? Guess not. Why can't death mean death, dadgummit!? Good grief, there are no words to describe how much I loathe that simpering, tic-ing little skewer. Simply one of the worst characters/actors ever. Ugh.

Now, I don't even have the heart to watch any more and I've wasted weeks. Sigh.

[kathy1977]

But...and it can't be said enough: DAMN!!! Reading this thread gave me some hope that if I stuck it out til the end of the series, I might be able to actually enjoy some Fred-Free episodes, since she like dies, right? Guess not. Why can't death mean death, dadgummit!? Good grief, there are no words to describe how much I loathe that simpering, tic-ing little skewer. Simply one of the worst characters/actors ever. Ugh.

Ughhh. What made Fred annoying at the beginning was how Wes and Gunn were so obsessed with her. It was too heavy handed. You would think they had never seen a woman before. Yes, she was cute. But the way they went on you would think she was a Playboy model or something.

It was truly bizarre. Gunn calls her a "hot mama" and the camera cuts to Fred with her hair in two pigtails holding Connor. And Wesley couldn't stop staring at her.

I can't believe that she was the catalyst for the tension between Wes and Gunn. And it ticked me off because although I don't hate Fred, her character wasn't worth screwing up that great friendship.

In my opinion Fred doesn't become "hot" until season 5. It was then that I could see her and Wesley getting together. Her character looked and acted more like a woman.

[Deleted]

Ah, fellow Fred haters. I loathed the Texas Twig for all the reasons stated above. I also felt sorry for poor J. August Richards when he had to deliver the ludicrous 'hot mama' line - he could barely keep a straight face.

As for Illyria - bah! She looked like Fred got stuck in her Anime convention costume and was boring as hell.

[ebfarnum]

I'm not alone! It's like someone took Shirley Temple around age 12, starved her for six months, and then decided to try and cast her as a sexpot just to see if anyone would fall for it. Just nooooo. The "gee, ain't I adorable" simpering, batting, voice-quavering, and twitching made me want to bludgeon her with a dull and rusty garden tool. I'm not totally crazy about this Gunn character, either, but am also feeling the sympathy for the actor trying to make the googly eyes at "hot mama."

Also hated how quickly they just thrust her into sorely unearned main character-dom. Who was she to go to Wesley's hospital room and order him to NEVER go back to the office?. Ugh. Either the writers had lost interest in the show by that time, or one of them had a serious crush on that actress.

Is season 1 the only season untainted by The Stick? I think I'll Netflix that one.