For Hardcore Fans of the Buffyverse
I tend to defend things I like with a passion, and then I tend to slowly let go.
Case in point: Angel's fourth season. And before I begin, read Sars' brill dissertation on why A:TS S4 was problematic.
Angel: The Series always got a bum rap, in my opinion. At first it got flak from the "Buffy/Angel4ever" crew, because this 400 year old guy decided to *gasp* move on from his teenage girlfriend. (That he perpetually behaved like a confused 19 yr. old made that relationship work.)
Then, during Angel's 2nd and 3rd seasons, it was that it wasn't as engaging as BtVS (nevermind that it took Buffy well into its 2nd season to really start cooking. Also, Buffy during this time frame had the addition of a sister, the death of two major characters in S5; and the deadly serious, if marginally engaging, crapola in S6--musical episode notwithstanding).
I still argue that Angel found its groove in this time frame, just like Buffy did.
But then we get to the fourth season, which was Angel's anchovie season (you liked it or you didn't, and a lot of people I know didn't). I distinctly remember going to the purplehound residence on a weekly basis and having to have a conversation that usually began with "it's not that fucking bad, goddamnit." They would probably like to forget those days.
Compared to Buffy's S4, in which Buffy went to college and ended up fighting...a militaristic cyborg*, Angel's S4 was all over the map, with several apocalyptic events thrown in throughout the season. As Sars discusses, there were also a bunch of character developments that seemed jarring overall, and it is these that make it such a controversial season for fans.
I'll let Sars continue down that road, she does it much better than I could.
Here's my thing, though: It is because of this unpredictability that I thoroughly enjoyed A:TS S4. Yes, the Cordelia/Connor thing is more than a bit discomfiting, but did anyone really enjoy the Buffy/Riley stuff in Where the Wild Things Are? Did anyone really enjoy Buffy/Riley?**
Was it cohesive? No. Was it entertaining? Yes.
And yet, as I read Sars commentary, I found myself having to nod my head in agreement with her. It was sloppily put together, just like the last two seasons of Buffy. Thankfully, Angel's fifth season was a cohesive hoot. Too bad it got cancelled.
*BtVS's worst seasons, in order, from "worst" to "that was really annoying": S6, S7, S4
**Granted, Buffy/Riley didn't have any of Cordy/Connor's oedipal baggage. Also, in terms of character development, Riley, in retrospect, made sense as Buffy's rebound guy.
posted by the beige one @ 1:51 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Actually, I was on board with the 4th season of Angel for quite a while. The Cordy/Connor thing got a little weird, but the Oedipal baggage was part of what made it interesting. What made it annoying was something that could have been bourne out in more interesting fashion later, i.e., the weird, touchy-feely-new-agey aspect that it started to take on. This was clearly designed to foreshadow the coming of Jasmine . . . but that's where things became problematic for me.
Yes, Gina Torres is hot and talented. Yes, the central conceit of Jasmine was highly compelling. But to my eye, they failed to pull the conceit off on a purely aesthetic basis, which made the whole thing annoying. I got the satire of L.A., the joke about how Californians will hop on any pseudo-spiritual bandwagon that drives by. All well and good. And Torres's mellifluous delivery was, in hindsight, spot on.
But I think that the look--Torres' look, the look of the cult and the way it affected L.A.--should have been either art-nouveau, quasi-medieval chic (which we know those cats at the WB can do); cheesy L.A. neo-Asian-t'ai-chi affected, reeking of alfalfa sprouts and herbal tea; or perhaps, if they wanted to let the satire speak for itself by playing it straight, some sort of primitive-goddess archetype, like the original slayer with better hygeine, or like the girl inside the chicken-wire horsehead in the liner notes to The Concise King Crimson. Instead, it came off all heels-and-relaxed-hair, red-carpet bland. Which I suppose ALSO fits, thematically, but failed to hold my interest. As such, there was no urgency to the despair everyone felt when they discovered her true nature, at least to me. The stakes sort of disappeared for me, and I just wanted it to be over.
That said, I liked the way the season ended; and I LOVED the final season of Angel, no matter how "rushed" the ending was (an unfair criticism, considering how late they all found out they were being cancelled).
As for Buffy . . . fair enough on all counts, I suppose; but I think that seasons 6 & 7 have pleasures that reveal themselves with repeated viewing (and "Storyteller" and the finale from season 7 are worth the price of the set). Season 4 is actually one of the more interesting seasons for review, despite the Riley factor. Even Adam is interesting. I think the problem with Adam is that he was more of a sci-fi conceit, which isn't really where the show's heart is.
re: Jasmine; I think we're just gonna disagree on this one, as I felt that both the concept and execution of Jasmine was better than that of Glorificus (a point that Buffy-files take me to task for). I've always thought that the "god-as-big-bad" thing Jossco had was a great conceit; it's just that Glory's WB teen-bitch thing got way old for me, and I couldn't take her seriously.
The real shame is that Jasmine wasn't the focus of the whole season, which would've made a big difference.
Which, actually, would be the criticism I'd level against Angel's fourth season (though, again, the main part of why I liked it so much): There were at least three seasons' worth of story and action packed into 22 episodes.
Re: Buffy; bad Buffy is better than most of the crap out there. And S4 wasn't bad...My biggest problem with it is that the central concept was let down by just okay execution in the end. It's still a compelling season, but the steam ran out about three episodes too early.
S6, on the other hand, just got too bogged down in after-school special morality, culminating in that near rape that I, personally, was never able to recover from. I liked the idea that things were getting too real for Buffy, but the morality stuff (including the crap Willow went through) was too much. There was some fun to be had that season, yes, but Marti went a little overboard.
The problem with S7, on the other hand, is simply that it meandered all over the place. It tread water all season long, with no sense of forward movement, until the very end. A few fun episodes.
Though, it must be said, Whedon delivered what I believe to be the best series finale on tv ever. Within that one hour, he tapped into the emotional resonance that had been largely missing since S5, and packed a fucking whallop.
Agreed on everything but, well, Jasmine--execution-wise, and no fault of the concept or Gina Torres. I DO agree, however, that she was more interesting than Glorificus, and that Glorificus was too saturated with WB bitchiness to be taken seriously, like she'd stumbled over from Charmed.
In fact, in hindsight, Jasmine was a more sensible stand in for God, because she possessed the inherent contradiction in the monotheistic concept that George Carlin mocks in his "invisible man in the sky" monologue: he/she eats your flesh/sends you to hell . . . but he/she LOVES you!
I liked all seasons of Buffy, mostly because I just turned off my critic and enjoyed the shit out of the show. In terms of S4, however, I always considered it to be something of a "rebuilding season" for the series. They introduced some really interesting concepts that year, the most poignant being Spike's paci-chip, that progressed the story brilliantly in future seasons.
re: Jasmine; I think we're just gonna disagree on this one, as I felt that both the concept and execution of Jasmine was better than that of Glorificus (a point that Buffy-files take me to task for). I've always thought that the "god-as-big-bad" thing Jossco had was a great conceit; it's just that Glory's WB teen-bitch thing got way old for me, and I couldn't take her seriously.
- Yes, disagree we will. Glory sucked, this is not news. But the storyline around Jasmine, her birth into the entire world of Angel, the writer's lame attempts at making her some otherworldly what the fuck ever she was suppose to be - SUCKED! Bad!
I could even live with Connor much more easily than I could continue taking full breaths when Jasmine was one the screen. Connor at least had that teenage badboy appeal.
And I would agree with you on your assessment of Buffy seasons in order of sucktitude.
Wish I had anything at all to add to this, just so I could join the party.
I never was a Buffy watcher--not because I had any specific issues with it--but at the time it was on, I just kind of had my hands full, I think.
My pal just bought the first season on DVD though, and we're planning on having a couple of Buffy marathons soon.
Keep in mind, Missuz, that while the first season has plenty of charms, the show didn't really hit its stride until the second season, and didn't really ROCK, in my opinion, until the third (granting that I'm biased towards season 3 because of the presence of a certain HOT evil slayer who rears her head that time around).
But the storyline around Jasmine, her birth into the entire world of Angel, the writer's lame attempts at making her some otherworldly what the fuck ever she was suppose to be - SUCKED!
Really? Worse than "magic = drugs?" Worse than "anonymous sex leads to rape?" Episodically and seasonally appropriate: Worse than "Beer Bad?" a show with no redeeming value.
Yeah, I don't know about that, but let's leave it at disagree.
the show didn't really hit its stride until the second season, and didn't really ROCK, in my opinion, until the third
a minor niggle in that I thought S2 rocked mightily. S3 is a complete and absolute blast, top to bottom, but S2's Gypsy curse driven plotline is rich, subtle, and completely satisfying.
Oh, I agree that the Gypsy curse and what-have-you were great, and set up the next season very well. What constitutes "rock" is harder to measure; I just find S3 more consistently satisfying.
I actually enjoyed "Beer Bad" on its own merits. At least they didn't feel the need to stretch its meager conceit for more than one episode.
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