Angel created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt


Drop me a line | Season Four Archives Sunday Nov 3, 2002
  Angel Reviews, Vol #4 Issue #4

4.4: Slouching Toward Bethlehem



Lovely Cordelia of old

After a strong opening couple of episodes Angel has landed back to earth with a bit of a bump. Yeah, it's filler all right. Which is a shame since this is Cordys big comeback. But jeeze, this one dragged a bit.

Okay, first off all (and I'm going to say this every week so get used to it) I hate Cordy's hairdo. Why the f--k she chopped off her lovely black flowing locks will be one of the big mystery's of life. I mean Why? It's better than last seasons but she really needs to get extensions.

Cordy losing her memory is a nice way of spinning out the storyline of her returning, but I hope she's not going to be like Spike and always be confused or asking questions. A nice twist was her ending up with Connor as this gets him back in the show without having him instantly joining the A-team again. I've gotta say though that the crush he has on Cordy is very icky since she was always maternal to him. But I like the Shakespeare angle and it seems a suitably classic theme for this apocalyptic season.

The rest of the gang didn't do much really. Angel's glad Cordys back, Fred's still funny, Gunn is on screen sometimes and doesn't do much. Good to see Lorne back on the scene, though I still think he should start a new nightclub in the hotel. Wes & Lilah's relationship seems to have taken a twist as she seems to be playing him. Or is Wesley doing a double (triple?) bluff? We'll see.

Not a bad episode, but it sets things up instead of really telling a good episode.

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David McNulty
'Trick or treat' - Lorne
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Fanzone - Genuine comments from various message boards

Fan 1: 'This show is on the edge of oblivion. Angel has never had the character depth of Buffy but it definitely made up for it with good action, cool dialogue and dark themes. Now they are slipping into Young & the Restless plots. The amnesia is one of the worst plot devices around. It's almost as bad as the time bending plots that were made so famous by Star Trek. The amnesia (and kidnapping) plot almost killed 24 last season. AI needs to really get back to saving people. What happened to "the Champion" and the search for redemption? Bring back Gwen Raiden and get rid of kung fu Cordy. Angel needs to lay off the cow and pig blood and get his fat ass on the streets where it belongs. Switch to fish or chicken, less calories. The Cordy/Conner deal makes my skin crawls. He looks like a 15 year old skate punk and she looks every bit of 30 something. You fanboys are pretty sad to want to see more of it. I hope things get better at sweeps or Ats could be sinking faster than its title character did this past season. Joss let Firefly crash and burn, get back to Angel and Buffy fast!!! '

Fan 2: 'First of all Conner rules! He is so one of the best part of the show this season – I mean Gunn and Fred – whatever! Angel is pretty much a dud except when it comes to his son or Cordy. And the new Wes – lets hope they keep him – the one who’ll take away the bucket! And not the one who just fell for that crap that leila pulled. This seasons’ Wes is not that gullible. The age difference thing - In our reality it sux - If it were a younger girl older boy it’d be ok and you all know it. But an older girl and younger boy– if this were a normal situation - it’d be on ABC news at 10pm or something. But we’re talking about not a normal high school kid and his dad’s hopeful girlfriend – we’re talking about a maybe part demon kid and a part demon girl – if she still is part demon – they both need each other - it would make sense in that way. Plus, this is Joss Whedon Universe where, even though we have this kid who – in our eyes - went from being a few months old to being the Destructer, he has actually lived a whole life in the other dimension. We as part of that Universe are supposed to know all of that and take it all into our whole view. So we have him and we have Cory who has been in where ever with the PTB or whatever. She’s been lied to and trusts Conner – he needs someone – she needs someone – it can make sense. I don’t think they’ll do that – and esp with the scenes in the preview hinting toward it – they are always misleading. But in a bigger picture that would get rid of the whole Cordelia and Angel thing once and for all – yeah it would have been cool to see them this whole happy family thing like in the picture – but it’s not like angel can get with Cordy – or anybody – hello – whole thing about loses his soul. I had been worrying about that then they took Cordy and sunk Angel – now they have this – Cordy and Conner. Not bad. '

Fan 3: 'What a dissapointing couple (Cordelia & Connor) that would be. Can we say robbing the cradle? I mean, Cordy changed his diapers only 8 months ago or so. And Connor really gets on my nerves. So what if he has been through a lot? Who on this show, with maybe the exception of Gunn, hasn't? I mean, Angel...vampire with a soul is doomed to a life of torment, and with the exception of getting it on with Buffy about 5 years ago and losing his soul again briefly, he has been fine. (OK, I haven't forgotten the slight badness of season 2) But what I'm getting at is he isn't asking for any special treatment. Wes had his throat slit, and poor Fred was stuck in a demon dimension for years. And then Cordy, those killer Migraines and visions, being swept up to be a higher being and dropped back down to earth with no memory. So what if Connor had it rough. QUIT BEING A BABY ALREADY and forgive and move on. Geesh! And if you aren't gonna put Angel and Cordy together than there better be some crossovers and get him and Buffy back together. She could have Spike for the awesome sex and Angel for the tenderness and trust. The best of both worlds I say! '

Fan 4: 'A thought or two. The Wes/Lilah rela--no, I won't say it, can't afford the buck--as part of Wes' long dark night of the soul reinforces its similarity to the LDNotS Angel went through in Season 2. Lilah seems to be his Darla, and Lord knows what vileness will result. I'll be very surprised if the Codry/Connor thing goes beyond some (ill-advised) sophomoric humor because, frankly, the boy is evil. That young Mr. Kartheiser manages to make us forget that for stretches of time is to his credit, but fundamentally, the kid is the loving, willing disciple of a vengeance-crazed Puritan. I doubt it will take Cordy long to figure out that the boy just ain't right. Truthful, maybe, but not right. Those sad Hobbit-eyes are the windows to a deeply twisted soul. One last thing--do keep on with the "Angel and Xander are too fat and Buffy, Anya, and Fred are too thin" kvetches. Very funny stuff. '

Fan 5: 'I would be surprised that the Buffy Series Finale (and I'm guessin' and sorta hopin' this is BTVS's last season) isn't some kind of cross-over. There are indications this year that both shows remember thier roots, i.e. Buffy on killing Anya: "I loved Angel more than I'll ever love anything" and Cordy going through the Sunnydale yearbook. Something bad is on it's way for both shows. It would be weird and out of continuity that the Big Evil would only be show specific. It has to be the same or else why bother reminding us about the shows' shared beginnings. What's Big Biblically Bad for Sunnydale should be bad for Los Angeles and the rest of the world. Which would be cool. We never see how the evil on these shows touches the rest of the Earth. And it obviously should (unless we're all in agreement that all bad in the universe stems from and is centered only in Southern California...okay maybe). But with the first glimpses of current evil happening around the globe (the girls being chased in the first two Buffy eps this season) this might really be (finally) the Big One. The only doubts I have is that UPN and the WB haven't relentend in their nixing of crossovers. But maybe things have changed. Perhaps it was UPN that was the big hold-out and with Buffy's ratings dip may think, yeah if it gets the Angel crowd over here--go right ahead! The one element that really makes me believe a linking of the two shows is imminent is Faith's arrival on Angel later in the season and then her tripping over to Buffy for the finale. It sounds like Crossover to me. '




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