Angel: 4x6 Full Reaction

I'll just say there's a reason this season is so widely hated and you're there too. Keep going!

Dante

Very excited for you to get into this season, I think you will have some of the best reactions yet.

MaggieStormborn

It's the directing--- and, to a lesser extent, the writing (and with the benefit of hindsight--- you realize that it is all deliberate). Vincent Kartheiser--- god bless him--- fully proved himself as an actor later (the "Mad Men" series, off the top). But back in the day--- when these episodes first aired--- me and my snarky friends were like: this kid CAN'T ACT! :D Fair warning (and I think I'm gonna be--- blunter about it than most): if you don't like *really radical* transformations of characters (we're talkin' head-spinning, WTF-are-these-writers-smoking transformations), then, naw, you may not love "Angel" Season 4--- or "Angel" Season 5, for that matter. (And this is coming from someone--- who thinks they're the best of the bunch...)

Chris Carman

I love season 4 but I think a lot of people don't. I love it because it's completely bonkers, but it is for sure true that not all bonkers ideas are good ideas (like "hey, let's have Connor and Cordelia kiss!").

Arlo Murphy

You are a definitely not alone in your feelings about this season or Conner specifically. But on thing I will say is that I don't believe its' as much about personal opinion, yours or anyone else's, as you and most people think. I could write an entire series of essays on the actual, identifiable ways the writing, directing, acting and overall crafting of this seasons arch could be described as a masterclass in audience disengagement and alienation - not overall, obviously, but - in very specific and 100% concrete ways. BUT, stick with it. We all know how talented the writers and filmmakers are working on this show. In my opinion -- see what I did there, :p -- they do a great job of pulling things out and even redeeming plot-lines and even characters in the minds and hearts of their audience. That's not too ay anything about the direction of the arches - good, bad or indifferent - I just mean that they are able to give us characters and storylines that allow us to reengage and reconnect if we are willing to grant them the grace of our faith and patience. Great stuff overall from you. Love your commentary and experience as usual. See you in the next one.

Brandon Scott

While there is stuff in the season I don’t like s4 is one of my favs overall from either show and has some of my fav episodes. S5 of both shows are my fav of both.

TheMew

You are definitely not alone in those feelings, i was the same way this point in the season and tbh connor might be the most hated out the scoobyverse but i promise the season does pick up and i always look forward to hearing your thoughts good or bad

Rey R

Yeah I don't think it's supposed to be I'm a bad ass music. I think it's supposed to be angry angsty teen music.

Jonathan Hall

Me too. 4 and 5 are my favorite.

Morgan Williams

It's about to take a turn this next episode. Hang in there. This season is predictable if you can see what's happening. Feelings are about to stew.

Morgan Williams

Morgan Williams

I don't think your supposed to think that about Conner with the rock music ect., I think that's how Conner himself feels. He is a tick to watch the first time round I know, but he's led a very tragic life and he is just now starting to enter adolescence on top of that. He is struggling to find his way, he doesn't know how to be happy after growing up in a hell dimension where there wasn't anything to hold onto.

Morgan Williams

I love this season yo. Everything is put on the table! It's bold and daring, and hits you at your core. I love all the seasons of Angel, but 4 and 5 are probably my favorite. It's so well done, you just really have to pay attention and keep your thinking cap on, cuz it's like a puzzle.

Morgan Williams

I definitely prefer the honest approach and I think your opinions on this season so far are in line with the average Angel fan I think. However, for me, season 4 and 5 are my favorite seasons.

Jonathan Hall

I think the general season ranking for the average person is interchangeably (2/3/5) /big dividing line/ (4/1). There's some great stuff this season but like the first, it's a bit messy and some choices are held onto longer than they should be. Connor is very hit or miss for me; I like where he ends up by the end of the show but in the weeds here he's very "dawn with adult themes" and it's not a very interesting retread of anything either show has already done better.

Jon D Arthur

‘Spin the Bottle’ is a fun episode. I think this episode show that Wesley’s ‘my way or the highway’ attitude (which you pointed out a few times earlier this season) is something he has had for a long time, he just got a bit better when he was no longer a Watcher and then got a lot worse when he was cut off from his friends (and has become more capable than he ever was when he was a Watcher).

James Smith

I felt the same way about this season at this point (and beyond) the first time watching, and on subsequent watches. 20 years later I don't know why, but my opinion on it has completely flipped and I think it's great. So maybe it just takes 20 years to appreciate :). I am probably in the minority in general though because now I think every season of Angel is great and is better overall than Buffy.

Matt C

The memory spell was to bring back that which was forgotten. Each of the characters had forgotten who they used to be, the personalities they had before, how they used to view the world. Yes they forgot their adult memories, temporarily, in order to experience who they had forgotten they are. When you can remember how you were before you changed, you are then free to decide if the changes you went through are worth continuing with or if you had lost some things about yourself along the way, that you want back. Angel definitely does not want to go back, and I suppose Wesely doesn't either. Gunn asked "What happened to you man?" and then a few minutes later it was if it hadn't happened at all. Perhaps experiencing that lack of change will allow Wesely to move on and forgive himself and the others. Cordy is kind of in the same emotional space as Anya on Buffy now, she needs to put it all together and decide what to do. I think she had a vision at the end there, but didn't tell anyone about the demon eyes she saw, or what she felt. Fred might get over her backslide into anxiety mode, but I think not. Still she got to remember being young and hopeful and less afraid of people for a while. Gunn probably will react by being more of hard ass, as his experience perhaps made him angrier and less willing to take orders. The interaction between Connor and Angel, "Daddy Issues" , was clever and sounds just like Joss dialog, cute, sarcastic, funny, biting, confrontational, and revealing. Fight and talk, talk and fight, that's what hero's do... Did everyone get what they wanted, oh hell no, and well yes. A look at their former selves, a contrast between who they were, who they have become, and what's good and bad about it. The joke about the little musicians in the box? stoooopid. But the song playing was one I heard on Buffy at the Bronze before.

spikeysnack

I'll be honest, I thought you'd enjoy this episode a lot more than you did, mainly because of all of the call-backs and references to the early seasons of "Buffy". It's a fan-favorite as a standalone bit of fun. Cordelia's line when she sees Angel is the exact same line she said when she first saw him back in season one: "Hello salty goodness". The "test" that Wesley describes is the test that we saw the Watcher's Council put Buffy through in season three's "Helpless". Where they took away her powers and tried to lock her in an abandoned house with a "crazy" vampire. As many other comments have already said, you're not alone in disliking Connor or the tone of these episodes. What I'll add is that I don't think the show EXPECTS you to like him at this time. He's not being presented as Badass Hero, he's being presented as Angsty Teen. Every scene of him doing something Badass in this episode has it undercut by the end to show that he's not nearly as Badass or Cool as he thinks he is. When he's first introduced, Lorne actually interrupts and says that he is NOT where the story begins. When he saves that woman and it looks like she's throwing herself at him in gratitude, it turns out she isn't and she leaves after mocking him. Angel wins their fight and he doesn't get to be the Big Hero who rescued Cordelia. It's still not my personal favorite arc, and he's definitely not my personal favorite character, but it's coming from a different angle.

JBK405

I have to believe that the decision to have Angel speak in his American accent and comment on not sounding Irish in the episode was written as a deliberate reference to how bad his fake Irish accent always sounded in flashbacks.

El

Season four contains both my favorite and least favorite arcs.

Keith Jones

Hey! Been following your reactions for a while... first time commenting! You're not wrong with your feelings that this season is a little "off" so far. I think that was the general consensus among the fanbase as it was originally airing as well. There are a lot of missteps this season... but there's also a lot of great stuff ahead as well, so stick with it! :) Especially because, in my opinion, Season 5 is one the show's best!

AK

The Conner/Cordelia of it all is truly unbearable, I agree. There's some great moments tho.

jenny from thebes

I do think the badass rock music over Connor fighting was meant to be ironic in this case, but also that Connor's general unlikableness is the fault of the writing and not the actor... and yeah most of the fandom dislikes Connor

jenny from thebes

I'm going to respectfully agree; there is something a bit off in these first 6 episodes. Its the C+C mostly - I push it out of my mind because there are interesting things happening but then suddenly "oh no its happening again - wtf writers Cordy said what to Conner?" Enjoy the other parts of the episodes and activate your severance chip when the C+C happens? No wait that would be abusive to your innie :(

The Testimony of Mushroom

Moussaka is a greek casserole dish.

Markus E.

This episode is basically Angel's version of Tabula Rasa (the episode in Buffy where everyone loses their memories). It's not quite as good, but it has its humorous moments. I think everyone feels the way you do about Connor's character and the Connor-Cordelia situation. They are definitely not fan favorites (to put it lightly). Overall season 4 is one of my favorite seasons, but there are aspects to it I don't like or agree with. There are other fans who don't like it much at all, so you could say this season is a bit controversial. It will be interesting to see your reaction to the rest of it and what your opinion is at the end. If nothing else, it should be an interesting ride.

Steve Quast

I think we're supposed to feel both things about Connor, he is a very badass fighter but he's also very emotionally troubled. I think the music is supposed to give just as much "angsty teen" as "badass superhero." He is a weird duality, for sure, but the whole show is weird dualities.

Preaching to the Horse's Mouth