A Chasing After Wind

You know, Joss Whedon was the showrunner on Buffy for years, and even after he was no longer showrunner he continued to have a lot of influence. And of course he was he was also one of the showrunners on Angel.

But I'm still amazed how many fans can say with absolute confidence, "This plot point happened because Joss Whedon felt this way". Like, how do you even know?

I stumbled on yet another discussion about which show you like best, Buffy or Angel. For me the question has always been easy. When Angel was good it was amazing, but when it was bad it was terrible. Buffy was always at least good, and sometimes amazing to boot.

This led me to thinking: Which storylines on those shows were actually amazing? Not just good, but amazing?

Here's my list:

Angel the Series:
The Darla arc in season 2
The Wesley-taking-Connor plot

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Angel losing his soul
The Dawn-is-the-key plot in season 5
Spike's redemption arc, from Fool for Love to choosing his soul (stuff before and after that was good, but not amazing)
Buffy's depression arc

Both shows:
Faith's redemption arc from This Year's Girl to Sanctuary

So, what are your opinions? What storylines in the Buffyverse - or any other fandoms we might happen to share - are amazing to you?

"Cordelia"'s acting goes noticeably downhill once it is revealed to the viewers that she's a bad guy.

Still watching Angel season four, partway through Salvage. Two brief thoughts:

1. I like the idea of Faith/Gunn.

2. How does Faith know nothing about Connor? Had Angel not visited her in awhile? Had he somehow failed to mention his son? Does make me wonder how often Angel visited her, and what they talked about.

I'm doing partial re-watch of Angel the series, just finished Spin the Bottle (love that episode, so funny!). The thing that strikes me the most is I actually like Lorne this time. Lorne is traditionally one of my least favorite characters in the Buffyverse, but...I really felt for him in The House Always Wins. I'm actually connecting to him in a way I never have before.

I'm rewatching the last several episodes of angel Season 3 - Couplet onward, where it gets GOOD. It really strikes me that Wesley's big mistake is not taking Connor - it's talking to Holtz. He was very right to be concerned about the prophecy, and taking Connor away from Angel makes sense given what he knew. If he hadn't spoken to Holtz, he might have been able to get Connor somewhere safe.

Just finished re-watching Sanctuary, and what Buffy has to say about her relationship with Riley struck me: "I have someone in my life now. That I love. It's not what you and I had. It's very new. You know what makes it new? I trust him. I know him."

I'm sure I've said variations on this before, but it is worth saying again: Something that Riley (and some fans) never, even realize is that in rebounding from Angel, Buffy is not just rebounding from a great love. She's rebounding from an abusive relationship. Riley never gets that (note that he is upset when Dawn tells him Buffy cried more when she was with Angel). For her part, Buffy is so eager to see Riley as a guy who won't hurt her, that she misses the fact that he does have the capacity to cause her pain.

I'm re-watching Angel season 1, and am partway through Somnambulist. I just wanted to make a small observation: Angel asking Kate if she trusts him before giving her information reminds me of him asking Buffy if she loves him before giving her information in Lie to Me - and her acknowledgement of her love combined with a denial of her trust. But Kate trusts him - at this point.

Angel's coming from a slightly different place in these scenes, but there is an echo there.

I've never liked the traditional love triangle, the triangle where a man or woman is torn between two opposite-gender romantic candidates. This triangle is a simple question: Which man/woman will our hero/heroine choose?

( Love Triangles )