Angel, Season 2

[laceblade]

I finally finished watching the second season of Angel yesterday. The ending of this season was really poor, in my opinion. Angel & Co. go to The Host's world, without any buildup. It doesn't feel like a grand finale, but more like a randomly thrown-together string of plotlines, and the only real development is that the character Fred has been added to the cast.

Fred reminds me a lot of River, from Firefly. Considering that I see a lot of Mal in Riley from Buffy, I'm wondering how many character types get recycle throughout Joss Whedon stories.

I guess I don't have much to say about the season that hasn't been said already. I felt like the first 2/3 were really strong, what with bringing back Darla and exploring Angel's darker side. The last 1/3 was rather lagging (although not as bad as season 1), and it felt like they just ran out of plot ideas.

I'm still hoping Angel will get better in season 3. It does keep feeling like things are getting stronger, coming together, but I feel like it happened a lot more quickly on Buffy.

Also, it seems clear now that Angel's in love with Cordelia. Since I was pretty sure she was in love with him before he went evil, it'll be interesting to see how things develop.

I love Wesley in charge, making the tough calls. I kind of hope he stays in charge, although I won't be surprised if he goes through some random angst and gives it back to Angel. He was fun to watch this season, overall. It was heartbreaking, but I loved him saying to his girlfriend, "This must be hard for you....breaking up with me." WHOA. Mostly, his tough calls in The Host's world, about sacrificing people so that some could live, and lying to Angel about his belief in him, were nice to watch. GO WESLEY!

Gunn is good for comic relief. Cordelia's dialogue sometimes feels disjointed - the script does in general, sometimes, like there's too much pause between words, or something. Still, there is a lot of witty stuff that gets in there, so that's good too.

Mostly, I'm upset about loose threads. I feel like I missed an episode with Darla and Dru, or something. Where the hell did they go? Lurking somewhere?

And what is Kate doing? She attempts suicide to be part of Angel's little epiphany, and now we have no idea where she went. I find her to be a very interesting, and I wish she could be more of a central character.