05-20-2004, 11:01 PM
Well, I may catch some flak for this, but as a fan of both series, I'm glad they're both over.
(Boooo! Hsssssss!)
OK, I survived that.
:P
Why? Well, for several reasons. First, I feel that both shows had their strongest shows in about the 2nd & 3rd seasons, after characters were established and things were really heating up. The dialogue, characterization, and situations were all fabulous. I still enjoy going back to these on DVD.
But as the series went on, they suffered from a clear case of "How do we top the last one?" Thus we got a lot of episodes like ...
* OK, who hasn't turned evil yet? Well, they turn evil!
* Uh oh. Everyone interesting has turned evil at least once. Who of the redeemed characters hasn't been evil in awhile. OK ... s/he turns evil, again!
* Umm, no plot this week. Gimmick time. Musical, flashbacks, video diary, one-shot? What shall we do?
* Hmm. Still no plot, and we've used up all the gimmicks. So what can we do now? I know! Sexual orientation! Someone changes sexual orientation, or ... an ex returns? Or they change loyalties? Maybe they should just bicker about relationships.
Etc.
The worst, for me, was seeing that death was a temporary setback for major characters. Once I realized that nothing bad could happen to the heroes, even if they died, I lost interest in the characters' development. Mortals are interesting, immortals are not.
All in all, both shows had a fabulous run. And although they both got long in the tooth, they both ended while they were still somewhat near their prime quality. I think that's all we can hope for. Also, Angel was left open enough that there may still be miniseries (of higher coherency and quality, no doubt), so I'm not at all sad that the main series ended.
I grew quite disillusioned with the shows as time went on. But I think they sent a high mark in the characterization department, and were prime examples of how to mix comedy and drama and come up with something compelling.
They will be missed. But they would have been missed more if they continued, if you get my meaning.
;)
(Boooo! Hsssssss!)
OK, I survived that.
:P
Why? Well, for several reasons. First, I feel that both shows had their strongest shows in about the 2nd & 3rd seasons, after characters were established and things were really heating up. The dialogue, characterization, and situations were all fabulous. I still enjoy going back to these on DVD.
But as the series went on, they suffered from a clear case of "How do we top the last one?" Thus we got a lot of episodes like ...
* OK, who hasn't turned evil yet? Well, they turn evil!
* Uh oh. Everyone interesting has turned evil at least once. Who of the redeemed characters hasn't been evil in awhile. OK ... s/he turns evil, again!
* Umm, no plot this week. Gimmick time. Musical, flashbacks, video diary, one-shot? What shall we do?
* Hmm. Still no plot, and we've used up all the gimmicks. So what can we do now? I know! Sexual orientation! Someone changes sexual orientation, or ... an ex returns? Or they change loyalties? Maybe they should just bicker about relationships.
Etc.
The worst, for me, was seeing that death was a temporary setback for major characters. Once I realized that nothing bad could happen to the heroes, even if they died, I lost interest in the characters' development. Mortals are interesting, immortals are not.
All in all, both shows had a fabulous run. And although they both got long in the tooth, they both ended while they were still somewhat near their prime quality. I think that's all we can hope for. Also, Angel was left open enough that there may still be miniseries (of higher coherency and quality, no doubt), so I'm not at all sad that the main series ended.
I grew quite disillusioned with the shows as time went on. But I think they sent a high mark in the characterization department, and were prime examples of how to mix comedy and drama and come up with something compelling.
They will be missed. But they would have been missed more if they continued, if you get my meaning.
;)