Plus it'll take JJ that long to figure a way out from whatever asspull he ends the season with this year.

NYPD Blue is doing the same thing, as is something else I forget. Starting late, and going through with no repeats or large gaps (NYPD Blue's slot was re-run free this season too -- Line Of Fire ran when NYPD Blue didn't, until it was cancelled).

The fall season is becoming fuzzier and fuzzier -- see the success of the summer show (har) The OC, which went on to finish when all its brethren did, which meant it ran 27 episodes instead of 22.

I think 24 is doing the start in January thing, also.

Oooh, this thread has turned into spicy brain land, what with Cindy and Micole and Consuela!

However, much as I do adore Micole's spicy brains, I have to at least point out that

And we see Angel's own peculiar combination of self-righteousness/moral blindness enacted in violence on Lindsey

this isn't quite the whole story, given that the scroll Lindsey was going to burn was the only way to save Cordelia from spending the rest of her life bombarded with insanity-and-pain-inflicting visions. Plus, Lindsey basically told Angel "thanks for the second chance, but fuck that, I want the big prize instead, sucker". Lindsey absolutely got what he deserved in TO SHANSU..., and any grudges he held about his hand should have been directed at the mirror or Holland.

Third season ends tomorrow. The fourth season begins in January to allow for an uninterrupted 22-episode run.

Thanks.

I think that they were talking about having a 20 episode season next year. Not sure where I heard that!

Oooh, this thread has turned into spicy brain land, what with Cindy and Micole and Consuela!

Wrod.

Great posts, spicy brains! I've been racing to catch up with the thread ever since the finale. But first:

So it really is a vigorous wank.

I am 12. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Also, having just rewatched "Salvage" (Wes getting Faith out of jail to smack Connor around bring back Angelus, evil!preggers!Cordy fucking with Connor's head, Angelus being strangely unconvincing, etc.) I had completely forgotten the "Disco" part of BRDS. I laughed like a loon when I read that. (The whole reason I TiVoed Salvage was because I thought it was the episode where Willow re-souls Angel, the last 10 minutes of which got preempted in original broadcast due to the start of the war in Iraq, so I never saw the Fred/Willow flirtage. ETA - But I wasn't sorry I watched, the Wes & Lilah (dead Lilah talking to him while he tried to cut off her head) scenes were so great. Plus Faith=Hot.)

ANYhoo, back to the finale. I loved it. So many lovely bits I did not see coming. Lindsey's rage at being killed by a flunky (which is why it made perfect sense to me that Angel would have Lorne do it, because he knew it would piss Lindsey off the most - especially after seeing Salvage again, wherein Angelus kills the BRDS, and the BF said that he never bought that, and I replied, "Angelus doesn't like being bossed around, ESPECIALLY by someone who's not even at the top of the ladder" - so Angel knows exactly how that feels).

And Wes - oh my poor suffering Wes - broke me. It's breaking me now just to remember it. I was a little annoyed that the BF made me keep watching - if I was alone I would have stopped the TiVo and cried for a while, because it hurt so good. Loved the ending.

Have been working on a theory about Firefly's cancellation and how that affected the Buffy/Angelverse - I almost have it, need to ruminate a bit more to make my thoughts somewhat coherent.

"Have been working on a theory about Firefly's cancellation and how that affected the Buffy/Angelverse - I almost have it, need to ruminate a bit more to make my thoughts somewhat coherent."

I would love to read it, arby. I hadn't even thought of that sort of connection, perhaps I should have.

So what happens to Mutant Enemy given the way writers are moving on to other things? Perhaps I missed this in other explanations.

So what happens to Mutant Enemy given the way writers are moving on to other things? Perhaps I missed this in other explanations.

With the Firefly movie, plus umpteen marketing vectors for Buffyverse stuff, I doubt it's going anywhere for a while.