Ooh, that is a good point; the Cordy love is strong with them. And that's followed by "Sense and Sensitivity," which is both hilarious and brings back Kate, whom they also liked. Yeah, that's a start of a pretty good run, and then you get "Hero" and "Somnambulist," and I hope they like it by then, because the "Expecting"/"She" doubleheader will be...something. Except for the fact that we can finally post freely about Angel dancing!

I'm pretty sure I liked it from the beginning too, though.

I was OK with it from the beginning, but it took a few episodes to really make me care, so I kind of feel for Mark and his minions. But as you say, once we get to the stretch from the serious Cordy episode to the return of Wesley, they'll be fine.

Spike's monologue is such a thing of beauty. "Not the hair, never the hair."

In the first season of Angel, I'm pretty sure I changed the channel to watch Sports Night most weeks. (Am I remembering that right? I definitely switched to something else at the half-hour.)

It was S2 of Angel where I was enjoying it much more than S5 of BtVS.

I was definitely enjoying S4 of Angel much more than S7 of BTVS.

There's a lot of stuff that Mark will love about Angel once it finds its feet: Cordy, Scruffy!Wesley and Lilah, Darla, Faith's return, Fred, Lorne.

But my biggest issue with Angel is that its season-long arcs routinely failed to make sense. Admittedly, some of this was due to people like Charisma needing to go into rehab so they parked her in a Higher Plane. But the whole Jasmine arc, especially with Connor's role in the group was so fucked up. I mean, I could've been okay with some Not Logic Making, but I think they missed the emotional beats and narrative payoffs.

I didn't like the Cordy/Angel romance nor the Cordy/Connor. Feh. In fact, the most satisfying relationships in that show were all extremely contentious ones: Wes/Angel, Angel/Lindsay, Wes/Lilah. They should've stuck to evil noir romance and slash.

Though they did make a good career out of truly great corrective episodes like "Home" and "You're Welcome," which spackled together previously misshapen arcs with something emotionally satisfying.

Admittedly, some of this was due to people like Charisma needing to go into rehab so they parked her in a Higher Plane.

Huh, I didn't know that.

But the whole Jasmine arc, especially with Connor's role in the group was so fucked up. I mean, I could've been okay with some Not Logic Making, but I think they missed the emotional beats and narrative payoffs.

I love that whole season because it's a roller coaster ride of craziness and cliffhangers.

I didn't like the Cordy/Angel romance nor the Cordy/Connor.

I wasn't a big fan either.

Wes/Lilah. They should've stuck to evil noir romance and slash.

Wes and Lilah were great, though.

I was never as attached to Angel as I was to Buffy, particularly after they removed Cordelia's personality. I will also enter in evidence the phrase "pancake kisses." I thought Angel generally did better with monster of the week episodes.

Huh, I didn't know that.

They were going to write her out of the show if she didn't get her shit together. That's why there was a cliffhanger of her disappearing.

Also Xander's role in later seasons was diminished because of Nick's alcoholism.

It's also been long rumored that NB and SMG had a fling S1 because they didn't think the show was going to get picked up. But SMG was pretty loyal to him, and in S7 she was actively pitching for more participation for Xander. Originally, they had planned to have Caleb kill Xander and then NB would play the First Evil through the end of the series.