questions for the buffyverse

I have a friend (well he's the wizard behind rupert) and he has managed to transfer his Buffy fixation to me. I'm learning this great program called handbrake and making myself a buffy/angel collection for my video ipod but in the course of doing this I've watched many episodes and seasons serially and I've come up with a ton of questions for more seasoned Buffy/Angel afficiandos. I can't remember them all right now but here a few (some of them are more easy than others)--can anyone post answers to these--

1. Why did the write Cordelia/Charisma Carpenter out of the last season of Angel? Season 4 pretty much sucked with the hijacked Cordy and that seemed like such a really bad direction to go with that character. I've read that Joss Whedon said that they went as far as they could with the Cordelia character and none of the fans wanted to see Cordy and Angel get together. I disagree with that. I think that could have been an interesting relationship to explore--Angel shows up Buffy going "Dawson" over her boyfriends but having Buffy show up and question Angel's choice of Cordelia could have been interesting. It also could have caused her to re-evaluate her feelings for Angel. Also how could Joss Whedon have gone as far as he could with the Cordy character when he left her in a coma? What about coming back from being hijacked that one episode "You're Welcome" was great a longer examination of Cordy coming to terms with being "evil" would have been interesting.

2. It was never made clear to me with the Skip character--did Cordy actually ascend to a higher realm? If so, how did she get there if it wasn't with the blessing of the powers that be and Skippy makes fun of Cordy "proving" herself to the powers to be and as much says that she "ascended" to serve the thing that took her over. Does that mean that she never needed to be demonized? That Skip was pulling a fast one to set Cordy up to be a vessel for Jasmine? Why if she was in "paradise" where according to Skip no one returns from "except for a slayer once" did she become amnesiac when Buffy was brought back and didn't miss a beat in terms of suffering from amnesia (assuming she's the slayer that Skips means)--why was descending from a higher plan no big deal for Buffy yet it was traumatic for Cordy?

3. What did Skip mean about having to throw the fight to let Billy out of his house of fire? Why did he do that? Was that to keep Cordy receiving the visions that were from the powers that be, yet wasn't supposed to be able to bare them according to Skip so was it to keep Cordy thinking she was "chosen" and to keep her in pain so she'd accept the demonization process later?

4. Did Cordy legitimately work for the powers that be? Or did she serve Skip and Jasmine's needs and they pulled a fast one on the powers that be?

5. In the Angel episode of "Reprise" Holland Manners explains that Wolfram & Hart are ancient that they are the evil in every person that they've been there since the first caveman clubbed his neighbor. How does that fit with the First evil? What is Wolfram & Hart's relationship to the first, if anything?

6. What about the amulet that Spike ultimately wore--it would have fried Angel yet Lillah gave it to him. Although going back to the "Home" episode it isn't clear to me if Lillah meant that amulet was to born by Angel or Buffy but she clearly said it was necessary for a last fight. And the first's plan in Amends was to kill Buffy but it settled for Angel killing himself. If Buffy wore that amulet she'd have been fried--and the first would have won in a sense. Again what is the relationship between them?

7. It seems that Angel forced that apocalypse at the end of Season 5 but Wolfram & Hart have been working on the apocalypse "forever"--did they offer the LA branch of the firm knowing/hoping that Angel would force an apocalypse scenario?

That's all for now....anyone who can answer any of these I'm interested...some of it seems like sloppy writing and not thoroughly thought out ideas...but given that Joss Whedon makes so much of his Buffyverse making sense I'd like to know how these fit.

Oh and the last one...for a "feminist" slant that Joss supposedly has it is interesting to me that in Season 5 when the gang orders Chineese take-out the one doing the ordering is Fred. And she talks to the people like she's ordered before--typical that the woman would be the one taking care of all the men.

franny

Comments

[Anthony]

I dunno-- I think Buffy's descent from Paradise was pretty traumatic. She spent the first couple of episodes back from the dead in a daze and then spent the rest of the season dealing with depression and serious ptsd issues that led to her affair with Spike. I've also never been sure if Cordelia's ever descended. Her body did, but I'm not convinced that was ever not Jasmine. Breaking the ties with Angel by saying she'd seen all his crimes and the sleeping with Connor? It all seems like part of some counter-plan with Skip and not something Cordy actually did. In "You're Welcome" I think Cordy is some sort of spirit and her body is still in the coma which is why Angel gets the call after he'd just been with her. I just don't understand why she's corporial during that episode. I don't see any precedence for a tangible spirit on either show.

Could Buffy have worn the amulet? I thought it had to be an ensouled vampire. Anyway, considering Spike came back as a ghost who couldn't leave the city limits of LA and was only freed by Lindsay's spell, maybe the plan was to fry Angel but bring him back as insurance for the prophesized apocalypse, but unable to get away from Wolfram and Hart. And then W&H would have to resources of the rest of Angel Investigations while keeping Angel as their pet.

I agree about Buffy's potential reaction to Angel/Cordelia. I always wanted to see that. Considering what Cordy represented in Buffy's life, and how Angel claimed to only ever love one person, I think it would have been more of a shock to Buffy than Spike/Buffy was to Angel.

And okay, Fred gets the Chinese food but isn't Xander the one who gets the donuts for the mostly female Buffy gang? Though when Xander really develops a role of taking care of Buffy/Willow/Dawn/Tara, it's stereotypically male. He's the one who has to rebuild the house every time the rest break it apart.

[Anthony]

Oh, one last comment... I never thought of the attack at the end of the last "Angel" episode as an apocalypse so much as an attack... a hit on Angel/Spike/Gunn/Illyria for killing the big bosses. I thought it was some sort of supernatural attempt to kill only those four and no one else. Plus since the world continues after that attack through the Buffy comics, it wasn't a true apocalypse. I think Joss Whedon has said that at least Angel, Spike and Illyria were still alive and for a while planned a TV movie followup to both shows starring Spike, Willow and Illyria. Oh, one more thing. I hate Illyria.

By the way, I noticed Nathan Fillion has a new show on Fox starting April 15. So he and Eliza Dushku have theoretically found work.