But I do agree, killing Fred THE EPISODE AFTER she and Wesley got together was a little much. It was a powerful episode though, she’s an incredible actress. Some good fight scenes there too. I think the rest of the season is going to be pretty incredible though, since there’s only going to be 6 more episodes til doomsday.

Also, I doubt Fred is actually dead for good. Willow, Buffy, and Faith are supposedly going to be making appearances, so who knows…Willow could bring her back to life in standard Joss style.

And don’t get me started on the letter jacket Buffy episode. That was very VERY nearly the end of the Buffy road for me. My all time least favorite Buffy episodes. I’ve seen episodes of Saved By the Bell that looked like Tolstoy next to the letter jacket Buffy.

I remember not liking the demigod burger speaker thing too much either, but I believe that was just a small portion of an otherwise good episode….

And I do disagree about the loss of the spirit of the show when Charisma Carpenter left. The show certainly took a different direction, but I think that adding James Marsters to the cast gave it a whole new fabulous vibe. Screw Buffy and Angel, Buffy and Spike, or Cordy and Angel. Spike and Angel are the best couple I have ever seen in the Buffyverse. (I just love how they had a “break-up” conversation this past week on Angel.) Sure, the show took on a slightly lighter tone, but I think that it suited Angel. There have been some fantastically dark episodes this season. “Hellbound” (Spike fights getting sent to hell), “Lineage” (Wesley shoots his “father”), and “Damage” (crazy slayer) were all standout episodes in my opinion. I think that “Damage” was so good that I would consider it one of the best episodes of Angel ever.

Of course, I can understand that if you REALLY liked the way Angel was going last season that you might be disappointed with now. I agree that TV in general sucks ass. I’m really only making a point of watching Angel on a regular basis. I watch 24, Enterprise and The Daily Show, but not nearly so religiously. I can’t stand the reality trend. I’ve been waiting for it to fade for about 4 years now. I could give a shit about how these 5 people trapped on a sinking battleship in Lake Erie with a can of Spam, a torn Hawaiian shirt, and three bent tacks can get along together. I don’t know what I’m going to do when Angel goes off the air at the end of the season. I won’t have a reason to watch TV anymore. It makes me sad. (Actually, it makes me sad that I won’t get a weekly fix of Joss Whedon, but for me, that’s kind of the same thing.)

And it was altogether too brief. I need more than five minutes glimmers into greatness. Gene Siskel once said that for a movie to be considered great, it needed at least three incredible moments, and no bad ones. Now, for a television show three might be pushing it, so I would settle for one (although a one-hour show like Angel should really have two). But the key is “and no bad ones.” And Angel blows that for me, just about every time. There is always some corny humor, or an empty romantic moment, or whatever. In Damage, that final dialogue was just incredible. And by itself would have turned that episode from good to great. BUT there was the too-transparent and too-weak attempts at humor with Andrew’s character that just disgusted me. They didn’t belong in that episode. The ruined it.

For the longest time I just figured I was being too harsh that I let things like that bother me. I don’t believe that anymore. I don’t have a lot of free time these days, and I refuse to waste it watching something that has moments I have to forgive. If the three of us (myself, Jen, and Jen’s sister Erin) sit down to watch a movie with dinner, and it’s not doing it for me by the time I’m finished eating, I’ll leave. Heather, you probably remember that I HATE starting to watch something and not finish it, even if I don’t think it’s good. Well, it turns out, not as much as I hate to watch something that feels like it’s wasting my time. So I just decided I won’t do it anymore.

In a way, the Firefly loss kills me the most. It never even got a chance to shine. I just finished rewatching the series when I got the DVDs for Christmas. It was so good. I was really getting into the stories. It hurt me so much more once I got through them all together (and in the right order). It just makes me sad how instant-gratification-oriented our culture has become. I want a STORY, dammit. Compel me! Draw me in and keep me interested, and please, do it in a creative way.

So, yes, I am EXTREMELY eager for Joss to get his Firefly movie underway.

I guess that’s what I love so much about Joss’ shows. I love the silliness that pops up at the most extremely serious moments. Joss rarely lets his shows lose sight of the big drama, but he won’t let us get bogged down in it either. The most beautiful moments in Joss’ worlds are often the most heartbreaking: Buffy curled up in Joyce’s lap at the end of “Innocence”; the discussion between Spike and Angel that you mentioned at the end of “Damage”; the delivery scene at the end of “The Message” on Firefly - just to name some good examples. Those moments really make the shows special, but I think that all the moments together make the shows amazing.

Anyway, that’s quite a ramble. Enjoy!