Double Standard Shame

[selenak]

Yesterday, vaznetti posted the glorious "Roman Politics as A Fandom" . Which is just the way to present the history of the late Roman Republic. Forget about tv shows. That's the real thing, baby.

In other news, despite my pretensions to put ensemble and writing over individual character love, I've come to realize I have a double standard going on. I mean, take two third seasons of two tv shows. The third season of Alias and the third season of Angel. Objectively speaking, I think it's safe to say the third season of Alias is worse written. But which one is making me foam at the mouth? The third season of Angel. Which has a lot of good things going for it, stuff I really appreciate. Darla makes her farewell in a good and memorable manner. Wesley gets a fantastic individual arc. Holtz and Justine show up and are the best human antagonists bar none. (Yes, there are Lindsey and Lilah, but that's different.) And teenage Connor gets introduced in the last three episodes and made me fall for him at rapid speed. But what poisons season 3 for me and made me unable to rewatch it so far safe for individual episodes I needed for fanfic is what I regard basically as the destruction of Cordelia Chase a character. And I used to love Cordelia. But St. Cordy, C/A, the Angel fixation and complete ignoring of Wesley were just too much to bear. The Jasmine retcon of season 4 makes a difference in how I feel about Cordelia overall, but back when season 3 was first broadcast? I almost quit after watching Cordelia talking to her mirror and the ascension in "Tomorrow".

Meanwhile, the third season of Alias is one uneven mess in terms of overall storytelling. It starts promising enough, but then the writers (imo) chickened out of the Julia Thorne storyline and insisted on using the dreary term "soulmates" on screen instead of keeping it to the realms of fanfic. Poor Lauren starts out as one character and ends up as another and isn't well-written as either. And it's the season where I really despise the main romance of the show. But I still am fond of season 3 and keep rewatching a lot of its episodes. Why? Because Arvin Sloane has a great storyline in it, because the Sloane/Jack scenes rock, because so do the Sloane/Sydney scenes, and because Nadia gets introduced. So what it comes down to, I guess, is that I don't love the characters which get badly or inconsistently written (Vaughn & wife, and Sydney when she's with Vaughn) at all or enough to be seriously pissed off by their writerly treatment whereas I adore my crafty old spy and am pleased as punch he gets lots of good stuff to do.

Or maybe it's because I hold Angel to a higher standard than Alias, and because I like all the other Angel seasons so much? Another Alias/Angel comparison weirdness: in both cases, I love the fourth seasons, but in Angel's case that much more. I really think the fourth season of AtS is the best in terms of overall writing and acting (season 2 rules right until the post-Epiphany break, and there is no such unevenness in 4). And a lot of the fourth season is set up in the third. It really should be enough to make me mellow. Yet just today, I discovered a mere casual mention of 3 vs 4 by an innocent bystander in favour of 3 set me ranting.

Rationality, thy name is not Selena.

Comments

[winter]

I'm with you on the Cordy assassination. Alas, I've yet to see Angel S4, so I remain not knowledgeable on the Jasmine front, but Cordy's appearance in S5 was a little return to the Cordy I've grown to love - especially the fact that as soon as danger appeared, she grabbed a katana and was ready to rumble :D

I also liked S3 Lilah a lot. Sans Lindsey, she comes into her own as a fascinating character.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Lilah certainly came into her own in season 3, and even more so in season 4. Splendid character development.

Cordy in You're Welcome was certainly a valentine to the character I loved, but in overall context, this has its own problems which I can't get into if you haven't seen season 4 yet.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Sans Lindsey, plus Wesley. . .man, I manage to come back to a certain character fairly often, don't I? Everything and everyone gets better, just add Wesley :).

I haven't gotten far enough into Alias S3 to judge much, but so far, minus Will and Irina, I have a lot less emotional investment, and the compulsion to keep watching just isn't there. On the other hand, Sark is more interesting; though I still want to punch him. I will eventually watch through more of Alias, but it's taking a back seat to Veronica Mars and the current season of Spooks at the moment.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I agree with you totally about what they did to Cordelia. I loved the original character (who was the sort of person I'd loathe in real life) who was self-obsessed, dedicated to fashion and trends, with a talent for vicious put-downs - but who also had some humanity under all the floss and an ability to insult a vampire's fashion sense while trying to whack it with a kitchen impliment.

She was an original character. When she became a saint, she became dull and stopped looking at things critically. She backed Angel right or wrong instead of tearing strips off him when he did something stupid. In short, she lost her intelligence and wit.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That she did, and that was my big issue with season 3.

*mourns for Cordelia, still*

[wychwood]

Thank you for the "Roman fandom" link, that was hysterical :) I shall never read Roman history in the same way again... (mind you, Suetonius does quite a good job on his own *g*)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Suetonius is so the PWP writer of the fandom!

[wychwood]

Oh, totally! I read The Twelve Caesars when I was in school, and am still scarred by some of the mental images. I remember Tiberius being particularly perverted...