#in the end. And groo was a part of a.i. for a while

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I forgot that in Buffy S7, Buffy tells Robin that she sometimes has visions (after the First Slayer sent her one, it sounds like). And, I mean, we all knew that she and every Slayer had prophetic dreams at times, but this made it sound like she could sometimes have prophetic visions while awake, too. And if that doesn't remind me of Cordelia (and Doyle before her, of course, and Angel in the Birthday verse, if we want to get really technical) and Drusilla.

[we-pay-for-everything]

Angel/Cordelia’s Connection... Overrated?

I always hear about how Angel and Cordelia had an amazing friendship and brought out the best in one another, knew each other best, are perfect together, yada yada. I, obviously disagree, and will walk you through my reasoning now:

First, let's look at their friendship which is one of the reasons why people may like Cangel or think Angel and Cordy were perfect for each other. The idea that Angel and Cordelia have this amazing friendship is grossly exaggerated. If you look at S1, you can see they were close but Angel spent a long time alone or helping the helpless whereas Cordy stayed at A.I being the secretary/vision girl/Wesley's assistant. Her relationship with Wes grew more, as a result, than her relationship with Angel. Cordelia is particularly good to Angel in Somnambulist and To Shanshu in L.A but she also didn't understand or help Angel in Sanctuary (unlike Wes who eventually took his side). 

S2 is proof that the Angel/Cordy friendship was still somewhat tentative and developing. Angel spent weeks sleeping all day, being grumpy (more so than usual) and occasionally rude, but Cordy and Wes just shrugged it off. Then, when Angel started to go off the rails because of Darla, they didn't try hard enough to help him (and Wes was the one doing most of the talking). Sure, Cordy cared about Angel but she didn't put that much of a fight when he fired her, although he clearly did it so he could go down a dark path. The point is, Cordy didn't understand Angel. In S2, Lorne is the only person who helps Angel: he doesn't let himself be intimidated, he knows when to help and when not to, he gets him to vent and analyse his actions, he gets him to help people and relate to them. The fact that Cordy and Wesley can't do this for Angel at all means that they weren't as close as people want to believe and that they didn't get Angel. What I hate about S3 is how the writers try to pretend that Angel and Cordy have this amazing friendship. All of a sudden, Cordy just gets Angel and can see that's something is wrong with him in Heartthrob, yet what changed from S2 to S3? Nothing. After Epiphany, the gang had a few weeks together to mend their friendships but it wasn’t enough time for Cordy and Angel to be closer than ever (which is how their friendship is portrayed in season 3) - it was just enough time for Cordy to start trusting Angel and get over what happened. When Angel left because of Buffy's death, Cordy spent all that time (3 months) with Wes and Gunn being the team they had been since Angel fired them. Wes is clearly a better friend to Cordy and knows her better than Angel. However, in S3, Cordelia is all about Angel and doesn't care much for Wesley. This is bullshit and the opposite of what we had seen in the past. Cangel not only destroys Cordy's character, who does, in fact, become too motherly and understanding, but it also destroys Angel, who becomes dumb and goofier than Xander; the Cordy/Wes friendship and all of the other characters who believe Angel and Cordy should be together (more on that later). S4 is the season that truly highlights how much Angel didn't love or know Cordelia. For half of a season, Cordelia acts in ways that Cordelia would never act and Angel doesn't suspect a thing. In Deep Down, Angel is all "I need Cordy" and acts as if he's in love with her, but as soon as Cordy gets her memories back and starts being trouble, Angel just tells her to piss off. A good friend who saw Buffy after her stay in heaven would probably assume that Cordy was acting out or suffering, and would also know that Cordy would never in her right mind sleep with Connor. Yet... Angel apparently doesn't. In S5, Angel leaves Cordelia in the hospital (why doesn't he hire a full time nurse so she can stay in her own home?) and doesn't visit her or spend a lot of his time finding ways to help Cordelia - not like he did in Deep Down where Cordy was still perfect to him. After her death, he doesn't cry a lot over it or loose much sleep. I also would like to comment on You're Welcome which truly pisses me off from Cordy's pov. She spends the entire episode serving Angel and being the "great woman" behind the "great man". Well, screw that, Cordelia deserved better. All that's missing from that episode is Cordy giving Angel a blowjob. After all that happened in S4 and all the misunderstandings between them, I don't buy their friendship in You're Welcome. The writers were trying to forget the past season since it was Cordy's last episode, but as a result it just felt insincere. 

As for the romance: In Carpe Noctem, Cordelia calls Angel a eunuch, Fred calls Angel the man who can have everything but love,and Fred and Angel can't be together because of Angel so Fred's little crush needs to be nipped in the bud. In Fredless, Wes and Cordy make fun of Bangel and try to explain to Fred why Angel and Buffy can't be together. 

Well, the joke is on all of them and not on Bangel. Angel and Buffy broke up because they knew their relationship was dangerous and going nowhere. Up until that point, everyone knew that but all of a sudden Fred thinks Angel and Cordy are perfect for each other (what about Angel not being able to have love), Lorne agrees, everyone agrees. What happened? Did everyone become very dumb??? And what about the fact that Cordy and Angel were co-workers? If they truly fell in love they would have to resist the urge to have sex so eventually they would break up while still working together - awkward. 

Angel and Cordy don't truly have a romance but what they had was based on ignoring the truth. It was a dysfunctional romance. Cordy and Angel and everyone else ignored Angel's curse, how Buffy/Angel had ended, etc. so that the 'romance' could happen. Building a relationship based on delusion is not the way to go. And, Angel's interest in Cordy is very conditional. He becomes interested when Cordy is acting like the mom for Connor and he dreams of having the conventional family (as seen in Deep Down), but when Connor is kidnapped his interest in gone (even if he was obviously sad because of his son, that's not an excuse. Angel didn't stop loving Buffy because he was depressed in S3). Angel starts being interested in Cordy again in Tomorrow when everything is going his way. S4 follows this pattern. Also, in S4 Angel kisses Gwen and then remembers that Cordy exists (ouch) and in S5 starts dating Nina two episodes after Cordy dies, while waiting for Buffy to become cookie dough. Finally, in You're Welcome, Cordelia professes her love to Angel (as she had done in the past) and Angel, as usual, says nothing. Cordy/Angel is actually pretty similar to Buffy/Riley in a way. Cangel appeared out of the blue and was based on ignoring the truth and creating fake obstacles to build tension (Groo, Connor). I never believed Angel was in love with Cordy and even when I kind of did something happened to discredit that. On Cordy's part, she did say plenty of times that she was in love with Angel but this is weird OCC Cordy so it doesn't mean much. Personally, the thing that upsets me more about Cangel is the amazing friendship people rave about but that I don't see anywhere. Angel and Cordy were never true equals, least of all in how they felt for each other. They would never have been a good couple and they weren't the best pair of friends in the Buffyverse by any stretch of imagination. And Cordelia didn't know Angel better than anyone.