>>70586180And here we come upon more fundamental problems with the show, or season 1 at least.
Whatever moments of defiance and angency Angel displayed fall flat due to nonexistent-speedran character arc due to ridiculous pacing issues. There are slither of what could have been, i agree, but it all falls flat and doesn't feel earned, it just happens. We didn't spend enough time establishing the characters for those moments to matter. For fucks sake, i think it was even stated that each episode is like month apart in-universe timline. In the end, Viv had to decide what she wanted to focus on. She focused on indulging her rape fetish first and character arcs and development second when it comes to Angel. Think about how little time we spent with the old Hotel before it was smashed and rebuilt and how little impact Hotel getting a whole make over has. How little impact Dazzle(Or Razzle) dying has.
There is not enough and what is there has no impact and has to compete with everything else crammed in a single season, sometimes a single episode, what should have been across multiple. That is why i see it as a falure, Viv dedicated more time to Angel beign an insecure abuse victim than to all the other stuff he should also get. Literally in the same episode we get the big reveal where his character breaks, but we had no build up so it feels like nothing.
>where he comes across more annoyed and whiny than snarky, and far less capable of bantz. This I do feel is a real loss in his characterizationYeah,see? That too. The new VA just isn't capable of conjuring same level of bratty smarminess that Kovach could.
>I believe we'll see more of Angel outside of Valentino (which I feel is the real point of contention) when his family such as Niss are properly introduced in later seasons. They've kept them and kept his mafia outfits so it doesn't seem to be a part of his character that's been discarded.I'd wish to share your optimism but i don't. I have no trust in Viv.