(no subject)

stakebait has some insightful comments about AtS here. This is close to what I feel, although I'd write it with a lot more bitterness and nothing positive about BtVS.

Way back before I knew anything about fandom, when I was just a casual TV viewer, I was sort of interested in watching AtS (I had been a casual BtVS fan in seasons one and two, but stopped watching in season three because I was repulsed by "Dead Man's Party"). So anyway, I knew there was this new BtVS spin-off, so I started watching it. Episode one, okay, episode two, okay, but episode three turned me off for good.

Ironically, it was Spike's appearance, but that's not what bothered me. What turned me off the show forever was Angel smashing the ring. That was just the stupidest, most impractical, most ridiculous decision ever. Yeah, Angel, it's nice of you to want to save people at night, but you can still do that *and* keep the ability to help people during the day, too, just in case, y'know, one of those night people you're protecting happens to get in trouble when the sun also just happens to be up. It was just such that kind of self-rightous, ridiculous martyr-complex, ultra black-and-white nonsense that I have no patience for. So I stopped watching. (Not some big emotional thing, just "I checked out this new show and it's not worth my time.")

I really liked the Jasmine story at the end of last season, and some parts of the Connor story. I liked dark Wesley, and Lilah was awesome. Faith was always a much more interesting character on AtS. And I liked Cordelia when she was still cool. But the whole thesis of the show, the underlying ultra-simplistic black-vs-white morality, the idea that we're supposed to approve and root for Angel's pathetic martyr complex? The whole Powers That Be vs. Senior Partners silliness? "Champions"? No thanks. The show will play with such interesting ideas, just like BtVS, but in the end it'll always go back to black and white. I'll never enjoy that.