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Old 02-22-2004, 07:12 AM   #61
Platypus
The Pointy End
 
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: The Cordyverse
Posts: 5,466
Yay! I get to do Rm w/a Vu. Love, love, love, love this episode. Not only is it one of my favorite Season 1 episodes, it's one of my favorite all-time episodes.

For the first time, we get a real look at some of Cordy's layers. From her guarded manner in not wanting to pick up the telephone ("just not up to leading the parade of pain"), to her distress and vulnerability when she's home in her apartment and her wistfulness when talking about her high school tropies with Doyle. Of course we get the first hint that Angel is about as astute as a turnip when it comes to reading her, believing that she's all right until she shows up in his hall, suitcase(s) in hand.

We also get some fabulous Cordy/Angel exchanges from the pen of the wonderful Jane Espenson:

Quote:
Cordy: “Angel, at some point in the recent history *you* got peanut butter on your bed, and it’s gross. I think you’re gonna have to change the sheets.”
Angel: “I don’t eat.’
Cordy: “Well then, I don’t even want to know how it got there.”
Doyle proves better at reading her, noting that (just like Angel), she insists on doing everything "the hard way". It's not easy for QueenC to ask for help. She doesn't even want to let Angel and Doyle know the apartment is haunted, believing she can wait out the scary.

Later, we see that she does harbour serious doubts and insecurities when she opens up to Angel, telling him that she needs the apartment so that she doesn't feel as though she's still being punished.

Quote:
Angel: “You know, this really is just a place to live.”
Cordy: “No, It’s more. It’s beautiful, - and if it goes away it’s like..”
Angel: “Like what?”
Cordy quietly: “Like I’m still getting punished.”
Angel: “Punished. (Cordy nods) For what?”
Cordy: “I don’t know. For what I was? For everything I said in High School just because I could get away with it? - And then it all ended, and I had to pay. - Oh, but this apartment – I could be me again. Punishment over – welcome back to your life! Like, like I couldn’t be that awful if I get to have a place like that? - It’s just like you!”
And finally, we get THE moment for me. SamIAm talked earlier about falling in love with Cordy in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered". Cordy was my favorite character pretty much from the first episode on of BTVS, but she totally became my hero in this episode. When she stands up to Ghost!Mom!, finds her centre again and tells her that she's not some whining, snivelling cry-Buffy, I was practically cheering at my television set. In spite of all her layers, she was strong, and determined, and not about to be pushed around, and I loved her for it. I genuinely was enjoying the AtS spinoff, but it became must-see, phone-off-the-hook, can't-miss-a-single-ep television for me as of Rm w/a Vu, and stayed that way for almost three seasons.
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