[Bert]

Charisma moments from Apocalypse Nowish to Home. Ok, I know this is a sore point with some people, so I’ll keep it short and simple, a few quotes from each ep, maybe a comment, as you read them, don’t remember the storyline, remember the acting. That’s why I picked them out.

Apocalypse, Nowish: Cordy goes in search of the Beast and then invites something much worse into her own bed…

Cordy: Some old movie. Pod People or Mutant Pod Mushrooms or something, I don't know. I can't remember. I mean, I don't remember 'cause I was a kid when I saw it, so it's a little on the foggy, but natural fog. Foreshadowing…

Cordy: Is that the royal we, or the populous?

Cordy: Oh, Angel... I love you. I always will. You know that.
Angel: I don't suppose we could stop there?
Cordy I wish we could—more than anything—but I can't. When I got my memory back, everything came rushing in. Sunnydale, moving to Los Angeles, meeting you again. I wanted to tell you, but it was just too much.

Cordy: This wasn't normal. If that word actually applies to anything that ever happens to me. The visions are usually like a lawn sprinkler. This was like Niagra.

Cordy: But I can't remember how. Am I on vacation? Did I go cosmic AWOL? Did I do something to piss off the Powers That Be and get kicked out? Why am I here?

We’d all like answers to these questions, Cordy…

Then while not a popular move on Cordy’s part, we have to give Kudos to Charisma for filming THAT scene, without managing to look too disgusted. Although she’s clearly not enjoying it…

Habeas Corpses: Cordy and the population recover from a bad night. A hurt Angel tells her never to come back

Cordelia wakes first, facing Connor, then her eyes grow wide as she stares at him. She turns over with a shocked look on her face. And so say all of us.

Cordy: Listen up, daddy dearest. The fact that this hell beast you're all looking for crawled up out of the ground in the exact spot where your son was born seems precisely what we should be talking about right now.

Angel: Strange things happen.
Cordy: Like a vampire giving birth? Oh wait, that thing happened in the exact same spot too.

Cordy: I'm ready to crackle-pop myself. The last 24 haven't exactly been normal. We're all tired.
Angel: Wonder why.

Angel: Cordelia, I don't want you there. It's too dangerous. Way too dangerous. I can't risk it. Fred, get a move on.

Hehehe… they would NOT have said this in season 5…

She didn’t really have a lot and they kept her out of the fighting scenes, which I think added to the badness.

Long Day’s Journey: Cordy gets jealous of Gwen and goes all Lizzie Borden, although we won’t find that out for a few weeks…

Cordy: He knows, Connor. All right? With his super-smelling and super-Tom-peeping and—I don't even know what else, but... he knows. And he's extremely upset with both of us right now.

Gunn: See, I told you Connor can't be trusted. Look how weird he's made her.

Angel: Go away, Cordelia.
Cordy: Well, you know that never works.

Cordy: I was, but I'm back now. So you're going to have to suck it up and deal because things are going to hell, and—and you're the leader. So lead.

When Gwen enters. Cordy: I know who she is. Caught your little show on the omniscient higher plane channel. Thanks.

Oh, she wasn’t happy… Charisma really showed how pissed Cordy was with her eyes.

Cordy: Why did the small yucky man say that? He's joking, right?

Cordy: So, all this time alone together. Could be good for us. Maybe we should talk.
Angel: Maybe we shouldn’t.
Cordy: Valid point

Cordy: Yes. But what's impossible is thinking that somehow, someway, the Beast found where we were hiding, spiked the drinks we made ourselves, snuck through this unreasonably large apartment on the tippie-toes of his cloven feet right up to the vault and killed poor Manny, unseen and unheard.

Awakening: The real Cordy returns, but it’s all part of Angel’s – and the viewer’s – vision of perfect happiness.

Cordy: The gypsy curse was specific. For Angel to lose his soul, he would have to experience a moment of perfect, pure happiness. And right now, happiness of any kind is in... kind of short supply.

Cordy: They're all going to die—the flowers, plants, trees—without sun. I'm just realizing... I just came to say that I'm on your side. Angelus is the jumbo family-sized bad of bad ideas. He'd be a danger to all of us. You made the right call. Wesley, the others...they don't get it.

She cleverly gets Angel to turn into Angelus making him think she was against it and that it was his idea. The rest of the Cordy/Charisma moments are all in Angel’s head, and it’s almost like Cordy was never gone. The writers still know how to write for her, they just chose not to.

Cordy on the leather straps: What are those? Holiday decorations left over from some S&M bondage party?

Wes: We have to pass through the corridor without ringing any of the bells. Cordy looks at her boobs…
Cordy: Oh, I knew you two would get me in trouble some day.

Cordy: Don't look at me. I'm not a Thomas Guide.

Soulless: Cordy makes a deal with the devil. But who’s the devil?

Cordy: We're Angel's only link to humanity. Angelus will hate us for that. He'll want to make us suffer.

Angelus: What's a better ride than a Mustang?
Cordy: Me.

Cordy: Look in my eyes. Angel knows me. You know me. Better than anyone. So, when you look at me, you know I'm not lying.

Cordy: How does the Beast know exactly what we're gonna do? It's like he's psychic.

Cordy: Angelus could have sent him a message, some kind of demon Morse code.

Angelus walks up to the bars, leers at Cordy: I think I'll start with the twins. I just love a woman with nice ripe thighs. suddenly reaches out to grab Cordy, but misses her by less than an inch
Cordy: Not even close.

Calvary: Lilah arrives, and in what is possibly only their second scene together ever, Cordy kills her. She deserved it.

Cordy: Angel's soul has been misplaced. I bet this sort of thing happens all the time. What do you have as a backup plan to re-ensoul somebody?

Cordy: You're too scared to believe in anything because you're too scared to hope. You won't even open your eyes to the possibility.

Cordy: True, but I thought I should tell you upfront that I don't take orders from guys too scared to step out of their cages.

Cordy: The Powers need a champion, Angel. And obviously they need one pretty bad the way things are going. Who knows, you might even be their only hope, Obi-Wan.

Lilah: He’s gonna kill us.
Cordy: I know. stabs Lilah in the neck with the knife from the Beast's offering; Lilah collapses, falls to the ground Why do you think I let him out? You stupid bitch.

Salvage: Cordy kisses The Beast, kisses Connor and faints twice, yet strangely not in that order…

Cordy: Don't put this on him. I'm the one who let Angelus out. It's my fault.

Cordy: What about you? Letting him bait you into a fight like that. I haven't spent all this time and energy so you can mess it all up with your petty jealousies. You know Angelus is crucial to my plan.
The Beast: My apologies, my master.
Cordy: You need patience. He'll come around...when he sees what I have to offer. And, if he doesn't, you can pull off his head and tear him to bits. Now... give mama some sugar.

Cordy: Oh, gee, that's great. Oh, wait a sec. Wasn't she convicted of murder and sent to a state correctional facility for like a gazillion years?

Cordy: All I know is there's a life growing inside of me, and it's ours. We're connected now. You and me. Forever.

Release: Cordy stays in her room full time and talks to Angelus in a gruff voice. Must be right after she had the morning sickness…

Cordy: Because they wouldn't understand. Our baby is growing so fast, it would scare them. And that fear might make them want to kill it, like they wanted to kill you. But trust me, Connor. It won't be too long. They're all gonna know what's growing inside of me.

Cordy: The best, and the only thing you ever have to worry about is keeping us safe. So, why don't you go back downstairs and see what's going on. I'd feel a lot better if I knew everything that was happening.

Orpheus: Willow and Cordy fight and then Cordy reveals her mystical pregnancy to the gang. Just like the good old days. Just with… badness.

Cordy: So the slayer snagged Angelus? He's in the hotel? Is he locked up tight in the cage?
Connor: Don't worry, Cordy. I'll always protect you. And our family.
Cordy: That’s sweet. Is he guarded?

Cordy: Wow. Are my hormones out of whack, or what? Hello, crazy pregnant lady, out of line! Whoo!

Willow: How’ve you been?
Cordy: Higher power. You?
Willow: Ultimate evil, but I got better.

There's hope for everyone at Evil Anonymous...

Cordy: Hear me, Angelus. Heed my warning. Awaken at once. Return from the darkness. Or just lay there and let that red-headed meddler put your soul back. Whichever!

Cordy: Connor, you can't! She's too powerful. But you can stop it. The reason for all of this. You have to kill Angelus.

Cordy: You know I have fought harder than anyone to save Angel's life, but there comes a time when you have to weigh risk versus reward. And as much as I love Angel...as a friend... killing Angelus now is the only way to guarantee our family's safety.

Cordy: Sorry, Angel. But if this is the speech about how the worst is behind us, you may want to save it for later.

Players: Cordy comes clean with Angel and is then outed by Lorne and a Magic 8 ball.

Cordy: I know it's a bit of a shock. I mean, nobody's more shocked than me. Looks at Connor OK, maybe him.

Wesley: The last time Cordelia was impregnated, she came to term overnight.

Cordy: I know it's hard to understand. None of you have ever had a living being growing inside of you. And this— my sweet baby—we're connected. I feel what it feels. I can't explain it, but I sense its goodness, its love. Turns to walk away, looks down at her belly as the creature inside writhes visibly under her skin—clearly not a human baby; turns back to face the others You'll see. My baby will be here soon, and then you'll all see.

Cordy: What's important is that when I needed help, you were there for me. Now I know I can trust you. Completely. No matter what. See? Everything happens for a reason. Connor, before our baby comes, I might ask you to do some things...for us. And I want you to remember, there's always a reason.

Cordy: I'm his master. Pause. I'm his all-powerful master, and I'm gonna break into a guarded room, steal your soul from a safe—not by ripping it open, but by using the combination—then I'm gonna hunt and kill Lilah right under this very roof. Sure. Evil geniuses live for that playing with fire stuff.
Angel: You don't understand. This thing was in my head. I've heard him, and he's insane enough to pull those kinds of stunts.
Cordy: When you say "insane," you mean, like, diabolical?

Lorne: Has Cordy been a bad girl? When Lorne turns the "Magic 8 Ball" over, the triangle inside reads "Definitely."

Inside Out: Cordy does her mystical glowy trick from season 3 again, except this time that bird from Firefly steps out…

Cordy: Took you long enough to figure it out but nice turn with the Lorne bait. You know, there was a time I would've seen that one coming eons before it ever crossed your tiny little mind.

Cordy: That's it? I get away with bringing the world down around you and two eentsy words tingle your spider sense?

Angel: We don't know if it's really Cordy.
Fred: Or what she's got baking in her oven.
Gunn: Evil and pregnant? I'm guessing it ain't cookies.

Maybe it’s Buffy…

Cordy: What does that mean, really? Being good? Doing the right thing? By who's judgment? Good, evil—they're just words, Connor. Concepts of morality they forced around your neck to yank you wherever they please. You're with me now. You don't have to live by their rules. You remember why?
Connor: 'Cause we're special.
Cordy: That's right. We're special, and our baby is going to be extraordinary

Cordy: Trying to turn you against me with a cheap vision of— Darla.

Cordy: No, it's coming. It's coming. The beginning of a new world.

Shiny Happy People ~ Home: What a pretty mannequin, but you should give up the dynamite, doesn’t go with the shoes, darling…

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Go on then, I can see you all circling like Vultures. Offers up You're Welcome.