Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:01 pm Post subject: How Do I Breathe Without You? Season Four
Season Four of BtVS brought a lot of changes (for me, most of them were not for the better): Buffy goes to college, Giles mopes around his apartment, Oz leaves, Willow becomes a lesbian, Spike becomes a regular cast member and gets chipped, Xander hangs out in his parents basement and gets a new annoying girlfriend to take the place of the old annoying girlfriend and of course Angel is gone to be replaced by…Riley.
It was alot of adjustments for viewers but as a Bangel supporter I found the way the writers dealt with Buffy and Angel’s separation especially careless. Okay fine, break them up, but give the relationship the credit it’s due. Instead, what do we see Buffy doing after losing the love of her life? The first few episodes showed her to not be too terribly upset, jumping into bed with Parker and then jumping into a relationship with Riley, AKA Mr. Bland.
I guess I wanted to see Buffy grieving…like I was. I suppose one could argue that Buffy was trying very hard to move on and doing her best to take Angel’s advice to try to live a “normal” life, but it was hard not to feel a tiny bit betrayed by the writers of the show. It would have been more believable to see her hurting from her separation with Angel.
Sadly, for us Bangels, there were some lines that were cut that would have shown Buffy’s loss and made her easier to identify with. At the end of “Harsh Light of Day” Buffy was supposed to have said that sleeping with Parker was an attempt to forget Angel and in “Something Blue” when Willow was talking about how she felt ripped up inside since Oz left Buffy was supposed to have said she understood because she felt the same about Angel leaving. Though the writers left these lines out in an attempt to make the B/A relationship disappear, we never forgot. Joss Whedon expressed his surprise at the resistance to the B/R relationship when he said, “There was nobody getting over Buffy and Angel. Just nobody.”
The crossovers in S4 were pretty unsatisfying, “Pangs” and “The Yoko Factor”. However, in “Pangs”, I did like how Buffy could sense Angel’s presence though she couldn’t see him, yet another sign of their incredible bond.
I don’t watch this season very often because besides the fact that Angel was gone it was kind of lame (The Initiative, Adam ~snore~). So maybe there are other references to B/A relationship that some of you can remember. Or if you just want to talk about how nothing was the same without Angel... _________________ I loved him (Angel) more than I will ever love anything in this life.-Buffy "Selfless"
well, I don't think writers and Joss wanted bangel-disappear. Season 4 was an starnge season I don't know what to say but I don't think Riley wasn't different than Parker they weren't both so significant for buffy because Buffy never loved anybody like the way she did with Angel. So did Angel- I will remember you was such an awesome crossover! It made my spuffy friend upset!
But I do agree with you Bangel deserved muuuuch more than S4. So that's why someway I'm little broken because Joss knew that bangel was the one but although he knew he did the spin-off angel. and they knew there was no reason to make B/A appart.
BANGEL YOU'RE THE ONE AND WE ARE YOUR PROTECTORS
YOU'LL HAVE ALLWAYS ALL OF US AROUND YOU...
season 4 did have a lot of changes, but season 4 isnt all bad, i prefer it to season 6 which i think is the absolute worst season ever....season 4 had some pretty good stand alone episodes, and it had the worst stand alone episode where the wild things are and beer bad
as for parker, that was all about angel...and with riley, i dont think the relationship moved too fast...i guess ruffy doenst bother me too much because in the end, riley knew she didnt love him
I know it might sound strange to you but i kinda liked Riley i rather seeing Buffy than her with Spike any given day.I felt sorry for him for a while specailly when he told Xander that Buffy didnt love him
Forsome reason season 4 it's kinda hazy for me & i dont know why ,wehn i watched now i feel like man i didnt noticed that before it feel like i never saw it ever, i hated season 6 for so many reason but for most bcuz Buffy & Spike go crazy with all the sex & bcuz they gave them the chance which it should be given to Bangel. _________________
For me, Riley is unforgivable as a character...he's dull. I don't hate him because he isn't interesting enough to hate. What I did hate is the fact that in Season 4 he was portrayed as the answer to all of Buffy's problems at the expense of Angel. A constant theme throughout Season 4 was that Buffy was over the "bad boy" thing (the comments in Something Blue, etc.) and I think that characterization of Angel was unfair. It was disrespectful to the relationship he had with Buffy. I believe the writers could have tried to create a relationship with Riley without belittling Angel in the process. Not that it would have made me like Riley more... _________________ I loved him (Angel) more than I will ever love anything in this life.-Buffy "Selfless"
I know what you mean but still i couldnt hate him ,yah he wasnt Angel but he was much better than anyone Buffy dated before she meet Angel & After they dated.
What i dont like was that Riley tried so hard to make Buffy love him,he was a real gentlmen.He didnt rush her into anything neither forced her to do anything she wouldnt feel comfort with, i do respect Him for that & i was really heartbrokenbut when he left.to me he didnt deserve to be treated that way By Buffy but at the same time i cant blame Buffy neither.It's hard when you start to compare everyone you date after you've been with someone like Angel.
Even if Buffy didnt mean it but in someway she do & if i was in Riley place i would the same thing & just leave. _________________
As ambivalent I was about Riley, I did feel sorry for him (as well as Marc Blucas). I think the writers were doing the only thing that made sense by trying to replace Angel with someone who was human and normal (an anti-Angel). I don't think anyone could have foreseen how devoted the fans were to B/A and and how resistant they were to any threat to it. That relationship took on a life of it's own and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for SMG, Marc Blucas and the writers to try to work in the shadow of such a powerful romance. The relationship was destined to fail for so many reasons, not the least of which was the fans vocal outcry against Riley and the departure of Angel. Joss Whedon later said after the show was off the air that the fans displeasure was part of the reason the Riley relationship was ended so quickly.
In something a little off-topic, I was watching Harsh Light of Day last week and I noticed something I hadn't really payed attention to before-how did Buffy know about Angel was in LA? She tells Oz to take the Gem of Amarra to Angel in LA though it wasn't mentioned she knew where he was before this (at least that I noticed). Maybe I missed something. Does anyone remember if someone mentioned Angel's whereabouts before this episode? _________________ I loved him (Angel) more than I will ever love anything in this life.-Buffy "Selfless"
I,m confued now bcuz i didnt noticed that too maybe i should watchthat episode again & the one before it.
Back to Topic why their realtionship didnt work bcuz part of it was the fans who didnt like Buffy with another man so quickly after Angel left , i understand it bcuz it's so hard seeing her with anyone but Angel & part bcuz Joss noticed there's something that didnt click with both of them.So by Riley leaving it was the right thing to do & giving the fans (Kinda) what they want.
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