Charisma Carpenter Cashes In On Fifty Shades Fever And Sacrifices So Much Credibility In Bound!

The Good: One or two moments of performance
The Bad: Terrible message(s), Weird/terrible direction, Most of the acting, Solidly unlikable characters, Terrible blends of a- and b-plots.
The Basics: A woman in the running for Worst Mom In The World and Worst Employee In The World allows a complete douchebag to tell her what to do until he goes too far and she strikes back.


Lately, when there is a major cinematic event on the horizon that has enough elements that can be gleaned without fear of copyright infringement, independent cinema leaps upon the opportunity to present a low-budget version of the forthcoming blockbuster. For example, last year, a month before the remake of Robocop (reviewed here!) hit theaters, indie theaters and on-demand viewers were hit with Android Cop (reviewed here!). In advance of Fifty Shades Of Grey “gracing” theaters on Valentine’s Day, the production company The Asylum released Bound.

Bound is, alas, not a remake of the 1996 indie drama by the same name (reviewed here!); it is a vehicle for Charisma Carpenter and, oddly, Daniel Baldwin, to alert fans to the fact that they are still acting. It’s an odd thing in a sexual thriller when the second-billed person is not the love interest for the first, but Bound really only has Carpenter and Baldwin to sell it (whatwith this being Carpenter’s on-screen partner Bryce Draper’s first film). Sadly, Bound represents almost all of the worst of what one expects from independent cinema; the soundtrack is overbearing, the acting seems (most of the time) like it was done in one-take, the characters are unlikable and tormented, the writing is pathetic and the direction oscillates between pointless artisanship and dull. Of all those, Carpenter can only take credit for a bad take or two and taking a role that is not actually promoting abuse as much as it is promoting utter idiocy.

Bound focuses closely on Michelle. Michelle works at a premiere Los Angeles real estate firm where she has quickly risen to a job on the Board thanks to her father, who runs the company. As Walter (Michelle’s father) looks over the accounts and sees more red than black, he resigns himself to the idea that it is time to throw in the towel. Michelle’s pluck and determination leads her to stand up to her father, although she is completely unprepared at the time to bring anything to the table but optimism and hope, and the boardmember who is encouraging Walter to sell, Preston. Walter gives Michelle a very short timeframe to come up with a company-saving proposal.

So, when Michelle takes her daughter out to dinner, she sees an attractive guy getting broken up with by his girlfriend and decides to abandon her daughter to hook up with the guy. Although she refuses to have sex in public with the guy, Michelle finds herself distracted at work, thinking about Ryan. Eventually, she calls him, he tells her what to do and she lets him bring her back to his sex dungeon, er, home . . . where they have sex and she misses important business meetings. They keep having sex, with her introducing her to more fetish concepts, until the night when Michelle comes home to find Ryan about to have sex with her daughter. After rescuing her daughter, Michelle hunts down Ryan, sexually tortures and humiliates him and then is empowered enough to re-focus on saving her father’s company.

It’s a modern fucking fairy tale.

Bound is just dumb. First off, it behooves me to note that I’ve never been one for torture porn; the closest I have actually come is Hard Candy (reviewed here!) and that film at least had amazing performances by Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson, an incredible script and two characters squaring off that were intriguing. Bound has none of that. It’s also not, at least not until the last fifteen minutes torture porn or even porn. The classic differentiation between erotica and porn is that erotica involves consent and porn does not. As little as critics might like to acknowledge it, everything Michelle does in Bound is consensual.

Unfortunately, Bound sets an abysmal message for all viewers. Michelle is a terrible character. In fact, Michelle is such a bad character that one has to wonder why Charisma Carpenter took the role. Carpenter has a history of playing strong women and during the brief time it was rumored that she was in the running to play Wonder Woman, I was absolutely thrilled. But Michelle completely breaks that trend. Michelle meets Ryan and Ryan asserts his will and Michelle dumbly consents: “I don’t smoke.” “Yes, you do.” There is nothing sensual, sexy, smart or even alluring about the way Ryan treats Michelle . . . but she does consent.

What that means in Bound is that Michelle decides to hook up with a random stranger and when he starts getting frisky publicly, she tells him to stop and he does. She meets up with him at a photoshoot where he tells her to have a drink and when she says no, he says she will and she does. Michelle is in no physical or emotional danger from Ryan; his behavior is not actually coercive, it’s assertive, albeit in a completely douchy way. In the party scene where Michelle is blowing off her work, Ryan is not actually forcing her to drink; Michelle could easily say “no” and walk over to her friend or call for help from any of the twenty people within earshot. But, instead, she consents and they hook up.

Sadly, Michelle is an idiot in Bound and it is certainly not a film that is helping women on any front. Michelle is so dumb – I mean, legitimately dumb – that she keeps doing all that Ryan tells her and continues to risk her job and her father’s company by going out with Ryan instead of focusing on her work until she runs into a dominatrix who tells her that Ryan is a bad guy and then she walks in on Ryan abusing her daughter. Michelle is not smart enough to put together the guy is a scumbag when, at a benefit for charity, Ryan tells Preston (essentially) to fuck off, but at least it clicks when the dominatrix tells her explicitly that Ryan is bad and she can see someone else getting abused by him.

Michelle’s outright stupidity is not really a cry for sexual liberation, either. Instead, the argument being made implicitly in Bound is that a sexually liberated woman is unable to focus on anything else but her genitals. Bound has Michelle having a sexual awakening after years of being unsatisfied sexually. When that happens, she drops all of the work she is doing to explore her sexuality . . . even though she has been working her entire life to get to the place of responsibility she has achieved at the outset of the film! She continues to make ridiculously bad choices (letting Ryan use a remote-control vibrator on her at a charity event shows such an extreme lack of judgment, one has to wonder just who the market for Bound is, as one has to assume that anyone stupid enough to find such behavior enticing cannot possibly be smart enough to order a movie on demand or work a Blu-Ray player) and thinks pretty much exclusively with her clitoris.

Any potential for redemption comes when Michelle walks in on Ryan, who has Dara tied up on her bed. Apparently, the line for Michelle is almost-pedophilic rape and Ryan’s desire to witness an incestuous kiss between mother and daughter. One can only hope that the audience’s moral compass is quite a bit farther from that line and they reach the conclusion that Bound is not worth it well before then. But, instead of redemption on any front, Michelle goes to the extreme other end. Far from being liberated, Michelle continues to exhibit the same impulsiveness and irrationality that she has the entire film. She goes medieval on Ryan’s ass and it is hardly cathartic to watch her go from being a woman who makes terrible decisions for herself (and her daughter) to becoming a torturer. The implied moment of catharsis is robbed from the viewer as the police who Michelle called are not shown actually arriving to arrest Ryan.

I’m not saying that there is nothing emotionally satisfying about watching Charisma Carpenter beat Bryce Draper with a camera tripod, but that’s the moment where the film has the chance for credibility and it loses it. Michelle uses Ryan as an outlet for her frustration and rage about how she has been treated and the crap going on at work. Her rage is disproportionate for punishing an attempted rapist. In other words, Michelle is torturing Ryan for the attempted rape of Dara and the psychological effects of her own choice to be submissive to his whims. The result is like watching a seven year-old beat the snot out of his mother after she smacks his hand to stop him from stealing a candy bar. Yes, the child was committing a crime and had to be stopped, but the kid beating up the parent afterward is disproportionate and not at all entertaining to watch. Similarly, Bound is not cathartic, it becomes horrific.

The resolution to the real estate storyline and Michelle finding sudden balance in her life (seriously, when did she have time to write out the proposal that she brings to her professional rival?!) seems even more fanciful than . . . you know what, it just occurred to me: here’s a woman whose daughter was just tied up to a bed and nearly raped by her boyfriend and her solution is to go, beat up the man and then research the professional problem that has been a tired subplot throughout the film instead of actually helping her daughter get through the trauma she has just experienced?! What the hell?!

I was going to rate Bound a 1/10 because there were moments that the movie looked good and Charisma Carpenter’s performance completely carried. I usually only reserve 0/10s for films that actually make me sick to watch. But Bound is one of those films that gets worse upon analysis and that takes it from eye-rolling bad (while watching it) to stomach-turning rage when thinking about it.

Bound should just be avoided and writer/director Jared Cohn should be barred from ever working in movies again.

For other movies with an erotic (real, imagined, or alleged) edge to them, please visit my reviews of:
The Story Of O
The Justice League Of Porn-Star Heroes
Blue Is The Warmest Color

.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Cordelia That Looks Mostly Like Faith, The Clayburn Moore Original Cordelia Is Still All Right!

The Good: Great sculpt, Decent accessories, Good articulation
The Bad: Slight balance issue, No real collectible value, Over accessorized!
The Basics: Despite having a build and face that is virtually indistinguishable from Faith, the Angel Cordelia figure is not a bad basic Cordelia.


For every major franchise that has merchandising, the main characters who have variant figures all have a basic version of the character. For the Clayburn Moore Angel figures, there were a number of variants for Cordelia. But for the main character, there was only one Cordelia. She had long hair and the basic sculpt made her look very much like Faith from the Buffy line. Ironically, this ended up being the only long haired Cordelia action figure Clayburn Moore made!

With the decline of the Buffyverse as a marketable franchise, even this Cordelia has plummeted in value in recent years and it is affordable once again.

Basics

Cordelia is one of the common action figures from the Angel figure line from Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles toys. This Cordelia get up was only in Angel and the figure comes carded. She is a 5 7/8 inch tall action figure featuring a sculpt of Cordelia Chase as she appeared in the first season of Angel when she still had long hair.

The sculpt is a good one, capturing a wry look and subtle smile than some of the other Cordelia figures. The figure looks in equal measures like Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase and Eliza Dushku as Faith. Something about the cheekbones and the lack of a real smile make it a tougher sculpt to easily identify. As for the body, the Cordelia is wearing heels, a black tank top and black pants that, while flared at the bottom, resemble leather pants. The Cordelia features detailing like molded fingernails and the button on the front of her pants (which, unlike the variants, is not colored on this version!). Her hair is also textured for greater realism.

As well, the coloring is realistic and well done. While the outfit is colored entirely in monotones, the skin has realistic depth and shading. Instead of being a monotonal peach color, it has some red and tan in it, so Cordelia looks pretty realistic. Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles also got Cordelia’s eyes right, so they are brown with tiny black pupils and they look as realistic as they can for an action figure. Even Cordelia’s fingernails are appropriately colored black!

Accessories

Cordelia comes with five basic accessories: a bag, an ax, a stake, a flashlight, and a base/stand. The bag is actually more detailed than the figure! In perfect proportion to the figure, the Cordelia comes with a bag that can be slung over her shoulder and the strap is flexible enough to allow the bag to hang in a fashion that looks (mostly) realistic. The bag is detailed with straps and clasps that make it almost look like one could open the outer pouches! The bag is colored to look like distressed leather and its coloring detail is immaculate.

The least impressive accessory is Cordelia’s ax. The ax is a hand ax or very small battle ax with two blades. Measuring 1 15/16” tall with a head that is 3/4” wide, the battle ax is detailed well, like the bag. The handle is brown and black and detailed just enough to make it clear it is supposed to be wood. The head looks like steel and is colored gunmetal and black. The black ornamentation on the head is surprisingly intricate.

Arguably the most impressive accessory is Cordelia’s stake. The stake is a small, 3/4” pointed cylinder that looks like a sharpened wood stick and it looks neither simple nor out of proportion.

Finally, there is the flashlight. The Cordelia’s flashlight is 1 5/16” long and very simple. The cylinder has one wider end, painted silver, that makes it clear that this is a flashlight and it looks good in Cordelia’s hand. In fact, all three of her primary accessories fit perfectly in either of her hands.

The base is a chunk of sidewalk and wall that looks like it is a piece of sidewalk that has broken open to expose hell. It has two pegs that fit the holes in the bottom of either of Cordelia’s feet. The ground chunk is detailed as well as the rest of the figure and is meant to look like a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. It’s a very cool way to hold or display one’s Cordelia figure.

Playability

Cordelia is a very problematic figure to balance. While her articulation gives her many options, her heeled boots require her to be contorted in a way that is very difficult to keep her standing. To alleviate the balance issues, Cordelia has holes in the front of her shoes that fit in the pegs on her stand and playsets for the Angel figures.

Cordelia is also strengthened in poseability by her impressive articulation. Cordelia is articulated at sixteen points: knees, thighs, groin joint, shoulders, elbows, biceps, wrists, waist and head. The elbows and knees have hinge joints, while all the rest are swivel joints. That gives Cordelia a great range of motion for a figure without any ball-and-socket joints.

Collectibility

The Cordelia was a Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles exclusive figure and was released as common figure in the Angel toy line. As a result, it did not retain any collectible value. While this may be found very affordably, it is not likely to ever appreciate in value.

Overview

Fans of Cordelia Chase or Charisma Carpenter will want this overaccessorized Cordelia figure as an inexpensive collectible, toy or decoration!

This figure represents Cordelia as she appeared in the second season of Angel, reviewed here!

For other Angel Cordelia action figures, please visit my reviews of:
Slave Cordelia
“You’re Welcome” Cordelia
Short Hair Cordelia
Pylean Princess Cordelia Chase

6.5/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Short Hair Cordelia Wrapped In Sackcloth Makes The Slave Cordelia Figure!

The Good: Great sculpt, Decent accessories, Good articulation
The Bad: Slight balance issue, No real collectible value
The Basics: For those who cannot find or do not want to bear the expense of the Short Hair Cordelia figure, the Slave Cordelia figure is the same basic toy wrapped in cloth.


With the Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel toy lines, there were a lot of underwhelming products. When Moore Action Collectibles had the license to the Angel toy line, they were remarkably unimaginative in a number of ways. For example, the Faith and Cordelia action figures looked remarkably alike. And as far as the Cordelia figures went, they used the same essential body with minor coloring differences or different heads. So, for example, the Slave Cordelia action figure that was exclusive to the Media Play/Sam Goody store franchise back in the day, was the standard Cordelia action figure with a Short Hair Cordelia (reviewed here!) head popped on it and then wrapped in a strategically tattered cloth.

With the decline of the Buffyverse as a marketable franchise, the Slave Cordelia has plummeted in value in recent years and is now a decent alternative for collectors to the expensive Short Hair Cordelia action figure.

Basics

Slave Cordelia is one of the exclusive action figures from the Angel figure line from Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles toys. This Cordelia get up was only in Angel and the figure comes boxed in an exclusive box with a small window or on a card for the store release. She is a 5 7/8 inch tall action figure featuring a sculpt of Cordelia Chase as she appeared in the second season of Angel when she cut her hair short. The figure is then wrapped in an off-white piece of cloth that is cut in strips at the bottom and arms. The other difference for this figure is that around her neck is a controller that kept humans under command.

The sculpt is an excellent one, capturing a wry look and subtle smile than some of the other Cordelia figures. The figure looks like Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, which is a step up from many of the earliest Cordelia figures, which looked more like Eliza Dushku as Faith than Carpenter's Cordelia. The Slave Cordelia is well-sculpted featuring Carpenter’s cheeks and nose detailed expertly. As for the body, the Slave Cordelia is wearing heels, a black tank top and black pants that, while flared at the bottom, resemble leather pants (under the fabric). The Slave Cordelia features detailing like molded fingernails and the button on the front of her pants. Her hair is also textured for greater realism.

As well, the coloring is realistic and well done. While the outfit is colored entirely in monotones, the skin has realistic depth and shading. Instead of being a monotonal peach color, it has some red and tan in it, so Cordelia looks pretty realistic. Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles also got Cordelia’s eyes right, so they are brown with tiny black pupils and they look as realistic as they can for an action figure. Even Cordelia’s fingernails are appropriately colored black!

Accessories

Slave Cordelia comes with three basic accessories: a shovel, a bucket, and a base. The shovel is a 3 3/8” plastic shovel with a small head that is silver-gray and speckled in black to look both metallic and worn. The handle is brown and the top of it is colored in a different brown to make it look wooden. Cordelia can hold the shovel only in her right hand because her left hand is molded with the fingers touching, impossible to hold either accessory.

The bucket is textured to look like it is woven tightly. Brown and gray, it is plastic, but looks like it is a basket as much as a bucket. It has a braided handle that fits nicely in Slave Cordelia’s right hand just fine.

The base is a chunk of sidewalk and wall that looks like it is a piece of sidewalk that has broken open to expose hell. It has two pegs that fit the holes in the bottom of either of Cordelia’s feet. The ground chunk is detailed as well as the rest of the figure and is meant to look like a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. It’s a very cool way to hold or display one’s Cordelia figure.

Playability

Slave Cordelia is a very problematic figure to balance. While her articulation gives her many options, her heeled boots require her to be contorted in a way that is very difficult to keep her standing. To alleviate the balance issues, Cordelia has holes in the front of her shoes that fit in the pegs on her stand and playsets for the Angel figures.

Slave Cordelia is also strengthened in poseability by her impressive articulation. Cordelia is articulated at sixteen points: knees, thighs, groin joint, shoulders, elbows, biceps, wrists, waist and head. The elbows and knees have hinge joints, while all the rest are swivel joints. That gives Cordelia a great range of motion for a figure without any ball-and-socket joints.

Collectibility

The Slave Cordelia was a Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles exclusive figure and was released as a Toyfare or Wizard Exclusive, as well as an exclusive on card for On Cue. Despite it being limited, that it had two limited releases actually made it pretty common and as a result, it did not retain its collectible value. While this may be found very affordably, it is not likely to rebound to appreciate for collector’s value again.

Overview

Fans of Cordelia Chase might geek out for the Slave Cordelia concept, but given how one of her hands is posed so she cannot actually hold her bucket and shovel at the same time. This, combined with the lack of collectible value does bring the toy down some. Even so, it is not a bad figure at all!

This figure represents Cordelia as she appeared late in the second season of Angel, reviewed here!

For other Angel toys, please visit my reviews of:
“You’re Welcome” Cordelia
Puppet Spike doll
Pylean Princess Cordelia Chase

6.5/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Is The Expendables The Ultimate “Guy Movie?” Depends On Who The “Guys” Are . . .

The Good: It’s always nice to see Charisma Carpenter getting work . . ., Well-assembled violence
The Bad: Pointless, Light on character, Lots of mumbled lines, Overbearing rock soundtrack (when it is present).
The Basics: Opening myself up to a testosterone-filled action flick, I still find myself pretty unimpressed with The Expendables.


I try to keep my horizons open. I’m not so keen on only watching and reviewing movies that are well within my comfort zone. So, figuring I might get the opportunity to check out an advanced screening of The Expendables 2, I figured I should check out The Expendables. I had actually seen no previews for The Expendables, but its beefy, mostly male cast was not one that especially appealed to me.

The biggest, most pleasant surprise for me, came in the first few minutes of the film. During the opening credits, the name Charisma Carpenter came up and that made me happy. Carpenter was one of the bright spots of the television series Angel (reviewed here!) and as far as I am concerned it’s always nice to see her getting work. Given she was only in about four minutes of The Expendables, it was not enough to save the film.

Following a mission to rescue hostages from a group of Somali pirates, Lee Christmas returns to his woman to discover she is with another guy. Barney Ross, the leader of the suicide squad known as the Expendables, gets a series of jobs and he opts for the most difficult one, which is mission to the Gulf island of Vilena. Assigned (and threatened) by “Mr. Church,” Ross and Christmas scout the island to see if it is worth committing his team to the mission. There they witness the local gangster with his own private army roughing up the locals.

After a narrow escape, Ross decides to take the mission, which seems to be to stop the American coke grower, James Munroe and his private army. But Ross and his team are going up against one of their own; Gunnar, who wigged out during the Somalia mission gives Munroe intel on the members of Ross’s team. The plot is a thin excuse to blow things up, shoot people apart and whack a lot of people in hand to hand combat.

The Expendables is not exactly full of great dialogue. Much of the most intelligible dialogue are good ole’ boy verbal jabs between members of the team. Most of the dialogue is growled out or mumbled through. Some of the most clear lines have little or nothing to do with the rest of the film, like Yin Yang complaining he needs more money for a family no one in the group knew he had or another member complaining about his ears.

There is very little character in The Expendables, but it’s not That Type Of Film. While Ross spends the first portion of the film counseling Christmas on how to move past Lacy and the leader of the the villains – Munroe – gets schooled by his puppet general in the importance of allowing him to keep his dignity (at least in front of the men), much of the philosophy is rapidly sublimated to long action sequences with gun battles, growling and hand-to-hand combat.

The character front is actually filled out better on the villain front. Munroe is smart and vicious and he’s basically thrilled to be a warlord of his own little island. He seems to understand how to command using brutality and that makes sense given that he is supposed to be former CIA. Roberts, as always, is articulate and efficient, his character seems reasonably in control for most of the film.

On the plus side, for a film so full of testosterone, it is surprisingly not misogynistic. Christmas beats the hell out of Lacy’s boyfriend when he gives her a shiner. And despite gawking at their contact on the island, Ross and Christmas don’t just dive for her for cheap and obvious sex. While the torture of General Garza’s daughter Sandra might seem misogynistic, there is ample evidence that the meatheads abusing her have absolutely no regard for life, male or female, and their willingness to torment her has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman.

Ultimately, The Expendables is what one might expect, a Mission: Impossible where subtlety and technology is replaced with brute force and big honkin’ weaponry. The movie might appeal to big, manly men who might wish to have the unfettered ability to kick some ass, but for those looking for a sensible, well-assembled film, The Expendables will only leave them wanting.

For other works with Eric Roberts, check out my reviews of:
Heroes
The Dark Knight

2.5/10

For other film reviews, be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Limited And Cool, The Short Hair Cordelia Captures Cordelia Chase’s Transformation In Action Figure Form!

The Good: Great sculpt, Decent accessories, Good articulation, Collectible value
The Bad: Slight balance issue, Over accessorized, I’m not wild about being able to see so many joints.
The Basics: One of the most enduringly valuable Cordelia figures, the Short Hair Cordelia is bound to please Angel fans!


One of the last toys I picked up for my very small Cordelia Chase collection before my crush on the character (and actress Charisma Carpenter) effectively ended was the very limited edition Short Hair Cordelia from Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles. The figure was a Summer Show Special, but a dealer friend of mine had a surplus and I was able to get it for a song. Given that several of my Cordelia figures remain packed away, I am going by memory, but if memory serves, the Short Hair Cordelia was virtually identical to another Cordelia figure from the early Angel line, save with a different head.

But, between its value, the cool accessories, and the style of the figure, the Short Hair Cordelia is a worthy addition to anyone’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel figure collection!

Basics

Short Hair Cordelia is one of the exclusive action figures from the Angel figure line from Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles toys. This Cordelia get up was only in Angel and the figure comes boxed in an exclusive box with a small window, letting collectors know exactly what it is and how rare it is. She is a 5 7/8 inch tall action figure featuring a sculpt of Cordelia Chase as she appeared in the second season of Angel when she cut her hair short.

The sculpt is an excellent one, capturing a wry look and subtle smile than some of the other Cordelia figures. The figure looks like Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, which is a step up from many of the earliest Cordelia figures, which looked more like Eliza Dushku as Faith than Carpenter's Cordelia. The Short Hair Cordelia is well-sculpted featuring Carpenter’s cheeks and nose detailed expertly. As for the body, the Short Hair Cordelia is wearing heels, a red tank top and black pants that, while flared at the bottom, resemble leather pants. The Short Hair Cordelia features detailing like molded fingernails and the button on the front of her pants. Her hair is also textured for greater realism.

As well, the coloring is realistic and well done. While the outfit is colored entirely in monotones, the skin has realistic depth and shading. Instead of being a monotonal peach color, it has some red and tan in it, so Cordelia looks pretty realistic. Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles also got Cordelia’s eyes right, so they are brown with tiny black pupils and they look as realistic as they can for an action figure. Even Cordelia’s fingernails are appropriately colored dark red or black!

Accessories

Cordelia comes with four basic accessories: a bag, an ax, a stake, and a flashlight. The bag is actually more detailed than the figure! In perfect proportion to the figure, the Short Hair Cordelia comes with a bag that can be slung over her shoulder and the strap is flexible enough to allow the bag to hang in a fashion that looks (mostly) realistic. The bag is detailed with straps and clasps that make it almost look like one could open the outer pouches! The bag is colored to look like distressed leather and its coloring detail is immaculate.

The least impressive accessory is Cordelia’s ax. The ax is a hand ax or very small battle ax with two blades. Measuring 1 15/16” tall with a head that is 3/4” wide, the battle ax is detailed well, like the bag. The handle is brown and black and detailed just enough to make it clear it is supposed to be wood. The head looks like steel and is colored gunmetal and black. The black ornamentation on the head is surprisingly intricate.

Arguably the most impressive accessory is Cordelia’s stake. The stake is a small, 3/4” pointed cylinder that looks like a sharpened wood stick and it looks neither simple nor out of proportion.

Finally, there is the flashlight. The Short Hair Cordelia’s flashlight is 1 5/16” long and very simple. The cylinder has one wider end, painted silver, that makes it clear that this is a flashlight and it looks good in Cordelia’s hand. In fact, all three of her primary accessories fit perfectly in either of her hands.

Playability

Short Hair Cordelia is a very problematic figure to balance. While her articulation gives her many options, her heeled boots require her to be contorted in a way that is very difficult to keep her standing. To alleviate the balance issues, Cordelia has holes in the front of her shoes that presumably fit in the pegs on stands and playsets for the Angel figures. Unfortunately, though, Short Hair Cordelia does not come with a stand and I know of no Angel playsets.

Short Hair Cordelia is also strengthened in posability by her impressive articulation. Cordelia is articulated at sixteen points: knees, thighs, groin joint, shoulders, elbows, biceps, wrists, waist and head. The elbows and knees have hinge joints, while all the rest are swivel joints. That gives Cordelia a great range of motion for a figure without any ball-and-socket joints.

Collectibility

The Short Hair Cordelia was a Clayburn Moore Action Collectibles exclusive figure and was strictly limited to 2000 pieces for the 2002 Summer Show circuit. This is actually one of the few Angel figures that has retained its value and if you can find one inexpensively, it may be a decent investment figure. Given, however, that the Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel phenomenon seems to have passed, it is hard to believe that the Short Hair Cordelia is not now at its peak price.

Overview

Fans of Cordelia Chase will enjoy the concept, execution and options presented by the Short Hair Cordelia, even if the price may be steep for some who see her only as an old figure with a new head.

This figure represents Cordelia as she appeared early in the second season of Angel, reviewed here!

For other Angel toys, please visit my reviews of:
“You’re Welcome” Cordelia
Puppet Spike doll
Pylean Princess Cordelia Chase

7.5/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Is The Ultimate Cordelia The Ultimate Cordelia Figure? Yes, It Sure Is: "You're Welcome" Cordelia

The Good: Great sculpt, Decent accessories, Nice base
The Bad: Hmmm . . . Looking, none that I can find . . .
The Basics: Perhaps the best Cordelia figure made, this sculpt accurately captures her look from "You're Welcome" and will be coveted by fans!


So, I have a shelf of action figures in my kitchen that represents the strong women of science fiction and fantasy. Yup, there's my deep, dark geek secret for those checking me out in the virtual world. I'm an unabashed geek and I have a particular fondness for women who are presented in science fiction and fantasy as smart, resourceful, clever and strong. But not just any figures end up on that shelf. I'm pretty discriminating in what I consider a worthy figure for that shelf.

At least, that's what I thought until I brought someone to my inner sanctum and they asked, "What's with the Cordelia shelf?" Sigh, yeah, out of the ten figures currently on display on that shelf, five are plastic recreations of Cordelia Chase from Angel and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Perhaps the current highlight is from the newest set, the "You're Welcome" Cordelia.

Basics

"You're Welcome" Cordelia is one of the exclusive action figures from the Angel figure line from Diamond Select toys. This Cordelia get up was only in Angel, NOT Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the figure comes carded on the red Angel card. She is a 6 1/2 inch tall action figure featuring a sculpt of Cordelia Chase as she appeared in the 100th episode of Angel, entitled "You're Welcome." This is the episode where Cordelia wakes from her coma with vital information for Angel and marks her final appearance in the series.

The sculpt is an excellent one, capturing a more determined look and subtle smile than some of the other Cordelia figures. The figure looks like Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, which is a step up from many of the earliest Cordelia figures, which looked more like Eliza Dushku as Faith than Carpenter's Cordelia. As strange as it may seem to say, they got Cordelia's lips right and that's a nice level of detail.

The detailing on the button down shirt is impressive and whomever designed the figure had a keen appreciation for physics. Yes, this is a realistically endowed Cordelia figure that has all the curves in all the right places. Yes, it's a good sculpt.

As well, the coloring is realistic and well done. The shirt has an impressive level of detail in the stripes and mine was perfectly painted. Moreover, the skin tones are well presented, even if they are uniformly colored.

Accessories

Cordelia comes with three basic accessories: the base with Wolfram & Hart secret room wall, a katana and a pile of books. All three items fit the figure well in that they are emblematic of items from the episodes that Cordelia was last seen in, especially the katana.

The wall is a decent plastic base that is a 3 1/2" square base that has a 7" wall behind it. This is essentially a recolored wall like the one that came with the Illyria figure, down to the weapons stuck to the wall. Despite the base not having any foot peg (there is no corresponding foot hole on the figure, so this makes perfect sense) it is a fine support piece that makes for a decent display stand.

The books/tape is an admittedly weak accessory given the lack of support play environments. The tape is a video of Doyle shown in the episode that nicely foreshadowed the end of the episode, but does nothing as an independent accessory. But the book and the tape fit the character and they will fit in one of Cordelia's hands if she is not holding anything else, so it's a fair wash.

The katana, though, is an awesome accessory and it is one of the few weapons to come with a Cordelia figure, making her a true action figure! This is a direct reference to the episode and the sword comes with its sheath. As someone who grew up on toys in the early 1980s, I remain constantly impressed by the level of detail on things like the scabbard, which has the appearance of a strap wrapped around it going up to the handle. The sword fits easily into Cordelia's hand and she looks good wielding it!

Playability

"You're Welcome" Cordelia is surprisingly well-balanced for a toy that rests on boots with heels! I suppose that's the benefit of wider feet (in comparison to the high heels on the Pylean Princess figure) and flat feet.

But "You're Welcome" Cordelia is also strengthened in posability by her impressive articulation. Cordelia is articulated at fourteen points: knees, groin joint, shoulders, elbows, biceps, wrists (one is cleverly hidden by the bracelet the sculpt possesses), waist and head. The head is kept on via a ball joint, so the figure's head can move with incredible articulation and range of motion.

Nothing prevents "You're Welcome" Cordelia from having an extreme range of leg motion, yet this figure is remarkably stable for displaying. Stand Pylean Princess Cordelia up and she remains standing! But moreover, she is balanced well enough that she does not need to be kept in the rigid, factory-approved stance!

It is not difficult to see how this Cordelia would be fun for play. Truth be told the Angel audience that is likely to purchase "You're Welcome" Cordelia is much more likely to leave the figure in the package (a shame given the quality of the sculpt) or set in on a shelf in a pose as a display piece than actually sit and try to play with it. But of all the Cordelia figures, this one is ideal for play between the articulation and accessories.

Collectibility

The "You're Welcome" Cordelia was a Diamond Select exclusive figure and was therefore mildly limited in comparison to other figures in the Angel line. The limited edition nature of the figure, in combination with the quality of the sculpt would seem to guarantee that it continues to appreciate over time, though currently it's still possible to find this figure for under $20. One suspects that should Carpenter be cast as Wonder Woman or have a similarly huge starring role on screen, that this particular figure would skyrocket in price.

Overview

Fans of Cordelia Chase will enjoy the concept, because this was Cordelia's final appearance and quality of the sculpt of "You're Welcome" Cordelia is impressive. Diamond Select Toys did the figure amazingly well and it is one that is bound to please fans, even if the general populace is unlikely to "get" the figure.

So yes, this might well be the best action figure representation of Cordelia Chase and a must-have for fans of the Buffyverse!

This figure represents Cordelia as she appeared in her lone appearance in Angel - The Complete Fifth Season, reviewed here!

For other Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel toys, please visit my reviews of:
Puppet Spike doll
Pylean Princess Cordelia Chase
“Fear Itself” Anya in bunny costume

10/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Coda To The Vampire's Saga: Angel Season Five Serves Up Mixed Results!

The Good: Decent character development, Nice new conflicts, Acting, Illyria plot
The Bad: Loss of cordelia, Moments of jumped shark, Infuriating ending
The Basics: While Angel adapts to the humdrum life of running the evil lawfirm Wolfram & Hart, he finds himself plagued by old adversaries and a conscience in Angel Season 5.


It seems to me that sometimes people know when the end is near in television and they bail ship at just the right point. Thus, it is hard for me to castigate Charisma Carpenter for not returning to the show Angel for its fifth (and final) season. At the same time, possibly only because it is retrospect, the question must be asked, "Why did Angel return for a fifth season?" Before rabid fans start to take huge meaty chunks out of my flesh, know that I am a fan, I signed every petition begging the WB to extend the life of the show. I wanted to see where the show could still go. As far as inherent potential, Angel had more potential for longer staying power than the concept of Buffy The Vampire Slayer ever did.

The fifth season of Angel could have been a new beginning. Instead, it exists now solely as a coda to seven years of investment by fans of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer universe. In many ways, the fifth season of Angel is plagued by the same difficulty as the sixth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, namely where to go after the adversary has been a God. It's quite a difficult story to recover from. Here is what the fifth season of Angel looks like.

Following the defeat of Jasmine at the climax of the fourth season, Angel and his group find themselves walking an ethical tightrope as the new heads of the villainous lawfirm Wolfram & Hart. Angel sheds his sword to manage the firm, Gunn discards his past to become an agile lawyer with a fierce legal mind, Wesley takes a mid-management job, Fred becomes the head of the Research department and Lorne finds himself working as a security screener. Joining the group is Harmony, the vampire who used to be Cordelia's best friend, and Spike, who was last seen in the Buffyverse getting burnt to a crisp by an amulet in the series finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Finding himself plagued by Spike and forced to rely on a mysterious woman named Eve as a relay to the Senior Partners, Angel discovers life is far more complicated than it ever has been before. Not burdened with his supernatural son and somewhat emotionally lost given Cordelia's coma, Angel tries to figure out how to fight the good fight while leading the forces of evil. At the same time, Spike, still burdened with a soul, becomes seduced by the possibility that the prophecies that everyone has assumed are about Angel could now pertain to him.

First of all, the whole arc that Spike goes on where he challenges the legitimacy of the assumption that the "vampire with the soul" who gets redeemed, is brilliant. Nothing short of an amazingly good idea. Conceptually, this is what makes the first half of the season interesting and fun to rewatch. Now that Angel is no longer the only vampire with a soul, it challenges the viewer to rethink many of the assumptions we have.

Moreover, the addition of Spike is a great way to remix the characters and situations of Angel. He has long been an annoyance to Angel and when events revolve around Buffy, the show becomes tiresome. However, when the conflicts between Angel and Spike are dealt with without the Buffy context, they are two much more interesting characters. It is a shame that there was not a season to deal with the sense of resignation both characters gain in the late season five episode "The Girl In Question."

In effect, though, this final season of Angel stands as a denouement, with many loose ends being tied up as the season goes on. On the character front, however, the show opens up some intriguing new directions for Spike and, surprisingly, Fred. The season ends with a pretty impressive series finale that looks great on DVD. But as character is of fundamental import on Angel, here is where the characters stand for season five:

Cordelia - lies in a coma. She's gone. She appears in a single episode of the fifth season and that is one of the best, saddest, most wonderful and bittersweet episodes of the series,

Harmony - tries hard to be good, but between being soulless and a secretary to Angel at Wolfram & Hart, she rarely succeeds. Hers is the story of an evil minion forever trapped in being a teenager,

Eve - The liaison between Angel and his team and the Senior Partners that have spent the prior four years making Angel's life hell is never quite what she seems. While the gang is instantly suspicious of her as an outsider, they have good reason to be and it does not take long before her true nature becomes apparent,

Lorne - Working at Wolfram & Hart leaves Lorne unsettled and feeling like a moral compass that is not checked nearly as frequently as it should be. Lorne continues to be the invariable force of good in the world otherwise filled with grays,

Gunn - Trades in his streetsmarts for an encyclopedic knowledge of the law. This, of course, has consequences and when one of the other characters is stricken down, he learns that he may be at fault and checks himself into hell to save the group,

Wesley - Will do his usual thing and along the way finally get what he's wanted for years, only to have everything he loves destroyed. Wesley grapples his demons and in the process learns the truth about the bargain Angel made to get them their status at Wolfram & Hart. In short, Good Wesley doesn't last,

Fred - In a strange turn, the introverted head of the research department will undergo an incredible transformation that will be a harbinger to the coming of all evil. Fred's story, usually at the back of the class, will take the forefront as her character becomes a tragic hero,

Spike - Restored from the dead by the same forces that killed him, the blonde vampire challenges Angel's authority by simply being the goon he's always been. Now with a soul, Spike adds both legitimate menace and wonderful comic relief to the show,

Angel - As in previous seasons, nowhere near as interesting as those who surround him, Angel adapts to life as a manager of people fighting a morally ambiguous fight using tools that are inherently evil. This leads him to learn about the deepest evil and make his attempt to fight for good in the grandest way possible.

The fifth season of Angel continues the tradition of the show to push the envelope and combine horrible incidents with quirky, offbeat humor. Wesley's character arc, for example, is a study of vicious irony in the way it develops. Episodes like "Smile Time," where Angel is turned into a puppet strike one as the moment the show jumps the shark, but somehow it works on Angel. In fact, that episode is funny and works well as a metaphor.

Being able to rewatch the episodes from the fifth season leads to greater appreciation of them (they were not rerun on most WB stations once the show was canceled). The fifth season is filled with action. Indeed, the episodes "You're Welcome" (the show's 100th episode) and "Not Fade Away" (the series finale) have some of the most impressive battles I've ever seen. Not just on television, ever. These are entertaining shows.

Part of what keeps the show wonderful is the acting. David Boreanaz is fine as Angel, though James Marsters kicks new life into the show with his portrayal of Spike. But neither deserves the lion's share of praise for the acting in season three.

J. August Richards, who portrays Gunn, is finally given the opportunity to express the full depth of his range. Instead of being monolithic and out for vengeance or wrestling with the conflict between his past fighting on the street and working as a part of a team, Richards is able to use the character changes in season five to illustrate his articulation and the depths to which he can play sorrow and loss. He is incredible.

Alexis Denisof, usually a favorite of mine, does a great job in season five, but does not get to illustrate more of his acting ability beyond what we've already seen. That honor, for expressing real growth as an actor beyond what we've seen before, goes to Amy Acker, who plays Winnifred Burkle. Acker is given the chance to illustrate her range when Fred's story takes an abrupt turn. She is amazingly extroverted and able to exude an aura of confidence and power that she has never before revealed on Angel. It is a treat to see.

Who will enjoy the fifth season of Angel? Anyone who enjoys good, quirky, science-fiction comedy. But it is a denouement. Buying this set is ridiculous if you're looking to get into the series. You're coming in for the last act, the final stanzas, the lines before the curtain falls. At least, until Joss Whedon gives up on movies and gives fans of the Buffyverse a show featuring Spike, Faith, Illyria, and Andrew.

Until then, though, this is it. And it is a fitting end if nothing else ever comes.

For other final seasons of pretty epic shows, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Millennium - Season 3
Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Seventh Season
The X-Files - Season Nine

7/10

For other television and movie reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2005 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Long Dark Night Of The Vampire's Soul: Angel Season Four!

The Good: Dark, Excellent characters, Interesting plotline, Wonderful acting
The Bad: One real dud, Misuse of talent (Charisma Carpenter!)
The Basics: When Angel returns from the bottom of the sea, the Apocalypse comes in two very deadly forms in the fourth season of Angel.


The television series Angel, has a way of ending its seasons with a nod toward its fans, isolating those who are not fans of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel franchises. For example, the first season ends with the appearance of Darla resurrected and unless one watches the show regularly, the significance of that event is lost. Similarly, the end of the second season is baffling to those who do no know what happened in the finale of the fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The third season is something of an exception to that rule. There are not mugs to the audience, there are no secret innuendoes: Lorne leaves, Wesley has gone rogue, Cordelia ascends, and Connor sends Angel to the bottom of the ocean in a box.

The fourth season of Angel opens with a stark exploration of the bleak events that capped off the previous season. While Angel goes slowly insane in his watery grave, Gunn and Fred struggle to hold Angel Investigations together having exhausted every last lead in the search for their employer. And as Angel struggles to return to sanity after his rescue, the crew finds themselves entering an apocalypse that cannot be blamed on anything other than the direct path their lives have taken up until now.

In short, writer/director Joss Whedon risks the franchise by playing every possible card in his arsenal. Whedon and David Greenwalt declare that this was the season the characters were destined to get to as they fully explain the significance of the interlocking lives that have been the Angel cast. It is in season four that Connor's existence is explained, Angel is revealed to be a tool for his conception, Lorne's participation as a guide and Cordelia's purpose in ascending and returning is explored.

Man, this is a bleak picture! In the course of the fourth season, Angel and his partners come to learn everything was set into motion outside them and they've moved and been moved toward a certain moment and the moment of their destiny has arrived. This is the Apocalypse and Angel does it with style, flair and intrigue.

Here is how the main characters weather the year:

Connor - The teen struggles with the death of his father, the reappearance of his dad, Angel, and the tide of bad choices he makes in regard to Cordelia and the Angel Investigations team,

Lorne - Returns to Los Angeles after being imprisoned in Las Vegas by tyrants at a casino only to find that his powers have been compromised by something even more powerful than himself,

Fred - Finds her life emotionally complicated when she is able to confront the professor who sent her to the hell dimension for five years and her attempts to deal with the fallout from that is compromised when she finds herself on the losing end of a war to save the world,

Gunn - Realized as a leader in Angel's absence, he works hard and sacrifices everything to save Fred from falling into darkness, at the cost of what is most precious to him,

Wesley - Still alone following his betrayals in the third season, Wesley has fallen in love with Lilah Morgan and he works desperately for redemption with his friends,

Cordelia - Returns to our plane of existence after being made virtually into a Goddess, only to find she has no memories. When her purpose for returning is made clear, Angel's love is revealed as the earliest casualty of the Apocalypse and her life is placed in supreme jeopardy,

Angel - is rescued only to find his fruitless search for Cordelia frustrating beyond belief and her return complicated by his feelings for her and his confusion by her relationship with Connor. Angel is forced to confront his dark side, Angelus, when it becomes clear that his past may be an important trigger to the Apocalypse.

The fourth season of Angel continues its trend toward a morally ambiguous hero who struggles with the prophecies and realities of his life. Here, Angel is not only pitted against the incredible Beast that rains down fire and blocks out the sun, but he is forced to confront his unresolved love for Cordelia and the complications of having a duplicitous son.

And that is what Angel has done remarkably well since day one, since the first episode. Angel balances action/adventure with deep personal, character moments wherein the individuals involved are forced to develop. There are consequences to every action in Angel and the fourth season illustrates that perfectly as Angelus is unleashed in an attempt to stop The Beast and the appearance of the most subversive evil the Angel Investigations team has ever faced.

This is a season where our heroes are trapped in a downward spiral of loss. Angel is unable to reconcile with his son Connor, Cordelia's return is marred by her lack of identity, and the beautiful love between Fred and Gunn becomes torn. But is it worth watching? Absolutely. This is television that draws the viewer in and on DVD, the ability to watch the episodes over and over is a great boon. That the crew works constantly to overcome is the true spectacle and while the characters agonize, the viewer is constantly intrigues as opposed to depressed. This is not Magnolia (reviewed here!), where the characters are mired in depression, this is the last minutes of The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!) where the characters are going down, but they desperately, heroically, try anything to endure and persevere.

In fact, in the entire twenty-two episode set, only one episode is a real dud. I cannot say anything more about it because it comes late in the season and to describe the faults of the episode would reveal more about the deeper plot than I already have and it ought to be a surprise to the viewer. On the other hand, the show comes out of its one episode rut swinging and it skyrockets toward an impressive climax. But the show has an annoying tendency to be brilliant and engaging and agonize the fans. Upon her return, Cordelia asks Angel the question all of the fans have wanted the answer to, in the last second of the episode! Fortunately, with the DVDs, we need not wait an entire week for the answer!

Many fans do not like the fourth season of Angel because of the presence of Connor, played by Vincent Kartheiser. While the obvious argument is that he is the typical WB pretty boy, the more substantive argument against Connor and Kartheiser is that Connor is a crappy character who is poorly acted. But Kartheiser's performance is actually genius; Connor is a confused kid. Connor is a confused child who is caught in a rash of stupid decisions followed by huge consequences and punctuated by more bad choices. Connor is annoying, not because Kartheiser cannot act, but because Kartheiser acts so precisely. Who wants to watch some idiot kid make stupid choice after stupid choice? Of course it is going to be agonizing! And as a result, it works wonderfully here.

The real acting issue in the fourth season is with Charisma Carpenter. Carpenter may be the best potential choice for a Wonder Woman feature film and while the fourth season gives her some juicy parts, it never provides her with a chance to explore Cordelia's character in a satisfying or meaningful way. In short, Carpenter's talents are wasted in the fourth season as her character becomes a tool and Carpenter's days are clearly numbered on the show.

Holding the whole sandwich together is David Boreanaz (Angel) and Alexis Denisof (Wesley). Boreanaz returns to the role of Angel with little growth, but in a season where there is such intense action, he does not need to expand the acting repertoire too much. Boreanaz comes through, however, when forced to portray Angelus over several episodes. Sustaining his character's alter ego works and Boreanaz pulls it off with satisfying results. Denisof, however, continues to expand Wesley into a dark, often tragic, hero caught between his desire for redemption and his belief in the reasons for his mistakes. Denisof is both subtle and calculating as Wesley this season and he makes Wesley the character to watch.

The bottom line for this DVD set is that it wraps up the tale of Angel quite nicely. Yes, there is another season after this, but we'll get to that when the fifth season boxed set comes out. This finishes the longest arcs of Angel and rewards the fans with a pretty pounding season-wide arc that gives everyone in the show their chance to shine. If you haven't been a fan of Angel before now, don't start with this set, go back and work up to it. You will be glad you did.

For other works with vampires, please visit my reviews of:
Breaking Dawn Part 1
True Blood - Season 3
Daybreakers

8/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Torment Finds The Vampire A Child: Angel Season Three Soars!

The Good: Excellent character development, Intriguing plots, Acting
The Bad: Minor strange inconsistencies, Not making Lorne a full cast member
The Basics: As Angel and Cordelia begin to move even closer together, two ancient adversaries of Angel's resurface to change everything in Angel The Complete Third Season.


It is hard to be a spin-off show for a series where big, grand things occur week after week. That is to say, it is difficult to create a series that happens in the same time as the original series it is spun off from and make it its own entity. Angel season three is a perfect example of that. In the Buffyverse, Angel still has a strong emotional bond to Buffy, whom he loved. Yet, just as Angel seems to be fully on its own steam, Buffy was killed in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, forcing Angel to have a reaction. Why? Because in our age it is impossible to believe that either: a. the love they shared could be brushed off easily if he did know about her death or b. that communications between Sunnydale, California and Los Angeles, California would be so bad that Angel never found out. The last moment of the second season of Angel brought the heroic protagonist the news of Buffy's death and that is where the third season begins.

Angel returns to the hotel after months in isolation trying to deal with the death of his beloved (though estranged) Buffy. Fred, the young woman he rescued from the Hell Dimension, has not left her room and the months have found Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn holding Los Angeles together in their fight against demons as Angel Investigations. Angel's return is followed in short order by the return of the villainous Darla, who comes bearing Angel's baby. Against all laws of nature, human and vampire, it appears Darla is pregnant with a fully human baby. As she nears term, the baby becomes the focus of the energies of all sorts of forces, including the villainous Wolfram and Hart, a cult that believes the baby will spell doom for all vampires, Holtz (one of Angel's victims who has been in suspended animation for two hundred years) and a dimension-shifting demon who has a grudge against Angel. These forces prey on the heroes of Angel Investigations until each member of the team is forced to make life altering decisions that change their lives.

What the third season of Angel does exceedingly well is push the supernatural drama into what the general viewer might consider "legitimate" drama. From its first season, Angel has been somewhat obsessed with exploring adult issues using the supernatural context of vampires and demons. Unlike Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where the demons often have a symbolic value where they may be compared to childhood fears of adulthood, Angel's demons are quite literal and the stories tend to spend much more time and emphasis focused on the repercussions of the decisions. That is to say, how the team of Angel Investigations fights evil is often more important than the evil itself. This approach works fabulously to keep the viewers focused on the characters, which should be the goal of any great drama.

As the characters are the most important aspect of the series, it is important to see where they are and where they are going this season:

Darla - Attempts to understand the baby within her and deal with that,

Holtz - His quest for revenge on Angel for slaying his family centuries before finds him forming an army of vampire hunters and making a choice that will destroy Angel's baby,

Groo - Returns from Pylea to take Cordelia as his wife in an unlikely turn that shifts the momentum of Cordelia and Angel's relationship,

Lilah - Working for Wolfram and Hart, she continues to attempt to destroy Angel, now finding an ally in Sahjhan, a time-shifting demon,

Lorne - Ever the ally to Angel Investigations, Lorne spends the season helping Fred get used to our dimension and counseling Angel on parental matters,

Fred - Slowly learns to deal with being back on Earth, she develops a strong relationship with Gunn and slowly becomes comfortable with being the staff researcher,

Gunn - Bonds with Fred and comes to deal with the consequences of his having made a deal long ago with a very dangerous demon. Still kicking butt, Gunn is forced to accept that his priorities in life have changed greatly since his days on the street, and go from there,

Wesley - Perhaps the most complicated arc of the season finds Wesley researching along, falling for Fred when she and Gunn become involved. Rattled by that, Wesley turns to his research where he discovers a terrifying prophecy about the baby that is to be born from Angel and Darla and he must make a difficult choice that jeopardizes everyone,

Cordelia - Still plagued by the visions from the Powers That Be, Cordelia is almost lethally wounded on her birthday, leading her to make a decision - based on her love for Angel - that will allow her to live and be strong. Renouncing part of her humanity opens up all sorts of new doors for her, though, and it leads her to a climactic decision in the season finale,

Angel - Confused over the death of Buffy and by his feelings for Cordelia, he finds his situation getting infinitely more complicated by Darla's appearance. His new role as father changes his priorities and his obsession with protecting his son begins to motivate everything he does.

These are, to say the least, compelling character arcs, for all concerned. This is the season that Angel steps out and fully becomes its own show. The consequences that the group, all of them including the peripheral characters and villains, is forced to deal with completely change the momentum of the show while still maintaining its integrity and recurring theme of responsibility. Angel is forced to take responsibility for his one night stand with Darla, Cordelia is forced to take responsibility for her love of Angel, and Wesley must deal with the decision he feels forced to make with the weight of prophecy against him. It's all about that bear responsibility and how it knocks us around.

But Angel is far more entertaining than a simple lecture on responsibility and season three has a good number of fun moments. In "Double Or Nothing," Cordelia's solution to the problem of the demon who owns Gunn's soul is amusing and in possibly the best episode of the season, "Waiting In The Wings," there is a scene that is genuinely erotic. And that's a rare thing to be able to pull off. Sure there's a lot of sex on television (I suppose), but actual erotic scenes, that's much more rare.

In addition to all of that, Angel is a likable protagonist and season three finds him and Cordelia in a maturing relationship based on a powerful, if unspoken, love. This season reads like a family story between the two of them and many of their scenes are passionate and beautiful, some utterly heartwrenching. And, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there are a lot of good one-liners that make everything snap along.

What makes all of this possible is the actors. Newcomer Amy Acker quickly establishes herself as more than just a beautiful face as Fred, just as great storylines and the ability to act completely charming prevents J. August Richards' Gunn from simply being a token ethnic actor. In fact, Richards continues to distinguish himself as a genuine, instinctive, articulate actor and one of the best characters (of any ethnicity) on television.

Alexis Denisof, who plays Wesley, is given his biggest assignments here and he lives up to the challenges with style and skill. Denisof plays Wesley as a man haunted by the potential choice he would like to avoid but feel drawn to make. Denisof's body language and ability to get around complex lines exceeds even his post-beating acting from the first season (which, was quite masterful. Were I a casting director needing someone to pretend they had just been tortured to within an inch of their life, I would want Denisof).

Charisma Carpenter continues to shine as Cordelia, infusing the role with more humanity and far less snob than ever before. Carpenter brings life to a character that started out (on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) so monolithic. She plays the quiet scenes with depth, the humorous scenes with an impish spark and her erotic scenes with mature passion. Season three finds Carpenter as an acting force to be reckoned with.

Finally, star David Boreanaz is given a chance to show some real range as well. Season three, in fact, falls into a minor technical difficulty as a result. Boreanaz plays Angel as overjoyed over his son, which should mean that Angel's curse comes back into play. Angel is supposed to lose his soul if he is ever truly happy, a condition which the franchise keeps equating to sexual terms, but Boreanaz's expressiveness over Connor would seem to be enough to make his character lose his soul.

This DVD set is wonderful for fans of the series or anyone wanting to get into the show. It is very close to achieving perfection, robbed only by little moments like Angel attacking Wesley in the hospital in "Forgiving," a scene that makes little sense following the powerful scene that preceded it.

The DVD set is possibly the best one yet from the series featuring some deleted scenes that some of us have been hankering for for a while. The commentaries are decent as well, making this a great boxed set. Anyone who is open to accepting great drama where they find it is likely to enjoy the third season of Angel, and it's quite accessible to those who have not known the show before this.

For other works with Keith Szarabajka, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
The Dark Knight

9.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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The OTHER Woman In The Metal Bikini Top: Pylean Princess Cordelia

The Good: Interesting sculpt, Generally good posability, Decent base
The Bad: Light on articulation, mediocre accessories, Coloring
The Basics: The sexy Cordelia Chase is immortalized in plastic as the Pylean Princess Cordelia in her metal bikini that looks good, even if the colors are off.


There was a period of time that I worked in the toy department of a mall department store and I actually enjoyed the job quite a bit. I was given dominion over the toy department and that left me with enough time and authority to do my own thing. Believe it or not, I take no small delight in setting things to order. So being able to organize a whole toy department actually left me feeling very satisfied in that respect of my life. I also delighted in jerking around customers with a frequency that would have made me the envy of Dante from Clerks (reviewed here!). I happened to have the job in the toy department when the Star Wars: Special Edition films were hitting theaters and the Power Of The Force action figure line was being upgraded to support the cinematic surge. So, when a customer came into my toy department and kept asking about the figure of Princess Leia from Return Of The Jedi (reviewed here!), I knew exactly which figure he was talking about. But, until he either said "Slave Leia" or "Leia in the metal bikini," I just played dumb, like I didn't know which figure he was hunting for. And even when he said the words "metal bikini" and I got to watch him squirm, I just couldn't seem to find him one. Yeah, I was a jerk to that guy, but it was real fun at the time. It certainly made the day pass.

I suppose there will come a time that will mark the change in generations based on the cultural allusions to characters in metal bikinis. For people who grew up in the '80s, it was definitely Princess Leia in Return Of The Jedi that defined the metal bikini thing. I can only imagine that those hitting the teen years in the early 2000s, it'll be Angel that is referenced when metal bikinis are mentioned. Because at the end of the second season of that series, Cordelia ends up in Pylea and her costume is a metal bikini, in many ways like the once Princess Leia was compelled to wear.

Basics

Pylean Princess Cordelia is one of the exclusive action figures from the Angel figure line from Diamond Select toys.The Pylean Princess get up was only in Angel, NOT Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the figure comes carded on the red Angel card. She is a 6 1/2 inch tall action figure featuring a sculpt of Cordelia Chase as she appeared in the final episodes of the second season of Angel, when she was transported to Lorne's dimension of Pylea.

The sculpt is a good one, and despite the somewhat forced and toothy smile, the figure looks like Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase. As strange as it may seem to say, they got Cordelia's lips right and that's a nice level of detail. Cordelia is featured wearing her metal bikini top, complete with the draping fabric off the back and the double-slit skirt that hung low on her hips. Yes, it's a good sculpt.

The first problem with it, though, is the coloring. In the episodes the outfit was featured in, the metal bikini is gold. The action figure is adorned in a gray that is what passes for silver on most action figures. It is, most assuredly, not gold, though.

Accessories

Cordelia comes with three basic accessories: the base with Pylean wall, a scroll and a covered platter of grapes. All three items fit the figure well in that they are emblematic of items from the episodes that Cordelia was a princess in.

The wall is a decent plastic base that is a 3 1/2" square base that has a 7" wall behind it. The wall has a Pylean tapestry and while it is a simple red and gold banner, the level of detail with the gold paintjob is quite decent. The base does not have foot pegs, but this is all right as the Pylean Princess Cordelia is wearing high heels and does not have a hole for support pegs to go into anyway.

The scroll is an admittedly weak accessory as the scroll is rolled up, so it looks like a hot dog in Cordelia's hand. The figure comes with the scroll in her hand, attached with tiny clear rubber bands and without them, the scroll will fall out. This is not the most exciting accessory ever and without knowing it is a rolled up scroll, it's easy to see how a collector's mind would make it into something more.

The platter of grapes is a weird accessory and is a direct reference to the first moments Cordelia is seen as an honored sage in Pylea. She is on a throne, eating green grapes. The detail work on the platter and the grapes is impressive and it is surprising that the green grapes have absolutely no color bleed onto the silver platter. What is impressive is that when not holding the scroll, the Pylean Princess Cordelia can hold the tray using the tray's handles!

Truth be told, I think I would have been more impressed had Diamond Select included a throne for Cordelia instead. All things considered, though, the accessories capture well the brief moments of Cordelia as the Pylean Princess character.

Playability

Pylean Princess Cordelia is surprisingly balanced for a toy that rests on high heels! The plastic panels that come off her back that represent the draping fabric over her back helps to counterbalance her, it seems.

But Pylean Princess Cordelia is also strengthened in posability by her limited articulation. Cordelia is articulated at only eleven points: knees, groin joint, shoulders, elbows, wrists (cleverly hidden by the bracelets the sculpt possesses, and head. The head is kept on via a ball joint, so the figure's head can move with incredible articulation and range of motion.

The skirt prevents Pylean Princess Cordelia from having an extreme range of leg motion, but this actually makes the figure remarkably stable for displaying. Stand Pylean Princess Cordelia up and she remains standing!

It is, however, difficult to see how this Cordelia would be fun for play. Truth be told the Angel audience that is likely to purchase Pylean Princess Cordelia is much more likely to leave the figure in the package (a shame given the quality of the sculpt) or set in on a shelf in a pose as a display piece than actually sit and try to play with it. The regal princess - unlike the Cordelia of Angel - acts more as a support piece than a battle action figure.


Collectibility

The Pylean Princess Cordelia was a PX Preview figure and was therefore more limited than many of the figures in the Angel line. Hey, it's a Hollywood beautiful woman sculpted in a popular metal bikini! Of course the value would continue to go up! This is one of the most stable and consistent figures that has been appreciating in value in the Angel line. Between its subject matter and its limited edition nature, it is a decent investment figure, though one suspects it will stay at its current secondary market price of approximately $25 for a few years.

Overview

Fans of Cordelia Chase will enjoy the concept and quality of the sculpt of Pylean Princess Cordelia as they have had to suffer through terrible sculpts that look more like Faith than Cordelia from other toy companies. Diamond Select Toys did the figure generally well and it is one that is bound to please fans, even if the general populace is unlikely to "get" the figure.

Then again, it is a woman in a metal bikini; not much to get here!

This figure represents Cordelia as she appeared at the end of Angel - The Second Season, reviewed here!

For other Buffy, Angel, and fantasy figures, be sure to check out my reviews of:
"Fear Itself" Anya
Season Five Anya
Twilight Edward Cullen "Barbie" doll

6.5/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page on the subject!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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