a belated Angel thread : Conner, wtf?

[Kahuna Burger]

So after much catching of various bits of the Angel series rerun on TNT, I think I've finally seen all the crucial bits with Conner. And now I must ask: was I supposed to care about that little sociopath, and if so why?

Seriously, I missed any first run discussion, so I don't know, did anyone like him? Was there a Conner fan club who just wanted him to be healed, and felt sorry for his rough life?

I appologize for dredging up any bad memories for fellow Conner-haters, but I want to know.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I admit, by the end of the series, I didn't dislike him. But like him...

Hmm... Checking the TFL-approved fanlisting yields a respectable 299 fans listed. Cordy comes in at 651, Angel at 772, and who'd-a-thun-it-Spike at 2,843 (yes that was sarcasm ).

Connor made a good plot device. And then he was swept under the carpet when Joss was done with 'em. Maybe he was trying to make a Faith-like character again and failed, maybe he just wanted to irritate his fans, or maybe he got drunk one night and made a few mistakes. Whatever the case, Connor was so bad for the show that it really takes anything away from it, at least for me, luckily.

Maybe someone has a quote of Joss on Connor, though. That would be interesting.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I think ThirdWizard had it right in calling Conner a plot device, I also think he was placed on the show in the event David had the chance to jump ship to movies, there was some talk about that at the time (plus other cast members leaving), when it did not happen, they just kept him as backup.

I did not like the little prick either but as element in Wes and Angel's devolopment it was great. I think people forget how much Wes' character was affected by the Conner plot.

 

[Mad Hatter]

I think with a little more time and planning the character of Connor could have been really awesome. As much as I love Buffy, I did not really like Angel. Ther first two seasons were great. Later, there were some awesome Wes moments, but it didn't engage me like Buffy did.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I didn't like him, myself. I think he could have been used well, but wasn't. Personally, I really couldn't get into the whole "I'm your father, I love you very much, and right now I'm going to beat you to a bloody pulp" scene every other episode of Angel. Actually, every other is being generous.

That being said, I did actually like the little twerp in the finale. The only time I actually liked the character, and had he been written/used/performed that way all along, I could have gotten into the idea of Angel and his kid.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I also had this idea that Conner and Dawn would have been an interesting spin-off show.

 

[Mad Hatter]

A Dawn/Connor spin-off? Gah! Kill me now. I really learned to loathe Dawn by the end.

 

[Volaran]

I actually thought that would be amusing back when people were discussing spinning off Dawn as the Slayer.

The wierdness of dating your dad's ex-girlfriend's sister/sister's ex-boyfriend's son would be amusing. I think around the same time, since they were commenting on Conner's odd range of abilities, that he would be interesting as the first in a line of male Slayers, since they were described as humans infused with demon-power.

Also, because...

He's the human son of a vampire with a soul, raised in a time compressed hell dimension. She's a 3 year old artifical construct raised as the Slayer's sister. They fight crime.

 

[Mad Hatter]

The way the introduced Dawn was great. I loved it. Her first many episodes were inspired, but then she became a whiny plot device that I loathed. The whole point of Buffy was emphasize the female lead. Joss Whedon has said so. So making Connor a male slayer would be stupid and defeat the entire mission statement of the Buffyverse. Some might say that making all potential slayers a slayer did this. However, I disagree because that was just going against the flawed Watcher's Coucnil and the mythos of the Shadowmen; not the over riding mission statement of female lead.

 

[drothgery]

So after much catching of various bits of the Angel series rerun on TNT, I think I've finally seen all the crucial bits with Conner. And now I must ask: was I supposed to care about that little sociopath, and if so why?

Seriously, I missed any first run discussion, so I don't know, did anyone like him? Was there a Conner fan club who just wanted him to be healed, and felt sorry for his rough life?

Since I was watching season 4 of Angel last weekend...

I didn't dislike him as much as some seem to have, but other than a few good lines, he didn't have much going for him. It seemed like when he was pretty much over Holtz screwing around with his head, Cordellia/Jasmine picked up the ball. And then Joss decided to cop out on trying to do something with him via the plot device that was the season 4 finale.