On Fri, 4 Jul 2003, Ian Galbraith wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 18:53:09 -0400, Tuvix
> <rwhelan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> >I just watched the commentary on season two, and Whedon says flat out
that
> >Jennie Callendar was NOT originally a gypsy, planted to watch Angel to
> >make sure he never found happiness. This single revelation has soured
me
> >on Whedon's judgement as to what an audience "needs". It was obvious to
> >me, watching the DVDs, that the episode in which her "betrayal" of
> >the gang was revealed was a ridiculous retcon. The character was one
> >thing one episode, and another the next, just because they needed to
> >"shake up the audience". One thing an audience "needs" is to believe
that
> >the events in a show progress naturally, and this means being faithful
> >to characters as they've been portrayed, since the constancy of
> >character in real life is pretty much a given.
>
> <shrug> It was painfully obvious to me that Jenny's betrayal fit into
> her character as it had been established. She wasn't a major
> character, she hadn't been given any great depth as yet. Her
> technopagan background doesn't contradict with her being a gypsy.
But what depth she had been given is undermined by the silly "watch
Angel and make sure he stays unhappy" motivation. Previously, she's
a teacher at Sunnydale, like every other ordinary person in
Sunnydale. Then she's an emissary from an idiotic cult of assholes.
It was a terrible retcon.
Of course, the character was not quite appealing, a little too
"adult", forward, sexually aggressive (well, I suspect many didn't
find that appealing). She was likely written out because the
actress didn't have much internal spark, much as the "Anointed"
child-vampire was ignominiously written out, probably because
he delivered every line as if he were a spoiled brat doing some
lines on his lunchbreak for mall-money.
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