#the groosalugg

[dailyats]

2.10 - Reunion || 3.14 - Couplet

[on-this-day-btvs]

February 4, 2002

Waiting in the Wings aired for ATS season 3, episode 13. Cordelia and Angel sneak backstage at the ballet and become possessed by the spirit of former lovers. The room feels warm, Cordelia asks Angel to undress her, and things get heated. While it happens under the possession, this is the first time that Cordelia and Angel kiss.

Angel begins to admit his true feelings for Cordelia, but then he is interrupted by the Groosalugg. The Groosalugg has returned for Cordelia, who kisses him.

[cangelgifs]

Cordy when she finally gets to dress a man:

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Since Cordelia receiving Doyle's visions was actually the catalyst for every bad thing that later happened to her (A.K.A. the Jasmine arc), has anyone written an AU where Angel or the whole A.I. team go back in time and make sure she gives them to Groo, like it was prophesized she should have? (And the Jasmine stuff can't happen then, if Groo has them.) And then in obviously still needing to be able to know what these visions are, and what the Powers That Be are trying to tell them, they convince Groo to stay with them and to become a permanent part of Angel Investigations?

Or maybe a similar idea to all of this... but one where the author thought the visions weren't that important after all (which is definitely a stance one can take, because: Jasmine arc and The Powers That Be wanting the Twilight prophecy in the comics to happen. And how many people died there?), and then maybe had Angel or the team go so far back that Cordelia never got the visions from Doyle at all?

If the former fic exists, I imagine the author had Cordelia comforted that she is useful to the team without her visions? Because while she did take them on in "Birthday," largely in seeing the alternate universe where Angel had them drove him insane, and selflessly not wanting that for him, I do think there was a bit of Cordelia not wanting to be the "Zeppo" of her team, ironically, and that's part of the reason she thought she needed them.

[rewatchablepodcast]

Hi. Dad.

[cangelgifs]

“Groo’s like ‘don’t move’ and, uh, she moves to try to save her own life and he chastises her, and she’s like ‘excuse the **** out of me for trying to not die’.”

“It’s interesting the way it’s directed, because, like, nothing’s changed from the script really, but, um, the way it’s directed, I feel like it kinda rushes past the clear issue that they have. Obviously there are red flags, we’ve been talking about this. But I don’t think the episode itself lets it breathe, because, you know, she’s like ‘geez, forgive me for saving my own life’ and then Groo said ‘I would not have let harm come to you’ as they’re going to the door, and she’s very quick when she says it. In the script you can note it more. She’s about to say, like, ‘that’s not the point’, there’s about to be an argument about that fact right there. Reading it on the page, you’re like, OH, the cracks are there.”

“Yeah, I think I--I would like to see more of that and more of Cordelia, like, struggling with why she’s wants this so bad, even though there are clearly problems with it. We’ve talked a lot about why we think she’s choosing this safer, less complicated thing that’s wrong for her because being with Angel is way too scary.”

“Especially reading the script, you can like see the moment is Cordy clearly wanting to be her own champion versus Groo not quite understanding why she doesn’t want *him* to be her champion.”

“Yeah, he just like--again, to him, it’s like an act of service and an act of love to save her. And for her, it’s like, ‘no, I need you instead to respect me and empower me to do my own thing’. Which is what Angel did by teaching her how to fight.”

-- 3.19 The Price Angel on Top

[rewatchablepodcast]

"You're gonna fry out here, man! Come on!"

[demens-rosa]

Ats will straight up hand my sweet boy Groo the most devastating emotional L imaginable then cut to Angel's face like this is about him.