I certainly don't think this episode magically wipes away Cordy's faults -- which are many. What the episode does do is make the audience realize that she's more than that. It's our habit to pigeonhole characters. Either they are the ones we are rooting for, or they are shallow, manipulative, whiny or whatever. Cordy is a bitch and she hurts people (if they care enough about social status to be hurt by her). But that isn't all she is.
That's important to recognize because the Scoobies often do the same things that Cordy does. In the next episode, Xander will summarily tell a low-status student to move, and because that scene is Xander POV, we aren't even going to notice how that student reacts to being treated like he's nothing. The 'villain' has some admirable traits; the 'protagonists' have some traits that are less than admirable. The show is inviting us to look past the labels and notice that things are more complicated. In particular, here it's just asking us to notice that it's the POV that has caused us to see Cordy as nothing but the self-absorbed bully. The POV shapes what we see (or more importantly don't see).
I don't know if I want to say Angel has always been Captain Hammer. But it is true that one of the many things that delighted me about Dr. Horrible, was the commentary on Angel that was Captain Hammer. I pause to wonder what the show would have been like if Nathan Fillion had played Angel. Cause one problem I have with Angel, especially in these early seasons, is that Boreanaz is just not a very good actor.
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That's important to recognize because the Scoobies often do the same things that Cordy does. In the next episode, Xander will summarily tell a low-status student to move, and because that scene is Xander POV, we aren't even going to notice how that student reacts to being treated like he's nothing. The 'villain' has some admirable traits; the 'protagonists' have some traits that are less than admirable. The show is inviting us to look past the labels and notice that things are more complicated. In particular, here it's just asking us to notice that it's the POV that has caused us to see Cordy as nothing but the self-absorbed bully. The POV shapes what we see (or more importantly don't see).
I don't know if I want to say Angel has always been Captain Hammer. But it is true that one of the many things that delighted me about Dr. Horrible, was the commentary on Angel that was Captain Hammer. I pause to wonder what the show would have been like if Nathan Fillion had played Angel. Cause one problem I have with Angel, especially in these early seasons, is that Boreanaz is just not a very good actor.