maggie2

I agree with you on Cordelia's appearance. Though I wonder if Joss meant don't bring her back to life most specifically. I think her appearance worked well enough as she was more a spiritual guide hoping to help Angel cross over, so her interaction wasn't too jarring. Ultimately though, I think Joss would be against Cordelia being there to always comfort Angel with "a warm breeze" everytime he was being too pessimistic. The 'she'll always be there for him' is taken way too literally here. It runs counter to my understanding of the afterlife in the 'verse and the stance that people need to learn to accept the death of loved ones and grieve. That death is very realistic in the 'verse until the character is transformed magically into another being (vampire) or resurrected to their former state (Buffy, Darla, Spike). But when they're gone, they're truly gone.

The Cordy appearance worked for me because it felt a bit like the Darla appearance from Inside Out. When the stakes are that high, the PTB have been shown to send an emissary to help and try to influence free will.