Dylan ruined Angel

[Stewarts Point]

 

 

There were two time periods -

Angel before Dylan (end of 1993) and before.

Before she was a fun living hippy free bird full of imagination and interest.

After she became the nagging anxious termagant, constantly fretting and moaning at Shane.

 

[cymbaline]

Absolutely. I think both characters were ruined by the introduction of Dylan. The storylines revolving around Angel gaining custody of him, and then his illness became tiresome. No offense to the little boy - he seemed to be a nice kid. Both Shane and Angel became casualties of those tricky years after teenagers leave school but don't move away. What do you do with them then? It's nuts to think about two nineteen-year-olds getting married and turning into an old married couple before their time. Both characters still had plenty of potential if they hadn't been turned into the show's golden couple. Ideally, Angel should've moved on straight after her HSC, either to university or to do something interesting. She could and should have become a good journalist or a writer living in an amazing cottage somewhere cool. Instead, life just seemed to become more and more miserable for her. She gets hit by Alf's car, she gets stalked by her ex, her kid gets cancer, her husband dies, her house gets destroyed...

[early years fan]

Agree becoming a mother at such a young age forced them to grow up too quick.

so many things they could have done with their lives instead of turning into an old married couple stuck in the backwater of summer bay.

[-Andrew-]

 I hate that Angel got custody of Dylan in the first place. Tearing a 5 year old from all that he has ever known because "I'm his mother!" was such a selfish move. I wish it was challenged more on screen.

 I agree that the introduction of Dylan marked a turning point for Angel's likability. I can't say that I liked her too much prior to Dylan, but she was unbearable once he was around. 

[nenehcherry2]

I see three Angels in terms of characterisation and storyline types: early, middle and late. All are defined by the presence or absence of Dylan.

Early Angel is 93, prior to the Dylan reveal. Tough, opinionated, rebellious, feminist, principled. Yes, she softens slightly once she gets with Shane (& Melissa's acting improves?!) but she's very much a reworked 88 Bobby for me. Selling fake concert tickets, getting beaten by thugs, anti-uniform campaigns and the like define 93 Angel.

Middle Angel: 1994-earliest 95. Coinciding with a more comedy-centric season in the show. She's calm, happy-go-lucky, fun loving. She doesn't have the 93 rebel spark anymore but still seems her age. And still has dreams of being a writer, as she did in 93. Dylan has been "revealed" but simply makes the odd weekend visit. Fall outs with Sarah, the HSC and temporary breakups with Shane seem to be order of Angel's day.

Nagging later Angel: this kicks in after the weeding and getting custody of Dylan very soon after that. Exactly as all the other posts says. Ages dramatically, begins coercively controlling Shane in a Ben Lucini-esque manner. Shane also enters his own later period at this time (Dieter himself commented on this). Coincides with a change of Script Producers and the true beginning of the 95/6 era. More plot-driven period for the two of them.

The above said, she does seem to go back a bit to 94ish Angel once Shane dies. Seems a bit sparkly again. Maybe combo of (script) no longer having Shane around to nag and (real life) no more Melissa/Dieter hatred on-set?

[cymbaline]

That's a good breakdown of Angel. 

3 hours ago, -Andrew- said:

 I hate that Angel got custody of Dylan in the first place. Tearing a 5 year old from all that he has ever known because "I'm his mother!" was incredibly selfish and was never challenged enough (or at all) on screen.

 I agree that the introduction of Dylan marked a turning point for Angel's likability. I can't say that I liked her too much prior to Dylan, but she was unbearable once he was around. 

That's very true. They opted for a very soap opera way out of the conundrum which is a pity. They just demonised the Harrises and turned them into horrible people who needed to be kept at bay. Was there really any need to turn Paul into a psycho stalker, other than to write him out of Dylan's life as well? It was a lazy way of shutting them down and sending Dylan to live happily ever after with his mum and new dad.  

It was poor stuff when you compare it to a couple of other child-centred storylines they'd had previously. I thought they handled Sophie's time as a single mother well. We got to see how difficult life became for Sophie after Tamara was born, and how she got to the point where she felt she had to give her up. Bobby's heartbreak over losing Sam was another, though it is a pity they solved that conundrum by pairing her off with Greg.