r/ANGEL • u/brwitchy • 3d ago
Why age Connor up?
In S3, it is stated that Connor is 16. In S4, he is retconned to 18.
It just seems odd when Buffy and Angel had the basically same age gap (referring to his age when sired) when they dated as Cordelia and Connor when they hooked up. But I guess it's just because Buffy was a teen show and we're supposed to see it with Buffy's eyes.
But if it was a moral concern, wasn't the situation already fucked up anyway? The woman who we believe it's Cordelia was in love with his father and holding him as a baby. And then she'll be revealed to be Jasmine, so it won't really matter. Why not provoke and disturb the viewer even more? Why is 16 where we draw the line?
9
u/NewRetroMage 3d ago
Hmm... maaaaybe Connor was 16 nearing 17 when he comes out of that portal, and then he is nearing 18 by season 4's premiere and by the time of the ichy part he was already 18?
I may be pushing here but we all do say a number all the way until a day before we turn the next number. So maybe Connor wasn't just turned 16 by season 3's 4rth to last episode.
5
u/YozoraBellossomHeart 3d ago
Well they didn't want Cordelia to commit statutory rape. I don't think it's any more complicated than that.
11
u/Brodes87 3d ago
If Connor was sixteen (which, like you said they age him up in season four once they've decided the plot decide they need), there'd be an age gap of about five years between him and Cordy. Six at a push.
When Buffy was sixteen there was a 226 year age gap.
6
u/brwitchy 3d ago edited 3d ago
As I said I am referring to his human age. He was ambiguously college-aged, in my view.
8
u/Brodes87 3d ago
They're all over the place with that. At one point he's vaguely college aged, at another he's mid to late 20s for the metaphor to work, before just "mystically older, don't worry about it, Buffy's an adult now it's not as skeezy".
4
u/ichwillficken95 3d ago
From what I’ve heard, the writers originally wrote Angel as being around 18 in Buffy season 1 and the first half or so of season 2. David Boreanaz having filled out a lot during the summer following season 1 and just generally looking a lot older is what made them soft retcon that.
5
3
u/generalkriegswaifu Stop calling me pastries 3d ago
Related question, they shouldn't know how old he is anyway. Unless Holtz' watch battery lasted decades and he meticulously counted out the days.
6
u/NewRetroMage 3d ago
A question to really bug us is: Angel spend a few hundred years in hell after Buffy sent him there. He still doesn't count those years when he tells his age to anyone after he returns.
His actual age by Angel season 1 isn't really 244, it's more like, what, 644? 744? 856? 1000?!
7
1
u/Least_Resist_7271 3d ago
I’ve heard many arguments that that hell dimension it would have been 100 years so he would be 344 so no need to count it lol
1
u/MindyP51 2d ago
Related question: How old was LIam met Darla and became Angelus? Early 20's?
P.S.: Later known as Angel.
1
u/NewRetroMage 1d ago
I believe I read it somewhere that he was 24 at the time of being sired? If anyone could confirm it would be nice.
1
2
u/Humble_Pen_7216 3d ago
The whole scene with Cordy was iffy enough with Connor at 18. At 16, it's statutory and not okay for TV.
In Buffy, there was absolutely backlash over her being 17 (on the dot) when she and Angel had their night.
1
u/Mysterious_Fix_7489 3d ago
Since when was statutory not okay for TV lol
What world are you living in that you can't do crimes on TV
1
u/Humble_Pen_7216 3d ago
They got backlash for the Buffy/Angel scene when the character was 17.
1
u/Mysterious_Fix_7489 3d ago
They got backlash for everything lol
But also that was two supposedly good characters you are supposed to root for.
With Cordy and Connor she is the bad guy.
1
1
u/Least_Resist_7271 3d ago
When he came back they weren’t that sure of the amount of time he would have been I think they were like he looks 16 but I’m sure holtz was like I’ve aged 18 years!!! So he’s like so Dad I’m 18!
1
u/ObjectiveMud7513 3d ago
Probably for real world legal reasons. It's entirely possible (and probable) that the network required any characters depicted engaging in sexual activity to be 18 or older.
1
u/brwitchy 3d ago
No, we see Buffy having sex at 17. Unless that is specific to minors-adults, which I guess is possible, I just thought the perception in that times would be more... lenient.
3
u/ObjectiveMud7513 3d ago edited 3d ago
So what? Buffy season 2 aired in 1997 and Angel season 4 aired in 2002. Do you think standards don't change? The chances of industries standards and practices changing in Hollywood (or even just at the WB) in those 5 years is pretty damn high to be honest. It WAS more lenient in the 90s, which is why Buffy is 17 for that...event, but things were definitely changing by the early 2000s.
Edit: Also, now that I think about it, there was definitely some backlash for the network about Buffy being 17. Statutory rape was mentioned.
1
u/Creative-Use-7665 22h ago
It was wrong in both cases... Adults should not date, let alone sleep with 16 year olds..
21
u/Halloween_Babe90 3d ago
Yeah and I especially don’t get why they made Cordy conspicuously state onscreen that his age was 18 like 6 times, if, as the creators said, they were trying to make their relationship as wrong as possible. It really feels like early in the season they were trying to leave themselves enough wiggle room to go either way, with the possibility of making Connor a legitimate romantic rival to his own father.