Raven wroteBrahm_K wroteFinally done Buffy season 7, and therefore done the entire Buffy/Angelverse. I liked the finale (though it had its flaws), but overall, season 7 was a giant plotless mess of average which made little sense, ignored the characters we know and love in favour of some really annoying new ones (and one or two cool new ones), and had one of the lamest villains ever. A few really awesome episodes (Selfless, Conversations With Dead People, Storyteller, and the finale) but man did this show go downhill after season 5.
You're absolutely right in your crticism of the show after season 5. Actually, I began to think that the show lost traction after season 3 but there were some great episodes in 4 & 5. I was ok with Angel until Conner was introduced. I always felt that he never really fit in and was a huge unnecessary distraction. Plus, Whedon's treatment of Cordelia's character kind of soured me as well.
ANGEL SPOILERS!
I know that Connor is a pretty unpopular character, but I actually really enjoyed what he brought to the show, and his time as a regular on the show (end of season 3- season 4) is my favourite stretch on the show, because of him and for other reasons. Connor was just such a fucked up character who would continually make the wrong decisions, and I really enjoyed watching a character like that. I also like how the show handled the whole theme of fatherhood; two of my favourite scenes from the show are the first and last scenes of season 4- in the season opener, in a hallucination, Angel toasts family, while actually being stuck in the bottom of the ocean- his desire for family is clearly one of the most facets of his character. And then at the end, he's forced to essentially watch that scene from the outside as he sees Connor with his new family, the final sacrifice he's made in a season full of sacrifices. I thought it was pretty poignant.
As for Cordelia... No arguments there. Somewhere in season 3, her character became so speechy and overwhelmingly... nice that she became the most annoying character ever. I didn't think the whole Evil Cordy thing was particularly well acted, but it was 100X better than watching Cordelia make speech after speech about hope and doing the right thing.
LET THE SPOILERS BE ENDED.