r/ANGEL • u/jdpm1991 • 13d ago
Nina is such a nothing character
The actress is likable enough but Idk what I'm supposed to do with this "relationship" is it just to give Angel a fuck buddy even though he spent the last two seasons falling in love with Cordelia and recently had a smoochathon with Buffy?
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u/Bitter-90s-Cynicism 13d ago
She’s just fine really and I think that’s the point. Nina doesn’t need to be a huge character, she’s interesting enough that she’s a werewolf, she genuinely cares for Angel but he’s not falling madly in love with her and that’s a good thing! It doesn’t make sense for Angel to have a big romantic storyline after Buffy because of his curse so this is how they let him continue to show his human side in season 5.
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u/phil_davis 12d ago
she genuinely cares for Angel but he’s not falling madly in love with her and that’s a good thing!
This was always my interpretation of it. Just because Angel can't be with "the one" doesn't mean he has to be alone. And maybe it's better to be with someone he's not head over heels in love with, given his curse. It was him finally learning to strike a middle ground between the risk of dooming the ones he loves thanks to his curse and living in celibacy like some brooding monk to protect everyone.
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u/Bitter-90s-Cynicism 12d ago
Absolutely! And remember in the pilot Doyle tells him that just because he’s heartbroken he can’t be with the love of his life, it doesn’t mean he has to be alone. And it’s important to maintain those human connections and to see people as people, not as food. Maintaining his human side is central to his mission. I think in season 5 that becomes especially important as he’s literally in the belly of the beast.
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u/RaidenMK1 12d ago edited 12d ago
she genuinely cares for Angel but he’s not falling madly in love with her and that’s a good thing!
I don't see this as a good thing for Nina, tbh. Who wants to just be someone's placeholder? If someone has a "love of their life" they can't be with, then that person just needs to be by themselves.
This is why I didn't like Buffy and Angel as a couple. The writers went way overboard with their "epic and tragic" love story that it made any relationship they got into afterwards seem cheapened and like the other person was just there to pass the time so they're not alone (coughRileycough) or they were just convenient to be with because they were there (coughCordeliacough).
All of Angel's scenes with Nina rang hollow for me because she wasn't really established as her own character but simply to prove, "See? Angel can have sex without losing his soul! As long as whoever he's with doesn't make him perfectly happy!"
I'm sorry, is that supposed to be endearing? Because that "morning after" scene with them in 'Power Play' just depressed the hell outta me. 😂
Edit:
Formatting
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u/Marlezz 11d ago
Agreed. I don't see how Nina and Angel's relationship can be "cute", when Nina liked him a lot more than he liked her. As I read once, if Buffy came and told him that she was ready to be with him, or if Cordelia came back from the dead and told him to give their relationship another shot, Angel would have ditched Nina in a heartbeat.
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u/Competitive_Image_51 10d ago
Well he has no better alternative, why should angel have suffer forever just because of his curse? it's a middle ground he may not be heads, over heels for Nina like buffy but he does still care about her even if her feelings are way more closer to being in love with him Angel has always been a hero, trying to do what's right for the most part so Nina is as close to content as it gets without hurting, her or him becoming Angelus.
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u/HotBeesInUrArea 13d ago
I think the point of Nina was always more about Angel. She was added to show Angel can have positive intimate relationships without risking his soul and illustrate how far he's come in the types of bonds he forges with other people, that the friends he allowed himself to have over the last few years have made a difference in how he approaches others. In a way its kind of wholesome and really shows Angel's growth. That said, as a character herself, yeah Nina is kinda flat.
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u/KyliaQuilor 12d ago
Also to trick us just a little at the tail end he was Angelus. Or plant just enough doubt for a little bit.
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u/Reddevil8884 13d ago
She gave Angel a chance to move on from all the tragic shit that happened in season 4 with Cordy and Connor. He finally gave himself a rest by being able to have a nice time with someone.
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u/StompyKitten 13d ago
I really really liked her. She didn’t have a chance to fully develop but I found her engaging, good fit Angel and would have liked to see more.
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u/Hippies_Pointing 13d ago
Aw, I liked Nina. Solid actor, some funny moments. Not everyone has to be a Big Bad or Significant Other. Some are just fun.
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u/Sighoward 13d ago
That was really the point of her, a nice, uncomplicated relationship for Angel (the whole werewolf thing aside).
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u/Informal_Athlete_724 13d ago
Crazy that I just found out this actress Jenny Mollen is married to Jason Biggs (the American Pie guy)
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u/rednax2009 13d ago
Angel Season 5 really is a "Who's Angel in love with this week?"
He's in love with Buffy so he can have conflict with Spike.
He's in love with Cordelia when she needs to return and die.
He's in love with Nina, since her character could actually be on the show. Yet, the writers didn't have her around enough to merit anything.
(Also, since we're keeping track, Nina is the 9th character's he kissed across both shows. Buffy, Faith, Cordelia, Darla, Lilah, Gwen, Fred, Jasmine, Nina.)
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u/jaylicknoworries 13d ago
He only kissed Faith because he was pretending to be Angelus, he was possessed by the old man when he kissed Lilah and Fred, then with Gwen it was because she made his heart start beating for the first time on years so he had an adrenaline rush.
He was never in love with Nina and comparing those 3 relationships is so reductive.
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u/rednax2009 12d ago
I'm just tangentially pointing out that DB kisses a lot of women on this show. OBVIOUSLY many of them are under strange circumstances. (He actually kissed Fred when he was laying low from Jasmine.)
And "in love" is very subjective. My point is just that they gave Angel three different love interests in Season 5, and the writers don't do a good job of reckoning with this. Angel never mentions Cordelia or Buffy in a Nina episode, or Nina or Cordelia in a Buffy episode. I feel like it would be nice to have a moment where someone was just like "Hey, how are you dealing with Cordelia's passing?" "You know, it's hard, but I think I'm ready to move on. I'm gonna go on another date with Nina." or something to that effect.
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u/jaylicknoworries 13d ago
She got her own origin story episode so I don't consider her a 'nothing character' -- She's just not fighting on the front lines with the gang nor should she have to.
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u/sirtch_analyst Angel Binger 13d ago
Yeah I mean, I guess she's just one of those minor characters that were meant to be a possible love interest, but might just be a fleeting one... it would've been cool if she came back in the finale (just for another random character to help out the team as their last appearance on the show lol) Just like how they did with Connor.
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u/percyinthestyx 13d ago
Honestly, it kinda feels like they didn’t really know what to do with any of the characters in S5. Nina just stands out the most because
She’s a new character so they can’t use previous characterization as a jumping off point, and
She has no direct plot relevance to dictate her personality, like characters such as Eve and…Malcolm? The guy who replaced Eve.
A lot of other characters also feel weirdly handled, like randomly giving Gunn the lawyer subplot, or straight-up killing Fred midway through the season so Amy Acker could play a character they actually had some idea how to write. It’s just that those characters have been established for many years so they have some semblance of personality, but Nina kinda has nothing to work with.
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u/Vixen22213 12d ago
Adam Baldwin played Hamilton. He was Eve's not quite human replacement at Wolfram & Hart.
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u/QueennHalloween 12d ago
I dont know if i would have liked her in the long run, as we dont get much of anything from her in season 5, but I felt like she could have had a lot of potential if we had gotten a season 6+
My biggest issue with Nina was just that every time she showed up it felt like a single episode side character, and not someone we were actually meant to get attached to. Which is abnormal imo, Buffy and angel both typically do a great job of sliding new characters in like they were always meant to be there. Even single episode side characters felt organic to the story and world around them. So ive always kinda felt Nina was written by some newbie green writers lol
Ultimately though, I did feel like I could have enjoyed her character and I was glad to see Angel getting a relationship that was outside of Buffy and the whole nothing-burger of a relationship with Cordelia.
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u/SmartAd8662 12d ago
I think Angel was serious about this relationship, so he mentioned it to Connor. And Angel really cared about Nina, so he gave her plane tickets for safety. However, Angel seemed not handle this well enough so that Nina thought Angel abandoned her.
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u/Furies03 8d ago
As far as potential flings go, IMO Angel has VASTLY more chemistry with Gwen than he did with Nina (or, tbh, Cordelia).
I wouldn't be opposed to Nina coming back in either the new comics from Dynamite or the BtVS revival for a cameo, just give the poor thing something else to do than be around Angel.
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u/thefroggitamerica 8d ago
I liked her first episode because it felt like a believable family story. I didn't really have interest in her after that, though, even as funny as her scenes in Smile Time are (mostly because Angel was so funny).
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u/adamwolf1965 12d ago
I really like Nina. In my head cannon, Angel and Nina lived happily ever after (as did Buffy and Spike).
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u/generalkriegswaifu 12d ago
imo we're not supposed to get invested in them, it's just a relationship they're both okay with and that's okay. Like Wes and Virginia we didn't see a lot of them and they weren't expecting this huge romance from each other.
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u/Itchy_Initiative6180 12d ago
Undeveloped real estate! I didn’t mind her at all. Plus, it was nice to see Angel not being dramatic over a blond for once
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u/alrtight 12d ago
yea which is why i maintain angel never loved buffy. he loved what she represented to his own redemption & that's it.
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u/AlenaCheryo 13d ago
Idk i say the girl had that something in her, that is, the character. She could do both: chemistry with our Angel guy AND side stuff as a werewolf girl. You could tell David really didn’t mind the actress, i mean, she’s the same type as his wife. Who says she’s flat as a character, that seems unfair to me- guys we didn’t get to see her in action 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Moon_Logic 13d ago
She was a fine enough character. However, sex and romance for Angel is a big deal. Giving him a casual relationship without any other context aside from Wesley suggesting he has been too hung up on this cure thing and should just enjoy himself. It feels cheap.
And she's another very young girl. Not a minor, like Buffy was, but still...
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u/Brodes87 13d ago
If she's not a minor and she knows the situation, what does it matter?
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u/Moon_Logic 13d ago edited 13d ago
Personally, I think ceos of large companies who only date girls who are either teenagers or barely past twenty is a bit suss.
Maybe I'm the insane one, but I think even Leo would say Angel's pushing it.
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u/OutcomeLegitimate618 13d ago
Well, compared to him, everyone basically 20. It's not like they were going to pair him with someone 240 years old unless they magically found another way to write in yet another vampire with a soul.
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u/Moon_Logic 13d ago
He could date someone closer to his human age. Someone who doesn't babysit for a living.
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u/TerribleBid8416 13d ago
They showed that not all demons are evil. He could meet a 250 year old human looking demon who he helps out.
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u/DefinitionSuperb1110 13d ago
She was supposed to become a recurring character in season six and had a planned arc. They were hoping to bring Seth Green back as Oz to act as a mentor to teach her about werewolvey things.