last night's Angel [don't read past this point if you haven't seen it -- spoilery] was a satisfactory conclusion to the Cordy-painful-visions thing, forced upon her by TPTB through Skip (yay for Skip! i love Skip! Skip rocks!). i liked that a chance encounter with Angel is what kept her from being a successful actress, and that in end, she gave it up to keep Angel sane and to fight the good fight (something she wished she could stay out of while in Sunnydale).

even better, considering how not close she and Angel were in Sunnydale, that she hadn't seen him in three years, that in Sunnydale she was largely shallow and uncaring when it came to others, and that once in LA, being around Angel has caused her all sorts of troubles and frustration, it's really amazing that Cordy chose to have her demon fighting life back. it's indicative of how much she's changed. i know it's obvious that current Cordy is different than Sunnydale Cordy, but now there can be no doubt that it's more than a superficial change. had Sunnydale Cordy, at the end of Buffy ep "Graduation Day pt 2" been shown those two possible paths, which would she have chosen? i think she'd have taken the non demon-fighting, fame-and-riches life, for her a return to the less difficult, more glamourous and more comfortable pre-Buffy lifestyle.

i liked the Mary Tyler Moore-esque opening credits for "Cordy!" also, take a look at her when she first appears in the alternate life, on the set before an applauding audience. Charisma Carpenter has an incredible smile.

the biggest unanswered question in this episode: at the end, while having a pain free vision episode, Cordelia was floating. so my question is, does her birthday cake at the beginning presage that Cordy will be wearing a cape and flying à la Supergirl?