"Shiny Happy People" introduces us to Jasmine, one of my favorite villains in the series and played by the fantastic Gina Torres. In the Buffy and Angel universes the supernatural is largely portrayed as a force of chaos and destruction. Jasmine turns this on its head. She's a divine being who has become dissatisfied with the lack of action the other "Powers That Be" have taken in human affairs. So she's decided to give up her divinity for the sake of helping ***cough, ruling*** humanity and bringing in a new world order.
Jasmine is such an interesting variation to a similar villain on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Glory. Glory was also a divine being of immense power but that power mainly took the form of physical strength. Jasmine's power is the ability to win the hearts and minds of people around her and spread her message. Her power is much more insidious especially because you want her message to be true.
My only problem with the Jasmine story arc is that her introduction as the villain should have been better planned. The reveal that she was the one orchestrating the events of season 4 presents too many plot holes to be overlooked. It's clear that she was a last minute change by the writers to get the series back on track. It is the only reason why I wouldn't rate this episode higher.
To get any enjoyment out if the Jasmine story arc you need to take the episodes, "Shiny Happy People", "The Magic Bullet", "Sacrifice", and "Peace Out" as one independent story and try forget about the rest of season 4. Not that all of season 4 was terrible, but there were some clear missteps in plot and character development, especially with Cordelia Chase, that can't be undone.
Jasmine is such an interesting variation to a similar villain on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Glory. Glory was also a divine being of immense power but that power mainly took the form of physical strength. Jasmine's power is the ability to win the hearts and minds of people around her and spread her message. Her power is much more insidious especially because you want her message to be true.
My only problem with the Jasmine story arc is that her introduction as the villain should have been better planned. The reveal that she was the one orchestrating the events of season 4 presents too many plot holes to be overlooked. It's clear that she was a last minute change by the writers to get the series back on track. It is the only reason why I wouldn't rate this episode higher.
To get any enjoyment out if the Jasmine story arc you need to take the episodes, "Shiny Happy People", "The Magic Bullet", "Sacrifice", and "Peace Out" as one independent story and try forget about the rest of season 4. Not that all of season 4 was terrible, but there were some clear missteps in plot and character development, especially with Cordelia Chase, that can't be undone.