Tim Minear is kind of the only reason I'm trusting this show. So far, he has taken three concepts that I would have never even watched an episode of and turned them all into TV shows I'm deeply in love with.

And Tim Minear was the one who almost left the show because he felt strongly that if Angel and Cordelia got together, it would ruin the show. And that did lead to the show sucking and Cordelia's character being completely revised. :)

I'm also pretty sure that Joss has a deep, deep obsession with all his Mary Sues, and Fred has Joss written all over her, IMO.