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Date Posted: 19:06:33 06/09/04 Wed
Author: Max
Author Host/IP: 81.152.190.100
Subject: The Angel finale...(spoilers, profanity, just like the good old days)

So Illyria says to Wesley "Would you like me to lie to you now?" and Wesley says "Yes, please", and I got this feeling in my gut as if I'd just stepped off a bungee-jump platform before wrapping the bungee around my ankles.

I think that it was at that point that I realised that the whole Buffy thing really was done, dying right in front of me like Wesley. I was pretty sad when BtVS ended, but there was always "Angel". I've said that before. Now "Angel", as I have mentioned, has been guilty of some appalling bollocks over the last few years, but I've actually liked this last season quite a bit. Last night's episode had so much that reminded me of what wasn't going to be there any more.

"One of you will betray me", and Spike puts his hand up to volunteer, only to follow it up with "Can I deny you three times?" Blasphemy. Loved it. And reading his poetry out to rapturous applause appeared to do so much more for him than picking a fight. I'm going to miss Spike a lot.

And I really enjoyed Gunn's direct no-frills approach to his senatorial assassination. Gunn's been a bit of a non-event for me, frankly, but I enjoyed the way they wrote his ending, getting him back to the basics.

Harmony. Always loved Harmony. Like Bill, especially in her underwear. You always know where you are with Harm...she's not bad, per se, she's just too fucking vapid for her own good.

Connor...okay. I'll let this one slide. They did okay with it, and I even liked the "What, you just drop in to say hi and the whole world's NOT ending?"

Lorne...wow. Didn't see that coming. Saddest ending of all for me. The idea that this sensitive singing guy would toss away who he is to kill Lindsey, so completely coldly, was really effective. It was completely drained and dispassionate, a world-weary clinical hit. "That's all folks", indeed. Bravo.


Which brings me back to Illyria and Wesley again. Death's a pretty powerful dramatic device, and the last episodes since Fred's death all seem to have been driven by it in one way or another. Wesley's awful empty smile, already talked about on the board, when he says he's in speaks volumes to the distance that Wesley has travelled. It's probably to AD's immense credit as an actor that I was happy for Wesley when he died, because he didn't have to do it any more. I'm a complete sap, but I really really really liked the final Illyria/Fred/Wesley scene. Two scenes in AtS have really really slam-dunked me; Buffy and Angel's final minute in "I Will Remember You" and Wes and Illyria last night. I don't know why...I'm usually pretty hard on grief and angst for grief and angst's sake, but it worked for me and I don't think I'm going to delve any deeper into it than that. It's been mentioned that when Illyria took over Fred's body her soul was destroyed, leaving nothing. If I look hard enough I'm sure that I'll find that to be true, so I'm not going to look at it particularly closely; Wesley's had a shit time over the last few years, and I'm not begrudging him eternity with a grinning twiggy Texan if that's what he wants.

So there they are in an alley, with 40,00 demons and a dragon or two bearing down on them at speed. And that's it. It's all over.

Jesus fucking Christ.

What the fuck am I supposed to say to that?

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Replies:

[> Cool! Thanks for the review. -- Grim ,_,_), 09:29:02 06/10/04 Thu (66.95.229.84)

We have to find you another show to fixate on, so you can keep writing these things.


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[> Less of a review... -- Max, 09:51:48 06/10/04 Thu (81.152.190.100)

...more of a gut response.

Writing reviews on this board, when we've got the West Coast Review, is like trying to write plays while you're sitting next to Shakespeare.


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[> Love your description of Lorne's last act. -- wwolfe, 11:22:06 06/10/04 Thu (161.149.63.110)

"...a world-weary clinical hit." Exactly.

We agree right down the line about this one. I'll miss seeing what Joss would have done with a sixth season - based on his descriptions of it, I think it had the potential to serve as a wonderfully effective metaphor of the chaotic post-Cold War world. That regret notwithstanding, though, this was a terrific conclusion for the show.

And thanks for the kind words about the West Coast Review.


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[> Re: The Angel finale...(spoilers, profanity, just like the good old days) -- Kuzibah, 11:28:55 06/10/04 Thu (12.175.117.195)

Thanks for this. Surprisingly (or maybe not), I'm missing this show terribly. It's like its absence is precipitating a general disinterest in television altogether. Even shows I liked and looked forward to are not exciting me.

Needless to say, I'm *never* getting into dramatic/episodic network TV again, and the WB can go fuck itself as far as my advertising demographic is concerned.

And I really hope someone in the casting department at Megabucks Studios makes certain members of the cast into the international superstars they deserve to be.


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[> Oh god, I miss it too! -- Pouncer, 11:30:33 06/10/04 Thu (156.80.140.157)

The more I think about it, the more I mourn. I loved the finale (except that I'm in total denial over Wesley's death; he was resurrected immediately after Illyria left!), and loved how our heroes went out fighting.


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[> finale made me mad -- starlite, 12:29:28 07/08/04 Thu (24.90.10.163)

my feelings about the finale were all mixed up with my annoyance at Boreanaz for being all happy the show was done. snooty actors dismissing the shows that made them makes me head-whacking mad.

I felt such despair for the gang as the demons approached. And now, with DB probably unwilling to do anything angel related, and stupid tv movie we get now will probably be set Pre show or at least pre finale.

meh


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