Angel Finale

[AuroraGyps]

He was the one Angel was playing squash (or racketball, I get my pseudosports confused) with an episode or two back.

Yeah, but I mean I think I remember the the guy walking around the lobby of Wolfram & Hart during a few episodes of the season... maybe all the way back to the begining of the season. I also think he light ahve been at the Halloween party.

 

[Cor Azer]

Yeah, but I mean I think I remember the the guy walking around the lobby of Wolfram & Hart during a few episodes of the season... maybe all the way back to the begining of the season. I also think he light ahve been at the Halloween party.

That's quite possible. Joss tends to be really good at doing stuff like that so that even "surprise" twists have a lot of foreshadowing (if you ever listen to the commentary/featurettes on the Buffy DVDs, Dawn was alluded to as early as Season 3, similarly, Blue Sun logos were in the background in many Firefly scenes even though Joss hadn't completely decided what to do with this mega-corp, but he wanted them there so that when he did have this monopolistic corp appear, people could go "Hey, they've been there all along").

 

[RobNJ]

I liked Angel better than Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I was never much a fan of the lead of either show--I have always loved the backup characters.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this finale. Wes's last scene had me crying, and when he got hit I said, "No, not him!"

So the finale was great. However, I'd read in Entertainment Weekly (from Joss's own mouth) how it wasn't going to be a cliffhanger, and seeing what I deem to be a cliffhanger ending, I was really disappointed. It magnified my sadness that much further. I'm getting over it now, but I wish I hadn't been told that it wouldn't be a cliffhanger. I might have endured it better. Maybe not, though. I really want to know what happened to them. It's not the same as "the fight goes on", it's, "there's this fight that it looks like they have no way to win and they're all going to die--what the hell?"

I like the comments about Angel giving up Xanshu because it's the right thing to do, and not for a reward. As an athiest, it really appeals to my personal sense of morality.

 

[Rackhir]

You know I was really impressed with Amy Ackerman's acting in some of the last few episodes. In particular the scenes where Ilyria went from "playing" Fred, back to her normal self. I thought she handled the change in attitude and personality phenomenally well, since the two characters have such very different personalities. She could do it like she was putting on/taking off a glove.

 

[RangerWickett]

However, I'd read in Entertainment Weekly (from Joss's own mouth) how it wasn't going to be a cliffhanger, and seeing what I deem to be a cliffhanger ending, I was really disappointed.

It wasn't a cliffhanger. They all die. That's a great ending, considering their demeanor as they face that last fight. There's no way they could win, but they're still all smiles, because they've found the right path, and they'll follow it to its end.

 

[Asmo]

Wow.. that was pretty awesome.. one of my favourite shows ending in a TPK

Asmo

 

[Green Knight]

Lorne killed Lindsey because Lindsey was a bad guy. He's been a bad guy (with brief twinges of goodness) since episode 1. Now, whether Lorne killed Lindsey on Angel's orders or did it himself is debatable (and deliciously so), but make no mistake. It was done so that he wouldn't just pick up where W&H's "Inner Circle" failed.

Yeah, I figured Angel wanted Lindsey dead so that he WOULDN'T be there to pick up the pieces. The Senior Partners are going to have to create a new Circle of the Black Thorn, eventually. Lindsey would've been an obvious choice. Which is why they killed him.

It wasn't a cliffhanger. They all die. That's a great ending, considering their demeanor as they face that last fight. There's no way they could win, but they're still all smiles, because they've found the right path, and they'll follow it to its end.

Kind of like a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ending.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

You know I was really impressed with Amy Ackerman's acting in some of the last few episodes. In particular the scenes where Ilyria went from "playing" Fred, back to her normal self. I thought she handled the change in attitude and personality phenomenally well, since the two characters have such very different personalities. She could do it like she was putting on/taking off a glove.

I agree here. I always found Fred to be really, really annoying. I kind of liked her as Illyria, though, and I thought she showed some decent acting chops in the role.

As I noted elsewhere, I actually liked Connor in his two appearances this season as well, though I didn't previously. I even kind of started to like Gunn a little bit. All the more tragic, then, that Angel is no more.

I wasn't going to buy any of the Angel dvds before this season, but I'm definitely going to pick season 5 up. I don't know if I'll buy any of the others (season 1 maybe, though it was rather hit and miss, as were most of the seasons, actually, for me. Definitely won't get season 4, though. Ugh.)

Anyone out there who was sort of on the fence about the series that changed their mind (for better or worse) after watching the series on DVD? (I didn't really like Season 3 of Buffy until I saw them all back to back on DVD and now it's one of my favorites; the mid-season rerun ish always throws the momentum off, I find).

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I'm watching Angel again right now (flipping back and forth between American Idol), and I'm more convinced than ever that Lorne initiated the Lindsey killing on his own.

In the "pre-battle" scene, when they are all making plans, Angel turns to Lorne, who responds by saying he's not much for the physical stuff, and that he's the weak link. Angel seems sort of exasperated and tells him he just needs him to back up Lindsey. At which point they all go into the whole "I can't believe you brought him in" stuff.

It seems odd to me that Angel would try and hide the fact that he assigned Lorne to be an assassin at that point. All the cards are on the table at this point, it doesn't seem logical to me that they wouldn't just come out with it all. Not to mention that their acting doesn't seem to indicate any subtext. Especially after the commercial, when Lorne tells Angel not to come looking for him. Angel looks bewildered, hardly the reaction I think he'd have if he knew Lorne was going to kill Lindsey.

Now, I know that the actors may not be playing all the beats exactly spot on(especially if the episode was shot out of sequence like they usually do), and I know that maybe there were things said "between" scenes, but I think- am convinced- that Lorne initiated the killing because he couldn't stand to make compromises any more, and wasn't willing to let Lindsey live.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

You know what, I'm not convinced anymore.

Just watched the rest of the episode, and the subtext where Lorne tells Lindsey "This was Angel's plan" and "One last job" seem pretty clearly to indicate that it was instigated by Angel...

Grr. Anyway, It's still ambiguous enough that I can enjoy the idea that maybe, just maybe, Lorne did it on his own.