And so it ends, a series that started for me 17 years ago when I went to see the original Buffy movie in the cinema ends tonight with the final ep of Angel."If we should meet again we shall drink deep and laugh long err this rememberance. And if we should not, then this is a parting well made"
NOT FADE AWAY
The Good;
The last day for the staff of Angel Investigations (especially poignant for Lorne/Andy Hallet who sings a wonderful version of 'If I ruled the world'). The final battles, Illyria and Lindsey in particular making great entrances. The twists in the tale. Also it's a small scene but love Harmony and Angel's little heart to heart, so very different but so very alike, Harmony actually misses being human a little but she's still evil.
The Bad;
Why didn't Joss do a commentary for the last ep of one of his finest creations? Richard Burton is a Welsh actor, not English. Angel says he doesn't remember what it was like to be human but he was human only 4 years ago in 'I will remember you' which was more recently than Harmony was (or was he leading Harmony on?). Jeff Bell's right, the cloaks the Fell Breathren wear make them look like football players on the bench.
Best line; plenty to choose from, best written shows on TV and they saved some of the best until last;
Angel; (getting pounded by Marcus) "Kinda hoped the fight would be going a little better"
followed by
Connor (punching Marcus and sending him flying) "Care about that dress for less!"
then
Marcus "I am a child of the Senior Partners, their strength flows through my veins, my blood is filled with their ancient power"
Angel (vamping out and biting him) "Can you guess the one word you shouldn't have mentioned?"
plus
Eve; "Are you sure you can handle the Sharvin?"
Lindsey; "They're sending me out with karaoke boy, how dangerous can it be?"
(oh the irony!)
Lorne; (shooting Lindsey) "I've heard you sing!"
and
Angel; (as WR&H collapses) "Time to go!"
Eve; "Go WHERE?"
also where else on TV would you get the line, Angel "The Fell Breathren, I want the baby returned to its' mother and the foster family dismembered"
Jeez, how did they get away with that?
Illyria makes trophies of the bad guys spines, glad we didn't get to see the eyeball thing! Gunn gives the demon Senator a splitting headache. Illyria gives Vail the mother of all uppercuts. Angel gets his own pen through his hand. It's a disgusting line but always makes me laugh, Vail "I crap better magic than this"
Apocalypses: 5
Angel Cliches
Subverting the Hollywood cliche; Lorne kills Lindsey, the clown becomes a tragic figure, much as in King Lear, his leaving incredibly poignant. We think Lindsey might actually be redeemed in typical Angel fashion but instead he gets two in the chest.
In disguise; 8
DB/JM get's his shirt off; 20
Cheap Angel; 8
Fang Gang in bondage:
Cordy: 5
Angel: 15
Wes: 8
Gunn; 8
Lorne; 6
Fred; 5
Spike; 6
Fang gang knocked out:
Cordy: 15
Angel: 20
Wes: 10
Doyle; 1
Gunn; 4
Lorne; 8
Groo; 1
Connor; 1
Faith; 1
Fred; 7
Spike; 5
Kills; Angel kills Marcus, Sebassis and the Pee-Pee demon. Illyria finally in the gang and kills Izzie, 3 humans(?) and Vail. Gunn kills the demon Senator and at least 2 of her vamps. Spike kills at least 3 of the Fell breathren. Lorne, who in 4 years of the most violent show on TV never killed anything kills Lindsey.
Cordy: 5 vamps, 3½ demons- 9 kills including those on Buffy
Angel; 48 vamps, 74 and 1/2 demons, 5 zombies, 14 humans, one werewolf and one cyborg- 144 kills including those on Buffy
Doyle; 1 vamp
Wes; 16 demons+5 vamps, 5 zombies, 4 humans, 2 cyborgs-32 kills
Kate; 3 vamps
Faith; 18 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.- 34 kills including those on Buffy
Gunn; 13 vamps+ 16 demons, 5 zombies, 1 human.- 35
Groo; 1 demon
Fred; 3 vamps+ 14 demons, 5 zombies-22
Connor; 16 vamps, 5 zombies, 4 demons, Jasmine-26
Spike; 21 vamps, 15 demons+1 human+one parasite-38
Illyria; 1 devil, 3 humans and whatever Cyrus Vail is?-5
Lorne; 1 human
so in the course of 5 seasons AI kill over 300 beings and they're the good guys! Most violent show on TV by a long chalk!
Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 3
Angel: 3
Gunn; 1
Wes; 1
Alternate Fang Gang;
Cordy: 4
Angel: 12
Fred; 3
Wes; 1
Gunn; 2
Connor; 1
Lorne; 1
Characters killed:
2268
Recurring characters killed; goodbye Wes. Gunn, Spike, Lorne etc have all made incredible emotional journey's over the course of the show but when you think how Wes first appeared in his Buffy debut 'Bad Girls' and how he dies here the contrast is INCREDIBLE! Yet totally believeable, a tribute to both writers and actor.
Perhaps I should include Lindsey too? But ultimately Angel believes he's evil and Lorne agrees having heard him sing. I'm not sure if he's evil per se as just ruthless in the pursuit of what he wants and jealous of Angel? If Angel hadn't taken over WR&H would he ever have come back to LA? Both he and Angel ignore the advice they gave each other at the end of Dead End and both pay for it.
People have pointed out that the only characters to feature in both the first and last eps of Angel;TS are Angel and Lindsey. But actually, excluding Buffy guest stars, the only regular or recurring characters to survive from the first season of the show to the end of the last episode are Angel, a dying Gunn and Kate who's off being an Assistant DA in New York.
14-Angel kills off a regular or recurring character every 7-8 episodes, like Buffy, the most ruthless show on TV
Total number of Angel Investigations; 6 with Illyria finally coming on board for the final battle but down to 4 in the end with Wes dead and Lorne gone.
Angel, Gunn, Illyria, Spike
Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 15
Wes; 2
Spike; 1
Packing heat; Lorne kills Lindsey with a silenced pistol
Wes; 14
Doyle; 1
Angel; 5
Gunn; 3
Fred; 5
Lorne; 1
Notches on the Scooby bedpost;
Cordy: 5 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo+Connor plus possibly the Beast
Angel: 7; Buffy, Darla, The Transcending Furies, Eve, Nina
Wes; 3 definite; Virginia, the bleached blonde and Lilah, 2 possible, Justine, Fred
Gunn; 2 Fred and Gwen.
Fred; 1 Gunn, 1 possible Wes
Groo; 1Cordy
Spike; 3-Buffy, Anya, Harmony
Kinky dinky:
Harmony and Hamilton get it on, Harmony gorgeous in her undies as Playboy fans can attest to. Wes wonders if he should spend his last day with Mistress Spanksalot, is she the person he referred to with the handcuffs in Over the Rainbow? Whilst Spike wows the crowd with his poem dedicated to Cecilly/Halfyrek you wonder what they made of 'The Wanton folly of my mum"?
"You gave me life,
I sired you,
You claimed that I,
Desired you
You begged me so to take you
Appalled I then did stake you..."
Connor wonders if it's the werewolf side of things that attracts Angel to Nina and asks if there's "Fur flying". Connor now remembers his fling with Cordelia and thinks it 'Inappropriately erotic'. Lindsey comments that Eve is the one thing of his Angel never got his hands on, she doesn't seem to have told Lindsey about her Halloween tryst with him.
Captain Subtext;
Illyria starts to show feelings for Wes and Gunn, maybe too late for both. Angel gives Marcus a hell of a hickey! When Angel boasts to Connor about his nice handwriting Connor replies "You girl!" Nice little goodbyes between Wes and Gunn, Wes and Angel and Lorne. Angel tells Sebassis that if he wants to kill Spike then they may have to kiss. Angel tells Lindsey "I want you" but both decide he should rephrase that remark. Illyria-as-Fred refers to Wes as 'My Wesley', just as Lilah calls him in 'Home'.
Know the face, different character; 7
Parking garages;
10,
Guantanamo Bay;
Angel and co discover that all the evil in the world is run by this secret society and decide to change things by slaughtering each and every one of them and to hell with the consequences! Angel's method of killing Sebassis is particularly clever, a real Keyzer Soze moment.
Buffy characters on Angel; 17
Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony. POSSIBLY The First Evil, Andrew.
What the fanficcers thought; .
Plenty of fanfic concentrating on what happened after the final fadeout. Buffy and co showing up and annihilating the demon armies as part of Angel's trap a firm favourite or Angel zapping them all into another dimension which is why he chose the old magic alley where Connor was born etc. The Last Night, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net Plenty of Buffy/Angel live happily ever after fic and just as much Buffy/Spike. Also read a couple of nice ones about Harmony, one where she opens up Angel's reference for her, reads it out loud and promptly bursts into flames due to the spell concealed in the wording and one where she opens it up, reads it out loud and promptly get's her soul restored by the same. Plus Connor and Dawn hooking up.
Oh, plus Wes and Mistress Spanksalot
Happy endings for any fanfic that upset you here; The Rape of Buffy, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net
Missing scenes;
Now if you read the comics Angel defeats WR&H's armies by convincing the dragon to change sides and then saves Gunn by vamping him as he did with the sailor Lawson in 'Why we fight'. He and the others then make their way through post-apocalyptic Hell-on-earth-LA with ghost Wes as his advisor.
Questions and observations;
Angel turns the power of the senior partners against them, taking the power of Marcus' blood and using it to defeat him. Does this now mean that Angel is a child of the senior partners? What happens to Eve? Does she survive the fall of WR&H? Where does Lorne go, back to Pylea?
Whenever I watch the last ep of Buffy I always drink a bottle of champagne at the end. Don't do that with Angel, it has a different vibe to it. But just as good! Connor goes from a dislikeable character in season 3/4 to an acceptable one in 'Origin' to actually likeable here. So wonderful to see Anne again, lovely touch. So if Angel has signed away his destiny to become human does that mean it's definitely Spike? Is that why Marcus is now prepared to kill Angel? Are Illyria's tears all part of her Fred illusion or are they real and for Wes? Who are the producers Jeff Bell thanks but is not allowed to mention? Spike refers to the 'Manson family' whom he also mentioned in The Yoko factor (their infamous massacre supposedly inspired by the Beatles' song Helter Skelter which was one of Adam's favourites). Gunn refers to Illyria as Blue Thunder. Wes says the first lesson of being a Watcher is to seperate truth from illusion. On TV there's a small thank you scene to the fans at the end of the ep but not on the DVDs.
Marks out of 10; need you ask? 10/10
Jeff Bell thanks us for watching the series. No Jeff, thank you and everyone else for making it. Angel and co are still out there slaying the dragon. And so should we be. C'mon everybody let's go to work!
NOT FADE AWAY
The Good;
The last day for the staff of Angel Investigations (especially poignant for Lorne/Andy Hallet who sings a wonderful version of 'If I ruled the world'). The final battles, Illyria and Lindsey in particular making great entrances. The twists in the tale. Also it's a small scene but love Harmony and Angel's little heart to heart, so very different but so very alike, Harmony actually misses being human a little but she's still evil.
The Bad;
Why didn't Joss do a commentary for the last ep of one of his finest creations? Richard Burton is a Welsh actor, not English. Angel says he doesn't remember what it was like to be human but he was human only 4 years ago in 'I will remember you' which was more recently than Harmony was (or was he leading Harmony on?). Jeff Bell's right, the cloaks the Fell Breathren wear make them look like football players on the bench.
Best line; plenty to choose from, best written shows on TV and they saved some of the best until last;
Angel; (getting pounded by Marcus) "Kinda hoped the fight would be going a little better"
followed by
Connor (punching Marcus and sending him flying) "Care about that dress for less!"
then
Marcus "I am a child of the Senior Partners, their strength flows through my veins, my blood is filled with their ancient power"
Angel (vamping out and biting him) "Can you guess the one word you shouldn't have mentioned?"
plus
Eve; "Are you sure you can handle the Sharvin?"
Lindsey; "They're sending me out with karaoke boy, how dangerous can it be?"
(oh the irony!)
Lorne; (shooting Lindsey) "I've heard you sing!"
and
Angel; (as WR&H collapses) "Time to go!"
Eve; "Go WHERE?"
also where else on TV would you get the line, Angel "The Fell Breathren, I want the baby returned to its' mother and the foster family dismembered"
Jeez, how did they get away with that?
Illyria makes trophies of the bad guys spines, glad we didn't get to see the eyeball thing! Gunn gives the demon Senator a splitting headache. Illyria gives Vail the mother of all uppercuts. Angel gets his own pen through his hand. It's a disgusting line but always makes me laugh, Vail "I crap better magic than this"
Apocalypses: 5
Angel Cliches
Subverting the Hollywood cliche; Lorne kills Lindsey, the clown becomes a tragic figure, much as in King Lear, his leaving incredibly poignant. We think Lindsey might actually be redeemed in typical Angel fashion but instead he gets two in the chest.
In disguise; 8
DB/JM get's his shirt off; 20
Cheap Angel; 8
Fang Gang in bondage:
Cordy: 5
Angel: 15
Wes: 8
Gunn; 8
Lorne; 6
Fred; 5
Spike; 6
Fang gang knocked out:
Cordy: 15
Angel: 20
Wes: 10
Doyle; 1
Gunn; 4
Lorne; 8
Groo; 1
Connor; 1
Faith; 1
Fred; 7
Spike; 5
Kills; Angel kills Marcus, Sebassis and the Pee-Pee demon. Illyria finally in the gang and kills Izzie, 3 humans(?) and Vail. Gunn kills the demon Senator and at least 2 of her vamps. Spike kills at least 3 of the Fell breathren. Lorne, who in 4 years of the most violent show on TV never killed anything kills Lindsey.
Cordy: 5 vamps, 3½ demons- 9 kills including those on Buffy
Angel; 48 vamps, 74 and 1/2 demons, 5 zombies, 14 humans, one werewolf and one cyborg- 144 kills including those on Buffy
Doyle; 1 vamp
Wes; 16 demons+5 vamps, 5 zombies, 4 humans, 2 cyborgs-32 kills
Kate; 3 vamps
Faith; 18 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.- 34 kills including those on Buffy
Gunn; 13 vamps+ 16 demons, 5 zombies, 1 human.- 35
Groo; 1 demon
Fred; 3 vamps+ 14 demons, 5 zombies-22
Connor; 16 vamps, 5 zombies, 4 demons, Jasmine-26
Spike; 21 vamps, 15 demons+1 human+one parasite-38
Illyria; 1 devil, 3 humans and whatever Cyrus Vail is?-5
Lorne; 1 human
so in the course of 5 seasons AI kill over 300 beings and they're the good guys! Most violent show on TV by a long chalk!
Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 3
Angel: 3
Gunn; 1
Wes; 1
Alternate Fang Gang;
Cordy: 4
Angel: 12
Fred; 3
Wes; 1
Gunn; 2
Connor; 1
Lorne; 1
Characters killed:
2268
Recurring characters killed; goodbye Wes. Gunn, Spike, Lorne etc have all made incredible emotional journey's over the course of the show but when you think how Wes first appeared in his Buffy debut 'Bad Girls' and how he dies here the contrast is INCREDIBLE! Yet totally believeable, a tribute to both writers and actor.
Perhaps I should include Lindsey too? But ultimately Angel believes he's evil and Lorne agrees having heard him sing. I'm not sure if he's evil per se as just ruthless in the pursuit of what he wants and jealous of Angel? If Angel hadn't taken over WR&H would he ever have come back to LA? Both he and Angel ignore the advice they gave each other at the end of Dead End and both pay for it.
People have pointed out that the only characters to feature in both the first and last eps of Angel;TS are Angel and Lindsey. But actually, excluding Buffy guest stars, the only regular or recurring characters to survive from the first season of the show to the end of the last episode are Angel, a dying Gunn and Kate who's off being an Assistant DA in New York.
14-Angel kills off a regular or recurring character every 7-8 episodes, like Buffy, the most ruthless show on TV
Total number of Angel Investigations; 6 with Illyria finally coming on board for the final battle but down to 4 in the end with Wes dead and Lorne gone.
Angel, Gunn, Illyria, Spike
Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 15
Wes; 2
Spike; 1
Packing heat; Lorne kills Lindsey with a silenced pistol
Wes; 14
Doyle; 1
Angel; 5
Gunn; 3
Fred; 5
Lorne; 1
Notches on the Scooby bedpost;
Cordy: 5 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo+Connor plus possibly the Beast
Angel: 7; Buffy, Darla, The Transcending Furies, Eve, Nina
Wes; 3 definite; Virginia, the bleached blonde and Lilah, 2 possible, Justine, Fred
Gunn; 2 Fred and Gwen.
Fred; 1 Gunn, 1 possible Wes
Groo; 1Cordy
Spike; 3-Buffy, Anya, Harmony
Kinky dinky:
Harmony and Hamilton get it on, Harmony gorgeous in her undies as Playboy fans can attest to. Wes wonders if he should spend his last day with Mistress Spanksalot, is she the person he referred to with the handcuffs in Over the Rainbow? Whilst Spike wows the crowd with his poem dedicated to Cecilly/Halfyrek you wonder what they made of 'The Wanton folly of my mum"?
"You gave me life,
I sired you,
You claimed that I,
Desired you
You begged me so to take you
Appalled I then did stake you..."
Connor wonders if it's the werewolf side of things that attracts Angel to Nina and asks if there's "Fur flying". Connor now remembers his fling with Cordelia and thinks it 'Inappropriately erotic'. Lindsey comments that Eve is the one thing of his Angel never got his hands on, she doesn't seem to have told Lindsey about her Halloween tryst with him.
Captain Subtext;
Illyria starts to show feelings for Wes and Gunn, maybe too late for both. Angel gives Marcus a hell of a hickey! When Angel boasts to Connor about his nice handwriting Connor replies "You girl!" Nice little goodbyes between Wes and Gunn, Wes and Angel and Lorne. Angel tells Sebassis that if he wants to kill Spike then they may have to kiss. Angel tells Lindsey "I want you" but both decide he should rephrase that remark. Illyria-as-Fred refers to Wes as 'My Wesley', just as Lilah calls him in 'Home'.
Know the face, different character; 7
Parking garages;
10,
Guantanamo Bay;
Angel and co discover that all the evil in the world is run by this secret society and decide to change things by slaughtering each and every one of them and to hell with the consequences! Angel's method of killing Sebassis is particularly clever, a real Keyzer Soze moment.
Buffy characters on Angel; 17
Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony. POSSIBLY The First Evil, Andrew.
What the fanficcers thought; .
Plenty of fanfic concentrating on what happened after the final fadeout. Buffy and co showing up and annihilating the demon armies as part of Angel's trap a firm favourite or Angel zapping them all into another dimension which is why he chose the old magic alley where Connor was born etc. The Last Night, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net Plenty of Buffy/Angel live happily ever after fic and just as much Buffy/Spike. Also read a couple of nice ones about Harmony, one where she opens up Angel's reference for her, reads it out loud and promptly bursts into flames due to the spell concealed in the wording and one where she opens it up, reads it out loud and promptly get's her soul restored by the same. Plus Connor and Dawn hooking up.
Oh, plus Wes and Mistress Spanksalot
Happy endings for any fanfic that upset you here; The Rape of Buffy, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net
Missing scenes;
Now if you read the comics Angel defeats WR&H's armies by convincing the dragon to change sides and then saves Gunn by vamping him as he did with the sailor Lawson in 'Why we fight'. He and the others then make their way through post-apocalyptic Hell-on-earth-LA with ghost Wes as his advisor.
Questions and observations;
Angel turns the power of the senior partners against them, taking the power of Marcus' blood and using it to defeat him. Does this now mean that Angel is a child of the senior partners? What happens to Eve? Does she survive the fall of WR&H? Where does Lorne go, back to Pylea?
Whenever I watch the last ep of Buffy I always drink a bottle of champagne at the end. Don't do that with Angel, it has a different vibe to it. But just as good! Connor goes from a dislikeable character in season 3/4 to an acceptable one in 'Origin' to actually likeable here. So wonderful to see Anne again, lovely touch. So if Angel has signed away his destiny to become human does that mean it's definitely Spike? Is that why Marcus is now prepared to kill Angel? Are Illyria's tears all part of her Fred illusion or are they real and for Wes? Who are the producers Jeff Bell thanks but is not allowed to mention? Spike refers to the 'Manson family' whom he also mentioned in The Yoko factor (their infamous massacre supposedly inspired by the Beatles' song Helter Skelter which was one of Adam's favourites). Gunn refers to Illyria as Blue Thunder. Wes says the first lesson of being a Watcher is to seperate truth from illusion. On TV there's a small thank you scene to the fans at the end of the ep but not on the DVDs.
Marks out of 10; need you ask? 10/10
Jeff Bell thanks us for watching the series. No Jeff, thank you and everyone else for making it. Angel and co are still out there slaying the dragon. And so should we be. C'mon everybody let's go to work!
