Question Your opinions of Not Fade Away as the Angel finale?

[shadcat]

Just finished this episode and I was definitely shocked. I understand the way they ended it...it made sense. But if I was watching it at the time and it was cancelled I'd of been mad. It Just makes me sad, like most finales do. There was so much death in Angel, especially compared to Buffy. It makes me feel for Angel as all the loved ones he has die as he keeps fighting on.

And I'm mostly sad for myself, because now I have no more Buffy/Angel verse episodes to watch! 🙁 why hasn't there been a similar series made nowadays? haha

 

[ladydorotea]

Oh if you feel so down about NFA - which you should not, just go and get AtF comic - 17 issues all - don't bother with Buffy by Dark Horse - but AtF by IDW is written on the base of Joss' script for Angel S6 - it is quite good and can be read as an illustrated S6 script.

 

[Dagenspear]

The Angel finale is all about the message. "Not Fade Away" is what Angel and his Fang Gang have been about from the beginning, never giving up no matter how bad things get. Angel and pretty much the whole Fang Gang have all been fighting since the show started.

It didn't end up being something stupid like a giant battle with no real message **cough Buffy series finale "Chosen" cough**

I do understand why some people don't like "Not Fade Away", at the end of the day cliffhangers are still cliffhangers. But what changed my mind was when I considered the same message of "never giving up", and how this is what both Angel and his show have both been about. But still, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Ya know, the message of a show can illustrated and yet still have a conclusion. They aren't mutually exclusive. Kill Angel. Whatever. Have him giving his life to save the world. Anything, but leaving us to assume something, or rely on comics, or come to "our own conclusions."

---------- Post added at 10:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:36 PM ----------

I love so many things about this episode. It was very satisfying in a lot of ways and had a very final feel to it. But it still didn't feel like what the series had been building to. It just seemed lazy and was REALLY annoying.

 

[shadcat]

I love so many things about this episode. It was very satisfying in a lot of ways and had a very final feel to it. But it still didn't feel like what the series had been building to. It just seemed lazy and was REALLY annoying.

I agree about the confusion on what the series was "building up to." I felt like Angel's goal was the prophecy regarding becoming human - and that was set aside. Also, there wasn't much of a build up to the "Black Thorn"
Compared with Buffy, they devoted most of their last season to a storyline. (Although I didn't like the potential storyline much)
But the good thing was Angel finally took down Wolfram & Hart (I suppose)

 

[Dagenspear]

I agree about the confusion on what the series was "building up to." I felt like Angel's goal was the prophecy regarding becoming human - and that was set aside. Also, there wasn't much of a build up to the "Black Thorn"
Compared with Buffy, they devoted most of their last season to a storyline. (Although I didn't like the potential storyline much)
But the good thing was Angel finally took down Wolfram & Hart (I suppose)

No. Because W&H still exists by the end. All Angel did was kill their liason and piss them off.

 

[shadcat]

No. Because W&H still exists by the end. All Angel did was kill their liason and piss them off.

Ohh okay. That's why I put suppose as I wasn't really sure. I guess he "took them on" and destroyed their building at the least. 😛

 

[Enemies]

Compared with Buffy, they devoted most of their last season to a storyline.

I hear what you're saying with this but I think a big amount of Angel sums up to the fact it was cancelled fairly abruptly so they had to get their affairs in order before the series ran out. Hopefully given time and perhaps another series Angel would have produced much better results.

In ways I feel it made a great overall finale as I can't imagine where they would go from that if it was just a season finale. However as a young viewer at the time I was very much disappointed in it. I can see now why they did it and what it stands for but thats after a few more viewings and years more worldly experience. I think the worst bit for me is all the main character deaths, it felt like a lot to deal with in one season for me personally, such as the loss of Fred, Cordy, Wesley and pretty much Gunn as well as Lorne leaving. After that there was nothing left of Angel Investigations and the original and extended team. Perhaps that was the point, but for me it was just too much, there was nothing really left to occupy my attention after that. Purely because AI to me was mostly about the family aspect as well as the demon fighting. So once all of my favourite characters were gone, not much was left for me to enjoy.

 

[RogueDemonHunter]

NOT FADE AWAY WAS AMAZING IN MY OPINION! Ity re- ittirated Angel's main theme and message which is to always fight the good fight, and never give up. Angel knew they wouldnt mak eit, but he wanted to, as he put it, "Take a moment of glory to show the Senior Partners they don't own us"

 

[EvilWillow]

I thought it was poop, no offense. My expectations were high, and I feel I got shafted.

 

[SlayerFest]

I absolutely positively LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Not Fade Away. It's one of my favorite episodes of TV ever. It is my favorite episode of Angel, and one of my favorite episodes in the Buffyverse.


It is brilliant on so many levels, and I think the ending is perfect. Does it matter if they defeated the bad guys? Would they all have lived happily ever after? Does it matter if they died during the final fight? Unfortunately they are going to die someday while fighting evil.... does it really matter when?

Yes! I couldn't agree more. When I first watched it I was kind of in shock but...it was for the best. If Buffy had ended like that, before the final battle, I would have been beyond pissed. Even though the final battle was extremely cheesy...I'm glad that it ended the way it did.

However, Angel knew that there was no way in hell...that they were going to just "defeat the bad guys". There was just no way. The forces that they were up against were impossible to defeat. He knew that, but he still wanted to try. None of them cared if they died in the process (they cared to some extent, but I mean they were willing to risk their lives) ...at least they gave it a shot. To me, that's what the entire series was about. Fighting the good fight til the end, no matter what. You never stop fighting...and it was just perfect.

 

[Goby]

Yes! I couldn't agree more. When I first watched it I was kind of in shock but...it was for the best. If Buffy had ended like that, before the final battle, I would have been beyond pissed. Even though the final battle was extremely cheesy...I'm glad that it ended the way it did.

However, Angel knew that there was no way in hell...that they were going to just "defeat the bad guys". There was just no way. The forces that they were up against were impossible to defeat. He knew that, but he still wanted to try. None of them cared if they died in the process (they cared to some extent, but I mean they were willing to risk their lives) ...at least they gave it a shot. To me, that's what the entire series was about. Fighting the good fight til the end, no matter what. You never stop fighting...and it was just perfect.

Exactly and well said!!!! And Joss & Company were smart enough not to have some cheesy "magic door" for the Fang Gang to get to the Senior Partners, and then have them fight the Senior Partners and defeat evil forever. That would have been really, really lame. And thank God Buffy (SMG) wasn't there. This was about Angel. This was about his dearest friends. This was about paying the ultimate price.

I've quoted "For Whom The Bell Tolls" before, and I'm going to do it again:

"I have fought for what I believe in for a year now. If we win here we will win everywhere. The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it."

NFA is perfect!!!

 

[Scoonie12g]

The first time I saw the finale I was disappointed. It felt incomplete and to be honest, I was kind of angry about it. But the more I thought about it, and the subsequent viewings of the show that I had, my viewpoint completely changed. I no longer felt "angry" about the ending, but instead, I began to view it for its brilliance.

"Angel" was never meant to have a "happy" ending tied up in a pretty bow, like Buffy at the end of season seven. His journey was about the never ending fight for redemption for his past sins as Angelus, and the ending emphasized that point. Like someone else already said, it was about fighting the good fight until the end. I think "Not Fade Away" did a beautiful job of depicting that and I now view it as the greatest finale of any show I've ever seen.