Angel winding down

Drolgin Steingrinder · Post by **Drolgin Steingrinder** » May 7, 2004, 10:43 am

So, how are people feeling about how Josh and his writers are winding down Angel?

I have to admit I felt a little cheated at all the hints to Buffy and The Immortal when neither of them were even seen in the fucking episode. I hate stuff like that, argh. But that aside, I laughed a lot (and not just at David Boreanaz' pitiful attempts at an irish accent) as I always do at the Angel / Spike banter. Just don't really feel that the last episode *got* us anywhere, considering that we're just 2 episodes away from The End.

I'm worried that they're gonna do some deus ex machina idiocy (probably involving Illyria / Fred) to "fix" everything, leaving us all with a feeling of "meh" instead of "wow".

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » May 7, 2004, 10:51 am

Best guess on that last episode was to give the pair (Angel, Spike) some closure and to provide the last "comedic relief" episode of the series. They frequently do this.. you can remember the numerous "Xander Episodes" that dotted B:TVS to break the tension in certain storylines (Xander vs The Troll that Anya and Willow summoned, Xander and the Love Spell, ect).

As for The Immortal, I don't recall ever seeing hm before in the Buffy-verse.. I thought it added well to the way that he was always jerking Angel and Spike around. As for Buffy herself, it was reported that SMG wanted to be in it but she was locked in a production contract and couldn't get out of it.

I don't know what to make of the preview for next week's. That rang off very omnious with me, and it looked like Angel was going back into The Wrath - could it be that he's finally decided that he doesn't *want* to be human again to give up his powers and whatnot?. (Btw, MAJOR props to them for pulling Gunn out like they did, that was great.)

As for the Fred subplot.. if Wesley makes it out of the series without cutting his own throat, I'll be greatly surprised.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » May 7, 2004, 11:44 am

I don't think we're going to get a lot of closure. Joss has said that they plan the end the season like they were before the cancellation. I also don't think we'll see any of the characters dying... they want to keep the option open to do TV movies based on Angel.

As for the last episode, no, it didn't really advance the storyline at all. The previous week had ended with Angel seemingly coming to some realization and "getting down to business" like he had some plan and using W&H as it was intended was part of it? I dunno. But this weeks episode was fucking hilarious. Spikes recolection of the last time he was in Italy killed me. "Ciao. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao." It had Andrew, so there was some comedy there too, but sorta subdued. It was eerie seeing Fred as Fred for some reason. I don't like the Elyria thing at all, and I think the character is a deadend.

Anyways, enough rambling. Ciao.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » May 7, 2004, 12:47 pm

I hated that little twerp for those two girls he had at the end.
Not right, not right at all.

Etasi · Post by **Etasi** » May 7, 2004, 6:01 pm

I'm pretty disappointed with the lack of depth the characters seem to have on Angel now. Spike turned out to be one of the best and most interesting characters on Buffy, and now he's reduced to comedy relief. I would rather they'd left the Spike-Buffy thing alone if all they planned to do was make both characters look stupid. Buffy in Rome, doing some guy called the Immortal? What a crappy way for her character to end up, especially considering she isn't even in the episode.

A lot of the Angel vs Spike stuff seems forced, too. Spike isn't the same Spike he was when Angel was still on Buffy, but now that they're back together, the writers are acting as though nothing has changed. So once again, they avoid all opportunities to provide either character with some depth. That's one thing I've never liked about Angel, though. They want you to think he's really tortured etc but it's been pretty hard to get a sense of the more subtle things going on with that character. I think it's probably because David Boreanaz sucks though.

They ruined Fred, the best character on the show (Gunn is interesting too but he gets like 10 minutes of screen time a week) and now she's stuck playing the "I don't understand your human world" character that's been done to death on sci fi shows in the past. The Wesley-Fred thing could have been interesting, but not like this. It's too cliche and uninteresting, and the way they're writing it is only making it worse.

I've enjoyed watching Angel but haven't felt compelled to watch every episode the way I did with Buffy. So in a sense I guess it's fitting that I only sort of care how they end the series.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » May 14, 2004, 12:18 pm

The one on wed was amazing.
I think I'm going to like the finale.

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » May 16, 2004, 1:57 am

Akaran_D wrote:The one on wed was amazing.
I think I'm going to like the finale.

I completely agree and hope some other network takes advantage of the WB's foolishness and picks up Angel for a few more seasons.