Close to broadcast, so I won’t bother with black boxes.
Wow. I missed Cordy (and Charisma Carpenter looks even better from having had a kid). Apart from Spike, no one has such to the point and snarky lines as she does. This was a really, really fun episode: “Dinner and a show - and you’re both.”
I liked the way they resolved some loose ends, set up the rest of the season and twisted it around yet another time. Fury wrote and directed and he surely hasn’t lost his touch. My only complaint would be that the thing with the monster rising up didn’t look very sturdy.
Great lines, snappy dialogue, lotsa cleavage. Lindsey sadly gone and happily, Eve too.
Even the small dose of Harmony was fun.
I’m not too coherent, since it’s 1.30 in the morning, but for me, this was the best ep this season.
And that ending… well, I actually got a little emotional.
Jossverse score: 8/10
Yessss. This was the Angel that I remember. Favorite moment was rather meta: I cringed slightly when Lindsey mentioned losing his hand (I’d prefer that he just kept to a “I feel your pain” remark and let us feel smart for remembering it, but then they made it into a plot point. Wonderful.
Least favorite was probably either the yoinking of the magic crystal or Lindsey’s ignoring of Cordelia while fighting Angel. That was a very cool fight scene, but everyone involved was rather stupid.
How much have I missed Cordelia. It was amazing to see Charisma again. This ep was even better than last week’s, and I didn’t think that was possible. This had it all, though. Humor, drama, a fight scene, and Cordelia verbally kicking Eve’s butt. Made the ending that much more heartbreaking.
Oh, and Angel’s throwaway line was my favorite of the night: “Did you just call me a tit?”
God damn did Cordy look good. When I first saw her I thought, “Who the hell looks that hot after a long coma?”
Solid episode. I liked a lot of what happened and that there is no clue of what is to come. I was particularly happy with how the Cordy situation was resolved. I expected that she was going to have another white light ascension but the way they did it caught me by surprise and really drove home the hurt of Angel and the rest of the gang.
I forgot to add to my previous post, that I thought it was especially poignant to see Glenn Quinn as Doyle again. I think Cordelia knew she was going to die, and that was why she was watching the tape and spoke to Angel of the sacrifice he made.
You know what bugged me? The real Cordy died alone and unconscious in bed. The projected, PTB version got all the good lines and the big smoochy scene.
Well, it’s not like being dead is an impediment to character growth in the Jossverse
I got the feeling that we were seeing the “real” Cordy…as if her “soul” was being projected out of body and she knew this was her final “mission”. I could be very wrong though
That was a great episode, I even got all misty eyes. I am wondering if Cordy gave her visions to Angel in their kiss. That is how Doyle gave the visions to her. Also I hope that is the last I ever see of Eve. She should have been sucked up to see the senior partners and Linsey should have stuck around, he’s great.
Great episode. Nice plot points, good pacing, resolved storylines, some character development, and great humor.
Only negative for me was losing Lindsey (but who knows if we’ve seen the last of him) and too much fang-fu. The fights are OK, but the Crouching Demon - Soaring Vampire stuff looks like someone in the wire fighting dept is just showing off.
I loved Spike’s description of how evil tastes. Harmony was used very well, that’s the type of role she should play. Was that Fred falling for Wes during the spell? CC looked hot! And her smile is killer. Was that Gunn wanting to get back to his roots and kick some ass?
I’ve known about the ending for a week and I’m sitting over here crying like a little girl. The only time I’ve cried like this is when Spike died, but at least I knew Spike was coming back.
I don’t really get Lindsey’s power was related to the demon larynx in the machine. It was a dual-function thing? It gave Lindsey power and it freed some huge beast?
Great episode, though. I probably should have guessed what was happening when Angel goes in the hospital room and sees a patient lying there in a coma, before ghost-Cordy says hi.
No, the tattoos weren’t related to the thing in the box. They were destroyed by the ritual Wesley and Fred were casting up in the boardroom.
Irrational nitpick: Spike was making Donkey Kong references while playing an X-Box. And it was making arcade game noises! What the hell game was that? I totally recognized the sounds. However, his frustration with the game was very true-to-life, so I forgive.
Overall, a powerhouse episode. A wonderful exit for Cordelia, although character deaths have lost a lot of their impact in the Jossverse since Jenny Calender got her neck snapped. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see her show up again at some point.
One thing I halfway expected was for the mystery monster box to open and Connor to spring out, still all crazy and Oedipal and foaming at the mouth to kill Angel, and the whole “new life and new memories” thing to have been a W&H doublecross.
I’ll say it again - damn, I missed Cordy. And Charisma Carpenter looked better than ever. The show is seriously lacking from a strong female lead. I know a lot of fans are partial to Fred, but the character is just too mousy to ballance Angel or Spike. Neither Eve, nor Harmony can do that either.
One thing though - I’m not totally convinced that I buy the whole memory wipe. If Wes remembered Lilah in that way, and Cordy said she was sorry, it doesn’t mesh. Wes was attracted to Lilah when he was flirting with the dark side, and he was doing that because of the whole Connor business. I expect mind wiping to start unravelling soon, but hopefully without Connor.
Eh. I agree that Charisma Carpenter is most hot, and she went out on a good note. But the episode just drove home the fact that “Angel” will always be “Angel,” and that last season was an aberration. They’re clearly making things up as they go along; there’s just no other explanation for why the series keeps introducing characters and plot twists and then just pissing them away. They’d managed to write themselves free from tons of weak stuff from earlier in the series (Wolfram & Hart, Lindsay, misunderstood or hoax prophecies) and then just bring it right back again. They introduce Eve as a foil for everyone, and then just reduce her to being a sidekick to a boring villain from season one.
They were on the right track with last season, where one episode actually flowed into the next, where the season told a whole story instead of sputtering along, and, most importantly: where they didn’t need to keep introducing villains, but kept the conflict mostly within the core cast of characters. So right when the show starts to feel focused and the characters are starting to show some depth, they do a “reboot” and give us this meandering season. Has there been a single real payoff from anything in the beginning of the season? Spike’s return? Harmony’s return? Eve as a foil for Angel? Fred’s love interest? Gunn’s deal with the senior partners? If there has been, I missed it.
That, plus the fact that the teaser trailer for next week’s episode looked like an episode of “Charmed,” convinced me to give up the show once and for all. (Again). I thought “Charmed” was supposed to be the cheesy rip-off of Buffy & Angel, not vice versa!
They were Donkey Kong noises. Unless Spike & Lindsey had somehow set up their Xbox to run MAME I don’t see how he could’ve been doing that, but I guess you’ve got to take what you can get with TV shows and computer-related equipment.
Actually, I disagree that they’re making things up as they go along. If anything, to me last season seemed to be jerking along and totally topsy turvey. “OH my god! It’s the beast! OH NO!” oh wait. he’s dead. “OH MY GOD! IT’S ANGELUS! OH NO!” Oh wait, we catch him before he actually kills anybody. “OH MY GOD! FAITH IS BACK! WHAT WILL SHE DO?!” Well, not a whole hell of a lot. “OH MY GOD! CORDELIA IS REALLY THE BIG BAD!” Well, except she’s not. “OH MY GOD! THE PTB FIXED EVERYTHING! OUR LIVES ARE A LIE” Well, except that’s not ever brought up again. Stupid Skip. “OH MY GOD! JASMINE IS THE BIG BAD! HOW WILL WE KILL HER?! HOW?!??” Oh, a punch through the head. No biggie.
And BTW, Minear and Joss both said most of S4 was made up as they went along to accomadate CC’s pregnancy. Several of the “brilliant” plot twists happened because CC needed bed rest, couldn’t film on certain days, was starting to show, etc etc.
By the way, I think your analysis of Season 4 is spot-on. It had some great episodes, and overall I think Angel deals with an unfocused season better than Buffy did, but I didn’t care too much for Season 4. It was too fractured. Of course, it might appear better when I can watch it all at once when the DVDs come out.
My favorite season is still Season 2. One of my favorite episodes, period, was Hero from Season 1, so it was nice to see them show Doyle again this last episode. Especially since he’s the one character who will never, ever come back.
