Angel - 05/07/03 - Home - Season Finale (spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

I’m not gonna give away the ending here, even in the box. Let me just say how beatiful I think it is, how they tie everything together.

On with the box:

[spoiler] I’m totally jazzed. I wanted 20 more minutes of Angel. They basically resolved everything, but at the same time so many new things popped up.
All very deftly made. From getting Angel to go to Sunnydale for the finale there, to cleaning up all loose ends, but one, and that’s minor, I think. Like a slight of hand, they just let us see anough, to follow the act, but never waste time on pointless exposition.

Basic plot. Lilah is there to make the Fang Gang an offer they can’t refuse (or can they?). It sounds dull, when I say most of the episode is a tour of the new, re-built Wolfram&Hart, but it’s not. I was on the edge of my seat, most of the time.

I loved the first minute, just after the credits roll. Gees, thak took balls from the producers, writers and directors. Especially with an episode, so crammed with information.

And the end scene is absolutely brilliant. For a number of reasons.
[/spoiler]

I do hope they’ll get renewed for next year. The way it ended - it can’t be allowed to end that way.

And even if there is a fifth season, it’s four months till it starts… And will they be able to do such a good job next year?

10/10

2

I agree completely, this is Angel at its very best. Why can’t Buffy be like this? I loved it. [spoiler]The first minute after the credits was brilliant.

The only part I didn’t like, was the plot device that Lilah gave Angel to help in Sunnydale, it seems like a shortcut for the writers. Still, it means that Angel’s going to Sunnydale, and that could be a good thing. Perhaps he’ll kill Kennedy for us (one can only hope).[/spoiler]
10/10 from me too.

3

Wow. I can’t see the episode, sadly (no TV anymore, and I can only get Buffys online!) but I did just read the summary.
Ditto on dying to see next season,

particularly because, if the ending really means what it seems to, then it probably means, well… something very cool, in terms of future casting possibilities.

But I’m not sure if I could describe the ending as beautiful, per se, because I don’t know how to feel about it.

The episode was hella creepy:

Largely because it’s not at all clear what the heck happened to the gang to convince them. I mean, what was up with Gunn and the panther? We don’t see the characters during the crucial moments when they change their minds, leaving their reasons very murky.

Wish I could have watched it for the first time instead of reading it, particularly because this sounded like a very nuanced, subtle episode in many respects.

4

No, the worst thing about Kennedy is that she’s kill-proof. They managed to introduce a character most people hate, and put her in exactly the position (Willow’s girlfriend) that is 100% die-proof, except perhaps at the very end (where it would be too late anyway), because they took so much flak on the “you played the old, gay people have sex and then one of them dies” cliche!

5

Gas: since I read, not watched, exactly what do you mean by “the first minute, after the credits roll” What took guts?

6

Apos:Before credits: Lilah offers them “the offer of a lifetime”. After credits: One whole minute of no dialogue, the Fang Gang just looks at each other and Lilah, before Gunn says “You wanna run that by us one more time?”. So Lilah told them the offer during the credits.

7

Lots of things going on off-camera in this ep… makes me wonder what else we’re missing.

8

Apos - Beautiful in the sense: “extremely well done” More about it in the box: Extra warning - it contains full spoilers for the very last scene of Angel.

It was a smooth as the ending in ‘North By Northwest’, where Cary Grant pulls up Eva Marie Saint, hanging (aptly from the cliff), and through swift cutting, he’s helping her aboard the train in the same fluid motion. What I mean is, the things that happened to Connor made sense. His reactions and actions in the episode were there for a reason, they tied in with everything he’s done, and is very consistent with his character. So how to get rid of him, without letting him die and still make Angel happy, more or less? They didn’t need to show what was done. That went on, off camera. So after Angel has his knife in the air, we swiftly find him outside looking in, and seeing that this is indeed what Connor wants and deserves from life. That’s good. It also fits with Angel’s character.
And the way they slipped it in to the audience with Fred saying “Who’s Connor?” I didn’t see this coming. I though Connor was bound to die, so it was a surprise. But the way they did it made perfect sense and even though it surprised me, I wasn’t grumbling and shaking my head, as I’ve done this season with Buffy.
That’s why it was beautiful. Classic storytelling for movies/tv.

I See Tom P answered your other question.

Oh and Tom P

The Sunnydale thing was a little lame, but at least they tied it in with Angel leaving for the finale there, while making as little fuzz about it as possible. One could only hope that things worked as smoothly with the storytelling in Sunnydale.

9

And spoilers for North by Northwest. :slight_smile:

Yeah: I meant that I felt emotionally uncertain about how I felt.

[spoiler]It makes sense, it does: but somehow it feels not only like giving up in a way Angel shouldn’t have just yet, but it was in the midst of a deal with the devil at the same time. Connor was a lost soul, but I was expecting him to go through an arc where he realized, as Angel said in Peace Out, that how and for why he was brought into the world doesn’t matter. As a character, Angel still had some fight in him for keeping his son: for getting to the place they were when they first fought in the danceclub, father and son, two champions, and it felt great.

And the FG not remembering him: how the heck is THAT going to work? I mean, Connor was central to the last two seasons: what will the gang have to have forgotten for all this to work? How will they even remember what happened to Cordy? It’s like a reverse Dawn.[/spoiler]

10

Just a note: Angel’s fate should be decided for good by next Monday. We’ll see. I hope Joss is throwing his full weight behind this one.

11

I missed the first 15 minutes. Help!

12

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt a tear drop over a TV show. The last one was buffy where she had to kill angel.

Oh.

My.

God.

How much is Angel willing to sacrifice for the good of this world? When does the balance, like they say is so important, finally even out?

I mean…first having to let his son be raised by his enemy, to at least let him be raised. Now having to erase him in order to allow him to be happy.

Damn.

13

I too thought the Sunnydale part was forced, but then I thought about it this way - how many other artifacts did W&H hold back from the FG/Scoobies that would’ve warded off other threats? Its just perfect of them to have the organization to gather up all the mystical shit they can get their hands on and hoard it for themselves. They are EVIL, after all. Makes perfect sense for them to have whatever’s needed in a neat manilla folder.

Shit, I’d love to go through their mail room.

14

Freakin’ A, dude!

Thus ends the best season of any show I’ve ever watched. Including Season 3 of Buffy.

So freakin’ good. I wasn’t expecting what happened with Connor, and I was just about wiping away tears when I understood it.

One question, though. Was I hallucinating, or was the limo driving Angel to see Connor driving on the left side of the road? Granted, I’ve drunk a lot of champagne tonight (getting married in three days, I got an excuse), but it sure looked to me as if it were.

If so, what’s the dealio? Is Connor being raised in an American-accented British Isle? Or was it an Eldritch Limo from Beyond, which manifests its powers partially through driving on the wrong side of the road?

If I was hallucinating, my apologies.

Daniel

15

My station garbled the last 5 minutes!!! ARRGH. Angel said something to the effect of: “In the spirit of compromise” to Lilah, and that was it.

Will someone pls recap the last 5 minutes? How did they erase Connor?

16

Shit. That was me, not Burundi.

Although, to be fair, she liked the episode too, and she also drank lots of champagne (she’s getting married in three days too, has an excuse).

I’m sure she’ll be along to comment. Apologies for the confusion.

Daniel

17

OK, I guess I need a bit of an explanation. I was doing other things while the show was on, and maybe missed something. I know some things were not shown, but dunno if this was one.Exactly what happened to Conner? Does he remember Angel, or was his mind wiped and he thinks that he was always with that new family? Where did that family come from?

18

Oh, man, Punditlisa. You missed the best part.

[spoiler]Simply put, Connor was shown in a happy family setting, sitting at a dinner his family was holding in honor of his testing in the top tenth of a percentile on some college prep test. He had a girlfriend and a loving family, and was happy.

Somehow, it seems, Wolfram and Hart arranged for the ultimate temptation for Angel, and Angel took it.[/spoiler]

Daniel

19

The end of “Home” reminded me of that Deep Space Nine episode where Worf had his brother’s memory wiped.

Did you all notice that the science guy, Knox, who showed Fred around, was played by the same actor who played psychology student/vampire Webs in “Conversations With Dead People” on Buffy earlier this season? ME loves to reuse guest actors.

Any guesses as to what the heck happened to Gunn in the White Room?

A fine, fine ending to a great season of Angel. I look forward to next season. And there will be a next season, even if it’s on UPN instead of the WB.

20

I’m betting Gunn and the jaguar merged somehow: it was an offer of real power, as opposed to just being the human being who hits things: Gunn is going to get to be a real superhero or something.

Re: my casting speculation, and Buffy faces we might see next season. Includes information from actors talking about their plans, so could be considered spoilerly for Angel- and is DEFINATELY somewhat spoilery for Buffy, because it may reveal which characters are alive after Buffy’s end (not that I know for sure that anyone dies on Buffy anyway):

[spoiler]Connor very much seems to be departing from the show: or at least losing regular status (wasn’t he a regular this season?). If so, that means that Spike is free to join the show, because he said he wouldn’t unless he could be one (hates dieing his hair for nothing), and the Angel team doesn’t have the money for any more regulars unless one leaves).

Nick Brendon (Xander) has made noises that he probably wouldn’t cross over, his character having no love for Angel. AH (Willow) and MT (Dawn) have both said that they are going to be looking at movies, so while it’s possible, it’s not likely.

ASH (Giles) sounds psyched, however. And SMG (Buffy) sounds like she’s willing to put in some guest spots.

No word on Faith, Andrew, Anya, Wood, Kennedy, or, most importantly, CLEM.
[/spoiler]

About the ending:


I still can’t get over this memory-loss thing. Why would Angel do that to his friends, without asking them first? How will things like Darla’s rebirth/vamping/death, Holtz’s life/death, etc. be handled? Are they forgotten too, or will the FG forget just the endings, and think they’re still around? Where will Wes think his neck scar came from? Do they remember Jasmine, the Beast, all that? If they don’t, it’s going to feel like a giant step backwards: all the major events that made them who they are: the very same events that led them to accept the W&H offer!

If Angel isn’t renewed, I’m gonna be soooooo pissed