I thought it was a perfect way to deal with the prophecy. Angel had been saying ‘fight because you know it’s the right thing to do. It doesn’t matter if you get a reward. It doesn’t even matter if you make a difference. Do it because it’s right.’
Signing that paper was proof that Angel no longer cared what happened to him as long as he could kill the Thorns.
Could it be argued that Angel became human in the moment he put the needs of others ahead of his own, just as Illyria just gaining some humanity?
Possibly, but I never got that Shanshu was a metaphor; in addition, if that’s the definition of humanity with which they are working, I’d argue that Angel became human years before.
Back to my Wesley-denial:
So in The Thin Dead Line Wes gets shot in the belly and dragged all over South Central for about 10 hours straight, and survives quite nicely. Got blowed up in *Shanshu *, and let’s not forget that throat-slicing-and-left-in-the-park-all-night business either. Now, some infirm red guy pokes a hole in him and he’s dead in four minutes? Phhtttthhhhtttt!
Oh look, pyramids!
I don’t see how Angel dying the way he did can be considered tragic. Isn’t he a champion? If he is, then that’s how he’s supposed to go. For a true hero dying heroicly in battle qualifies as natural causes. Buffy was a regular girl first and a hero second, so she gets a long, normal life, but Angel was a warrior, and true warriors go down in a blaze of glory.
Consider Beowulf, if you will. Think about how he died.
Chiming in a bit late, but I thought it was a perfect ending. I started watching it not sure what I hoped for as far as an ending. On the one hand, it wouldn’t have been true to the series to have it end on a happy note. On the other hand, I didn’t want a tragic ending. I really liked those characters and, while it would have been more believable to have it end in tragedy, part of me was screaming “don’t they deserve some happiness?” So I was a bit scared that no matter how it ended, I’d be dissapointed.
However, this ending was perfect. Just perfect. It wasn’t a dark tragedy, but it wasn’t a sappy, happy, all wrapped up in a neat little bow ending either. Wesley is dead (sob), Gunn most likely will be soon, and the probably others will be in some battle sooner or later even if not this one. But they went down fighting and with a sense of purpose. They’d accepted their fates and went to them willingly (if a bit reluctantly).
The only tragic figure is Lorne. I really felt for the guy.
As for the Shanshu sign away, it was quick, but to me it was that much more powerful. Sometimes, all your dreams and ambitions get wiped out in a matter of seconds with one act. So you have to deal with “what now, when everything I’ve been fighting for is over?” Similar, I guess, to athletes who spend years working and training for the Olympics only to have their dreams dashed with one, quick, career-ending injury. And similar to some of my own dreams that have ended just as quickly. Where do you go from there? What’s the point?
Angel’s answer was perfect: it’s the fight that counts, not the end result. And the answer is you keep fighting because that’s what you do.
Jean Kerr, the wife of drama critic Walter Kerr, once wrote something like, the difference between a drama critic and a member of the audience is that a drama critic says, this was a bad play, why is that? and the member of the audience says, this is a bad play, why was I born?
That explains why I wish there had been a slightly more hopeful note to the ending–I, as a human, am also headed towards an end, and I don’t particularly care to confront that. Or, in other words, Angel and Spike are dead, why was I born? 
That being said, the more I think about the ending, the more reconciled I become, because artistically, it did resonate. Angel was ready to go. Illyria was ready to go. Gunn was ready to go. Wesley was ready to rejoin Fred. Spike, having come full circle with his poetry being appreciated, was finally ready in a more than hell-bent way.
Lindsey had to go. Lorne wasn’t ready. Harmony wasn’t ready, but I think they let her off because they fell in love with the referral joke, I’ll bet.
(By the way, I missed that Spike was reading his own pre-vampire poetry until I read this thread. I thought it was just a zany touch. How incredibly cool.)
What’s with all this gloom n’ doom, people? Whedon himself said that he had planned a 6th season that dealt with the aftermath of Wolfram & Harts overthrow and that he considered that last episode an end to the Angel series only, not an end to Angel And Company. I could come up with half a dozen ways they could have come out that little scrape bloody but not beaten-some of them have been mentioned in this thread already.
I LOVED the episode. I think it ended perfectly. I’m going to have to go and watch it again later.
Wesley’s death made me cry. And Spike spending his perfect day reading poetry - wonderful!
I for one am only gloom ‘n’ doomy that the show’s over, not over the ending. As far as more Angel, Boreanaz has said he’s not particularly interested in doing any TV movies (although he’d consider a feature). As much as I’d like more Angel, given the ending I can’t quite get behind any more.
I finally watched the finale last night after struggling for two days to remain unspoiled. Somehow, I’d had a strange premonition that I’d hear the word “effulgent” again before the series ended.
I was initially disappointed by the ending (I think that, like merrily, I wanted a tomorrow). But as I read these posts and think about it, the series could not have ended more appropriately.
I’m going to miss my favorite alternate universe.
Sure, he wanted to do a sixth season. But he didn’t. He might do TV movies, and if he does, I’ll watch 'em, but that might never happen, either. Behind-the-scenes comments by the show’s creator do not factor into determining what I’m seeing on the screen means, and from what I saw, they’re pretty much hosed. I’m sticking with that until and unless they show up on some other screen at some point in the future.
I just saw the episode (thanks, TiVo!) and thought it was a perfect ending to the series. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the show; I’d stop watching when they did something insipid or predictable, and then get pulled right back in when they did something brilliant. I’ve missed a lot of the episodes, including the entire thing with Fred’s dying and Illyria’s taking her place. But based on the episodes I’ve seen, this was a perfect final episode to sum up everything in the series, and it actually makes me remember it fondly.
Exactly! They’ve said over and over again, in this ep and others, that the outcome of the battle isn’t what’s important; it’s that you choose to fight it. That’s what Gunn’s whole scene with the social worker was about, and what Angel’s scene with Lindsey was about.
Speculating about the outcome of the battle is kind of missing the point. There’s absolutely no way that the outcome could’ve been shown and still be satisfying. If the gang all died, then that’s obviously a downer, and what’s the point of showing them lose instead of having us remember them ready for a fight?
And if they had somehow managed to beat the hordes of demons, then what? As an argument to the “they won” theory, somebody earlier said that “they’ve fought off the Apocalypse time after time,” which just goes to show how perfect this ending was. If they’d survived and won, then they’d just have to fight off Evil the next time it came around. Look at what happened to Buffy after she’d help save the world – she went off to Italy to keep fighting evil and became completely uninteresting.
The Shroedinger’s Fang Gang ending is much better. They’ve neither won nor lost the battle, but they’ve won overall, because they decided to fight it.
And I have to say that I’ve enjoyed several episodes of “Angel” in the past, but I’ve never been genuinely moved. (Okay, except for the scene where Faith is trying to get Angel to kill her because she’s got so much guilt). But the scene with Wesley and Fred had me in tears – even with my missing the whole Illyria storyline. It was just perfectly written and perfectly acted.
BAND NAME!!!
The problem with this ep is that it highlighted a lot of the weaknesses of the season. It was a lot better than I expected, and though in theory it played fast and loose with things, thematically it was what the show needed. The season failed to set up the BT properly, and especially to get me to buy their sudden acceptance of Angel as a bad guy after only a couple of seeming evils from a previously unremmitting champion.
If they all died, it’s sort of a surprise to me. Frankly, this cast seemed to have much more of a future than the Buffy cast, or at least the Angel/Spike end of things did. Xander is way past his prime, Willow has that annoying girlfriend, and Buffy hasn’t been interesting as a character since the last time she got over having died. Giles was a strong character that became a weak background one for a season. Andrew is okay, but basically a throw off. Spike and Angel are the real moneymakers.
Wes was the best of them, but after they killed Fred, his arc was basically doomed, and it all went down in a way that’s unsatisfying in the way it’s SUPPOSED to feel unsatisfying. The only thing that still irks me about him is the evilninjarobots episode that apparently will remain an unanswered mystery.
All in all, I felt they squandered this season, but I guess under the restrictions they were under, it’s understandable. They went out real, real strong.
Just watched it on tape. The WB “thank you” seemed to be directed to the cast and crew of Angel, not the fans. As in, thanks for 5 years of excellent material despite never making us any money.
Lorne did not act on his own:
Lindsay: “It feels good to say ‘team’ and mean it.”
Lorne: [I forget exactly…he said either “today” or “so you say”]
Lindsay: “What, you don’t think a man can change?”
Lorne: “It doesn’t matter what I think. This is Angel’s plan.”
Lindsay: “You want me to sing?”
Lorne: “I’ve heard you sing…” BANG!
Clearly, this unsavory task was Angel’s plan, not Lorne’s, and no amount of singing/reading would make a difference. Lorne promised to finish it, and he did, but he made it clear that this was his final act under Angel’s orders.
Saw the final episode tonight shown on Space in Canada on Monday nights. This was following a day long Angel marathon showing episodes selected by fans.
On the bright side, we didn’t see the WB “thank you”; on the less-than-bright-side, I already knew what was coming from having read this thread (couldn’t help myself) and knew that I would be upset at Wes’s fate. And I was. It made me cry dammit.
Oh yeah. Nothing ever came of that episode, did it? Like, for example, who sent the Ninjabots. It was one of the best for the season, especially the ending.
From what I’ve heard… The black thorn symbol is on the ninjabots insides. So one could assume someone from the Black Thorns sent them.
FYI, here in Cincinnati the finale will be repeated at 8pm. I believe it’s on WB, but check your local guide.