Angel season 5 review (I'm gonna spoil all over, and maybe piss some fans off)
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Monday, June 12, 2006 02:53
VIEWED: 5304
PAGE 2 of 4
Originally posted by Grounded:
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It's the final season - everyone is making a farewell appearance!
:D Granted. But what I was refering to was Lindsey coming back... Just what was the point? We'd been over this: Angel whoops his arse! Lindsey is pissed! Angel whoops Lindsey's Arse!! Again and again and again... ad infinitum, ad nauseum (for me at least)
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I dunno on this one. I wasn't the Illyria fan that everyone else was, but I think it was an interesting move to make. Not every character death can be heroic and meaningful - the final scene of Shells really gets me every time *sniff*
Nor me - but I can honetsly say I saw this coming a mile off. Maybe by now I was too familiar with Joss' reluctance/inability to contrive a working relationship, and frankly the premise of another relationship falling apart had kinda done it's thing with me. Especially as after the Fred/Gunn relationship falling apart neither character developed as a consequence.
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Um possibly to address the Shanshu prophecy issues his soul brings up? I think Spike should have crossed over to Angel way earlier.
Possibly... Yes you're right, possibly... But I think this was the kind of thing that I had trouble with. And NO thank god they didn't bring Spike in sooner.
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Actually, they did know where they were going. (I forget where I saw it mentioned, but there are Circle of the Black Thorn logos visible even in the earliest eps.) And apparently, nothing was changed for the finale post cancellation.
Yeah I read this too somewhere... Maybe it was here I'm not sure. I had trouble with the finale. It's mentioned above that the premise of 'No rest for the wicked' was the arc for this show - but I frankly think that not the case, otherwise it makes every effort Angle went through as meaningless and therefore why show any of his escapades.
No I think there must be a conclusion there somewhere. After all you've taken your audience for a journey for five seasons in which you drop little teasers of prophecies, vampires becoming human, end of the world etc etc. To turn those notions against the ethos of the show because you can is redundant to the shows mantra.
I know I'm a grumpus! It's just that I found Angel to have some wonderfully profound notions through-out and I guess I was looking for a resolution that said something more. To say: "Evil comes we fight it, evil comes we continue to fight it..."
.... Well they pretty much established that in season 1 and they certainly said it in Buffy.
But rest assured I'm not trying to convince you otherwise to your opinions and frankly I'm grateful for such contrasts because when I re-watch Angel I'll do so with others' ideas in mind.
The
Somnambulist
www.cirqus.com
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Originally posted by Grounded:
Speaking of which...top 5 for the season?
Destiny
Damage
You're Welcome
Power Play
Not Fade Away
And Smile Time gets honourable mention for extreme muppet-ness.
5 by 5 Chrisisall
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Quote:I guess that's about how I felt- amazing individual episodes that don't add up to a conclusion of any kind. Hell, Dark Angel's finale was all manner of closure-challenged, yet it had an enduring, final message in it that together, not individually, we find strength and hope, and that it is enough. Angel just seemed to say: Round 28 comming up! At least, that's mainly what I saw. Maybe I'll see more with subsequent viewings (and boy is this season re-watchable on many levels).
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
I found Angel to have some wonderfully profound notions through-out and I guess I was looking for a resolution that said something more. To say: "Evil comes we fight it, evil comes we continue to fight it..."
It just really needed one last season...
Demon Nation Chrisisall
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Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
It's just that I found Angel to have some wonderfully profound notions through-out and I guess I was looking for a resolution that said something more. To say: "Evil comes we fight it, evil comes we continue to fight it..."
.... Well they pretty much established that in season 1 and they certainly said it in Buffy.
Hmm. If you look at how they wrapped up S1, it was by giving Angel a goal, a potential reward. S5 deals with him coming to terms with the fact that perhaps this reward is not destined for him, and concludes with him realising that ultimately it's not important to him - he signs the prophecy away. I think that bookends things fairly nicely.
Since I haven't watched it for a while, and am having trouble coming up with a rebuttal for that "evil comes we fight it" summation, all I can do is what I normally do: criticise Buffy ;) If NFA left you wanting, what exactly in Chosen satisfied you? Chosen didn't have any new, profound message to close out the series. Or did I miss it?...
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Originally posted by chrisisall:
amazing individual episodes that don't add up to a conclusion of any kind.
I think the conclusion is that there can be no conclusion. Like TS says, maybe it's not a new statement, but I don't think it rings any less true here.
Top 5:
Destiny
A Hole In The World
Underneath
Smile Time
Not Fade Away
My DVDs should arrive soon, and then the rewatching shall commence :)
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Quote:Simply put: that all our efforts are not in vain. You don't know when it will come, but that realization is possible, just don't give up.
Originally posted by Grounded:
what exactly in Chosen satisfied you? Chosen didn't have any new, profound message to close out the series. Or did I miss it?...
And Buffy's smile. She deserved a smile like that.
And a cookie Chrisisall
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So, Chrisetc., do I get Buffy Season 1?
bun
~the usual~
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For me, the finale left me with these impressions:
It's Angel's way of telling The Powers That Be (TPTB) that they can hurt him, they can even kill him, but what they can't do is DEFEAT HIM. He changed the game, turned things around on them. He knows that he can't destroy them, but just by doing what he's doing, he can throw a serious monkey wrench into their well-laid plans. He's not going to play their games, he's not going to kow-tow to them; he's going to fight, and if it comes to that, he's going to die fighting.
Will he have any real effect on TPTB or their plans? Well, the simple fact that he was able to shake them up and force them to unleash every evil thing in the world upon him says that he can indeed have an impact on them, and has - while they can have no such impact on him. What can they do? Kill him? Who cares? He's already given away every single thing he might care to live for. It's Angel's way of saying that he might go down, but it won't be easy, and he'll go down fighting. As such, he wins. He becomes the one who wouldn't be controlled, and who wouldn't simply follow plans and play his part. Evil might always exist as long as there are men on Earth, but as long as Angel is alive, he'll fight that evil. He won't walk away, he won't just sit idly by and do nothing, and he won't give in; if TPTB are there, he'll be there, spoiling for a fight.
Plus, it was a chance for Angel to put on just a bit of Spikiness. To become a bit of his old, baudy Liam-self, just spoiling for a good fight, with nothing in it for him but the fight itself. And I don't know about you, but I always wanted to slay a dragon... :)
Mike
"Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right."
- Laurens van der Post
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Last:
I come away feeling that Angel satisfied the adolesent male in me, where Buffy satisfied the adult person in me, if that makes any sense.
Wow, therein lies the point. I have yet to see ALL the Buffy 'verse, from start to finish, but to date, I have a 180 degree view on Buffy/ Angel than you. I reserve the right to change my view later, but as of now, I rank Buffy last, then Angel and finally Firefly in order of goodness.
Buffy - ***
Angel - ****
Firefly - *****
We shall see.
People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:Simply put: that all our efforts are not in vain. You don't know when it will come, but that realization is possible, just don't give up.
Originally posted by Grounded:
what exactly in Chosen satisfied you? Chosen didn't have any new, profound message to close out the series. Or did I miss it?...
Hardly profound though is it? I mean that's practically the moral of every single hero/heroine movie/TV-show ever.
Anyway, I think the point with Angel's finale is 'don't give up' too. The difference being that in Angel's case there may never be an end to the fight, but that doesn't make the fight any less worthy. It comes back to the "if nothing we do matters, all that matters is what we do" line from Epiphany. Whether or not there's a reward or an ending, it's the willingness to fight on that's meaningful.
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Grounded Wrote:
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Hardly profound though is it? I mean that's practically the moral of every single hero/heroine movie/TV-show ever.
Grounded it was I who was refering to the profound ideas. It wasn't in reference to Buffy though, although I think Buffy had it's moments.
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Anyway, I think the point with Angel's finale is 'don't give up' too. The difference being that in Angel's case there may never be an end to the fight, but that doesn't make the fight any less worthy. It comes back to the "if nothing we do matters, all that matters is what we do" line from Epiphany. Whether or not there's a reward or an ending, it's the willingness to fight on that's meaningful.
You know I don't have any conflict with any of your points actually Grounded I think you're right, but perhaps, I lead my self up the garden path with it all, and expected something more resolute. I agree that, that is maybe the underlying message of the finalé, but personally for me, on this occasion it didn't cut it. Primarily because this idea had already been established, since as you pointed out, Epiphany.
With that in mind I just wonder at the purpose of the series thereafter...
Actually there's something else I'd like to ask you and others' in regard to the very end. I felt that Angel and co in that alley had all given up. Is that just me? I thought that final charge merely a gesture of defiance, but that there was a collective thought of: "We're going to die."
The
Somnambulist
www.cirqus.com
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