The One and Only Angel Season 5 Thread

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Didn't see tonights episode, so I can't comment. I didn't like the idea especially since they are building to the end of the show, but I assume they planned this with the intention of getting SMG for the role - which would have brought this eps. stock up significantly.

 

To say it's "NO where" near Buffy Season 5 is a bit ridiculous. I can poke some holes in BS5 that could bring it down a notch, and I bet when this seasons DVD comes out it will be appreciated a lot more in retrospect.

[Anya 0]

While the ep was pretty funny it didn't help the very poor build the end has had and the fact that this was likely the final blow off to the epic Angel/Spike/Buffy ship is pretty depressing to think about. What a shame this is the end. Just thinking about the send off both Buffy and Angel have had makes me sad and angry.

[Cavi 0]

Echoing what some others have said, even though the episode had some funny stuff, to think that it was the third to last episode of the series bugs me a great deal. I want the final two episodes to change my mind a bit about all of this, but I'm really not sure if that is going to happen.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Did anyone else totally mark out for Andrew's Strong Bad shirt??

[Golgo 13 0]

It was a big disappointment overall. There were flashes of good stuff, especially in the humor department (and the gag in Andrew wearing the Strong Bad shirt).

 

However, it should've aired earlier, not at a time when the finale and Armageddon should be getting the hard sell. If not that, SMG actually being in this one would've salvaged it and the previously mentioned issue could be forgiven. As Sakura said, the fact that this is likely the blowoff to Spike/Buffy/Angel is sort of depressing.

 

All that, and the head of the Rome W&H branch was fucking annoying.

 

Right now the only thing worth something in this one was the Wes/Illyria storyline and the humor.

[Guest Cultism Mask I]

The Wes and Illyara/"Fred" interaction was the best part of tonight's show. Wes's look of disgust when "fred" showed up to greet her parents was perfect.

[Anakin Flair 0]

Wow, 92 pages. Think we'll break 100 before the final episode?

 

Slightly OT, but I just read book 1 of the Wicked Wilow series of books, where we get an alternate version of the end of season 6- what if Willow hadn't been saved? What if she stayed dark, but didn't try to destroy the world?

 

Anyways, I was wondering. They had decided to have Willow be the big bad for the season, that much was certain. But it only lasted for three episodes, really. On one hand, it could only last briefly- Warren had to get to the point where he didn't mind killing somebody, Tara had to die (Willow wouldn;t have gone dark if she hadn't died). Buffy spent the whole season foiling the Troika's plans to the extent that Warren wanted to get rid of her anyway possible. And thus Dark Willow was born.

 

That being said, how would you have booked Willow going evil?

[Anakin Flair 0]

All that, and the head of the Rome W&H branch was fucking annoying.

After about two seconds of listening to her, I left the room to get something to eat. I repeated this process everytime she came on.

[Guest Cultism Mask I]

All that, and the head of the Rome W&H branch was fucking annoying.

After about two seconds of listening to her, I left the room to get something to eat. I repeated this process everytime she came on.

Honestly,I really wasn't listening to her when she was on screen.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

So does Buffy know that Spike is alive?? I thought Spike didn't want Andrew telling her he was alive?

[Mole 0]

To say it's "NO where" near Buffy Season 5 is a bit ridiculous. I can poke some holes in BS5 that could bring it down a notch, and I bet when this seasons DVD comes out it will be appreciated a lot more in retrospect.

I can poke plenty of holes, but the season is just sooo good. This season isn't as good as it could have been, just like season 7 of Buffy. I still like season 4 of Angel more than this season. These next two episodes better be crazy, or I'll be one pissed off Mole.

 

Wow, 92 pages. Think we'll break 100 before the final episode

Well when Buffy ended on May 20th,the Buffy thread was only on 81 . The Buffy thread reached 100 pages on June 22nd, so I think we will get to 100 pages.

 

That being said, how would you have booked Willow going evil?

It would have been hard to do it without Tara dieing. But I'd have to go with that guy, forgot his name, who gets her high on magic to put too much in her. Or he puts some sort of spell on her and she "falls for him" and works for him or something.

 

Are those books any good? I saw them at the bookstore the other day about Buffy going to another dimension and having to save her friends or something. It looked interesting.

 

But if anything, I blame the WB for this episode. They wanted stand alone episodes and we basically got that this season. We also got that tonight, so whatever.

[Guest JMA]

I bet the rubes they sucked in with the incentive of a possible Buffy return are pretty pissed. I don't really blame them, either.

 

While hardcore fans knew SMG wasn't coming back, the casual fans didn't. The whole thing came off as a stunt to get ratings. Which, when you think about it, is kind of odd. For one thing the show is getting canned. It also makes fans annoyed and less trusting because of the "bait-and-switch."

[Mole 0]

It wasn't too much of ratings stunt because when a star returns to a show, the WB usually markets it. They would market the shit out of SMG returning to the WB.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

I liked the Rome head of W&H. She had character...and giant breasts.

 

Andrew was fairly amusing this ep...I really liked the bit with Darla and Dru too. The idea of a humor ep during an apocalypse was pretty darn off though. But I prefer any Angel over no Angel.

 

It was really strange seeing Amy Acker switch off between Fred and Illyria. Interesting stuff, the relationship between Fred and Wes is pretty intriguing. No build at all for the Apocalypse though? I was expecting the ending to be something terrible...the typical "throw-away ep becomes important" style ending.

[Mole 0]

Well, they did advance the Wes/Illyria story a little bit, but that is it.

 

Gunn? Lorne? Lindsay? Hamilton? Eve? Senior Partners?

 

Very, very disapointed right now.

[Max Danger 0]

You guys are acting like this one episode just killed the entire season. I liked the episode a lot, and I agree that it seemed oddly placed considering the big apocolypse to come. I guess you could call it the "Go Fish" of this season. But it doesn't ruin it for me, and I hope you all don't hinge your opinions of the final season on this one episode.

[Anya 0]

I would not have booked dark Willow any differently. She didn't need to be in more than 3 eps. I do not think the point of it was ever to really be the big bad where she was an on going villain they fought all throughout a season. Her going evil wasn't the meat of that story, it was the apex. It was the blow off of her drug addict arc.

[Ripper 0]

This episode was absolutly necessary.

 

They didn't know that the show was ending this year. They probably planned on ending the Spike/Angel/Buffy thing next year. But they couldn't do that now. And honestly, it is a story that HAD to have closure, so they got rid of it here.

 

There won't be any "Why aren't they calling Buffy" or "What about BUFFY~!" comments. They finished the story line. And they still left it open enough with Andrew giving them the words of wisdom(how weird was THAT).

 

Amy Acker went to goddess level of acting to me in this ep. that was some amazing acting. Her switching from Fred to Illilailfasdoifnd was amazing and believable.

 

Alexis is emoting even MORE pain this week. Once again making me believe that he is wearing the Mark of Death® for now...Not enough on gunn to determine if he is wearing one too, but Wes...damn.

 

All in all, funny ep, it reminds everyone that they are willing to drop EVERYTHING for Buffy, and a nice attempt to blowoff the storyline under the circustances.

[dubq 0]

Great ep, IMO. The interaction between Spike & Angel is gold, as always.

 

So, two eps left. Any chance that the finale will be two hours? I know, I'm dreaming..

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I caught the last half of the show (they arrive in Rome) and Ripper is right, this show was necessary. I wouldn't have put it as the 3rd last - it would have maybe been 4th last - but it did something that no one is really mentioning: Bringing up the past. It's a subtle homage to the Buffyverse (ok, when Angel is going over all the shit he has done it wasn't so subtle ) and at the end there they weren't only talking about Buffy - but the show as well. We all have to move on now, even if we don't want to... but we'll never really actually move on because it will be forever with us. I loved what I saw, and I loved how it seemed "outside" of the regular Angel world - the camera shots, the music, everything.

 

And Illyria switching Fred on and off was fucking beautiful. I can't get enough of this angle.

[Mole 0]

Blah, necessary or not it didn't advance THE Apacolypse storyline that much. That is what I am disapointed in.

[Anakin Flair 0]

Are those books any good? I saw them at the bookstore the other day about Buffy going to another dimension and having to save her friends or something. It looked interesting.

The first one is good, if you can get past the wierd Star Trek-like explanation of the Multiverse theory. The others haven't been released.

[Guest Brian]

I thought it did a really good job advancing this Angel/Spike relationship, and has really brought them to a clearer understanding of what they're going to do.

[Ripper 0]

Blah, necessary or not it didn't advance THE Apacolypse storyline that much. That is what I am disapointed in.

Well...neither did the week before...except for the last 2-3 minutes.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

I thought about it and this episode is even more out of place when you think about how Angel, at the end of last week's episode, was all heelish and next week he supposedly turns on them, yet this week he was just fine.

[Guest Brian]

Hey, spoiler there.

 

I agree, it should have come earlier in the season. Maybe a little after "Hole in the World". But everything's reaching a climax really quickly.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

How is it a spoiler? It was in the previews of next week's episode.

[Mole 0]

Blah, necessary or not it didn't advance THE Apacolypse storyline that much. That is what I am disapointed in.

Well...neither did the week before...except for the last 2-3 minutes.

We learned more about Illyria and her loosing her powers, that advanced the story.

[Guest Brian]

My mistake, didn't watch the preview.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

"I signaled her with my eyes."

 

You guys are crazy stupid for not liking this episode. Oh, and Steven S. DeKnight (1/2 of the God Team) posted at the Bronze Beta last night:

 

Ho ho ho. Just a quick swoop by since I see that little scamp Drew promised I'd be here. Bad, Drew, bad!

 

Gotta say, folks, I'm a little surprised at some of the reaction to tonight’s episode. Not sure how anyone got the impression that our intent was to poke the hard core fans right in the peeper, but I can tell you that was never our intent. All we wanted to do is address the Angel/Buffy/Spike triangle one last time in a light-hearted manner. And that bit at the end about movin' on? Directed at no one but the characters saying the words. We, the people actually working on the show for many long, hard years, just wanted to use our last chance to tell a fun story and to show that yes, love can make you shemp if you let it.

 

To address a few other random comments: Don't know what you've heard, but Sarah was never going to play an active part in this ep. Not from the conception, the breaking of the story, or the writing of it. As for Tom Lenk (Andrew), I love the guy and I'm very happy he was in the show. We had talked about Dawn doing those scenes, but Michelle wasn't available.

 

Not defending anything here. Just giving you the facts. And honestly, no matter what we do in these last few episodes, somebody out there's not gonna be happy. So we'll just do our best. Hate it, love it – it’s still gonna end how it’s gonna end. And if you think you’re gonna miss it, imagine how we feel. Nah, on second thought, don’t. It’ll just make you cry.