Well, boy howdy, I was two for two. Spoilers abound…including the revelation of the single most horrifying moment of the evening…
Yup, two for two on being wrong in predictions for the season enders of SMALLVILLE and ANGEL. In both cases I wish I hadn’t been because, in one instance, it was dámņëd depressing, and in the other, it more or less made one element of the show predictable for me.
SMALLVILLE: As Lionel awaits his fate and Lana heads off to Paris, a blonde superchick shows up, claiming to be Kara from Krypton, to try and convince Clark that he should walk through a cave wall with her which will take him to see mommy and daddy dearest.
Last week I opined that the blonde girl in the teasers would be named anything but Kara. This week I wish to God she had been, because as soon as she said her name was Kara, I knew it was a red herring for the fanboys. That she would turn out not to be his cousin from Krypton or anything from Krypton, and certainly not a future Supergirl.
Why? Because, believe me, I know first hand exactly how determined DC is to keep Kara Zor-El squeaky clean, both in terms of the “S” label and in terms of the film currently in development. So when this chick says, “My name is Kara from Krypton,” the first thing that went through my mind was, “She blew up a car thirty seconds in the episode, like hëll she’s Kara from Krypton.” Granted, the driver–whoever he was–deserved what he got, because he should have known better than to drive in Smallville, the town where no one ever saves money by switching to Geico. So I knew something was fishy (and it was reinforced with the FBI agent’s fate).
But that awareness of the fakery pretty much didn’t matter with the jaw dropping fourth act. Talk about making up for the occasional pokey pacing of the latter half of the season. Considering the track record of the supporting cast, I’m surprised Lana’s plane wasn’t hijacked. I’ve run my video of the episode back and forth about six times and I still can’t tell for sure if Chloe actually went into the house (I sure know my spider-sense was tingling during that sequence, so maybe hers was as well). The only moment that nearly kicked me out of the episode was when Jor-El was saying, “Come to me, Kal-El,” I kept waiting for him to add, “Kneel before Zod!”
The downside of every season of “Smallville” so far has been an almost slavish determination to restore the status quo. Well, with this season ender, it sure seems like they’ve crossed the Kryptonian Rubicon this time around.
ANGEL: The Fang Gang spends one final night of “normalcy” and then goes toe to toe with the Black Thorns and the Senior Partners.
Okay, so…no pretty way to put it. Blew the call on that one. I figured Lorne would be “out” since they’d done nothing interesting with him all season, and therefore thought he was toast. Well, I got the “out” part right, since he said he was giving up the fight-for-right life, but I sure never saw the death of Wes coming. I’m absolutely positive that, were the series continuing, Wes wouldn’t have died. As it was, the farewell scene between Wes and Illyeria was not only heart-wrenching, but I think Wes is now firmly entrenched as being the single most tragic character in the entirety of the Whedonverse. That Andrew winds up with gorgeous blondes on either arm while Wes’ only solace is that he gets to wind up with Fred in death…jeez.
But hey, kids…let’s talk ending. The Butch and Sundance ending. An ending that I think is likely to polarize “Angel” fans. This will simply not be something that people go “eh” over. They’ll either love it or hate it.
Personally, I loved it.
Why? Because it wasn’t an ending. Why is that good? Because it was a true ending. It was true because the fight against evil has no ending. “Angel,” particularly in its last season, has been a series about ambiguities, about gray areas. The fact that there was no clear cut conclusion means that the series ended in a way that was thematically consistent. And that was a nervy, incredibly gutsy way to go. Gutsy because it was 100% guaranteed to pìšš øff a lot of fans who wanted to see if Shonshu was fulfilled, who wanted to see how (not if) Angel triumphed over the Senior Partners. The final episode of BtVS bent over backwards to have a tidy ending, and the incredible plot contrivances in order to accomplish that were painfully obvious. “Angel” made no such compromises. Whether Angel and the gang win or lose is almost less important than that they fought knowing that the fight itself is what mattered.
And what was the single most horrifying moment of the evening?
The closing adios from “your friends at the WB.” The WB which, in the words of Warners staple Elmer Fudd, would have to stand for “Wat Bastawds.” If they’re gonna be áššhølëš and cancel the series, then be áššhølëš and cancel the series, but don’t dump a sad, Gee, sorry to see you go tag at the end when they’re the miserable wat bastawds who handed Angel and Company their walking papers in the first place.
Jerks.
PAD
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Red Ricky ,dont agree on all your points on Angel but some are thoughts i have had myself.
1.Angel at this point would not what to do as a human and truly does not want humanity.This was kind of mentioned in the Finale.
2.Elements of Angelus in Angel very true ,however when he was still Liam he was not exactly a schoolboy either.
Had not considered the redemption thing ,cant say he doesnt deserve it he has done some good but like all of us he does slip(though his tend to be homicidal in nature)
Which brings up the question what goo does a vamp with a soul really do?If anything I dont think it turns on the morality it makes them closer to their true nature.Spike seemed more insightful and sensitive to things around him ,where Angel was more brooding,and some cases out and out brutal.
Lindsey was not with Angel for Redemption he was just waiting for his chance to seize some form of power.Granted making Lorne kill him was wrong though this goes with along with Angel being true to his nature.Guess i kinda shot down my on argument for him being redeemed huh?Oh well…
Greg Andrew writes: I think there’s a little bit more to the reason Angel was cancelled – the WB doesn’t look at it as having any real potential to grow. And they’re probably right. After 5 seasons, the show would have a lot of trouble attracting new viewers.
Finally, a single paragraph prompts me to do more than just lurk around these parts — I could not disagree more. With reruns finally airing on TNT, it was the perfect time to pull in new viewers. Those reruns only went to season 3 the first time around, then started over, so who’d jump to season 5 or 6? Currently-available DVDs also go thru S3 only.
[This is my problem with the “save the show” campaigns that evangelized to get ratings up at the end. “Smile Time” made a great stand-alone episode, and even that one required some explanation (at least to my uninitiated but very interested brother, who kept hitting ‘pause,’ wanting to know more background info. I thought we’d just sit down and have tons of laughs.)]
Had later repeats been timed right on both TNT and the WB, a new fan could have potentially caught up over the summer and segued right into episode 6×01. I think WB execs had choices and there’s no convincing me that they made the right one. Having said that, I’ll echo others here: what a gut-wrenchingly perfect “ending.” – KL
HI! new guy here but big PAD Fan.
I dug the last episode and I am sad to see Spike, Illyria ( fred got on my nerves but illyria was comic gold in a stiff, fish-out-of water kinda way like Worf was on Star Trek:TNG ), Angel and the crew go. The show was really getting into gear and then to be cut off at the knees like that ………it sucks.
But I have a couple of obsevations about the episodes….
1) when signing the Shonshu and giving away his chance to be human, why not just take advantage of the situation and sign it ” angelus “
2) I might have missed it but, what was the significance of the baby Spike was sent to get?
3)I almost fell out my chair laughing at the scene where Angel says ” one of you here tonight” will betray me and spike raises his hand! then after being ignored by Angel , then says, ” well, can I deny you 3 times!” great stuff.
4) Lorne was great!! andy hallet pulled off a great broken spirited performance.
5) and the scene after wesley dies and fred changes to illyria was beautiful ( not to mention badass )
I didn’t become a fan till the 4’th season but I really began to dig this show…its shame.
kev
“2) I might have missed it but, what was the significance of the baby Spike was sent to get?”
First, welcome to the monkey house. Enjoy your stay.
Second, in regards to the above, there was an episode several weeks back in which the baby was to be the new spiritual leader of this demon cult. There were problems vis a vis the mother, and Wolfram and Hart represented the demon side. The rest of the Fang Gang wanted to do something that would keep the baby out of the demon cult’s hands…but Angel firmly stated that W&H represented the demons and had to serve their interests. It was one of the first big moments of “Angel’s completely losing his moral footing” and, as was revealed in the last episode, was merely Angel playing along so as to the convince the Senior Partners that he was tripping over to the Dark Side.
PAD
HELP!!! Is there ANYBODY out there who videotaped the last ANGEL? We had a major lightening storm here, and our power was out, so I was unable to watch or tape it! ARGHHH! Can anybody send me a copy or somthing PLEASE? I will reimburse your shipping efforts. Thanks!
Jonathan (The Other One),
In response to your post (and I hope you get to read it since my response is a few days later):
1.) I would rather NO Trek shows than BAD trek shows, and ones that tend to muck up the continuity to boot
2.) Right now, the message millions of people are sending is: “We’ll watch anything as long as it’s a “Star Trek” show.” This gives Berman and Braga no reason to respect the fans. If they’re like sheep, and will even watch a show they don’t enjoy, why should they? What incentive is there to improve the quality?
3.) We have been treated to ten combined seasons of dreck (Voyager and Enterprise),in my opinion, because we don’t expect the best. There’s something wrong when someone I used to watch “Buffy” and “Angel” and the first few episodes of “Enterprise” with complains bitterly EVERY WEEK about Enterprise, yet when I ask him why he doesn’t “simply stop watching it then”, gets a puzzled expression on his face and says “It’s Star Trek”.
4.) Paramount knows the franchise is a viable one. If Enterprise fails (PLEASE! PLEASE!) they will not chalk it up to a failure of the Trek franchise. They will blame Berman and Braga, and possibly put the franchise under the direction of someone else who actually cares about it, and who they think will revive it and make it profitable again.
5.) Sometimes a franchise NEEDS a rest before it can flourish again. People looked forward to the first Trek film precisely because they had been without the show for a decade and a half. It’s why they even forgave the boring first movie. Indeed, all the Trek that has followed owes a deep debt of gratitude to Ricardo Montalban and those who made Wrath of Khan possible. That was a shining example of how even the mainstream would flock to trek when done right.
But now, we have had Trek series nonstop since 1987, and at least two series and a movie franchise from 1993 to 1999. The quality has slipped, and the only ones still watching are the diehards.
In short, Enterprise NEEDS to DIE. It’s the only way the franchise can eventually be reborn and – like a Phoenix – attain even greater heights in the future.
Karen L.,
I TOTALLY AGREE with you regarding the TNT repeats and Angel’s possibility for growth as a result.
As an example from another genre, “Law and Order” was an average hit for NBC for six seasons.The thought was it might last a couple more, and that would be that.
Then, A&E started showing reruns at least four different times a day. I had never watched the show, but it was impossible to miss channel surfing.
As a result, I was hooked, and so were millions of others to the point that the show gained millions of viewers like me. Viewership incresed in the 7th, 8th, and (especially) the 9th season. How many shows add millions of viewers in their NINTH season?
Those new fans have made “Law and Order” such a juggernaut that a FOURTH spinoff show debuts this year,the other two are still around and win their time periods, and the parent show looks like a lock to eventually pass “Gunsmoke” as the longest-running prime time drama in TV history.
How’s THAT for impressive late growth?
Jerome, that’s a nice idea. It really is.
The sad truth is, television is innately inimical to intelligent programming. The Powers That Be in the Bizarro World of Television would FAR prefer to fill those time slots with more “reality” shows, or game shows, or Movies of the Week, or whatever can be made the cheapest in order to sell ad revenue. Good “Trek” is horrendously expensive to make; and if you can sell the ads for just as much money by running, say, “Monday Night Football” or “Fear Factor”, what are you going to do? Remember that if you opt for the one that brings in lower profit, you’re going to wind up deciding programming order on UHF channel 34 in Sioux Falls, SD.
If we abandon a “Trek” show because we don’t feel it measures up to a high standard, the conclusion of UPN isn’t going to be, “Well, we’d better improve this show!” It’s going to be, “Well, this Star Trek thing has run its course, I guess – where’d we put the rest of those episodes of ‘Game Over’ we bought?”
Also, I’d disagree with you about the quality of “Enterprise”, especially over this past season. They finally convinced me to care what happened to some of the characters – a fact reinforced while watching last night’s season finale, when I had thought Bremaga actually had the çøjøņëš to kill off Archer, and found myself wondering if Trip could take orders from T’Pol, or if he’d try to seize command… Then I thought to myself, “Wait a minute! This is ‘Enterprise’! What happened to the wooden characters, the reheated plots, the cheesy dialog? When did this get *good*?”
Favorite lines in Angel finale:
“can I deny you three times?” – Spike
“You are not unpleasant to my eyes” – Illyria
“I killed all mine” – Illyria (loved this one)
“I wish to do more violence” – Illyria
“wanton folly of me mum…” – Spike
“wanna guess which word you shouldn’t have said?” – Angel
Only watched it twice … I see a third viewing in the near future . I guess one last time & then I’d better stay away from it for awhile. It just makes me too sad and angry that it was canceled. I am hoping for a theater-movie that ties up the stories from both Buffy and Angel characters. Still hoping for the Angel becomes human and lives happily ever after with Buffy ending.
When I watched the finales for The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was wistful but satisfied that their runs had come to an end. Not so with Angel. I want to see more.
Whether or not we see any more of our dark avenger (thanks for that one, Cordelia), at least the series ended as it began: Angel fighting the good fight, unrecognized by humanity, in a dark alley.
Dear Mr. David:
Enjoyed your comments about Angel. In some ways it was a good ending, but I really wish that Mr. Whedon could have let Wes and Fred go off into the sunset together (living, that is). Amy Acker really showed her talent in these last past eight episodes. From the episode where Fred was dying, and that had to be some of the most gut-wrenching death scenes ever–full of emotion. Ms. Acker has really had her acting improve.
However, (I’m guessing here), if Mr. Whedon had known they were not going to be renewed, I think he would have trashed the Illeryia storyline, and let Wes and Fred live.
What I think he had planned was that in the sixth year, with Wes living, Illeryia would have become a “big bad” converting back and forth between herself and Fred. In other words, something like the X-Men’s Dark Phoenix storyline, with Wes in the Scott Summer role.
Something like that.
Remember Angel had misgivings about her, and I felt that at the right time, Illeryia would have made a grab for some sort of absolute power (it’s what dark phoenix’s do), there were a few clues in the time bomb episode where she mentions “it’s too soon,”
Due to the show’s cancellation, and lack of time to resolve the storyline, this was the only way Whedon could think of have Wes and Fred “together.”
It would have been fun in the sixth season to have seen this storyline emerge.
By the way, mr. David. I picked up your Spider Man 2 novelization last night. What can I say? I envy your talent of prose, and your ability to get these books written in the time allocated
Sincerely
JThree
carolyn@dia.net
posted by PAD:
“First, welcome to the monkey house. Enjoy your stay.”
thanks a bunch!
“Second, in regards to the above, there was an episode several weeks back in which the baby was to be the new spiritual leader of this demon cult. There were problems vis a vis the mother, and Wolfram and Hart represented the demon side. The rest of the Fang Gang wanted to do something that would keep the baby out of the demon cult’s hands…but Angel firmly stated that W&H represented the demons and had to serve their interests. It was one of the first big moments of “Angel’s completely losing his moral footing” and, as was revealed in the last episode, was merely Angel playing along so as to the convince the Senior Partners that he was tripping over to the Dark Side.”
PAD
—-thanks again, I missed that episode as well as the german sub, angel vs spike episode. And the one that introduced Jenny Mollens character( the werewolf chick ) . Man, I really dug this season though, Especially “smile time”.
kev
Jonathan (The Other One),
Re: Quality Star Trek
Three Words:
Let. It. Go.
Or as Vic Fontaine (who I usually cringe upon seeing or hearing) said to Quark and Bashir when they found out Jadzia was having a baby and said they knew then “their chances” for getting Jadzia were definitely “gone”.
“Boys, she’s been gone for a while now”.
Another new guy. I usually hang around Harlan Ellison’s web site, then I was clued into this one, and I like it already.
As for the Angel Finale, it’s all been said except for one thing:
One of my favorite lines is, “I *crap* better magic than you.”
Chuck
I have decidedly mixed feelings about the series finale of Angel. On the one hand, I thought it was very well done. There were nice bits of humour (Spike
Don, I wholeheartedly agree with your thoughts and comments. And if I may, I would like to add a couple of things.
On Illyria
Like you, Peter, I found that thank you from the WB people very insulting. After all it was the WB who cancelled the show. Then they do their “nice–nice” hand wave expecting the fans to forgive them. Sorry, but no. Bášŧárdš.
Great ending however. Hope to see the characters again.
It was a brilliant episode,poor wesley. I really hate Wb for cancelling this amazing show. Grr why couldn’t lorne fight like a man like the rest of them. I really wish it didn’t end in a cliffhanger, the ending was left open but i wanted closure.