In deference to our foreign fans visiting the website, I won’t go into any sort of spoiler detail about the season wrap-up of “Angel” (although I *will* mention, because it’s non-specific, that a cliffhanger of that type is somewhat unprecedented in the show’s history. Until now, the series had always abided by the “Buffy” formula of ending clean. This one ends nasty and ragged. But then, that’s more like life when you get down to it.
What I’ve found interesting is the initial very negative fan reactions I’ve been seeing. I thought it was a pretty good episode, actually, in that it was a logical progression from all that’s gone before. That’s been both the strength and weakness of this season. All that has occurred has gone in a very logical, reasonable manner. Unfortunately, because of that, it’s also been remarkably predictable. The only beat of the Conner storyline I missed was my belief that the time-hopping demon Sahjahn *was* Conner. Other than that, it was pretty much obvious.
TV series always tread a fine line between giving viewers what they want (which invariably then palls on them and they move off) and giving them what they don’t want (which can enrage them but also keep them). “Angel” has tried to embrace the latter while showing a derth of imagination and therefore stumbling into the former. Not its most successful season…and that comes from someone who actually *liked* the three episodes in the other dimension last year.
“Buffy” likewise has been beat-by-beat for anyone who ever read the “Dark Phoenix” stories. In fact, that was signaled from the very first episode. Remember when Willow stood there in the center of the graveyard and telepathically guided all the Scoobies in their slaying? It was remarked back then that they’d turned her into Jean Gray. If they follow Claremont’s original model for the storyline (as opposed to the Shooter-mandated “She must die” ending) then eventually we’ll have Dark Willow going completely nova only to be captured, restrained, and (perhaps voluntarily) undergoing a sort of psychic surgery that will remove her abilities completely forever. We’ll see.
PAD
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ARRRGH!! I just moved and won’t have cable hooked up until Saturday!! That means I’ll be missing the Buffy finale tonight and won’t be able to see it until I swipe the recording my friend is making…Ðámņ the switch to a non-regular network channel!!
While it didn’t have a cliffhanger per se, Angel’s first season did have the “Darla” ending, giving an idea of what was to come.
It will be interesting to see what sort of cliffhanger Enterprise has: the “continuing from the scene” of TNG and Voyager or the “A Few Weeks Later” format of DS9.
For a while I had this weird notion that Holtz might be Conner some how. That Sahjahn would have Holtz send Conner back in time and baby Conner is raised to become Holtz and Angel would find this all out and either fix it or be devastated by it.
As far as Buffy is concerned I keep thinking that Anya’s Vengence Demon powers will play a role. Maybe someone will wish Willow could never use magic again. Or maybe someone will wish everything back to just before Warren shot Buffy and killed Tara. And that way Tara can be saved and pervs like me can get more girl on girl kissing.
You’ve got a Deus Ex Machina sitting there in Anya.
I just hope Willow doesn’t bite the dust.
I was wondering if anyone besides me had thought Sahjahn was Connor! That was my exact thought as well. It fit in with the whole prophecy- that way Angel could kill Sahjahn and be fulfiilin the prophecy.
Actually, that was the one thing about the prophecy that didn’t sit right with me- sure, Sahjahn claimed he falsified the prophecies, but why did the loa say they were true? Wouldn’t he have known that they’d been tampered with?
I suppose I would not be surprised if the prophecy did turn out to be true after all. Actually… I forget, did we ever find out why Sahjahn hated Angel so much? I can’t remember. Well, if not, I’d guess there was still a chance he could be connor. ^_^
I apologize for the multiple posted message- the site kept giving me an error, but apparently it was working anyway. Sigh. It won’t happen again.
I too, found the finale Angle episode fairly predictable. I have enjoyed the season for the most part but this whole “vengance vengance vengance” theme is getting a bit tired and that is one of the things that made this so predictable.
Tonights Buffy episode looks great but it will be a 2 hour finale. With means the final hour will be running the same time as the season finale of Smallville. Arrrhhh!
Brandon.
Okay, I don’t feel so bad now.
I thought Sahjahn was gonna turn out to be Conner too.
And what a villain Lyla is turning into, eh? She’s just evil.
Buffy, Smallville, and 24 all at the same time tonight. AGH! I don’t own enough TVs!
I liked “Angel” too, but now Cordy is a real deux-ex-machina herself, and that often leads to lazy writing. If you think about it like that, the cliffhanger isn’t much of a cliffhanger.
Re: the LOA confirming the prophecies…what our friendly hamburger actually said was “The father will consume the son…” Which Angel did when Wolfram & Hart helped him snack on baby Connor’s blood.
Aren’t you hungry for Burger King now–?
I didn’t like Holtz or the adult Connor. A soap opera borefest. All of that stuff was predictable, and the finale suggests that we will see more of him? ugh!
I won’t spoil anything about the Buffy finale here, but when one of the geeks actually mentioned that “She’s like Dark Phoenix up there.” I cheered (and thought of this site).
Yeah, it’s an old plot, but at least Whedon is aware of it and willing to acknowledge his sources.
Sorry for the multiple post; I got an error from greymatter, so thought it didn’t go thru.
I hope this isn’t a big Buffy spoiler for anyone,
but I laughed when the nerds made a comment about “Darth Rosenberg” coming for them.
Looks like PAD was right.
Great episode.
(I tried to preview my comment, but something went wrong. I hope this doesn’t end up getting posted twice.)
The thing that annoyed me the most about the Angel finale was the cliffhanger was given away by the “next week promo” the week before. The same thing happened with Smallville as well – also on the WB. Buffy’s one didn’t away the major surprises which was great – as there were some amazing surprises there. There should be a television rule that they shouldn’t reveal anything that happens in the last 10 minutes of a show.
Neil
Hey! Love you Pete. Anyway…My wife loves Buffy and I’ve watched most of this season. Man what a downer. I thought the finale was predictable except for the thing with Spike. Like most people seem to be commenting here, I thought I’d read this story before. I’m kind of hoping the end signals a return the lighter snappy dialogue for next season.
I just had a scary thought. The remaining 2 nerds are apparently heading for Mexico. As I recall, that is where Harmony was headed after her appearance on Angel. Maybe they will hook up. Can you imagine THAT trio??
No wonder you were able to predict it, PAD, the plot was practically lifted right out of WHAT SAVAGE BEAST.
His son is taken, then he ends up having to fight him as a teenager? Sounds like Bruce and Brett to me.
I don’t know, Angel and Buffy are kinda losing me at this point. I’d much rather be watching Smallville and Farscape (muppets rock!)
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