Angel 5x22 (Finale): "Not Fade Away" - Spoilers, obviously

[Zeke]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I'm sorely tempted to change the line on the front page to "Five-Minute Voyager salutes Angel for five years of brilliant television, except that damn finale."

What did you guys think? I'm starting to feel better about the episode now after reading some reviews, but I'm still really mad.[/color:post_uid0]

[Derek]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Really? I loved it.

I don't want to repeat everything I said on TrekBBS, but I just have to say that they really couldn't have ended things better. We got nice glimpses of each of the characters spending their last day, we got nice symbolism and metaphor, and the ending was nice.

What didn't you like, Zeke? The very end? That seems to be the part that gets most people.[/color:post_uid0]

[MmeBlueberry]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I was mad, too, Zeke. There were some good parts in the finale, but I didn't think it was a [i:post_uid0]wonderful[/i:post_uid0] episode, and I really didn't like the way it ended.[/color:post_uid0]

[Anonymous]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Um...hi.

I thought the ending was perfectly appropriate, because it's what the series has always been about. Fighting even when it's hopeless. The certainty that this is a fight (metaphorically, redemption) that you can never win. The fact that it doesn't matter that it is hopeless, but as long as you fight there is still something good in the world.

This, by the way, is after much contemplation, as I was pissed as hell about the finale for the first half hour after seeing it. But now, it just seems to fit what the series is. It just feels right.[/color:post_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I don't think it was great, like Buffy's last episode, but it wasn't bad either. I'm just sad that it's over, never to come back again. :(

Spin-off, anyone? ;)[/color:post_uid0]

[Kira]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Well, Monday came at last and I finally got to catch "Not Fade Away."

My reaction? The episode was perfectly appropriate to the series (fighting the good fight against all odds) but that doesn't necessarily make it satisfying. But this is coming from someone who adores Jane Austen-ish happy endings with all the loose ends tied up in nice attractive bows, and that's just not what Joss Whedon is about it seems. :D

I would've liked to see the Shanshu prophecy resolved, W&H and the senior partners bite the dust, some resolution as to what TPTB really are/were up to during the first few seasons (were they evil? How did Cordy end up possessed? Where have they been this season?) and of course, Angel and Buffy happily ever after a la "I will remember you" before the reset button, which played in Space's Angel marathon leading up to the finale.

But heck, if I could have everything I wanted, Angel wouldn't have been cancelled at all, and every show I watched would have followed the example of [i:post_uid0]The West Wing[/i:post_uid0], capping off a great season with a spectacular finale. Hopefully [i:post_uid0]Enterprise[/i:post_uid0] ends up in that category on Wednesday.[/color:post_uid0]

[Opium]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]:bawl: :bawl: :bawl:

No more Spike!

Well, at least they went out fighting...[/color:post_uid0]