The ending - I didn't love it, but I can accept it. Because it wasn't a cop-out. But I can tell you how it ends. The fight gets interrupted. Maybe the SPs realize they can't unleash umpteen thousand bad dudes on the world without killing the underlying project. Otherwise they'd have released their baddies before. So they suck them back into the hole (like the Gift). Maybe the PTB send their minions to protect them (because the SPs are no longer playing "fair"), or maybe Connor shows up again and asspulls them all to safety. The point is, there's no way they win that battle (without a super-dooper amulet), and there's no way they go down in a blaze of glory either. They'll survive.
Wolfram, I love this premise. I'm not ready to let these people go, and this seems reasonable, for lack of a better word. It's all based on the show's lore. Now if someone could figure out a way to wank Wesley back to life, I'd be happy.
I still haven't processed that last night was the end. I want to watch it again, but I don't know if I can. What am I saying? Of course I will. Pain is my friend, and Joss knows how to dish it up in the exact quantities guaranteed to hurt the worst.
and I want Illyria to tell it to him. (What? She can survive! Someone gets to tell the tale!)
It may be a completely spurious connection, but when I saw that posted, all I could think was:
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.
(Hamlet, 5.2)
My take on the ending is that it was appropriate--the way it was always supposed to go down. Angel and the survivors were finally free to get to the business of getting rid of the bad guys. This is what they know -- not board rooms and paperwork, but freakin' dragons and armies of doom. In a certain vein, In my mind they win because they choose to fight.
Last season Angel told Faith about never completely atoning, and that it went on every day. The Shanshu Prophecy was at best, misplaced hope, and at worst, an outright lie. The neatness the prophecy embodied seemed inconsistent with what I think is one of the paramount iron rules of the Jossverse -- NOTHING is gained by the protagonists that easy. There is a price for everything, and it gets higher depending on that that everything happens to be at a given time.
And so the finale dealt with "the Price." Buffy's finale did much of the same thing.
Maria, can I tag this?
Absolutely, Stephanie. My first tag. Squee! And congrats on selling the house...
Hm. How about a "Faith/Spike/Illyria on motorcycles, fighting crime/stuff/whatever" show? I would so watch that.
How about Faith, Willow and Angel in a new series: "The Slayer, the Witch and the Hairloaf"?
Wolfram, I love this premise. I'm not ready to let these people go, and this seems reasonable, for lack of a better word. It's all based on the show's lore. Now if someone could figure out a way to wank Wesley back to life, I'd be happy.
Thanks Maria. I also liked someone else's wank (DCJ?) with the slayers/cavalry arriving just in time. But Wesley's dead, and I think it's where he really wants to be.
Pain is my friend, and Joss knows how to dish it up in the exact quantities guaranteed to hurt the worst.
He really is the master torturer. Too little pain and you can laugh it off. Too much and it numbs you. Joss gives you just enough to leave you in delicious agony.
how about a Fredyllia/Spike spinoff
Blue Thunder and White Lightning. It could be a thing.
Wesley's dead, and I think it's where he really wants to be.
But that's not where
I
want him to be. That should be all that matters. Wes wasn't in his right mind for a while, so how would he know what he really wanted? Grief is a mind-altering substance.
Blue Thunder and White Lightning. It could be a thing.
Blue Thunder was a thing. About a helicopter. Only lasted half a season and featured James Farentino and Dana Carvey. White Lightning--also a thing. The 1973 movie starred Burt Reynolds. Both dealt with crime fighting.
I like your version better.
