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Post by Shellyd on Jul 17, 2004 13:24:07 GMT -5
Thanks to all who responded to my post. I just didn't have the time to go through all of the previous postings (shame on me!), but it was just something that was bothering me. I sure hope they do the movies...it would be a shame to never know what happens to all these wonderful characters. I do hope that Angel will try to use his "penmanship" as a way to get out of the contract, although I believe the character would be more than willing to sacrifice the chance to ensure the fate of the world is a bit safer.
Anyway, again, thanks.
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Post by sohei on Jul 18, 2004 10:28:27 GMT -5
Hmm. A lot of these loose ends are are well and valid, but I think they need to be asked in the context of a larger, simpler question.
"What would make the story well told?"
This question is what drives a writer beyond all else, including the love of any one particular character.
I think that the best story at this point is to accept/believe that the FG died in that alleyway. Not without struggle, not without slaying the dragon, but died nonetheless at the hands of a seemingly unending mercenary army.
This army was not apocalyptic, they were a consequence of angering a force of so-called evil that is presumably Eternal.
I don't think it was a BSP, I think it was the OP. The Only Plan. As in, the only plan that made sense to the character of Angel at the time, and with the resources he had.
The message is a bleak one for sure, but it supposes that the fight must go on, even if individuals don't. Life has loose ends.
Perhaps a story shouldn't, or at least that's what they tell me in college, but keeping in mind that a TV show is written by numerous parties, sometimes continuity falters, and then picks itself up again and puts on a new jacket.
TV is a dastardly BUSINESS, and costs an awful lot to produce a single episode. There are a lot of fingers in the pie.
It may sound heartbreaking, but the salary of certain actors juxtaposed against a moderately successful series isn't cost-effective to the networks (in their minds.)
I would love to have read future scripts, or future novels. Loved if the world of Angel went on in ANY form of media with the same amazing craftwork exhibited during the last season.
I want the story to be well-told. I don't want the story to not kill off a main character just because everyone likes him or her. I don't want endless resurrections unless they make absolute sense and serve the story.
I don't know if I have a salient point here, or if I'm just tired of know-nothing financers telling creators what quality is, or if i get frustrated by well-meaning fans who seem to get mired in the small details while seeming to miss the overall story arc. Joss is a great writer who's able to surround himself with the same. Whatever he does in the future will be great, I just hope he lets the dead die and stay dead for once, even if they are the heroes.
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Post by Sue on Jul 18, 2004 15:10:40 GMT -5
Thanks to all who responded to my post. I just didn't have the time to go through all of the previous postings (shame on me!), but it was just something that was bothering me. I sure hope they do the movies...it would be a shame to never know what happens to all these wonderful characters. I do hope that Angel will try to use his "penmanship" as a way to get out of the contract, although I believe the character would be more than willing to sacrifice the chance to ensure the fate of the world is a bit safer. Anyway, again, thanks. Hey Shelly, Good grief! It's certainly not like we expect n'ubies to read thru the 220+ parts (or even go back 8 weeks and read the part relevant to NFA). Sheesh. You'd never get to post. I think we were just reassuring you that the point had occurred to some of us and been discussed--in other words: Great minds think alike. Even many of the regulars have finally given up on trying to keep up with all the posts, AND with every influx of n'ubies we often go back over (around and through) discussions we've had before. Some of us are old enough to have forgotten what was said the first time around! Sue |
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jul 18, 2004 15:10:46 GMT -5
Hmm. A lot of these loose ends are are well and valid, but I think they need to be asked in the context of a larger, simpler question. "What would make the story well told?" This question is what drives a writer beyond all else, including the love of any one particular character. I think that the best story at this point is to accept/believe that the FG died in that alleyway. Not without struggle, not without slaying the dragon, but died nonetheless at the hands of a seemingly unending mercenary army. This army was not apocalyptic, they were a consequence of angering a force of so-called evil that is presumably Eternal. I don't think it was a BSP, I think it was the OP. The Only Plan. As in, the only plan that made sense to the character of Angel at the time, and with the resources he had. The message is a bleak one for sure, but it supposes that the fight must go on, even if individuals don't. Life has loose ends. Perhaps a story shouldn't, or at least that's what they tell me in college, but keeping in mind that a TV show is written by numerous parties, sometimes continuity falters, and then picks itself up again and puts on a new jacket. TV is a dastardly BUSINESS, and costs an awful lot to produce a single episode. There are a lot of fingers in the pie. It may sound heartbreaking, but the salary of certain actors juxtaposed against a moderately successful series isn't cost-effective to the networks (in their minds.) I would love to have read future scripts, or future novels. Loved if the world of Angel went on in ANY form of media with the same amazing craftwork exhibited during the last season. I want the story to be well-told. I don't want the story to not kill off a main character just because everyone likes him or her. I don't want endless resurrections unless they make absolute sense and serve the story. I don't know if I have a salient point here, or if I'm just tired of know-nothing financers telling creators what quality is, or if i get frustrated by well-meaning fans who seem to get mired in the small details while seeming to miss the overall story arc. Joss is a great writer who's able to surround himself with the same. Whatever he does in the future will be great, I just hope he lets the dead die and stay dead for once, even if they are the heroes. Hi, Sohei, thanks for dropping in and giving us your viewpoint. I agree that Joss is a great writer...but he also committed Alien Resurrection, which stank big time. So he is not a perfect writer. Not Fade Away was (Joss says) written as a season finale, not a series finale. Only the ones we *see* dead ARE dead...and, given the Jossverse and magic, perhaps not even they are gone for good. Look at Spike. Let's...look at Spike. What was I saying? I think we can posit Big Stupid Plans and non-apocalyptic apocalypses and the unsatisfactory un-Fredness of it all without nit-picking to death what we all love. It's been said that true love is taking the beloved warts and all. That we see and comment on the warts doesn't mean we don't also see the glory. Certainly Spike was well aware of Buffy's deficiencies, and he loved her just the same. So we love Joss and (most of) his works--fervently but not uncritically. |
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Post by Kerrie on Jul 18, 2004 15:27:48 GMT -5
Hmm. A lot of these loose ends are are well and valid, but I think they need to be asked in the context of a larger, simpler question. "What would make the story well told?" This question is what drives a writer beyond all else, including the love of any one particular character. I think that the best story at this point is to accept/believe that the FG died in that alleyway. Not without struggle, not without slaying the dragon, but died nonetheless at the hands of a seemingly unending mercenary army. This army was not apocalyptic, they were a consequence of angering a force of so-called evil that is presumably Eternal. I don't think it was a BSP, I think it was the OP. The Only Plan. As in, the only plan that made sense to the character of Angel at the time, and with the resources he had. The message is a bleak one for sure, but it supposes that the fight must go on, even if individuals don't. Life has loose ends. Perhaps a story shouldn't, or at least that's what they tell me in college, but keeping in mind that a TV show is written by numerous parties, sometimes continuity falters, and then picks itself up again and puts on a new jacket. TV is a dastardly BUSINESS, and costs an awful lot to produce a single episode. There are a lot of fingers in the pie. It may sound heartbreaking, but the salary of certain actors juxtaposed against a moderately successful series isn't cost-effective to the networks (in their minds.) I would love to have read future scripts, or future novels. Loved if the world of Angel went on in ANY form of media with the same amazing craftwork exhibited during the last season. I want the story to be well-told. I don't want the story to not kill off a main character just because everyone likes him or her. I don't want endless resurrections unless they make absolute sense and serve the story. I don't know if I have a salient point here, or if I'm just tired of know-nothing financers telling creators what quality is, or if i get frustrated by well-meaning fans who seem to get mired in the small details while seeming to miss the overall story arc. Joss is a great writer who's able to surround himself with the same. Whatever he does in the future will be great, I just hope he lets the dead die and stay dead for once, even if they are the heroes. Hi Sohei. You raise some interesting points. I cannot comment on what makes a good story. I can't even comment on the loose ends - they don't bother me. My only coment is that I think that you are right about the BSP being the OP for JW. I have often thought that Angel represented JW and Wolfram and Hart represented a television network. JW/Angel don't like having their strings pulled ("Don't have a seasonal ark - it doesn't attract enough new viewers" "Watch the bottom line!"). So our beloved heroes, Angel/JW, make this grand, futile gesture at the Powers that be and do what they want just to show the Powers that Be that they are not puppets. The fallout is forseen and inevitable. In LA 30,000 demons are unleashed and in TV land JW's show is cancelled. I am not a hero. If I lived in Angel's LA, I would prefer a compromising Angel and a less visible demon presence. In TV land I would prefer AtS to continue for another year. |
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Post by Sue on Jul 18, 2004 20:15:39 GMT -5
Hmm. A lot of these loose ends are are well and valid, but I think they need to be asked in the context of a larger, simpler question. "What would make the story well told?" This question is what drives a writer beyond all else, including the love of any one particular character. I think that the best story at this point is to accept/believe that the FG died in that alleyway. Not without struggle, not without slaying the dragon, but died nonetheless at the hands of a seemingly unending mercenary army. This army was not apocalyptic, they were a consequence of angering a force of so-called evil that is presumably Eternal. I don't think it was a BSP, I think it was the OP. The Only Plan. As in, the only plan that made sense to the character of Angel at the time, and with the resources he had. The message is a bleak one for sure, but it supposes that the fight must go on, even if individuals don't. Life has loose ends. Perhaps a story shouldn't, or at least that's what they tell me in college, but keeping in mind that a TV show is written by numerous parties, sometimes continuity falters, and then picks itself up again and puts on a new jacket. TV is a dastardly BUSINESS, and costs an awful lot to produce a single episode. There are a lot of fingers in the pie. It may sound heartbreaking, but the salary of certain actors juxtaposed against a moderately successful series isn't cost-effective to the networks (in their minds.) I would love to have read future scripts, or future novels. Loved if the world of Angel went on in ANY form of media with the same amazing craftwork exhibited during the last season. I want the story to be well-told. I don't want the story to not kill off a main character just because everyone likes him or her. I don't want endless resurrections unless they make absolute sense and serve the story. I don't know if I have a salient point here, or if I'm just tired of know-nothing financers telling creators what quality is, or if i get frustrated by well-meaning fans who seem to get mired in the small details while seeming to miss the overall story arc. Joss is a great writer who's able to surround himself with the same. Whatever he does in the future will be great, I just hope he lets the dead die and stay dead for once, even if they are the heroes. Amen! AMEN! AMEN!!To your entire post, but mainly the 3 parts I bolded. I didn't think it was a dumb plan either. This is what I posted the night of the finale: And also, And, one more comment regarding the "unfinished feeling: on May 14th, 2004, 12:11pm, SpringSummers wrote: to which I replied: Sorry this was mostly re-hashed thoughts, but I thought they were valid insights at the time and haven't figured out any better way to say them. Sue |
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Post by anniem on Jul 18, 2004 20:18:13 GMT -5
Previously the Senior Partners were interested in maintaining the status quo and now thanks to Angel we see an Apocolyspse similar to the one that Buffy tries to avert in Season 5 (complete with dragon). This is just a grave error of judgement as far as I can see. Maybe it is because I am Australian and don't value free will as much as I should, but Angel's actions in fighting the Black Thorn without a plan for dealing with the forseen fall-out from the Senior Partners is just mind-boggling: it makes no sense to sacrifice the world as we know it just make a gesture. I see what you mean. I think, though, the real point of the battle may be much less literal. And I suspect this battle doesn't unleash hell on earth. [But first: I've been reading Nan's terrific, well-reasoned reviews during the past year, which is what brought me to S3 to begin with. Nan, I'm delighted by your latest, and I hope there will be more.] Seems to me that what art does best is offer up something (or everything) in an unexpected form. What I appreciate most is that it requires you to put on different eyes to see it. I've always taken the BtVS and Angel stories to be metaphorical representations of some important things so familiar that they've become mundane--things around me that I mostly don't look at anymore until I'm prodded. When I watch these stories, I enthusiastically accept the story presented (Vampires! Kickboxing! Valiant heroes kicking the crap out of demons!), but I also translate it into the nonmetaphorical story behind it--and I'm sure everyone else here does the same. In the finale, the nonmetaphorical story particularly interests me. Angel realizes he has, essentially, devoted a year to helping a quiet and corrupt coalition--the Senior Partners--maintain power and continue doing the damage they exist to do. Maybe he even acknowledges that he spent his Angelus period helping them outright, and his years as a hero blindly skirting the real evil while he took out the Senior Partners' petty representatives. And he calls them out. It's a small act, but the biggest one he can undertake. I don't see it as an especially well-considered act, but its audaciousness makes Angel more human. What do you do when you've been used big time? Can you go back to life the way you lived it before? I figure Angel and the Fang Gang felt that--knowing what they'd learned--there was no getting back to their old lives. Each one is a bug that the Senior Partners can squash if they wish to, but the heroes choose to act anyway. They put their bodies on the line--in a big way, bigger than usual, given that they know they might not survive this time. As they take on this powerful organization, the nonmetaphorical story jumps up and hollers. The writers take the opportunity to amp up the message underlying the series since the beginning: there are powerful organizations in the world quietly doing bad things that affect us, even though we don't necessarily see them at work. In the final hours, the Fang Gang may act rashly, without regard for their own safety, but I don't believe their act opens a hellmouth. The mob approaching them in the alley is a horde of "representatives" that the SP have sent to squash them--representatives that the SP will recall as soon as this horde finishes off the heroes. The SP have no self-interest in unleashing hell on earth. Their interest is in maintaining the status quo. It's been so lucrative. The sheer longevity of the SP indicates that they are very, very smart. Opening a hellmouth would be a foolish act, the sort undertaken only by those who are power-crazed or otherwise deranged. One small point: Although a horde of demons advances on the gang, I'm not sure whether we're meant to accept at face value the line "You take the thirty thousand on the left." We're probably meant to understand that the the heros are grossly overmatched (in number anyway) and yet heroically willing to take on terrible odds--and that they've done something like it before. It parallels an earlier line of Gunn's, when he said to Angel as they faced down a mob (if I'm remembering this correctly), "You take the dozen on the left" (itself an homage to BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID). There are surely enough demons in this horde to obliterate the FG, but not necessarily enough to ravage the rest of the world. In any case, the SP have enough power to recall *any* number of representatives they might have sent out on this little job. Nonmetaphorically speaking, we know that in this world we live alongside some extraordinarily corrupt and powerful entities, both private and public ones. They count on us to let them go on doing what they do, and mostly we cooperate. We even help them directly, even if we don't see it that way. Governments and corporations, and certain alliances between the two, have engendered some hideous spawn that we mostly choose to explain away (wars, global warming, genocide, vinyl siding, to name a few). A discussion of these literal corrupt entities is outside the scope of S3, but I think the FG's last battle indicates that the Angelverse writers have given some thought to these entities and how we enable them. Are they suggesting we start a revolution of our own? Probably not. Or maybe yes, depending on how you define revolution. When I wrote earlier that the FG put their bodies on the line, it dug up a memory of a famous line uttered by Mario Savio, a leader of the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley in the 1960s, from a speech that probably everyone has at least heard of. I just looked it up. In it, Savio alludes to the clients of the university--these were (and are) big business and the military--who pulled strings in an attempt to silence students protesting against, well, corruption, against the status quo (and especially a dirty war). I won't say big business and the military are innately bad, but I do say they have always had a dark side to them. Likewise administrations within governments. And entire governments. And likewise a lot of other groups with an abundance of power. The Free Speech Movement defended free speech because it was the most important instrument (maybe "weapon"?) they had for interrupting some corrupt business-as-usual. We haven't seen the end of that battle either. Part of Savio's speech makes an interesting contribution to a way of seeing the Fang Gang's final effort. From a transcript of the speech: "There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" An aside: The symbol of the Circle of the Black Thorn even looks something like a gear or wheel of a machine. (There's a picture on the following page, about two-thirds of the way down: www.angelsacolyte.com/epguides5/21power.html)I wouldn't claim the Angelverse writers were necessarily channeling Savio. Who knows what lurks in the heads of writers. But I do think that lodged in our collective consciousness now is the idea that "when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart ... you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop." And the idea is noticeably pertinent to S5 if not the entire series. Metaphors in BtBS and Angel have always hovered at the edges of the story. "Not Fade Away" isn't a primer on taking down corporations or the government. But, the way things look to me right now, it *is,* among other things, a reminder of what happens when you turn a blind eye to evil, whatever innocuous form it may assume. BDP or OP--it's okay with me if the makers of this series took the opportunity to hand us this particular metaphor. A parting gift. anniem |
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Post by Lola m on Jul 19, 2004 5:31:08 GMT -5
Interesting thoughts, all - Sohei, Sue, Anniem. Thanks especially for the free speech info, Anniem. Very intriguing parallels there. I am also not really in the BDP camp, I have always seen the end of the show as very much “back to the start” for Angel and crew. I’ve said it before, if a client had come to AI with a problem with any one of the folks who made up the Black Thorne, would the crew have gone after that group to help the person? Of course they would. And would they have willingly risked their lives to do so? Yep. That was what they did week after week – that was their purpose. Being at W&H for this past year had simply given them a view of the true complexity and difficulty of their mission, and they certainly stumbled along the way. But an understanding of what you are really up against can either make you back down and give up, or it can re-affirm your reasons for doing what you do. And they took the second road. Their method may have been right, may have been wrong, was probably a bit of both, but I can't go so far as to say the whole thing was a waste.
Lola
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Post by Nickim on Jul 19, 2004 8:45:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the great reviews all season, Nan.
I haven't read all the posts about this review, so please forgive me if I repeat what's already been said.
I think Cinquo's prophecy did come true. Angel was fighting in a graveyard and wearing a "mask" when he "joined" the Circle. The Circle were surrounded by death--a graveyard--and Angel was certainly hiding who really was--wearing a mask.
Also, about the cup of "Mountain Dew". I still think it refers to the old country song where they're talking about homebrew and call it "white lightning" and "mountain dew." Spike was recorporealized by a flash of "white lightning" and then he drinks "mountain dew." Home brew isn't prepackaged or mass produced. It's made specially by and for someone specific. It started being made, by most people, during Prohibition when no other liquor was available--under special circumstances. The spell that brought Spike back wasn't something for just anyone, it had to be "made by hand", designed just for Spike's special circumstances.
Those are some of my random thoughts. I'd really like to know what Joss had in mind for Season 6. Seems pretty likely that Spike would have Shanshued. He'd probably have died--again--in the battle in the alley, but then be brought back as a human. Wesley probably would have been brought back by Vail, possibly as an evil minion. TPTB could have protected Angel, since he was so willing to die to bring down the Circle. Same thing with Gunn, especially since he sacrificed himself in the Torture Universe and wouldn't take the SP's offer to save himself. I just hope we get a few answers in movies and very soon.
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Post by Nickim on Jul 19, 2004 9:15:50 GMT -5
Couple more thoughts.
Literal "mountain dew", the water that comes from the mountains all over the world supplies a very high percentage of the fresh drinking water and irrigates most of the crops grown where there isn't much rainfall. In other words, it's life-giving. Perhaps Spike's "mountain dew" was also life-giving.
Has anyone commented on the fact that Harmony was drinking from the SP's liason--I can't remember his name. Angel was able to defeat him by drinking him and gaining the special power that was in his blood. Harmony would have to have the same power. She could have decided to do good and help the guys in the alley or she could have been a baddie in Season 6.
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Post by Karen on Jul 19, 2004 11:57:10 GMT -5
Thanks to all who responded to my post. I just didn't have the time to go through all of the previous postings (shame on me!), but it was just something that was bothering me. I sure hope they do the movies...it would be a shame to never know what happens to all these wonderful characters. I do hope that Angel will try to use his "penmanship" as a way to get out of the contract, although I believe the character would be more than willing to sacrifice the chance to ensure the fate of the world is a bit safer. Anyway, again, thanks. Hi Shelly! I hope you didn't think I meant that you *should* have caught up on previous postings before you commented when I posted that link to our previous discussion. I just thought you might be interested in S'cubie "real time" thoughts at the time of NFA's original airing. I actually went back and read some of the posts, but had to stop because they just made me cry. I'm going to miss "Angel" so - and it doesn't hurt any less now to think about how we've been robbed of something really special. Thanks for starting up a great discussion (excellent points everyone). I'm in the camp that Angel's plan wasn't dumb, altho it was big. Sometimes you just have to act. It's a very human thing to do. And it's very possible that his shoddy handwriting when signing away the Shanshu was part of that plan. Nicki - I especially loved your point about Harmony drinking Hamilton's blood - I don't think it's been mentioned before. I think that Angel sent her away to be "safe" - even though he told her he was fired, "among other things". And he had a reference all typed out and waiting for her. He cared for her - and gave her more of a chance than he did Lindsey. I think that there's a comparison that can be made there. I do wonder what Harmony would do with her newfound sense of power - if she recognized it, that is.  |
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Post by Haunt on Jul 19, 2004 14:02:50 GMT -5
Umm... I was never left with the impression that Harm had been drinking Hamilton's blood. In 'Power Play' it was made clear that W&H had human blood on hand as refreshment for visiting vampire dignitaries. When Angel sends Harmony to get some for the Senator's assistant she asks if SHE can have some too. She's told she can't.
Later, we see her in bed with Hamilton (who was present during the earlier scene) drinking blood from a cup of some kind. My take was that Hamilton had given her some of the "preferred stock" out of the firms "wine cellar". It seems HIGHLY unlikely, given Hamilton's reactions later when Angel drinks from him, that he would just allow Harmony to snack on his empowered blood.
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Post by Nickim on Jul 19, 2004 17:44:19 GMT -5
Umm... I was never left with the impression that Harm had been drinking Hamilton's blood. In 'Power Play' it was made clear that W&H had human blood on hand as refreshment for visiting vampire dignitaries. When Angel sends Harmony to get some for the Senator's assistant she asks if SHE can have some too. She's told she can't. Later, we see her in bed with Hamilton (who was present during the earlier scene) drinking blood from a cup of some kind. My take was that Hamilton had given her some of the "preferred stock" out of the firms "wine cellar". It seems HIGHLY unlikely, given Hamilton's reactions later when Angel drinks from him, that he would just allow Harmony to snack on his empowered blood. You may be right, Haunt. I've only watched NFA once and I remember Harmony licking her lips over the blood and made the assumption that Hamilton was letting her drink. |
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Post by Linda on Jul 21, 2004 5:07:14 GMT -5
Hi Nan!
Great analysis. Eetah on the looseness of the ends. Sigh. Here's me, doing my waiting and hoping thing for Season Six. (Or movies. Or even a Giles-ish stick-figure comic book, if that's all Joss has time for. I need my story-fix, dammit!)
And I agree with you that the last day sequence was a highlight. It is one of my favorites of the whole season. And I liked this season a *lot*.
However, as hopeful and sweet as everyone's last day seemed to be, there was so much loss implicit in their choices. Lorne sang, but he no longer seemed to gather strength or joy from it. I think singing pained him due in part to his song-vision of Fred's death and the fact that his music was now a weapon (the note from "McArthur Park", among other things). Gunn visited his old neighborhood and saw Anne, but he was looking for his old gang and didn't find them. Spike read his much-maligned poetry to an appreciative audience, but he no longer has any woman to inspire poetry in his life. Angel met with Connor, but Connor chose to keep the true memories of Angel at a distance, despite his appreciation for what Angel did for him. (And in doing so, Connor loses touch with Fred, Cordy, Gunn, Wes & Lorne, too.) And there was no perfect day for Wes or Illyria (Wes having lost Fred and Illyria having lost her powers and her world) -- just a brutal honesty at Wes' insistence.
To me, though, the saddest part about the "perfect day" was that except for Wes & Illyria (which was about having *no* hope of a perfect day), every one of the Fang Gang spent the day apart from the others. No sharing or gathering strength from one another, as they would have at the beginning of the season. I believe this was because of the biggest implicit loss: Fred. She could demonstrably pull them all together. She accepted and expressed affection for and loved them all. Note that Illyria, of all people, was the only one who verbally expressed concern for someone else's safety as they all left on their near-suicidal assignments: "Try not to die." (Heh.) Unless you count Gunn's half-hearted "You try not to die, too."
And yet, despite all of this loss, they managed to find the strength within themselves to do what had to be done. I really loved this tear-your-heart-out episode. And the entire season, for that matter.
Nan, let me restate that you are one of the main reasons why I enjoyed this season of Angel so much. Thank you. For all of your insight & analyses & comments.
Linda, and now back to doing my job of waiting and hoping ...
P.S. Did you notice be's subtle hint about all the other Angel eps? ;D
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Post by sohei on Jul 21, 2004 13:36:40 GMT -5
I'd like to thank all the talk-backers who replied, and add a little something extra.
Did angel have closure or not? I'd say yes and no.
As a seperate entity, the tv show didn't have as much closure as any fan wanted, but as a connected entity, one connected to its fans, i think it did, precisely because of the conversations it inspired.
I've always admired television, in spite of its business model, because it brings together all sorts of creative people in collaboration. We all know that too many cooks can spoil the broth, and that too many chiefs and not enough indians can't catch the buffalo, but two heads ARE better than one (unless one of them is a sock puppet.)
Collaboration can save the world, or at least make it better. Being a wannabe writer, i am really annoyed at how lonely it is, and is said to SUPPOSED to be.
I want to be a writer like the writer in a design firm that teams up with an artist. They end up creating something bigger than the sum of their parts.
I think this is TV's only saving grace.
Even though it tries to cater to the lowest common denominator, and ends up lowering everyone's expectations, (That's not progress, that's regression. Abe lincoln was right about not being able to please everyone, but philosophy degrees aren't very marketable.) it still manages to bring together people like Joss with a host of amazing writers, actors, and assorted crew to create something that not even Joss' own mother-brain would have been able to accomplish alone.
Team-ups make stuff better. Hooray for message boards and the like.
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