B.A.

"Power Play", Episode #521.



Cast: David Boreanaz, Alexis Denisof, J. August Richards, Amy Acker, Andy Hallett, James Marsters, Mercedes McNab, Alec Newman, Christian Kane.
Director(s): James A. Contner.
Producer(s): Joss Whedon, Gail Berman, Fran Rubel Kuzui, Kaz Kuzui, Sandy Gallin, David Greenwalt.
Writer(s): David Fury.

Original Airdate: May 12, 2004.

Zodiac_Speaking

God bless it, second to last episode. Anyone see that one page article in EW this weekend? "His last hour will be his finest." Evil WB.

wendersfan

I don't meant this to be a complaint, just an observation, but it occurs to me that the cast list w/guest stars is sometimes more of a spoiler than the actual plot summary in the spoiler tags.

Patman

Nina strikes quite a nice profile in bed.

Kaervak

All I have to say about tonights episode is HOLY SH!T was it good. So sad to see it's being cancelled.

Patman

Now this is the way to wind up a healthy 5 year run on TV, going down swinging and fighting.

It's going to be sad to see this show go off the air next week, but if you gotta go, go out in style and pissing everyone off!

Breakfast with Girls

It was okay, but Angel is going the same route as the last season of Buffy did. In that season, Buffy couldn't destroy The First Evil, an incorporeal entity from before time (or some such). So Joss created Caleb, The First's instrument of power on Earth. Buffy kills Caleb and wins a kind of sort of victory over The First. (If you recall, The First was around pretty much the entire seventh season, and Caleb was rather suddenly introduced and shown to be evil, so none of this is much of a spoiler.)

So Angel's series finale is Angel and the team going to take out The Circle of the Black Thorn. Why? Because they can't possibly take out The Senior Partners, so they have to take out their instrument of power on Earth. Yet again Joss has set up the big bad to be a little too big and bad, so these instant straw men are introduced right at the very end.

cdoug57

I really enjoyed this episode.

Good use of all characters in their proper function.

Loved the banter between Illyria and Spike - "the need for attention".

Wonder just how old Hamilton is? Has he always been a part of the wolf, ram and hart?

Looking very forward to next week's finale. This show seems to be firing on all burner's for their finale.

ugabuga

Good episode but man last weeks episode just didn't fit. Anyway wow its hard to watch and realize next week is the end. Well atleast the Vampire with a soul will go down fighting in style. A fitting end to a show that has been dark since the beginning by killing off one of the major core members of the group.

DB

Though there were aspects of the episode I did enjoy, am I the only one who thought the basic plotline was obvious and trite?

Rogue588

**** WB. **** THEM UP THEIR STUPID ASSES.

I am SO glad they're cancelling Angel. That way, it'll make more room for classics like



Ok. I feel much better. I like this episode. I really did. But, I do agree with what Breakfast with Girls wrote. However, this show has had a LOT less talking and more asskicking than Buffy did.

I'm wondering though, perhaps the whole "Black Thorn" thingie is actually a red herring and they'll be able to take out W&H?

1 episode left.

joltaddict

"Couldnt you have just not called back?"

They left Illyria bloody on the floor though.

mookiemeister

Excellent episode. Wonder how it will end and who will die. How come Illyria is so weak now? Doesn't she still have that time-slowing power she could invoke?

MrX

No.

She lost that when they used that thing that sucked part of her power away a few weeks ago when she was starting to break apart.

Anyway, I was thinking the same thing about Caleb and the circle.

I didn't really care for this episode. Some good Spike stuff and Hamilton beating the crap out of Illyria was interesting.

CreatureX

Illyria playing Crash Bandicoot.

Excellent episode tonight. I can't wait for the finale!

Mourn

Wasn't impressed... actually, i was really excited about where the show would go after the long break earlier this year, but it's turned out to be very dissapointing (for me).

MrN

This episode seemed to be just a big setup for the last one. Which I thought it did a good job of.

One thing though - did they previously show that vision Angel that Cordelia gave him or was it just pulled out of a hat?

"This isn't a stake.."

hahn

"This game is pointless and it annoys me. And yet, I can't stop playing..."

Chew

I enjoyed this episode and especially like the ending shot.

AXP 103

I have to admit that I read the spoilers. So that takes out some of my zing heading into the final episode.

I just don't understand, considering this was supposed to be a season finale (Until WB pulled the plug), why the characters have made this doomsday decision. Angel pretty much said it's now or never, and the end result will probably not be good for us. And the whole group decided to follow along anyways.

Either way, I still believe that next week will not be the last of Angel. Hopefully, we will still see all of the characters return.

boredsilly

I thought the same thing. I would have dug this more if the Black Thorn were introduced in a prior season or even mentioned. These dudes came out of the blue. I still liked the ep though and look forward to seeing how it all ends. I wish they were going for a more definitive ending though since I doubt Angel will be back in any form (with Boreanaz saying he's essentially done with the character), but I'm still enjoying this last run of eps.

So is Illyria dead now or just really ****ed up?

xVladx

If anything, Caleb's equivalent on Angel would really be more like that new liason. The thing is, Caleb was at least interesting and creepy. So far, the new liason (can't even remember his name) is pretty nondescript. Sure, he's super-strong, but otherwise he's just sorta there.

Remember, the big Buffy fight was actually against the army of Turok-Han, which apparently formed the bulk of the First's power. And even though the Ubervamps were mentioned ahead of time, they were more or less forgotten until the final two episodes.

While the Black Thorn wasn't explicitly referred to before tonight's episode, we did see various members of it before, which I thought was kind of neat.

Well, judging from the preview for next week's episode...

AXP 103

And Roger Clemens told anyone who would listen last year he was done with baseball.

You know what the saying is, money talks....

I don't think the time off from the character is really a bad thing. He probably can use a chance to recharge his batteries (As could Joss Wheadon). Outside of Angel, I haven't seen him do much in Hollywood. At some point, he'll become interested in a project.

In fact, if her movie career doesn't kick into high gear like I thought it would, I wouldn't be surprised to see SMG agree to a Buffy project of some kind.

Zodiac_Speaking

At first i bet a lot of people were thinking "this is the second to last episode?" But damn was it good. A great way to sum up everything they've been doing this season. Plus, this is a type of episode we want since the last episode of S4.

Senior Parnters vs. Team Angel-cue fighting music.

"Crash Bandicoot?"

Just one thing, Nina could've been an interesting character, but having only a few appearances and having Angel "care" for her seems a bit too much. Maybe she'll wolf-out and help, but I doubt it.
Grade: B+

Can't believe one more left.............

Patman

I have no idea how Amy Acker made it through that Crash Bandicoot comment without busting out in a giggle.