Neeperando

Holy crap. What else is there to say? OK, most of the episode was not great, but what a freakin' cliffhanger. I love how everyone who came from Buffy is just gone in one way or another. Of course, we all know the series has been renewed, so it's not over, but next season better rock.

Patman

Ugh, didn't quite like the season finale.

1. Wes is sleeping with the enemy - Lilah.
2. Cordy's being promoted by TPTB
3. Angel's stuck at the bottom of the sea in a coffin.
4. Connor and Justine put Angel in the coffin.
5. Groo leaves.
6. Lorne leaves for Las Vegas.
7. Gunn and Fred don't have a clue.
8. Is Fred pregnant? She's been scarfing up food.

Rico Diablo

Yeah, great cliffhanger.

The phone rang and I missed what happened when


They have to

Neeperando

What's to not like? Would you rather have the season finale be:
1. Everyone forgives Wes and he comes back
2. Cordy uses yet another one of new powers to save the day
3. Angel stuck in "annoying dad mode"
4. Connor and Justine make peace with Angel
5. Groo stays.
etc...

No thanks, I like the way it went. Besides, it'll all be back to normal by about 3 episodes into next season.

Fred's been scarfing up food every since she came back from Pylea. I thought that was one of her personality quirks.

Rico Diablo

Interesting.
Is it a double shark jump if a show has two babies in two seasons?

Patman

I just found the energy level of the season ender to be sluggishly slow.

Cordy will give up her powers for the love of Angel.

I was living vicariously through Wes tonight as he was shagging Lilah. Wes has been truly through the wringer this season.

Angel will find a way out, and hunt down Connor (who either gets sent back to a demon dimension or dies, I can't see him as a regular next season).

Lorne has to come back. Groo - I don't care.

Justine just needs to get laid.

Gunn and Fred need a clue, and Fred needs a happy meal.

Breakfast with Girls

What a clunker. As the episode was ending, I was imagining the director congratulating himself, thinking, "Wow, what a great dichotomy! Ascending and descending! Brilliant!"

I mean, honestly, except for Cordelia, most of it seemed like a foregone conclusion. As far as Cordelia goes, I thought that was pretty bizarre. And not "good bizarre." As in, "bizarre that they would make that decision."

Darren Garrison

I liked the episode for the most part, but the "Cordy changing into a white-robed angel and asending to Heaven in a beam of light" was really, really, cringingly, awfully bad.

Snake Plissken

Good cliffhanger. Lilah is also pretty damn hot. WTG Wes! Fred was in extra cute mode tonight. I hope Lorne comes back.

MrN

I guess they have to end seasons on cliffhangers just in case some of the actors don't make it back?

Yeah, pretty slow episode that only served to have as many people in peril as possible - I was half expecting the hotel to blow up with Fred & Gunn inside.

Love the surprise progression of Lilah/Wesley though. "I wasn't thinking of you when you were here" - brrrrr. They'd better go somewhere with this and not just write it off in 3 episodes...

Oh well, now to prepare for the doldrums of summer.

WarriorPrincess

I am neutral on this one. There have been many better episodes, but I wasn't totally disappointed.

I do however despise the whole Angel/Cordy love situation. Buffy is his true love, period. I could care less that they are on two separate networks (thus no chance for cross-overs - or even mentioning each others' names, it seems). Buffy is Angel's only link to true happiness. Not Cordy. Don't get me wrong - I like Cordy, always have. But she's not Buffy. Any other "love" Angel may have is less than he'd have with Buffy - and if that girl were me, I wouldn't want to be there knowing he had a true love, a soulmate, that wasn't me.

Also didn't like Cordy ascending - not because she doesn't deserve it, as I think she does. Also not because more powers aren't great - I think they are. But because now she's dead (her body anyway, right?) and basically an "angel" of sorts in her own right. Unless they have her give up her powers to save Angel, making herself mortal again, it will be far too "touched by the angels" for me. no pun intended.

And Cordy purged Connor of the hate the demon dimension instilled in him. Wiped the slate clean, but he didn't even bother to find out the whole story before plotting against Angel? Poor writing. I know he's had 20 some-odd years of indoctrination by Holtz, but Connor already proved he would act of his own free will and would figure out his own way prior to Holtz dying. Deep down he knows Angel is good, and that would have made him at least question the situation. After all, why should he trust what's her face (the one who actually killed Holtz). And then there was the letter from Holtz. Connor would know Holtz would never write it under duress, so it must have been true - he must know what his father's handwriting looks like. (I suppose Holtz could have purposely written it differently but Connor didn't indicate that when he was alone) - anyway if it were true Angel would have no reason to kill Holtz. Killing him makes no sense if the letter is true - only if Angel is evil does killing Holtz for no reason make sense, and Connor knows Angel is good. It was all too fast and didn't ring true.

And what about the choice of locations? Connor knew Cordy was supposed to be there and that she could stop him with her powers. Choosing to ambush Angel when someone was supposed to be there who could thwart his plans? Again makes no sense. Connor is a hunter - he would have patiently waited for the right time - and here Cordy could have shown up at any moment. Connor had no way of knowing she was ascending at the time.

Plus I remember Spike saying something about vampires who don't eat - waste away to nothing...so Angel would die or go into a coma or something. Either way Connor's goal is subverted.

I want Lorne to come back! He is one of my favorites.

The stuff I did like:

Wesley is COLD! His progression over the years from pedantic wimp to historian who can help to rogue vampire fighter to no-nonsense take-action fountain of knowledge to cold detached shell has been amazing. And totally believable, except for not discussing his discovery of the (false) prophecy with the group. He's been pushed to the edge one too many times, and this time it's left visible scars (again no pun intended). Before he could hide what the fighting and knowledge was doing to him, but now he's holding on to his humanity with his fingernails, if he still has it at all. I really hope this development is allowed to continue, as Wesley's story is the most interesting so far this season.
I even buy his sleeping with Lila - he's just using people now. Though I really don't want him to join Wolfram and Hart unless he's secretly working against them - spying/sabatoging would be fun to watch.

Connor's internal battle with good and evil - will he be the salvation or the demise of the world? This could be REALLY good! More stuff with the girl in the white room and TPTB would be good.

And I'm waiting for Angel to be his badass self again (though not Angelus ) - I love the fights when he really lets loose.

Not missing Grue at all, though it was pretty sad how he left - I felt bad for him.

Looking forward to next season very much, but please - like I'm going to believe Angel is in any real danger. It's not called "Cordy" for cripes sake - Angel's gotta stick around for at least one more season, so he'll be fine. I thought Wesley getting his throat cut was FAR scarier - no one but Angel has to be there next season, so anyone else has the real potential of getting killed off.

das Monkey

About the way I felt.

Anyone wonder if Coredelia can now date Wesley ... no not that Wesley, that Wesley ... now that she's ascended to a higher plane?

das

spainlinx0

Should I be scared that I actually got that joke?

Dimension X

I wasn't too impressed with this one either. I have to agree the midseason cliffhanger with Wesley was much better. I also agree that Wesley has become the most interesting character on the show. When he grabbed Lila by the neck and asked her if she'd like to know how his throat felt, I couldn't help but think this guy really needs some "rogue demons" to hunt down. He's way too tense. But then, of course, he found a better outlet for that pent up anger.

So, Cordie transcends, Steven/Connor takes a page out of Dr. Evil's book and, instead of killing the hero when he has the chance, puts him in an easily ecapeable trap, Angel goes for a swim, Loren goes to Vegas (How's this guy fly on an airplane? Don't they do species profiling for demons?), and Gunn and Fred wander around aimlessly in the lobby while Wesley takes a post coital nap. Yeah, I can hardly wait till fall to see how all this is resolved.

Patman

I got a chuckle when Fred starts mock stabbing Angel with a wooden spike making sure he wasn't "Perfectly" happy.

For anyone that didn't get das' Wesley reference, he was talking about .

pagansoul

I got it also. I guess we are all geeks/geekettes.

Red Dog

I flipped by Angel last night and noticed Charisma Carpenter chopped her hair and changed the color. Yuck! When did she do this?

grunter

As soon as Cordy's feet left the pavement, the first words out of my mouth were: "Mmmm, Cordelia Crusher has a nice ring to it."

As for the episode as a whole, what - quite frankly - did you people expect? Virtually none of the characters - save Wes - have been used effectively this season.

- The less said about "goofily happy Angel" the better. We need more "mean face" fang action from this supposed vampire.

- Lorne was reduced to being a wise-cracking babysitter. The actor and the role deserved far, far better. What they did to this character was just shameful. What a complete waste.

- Cordelia was whisked away for nearly a third of the season and involved in a painfully contrived love triangle. Now she's either a "goddess" or just a really, really big Ace Frehley fan. Define her powers and limit them or please - write her out of the show.

- Groo merely provided a cheap going-into-commercial-break cliffhanger and a red-herring for the whole inevitable Cordy/Angel love-fest. What was the point in even adding him to the cast? Comic relief?

- The goo-goo eyed diner love scenes between Gunn and Fred have done absolutely zero in the way of making these characters the least bit interesting. (Fred is by far my least favorite of the Angel Investigations crew, coming in even behind Groo. Why don't they just dub her Willow Jr. and get it over with?)

- It was painfully obvious from the beginning of the whole "impossible" vampire baby arc that Connor wouldn't stay in swaddling clothes for long. Any baby introduced in a sciffy/fantasy setting will quickly morph into a teenager by magical means. That's practically black-letter law in the screen-writers' handbook. And the evil Peter Pan thing has grown really stale really quickly.

- And while I love the nihilism and despair that has been woven into the Wes character, the whole "best-bud-goes-all-evily" thing is currently being done right now over at "Buffy". (See tonight's season-ender for example.) No need to repeat ourselves Joss.

S.O.S. This show needs some serious resuscitation next season.

Rico Diablo

My guess is he's "keeping his enemies closer." Much closer. Sure, he feels betrayed by the gang, but if he can infiltrate Wolfram and Hart and know what they know and know their plans...the information would be priceless.

Slumbering Fist

Well, it was pretty droll compared to the finales they came up with before (which besides Buffys death were the best finales in the Buffyverse). I think a lot like Buffy this season they got a little too involved in cumbersome character arcs and seemed to forsake the whole Big Bad business throughout the season. Angels fight was an emotional one for his son, and thats just not quite as thrilling as going toe-to-toe with some demony thing.

Now that the seasons over-

Deeply dark and deadly Angel of the second season is my favorite. I like the contrast that season between his being slightly happy/jokey (in teh begin and end) or completely bleak and mean (the seasons middle).

Wesley, my least favorite, stilted character, has grown into the shows most potentially intersting figure.

Fred and Gunn still make no sense to me and dont exaclty spark up the screen, but Fred is often cute and my kind of gal, so I'll forgive it.

Surprisingly, I miss the near constant meddling of Wolfram and Hart. This season they (and the "what client are we going to save this week?" plots) have been on the back burner a little more, and just pop up every now and then to make their prescence known.

I have no idea what the Hell they are doing with Cordy.

Its been Angels weakest season, but it was better than Buffy. I think its pretty clear Joss' shows suffer without his invovement, and in spreading himslef thin, not being around, the writing and producing staff have fumbled with both shows.

Canis Firebrand

While it would be nice to have an explanation of what exactly Cordie's powers entail, it didn't detract too much from the season for me.

Last nights episode did have her demon "guide" telling her that TPTB pretty much gave her the farm in regards to her demon powers.

Maybe TPTB foresaw her doing some great good in the future, but felt the need to test her to see if all the power would corrupt her.

I still have hope that the development will be explained next season. Hopefully the first episode will have her meeting TPTB and explaning what her powers are and why she was chosen to be made a higher being.

Still enjoyable though.

Patman

Is Cordy starting to look like Victoria Principal?

Patman

Can Angel survive in that coffin under the seas for 3-4 months without drinking blood? I know he doesn't need to breathe.

Will Gunn and Fred just be hanging out at the hotel for the whole summer wondering where the hell did everyone else go?

Will TPTB give Cordy back her long tresses and color-coordinate her outfits?

Will Groo and Lorne go to Las Vegas together and start up a 2-man variety act featuring karoake sword fighting?

Will Lilah become Wesley's emotional outlet? Will Wesley infiltrate and take over W&H?

Will Stephen/Connor and Justine hook up?

Will I run out of silly questions?

tofu

It would just really hurt since it's almost like an addiction, right?

I don't think Connor and Justine would hook up. That would almost be like hooking up with your long lost mother or something (in light of what Holtz was thinking)

Probably never so keep em' coming.

I thought the final episode was alright. But I have no idea what they're doing with Cordy. Is she going to back next season? I really hope so. I was kinda hoping for some kinda fling between her and Angel. It kinda sucks for Angel though because everytime he seems to get a little happy, something happens to just flush it all down the toilet. Can't wait to see what happens in the fall.

cooper2000

I am reading that a lot of you didnt like it but its better than any episode of Buffy this season and it was suppose to end with eveything in the air. Thats called a Cliffhanger. Its good Drama to leave all of our heroes in the state of Flux.

Although the Cordi rise to a Higher bean thing was too much like the "Ghost" movie effect, I liked the story idea but I think it was kinda lame that Conner tried to kill his Dad like that. It just seemed a little too predictable to me.
I heard he may be around next season so we will see, but I hope he chooses a side. This back and fourth thing is getting old already.

All and all, Clever episode and nice dialouge especially the exchange between Lilah and Wesley, the Cordi Nightlight joke and Fred saying Angel cant be "TOO" happy or you know what will happen.

I have to say I wish Groo would have stayed. Maybe not as a romantic interst for Angel but I liked his character.

One more note, I also belive Angel belongs with Buffy and shouldnt be with Cordelia.