Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Twenty five years later (Part eight)By Matthew Martin| December 12, 2021 TV Blogs Previous Page In terms of stand-out episodes this year, three, in particular, come to mind… “Smile Time” Also known as “the puppet one,” this is arguably the best one-off episode Angel ever did, though I say that while acknowledging its polarizing status among the fanbase. Some Angel fans rejected this episode outright, arguing it was stupid, silly, pointless, or worse, unfunny. For me, I thought it was one of the best “one-off” episodes in the Buffyverse and maybe the only one in Angel’s library that could compete with those classic episodes from Buffy. The other show was always great about having some special gimmick or concept with its one-off episodes, using the gimmick to advance the story forward in big ways. Think of how much plot progression we got in “Once More with Feeling” or how the relationship with Buffy and Riley took a big turn in “Hush.” Angel had already done a few of those kinds of episodes but never as big or bold as this. I can see why some Angel fans, who favored the more serious and brooding take on the show, might’ve been turned off by it all, but for my money watching Spike vs Puppet Angel makes my sides ache from laughter. Puppet Angel “vamping out” is somehow even better. And, in keeping with the tradition, the episode wasn’t just a gimmick for the sake of it, but it used the circumstances as a way to process the Fred and Wesley storyline. And speaking of… “A Hole in the World” My hatred for this episode is perfectly in harmony with home much I adore Winifred Burkle. I hate this episode a LOT. What you have to understand before watching a single episode of Buffy or Angel is that Joss Whedon hates love. Well, okay, to be precise Joss Whedon hates happiness. He loves using love as a means to an end but he hates seeing characters becoming happy and content because that’s the antithesis of drama. I get it. I do. But after eight years of it…sigh. Sometimes you just want people to be happy, no? I just can’t help but notice that all the episodes that seem to love ripping my heart out are the ones that are directed by Joss, who does such a stellar job that you CAN’T hate the episode despite how much you hate what is happening in front of you. There are so many great moments in “A Hole in the World,” like the “astronaut vs caveman” gag, the horrific “you are my sunshine” moment, Wes suddenly shooting a man’s knee for not working the Fred case, the titular “hole” in the world, and the dual meaning behind it. This episode is Angel’s version of “The Body,” but since Angel has always had a different dynamic and since the deceased in question is not just a B-character but an active member of the team (and arguably the purest of heart character in the whole universe), it hurts differently. Also, since Angel is a different show that tells its stories different from Buffy, the layout of the episode is drastically altered: “The Body” starts with the death and then spends the episode processing it. This hits you with the inevitable news and then slowly marches you toward it. It brings out different shades of the same emotions. It’s one of Joss’ best episodes ever. It’s magnificent. I cry like a baby every time I see it. It’s great. I hate it. “Not Fade Away.” This is it. This is the last episode, not only of Angel but of the whole Buffyverse. In that sense, you would think it would have a lot to carry on its shoulders, but it doesn’t. Joss doesn’t bother trying to wrap up two shows’ worth of mythology. For one thing, he’s already said adieu to Buffy (twice!). For another thing, he made this episode with the hope that there would be a sixth season. In that sense, there was a lot less pressure here than there was with Buffy’s “The Gift” or “Chosen.” And yet, despite the possibility of more to come, the finale works as a fitting goodbye to the whole story of the “Vampire with a soul.” “Not Fade Away” is, first and foremost, a great finale, cliffhanger or not. In fact, despite the final shot, it’s not really a cliffhanger at all. The only comparison it has to a cliffhanger is that it cuts away before the final fight occurs, meaning we lose the resolution to the action that’s about to unfold. Instead, everyone got their closure and resolution before the fight. Especially poignant was Wes’ death, ending a six-season run as the Buffyverse’s most well-developed and brilliantly evolved character. His final moments with Illyria’s “Fred” put me in tears in a way an Angel episode hadn’t since, you guessed it, “A Hole in the World.” It’s no surprise that both moments feature Fred. Spike’s poetry reading was excellent too. Everyone had a chance to shine here and though I hate the way Lorne’s run ended. I understood it. All that said, as fitting an end to the series this episode is, it ends with me wanting more, something I didn’t have after the sense of finality that Buffy’s season 5 and season 7 finales offered. Buffy was ready to go after 5 seasons. It came back with a solid two-year coda and then, again, was ready to go after 7 seasons. I felt okay saying goodbye to her show, but not this time: Angel was not ready to go. There was a lot left in the tank for these guys and gals but as it was, it was a great ending to a great season of a great show. And while it is easy to attack the episode for ending the way it did, especially in hindsight with the show not being renewed for a sixth season, I think it works perfectly in light of the theme of the series itself. Angel has always been about the fight, about the struggle, about what “knowing you have to get up and fight again” means to the fighter in question. It’s not about the battle (that’s for Buffy), it’s about what the inevitability and endlessness of the battle does to you. After five years—and especially after a year working for Wolfram & Hart—it’s important that Angel, faced with overwhelming odds and a depleted army beside him, picks up his weapon and just says “I’m gonna go slay a dragon…” as the show fades to black. Does he slay the dragon? Does he die? Forget the comic book sequels, just in terms of the show and the message it conveyed over the course of those five years, the point of the ending is that it doesn’t matter whether Angel won or lost, lived or died. What matters is that he fought. He’s a vampire, a demon of darkness and a minion of evil, and as long as he lived again, he chose to fight for good. Along the way, we got to watch him fight that fight, struggle against the darkness, make some terrible mistakes, enjoy some triumphant victories, suffer some difficult losses and, ultimately, pick himself up to fight again, and again, and again. If you somehow don’t think there’s a lesson in that, an inspiring application to take from that, then at least Joss Whedon and co. gave us 110 episodes of fun, of action, of drama, of heartbreak, and of delightful characters and character growth, arguably better than you’ll find on any show anywhere. Thanks for the memories, Angel Investigations. We’ll be back next time with the start of our countdown of every Buffy episode from bottom to best. Until then!
