Welcome to Rewatching Angel, the part of the blog where I rewatch the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off: Angel. Each Tuesday evening, you’re invited to join me as I attempt to rediscover what made me love these shows so many years ago.

Not Fade Away

• Picking up where we left off last week, Angel’s team is all in to destroy the Circle of the Black Thorn.
• It’s the kind of mission that’s likely to end with all of their deaths.
• Gunn brings up Illyria, that it might be good to have her on their side.
• Angel doesn’t think they can trust that she would necessarily fight the good fight.
• But Spike insists she’s good to go, that she was willing to guard Drogyn and they seemed to be getting along fine.
• Angel tells him to get over there ASAP since he’s well aware Drogyn is dead.
• You know… since he’s the one who killed him.
• Hamilton steps in just as the glamour wears off and Angel throws a punch at Spike.
• Angel sends everyone away and threatens Wes not to let Illyria get “twitchy.”
• Hamilton tells Angel that the rest of the Circle want to see him right now.
• Everyone gets back to Spike’s apartment to find Illyria severely beaten.
• Lorne isn’t sure he trusts Angel, but Gunn points out they don’t have to… just have to hope the Circle of the Black Thorn does.
• Sitting around a conference table, the Archduke Sebassis tells Angel that his team’s insurrection did not go unnoticed.
• The Archduke’s servant gets tangled up in Cyvus Vail’s bodily fluid IV tubes, so Angel smacks him to push him away, bringing the conversation back on track.
• Angel angrily questions why his people would be an issue.
• Sebassis says some of them are a problem.
• Wesley, it would seem, is unstable… Gunn, however, is not.
• But the biggest threat they fear is Angel himself.
• They want him to sign away the Shanshu prophecy…
• The Circle thinks that if Angel has hope that his humanity can be restored someday, he could be manipulating events within the Circle to make that prophecy come to pass.
• So he signs without batting an eye.
• Back in his office, he stares out the window when Harmony comes in.
• Angel asks her if she misses being human.
• He says he doesn’t remember what it was like to be human, and she tells him it wasn’t so great.
• Though she does remember having a heartbeat…
• Then she tries to ask Angel what’s going on and why she’s not a part of it.
• So he tells her to keep Hamilton busy.
• Then he brings Lindsey in to be a part of the final plan.
• Lindsey agrees to join the fight.
• Angel then arrives at Spike’s place and tells them they’re killing them all tonight.
• Then he tells everyone to take the day off… live life as if it’s their last day.
• Because it probably is.
• Lorne goes and enjoys some karaoke.
• Angel pays his son a visit.
• Spike does a whole lot of drinking.
• Gunn goes to see Anne and helps out at the shelter.
• Anne tells him about all they’re doing to help people and Gunn asks, what if he told her it didn’t do any good… that none of it helps…
• She tells him she’d make sure she got this shipment packed up before the next round of donations came in.
• And they get back to work.
• Wesley is helping Illyria to continue healing because she insists on repaying her enemies for beating and breaking her.
• But she’s confused as to why he would spend what is potentially his last day with her.
• Because, for him, there is no perfect last day… not after Fred.
• Illyria offers to assume her form once again, but knows he would never ask her to do so.
• “The truth is that Fred is gone. To pretend anything else would be a lie. And since I don’t actually intend to die tonight, I won’t accept a lie.”
• Back at the bar, Spike performs the poem he once wrote for Cecily.
• And it’s a hit… he was unappreciated in his own time.
• Angel talks to Connor about his girlfriend, the werewolf.
• Then Connor reveals that he knows Angel is his father…
• His old memories are mixed in with the created memories… sort of like it was a dream.
• Connor says that he understands what Angel did and he’s grateful for the life he’s had.
• Lindsey spends his time with Eve and tells her that his part can’t be too bad since they’re partnering him with Lorne.
• Back at Spike’s Angel talks through the plan, saying that someone is going to betray him.
• Spike volunteers, but Angel looks to Wes.
• Spike: “Can I deny you three times?”
• Ha! Biblical humor.
• Wesley will visit Cyvus Vail, since Vail already suspects that Wes wants to turn on Angel.
• Illyria will go after Devil Boy and three other Circle members.
• Illyria: “I will make trophies of their spines.”
• Angel: “Good to have you on the team.”
• Gunn will take out Senator Brucker’s campaign headquarters, which will likely be guarded by vampires.
• Spike insists he’s not wearing any jewelry for this apocalypse.
• Angel wants him to go after the Fell Brethren to retrieve the baby.
• Then Angel explains that Archduke Sebassis is the key player, so he’ll take him down personally.
• Lorne will accompany Lindsey.
• Elsewhere, Harmony is in bed with Hamilton and fills him in on Angel’s secret plan.
• Angel then tells everyone that anyone who survives will rendezvous in the alley north of the Hyperion, the gang’s old stomping grounds.
• As they split off, Lorne tells Angel that, after tonight, he’s out… and he asks Angel not to try to find him, either.
• Spike asks Angel what this all means for the Shanshu deal… if one of them makes it out alive, do they get to be a real boy?
• Angel says they aren’t making it out of this.
• Everyone’s part of the fight begins as planned.
• Angel returns to his penthouse above the office and Hamilton meets him there.
• Seeing a dagger in Angel’s hand, he asks if he’ll be taking that when he visits the Archduke.
• Clearly, Hamilton knows all about Angel’s plans… then he throws Angel out the window, causing him to crash through the glass ceiling in the lobby.
• Angel gets up and reveals that he knew Harmony would betray him, he just wasn’t sure when.
• She’s a little offended that he expected her to betray him.
• He tells her to leave the building, firing her… but he’s already written her a recommendation.
• Epic fight between Angel and Hamilton ensues.
• Angel’s really getting his butt handed to him…
• Hamilton likes to talk a lot… So he’s running down a list of people Angel’s lost over the years… Doyle, Cordelia, Fred…
• Then he asks Angel if he really thought he would be able to kill Archduke Sebassis.
• Angel says he already did…
• “I spiked his drink…”
• Back at that meeting with the Circle, when Angel shoved the Archduke’s servant away, he punctured him with a poisoned spike he was wearing as a ring.
• And since the Archduke drinks the blood of his servants, Sebassis was poisoned, too.
• Angel figured the better fight would be with Hamilton.
• Spike manages to save the baby, taking out the Fell Brethren on his way out.
• Wes and Vail have a magic fight, but Vail is way more powerful than Wesley.
• Hamilton is about to stake Angel when Connor shows up and knocks Hamilton through the wall.
• “You come visit me and the world isn’t coming to an end?”
• Gunn takes out the Senator and fights her campaign staff… lots of vampires.
• Illyria totaled Devil Bo’s car, along with the other Circle members that were with him.
• Lindsey washes demon blood off his hands and wonders about the rest of the team.
• Out of nowhere, Lorne shoots Lindsey dead.
• “You’re not part of the solution, Lindsey. You never will be.”
• Wes is definitely about to die at the hands of Cyvus Vail, and the old warlock shoves a dagger into Wesley’s gut.
• Wes then blasts Vail across the room with magic.
• Illyria walks in just as Wesley falls to the floor, seeing his wound is mortal.
• She tells him that she killed all hers and she was concerned about Wes.
• “You’ll be dead within moments… Would you like me to lie to you now?”
• Then she transforms into Fred, holding Wesley as he dies.
• Yeah… I’m crying a little. What of it?
• Once he’s gone, Illyria stands and faces Vail.
• “Take your best shot little girl.”
• He asked for it… And Illyria returns to her true form and punches a hole in Vail’s head.
• Hamilton is now beating the crap out of both Angel and Connor, bragging about how powerful he is…
• “You cannot beat me. I am a part of them, the wolf, ram, and hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power.”
• This is why bad guys shouldn’t monologue.
• He just gave Angel the key to beating him.
• Because all Angel has to do is take a sip of Hamilton’s blood and that same power will be flowing through him.
• Hamilton still brags that they can’t be beaten, just before Angel breaks his neck.
• The Senior Partners are not happy.
• Everything begins to shake.
• Angel tells Connor to go home, saying as long as he’s okay, everything will be fine.
• Angel heads to the alley to meet up with the others.
• Spike is already there, but he’s soon joined by Gunn, but he’s seriously injured.
• Illyria arrives and informs them about Wesley’s death.
• She’s grieving for him and wishes to do more violence.
• Which is good because there’s a horde of demons and a dragon coming for them.
• “Let’s go to work.”
• Body count: So many. Humans, demons, vampires… Just go with a lot. But most of them were bad guys.

That does it for Rewatching Angel, seeing as how this was the series finale and all. You know, back in the day, I really didn’t like the way this ended. But after all these years have passed, I think it’s kind of perfect for the message of this series. If you fight the good fight, you keep on fighting. There’s no end to that battle because there will always be evil in the world to stand against the good. When this finale first aired, I was bummed that we weren’t getting a sixth season and I was bummed that we didn’t get a definitive ending. Now I can look at it and realize, that’s the point.

Next week I’ll be putting together a Top 10 list of favorite episodes for Angel. I’ve never done that with this series before, so it may be a little more challenging than the Top 10 I did for Buffy. And in two weeks, I’ll start rewatching another series. If you’d like to make guesses as to what show I could be going for, feel free to speculate in the comments. I’ve already picked what I’m watching next, but you could give me ideas for what comes after that series eventually ends.