28 x 28: February Five

Today I'm going to keep it simple and write up a review for what I consider to be one of the best single hours of television to ever air.

Review: Angel: Not Fade Away

'Not Fade Away' is the series finale of the TV show Angel. I believe it aired all the way back in 2003, and it was the perfect culmination off all the character beats, plotlines, and tonal throughlines that had been used throughout the length of the show's five seasons. The basic premise of the show is actually kind of silly at first glance. Angel was a character from another TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who spun off into his own show following the third season of its progenitor. Angel is a vampire who is burdened with a soul which makes him distinctly feel the moral weight of all of the countless people he had killed in his hundreds of years of life. In an attempt to earn redemption he moves to LA and decides to protect the weak and preyed upon. Angel was never a show that soared to new heights on the basis of its premise alone. Through the strong characterization of each member of Angel's group to the often times allegorical nature of many of the episodes, Angel made itself important by hooking the viewer on a very connective level.

Season Five saw the biggest change of status quo to the entire premise. In this season, Angel and company are offered and accept the ownership of the LA branch of a hellish (literally) law firm; Wolfram & Hart. This is an interesting choice considering that for the previous four years, the cast of the show fought tooth and nail against the corporation and its inherent embodiment of evil. The whole hook for the entirety of season five was the question of whether or not these crusaders for good could survive in what amounts to the belly of the beast.

The season saw many interesting moral choices along the way. From having to protect otherwise vile clients in the interest of keeping the delicate balances from swaying to sometimes turning a blind eye to lesser evils, it was clear throughout the course of the season that Angel and friends were fighting a losing war and perhaps losing their moral compass along the way. In the penultimate episodes leading to the series finale, Angel himself seems to be taking a darker trend. He's killed a friend or two, joined an organization that is basically the reality-based proxy for Hell on Earth, and shown an increasing disinterest in the thoughts and well-being of his friends. In the beginning of 'Not Fade Away', Angel makes his play and reveals to his friends that he has not been doing all of these dark things for naught. Instead, it is his plan to kill every member of the Black Thorn organization and destroy Wolfram & Hart's grip of power in this dimension. It's a risky move, but right from the get-go the stakes are made abundantly clear to the audience. At its most basic, this is Angel and his crew versus the greatest evil threats in existence to achieve what is tantamount to spitting in the collective faces of gods.

Perhaps because I was personally late to the party, knowing this was the last episode of the series ever went a long way to offering a sort of no-holds, anything-can-happen sensibility during this last hour of television. Characters make asides that they will likely not survive the encounters and even if they did, the ensuing backlash from their devilish benefactors would likely be enough to destroy them. Of course, being a TV show one would assume that this is all pomp and circumstance, but this would be forgetting that this is a show created by Joss Whedon who if nothing else is famous for his glass half empty attitude towards narrative. The episode unravels slowly at first, showing each long standing member of the cast enjoying what could be their final days on Earth. From there the pace accelerates and never misses a beat as each stage of the literal and figurative finale rolls on. Before long we are witness to satisfying coups at the hands of many of our heroes, and at least one amazingly well done scene of death and defeat. This very scene is almost enough to elevate in my mind the finale to seldom resonating heights. Superbly well acted and richly emotionally rewarding for long-time viewers of the show, I would not be lying in saying that it is one of a few very rare television moments strong enough to elicit a genuinely sorrowful response from me.

Finally in the end Angel and what remains of his crew convene in an alleyway we learn is just a few blocks shy of a location integral to the series. Rain is pouring and it turns out not as many as one would think have returned from the trials of the night. Worse still, we learn another long-standing cast member is mortally wounded as has mere moments left to live. It's in these final few moments, when an army of countless demons is charging down on our vastly outnumbered heroes, that we realize the episode and indeed the show have literally minutes to close up. In one of the finest examples of not holding the viewer's hands, Angel ends with its heroes basically facing inevitable death and things looking bleak to say the best. As the evil armies finally close in on the main characters, we get the sense that Angel has his friends and that they will go out like they came in; fighting for something better. With that and a nicely exaggerated sword-slashing noise, the show and the series end.

Angel was a decent show with lots of rewarding pay-offs and callbacks throughout that rewarded viewers for long time allegiance. 'Not Fade Away' stands as one of the finest finales in TV history because it pulls no punches, and unlike The Sopranos it leaves you satisfied not knowing what will happen to the characters you've spent half a decade invested in. This is owed largely in part to the fact that the ending is so pitch perfect in terms of character actions and the consequences of those actions that the viewer never feels cheated. Would I prefer if there were more story to go onto afterwards? Of course. The point is that the way the show ended not only settles many of the themes and plots of the entire series, but lets the viewer's imagination race with the possibilities. Even if you never watched a single episode of the series, 'Not Fade Away' is one of those few TV episodes that you should sate your curiosity on if ever you get the chance. Far and away, hands-down this is the best final episode to a TV series ever. And that's likely saying something.