/AtS S5 that ends with a guy starting a demon war in the middle of a densely populated city/ - Well, I thought the ending was in line with the famous quote “If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.” If there is no greater scheme and no reward for good deeds, if we are nothing but cogs in the great machine of caos, ever more so we must search for our own purpose in life: it is what we choose to do with our own life that gives meaning to it. Even if we cannot win, all the more we must try. Or, again, in the words of Joss Whedon: "I believe that the only reality is how we treat each other; that morality comes from the absence of any grander scheme, not from the presence of any grander scheme." Which BTW really appeals to the atheist in me and finds echoes in the whole Angel fighting with Spike over which vampire with the soul is the one the Shanshu prophecy really refers to, only for Angel to sign away the prophecy in the end in a great character arc, showing that he is truly a hero and what he does he isn't doing it in order to obtain some kind of reward but because it's the right thing to do. What irritates me about season 5 is that there are too many one-shot episodes and interesting things that could be developed into a whole arc (Wesley and Connor regaining their memory in Origin, Cordy's comeback in You're Welcome) only get the space of a single episode. Illyria's arc, though terrific, could have done with much more time too. It feels disloyal to the rest of Ats, choosing this particular season as the best, it's like saying that, at its best, Ats was nothing more than a list of unfulfilled possibilities. Also, I can't believe neither Fred nor Gunn nor Lorne got to know the truth about the memories that Angel took from them. (And I'm still bitter about Eve replacing Lilah...) Also, while season 5 is dark I don't think it's necessarily the darkest one (what about season 4 or 5?), to me the last season is more of a weird merge of fake comedic cues, mostly during the first part of the series (Angel and Spike's rivalry, puppets, Harmony), and serious ones during the second part. It's just like "The Girl in Question": half of it we're following Angel and Spike in their surreal trip to Rome, fighting over Buffy and dealing with the parallel branch of W&H (cue all the jokes), the other half there's the grimness of Wesley and Illyria and Fred's parents. It's jarring.
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If there is no greater scheme and no reward for good deeds, if we are nothing but cogs in the great machine of caos, ever more so we must search for our own purpose in life: it is what we choose to do with our own life that gives meaning to it. Even if we cannot win, all the more we must try.
Or, again, in the words of Joss Whedon: "I believe that the only reality is how we treat each other; that morality comes from the absence of any grander scheme, not from the presence of any grander scheme." Which BTW really appeals to the atheist in me and finds echoes in the whole Angel fighting with Spike over which vampire with the soul is the one the Shanshu prophecy really refers to, only for Angel to sign away the prophecy in the end in a great character arc, showing that he is truly a hero and what he does he isn't doing it in order to obtain some kind of reward but because it's the right thing to do.
What irritates me about season 5 is that there are too many one-shot episodes and interesting things that could be developed into a whole arc (Wesley and Connor regaining their memory in Origin, Cordy's comeback in You're Welcome) only get the space of a single episode. Illyria's arc, though terrific, could have done with much more time too. It feels disloyal to the rest of Ats, choosing this particular season as the best, it's like saying that, at its best, Ats was nothing more than a list of unfulfilled possibilities.
Also, I can't believe neither Fred nor Gunn nor Lorne got to know the truth about the memories that Angel took from them. (And I'm still bitter about Eve replacing Lilah...)
Also, while season 5 is dark I don't think it's necessarily the darkest one (what about season 4 or 5?), to me the last season is more of a weird merge of fake comedic cues, mostly during the first part of the series (Angel and Spike's rivalry, puppets, Harmony), and serious ones during the second part. It's just like "The Girl in Question": half of it we're following Angel and Spike in their surreal trip to Rome, fighting over Buffy and dealing with the parallel branch of W&H (cue all the jokes), the other half there's the grimness of Wesley and Illyria and Fred's parents. It's jarring.