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Angel 4x22: Full Reaction

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Angel 4x22: Full Reaction

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The Father Will Kill The Son. I mean, y'know, like, metaphorically or whatever. Still nice to see a prophecy come true!

Arlo Murphy

I meant to write this sooner. Am I SO late to the game that THIS viewing of the episode made me realize that the actor who played Holden Webster(schoolmate)on Buffy’s “Conversations with Dead People”, is the same actor who is the scientist, that gives Fred the tour thru the Science/Research Lab she’ll be in charge of @ Wolfram & Hart.

Andrea Frank

The hilarious awkward silence at the beginning of the episode was written specifically to swallow the credits (which is why the first line is spoken IMMEDIATELY after the writing and directing credit fades out), much like the dinner scene at the beginning of The Body.

El

It's just like Dawn, a whole life of false memories . Everything for Conner was erased and rewritten.

Morgan Williams

There are 2 scenes in Angel that to me are the definition of Love... Both involve Wesley, this one and another next season (involving a gun).. But Wesley breaking-in to get Lilah's contract really does show me he loved her in his own way... It may not have been a healthy love or a love that was going to last but for that moment in time it was real...

Bryan J Brown

Love that you seem to disagree with Angel here, think it’s a good reflection of how irl people can disagree about someone’s parenting. I’ve always felt ‘Home’ is Angel finally understanding Connor’s perspective in that he could never understand, and so chooses to give Connor an actually happy lie as compared to all the relatively ugly lies he’s always been dealt. It also shows that Angel did kinda absorb the lesson Jasmine was trying to impart, however crazily, last episode. Everyone’s least favorite season but it still has its bits.

Isaiah Bryant

Honesty, I really admire Angel for making such a hard decision. Connor was struggling so bad that he was literally about to become a serial killer. It's hard to grow up the way he did, and that's why he turned out that way. He was going down a really dark path. Angel did what any parent would, and that was protect his son, not only from the world, but from himself. Connor doesn't remember anything, and he's happy, living with a loving family. Everyone else doesn't remember Connor either. Angel is the only one who knows the truth, and the fact that he decided to live with that pain forever for the sake of his son really shows how much he loves him and that he would do anything for him. We already knew Angel would do anything to protect those he loves, and that proves it. He's such a selfless person, and I love him for that.

anna

I deleted my comment because this is just a more in depth version of what I had typed out.

Lime Pie

As problematic as this season can be (and that’s all been discussed plenty) I actually really enjoy this season and a major part of it is that last scene with Angel and Connor. The acting between David Boreanaz (heartbreaking) and Vincent Kartheiser (also heartbreaking) is some of the best of this show I think. But more beautifully tragic is how the last scene of this season perfectly bookends with the very first scene of the season: a family sitting together at the dinner table. Even the parallel of the toast (“To family.”) where in ep4x01 it’s Wesley who says it (in Angel's hallucination) and now in the finale it’s Connor (who is now also living a fabricated life). But that's what Angel and Connor both needed and wanted with all their hearts: Family. And this theme has been sprinkled throughout this season mostly through Connor's character, like when he got so emotionally affected by seeing the Svear family massacred, and in this episode where he gets so mad at that cop who was gonna kill himself and leave his family behind. In the end they were both fighting (struggling) to keep the little family ties they had but unfortunately Angel came to realize that in order to give that to Connor he couldn’t be the father he needed. Ultimately, the same theme we’ve seen before on Buffy and even earlier in this season of Angel (eo 4x20) is that 'love is sacrifice'. And he literally had to kill his son in order to have him essentially be reborn to a new family with a happy life. Also the ending music in this episode......so beautiful too, on par with the Buffy season 5 finale (interestingly titled ‘Sacrifice’).

Ariel17

You are right to be uneasy about Angel's decision. It does go to show how far he will go for Connor, including the moral hypocricy you noted. But at the same time, we understand why he would make such a deal, given his options. Complicated for sure!

Henry McFadyen

That's a good point about Angel doing to Connor what Jasmine was doing to people. I would say though that Connor was pretty upset that Jasmine didn't have that affect on him so it seems like he'd be good with giving up control of his destiny for even fake happiness.

Captain Hammer

I'm not sure what moment I even rolled my eyes, but I promise, as I thought I've made very clear, I've had a lot of empathy for Connor this season starting with the Cordelia manipulation early on. An eye roll was probably about the writing - not Connor himself. Please don't psychoanalyze my character based on how I react to fiction, it makes me panic lol. I apologize for how the eye roll came off (and I'm honestly curious about what moment it was in the episode)

Cassie

Angel using the connor cheat code after just saying to jasmine the previous episode that are choices have to be our own, always made me wonder if he questioned himself that jasmine might have been right. Especially after Lilah states they stopped world peace and seeing connor just completely mentally broken, i think angel might have questioned all his beliefs and made the deal with rhe devil

Rey R

loved the reaction as always....but I was a bit uncomfortable as you rolled your eyes at this 18 year old kid who had been through more than any traumatized human being ever, was obviously at the bottom of the deepest depression any of us will know, broken, mental health terminal...and you were rolling your eyes when he said that love was a lie, death was the only thing that's true....I get it kinda, crazy concepts...but rolling your eyes and throwing logic at him in that moment, throwing morality at him in that moment...it just felt a little cold.

Brandon Scott

I like this episode as a bit of a coda to Season 4 and some set-up for Season 5. You're valid about Connor's situation, but I don't think we're meant to totally sit right with it. Angel is kinda forced into this hypocritical position here, where he does have to sacrifice his values for the sake of the ones he loves. Connor's final turn is a little abrupt, I guess he just had a psychotic break? He's certainly been through hell, annoying as he can be at times. And man, I do love Lilah here, being at her best: mischievous, insightful, gorgeous, in-control, manipulative and even gets a vulnerable moment. We get the whole spectrum of Lilah goodness in this episode and Stephanie Romanov just devours.

Jorgalorg

I feel like on paper, the concept of Jasmine, the villain who takes away free will and brought herself into being by manipulating people’s choices is a good idea for a villain in the Buffyverse, because these shows and the characters are built on choices mattering. The idea that this villain has been interfering in potentially all events of Buffy and Angel shows is an especially interesting idea to run alongside Buffy’s final season as it makes a nice counterpart to the First, who can appear as any dead person, thus can have cameos and references to all the previous seasons. I think that these contrasting villains work well together and why many (including myself) think it is cool to try and interpret certain events as being secret crossovers (I think that the monster that tries to stop Joyce/The First from talking to Dawn is a demon working for Jasmine. Also I think that the apparition of Darla who spoke to Connor in Angel S4E17 is possibly the First trying to stop Jasmine from being born) However, I don’t think the show does a good job at refuting Jasmine and her minions’ claims that choices don’t matter. Angel and Jasmine discuss a bit then Connor sucker punches Jasmine and Angel wins by default, but there is no moment that I feel does a good job of proving that Jasmine hadn’t been interfering in the entire history of the Buffyverse as was claimed and that she is wrong about the value of choice. Mostly the last Jasmine episode feels really rushed and Jasmine stops talking and starts acting aggressively evil so that the audience is ‘supposed’ to know that she is wrong rather than a stronger counterargument. Overall I think Angel S4 is one of the weaker seasons of the Buffyverse, whose main saving grace was the Angelus arc and bringing back Faith. Looking forward to the last few Buffy eps then Angel S5.

James Smith

Seconding this!

Jordan McLaren

I know you usually dont but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE when the time comes and you start Angel Season 5, PLEASE make sure you skip the opening credits for the first episode. There are some spoilers for whatever reason the producers overlooked it. VERY pertinent that you skip the intro or close your eyes during lol <3

Cameron Ferguson


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