Angel:AtF #16 review
Happy ending in Angelverse? No, not possible.
It may be an opinion of a thoroughly "jossed" fan, but - yes, I think happy ending and Angel are unmixy. So I expect some nasty catch in the last issue.
In a nutshell: Angel realises that "they", whoever they are - W&H, Senior Partners of scriptwriters excelling in creative torture - can't allow him to die. If he dies they'll "pull a better him out of a timeline" - i.e. make a "physical reboot" as Angel aptly calls it in his voiceover. As soon as Angel realises it, he provokes Gunn to kill him to force "them" to bring everything back to the moment of NFA battle. Back in the alley, they all keep their memories of Hell-A experience intact, so it's rather a "take two" than an actual reboot. "Take one" ended tragically, characters start over with the memories of all the mistakes made in take one. The same night, the same place, but now Angel knows that he has to be quick to save Gunn from being sired and dragon knows from the very beginning who are his friends and who are enemies. This time they don't make mistakes from the previous take - and win.
Of course, current twist raises again the question what the hell "they" - whoever they are - want to do with Angel/want Angel to do. But this question dangles after AtS since 1999, so we may either shrug it off or celebrate its tenth anniversary. The overall premise of Angel being needed up there for the fulfillment of some vague prophecy gradually turned into a improbable plot necessity nobody dares to tackle.
Looks like the overall AtF arc is over (well, mostly). Lynch, with Joss' blessing, successfully turned inside out Angel's arc in season 4 when Angel's journey became an antithesis to the idea of God. God "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16) while Angel so loved his begotten son that he gave the world. He reloaded the universe and created a world with happy Connor - a world where he and his friends work for an evil firm - I think it qualifies as "giving the world".
In After the Fall Lynch finds a way to reconcile love for the world and love for your family. Apparently, one has to sacrifice himself to make it happen - but that's what Angel usually does. The idea works beautifully on narrative and on metaphorical level and serves a great illustration of the idea that "love for your world starts with love for your family" (this Francis Bacon quote is well-known in Russian but I couldn't find it in English so I'm translating it back instead of quoting verbatim). You want to make the world a better place? Start with yourself. It's Connor's death that finally opens Angel's eyes. Angel dies for Connor - and, paradoxically, saves everybody. Including Connor's killer. Oh, the irony.
Angel dies and gets resurrected in a world where people admire him as the savior of the world. He becomes an instant celebrity. I wonder if that's *the* catch for the next mini-arc that will be penned by Kelly Armstrong. Judging by current BtVS comics, Joss is interested in celebrity culture and informational wars. The only problem I see -- this theme could clash with overall AtS mood. Celebrity culture is great material for satire, but AtS is a tragic show and Angel is a tragic hero. But we'll see.
I wonder in Harmony arc on BtVS is a shard of this new universe and celebrity!Angel is another step towards a crossover.
Looks like Wesley is gone forever. Angel's goodbye line "thank you, rogue demon hunter" was perfect and sounded like the ultimate farewell. I suppose that now Wesley's function is relegated to Gunn - another Angel's friend who did horrible things to Angel's son. Gunn got the most interesting arc on AtF and his current situation is a perfect set-up for the next step in his journey.
Illyria's arc was also powerful and compelling. God discovering her humanity - it's a theme that, apparently, haunted Joss since he came up with Glorificus: "But I'm not supposed to
feel guilty! I'm not supposed to feel anything! I'm a God. I'm above it, I'm... You! You did this to me, didn't you? Some kind of spell. You've been hanging with the Wicca, you could have ... but no. Not magic. It's something else." (The Weight of the World). I think that Joss created Illyria partly to explore the issue further - and Lynch proved to be a good accomplice. His Illyria is funny, tragic, determined, lost - more and more human with each issue. When she goes on rampage in issue 15, her actions echo Willow's at the end of season 6 of BtVS.
Spike's arc was the least interesting, although, paradoxically, he has got a lot of memorable scenes and lines. Maybe I'm just spoiled by great Spike fics and subconsciously expected more Spangel action and Spuffy mentions.
BTW, about fics. Here's a rec for Spuffies on my f-list who enjoy After the Fall - Perfect World by Cousinjean. This story shares many common elements with AtF: artificially created hell dimension, complex and twisted story, Lindsey and Gunn cameos and final reboot with memories kept intact. ...Post-Grave, Spike wishes he hadn't been chipped - and finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by Adam, where Buffy is chipped and kept in a cell in former Initiative headquarters, while Giles is the head of the Resistance movement. The best BtVS dystopia I ever read.
I know that my attitude to comics is colored by reading countless fanfics that explored every possible twist on the verse. Yet Lynch's technique of building twist upon twist upon twist is gripping and full of tension. Sometimes it was hard to follow all the intricacies of the plot and I often had to reread pages and whole issues twice to understand their full meaning. But, in the end, the emotional payoff is incredible. Great issue. Great mini-series. Fooking forward to the last issue.
P.S.
A cynic in me whispers that now Fang Gang knows how to fix *any* mistake: just kill off Angel and the verse will be reloaded automatically.