Macness Unto Death

In response to my lovely wife’s recent blog post about her frustrations with Joss Whedon and most recently the finale of Angel:

I present my top five “Thank You Joss Whedon” - Best Moments of Angel

5. “Numfar! Do the Dance of Joy!” -Lorne’s mother Through the Looking Glass (A2.21)

nuff said

4. “If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is that matters is what we do” -Angel Epiphany (A2.16)

Angel, the series, in a nutshell. Fight the good fight; never give up. Joss at his most blatantly existential.

3. “Who was that?” -Darla Redefinition (A2.11)

Angel at his absolute darkest moment. Not quite Angel, not quite Angelus, somehwere in grey in the middle, Angel cooly flicks his cigarette and sets Darla and Drusilla on fire.

2. “Would you like me to lie to you now?” -Illyria Not Fade Away (A5.22)

Wesley lies dying in Illyria’s arms and she gives him the most precious gift which is in her to bestow: a final moment with Fred. He didn’t want it before because it was a lie and he had no plans on dying that night. But now, mortally wounded, a lie is the only thing that can comfort him. The director states in the DVD commentary on this episode that they had to come back and reshoot this scene because he realized after they filmed it the first time around that the scene was not as much about Wesley’s love for Fred as it was about Illyria’s love for Wesley.

1. “You are my sunshine…” -Fred A Hole in the World (A5.15)

Written and directed by Joss, of course, as are all the best moments of the Whedonverse. My favorite episode of all of Angel, it also contains perhaps my favorite moment in the entire Buffy canon:

Wesley and Fred are making goo-goo eyes ant one another, and Lorne gives them both a “…you kids” look and heads down the stairs singing “You are my sunshine…my only sunshine.” Fred pick up the tune, looks at Wesley adoringly and melodically coos “You make me happy…”

BAM!! Lorne whips around with the most horrified look on his face. Before your brain can process that he has read her future when he heard her sing, Fred is coughing up blood and writhing on the floor. Wesley scoops her into his arms and screams for help while her body is racked with spasms. The camera is flung backwards at a dizzying angel and we go to black…

Unexpected. Gut-wrenching. Pure Whedon Perfection