Boviosity!

Angel, my favorite television series of all time and a spinoff from my second favorite series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, had its series finale last night. I'm in a bit of shock and denial, but after the events of last night's episode, there's no doubt it's really over.

I don't expect people who never got into these series to understand, so don't bother tweaking me for enjoying a teeny-bopper series about vampires (unless you just feel like it).

Angel had its hilarious moments, like BtVS, but it was Angel's character-driven drama that gave it its edge over Buffy. So, herewith, my 5 favorite Angel dramatic moments.

5. Illyria, the ancient god of death and misery who took over the body of Angel's beloved (female) sidekick Fred, assumes Fred's form for a visit from Fred's parents. No excuses here, I'm just a sucker for this kind of emotional string-pulling.

4. Wesley coldly and efficiently guns down his father, who makes the fatal mistake of menacing Wesley's love, Fred. I have to digress here to explain that the shock of this moment was perfectly served by the masterful direction of the entire episode, and of this scene. These people know how to set a scene that wrings every ounce of potential from a scenario, and not just in a "let's examine this facet of [father/son tension || earthly vs. heavenly love || media manipulation || whatever]. That the thing Wesley shot turns out to be a robotic impostor in no way felt like a cheat, because it was not about Wesley shooting his father. It was about who and what Wesley had become.

3. Angel's action-oriented sidekick Gunn interrupts his escape from a roomful of zombies to go back and kill Gavin, a one-time associate at the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart who'd been turned into a brain-eater by a mystical demon. "I knew the man," he says. "I couldn't stand to see him like that."

2. Angel's vampiric sire, Darla, has become human again, and Angel has begun to love and trust her again as he did during their hellish vampire days. Darla is captured by Wolfram & Hart. Then, in the best Grand Guignol horror scene presented, complete with perfect music and chilling use of ultra-slo-mo, their old friend the mad vampire Drusilla is brought in to re-sire her.

1. The birth of Angel & Darla's son Connor. So much of the devastating impact of this scene depends on the history of Angel & Darla & Buffy & Dru & Lorne & Wesley and the whole freakin' gang, I'll just say, you had to be there. An alley behind Lorne's nightclub. A vampire who recognizes that the only good in her emanates from the human life that's growing inside her. A stake. You do the math.

Go ahead, call me a twittering fan-boy. Looking at these 5, I see where I could expand it to 50 and not miss a beat. And I didn't even watch the first season! And I didn't mention the beautiful Cordelia! Hell, I could do 5 from last night's episode alone, except Missy has already done the job. Your favorite "Angel" moments in comments, go on ahead!

Update: Apparently, I'm just a fanboy and not a geek. Jacob non-Volokh says:

And no, I don't think the slayer cavalry is a-comin'. I don't think Willow's going to suddenly show up and open a portal that will suck the army in. I don't think Illyria's violent temper and Angel's temporary supercharge are going to win the day. They've won the battle they set out to. They're going to lose this one, and they know that. If somehow they defeat the first few thousand bad guys, there will be more. I think it'd be hard for any movie or renewed season on another network to finesse a victory out of that fight. And I don't think they should. That was a very fine moment and tone to end on.

It's not a proper geekpost without some quibbles, of course. Since when can one alter prophesized events by signing the prophecy away, even in blood? The piece of paper isn't the prophecy itself; it's just the report of the prophecy.

Yes, it's a shame that the shanshu (sp) prophecy got short shrift in the rush to end the series. However, by Jacob's logic, we should expect some kind of cavalry rescue or something BIG because we've been led to believe the last couple of seasons that Spike or Angel were going to fulfill the prophecy.

Oh, and Lorne's real mission was another one of those great shocks that the show was so very good at. The cutesy pet gay singing demon gets to gun down a human in cold blood. A human who's just finished performing the most heroic act of his life. All on Angel's orders.

Amazing. Too bad if you missed it.