You're Welcome (Angel episode)
Encyclopedia
"You're Welcome" is the twelfth episode of season five of the television show Angel
. Written and directed by David Fury
, it is the 100th episode of the series, and originally broadcast on February 4, 2004 on the WB
network
. In "You're Welcome", former series regular Charisma Carpenter
returns as a guest star, when the character of Cordelia Chase
miraculously awakens from her coma
. It is her duty to put Angel, who has recently been feeling ineffective at fighting the powers of darkness, back on the right path. Meanwhile, Angel's old enemy Lindsey McDonald
has resurfaced and is plotting revenge. The episode features the death and final onscreen appearance of Cordelia.
The episode was written to reinforce the show's earlier themes, and examine the evolution of the characters in the show's one hundred episodes. Sarah Michelle Gellar
was originally scripted to return as Buffy Summers
, but when she could not appear, it instead focused on rounding off the character of Cordelia. The episode proved generally popular with critics, who praised Charisma Carpenter's final performance as Cordelia and the sense of resolution for the character.
(Christian Kane
) chest. Angel elaborates on his decision to resign from his position of CEO of Wolfram & Hart
's L.A. office, saying instead of ridding the world of evil, they are now negotiating with, or for, evil. As Gunn
argues that quitting may incur dire consequences, he is interrupted by a phone call from the hospital, with the news that Cordelia has awoken from her coma.
Angel and Wesley arrive at Cordelia's hospital room and see a woman's body lying in bed, partially covered by drapes (head not visible), who they assume is Cordelia. When Angel calls out her name, Cordelia suddenly appears from the opposite side of the room saying, "Yep, that chick's in rough shape. You'd think they'd give Miss One-Foot-in-the-Grave her own room." She then closes the drapes.
Back at Wolfram & Hart, Cordelia asks after Conner, which surprises Angel, who thought he was the only one to remember his son. Cordy later reveals the vision that woke her from the coma showed Angel in grave danger. Eve enters, despite being banned, saying Angel has no control over the liaison for the Senior Partners. Meanwhile, Spike complains to Lindsey (who is impersonating Doyle) that the deranged slayer Lindsey/Doyle sent him after ended up chopping off his hands. Lindsey/Doyle reveals he also had one of his hands cut off.
Angel finds Cordelia watching an Angel Investigations
commercial Doyle
(Glenn Quinn
) recorded more than four years earlier, shortly before his death and she notes Doyle gave his life to guarantee that Angel kept fighting. She subtly quotes Doyle's final words about the fight against evil: "I get that now." Cordelia accuses Angel of letting Wolfram & Hart seduce him with glamor and power, but Angel says he took the job only so his son Connor could have a happy, stable life. Later, Cordelia apologizes to Wesley
(Alexis Denisof
) for killing Lilah
while under Jasmine's control. She finds the strange symbols from her vision in a book, and Wesley recognizes them as runes to protect and conceal, effective against modern surveillance. In the basement of W&H, Lindsey (invisible to the guards monitoring the video screens) passes into a restricted area. He uses a crystal as a key, allowing an underground tank to rise.
Spike bites Cordelia until Angel fights him off. Spike explains he was tasting whether she was evil, as his source claimed. Angel questions the source, and Spike says it was "Doyle", the tattooed man who gets visions from the Powers That Be. Angel confronts Eve, suggesting she is working with the Doyle impersonator who has been manipulating Spike. Harmony
says, being "technically evil", she doesn't mind torturing Eve, after which Eve quickly confesses Lindsey is activating a fail-safe left by the Senior Partners specifically designed to destroy Angel. When Spike unwittingly mentions "Doyle" had a hand chopped off, Angel deduces that "Doyle" is in fact former W&H crony Lindsey McDonald. Wesley says he and Fred will perform a spell to counter-act Lindsey's tattoos, while the others attempt to disable the fail-safe.
In the rooms below, Angel battles Lindsey, who is wreathed in protective strength from his tattooed runes. Cordelia throws Angel a katana
; while Angel and Lindsey sword-fight she removes the crystal from the control panel, causing the fail-safe to descend into the floor. Wesley and Fred perform a spell that causes Lindsey's tattoos to float off of his body, leaving him unprotected from detection by the Senior Partners. Lindsey is sucked upwards into a portal.
Upstairs, Angel is left alone with Cordelia, who confesses that the Powers That Be owed her one. Angel says he doesn't understand and she said she got what she wanted. Cordelia tells Angel that she is now on a different path and must leave. She heads out the door but then runs back to Angel, and they kiss passionately. This was their first real kiss, though they did kiss while under a mystical influence in the Season 3 episode Waiting in the Wings. A ringing telephone interrupts, and as Angel picks up the receiver, Cordelia says, "Oh, and you're welcome." The voice on the phone says that Cordelia has died. Angel's office is suddenly empty; Cordelia has vanished. Angel realizes Cordelia never awoke from her coma. He hangs up the telephone and says, "Thank you." It is implied that the body Angel & Wesley first saw lying in the hospital was the 'real' Cordelia's body and the 'resurrected' Cordelia closed the drapes to hide her secret.
. Christian Kane, who went through two-and-a-half months of sword training for his role in Secondhand Lions
, approached the writers to see if they could work his new skills into the episode; Kane ended up performing his own stunts for the sword fight sequence, including wire work.
He also did his own stunts for the scene when Lindsey moves through the lasers in the tunnel, which were not CGI
, but actual lasers. During the fight scene between Eve and Harmony, Sarah Thompson says Mercedes McNab
slapped her accidentally. "She was... so worried she'd hurt me but it actually worked well for the take because I reacted by really screaming," Thompson says.
David Boreanaz
had just had knee surgery prior to filming, so writer David Fury
did his best to keep Angel sitting down as much as possible. Fury used tight camera angles during Spike's apartment scene with Lindsey to disguise the fact that the same set was used earlier for the opening teaser. "Everything is a bit contained; the reason is if I turn around, this is where they found the dead nuns," Fury explains.
says he used the 100th episode to reinforce the "mission statement" of the show, as well as assess where the characters are now compared to how they began. Whedon explains this episode presents an ideal opportunity to - through Cordelia, who was "there at the beginning" - ask of Angel, "Where are you now? Where were you when you started and where are you now and how do you feel about that?" The return to the show's "original concerns" is echoed by the flashback to Doyle's first season advertisement; Sara Upstone points out aerial images of Los Angeles
reappear at the same time Cordelia tells Angel "You forgot who you are," bringing back the show's link to the city. This episode, written as a stand-alone as per the network's request, also sets up a critical plot-thread for the season arc that "will begin to reveal itself toward the end of the season," Whedon says.
The character of Buffy Summers
was originally intended to appear in the 100th episode to get Angel 'back on track', but Sarah Michelle Gellar
had other obligations. Writer/director David Fury
explains that since "we couldn't get Sarah", the episode was instead written for Cordelia Chase
. He adds, "This turned out to be a Godsend because Charisma was fantastic." In the original script, Fury wrote a conversation between Wesley and Angel while driving to the hospital that set up Cordelia as a possible vegetable. The scene was never shot because "the shock of seeing her up and around after a 9-month coma was enough. We just didn't want to tip it too soon," says Fury.
Christian Kane was genuinely upset when an addition by Joss Whedon
in the script called for Angel to refer to Lindsey as a "tiny Texan." Although born in Texas, Kane identifies as a "Sooner
" and "I'm stronger than David, bigger than David, I'm just shorter." Kane says Joss "likes to take shots at me. He's like, 'I can't build this character up too much without cutting his nuts just a little bit.'"
Actor Christian Kane says he had a difficult time calling himself 'Doyle' because he felt on some level he was masquerading as deceased Glenn Quinn
. "It was a very awkward situation for me and David because we were close to Glenn," says Kane. "I didn't know how the fans were going to react to it." Kane says the memory of Quinn upset Boreanaz: "I could see it in his eyes... it’s got to be a tough deal for him." However, Kane thinks that "Joss
is brilliant because he used that. How do you turn me and David against each other? You really can’t because we’re such close friends. So to use that for Angel and Lindsey, I think has a little bit of brilliance to it. It’s kind of sick...but it did the job." David Fury adds, "I think [the fans] appreciated it from the standpoint that we were honoring him. That Doyle's not a forgotten piece of this world."
. TV Guide
praised Charisma Carpenter's "blithe comic delivery"; the BBC
noted that Carpenter's return elevated the script from "merely great to something close to awesome," but griped because the show's tight budget left Lindsey's activation of the fail-safe an "unfulfilled promise."
Reaction to the death of long-time character Cordelia was generally positive. After being disgusted by Cordelia's fourth season arc, which she claims "destroyed Cordy's character and viewer trust", author Jennifer Crusie
applauds this episode. "The writers play fair," she says, "foreshadowing the Gotcha to come" - Cordelia is in a private room, yet hastily draws the curtains around a bed-ridden roommate, and remarks to Angel that she understands why Doyle used his "last breath to make sure [Angel] kept fighting." Rather than undercutting the emotional impact of the story, the twist of Cordelia's tragic ending reinforces and honors her character. "She is...our Cordy again," Crusie says. Cordelia exits the series "needed, loved, and wanted"; her final words are "You're welcome," Janine R. Harrison argues, because "she knows her worth."
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
. Written and directed by David Fury
David Fury
David Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
, it is the 100th episode of the series, and originally broadcast on February 4, 2004 on the WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
. In "You're Welcome", former series regular Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Lee Carpenter is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. In her most recent film she starred opposite Sylvester Stallone and Jason...
returns as a guest star, when the character of Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
miraculously awakens from her coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
. It is her duty to put Angel, who has recently been feeling ineffective at fighting the powers of darkness, back on the right path. Meanwhile, Angel's old enemy Lindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald is a fictional character from the television series Angel. He first appeared in the series' first episode, "City of," and featured prominently in the story arcs of seasons one, two, and five. Lindsey is the only character besides Angel himself to appear in both the first and last...
has resurfaced and is plotting revenge. The episode features the death and final onscreen appearance of Cordelia.
The episode was written to reinforce the show's earlier themes, and examine the evolution of the characters in the show's one hundred episodes. Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
was originally scripted to return as Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
, but when she could not appear, it instead focused on rounding off the character of Cordelia. The episode proved generally popular with critics, who praised Charisma Carpenter's final performance as Cordelia and the sense of resolution for the character.
Plot
In a hospital room, Cordelia jolts out of her coma after experiencing a vision of the symbols painted on Eve's apartment door and tattooed on Lindsey'sLindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald is a fictional character from the television series Angel. He first appeared in the series' first episode, "City of," and featured prominently in the story arcs of seasons one, two, and five. Lindsey is the only character besides Angel himself to appear in both the first and last...
(Christian Kane
Christian Kane
Christian Kane is an American actor and singer/songwriter of Native American descent. He currently stars as Eliot Spencer on the TNT series Leverage. He is best known for his roles in the television shows Angel and Into the West, and the movies Just Married and Secondhand Lions.He is the lead...
) chest. Angel elaborates on his decision to resign from his position of CEO of Wolfram & Hart
Wolfram & Hart
Wolfram & Hart − Attorneys at Law is a fictional international, and interdimensional law firm featured in the television series Angel, as well as other extended materials in Joss Whedon's Buffyverse.-Fictional history:...
's L.A. office, saying instead of ridding the world of evil, they are now negotiating with, or for, evil. As Gunn
Charles Gunn
Charles Gunn is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series, Angel. The character is portrayed by J. August Richards, and was named by Whedon after filmmaker James Gunn and actor Sean Gunn, both of whom had worked with Whedon...
argues that quitting may incur dire consequences, he is interrupted by a phone call from the hospital, with the news that Cordelia has awoken from her coma.
Angel and Wesley arrive at Cordelia's hospital room and see a woman's body lying in bed, partially covered by drapes (head not visible), who they assume is Cordelia. When Angel calls out her name, Cordelia suddenly appears from the opposite side of the room saying, "Yep, that chick's in rough shape. You'd think they'd give Miss One-Foot-in-the-Grave her own room." She then closes the drapes.
Back at Wolfram & Hart, Cordelia asks after Conner, which surprises Angel, who thought he was the only one to remember his son. Cordy later reveals the vision that woke her from the coma showed Angel in grave danger. Eve enters, despite being banned, saying Angel has no control over the liaison for the Senior Partners. Meanwhile, Spike complains to Lindsey (who is impersonating Doyle) that the deranged slayer Lindsey/Doyle sent him after ended up chopping off his hands. Lindsey/Doyle reveals he also had one of his hands cut off.
Angel finds Cordelia watching an Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations is a fictional detective agency run by the title character Angel previously on the WB television series Angel . It is sometimes abbreviated as AI...
commercial Doyle
Allen Francis Doyle
Allen Francis Doyle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series, Angel. The character was portrayed by Glenn Quinn.-Character history:Doyle was born to a human mother and a Brachen demon father...
(Glenn Quinn
Glenn Quinn
Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor in television and film, known for playing Mark Healy in the American sitcom Roseanne, and Doyle, a half-demon, on the 1999–2004 television series Angel, a spin-off series of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:Quinn...
) recorded more than four years earlier, shortly before his death and she notes Doyle gave his life to guarantee that Angel kept fighting. She subtly quotes Doyle's final words about the fight against evil: "I get that now." Cordelia accuses Angel of letting Wolfram & Hart seduce him with glamor and power, but Angel says he took the job only so his son Connor could have a happy, stable life. Later, Cordelia apologizes to Wesley
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel...
(Alexis Denisof
Alexis Denisof
Alexis Denisof is an American actor who is known for playing Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.-Early life:...
) for killing Lilah
Lilah Morgan
Lilah Morgan is a fictional character from the television series Angel, played by Stephanie Romanov. She is first introduced in the episode "The Ring," and appears in the show's first and second seasons. After Lindsey McDonald leaves Los Angeles, Lilah becomes the primary face of Wolfram & Hart,...
while under Jasmine's control. She finds the strange symbols from her vision in a book, and Wesley recognizes them as runes to protect and conceal, effective against modern surveillance. In the basement of W&H, Lindsey (invisible to the guards monitoring the video screens) passes into a restricted area. He uses a crystal as a key, allowing an underground tank to rise.
Spike bites Cordelia until Angel fights him off. Spike explains he was tasting whether she was evil, as his source claimed. Angel questions the source, and Spike says it was "Doyle", the tattooed man who gets visions from the Powers That Be. Angel confronts Eve, suggesting she is working with the Doyle impersonator who has been manipulating Spike. Harmony
Harmony Kendall
Harmony Kendall is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. The character is portrayed by Mercedes McNab...
says, being "technically evil", she doesn't mind torturing Eve, after which Eve quickly confesses Lindsey is activating a fail-safe left by the Senior Partners specifically designed to destroy Angel. When Spike unwittingly mentions "Doyle" had a hand chopped off, Angel deduces that "Doyle" is in fact former W&H crony Lindsey McDonald. Wesley says he and Fred will perform a spell to counter-act Lindsey's tattoos, while the others attempt to disable the fail-safe.
In the rooms below, Angel battles Lindsey, who is wreathed in protective strength from his tattooed runes. Cordelia throws Angel a katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
; while Angel and Lindsey sword-fight she removes the crystal from the control panel, causing the fail-safe to descend into the floor. Wesley and Fred perform a spell that causes Lindsey's tattoos to float off of his body, leaving him unprotected from detection by the Senior Partners. Lindsey is sucked upwards into a portal.
Upstairs, Angel is left alone with Cordelia, who confesses that the Powers That Be owed her one. Angel says he doesn't understand and she said she got what she wanted. Cordelia tells Angel that she is now on a different path and must leave. She heads out the door but then runs back to Angel, and they kiss passionately. This was their first real kiss, though they did kiss while under a mystical influence in the Season 3 episode Waiting in the Wings. A ringing telephone interrupts, and as Angel picks up the receiver, Cordelia says, "Oh, and you're welcome." The voice on the phone says that Cordelia has died. Angel's office is suddenly empty; Cordelia has vanished. Angel realizes Cordelia never awoke from her coma. He hangs up the telephone and says, "Thank you." It is implied that the body Angel & Wesley first saw lying in the hospital was the 'real' Cordelia's body and the 'resurrected' Cordelia closed the drapes to hide her secret.
Production
The fight scene between Lindsey and Angel in the underground chamber, which took three days to film, was written by Steven S. DeKnightSteven S. DeKnight
Steven S. DeKnight is an American television screenwriter, producer, and director. He is best known for working on Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. He has also written "Swell", a story in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season eight comic series, and served as a consulting producer...
. Christian Kane, who went through two-and-a-half months of sword training for his role in Secondhand Lions
Secondhand Lions
Secondhand Lions is a 2003 American dramedy film written and directed by Tim McCanlies. It tells the story of an introverted young boy who is sent to live with his eccentric uncles on a farm in the U.S...
, approached the writers to see if they could work his new skills into the episode; Kane ended up performing his own stunts for the sword fight sequence, including wire work.
He also did his own stunts for the scene when Lindsey moves through the lasers in the tunnel, which were not CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
, but actual lasers. During the fight scene between Eve and Harmony, Sarah Thompson says Mercedes McNab
Mercedes McNab
Mercedes Alicia McNab is a Canadian-born actress perhaps best known for playing Harmony Kendall on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel...
slapped her accidentally. "She was... so worried she'd hurt me but it actually worked well for the take because I reacted by really screaming," Thompson says.
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director, known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Special Agent Seeley Booth on the television crime drama Bones....
had just had knee surgery prior to filming, so writer David Fury
David Fury
David Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
did his best to keep Angel sitting down as much as possible. Fury used tight camera angles during Spike's apartment scene with Lindsey to disguise the fact that the same set was used earlier for the opening teaser. "Everything is a bit contained; the reason is if I turn around, this is where they found the dead nuns," Fury explains.
Arc significance
- It is revealed to everybody that Lindsay has been behind Spike's fighting to save people. He will play an integral role later in the season.
- While performing the spell to remove the tattoos, it is clear that Fred is developing romantic feelings for Wesley after looking at him affectionately, which will be pivotal in Wesley's character development over the next four episodes.
- Eve is demoted by the Senior Partners and goes into hiding.
- This is the last appearance of Cordelia Chase.
Continuity
- Angel and Lindsey refer to the first episode of the series while fighting each other.
- David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, and Christian Kane are the only three actors to appear in the first and 100th episodes of the series. (Although Glenn Quinn does reappear thanks to archive footage)
Writing
Joss WhedonJoss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
says he used the 100th episode to reinforce the "mission statement" of the show, as well as assess where the characters are now compared to how they began. Whedon explains this episode presents an ideal opportunity to - through Cordelia, who was "there at the beginning" - ask of Angel, "Where are you now? Where were you when you started and where are you now and how do you feel about that?" The return to the show's "original concerns" is echoed by the flashback to Doyle's first season advertisement; Sara Upstone points out aerial images of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
reappear at the same time Cordelia tells Angel "You forgot who you are," bringing back the show's link to the city. This episode, written as a stand-alone as per the network's request, also sets up a critical plot-thread for the season arc that "will begin to reveal itself toward the end of the season," Whedon says.
The character of Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
was originally intended to appear in the 100th episode to get Angel 'back on track', but Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
had other obligations. Writer/director David Fury
David Fury
David Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
explains that since "we couldn't get Sarah", the episode was instead written for Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
. He adds, "This turned out to be a Godsend because Charisma was fantastic." In the original script, Fury wrote a conversation between Wesley and Angel while driving to the hospital that set up Cordelia as a possible vegetable. The scene was never shot because "the shock of seeing her up and around after a 9-month coma was enough. We just didn't want to tip it too soon," says Fury.
Christian Kane was genuinely upset when an addition by Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
in the script called for Angel to refer to Lindsey as a "tiny Texan." Although born in Texas, Kane identifies as a "Sooner
Sooners
Sooners is the name given to settlers in the midwest of the United States who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before President Grover Cleveland officially proclaimed them open to settlement on March 2, 1889 with the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889...
" and "I'm stronger than David, bigger than David, I'm just shorter." Kane says Joss "likes to take shots at me. He's like, 'I can't build this character up too much without cutting his nuts just a little bit.'"
- The writing staff had originally hoped Sarah Michelle Gellar would return as Buffy also in Pover Play [Angel 5.21], but Gellar was busy shooting "The Grudge" at the time. Writer David Fury says, "We did think she [Gellar] might be in the second last episode, just like Angel appeared in the second last episode of Buffy's finale. We thought we'd do that but wound up not."
Cast
Carpenter says she was satisfied with the way her character left the show, as she feels Cordelia's story has been fully resolved. Creator Joss Whedon agreed, saying, "In seven years, we'd sort of run through our course of [the] character and didn't want to start just doing hollow riffs on what we'd done." Since Whedon suspected this season would be the last, Carpenter says, "we didn't want to just leave Cordelia in a coma..this would be a very big story left untold." Carpenter says the 100th episode was a momentous time to have her character die, calling it "bittersweet...a love letter to Cordelia." David Fury agrees: "It's a beautiful farewell to Charisma for the series."Actor Christian Kane says he had a difficult time calling himself 'Doyle' because he felt on some level he was masquerading as deceased Glenn Quinn
Glenn Quinn
Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor in television and film, known for playing Mark Healy in the American sitcom Roseanne, and Doyle, a half-demon, on the 1999–2004 television series Angel, a spin-off series of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:Quinn...
. "It was a very awkward situation for me and David because we were close to Glenn," says Kane. "I didn't know how the fans were going to react to it." Kane says the memory of Quinn upset Boreanaz: "I could see it in his eyes... it’s got to be a tough deal for him." However, Kane thinks that "Joss
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
is brilliant because he used that. How do you turn me and David against each other? You really can’t because we’re such close friends. So to use that for Angel and Lindsey, I think has a little bit of brilliance to it. It’s kind of sick...but it did the job." David Fury adds, "I think [the fans] appreciated it from the standpoint that we were honoring him. That Doyle's not a forgotten piece of this world."
Reception
This episode was rated as one of the series' top five episodes in a poll done by Angel MagazineBuffyverse Magazines (UK)
Two magazine titles have been published by Titan Magazines in the United Kingdom for fans of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Magazine commenced publication in 1999. Angel Magazine had a limited run of 24 issues and was published...
. TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
praised Charisma Carpenter's "blithe comic delivery"; the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
noted that Carpenter's return elevated the script from "merely great to something close to awesome," but griped because the show's tight budget left Lindsey's activation of the fail-safe an "unfulfilled promise."
Reaction to the death of long-time character Cordelia was generally positive. After being disgusted by Cordelia's fourth season arc, which she claims "destroyed Cordy's character and viewer trust", author Jennifer Crusie
Jennifer Crusie
Jennifer Crusie is a pseudonym for Jennifer Smith, a bestselling and award winning author of contemporary romance novels. She has written over 15 novels, which have been published in 20 countries.-Biography:...
applauds this episode. "The writers play fair," she says, "foreshadowing the Gotcha to come" - Cordelia is in a private room, yet hastily draws the curtains around a bed-ridden roommate, and remarks to Angel that she understands why Doyle used his "last breath to make sure [Angel] kept fighting." Rather than undercutting the emotional impact of the story, the twist of Cordelia's tragic ending reinforces and honors her character. "She is...our Cordy again," Crusie says. Cordelia exits the series "needed, loved, and wanted"; her final words are "You're welcome," Janine R. Harrison argues, because "she knows her worth."