Review of Episode 22, Season 4 "Home" The season finale Home (and possible series finale) as written and directed by Tim Minear is an interesting amalgam of an ending to what I found to be an overall exceptional season that was incredibly ambitious in arc, characterization and depth. Home is a fitting end and at the same time a new beginning for Angel and his "family" after a particularly brutal year of betrayal, apocalypse, death and disappointment. It's all at once shocking, confusing, and tragically sad yet ultimately satisfying. After conquering Jasmine last episode, Home provides the blatant and somewhat jarring introduction to a new future for Team Angel - one that places them on the shocking path as the leaders of the new Wolfram and Hart. The idea of the good guys in bed with the enemy is nothing new but the concept applied to this group, in particular, is intriguing. After a year of shifting ideals, alliances, loves and missions, we've seen our heroes hit rock bottom and deal with the repercussions of their black and white world being completely muddied into gray. So, the inherent struggles built into our fallible heroes having to balance the scales of good amongst the rampant evil at W&H is a backdrop ripe for some potentially fantastic moral quandaries. Some may argue it's a tough pill to swallow - believing that this group would ever agree to Lilah's offer. But then upon reflection, after a year like they had - with limited resources, no allies, and constant conflict - the cushy pad of W&H doesn't seem so much of a hard sell. Change can be good, even if it comes as high concept, so I'm cautiously optimistic for the potential of this turn of events and how it will affect each member of the team. Where Home really succeeds is in the heartbreaking conclusion of the emotional arc between father and son. Angel and Connor's two season battle to desperately re-connect comes to naught in Home. Not even Angel's unfailing love and faith in his beloved son is enough to save Connor who is so emotionally scarred and damaged that he completely snaps. David Boreanaz and Vincent Kartheiser are exceptional in their last brutal standoff. The subtle grief and misery of a failed father is heartbreakingly etched in David's face while Vincent captures the overwhelming desperation of the lost soul Connor has become. Angel's final act of love - the dramatic fulfillment of the prophecy, which says, "the father will kill the son" - is at once terrible and beautiful in its execution. But it also stands as the one believable reason for which Angel would ever agree to his deal with Lilah and Wolfram and Hart. His son has meant everything to him so it's fitting that he would sacrifice his own path to ensure Connor gets the chance to live the life he always wished he could provide for him. The final shot of Angel watching Connor with his "new" family was indeed tragic but befitting the champion he has become and will continue to be regardless of his surroundings. Fun Fact: The character of Knox, of the Science Division at W&H - was actor Jonathan M. Woodward who portrayed Holden Webster in the Season 7 Buffy episode, "Conversations with Dead People", the yappy vampire psychology student. I give it... Review by CoA Staff member, Phoenix

CoA Stakes Rating Guide = Disappointing, Stake it, it's Dust! = Not too bad, Lacking a few graves. = Typical Dark Avenger saves the day Saga. = Better still, Quality Headstones. = Outstanding! Reward it with mortality!

Wesley: It's a lie. Lilah: Lah. It's, uh, Lilah. Gunn: Vampire? Lilah: Ew, please. Angelus drank from me, it's true, but like with most men, it was a one-way street. I was dead already. Lilah: I have been authorized to make you kids an offer. Fred: You can't possibly think there's anything we'd want from you. Lilah: I don't think you'll want it, but you'll take it, because this is the offer of a lifetime. (pauses) Just not, you know, mine. Fred: But there is no L.A. office of Wolfram & Hart. The Beast destroyed it. Lilah: Oh, it's back, restaffed and zombie free. We're bigger, better, and shinier than ever, and we want to give it to you. Gunn: You want to give us your evil law firm? We ain't lawyers! Fred: Or evil. Currently. Lilah: What we're offering you is a turnkey, state-of-the-art, multi-tasking operation. What you do with it, well, that's up to you. Gunn: (re: finding Connor) Can't help thinking it might cut down on the work load some if we got a little help, a few extra employees, or a turnkey, state-of-the-art, multi-tasking operation. Wesley: You can't possibly think that's an option. Gunn: Well, now, I know it's an option, cause I was standing there when the dead lady offered it to us. Gunn: Couldn't have been easy for you seeing Lilah again like that. Wesley: Oh, yes. That was awkward, wasn't it? When you decapitate a loved one, you don't expect them to come visiting. Lorne: I'm not saying we ended world peace or anything, kids, but, uh, it's a mess out there, and considering the banner year we've had, that's up against some pretty stiff competition. Preston: I had this prepared. Confidential list. Peepers only. I thought you might like to take a gander at our roster. Just a run down of some of the talent we represent here. Lorne: Uh, no. No. No. No. I don't think you have to tell me what you represent here, young man. Evil. Pure evil in the... (stunned as he looks at the list) Huh. Which is also apparently everyone I've always wanted to meet. (laughs) Angel: Well, (chuckles) what do you know? Lilah: Yep, just you and me, boss. Come on, Charlie. Let me show you around the chocolate factory. Fred: So are you a lawyer? Uh, you don't look like a lawyer. Knox: (laughs) No, I'm strictly R & D. Although, occasionaly, some D & D. D & D. Dungeons and... we actually have a dungeon. I can show it to you later if... um, I manage the science division. Angel: This is what you came back from the dead for? To play "Let's Make An Evil Deal"? Lilah: Show him what's behind door number one, Bob. Lilah: (shutting the blinds) Goodbye, Mr. Sunshine. Hello, Gloomy Avenger. Lilah: Think of what you could do with the resources of Wolfram & Hart at your fingertips, the difference that would make. Nothing in this world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh, and it's cruel, but that's why there's you, Angel. You live as if the world were as it should be. With all this you can make it that way. People don't need an unyielding Champion. They need a man who knows the value of compromise and how to beat the system from inside the belly of the beast. Angel: The beast's belly? Doesn't that usually mean you've been eaten? Angel: Buffy can handle herself. Lilah: But isn't it more fun when you handle her? Gunn: (re: the white room) Only thing I seek is the lobby. I already rubbed elbows with Little Miss Muffett once. Don't need a repeat with her replacement. And here I was, thinking I'm getting seduced. Lilah: You broke in here for my contract? Wesley: I'm here to release you from it. Lilah: Wesley. Wesley: You've suffered enough. (lights the contract on fire) I want you to find some peace. Lilah: Gallant to the end. But I knew what I signed up for. Wesley: It's done. Lilah: Look in the drawer. Flames wouldn't be eternal if they actually consumed anything. But it means something that you tried. Connor: there's only one thing that ever changes anything, and that's death. Everything else is just a lie. You can't be save by a lie. You can't be saved at all. Angel: I really do love you, Connor. Connor: So what are you gonna do about it? Angel: Prove it. Connor: (toasting) To family. Quotes by CoA Council member, Seeker