NFA is somewhat more open-ended than Chosen, I think? (Again, going from what I've read not seen)
Yes and no. I've heard valid arguments on both sides. It depends on how you choose to interpret the episodes, I suspect.
NFA - does sort of end with the demons raining down on them, and it does look like our heroes are walking to their deaths. (The Wild Bunch/Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ending - a popular 1970s Western ending - where the protagonists walk into a final gunfight, and die fighting. You don't necessarily see it.) The other interpretation is they survived to fight another day (or Brian Lynch's comic book series ending).
Chosen - on the other hand, really is pretty open-ended. Buffy and her friends leave Sunnydale and appear to riding off into the sunset in their school bus. But she empowered all these new slayers and in Angel we learn they've set up shop over seas and are training slayers. Only the "Sunnydale" chapter has been closed.
While in Angel - he doesn't leave LA and appears to go down with the city. A true noir ending.
So of the two...Angel's is arguably less open-ended. It's just the more nihilistic ending, but that is in keeping with its genre - noir, where the hero is doomed to forever fall into the abyss, along with the world he inhabits. Some prefer that, but I don't think you can objectively state it is better, more adult, etc...it's just a genre preference.
which are embedded in btvs from the very first episode. (the mild librarian is a Watcher, the principal is eaten by his own students, etc)
Yes, I think the authority theme is one of the few themes that carries through to the very end of the series. And to fully appreciate the depth of the exploration - you sort of have to have seen the entire series. Something is lost - in skipping over bits. Some episodes explore more in depth than others, but it is definitely in all of them to some extent.
I've also noticed that it is a recurring theme in Mutant Enemy's other work - such as Marvel Agents of Shield, Firefly, Dollhouse, Much Ado About Nothing, and Cabin in the Woods. Although not quite as deftly examined as it is in BTVS, oddly.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2014-10-08 11:06 pm (UTC)NFA is somewhat more open-ended than Chosen, I think? (Again, going from what I've read not seen)
Yes and no. I've heard valid arguments on both sides. It depends on how you choose to interpret the episodes, I suspect.
NFA - does sort of end with the demons raining down on them, and it does look like our heroes are walking to their deaths. (The Wild Bunch/Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ending - a popular 1970s Western ending - where the protagonists walk into a final gunfight, and die fighting. You don't necessarily see it.) The other interpretation is they survived to fight another day (or Brian Lynch's comic book series ending).
Chosen - on the other hand, really is pretty open-ended. Buffy and her friends leave Sunnydale and appear to riding off into the sunset in their school bus. But she empowered all these new slayers and in Angel we learn they've set up shop over seas and are training slayers. Only the "Sunnydale" chapter has been closed.
While in Angel - he doesn't leave LA and appears to go down with the city. A true noir ending.
So of the two...Angel's is arguably less open-ended. It's just the more nihilistic ending, but that is in keeping with its genre - noir, where the hero is doomed to forever fall into the abyss, along with the world he inhabits. Some prefer that, but I don't think you can objectively state it is better, more adult, etc...it's just a genre preference.
which are embedded in btvs from the very first episode. (the mild librarian is a Watcher, the principal is eaten by his own students, etc)
Yes, I think the authority theme is one of the few themes that carries through to the very end of the series. And to fully appreciate the depth of the exploration - you sort of have to have seen the entire series. Something is lost - in skipping over bits. Some episodes explore more in depth than others, but it is definitely in all of them to some extent.
I've also noticed that it is a recurring theme in Mutant Enemy's other work - such as Marvel Agents of Shield, Firefly, Dollhouse, Much Ado About Nothing, and Cabin in the Woods. Although not quite as deftly examined as it is in BTVS, oddly.