Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Goodbye, Fred

This has been going around the blogosphere. Good question. One well worth weighing in on. What is your favorite all-time TV scene?

So many possiblities. So many great show, so many great scenes. But one that I love above all others?

In season five of Angel, Fred - sweet, innocent, surviving Fred - is consumed by the amoral ancient demon Illyria in the episode "A Hole in the World". I adore Illyria. She wants to keep Spike as her pet and she analyzed a petri dish by putting it in her mouth. But in order to bring on the awesomeness of the big blue meanie, Fred had to die. I can watch that scene over and over and I will collapse into hysterical weeping every time.

Everybody loves Fred. The love of her is strong enough to send Angel and Spike across the world, working together to save her. Gunn tears through employees of Wolfram and Heart looking for the culprit who caused the tragedy. Lorne is helpless, so he drinks away his sorrow in the bar. And Wesley holds her, reads her The Little Princess and watches her die in his arms. It's not just that we're sad to lose the only member of the team who'd never committed any sins, but it's the loss of those left behind that we really feel. Wesley's grief is almost unbearable. He waited for years before he finally won the girl, and now that he just got her she's leaving forever to be replaced with a demon that will follow him around in her body. All of these boys love her, so we love her, and we don't want her to go. And then there's her last words: "Why can't I stay?" as she trembles and fades into oblivion. The one person who didn't deserve it is the one person they take. The definition of tragedy.

10 comments:

  1. The final scene in the series finale of Six Feet Under. From what I could tell you either loved it or hated it. I thought it was brilliant - and that's not a word I use often if at all.

    Craig

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  2. Nice choice. You know IDW comics recently published the shooting script of that episode, some cool cut lines and what-not.

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  3. The end scene of Something For Joey. This was 1977 and I was only six. I'm not sure I even understood what was happening in the movie (disease wise) but I do remember bawling my eyes out afterward because the scene was so emotional. Now that's great television.

    Chris

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  4. That's a fantastic scene... also love the final payoff: Wesley's dying moments, when Illyria understands him enough to become Fred...

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  5. I agree with Craig, the end of Six Feet Under was awesome. It's not really a "scene," though.

    I really loved the scene when Brenda and Nate have that huge arguement. Every mean and unforturenlty truthful thing they've wanted to say since they met was said. It was funny, and sad..just perfect.

    And Nate throws the engagment ring at Brenda.

    "Don't you dare throw that ring at me, it's too cliche," Brenda says.

    -What a great line and awesome show....

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  6. There is a scene from Dawson's Creek where Pacey and Joey are on the sailboat and David Gray's This Year's Love is playing and they are reading to each other while laying in separate hammocks. Awesome. I wouldn't say this is THE favorite, but it is A favorite.
    cheers.
    Scribe

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  7. Fantastic scene. I just bought Angel Season 5 on DVD, just so that I could have that episode (half of that season was weak).

    I'm man enough to admit that when Fred died, I cried like a little baby. Usually, only baseball movies can do that to me.

    Thanks for playing!
    JC (the originator of the game)

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  8. My favourite TV scene is the ending of a Futurama episode called "Jurassic Bark". It made me wanna cry.

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  9. Anonymous10:47 PM

    I don't have a favorite TV show scene, but I agree that Joss Whedon is very good at pulling the heart strings. I cried a lot at the Buffy/Angel crossover where Angel is mortal for 1 day. "The Body" (Buffy) was genius; the episode where Buffy dies to save the world (again) was genius; the zero-audio episode; I could go on and on.kh

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  10. I was more cut up by Cordelia's low-key exit. She was a far bigger presence in Angel and her touching yet underwhelming wave off was overshadowed the following fortnight by Fred's overwrought death. To be honest Season 5 lost its self when Cordelia was dropped as a regular.

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