Angel: 5x16 Full Reaction
Added 2025-11-19 16:00:11 +0000 UTC
Comments
First time I saw this I was an early teenager, and the the last episode where Fred died, was the biggest cry I ever had in tv/movie history. 2nd biggest cry was from Smallville, one of my fave characters was involved, but not gonna spoil anything...great show also if anybody hasn't watched, best live superman story out there, and I'm a big fan.
Morgan Williams
2025-11-25 07:18:17 +0000 UTCAmy Acker felt her Fred role was a bit thin and pigeon-holed, and she told the writers and Joss she wanted a change from it, and a challenge. So they obliged. Next to David B, she has gone on to have the biggest TV career with several shows and a bunch of movies.
spikeysnack
2025-11-21 10:28:05 +0000 UTCFred had such a sad story. She left home to the big city barely got started and was pulled into a dimension where she was a slave and on the run for five years finally made it back was able to get with the gang created a life had the excitement she wanted her whole life then destroyed by Illyria
Sam Alexander
2025-11-21 05:52:46 +0000 UTCThe scenes at the end with everyone dwelling about the loss of Fred really make this episode for me. The song over them is so lovely and fitting. It’s been in many playlists for me since the episode first aired
Jared Wiltshire
2025-11-20 22:08:20 +0000 UTCpay special attention to next episode's credits
Jason Harrelson
2025-11-20 07:43:45 +0000 UTCAfter watching Serenity recently, you should have been reminded that Whedon is the Beloved Character Slayer. Fred now joins Jenny Calendar, Joyce, Tara, Anya, Doyle, Darla, and Cordy on Whedon's all-time hit list. #RIP
Gaius Frakking Baltar
2025-11-20 05:27:16 +0000 UTCFred’s death here and the title of this episode (Shells) was somewhat foreshadowed a few times before. In the season 4 episode 4x20 (Sacrifice) Fred and Gunn are talking about how Angel has cut himself off from his emotions while on the run from Jasmine: Gunn- “You heard Angel. Feelings don’t enter it anymore.” Fred- “That the world we’re fighting for? The right to be heartless, an uncaring shell, to be dead inside? Then they talk about their shared guilt over killing the professor and then Fred disagrees with Angel’s approach by saying she allows herself to feel those emotions, even negative ones like guilt when she tells Gunn: “well I don’t know about you, but…I’d take that over being a shell any day.” And earlier this season in episode 5x10 (Soul Purpose), during Angel's fever dream where Fred is dissecting him and removing organs from his body (like how Illyria liquefied and destroyed Fred's organs to resurrect itself), Fred then tells Angel that she can't seem to find what exactly is wrong with Angel. She tells him there's nothing, just an empty shell...
Ariel17
2025-11-20 04:32:21 +0000 UTCLove how you focused on what an important moment this was for Spike, and why. Yes, part of it is what he once was (William, that 19th century romantic and man of honor, is still there), but more is what he has become, and understands he has become: a champion, and the better man Buffy believed he could be. I was crushed at the pronouncements that Fred's soul had been "destroyed" and "consumed." It contradicts what we had been told about the soul in the BuffyAngelverse, that whatever it is (never precisely defined) it survives after death and goes somewhere (where exactly never stated). I still don't like it. Wesley's closing words to Illyria feel tragic because you know he doesn't believe any of it, at least not for himself. "For some" he says, but love and the hope that something will lead you to joy means nothing to him now. Not anymore.
DanielOrme
2025-11-20 01:44:08 +0000 UTCAmazing performance from Amy Acker. The way she moves and stands is so different than Fred. And how does she keep from blinking for so long? Especially with those contacts in! And her normal speaking voice is somewhere in between Fred's and Illyria's. Much less of a Texas drawl than Fred and without Illyria's affected precise enunciation.
Funkachute
2025-11-20 00:38:30 +0000 UTCNone of us want to admit it, but they really hammer the point in here: Fred's gone. I think they knew everybody would want to deny it and hold out hope. When it comes to the Buffyverse and monsters that are born out of human bodies, I always think back to what Giles said in the very second episode, when he was looping Xander in on what was going on with Jesse: When you see a vampire (Or, in this case, Illyria), you're not seeing your friend. You're seeing the thing that killed him. Illyria may look like Fred, and can even remember her dying thoughts, but she's no more Fred than any vampire is the person they were before they were turned. That's the tragedy. I'll also echo everybody who already pointed out how TALENTED Amy Acker is. The makeup and wardrobe obviously helps, but she really BECOMES someone else. She stands differently, she walks diferently, she speaks differently. It's uncanny.
JBK405
2025-11-20 00:18:27 +0000 UTC
