It has all come down to this.
The entire year Angel has been trying to redeem himself for killing Giles (in what I can describe as the worst character decision in the entire Buffyverse) by trying to bring him back, helped by a half-reluctant Faith.
What's the problem? Well Buffy destroyed the Seed that powered Magic on earth. And Angel had been trying to use obscure magic to bring Giles back ever since.
SPOILERS FOLLOW...................
Last issue, Angel had managed to kill Eyghon and freed Giles 'dead' body from the demon. As for who or what Eyghon was, he was a demon Giles and a few of his friends had summoned during his youth and thus, left their souls in his debt.
So, when Giles died, Eyghon was able to take it for itself. During a battle to take over Earth, Eyghon physically came to our dimension and was killed by Angel, with help from everyone's favourite vampire-with-a-soul Spike. But this left Angel, who had been collecting fragment of Giles-infused magic and keeping it as a necklace, half-mad with Giles' soul inside him.
Thankfully, a fellow alum of Giles, Alasdair Coames was able to separate the two. In the middle of all this, a crisis erupted on Buffy's side ans Spike had to leave.
Now, with all of the ingredients required to resurrect Giles, Angel, Faith, Coames and Giles' two aunts start the resurrection process.I loved how the writers have managed to capture the essence of Angel and Faith and how they have differing viewpoints to this resurrection.
As Coames says, Angel is trying hard to justify this action although it may be right, it's extremely dangerous and the fallout may be severe. Faith wants Giles back but is aware that things have horribly gone wrong in the past.
But they are interrupted by Whistler and his two half-demon allies, Pearl and Nash. Whistler was the half-demon who helped Angel find a place in the world by telling him to help Buffy. But ever since Angel helped destroy the seed, he's recruited Pearl and Nash to help him bring magic back.
That would have been great except for the fact that non-magical beings would not survive the process.
After an extended battle, Whistler is able to depart with most of the magical ingredients in Coames library. And the resurrection goes awry. Giles does come back, but there's a problem. See for yourself.
Angel and Faith go to fight Pearl and Nash while Coames and Giles try to stop the spell. Nadira, a slayer whose friends were slaughtered by Pearl and Nash, also arrives and is severely hurt by Nash. Angel battles Whistler, who's transformed into his demonic form.
A spell by Giles is able to hurt Nash, but the concentrated spell he's carrying drops down into the street, transforming the pedestrians into magical beings. And it isn't pretty.
Angel tries to make Whistler grasp the horrible effects of the change. One scene shows a mother on fire trying to keep her spider legged son (see, Peter Parker, this could have been you) away from her. While another shows how a person's guitar has become part of his body.
Nadira goes for one final burst and is able to catch Nash unaware. She and Faith finally manage to kill him, which seems to send a psychic backlash through Pearl (they were magical siblings after all). With both of them out of the picture, Whistler is left.
While fighting, Angel tells Whistler that he has always been a 'balance' demon. With magic out of the picture, this has disrupted his balance and caused this unhinged Whistler. By rupturing the concentrated spell for a moment, he is able to give Whistler enough magic to regain his senses.
This helps Whistler in making the decision to form a protective shield around him and sacrifice himself to destroy the spell.
But the magical changes are still there and Angel decides to stay there, helping those in need. Faith decides to go to Kennedy who's running a slayer-for-hire service with Giles. There is a incredibly poignant moment where Rupert admits he was at his best when he was with Buffy and you can see Faith's face fall.
Overall, the theme of this season (and actually Angel's life) has been about balance. Angel's actions as Twilight left him with too much debt until he realized that until he forgave himself, redemption wouldn't come.
Faith lost her balance when she lost Giles but during the season, she faced up to her father, tried to remove all the hurt and was able to sustain when it came back and was able to help both Nadira and Angel. But she finally decided to chart her own path and not depend on others to show her the way.
SPOILERS END.....................
Christain Gage knocked it out of the park in this arc and I loved every moment of it. He was able to bring in the epic nature of the conflict without sacrificing the character development and I'm beside myself to see it in some form on the screen (maybe an animated series with the original voice cast. Make it happen, Joss!). Rebeccas Issac's art was mostly good and she was able to get the character drawings well. Through some faces looked awkward and the fight scenes grew blurry, it was competently done.
Looking forward to next season.
So, I give this entire arc 9 out of 10
+Great character arcs for both Faith and Angel
+The minor characters like Nadira were given adequate coverage
+Chemistry between Faith and Angel was great!
+Giles the prodigal 'son' returns!
+Epic magical battles
-The art could have been better
-The fallout of the final battle did not receive enough pages
-Needed more Spike
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