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Warning! Season Finale details below! Possible spoilers for readers outside the USA or Canada

Angel – Season Two
22: There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb

The Host, it appears, is dead, his head severed from his body – a punishment some viewers might deem quite fitting. Yet we’ve reckoned without a narrative that is becoming increasingly absurd, as Lorne reveals he can be saved if reunited with his body. With Wesley and Gunn facing execution, and Angel forced once more to submit to the beast within, Cordelia discovers that her forthcoming mating ritual will rid her of her visionary powers – a gift too precious to lose

“I’ve really had about enough of this world!” announces Gunn during an early scene, and it’s a sentiment with which this reviewer heartily concurs. Possibly the most dismal finale of any show this season, There’s No Place… is a massive anti-climax following in the wake of Buffy’s The Gift. The three-parter is a lesson to be learned: Angel was established as a dark, brooding series; Buffy was defined by its character and humor. Somewhere along the way the two shows have switched, possibly to provide some balance to Buffy’s stunning Glory arc, but this has been purely to the detriment of the spin-off. There’s a nagging feeling here that we saw the best of Angel weeks ago; if the season had ended with Epiphany, it would have been remembered as great. Angel has fallen.

Roswell – Season Two
21: Departure

Also in this issue: 10 Things You Never Knew About...
• Everyone's favourite blonde alien, Katherine Heigl alias Isabel from Roswell

Alien pregnancies on Earth are a bit like microwave dinners. Much quicker, but you keep having to have a look inside to check that nothing’s going to explode. To save Tess’s baby, the aliens are going to have to go home. Max, Isabel and Michael’s trepidation is captured perfectly, as are the tearful goodbyes to all the people they know and love.

Long-standing anticipation meant that Departure had a lot to live up to. But with Alex’s killer still on the loose – and before anyone can blast off, that has to be dealt with – there’s an extra sense of danger and urgency. It seems that the murder was part of an alien scheme to find a way home, which neatly points the finger at who’s behind it all. If we had some reason to believe that the perpetrator had in-depth knowledge of Sweden that they could have duped Alex with, then things would be perfect.

Assuming that the cover-up operation was within the realms of possibility, however, it only leaves one question. Why go to such lengths? Why not just approach Max and tell him there’s a way to translate the alien book and find a way home?

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