About Lorne (Not Fade Away)

[butterfly]

*blinks*

And now we know why Lorne was talking to himself in an empty bar in Spin the Bottle.

Because he walked away from the final fight.

Wow.

Fucking wow.

He killed for Angel, walked away from the final fight, and ended up in an empty bar, imagining an audience.

Some of his framing lines that resonate in retrospect:
"Well, what happened during it and what came after... Ooh, I'm gonna need a bigger drink."

"Is there anything worse than feeling like you're all alone?"

"Always leave 'em wantin' more, kiddo. That's the rule. Anyway, I've got no more to tell. Applause, applause. I got a sea breeze that's gonna up and leave with someone else if I don't get to her soon. So, you kids be good and go home. Hug your families while you can. And stay away from the magic. Trust me."

How happy am I that that framing device now makes complete sense? Very.

Comments

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

I couldn't think of anything much more depressing than what happened to Lorne in the finale, but that's worse.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

*pets*

Sorry. I mean, it's kinda... um... well, he's not... right. It is depressing, yeah.

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

((ooh, pets))

I loved your point here, but I got a question. Did Lorne get his Connor memories back? Would that mean he didn't remember the events of Spin the Bottle? I don't think this invalidates your point, just wondering about the continuity.

Butyeah. Poor Lorneytunes.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Honestly, it would easy enough for Lorne to get his memories back and he might have them already -- Eve sang for him and she knew the truth.

[nova25.livejournal.com]

*sobs*

I think I'll just start out all my Angel finale posts that way. ;)

But, I love this. This device makes perfect sense now, and it's such a wonderful little coda for Lorne. Like Angel says, to Lorne-- it's not good and evil, it's life. It's music, it's art. Lorne takes things as they are, and he leaves them that way too. In an odd way, he's the most human of all the characters.

Of course, Lorne's ending is completley bittersweet, but that's kinda the common thing around here.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It's all bittersweet, because that's life. You can't ever go back -- you have to go on to the new place.

[jenelope.livejournal.com]

Okay, can I just say that you have the best memory, ever? I had completely forgotten about Lorne's framing scenes in "Spin the Bottle." If that was supposed to be the present... wow.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It works. It works so well.

*sniffle*

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

You have way more faith in Joss than I do. Besides the fact that that episode was shot way before they knew they were going to get canceled. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I am dubious.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It's not so much that I think they planned the finale in advance as I think that they took advantage of a loose end (the odd framing device in Spin the Bottle) to figure out how Lorne's story would end. Ret-con, but in the grand tradition of all their good ret-cons. I love the show not for being able to plan everything out but for making what they have work for the past and future.

[vandalisimo.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I'd be pretty surprised (and outrageously impressed) if they planned it that far in advance, but damn it if they didn't make what they had work beautifully with it. And, frankly, I think Joss is smart enough to realize what he's doing there. I'll never watch StB the same way again.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Right -- I think that once Joss had written the Lorne framing device, the idea of Lorne as Last Man Standing entered his thoughts.

I really need to find my S4 tapes so that I can rewatch StB.

[valancy.livejournal.com]

That's a long connection, but at the same time, while watching it, I wondered at how much Lorne's acting echoed that episode.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I definitely need to rewatch StB, that's for sure.

[valancy.livejournal.com]

btw, boniblythe reported some of your fascinating insights on the show's characters as reflecting aspects of Angel/the show; utterly brill. I had some slightly different interps - Lindsey's death, to me, appeared to be the death of grey - of ambivalence, kind of Angel's shadow self (his beige self); Eve's death appeared to me to be the death of self-illusion; and well damn I can't remember what the other disagreement was. LOL Regardless, thank you so much for bringing up the concept - v. impressive.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I'm a sap -- the death of destiny and epic romance following in its wake is an irresistable connection for me to make. And I always liked Eve.

[valancy.livejournal.com]

It makes sense - we're just doing diff interps: I'm doing a more psychological one, you're doing a theme/epic one. :-D Besides, you came up with it first. Smarty. ;)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

But yeah, I'd be very interested in hearing more about your interpretation -- different interpretations are fun.

[teenes.livejournal.com]

Heh. I had the exact same thought last night. The framing device for Spin the Bottle never made sense to me, but now it does. And it's so sad - Lorne walked away from the final battle and is left telling stories of days gone by and past heroes... at the same time, regardless of what happened in that final fight, we know that their legend lives on through him.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Exactly -- the promos say that Angel ends a legend, and Lorne is the one who'll tell it.

[therisingmoon.livejournal.com]

Man, I missed the first ten minutes of the episode but yes, Lorne's farewell was very bittersweet. I liked that at the end, when he said "Good night, folks," it seemed like he was speaking directly to the audience as he walked away.

Now I definitely need to get the Angel DVDs. Sucks that I started enjoying the show at the end of season 4.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Man, I missed the first ten minutes of the episode but yes, Lorne's farewell was very bittersweet. I liked that at the end, when he said "Good night, folks," it seemed like he was speaking directly to the audience as he walked away.

That was Lorne's good-bye, definitely. Joss', too, I would think. Joss had to finish his show before it should have died, he had to kill it 'just when it was getting interesting'.

[raveninthewind.livejournal.com]

I really like that the finale harks back to Lorne's words in "Spin the Bottle."

I think the way he uses such long arcs is one of the best aspects of Joss Whedon's writing. (I like that about Babylon 5, too.)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I adore the arcs. I must have arc in my shows now or I just can't watch.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Wow. That...really pretty damn depressing, but it fits so well.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is. There's quite a lot of sadness in the finale. The AI crew is so very, very broken.

[elynross.livejournal.com]

sockkpuppett and I were talking about this very thing, about wondering whether the sequence fits a post-apocalyptic Lorne. Because it clearly depends on Lorne knowing more than he would have at the point of Spin the Bottle. It's going to be interesting to rewatch that and see.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it definitely requires a good rewatch.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

See me stunned.

Yes. Wow.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I'll wait until Spin the Bottle to put it all together (and yet, I want to do things the right way, in order, all organized and filed correctly).