Angel

April 7: David Boreanaz wears makeup during the final episode of ’Angel.’

Now this, my "Friends," is a finale.

"Angel" (search) makes its exit from the earthly realm of primetime TV tonight with a blockbuster send-off that leaves us wanting more (unlike "Friends," which left us wanting no more).

The one-hour final installment of the "Angel" saga (tonight at 9 on WB/Ch. 11) has Angel (David Boreanaz (search)) - TV’s sad-eyed "vampire with a soul" - hatching a plan in the manner of Michael Corleone to "take care of all family business."

In short, it’s clobberin’ time! (to borrow a phrase from the muscle- bound Thing of the Fantastic Four).

And what could be better for a series finale than a climactic, ac tion-packed showdown?

As the episode begins, Angel gathers his team - Spike (James Marsters), Charles Gunn (J. August Richards), spooky-eyed Illyria (Amy Acker), green-skinned Lorne (Andy Hallett) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) - for a final faceoff with the Circle of the Black Thorn - a group of uglies described in "Angel"-speak as "the power elite of the apocalypse."

They’re a bunch of tough hombres (and one mujer) with more horns and bumps on their foreheads than a "Star Trek" spinoff.

But the real thorn in Angel’s side is Hamilton (Adam Baldwin), the smarmy henchman who does the dirty work for the unseen senior partners of Wolfram and Hart, the supernatural law firm for which Angel works.

All of them prove to be formidable foes, but that’s all I plan to reveal about their final confrontation with Angel and company.

There’s no need to spoil this gem of a finale for "Angel’s" fans who have been eagerly awaiting the show’s final episode even as they prepare to mourn its passing after five seasons.

The end of "Angel" brings to a close producer Joss Whedon’s franchise of unearthly heroes and villains that started with "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" (search) in 1997 and led to the spinoff of "Angel" in 1999.

"Buffy" ended its run last spring on UPN and now, "Angel" joins her in TV’s heavenly hereafter.