Angel (1999-2004)
"The vampire Angel, cursed with a soul, moves to Los Angeles and aids people with supernatural-related problems while questing for his own redemption."
- IMDB
It started with Buffy, and now here we are with Angel in his own spin off. And I gotta hand it to Joss Whedon because the main reason why this spin off was even possible wasn't just because of the fan base, but because Angel as a character is so well written and so interesting, and David Boreanez's portrayal is so good. He was the best character of the series, which is how it should be. I grew up watching him play Booth on Bones. Angel is such a different character so it's been refreshing to see David spend 8 seasons portraying different sides of Angel.
Quick mentions of a few other standout characters. Starting off with a negative note - Cordelia. She stood out to me because I dislike her so. I hate hate hated her on Buffy, was so upset to see her in Angel, though I really loved their brother-sister- dynamic with the titular character, and just as she was really starting to get interesting, they threw the stupid Angel romance at us, and I hated her again just as I started to warm up to her. I do not ship her and Angel at all. In fact, giving Angel any kind of romantic interests at all is such a dumb idea because there are several episodes through all seasons that show that his heart still aches for Buffy. Everything else was nonsense.
Another Buffy reject, Wesley, was probably the best character besides Angel. Looking at his whole arc from his introduction in Buffy to the series finale of Angel, he was such a dimensional character that had a lot of compelling development and story. And he was brilliantly portrayed by Alexis Denisof.
And finally Lorne! My god, what a treat this character is. He was the best thing about season 2, I loved his involvement in the other seasons, but I feel like they really did him dirty in season 5, at least in the 2nd half. Andy Hallett was always fun to watch, I'll miss him dearly.
Coming back to another negative standout to me - Connor. What an absolute waste of what could've been an interesting character. He was on that show for a season and a half and not once did he get any character development at all. Growing up in a hell dimension could've led to some psychologically interesting scenes. Instead all we saw was teen angst and fatal hatred for his father. Like his sole purpose on the show was to hate Angel & do everything in his power to prove it. His appearances in season 5 were nice, but it made me upset because this could've been a version of Connor we could've gotten, without the use of memory mind wipe, if they spent more time unraveling his trauma rather than waste time on the disaster that was half of season 4.
Going through the seasons, there isn't much to say about seasons 1-3 as they all jumble together for me. That's one thing that Buffy has over Angel is that every season and many episodes are so memorable, whereas Angel not so much. I did love the season 2 finale in Pylia, that must've been the highlight of the series. I loved the Angel Investigations idea, it provided some casual horror entertainment. However, I believe it was season 3 that made start to really dislike the show. One episode everyone just randomly had romantic feelings for each other. It's literally as if Fox was like "hey, there isn't enough romance on Angel, so could make everyone fall in love with each other or something to give the fans some dating drama to gossip about?" None of the romances, besides Wesley's attraction for Fred, felt organic at all, but rather forced, which took me out of the story a lot.
I really don't want to talk about season 4, but here we are. First, the disgusting love triangle is borderline Oedipus complex and there were just so many things wrong with it. I know they provided a logical explanation later, but you spend too many episodes watching it unfold. I almost quit the show but then the Angelus twist happened and my faith was restored. That arc was the best writing the show had ever seen. This leads into the Jasmine story, which was also very interesting & compelling. So glad that season ended on a high note.
Season 5 was a very welcoming change of pace. They got rid of the 2 worst characters and brought in the best Buffy character Spike, who added much need charm and entertainment to the show. This whole arc with the team running Wolfram & Hart was intriguing and refreshing and I enjoyed it up until the end of the season. First of all the death of Fred and the rise of Illyria was hyped up and honestly was a waste of time. Fred's death had no meaning and Illyria was useless after a couple episodes. There was that one cool episode where Illyria was stuck in a time loop of sorts. Considering she was lame before and after this episode, I enjoyed it very much.
This brings me to the finale, which a lot of people seem to defend & praise. I'd have to disagree. And it's not even about the final scene. The final scene definitely felt like a cliff hanger for a 6th season. Though given 2004 television standards and budget and technological capabilities, I'm sure the fight against a giant and a dragon would some how be a disappointment I'm sure. They say it leaves the next series of events open to imagination or whatever, or enforces the idea that the "fight is never over.". Buffy had a final scene like that too, but that scene at least felt more conclusive to that particular Sunnydale arc. The rest of Angel's final episode felt very rushed. Lorne's send off was a big example of this. He walks up to Angel, randomly says I quit, kills guy which was cool, & walks away. I hated that. Wesley's death I didn't have a problem with honestly, but Illyria was there and ruined the scene for me. I'm just glad Angel had that cool moment with that fight where he drinks the Wolfram & Hart blood that ran in his veins. Spike & Gunn's final fights were pretty epic too, so at least some characters had a nice farewell.
If this taught me anything it's that we need a new supernatural show in a different format outside of network standards. No 22-episode requirements that drag stupid stories out, I don't want everything happening in Sunnydale or every apocalypse starting in LA, I want it to go global. We had Buffy & Angel. We had 15 seasons of Supernatural. It's time for the next generation. If the next big show has started, let me know, I'll check it out immediately. In the meantime, I don't mind watching reruns of Supernatural or Buffy, though unfortunately, I'm giving Angel a hard pass on that. Sorry for my controversial opinion, but Angel is overrated compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
My Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
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