Angel # 1: Reunion

Season 2, Episode 10
First Aired December 19th, 2000

I thought about including the preceding episode "The Trial" and/or the following episode "Redefinition" along with "Reunion" but ultimately decided to present it on its own. "Reunion" was a pivotal episode in Season 2; it kicked off the "beige Angel" arc and changed the direction of the season. The previous episode ended with Angel and Darla realizing that even though Angel couldn't save Darla's life, he had saved her soul. Then Lindsey and a bunch of Wolfram and Hart security personnel showed up with Drusilla, subdued Angel, and had Drusilla re-sire Darla. This episode begins immediately after and the first part follows Angel as he tries to find Darla before she awakens as a vampire again. Unfortunately, Wolfram and Hart did a pretty good job keeping her hidden, and even the Powers That Be try to keep Angel from succeeding; when he finally figures out where Darla is being kept, Cordelia receives a vision telling them to go the other direction.

Angel later confronts Holland Manners, the W&H lawyer in charge of the Darla "project"; Manners was quite pleased with himself, and looked forward to the massacre Darla and Drusilla would commit in Los Angeles. Ironically, reviving Darla would be the end of Holland and 20 other W&H lawyers. That night, Manners hosted a wine party in his cellar for his colleagues, including Lindsey and Lilah Morgan. Unfortunately, Darla and Drusilla showed up to get revenge for the way they treated Darla; they brought her back as human, used her as bait for Angel, knowing that she would eventually (1) regain her conscience (and feel terrible about her deeds as a vampire) and (2) succumb to syphilis. Before the two vampires could begin their feast, Angel showed up at Manners' house, but instead of saving the attorneys, he locked them in the cellar with Darla and Drusilla. Lindsey and Lilah would be the only survivors. When Angel returned to the Hyperion, Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn expressed their growing unease with the way Angel was conducting himself, so he fired them, to allow for his all-out war against Wolfram and Hart.

Up next: Firefly #3...

Angel # 2: A Hole In The World/Shells

Season 5, Episodes 15 and 16
First Aired February 25th and March 3rd, 2004

"A Hole In The World" (which, for whatever reason, I always initially write as "Whole") is one of the most emotionally charged episodes of Angel; two seemingly minor events that happened in the previous episode ("Smile Time") come back in a big way. First, Wesley and Fred are now a couple, and Gunn signed papers to release some strange package from customs in exchange to make his legal education imprint permanent. I turns out that the package was a mysterious sarcophagus, and it was delivered to Fred's lab. When she touched it, it released dust that blew into her mouth and nose. Although the infirmary determined that the dust didn't do anything to her, the group quickly learned that it infected her with the essence of Illyria, an ancient demon. The various team members react to the situation differently. Lorne, the pacifist, becomes violent when questioning Eve about the situation. Gunn bargains with the doctor who gave him the imprint to remove everything from his brain in return for saving Fred. Wes obsesses over saving Fred, and demands that the entire staff of Wolfram and Hart devote all their time to finding a cure. And Angel and Spike head to England to find a cure; both of them care very much about her and are willing to do anything to save her (Fred endeared herself to Spike by not giving up on finding a way to restore him to corporeal form at the beginning of the season). Or at least, anything but the only way to save her, because it would sacrifice the lives of millions.

The episode ends with Fred dying in Wes' arms. The final shot is the resurrected Illyria examining his/her new body. "Shells", on the other hand, is a much more action-packed episode. Its main purpose is to show us Illyria's power and to set up where Wes will be going for the rest of the series. The death of Fred was a powerful blow to him, and he becomes absolutely ruthless; he visciously attacks anyone he believes responsible for Fred's death, including Gunn. The episode features some very good fight scenes between Angel, Spike, and Illyria, even though the two vampires barely pose Illyria a threat. Emotions were certainly running high in this episode, and it was a great way to leave the series before the final 6 episodes aired.

Up next: Angel #1...

Angel # 3: Smile Time

Season 5, Episode 14
First Aired February 18th, 2004

I feel a little bad putting this episode on the list because to fit it in, I had to cut out the Faith two-parter from Season 1, which is much more emotionally powerful than this episode. But "Smile Time" is just so hilarious and well-produced. The idea of Angel turning into a puppet sounds so silly, but the execution was incredible. That's basically the episode: Angel becomes a puppet, and the group needs to figure out how to break the spell. Ok, Wes and Fred finally got together, Angel decided to date Nina the werewolf, and Gunn made a fateful decision, but mainly, this was all about puppet-Angel.

Joss Whedon co-wrote this episode with Ben Edlund (who has done some work on The Venture Bros.), and there are few funnier episodes of either Angel or Buffy. The various reactions to Angel as a puppet were incredible, espeically Spike's "wee little puppet man". The script called for Spike to laugh uncontrollably, but I've heard that James Marsters blew takes because he was laughing too much. The puppet choreography was really good, especially the puppet fight at the climax. And then there were all the various puppet jokes ("Is there a Gepetto in the house?").

This episode didn't significantly advance the plot of Season 5, but it did plant the seeds for things to come. And it was absolutely hilarious.

Up next: Angel #2...

Angel # 4: You're Welcome

Season 5, Episode 12
First Aired February 4th, 2004

"You're Welcome" is the 100th episode of Angel. It set up the rest of the season (and series) and it very beautifully gave Cordelia Chase closure. At the end of Season 4, she fell into a coma because of the stress of birthing Jasmine, and at the beginning of this episode, just as Angel was starting to give up on himself as the CEO of Wolfram and Hart, Cordelia finally woke up. She came back to a world she barely recognized; Angel was the CEO of Wolfram and Hart and Spike had a soul and was helping the helpless. Unbeknownst to Angel and his friends, Spike was going out at night to save people, much the way Angel did in the first two seasons of the show. In fact, Spike was receiving tips on where to go to save people from someone who called himself Doyle. "Doyle" claimed to receive visions from the Powers That Be of people in need.

When Spike told Angel and Cordelia about this, they both became quite upset, because Doyle was their original partner. He received visions of people in trouble and directed Angel to their location. Even worse was the fact that Doyle was in fact Lindsey McDonald, who had set up the situations for Spike. He and Eve were working on a plan to bring down Angel's self-esteem by making him think that Spike was the subject of the Shanshu Prophecy.

Cordelia helped reassure Angel, and he and Lindsey met for a showdown in the bowels of the Wolfram and Hart building. However, when things looked like they were finally going to turn out alright for Angel and Cordelia, Angel got hit with a realization. The final twist made complete sense based on previous comments made in the episode, and it was very sad but dramatically satisfying. Cordelia's role in the episode put Angel back on track in ways that won't be quite clear until the end of the season, and in ways beyond what she did in her waking state.

Up next: Angel #3...

Angel # 5: Reprise/Epiphany

Season 2, Episodes 15 and 16
First Aired February 20th and 27th, 2001

There are a stretch of episodes in the second season of Angel the producers refer to as the "beige Angel" arc when Angel (not Angelus) decides that instead of helping the helpless, his duty is to take down Wolfram and Hart any way he can (the beige comes from Lorne stating that his aura has changed to a beige color). Angel "fired" his friends from Angel Investigations and began a guerrilla campaign against the evil law firm. He was willing to hurt the innocent in pursuit of the greater good.

His crusade eventually brought him to an opportunity to kill one of the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart (other-worldly demons) and get to the "home office" to finish off the firm once and for all. When Angel carries out his plan, he is confronted by Holland Manners, one of the LA branch's leading partners. Angel was indirectly responsible for Manners' death, so seeing him again came as a bit of a shock; Angel, and the audience, learned about the Wolfram and Hart policy that keeps employees under contract long after their deaths. Manners agrees to take Angel to the "home office", and throughout their journey, he talks about the goals of Wolfram and Hart, its purpose, and its history. But when the pair arrive, Angel learns that the "home office" is our dimension. The wicked side of human nature makes the firm possible. Utterly defeated, Angel returns to his home, only to find Darla ready to kill him. Instead, he decides to violently have sex with her, believing that he has no reason to retain his soul any longer if he cannot make a difference. "Reprise" ends almost exactly the way the Buffy episode "Surprise" ended, with a thunderclap awakening a post-coital Angel.

However, "Epiphany" does not begin like "Innocence"; Angel does not lose his soul. The key to breaking the curse isn't sex, but happiness, and Angel fucked Darla out of despair. He retained his soul and had an epiphany. He realized that he had become no better than Wolfram and Hart, because even though he technically represented "good", he wasn't helping people. He had turned away from the people he cared about most and the people who cared about him the most, and allowed them to be put in harm's way. Angel set out to apologize to his friends and even offered to work for Wes, who had become the boss of Angel Investigations after Angel fired him, Cordelia, and Gunn.

In one important scene with Kate Lockley, who also reached rock bottom, Angel explained his new outlook on life, and I have tried to use his philosophy as a basis for my own life. He explained that if there is no greater meaning to life, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world. Kate also gave him hope for the world by explaining that there may be a higher power working for good out there after all; Angel broke into Kate's apartment to revive her after she attempted suicide, but one of the rules about vampires in the Buffyverse is that they cannot enter a home uninvited, and Kate had never invited Angel in before.

These episodes showed Angel hit his bottom, rebound, and receive a new outlook on life. They also sowed the seeds for the third and fourth seasons of the show.

Up next: Angel #4...

Angel # 6: Orpheus

Season 4, Episode 15
First Aired March 19th, 2003

It was a tough choice between this episode and the preceding episode, but I ultimately went with this one because it nicely wrapped up the Angelus and Faith storylines. And because it had an Angel vs. Angelus fight. The previous episode ended with Angelus biting Faith in order to turn her into a vampire. "Orpheus" begins right there, but Angelus quickly learned that Faith intended for him to bite her, and she injected herself with a bizarre drug, called Orpheus, in order to incapacitate Angelus. She felt that capturing Angelus was so important that she subjected herself to the effects of the drug too, and it had a much more powerful effect on her because although Angelus had the drug "filtered" through Faith's blood, she got the full blow from it.

Orpheus is a mystical drug that induces visions that are supposed to torment the user. Angelus and Faith can communicate to each other in their comatose states and they simultaneously get the same visions. Angelus is forced to rewatch the best deeds that Angel performed, including saving a puppy in 1920s Chicago, while Faith has to watch Angel's worst and most desperate deeds, such as failing to call the police after a robbery so he could feed off the victim. Their visions climax with a suddenly aware past Angel taking on Angelus and trying to tell Faith what it means to be alive.

In the waking world, Cordelia desperately tries to stop Willow from restoring Angel's soul and eventually reveals her "pregnancy" to the rest of the group. She also further turns Connor away from the rest of the group.

The end sets up Faith's story in the remainder of Buffy and brings Angel back to the group.

Up next: Angel #5...

Angel # 7: Sleep Tight

Season 3, Episode 16
First Aired March 4, 2002

The preceding episodes followed Wesley as he tried to translate a prophecy about Angel's new son Connor. Eventually, he discovered that it said "The Father will eat the Son", and although it scared Wes, he initially brushed it off. But various portents had come to pass that made him believe there was merit to the prophecy after all, and by the time "Sleep Tight" started, Wes was all but convinced that Angel would kill his infant son. In this episode, Angel started to show signs of bloodlust and became very agitated with Connor, prompting Wes to seek out Holtz, Angel's time-displaced nemesis. Wesley and Holtz make a deal; Wes will stop Angel from killing Connor and Holtz will give up his revenge scheme.

Elsewhere, Angel learns that Wolfram and Hart has been spiking his pig blood supply with some of Connor's blood they stole in an effort to make Connor smell like food to Angel. Angel confronts Lilah and finally meets Sajahn, the demon responsible for bringing Holtz to the present. Sajahn tells Angel that they are sworn enemies, but Angel has never seen the demon before.

That night, a desperate Wes prepares to take Connor, only to run into Lorne. When Wes hums a lullaby to soothe Connor, Lorne discerns (some of) Wes' intentions, forcing Wes to knock Lorne out. While escaping, Wesley runs into one of Holtz's lieutenants, who cut Wes' throat and stole Connor. Angel eventually learned of what Wesley did and tried to find him to get his son back. This led to a stalemate when every party interested in the son of two vampires converged in one spot. Holtz, who was in physical possession of the infant Connor, wanted to raise Connor as his own to hurt Angel the way Angelus had hurt Holtz (he and Darla killed Holtz's wife and turned his daughter into a vampire). Wolfram and Hart wanted Connor for study. Angel wanted his son back. And Sajahn wanted Connor dead. Angel knew that if Wolfram and Hart got his son, he would become nothing but a lab rat. He also knew that W&H wouldn't kill something of such value, so he finally told Holtz to take his son and raise him as his own. Sajahn intervened and opened a portal to a hell dimension, and threatened that he would widen it to consume everyone present if someone didn't kill Connor. Instead, Holtz ran through the portal, taking Connor with him. Pleased with himself, Sajahn disapparated. Dejected, but knowing business would continue as usual, the Wolfram and Hart employees left. But Angel fell to the ground, crying at the loss of his son.

Up next: Hiya...

Angel # 8: Destiny

Season 5, Episode 8
First Aired November 19th, 2003

Season 5 of Angel was the only season of the Buffyverse that I watched when it was actually on television, so in these posts, I may throw in bits about what it was like watching the episodes as they aired, as opposed to on DVD. "Destiny" was the last episode before the winter break, and it was a great episode to go out on, in that it had me begging to see what happened next immediately after it ended. So much happened in this episode: Spike became corporeal again, Spike won a fight against Angel for the first time, and a certain character returned (more on that later).

After about 6 episodes (Spike didn't show up until the final scene of the season premiere) as kind-of-sort-of ghost, a mysterious package showed up that gave Spike his body back. But along with his body came chaos because now the world had two ensouled vampires who fit the bill of "champion". Although Angel and Spike both existed with souls for about a year (end of Seasons 6/3 through the end of Seasons 7/4) Spike wasn't a champion until he closed the Hellmouth in "Chosen", the series finale of Buffy. However, he had to die to do it, so he and Angel were never simultaneously champions. Now, the a weird force started overtaking Wolfram and Hart, and Angel and Spike tried to find a way to stop it. They learned about an artifact that would once and for all determine who the subject of the Shanshu Prophecy was, and they both go after it.

This leads to a ruthless and bloody fight between the two as they each try to prove to the other that one of them is destined to become human again, even if it means suffering unspeakable torment before it happens. They each argue about their love for Buffy, the good deeds that they've done (and use the other's evil ones against them). At one point, Spike shows his conviction by picking up a huge wooden cross to use as a weapon against Angel, even though it burns his flesh just as much as it burns Angel's. Eventually, Spike is the victor, but just barely. When he drinks from the cup, he realizes that the liquid inside is Mountain Dew, and that they were scammed.

Back in Los Angeles, Angel confides to Gunn that Spike's victory, even though it was meaningless in that moment, has him worried that maybe Spike is the vampire in the prophecy after all. Meanwhile, Eve, the team's liaison to the Senior Partners, enters an apartment and tells her lover that their plan is going smoothly; Angel and Spike nearly killed each other, and the Senior Partners were as in the dark about the true nature of the chaos as Angel. She eventually gets in bed and the audience learns that the man pulling the strings is none other than Lindsey McDonald, Angel's old nemesis, who has been gone since Season 2.

Up next: Angel #7...

Angel # 9: Awakening

Season 4, Episode 10
First Aired January 29th, 2003

With one brief exception in Season 1, Season 4 of Angel was the only time Angelus appeared in the present day of the series (he was often featured in flashbacks, and he kind of resurfaced for a few hours in the Season 1 episode "Eternity" due to some drugs). The Angelus arc was probably my favorite part of Season 4; even though he couldn't do anything as horrific as the big things he did in Season 2 of Buffy (because he didn't love anyone as much as he loved Buffy, he couldn't torment the way he did to her, and even if he did love Cordelia, she wasn't exactly present), I think that I was more entertained by some of the little things he did this time around. I'll try and hit on those points in a later posting, because "Awakening" is the story of how Angelus returned.

So far, the Angel Investiagtions team has been having a bad year. In addition to all the personal tension, a huge rock demon, known only as the Beast, emerged from the ground, prevailed in numerous fights against the group (and I mean the group; it fought Angel, Gunn, Wes, and Lorne simultaneously), and succeeded in blocking out the sun in LA, making it a demon playground. Believing that only Angelus has the knowledge that can stop the Beast (normally, Angel and Angelus have the same memories, but all references to the Beast were elimiated in our dimension, including peoples' memories), Wes hired a powerful shaman to remove and store Angel's soul in order to question Angelus about the Beast.

Angel is very reluctant, but eventually decides to go ahead with the plan. The group builds a massive cage to hold Angelus in, and they strap Angel down while the shaman performs the spell. Halfway through the incantation, the shaman reveals that he is an agent of the Beast, and the group is forced to take him out. They discover that all over his body are tattoos telling the story of the Beast, and revealing how to defeat him. The tattoos state that a sword exists that is powerful enough to kill the Beast and restore the sun. On their quest to get the sword, Angel and Wes make amends (Wes even apologizes, which is something he had never done before), the rest of the group make up, Connor comes to see Angel as a good person, and after the Beast is destroyed, Angel and Cordelia celebrate by making love.

It is then that Angel loses his soul, and the whole adventure is revealed to be part of the spell, a way of making Angel think he is perfectly happy. Every problem in his life was conveniently solved, every broken relationship was fixed. The fantasy gives us a window into what Angel wants and reminds us that things are going to get much worse before they get better...

Up next: Angel #8...

Angel # 10: Waiting In The Wings

Season 3, Episode 13
First Aired February 4, 2002

Welcome to the Angel list. As with the Buffy list, there were a ton of episodes that I considered, but I had to pick 10. The same rules apply as before, so let's begin.

"Waiting In The Wings" was a pivotal episode for a lot of the relationships on the show. Angel realized that he was falling in love with Cordelia, Fred and Gunn began their relationship, and Wesley was forced to watch as the woman he had fallen in love with (Fred) chose another man. Also, the cast looked great in their tuxes and evening dresses.

Angel got tickets to a ballet from a very respected theater company; he related a story about how he saw the company's performance of Giselle (the same show they'd be going to that night) when he was still Angelus, and it was still able to move him to tears. When the rest of the group acknowledged that the show was indeed wonderful, Angel made a startling realization: it was the exact same show as the one he saw in the 1800s. The exact same actors made the exact same movements, the same mistakes. Angel, Cordelia, Wes, Gunn, and Fred investigated backstage to discover that the owner of the company had a powerful spell that kept the actors alive and performing the same show for eternity. While backstage, the group began feeling the effects, and Angel and Cordelia and Fred and Gunn began acting out scenes together.

The consequence of Angel and Cordelia's scene is that the two of them become even more uncomfortable about the growing mutual attraction (it doesn't help that the Groosalug shows up at the end and sweeps Cordy off her feet again), while Wes witnesses Gunn and Fred kissing, which broke his heart. However, Wes proved that he constantly puts everyone else above himself when he saved Gunn's life (he would prove this again later in the season, but with much different results).

There was definitely humor in the episode, but it was few and far between, and it became one of the saddest episodes of the series (until "A Hole In The World", that is).

Also, this episode introduced us to Summer Glau, who played the Prima Ballerina.

Up next: Angel #9...

The List: #2 Angel

#2
Number of Seasons: 5
Years Active: 1999 - 2004
Network: The WB

I actually think that this series is pretty much tied for my favorite show with the show that occupies the #1 spot on this list (it's pretty easy to figure out what it is, but for those of you who don't know, I won't ruin it), but I've separated them for certain reasons that I will address while talking about that show.

Anyway, Angel is the spin-off to the fairly successful cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Featuring Angel, the 250-year-old (I guess he's actually 350 years old due to the events of the end of Buffy's second season) vampire who fell in love with the Vampire Slayer, this series is about adult life. Using demons and magic as metaphors, Angel tackles issues such as getting a job, making ends meet, finding your first apartment, and eventually parenthood and finally becoming successful, even if you have to sell your soul to do so.

The show began as an anthological "supernatural detective show", but 2/3rds of the way through the first season, the writers realized that, like with Buffy, the heart of Angel was in its characters. Angel and his coworkers/friends are some of the best-written characters to grace the small screen that I've ever observed. Everyone has a complete human personality; they react to situations in ways that never waver from their established traits, have strengths and flaws, and each one has a purpose on the show. Their journeys through adulthood are believable, despite the fact that they deal with outrageous fantasy elements; its no exaggeration to say that this series, featuring vampires and demons, was one of the most human dramas ever on television (and this claim was made by many reputable publications about both this show and its predecessor).

Unfortunately, Angel was canceled while it was still in its prime. The stories were as good as they'd ever been (the addition of a certain cast member, though done by network mandate, worked better than I'm sure anyone could have possible imagined) and viewership was at an all-time high (I'm pretty sure; if not, it was approaching that lofty height). Joss Whedon claimed that The WB cancelled this show because it was the only series on the network that wasn't trying to be Buffy, and he was certainly right. Nearly every other show dealt with teenage or family issues. Angel was a very dark show about adult life (family was a part of it, but not the focus). It's too bad, because the loss of Angel robbed us of a very high-quality series.

Up next: #1...

Buffy and Angel: After Television

In 2004, the final episode of Angel aired, and the Buffyverse ended. But the fans stayed loyal, and most likely grew in amount. I didn't become a fan until after Buffy ended, and I only saw one season of Angel on television, and I'm certain that there were scores of others like me. And though I was able to enjoy 12 amazing seasons, I wanted more. And so did everyone else. And in 2007, we finally got our wish. Dark Horse Comics, which owns the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, which, unless otherwise stated, are non-canonical, announced that Joss Whedon himself would be writing and "executive producing" a canonical Season 8. In addition to Whedon, a group of other great writers, both Buffyverse vets and not, would write story arcs as well. A few examples include Jane Espenson, Doug Petrie, Drew Goddard (who all wrote for the shows), Brian K. Vaughn (Runaways, Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina), and Jeph Loeb (Batman: The Long Halloween).

So far, about 13 issues have been released, with a plan of about 40 or 50 (the original plan was around 25), and the situation has changed for Buffy and her friends. With Sunnydale gone, and every potential now a full-fledged Slayer, Buffy serves as a general to the Slayer army, with Xander running tactical. Now based in Scotland, they run missions worldwide to try and fight the forces of evil. Giles is a sort of diplomat, while Willow is doing various things around the world for the cause. And Dawn? Well, she should be in college, but when she lost her virginity, she gained about 50 feet of height (the Summers girls tend to have strange experiences their first times). And the Big Bad of Season 8? A strange being known as Twilight who has convinced government leaders that the Slayer army will eventually attack humanity.

Although that is the main storyline, there have been some other plotlines, including a rogue Slayer who is using her powers for personal gain (maybe humanity isn't wrong in their fears). The current storyline blew my mind when the villains found a way to remove a Slayer's powers.

As for Angel, it turns out that Los Angeles suffered a comparable fate to Sunnydale, except it didn't occur until after the final shot of the television series. LA wasn't destroyed, but the Senior Partners banished the entire city to a hell dimension to punish Angel for attempting to bring them down. The comic series is called, "Angel: After the Fall", and is put out by IDW Comics (Dark Horse sold the rights to Angel comics a few years ago). For this series, Whedon only serves as "executive producer", while a writer named Brian Lynch actually writes the series. However, Lynch and Whedon work closely together, and this series is considered canon.

As of now, the first 5 or so issues have been released, out of a total of 12 (it seems that Angel will always be slightly short-changed when compared to Buffy). The upcoming three issues will be subtitled, "First Night", and will show the events that happened directly after the final fade to black of the show. But so far, we've seen that Angel, Connor, and two other characters who appeared from time to time on the show are running a kind of underground railroad to keep humans safe. Spike, Illyria, and Lorne are acting as demon lords and set up their domains as safe havens for humans. Gunn is a vampire (a plot twist Whedon said would have occurred in a televised Season 6), and Wes, still bound to work for Wolfram and Hart, is a ghostly adviser to Angel. And if all of this weren't crazy enough, there was one little twist that came out of nowhere, and was incredible, but you'll have to read up for that one...

As long as Whedon's alive, it seems like the Buffyverse will never fully die, and that is a great thought. Even after he dies, I'm sure that the non-canonical comics will continue to sell, but for now, it's great to know that our love for this universe is what keeps it going.

Up next: All frakked up...

Angel: Season 5 - Angel of Redemption

And so at last, we come to the final televised season of the Buffyverse. Like Season 6 of Buffy, Angel Season 5 was full of firsts; the first season Angel existed without its parent show, the first time Cordelia wasn't a regular on either show, and the first show with both Angel and Spike appearing together in the opening credits. Oh, and for the first time, our heroes are knowlingly working for the bad guys.

Taking place about three weeks after the Season 4 finale (another first; all other seasons of both shows would have 3 months occur between seasons, since the first few years of Buffy all took place over the course of a school year), Angel and his team are still adjusting to working for Wolfram and Hart. Angel is the president, Wes heads up the mystical division, Fred is in charge of the science division, and Lorne heads the entertainment division. As for Gunn, his life is sent in a whole new direction when an intricate knowledge of the law is downloaded into his mind. After a season of questioning his purpose in the group, Gunn becomes more than he ever imagined he would (or could) become when he is W&H's newest hotshot attorney.

The premiere is about how the group plans to continue fighting for good while being the leaders of an organization that is a physical manifestation of evil. It shows Angel and co. defending one of Wolfram and Hart's scumbag clients who threatens to destroy the whole city if he is found guilty at his trial. The lesson of the episode (or anti-lesson?) is that, sometimes, to serve the greater good, you have to work with your enemies. This sounds like a terrible moral, but unfortunately, it is not necessarily false. Angel is about the trials and tribulations of adult life, and Season 5 is the season that is about the harsh realities of letting go of your idealism when "the real world" sets in. The episode ends with Angel trying to reassure the rest of his friends that, no matter what happens, they are still on the side of good. And then Spike reappears.

Last year, when Angel was given Wolfram and Hart, he received a strange medallion from the higher-ups to use against the First in Sunnydale (though it is never stated, it's likely that the Senior Partners wanted the First out of the way just as much as Buffy, since they wanted the apocalypse to occur on their terms). To use it, it had to be worn by a champion, a hero (with a soul), but someone who was more than human. Angel intended to use it, but Buffy convinced him to give it to Spike so that Angel could set up a second line of defense in LA in case the attack in Sunnydale failed. The amulet concentrated the sunlight through Spike, taking out the First's entire army of ubervamps, but it also killed Spike (and destroyed Sunnydale). However, someone went to the crater formerly known as Sunnydale and mailed the amulet back to Angel. Upon opening the package, Spike reformed, but as a ghost.

As I said, for the first time in the history of the Buffyverse, Angel and Spike appear together as regulars in the opening credits. The last time they both appeared together in multiple episodes was Season 2 of Buffy, and back then, Spike was evil the entire time, and Angelus was present for about half, so here, we get to see two vampires with souls interacting. Strangely enough, despite the inclusion of souls, the way they act together is similar to how they interacted without souls; they constantly bicker and take shots at each other. When one was evil and the other good, they had meaningful arguments. Now, they act like an old married couple, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I surprised a lot of people by saying the best couple ever featured in the Buffyverse was Angel/Spike (for most people, there are only two choices, Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike). They bring out the worst in each other, but when they work together in a fight, they are a force to be reckoned with.

For the first third of the season, Spike is a ghost, forced to remain in the W&H offices, due to being tied to the amulet (which itself is tied to W&H). Also, these episodes are fairly episodic. Angel almost didn't get picked up for a fifth season, and there were many stipulations from the WB Network that came with the renewal. Spike was one of them; he was one of the most popular characters on Buffy, and the network was hoping to capitalize on his popularity. The two other main ones were a decreased budget and a less serialized approach to storytelling. Fortunately, Joss Whedon, being the genius that he is, makes the lack of a larger story arc INTO the season's story arc, but more on that later.

In the first few episodes, the lack of an overall storyline (or so we think) is completely offset by good individual stories ("Hell Bound", "Lineage"), and amazing humor ("Life of the Party"). But the eighth episode, "Destiny" was the first truly astounding episode of the season. Spike is recorporealized (another strange package arrives in the mail, containing a spell that gives him his body back), which allows for a phenomenal fight between Angel and Spike. Throughout the episode, we see flashbacks to when Angelus, Darla, Spike, and Drusilla were traveling Europe (though Darla isn't present in this episode), which show the origins of the rivalry between Angel and Spike. In the present, the presence of two vampires with souls, both of whom are "champions", throws the universe out of whack, since it creates ambiguity for the Shanshu Prophecy. The episode reintroduces that story, which will become important in the rest of the series, and reintroduces Lindsay McDonald, who left at the end of Season 2 in order to find himself. Now, he has returned to get back at Angel, the man he believes is responsible for ruining his life. Lindsay lost his hand because of Angel (though he eventually got a new one), spent two years of his life struggling at work to find a way to deal with the problem Angel posed his company, only to see Angel be given the keys to the kingdom.

As part of a sick game to mess with both Angel and Spike (and a great callback to Season 1), Lindsay introduces himself as "Doyle" to Spike, claiming that he receives visions from the Powers That Be. He sends Spike on missions to help the helpless, setting him up in a small apartment. Eventually, these activities are found out by Wolfram and Hart, and Wes and Gunn pay a visit to Spike, encouraging him to stop what he's doing. Sounds eerily familiar.

Meanwhile, things just get worse at W&H; it is becoming harder and harder for Angel to justify and rationalize his actions. No matter what is said or done about the greater good, the bad acts Angel and co. are performing are beginning to take a toll. The 100th episode sees the return of Cordelia, and serves as a way to set Angel back on track for the rest of the season (though the full extent of how is not revealed until the end of the season). From here on out, the group becomes much more wary of the things they do for Wolfram and Hart. However, it is a different event that ultimately causes the team to break away from Hell, Inc.

Sadly, it is an immense tragedy that prompts this, but in a sense, only a tragedy could do it. Fred dies. Yeah. The sweetest character on the show is killed when Gunn is blackmailed into accepting a package into the building. And this is the last straw for Wes. For the first time since Season 3, he was happy this season (he doesn't fully remember the time since Connor due to a deal Angel made at the end of Season 4), and he was made even happier when Fred finally reciprocated his love. But what's worse for him is that Fred's body continues to walk around. Fred was killed when the essence of Illyria, an ancient demon, entered her body and took it over as its own. Though at first Angel, Spike, and Wes have to fight Illyria, she/he becomes an eventual ally. And though it hurts to see Fred's body without Fred's soul in it, Illyria is a great character. She is a powerful fighter, and her/his inability to understand the world they are living in is humorous to watch (also, the line, "I wish to keep Spike as a pet" never ceases to be hilarious).

So how do all these stories fit together to create the season's arc? As I said, it was brilliant; since Angel and the team now act on Wolfram and Hart's terms, they are no longer heroes. They are taking things only on a case-by-case basis, and acting in such ambiguous ways that they are no longer on the side of good. Adding insult to injury, the one who tells them this is Lindsay. Vowing to undo any wrong they may have done at W&H, the team decides to take out the most powerful W&H assets once and for all.

Since this is a show about redemption, which Angel describes as an unending quest, it ends a little more ambiguously than its parent show. In one way, this fits the tone of the show. In another way, I WANTED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!!! When the series finale aired, I was watching it with the guy that got me into the Buffyverse, and we both yelled out, "NNNOOOOO!!!!" simultaneously when the final fade to black happened.

Before I end this post, I have to talk about the episode, "Smile Time". Across both shows, there has been a musical episode, a silent episode, and an opera episode (sort of). But this one was completely something else. The story involves Angel getting turned into a puppet. No bullshit. It sounds silly, but the plot worked, the jokes were hilarious ("You're a wee little puppet man!"), and I haven't seen puppets acting so bad since Avenue Q (though I'm only putting it that way to bring up the play, since I saw this episode first). Joss Whedon's father wrote a lot of stuff for the Muppets, and doing a show with a puppet was always a dream of Joss' (along with the musical episode), and he pulled it off beautifully.

So that's it. After 12 seasons, 8 years, and 254 episodes, the Buffyverse came to an end on May 19th, 2004. Sadly, unlike Buffy, Angel did not have the benefit of knowing for sure that its fifth season was the last one. They ASSUMED that it would be the last one; the opening scene of the season is reminiscent of the teaser of the pilot. But nothing was for sure. This year, ratings increased; in Season 4, they started going down, but they were at an all-time high in Season 5. I'm pretty sure that the only show on The WB ahead of Angel in ratings was Smallville, which was decreasing in ratings (or so I heard). And so, by the time the writers wrote the episodes in which Fred died and Illyria arose, they believed that they'd be back for Season 6, and began setting up plotlines for the next year. And then they were canceled. So the writers had to squeeze the sixth season into about six episodes. Needless to say, it did feel slightly rushed, but at the same time, they were still great. Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly) showed up as a Wolfram and Hart tough, Connor returned and was REDEEMED (this is the character who sent Angel to the bottom of the ocean and tried to blow up himself, Cordelia, and an entire mall; many people believed he was unredeemable, but Joss pulled it off), and Angel and Spike dealt with their feelings about Buffy.

And so, after 12 great seasons, the Buffyverse came to an end. Or did it?

Up next: "Season 8" and "After the Fall"...

Angel: Season 4 - Dark Angel

I don't know why the penultimate seasons of both Buffy and Angel were the darkest ones, but let's just say that there are some things that happen this year that makes Season 6 of Buffy look light and cheery. Things start off bad for the Angel Investigations team, and they only get worse as the season goes on. Though both series have a serialized format, this particular season rivaled 24 in terms of its season-long arc; episodes often began right at the end of the previous one this season, and viewers would be completely lost if they had missed an episode or two.

Anyway, three months have passed since Cordelia ascended and Angel was sunk to the bottom of the ocean by his son and Holtz's girlfriend. Fred and Gunn are still holding down the fort at the Hyperion Hotel, and are teaching Connor how to live in our world. Though he has come a long way, he still doesn't quite understand human society, and he is still an incredibly angry person. Wesley is still an outcast from the group and he continues to date Lilah, but he spends his nights searching for Angel. Sometime between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4, he captured Justine and keeps her captive in a cage in his closet. Every night, he takes her out on a small boat and uses a SONAR-based metal detector to scour the ocean floor for Angel. By the end of the premiere, Angel returns to the Hyperion, where he tells Connor that he'll always love him, then kicks him out. Angel also states that their new mission is to find Cordelia, who, in the final shot of the episode, is seen on the higher plane expressing how bored she is.

The next few episodes show Angel trying to make amends with Wes, Lorne returning to Los Angeles, Connor trying to live on the streets (while being watched by both his father and Wolfram and Hart attorneys), and the gang discovering what happened to Cordelia. But soon, Cordelia returns to Earth, but has no memory of her former life (which means that when she sees Angel's vampire face, she totally freaks out). Though this would seem a good thing, her return comes right before a series of tragedies (some of which are direct consequences of her return). Lorne is attacked by Wolfram and Hart, Cordelia and Connor begin living together (much to Angel's sadness and discomfort), and when Fred tries to kill the person who sent her to Pylea, a rift develops between her and Gunn when he steps in and kills him in order to save Fred from herself. But all of these are nothing when compared to the arrival of The Beast.

Rising from the exact spot on the street where Connor was born, The Beast is a large demon with skin made from impenetrable rock. He is incredibly strong (probably about as strong as Adam), and is barely affected by any attack Angel and co. throw at him. At first, his purpose seems to be to sow as much chaos and destruction as possible, which is something he is extremely good at. The end of "Apocalypse, Nowish" features one of the greatest fight scenes in all of Angel, as well as a rain of fire that leaves people across Los Angeles wide-eyed and fearful. Except for Cordelia and Connor, who get it on as a way to reaffirm their lives, since they believe that death is imminent (or at least, that is what we are supposed to think...).

Soon, it becomes clear that The Beast has plans, the first of which is to block out the sun and create perpetual darkness (I told you this season was dark). The twist? He succeeds! But The Beast isn't done yet; he takes out Wolfram and Hart in a single episode (pretty significant, seeing as how Angel has been trying for four years, and has made very little progress), which leads to Lilah eventually coming to stay at the Hyperion. Furthermore, the team learns that the reason that they had never heard of The Beast is that all records of it (including memories) had been purged. But since Angelus' consciousness was out of commission when the purge occurred, he may still remember it, so the gang does something that would under normal circumstances be suicidal. They remove Angel's soul. Since the only way to do this is to make Angel perfectly happy, and there is not much to be happy about, the extraction method (and writing of the episode this occurs in) is pretty ingenious. Of course, Angelus is less than willing to help Angel's friends, and despite the precautions taken, he eventually escapes. Next plan: bring in Faith.

Believing her to be their last hope, Wes breaks Faith out of prison (where she is nearly killed by an agent of the First Evil) to try to stop Angelus. We have seen Angelus in action before, but this time around, he seems even more cruel and demented. He sics The Beast on Faith as a way to knock all the fight out of her, but instead of letting the Beast kill her, he finds a way to kill The Beast, and takes HIM out instead, as a way to force Faith to have to fight him next. Interestingly, the very first episode of Angel that I ever saw was "Release", the second of three episodes involving Faith. At this point, I had seen the entire first three seasons (and possibly the fourth as well) of Buffy, so I was pretty surprised to see Faith as a good guy, Wes as an anti-hero badass, and a character who is the teenaged son of Angel. Oh yeah, and at this point, we learn that Cordelia is evil! It would seem that she's controlling The Beast, and her night of passion with Connor was part of a plan to get herself pregnant. Did I mention that there were a TON of twists and turns this year?

But going back to Wes, he descends deeper this year into depression and anger. Cordelia revealed her evilness to the audience by killing Lilah, which had a bad effect on Wes. His world is crumbling around him; he may be a member of Angel's team again, but there is still a lot of mistrust toward him, especially from Gunn. Fred, the woman he still loves, is going through hard times with Gunn, but Wes cannot act on this, since he is partly responsible (he helped her in her attempted murder). Oh, and the world is crumbling in a literal sense. We see how far he is willing to go to beat whatever is going on, when he tortures a drugged out girl for information.

Eventually, with Willow's help, Angel's soul is restored, but by then, it is too late to stop the advent of Jasmine, the power controlling Cordelia (ok, so SHE wasn't evil, she was being used as a puppet). So at last, the entity that has been responsible for countless deaths, massive destruction, and perpetual darkness arrives, and what does she want? World peace. Yes, world peace. Anyone who meets her is put under a spell which makes them calm, content, and full of love towards their fellow man. But this only works on beings with souls, so vampires and evil demons aren't affected. Not only that, but Jasmine encourages her followers to destroy any creature not under her influence, since they obviously don't want peace as well. But when Fred accidentally discovers a way to break the spell, Jasmine orders that she be killed as well. Oh, one more thing; in order to maintain her hold on the world, Jasmine has to consume human followers once a day.

So here's the morally gray dilemma: if we have world peace but no free will, is it a worthwhile trade? Fred, Angel, et. al. determine that it is not worth it, and try to find a way to destroy Jasmine's hold over the world. Granted, their decision is helped by the fact that they are being hunted down, but even if Jasmine had let them be, I still think that the Angel Investigations team would have fought for free will. And their success leads to one of the biggest twists of the series: they are rewarded by Wolfram and Hart, and are offered control of the newly rebuilt Los Angeles branch. After all, who better to run Hell, Inc. than the people responsible for ending world peace?

Up next: The belly of the beast...

Angel: Season 3 - Son of Angel

Yeah, so that title for the post. Yeah. If Angel is a vampire, he is sterile. So did he have a son back in the 1700s that is somehow alive today (another vampire perhaps)? The flashbacks we've seen would all point to a negative answer there. All shall be explained...

After spending a few months away from Los Angeles to deal with the death of Buffy, Angel returns to find the group trying to reassimilate Fred into human society. Five years in a reality where being human means that you are lower than rats didn't do wonders for her psyche, and she is having some trouble readjusting. However, Angel's appearance seems to help, since he was the first person in five years to treat her like a person. Over the course of the first few episodes, Fred slowly regains her sanity. Overall, this is a good thing, since the crazy Fred would quickly lose a purpose on the show and the sane Fred allows for better story-telling. However, the lines said by crazy Fred are some of the most humorous of the entire show.

As usual, Wolfram and Hart were still attempting to turn Angel into Angelus, and this year, they started coming after him through Cordelia. Exploiting the fact that her visions were never meant for a human to carry, they found a way to amplify the negative effects they have on her. This was a pivotal season for Cordelia; this is the year when she truly starts to become a force for good. She receives combat training from Angel, which causes the two of them to start to fall in love. However, she also elects to become part demon in order to survive her visions. Both of these developments will have extreme consequences in the future.

However, just as Angel and Cordy begin to realize that they have feelings for each other, a major bombshell is dropped on the Angel Investigations team: Darla is back. And she's pregnant. What?! Somehow, when Angel had sex with her the previous year to vent his frustration, some sort of miracle (or anti-miracle) happened, allowing two dead things to conceive. And not only to conceive, but to create life; the baby is human, and it has a soul. And this revelation couldn't have come at a worse time, since a new (read: old) enemy returns to hunt down Angel and Darla. A 17th century vampire hunter named Daniel Holtz, who was alluded to in Season 2, has been brought to the 21st century by a time traveling demon named Sajahn, and Holtz intends to get revenge for the wrongs the vampires did to him.

Wesley also has a pivotal season, as he slowly becomes more and more detached from the group at Angel Investigations. It starts with him trying to translate and piece together a group of prophecies that deal with both the arrival of Holtz and the revelation that two vampires will conceive a child. This work keeps him awake many a long night, and he is reluctant to report on his findings once they begin to suggest that Angel is going to do something terrible. He also begins secretly meeting with Holtz and his growing group of 21st century vampire hunters, in an effort to get them to back off, since Angel and Angelus are two different people (at least in the mind of Wes and Angel). Wes also tries to avoid seeing Gunn and Fred when they become a couple, since Wesley himself pined for Fred and was unable to make a move before Gunn, despite ample opportunity (it also didn't help that he tried to kill her while under demonic influence).

Eventually, when the baby is born, Darla is forced to sacrifice herself since she would be unable to birth the baby naturally. The soul of the baby is powerful enough to affect Darla, and she once again begins to act like a human. She knows that once the baby is out, she will revert back to one of history's most dangerous vampires, and stakes herself to save the baby. Naming the baby Connor, Angel is forced to stay alert at all times to keep him safe from Holtz and Wolfram and Hart, both of whom want the baby for very different reasons.

And then it happened. This season has one of the most emotionally intense series of events involving both Wesley and Angel. It starts with Wes deciphering the prophecies to read that, "The father will kill the son", and when Angel begins to display behavior that suggests the fulfillment of the prophecy is imminent, Wesley does what he feels he must to save both Angel and Connor: he kidnaps the baby. But when he is confronted by Holtz's gang, Holtz's number two (and possible girlfriend0 Justine cuts his throat, takes Connor, and leaves Wes for dead in a park. Holtz wants Connor in order to make Angel suffer. Wolfram and Hart wants Connor to experiment on and possibly bring about Angelus. And Angel just wants his son back. These three groups meet up and a stalemate occurs; Holtz has the baby, but W&H have an army. Angel decides that he will allow Holtz to escape, since Holtz plans on keeping his son alive. But Sajahn appears and reveals that the prophecy was a lie; he altered it from the original, which said that the child of two vampires would kill Sajahn. Sajahn, who is incorporeal and unable to kill Connor himself, makes one final effort to ensure the baby's death by opening a portal to a particularly brutal hell dimension and getting Holtz to run in with Connor. Upset, Angel goes to the hospital to visit a barely-living Wesley. After putting his friend at ease, Angel then attempts to kill Wes.

Craziness. Wes' role in the rest of the season is that of a broken man who has lost everything. His friends have turned their backs on him, and he barely has a reason for living. But the darkness of his life leads to a relationship with W&H attorney Lilah Morgan, which is one of the show's most disturbing and powerful relationships; they may be enemies, and they may hate each other, but it shows how much each of them are hurting.

Meanwhile, the romance between Angel and Cordelia was put on hold when an old flame of Cordelia's returned. But even after he left, the loss of Connor has not put Angel in the mood for love. But then, miraculously, Connor returned... as a teenager. Since it has been established that time moves faster in hell dimensions, it comes as no surprise that he would be this age, but the fact that he returned is the surprising part. But he does, and he's pissed. After being raised by Holtz, he has been led to believe that Angel is the worst being on the planet (this isn't that off if applied to Angelus), and is out to kill him. However, like Fred at the beginning of the year, he is completely bewildered by human society, and begins to accept help from Angel to adjust. Sadly, a happy family is not to be, when he executes a plan to get rid of Angel forever. He and Justine seal him in a box and drop him to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, where he will live forever, but in a perpetual state of starved madness. This occurred when Angel was on his way to meet Cordelia, so that they could confess their feelings for each other. Cordelia is confronted by an agent of the Powers That Be and is offered a spot in their heavenly realm to become one of the Powers. In the final scene of the season, Cordelia ascends toward a greater purpose while Angel descends into a hell on Earth.

Season 3 ends with a lot of tragedy; Angel and Cordelia are both out of commission, Wes is an outcast from the group, Lorne has left the city, and Gunn and Fred have no idea where their friends are. This sets up the darkest season of the show, which rivals Season 6 of Buffy in bleakness (let's just say that the first Angel episode I ever saw was one of the darkest episodes of Joss Whedon's canon).

Up next: The end of Sunnydale...

Angel: Season 2 - Fallen Angel

This year, Angel really took off; like Season 1, the first few episodes were still episodic (I need a different word, because the phrase "episodic episode" sounds really stupid to me), but as the season goes on, the first real story arcs develop, one of which is one of the most incredible of the series. The season premiere "Judgment" takes place a few months after Angel, Wes, and Cordelia learned of the Shanshu Prophecy. The final two twists of Season 1 gave hope to Angel and surprise to the viewers. The Shanshu Prophecy was a scroll taken from the vaults of Wolfram and Hart which foretell that a vampire with a soul will become human again after it has redeemed itself. For the past few months, the Angel Investigations team has been keeping tabs of the good they do in order to see how much closer Angel is to regaining his humanity. The other twist saw the results of Wolfram and Hart's bizarre ritual: Darla, Angel's sire, has been brought back.

The last time we saw Darla in the present day, she was in Sunnydale working with the Master. When Darla tried to kill Buffy, Angel staked her. We never really saw much of her again on Buffy, except for a brief scene showing her bite Angel. Last year on Angel, we saw some more flashbacks showing Darla and Angelus' time in Europe, and these scenes showed us that Darla was much more deadly and cunning than her scenes in Sunnydale let on.

However, the spell W&H used brought her back as a human. The scenes at Wolfram and Hart during the previous season, that didn't involve our heroes showed us that Angel, or more specifically, Angelus, plays a significant role in the Senior Partners' apocalyptic plans. Since the last time Angel lost his soul involved him having sex, who better than the woman he spent half of his long life with to get him back into bed?

As Darla regains strength, Angel, Wes, Cordelia, and Gunn, a homeless vampire hunter introduced at the end of Season 1, continue helping the helpless through their detective agency. There are a few episodes at the beginning of the season that aren't quite as good as what will come, but there are a few stand-out stand-alones, most notably "Guise Will Be Guise", which follows Wesley impersonating Angel while he serves as a bodyguard to young woman (and also served as evidence that Wes may be shaping up to be more than just a geek). We are also are introduced to a demon known only as The Host for most of the season. His name is eventually revealed to be Lorne (short for Krevlornswath of the Dethwok Clan), and although he is a demon, he is one of the first in the Buffyverse to be completely benevolent. There were hints of good demons during Season 1 of Angel, but Lorne is the first completely non-violent demon. One of the central themes of Angel is the lack of black and white morality, and the importance of finding the shades of gray in life. That includes demons; while many of them are in fact evil and murderous, there are some that are no more evil than the average human.

Lorne owns a karaoke club that caters to both humans and demons, which is a safe haven due to a spell that prevents violence from occurring in the club. One of Lorne's abilities is that he can see a person's destiny when they sing, since a person bares their soul when they sing (a similar idea is used in the incredible Buffy musical).

Once the Angel Investigations team becomes aware of Darla's resurrection, Angel makes it his mission to save Darla, believing that by forgiving the person that made him a demon will earn him big points with the Powers That Be, and will help him earn the Shanshu faster. Unfortunately, the lawyers at Wolfram and Hart were banking on him wanting to save her. The twist is that, the first time Darla was human, she was dying of syphilis. Now that she is human again, the disease is back, and is so far advanced (there was no penicillin in the 17th century) that her death is imminent. Lindsay McDonald and the other lawyers believe that Angel will try to "save" Darla by turning her back into a vampire, which would unleash one of the deadliest vampires in history back in to modern day Los Angeles. Of course, Angel does not take this path, since it would only preserve her body, but doom her soul.

Of course, W&H planned for this contingency, and the ending of the episode, "The Trial", kicks off one of the greatest story arcs of the series. Known as the "Beige Angel" arc (personally, I'm not the biggest fan of that name, but it is what the creators use), which really delves into the whole "shades of gray" aspect. As I said in my previous post, Drusilla's role here in Los Angeles is much more exciting that her one-episode tale in Sunnydale. When Angel refuses to turn Darla, W&H send Dru in to do the job. This causes Angel to snap, and after he locks a room full of lawyers in a cellar with Dru and the newly revamped (bad pun) Darla, he proceeds to fire Wes, Cordelia, and Gunn, and begins taking a more aggressive approach to fighting in the name of good. Believing that since the bad guys don't play the rules, he begins to question why he should.

Sadly, the "Beige Angel" storyline only lasts a few episodes, and it is certainly at its best in the episodes that highlight his new methods. There are a few episodes that could have occurred anywhere else in the season, but their placement her did reflect Angel's new perspective. One episode, "The Thin Dead Line" carried a very interesting moral, or lack thereof, though. The story featured zombified police officers, who were all killed in the line of duty. Raised by their captain, they are turning their beats into crime-free zones at the expense of personal freedoms and rights. Throughout the episode, we sympathize with the people who are being terrorized by the undead cops, even though a few of them make it clear that they would be out terrorizing the populace if they didn't have to worry about being killed by the aggressive cops. However, when Angel puts a brutal stop to the zombies, Det. Lockley, his police contact, reports that the precincts the zombies operated went from having some of the highest crime rates in LA to having the lowest. The point is that each side has an argument. It was wrong (and hypcritical) of the police captain to put people's lives in danger in the name of public safety. But there were people on the streets who may have needed the to be scared off the streets. However, in this case, the zombies were too drastic a measure, and the bad they did definitely outdid the good.

The Beige Angel story ended with Angel becoming so fed up with his inability to make a permanent change for good, that in his despair, he sleeps with Darla. In a scene very reminiscent of when he lost his soul after having sex with Buffy, Angel ran outside screaming into a rainstorm. However, since he had sex in a moment of despair, his soul remained in tact, and it led to an epiphany, and one of the greatest lines on the show. Realizing that if nothing matters in the grand scheme of things, if there is no bigger picture, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.

Another big development this year was the move to the Hyperion Hotel. The old headquarters was destroyed at the end of the previous season, and they were obviously forced to relocate. Angel takes them to an abandoned hotel where he stayed during the days of McCarthyism. The hotel will serve as Angel HQ for the next three years, and in that time, will be the setting for some insane events.

The end of the season dealt with the backstory of Lorne. Many people found this storyline to be sort of lame; personally, I didn't mind the Pylea arc, but I would definitely have loved to see what was being planned. A few sources claim that the original ending involved more fallout with Darla, and possibly even Spike, but due to the unavailability of the actors, the Pylean story was created. Most likely, if Darla had shown up again, it would have been an earlier reveal of the twist ending of the Season 3 premiere, which would have served as a tantalizing way to keep viewers waiting for the upcoming year. But with Pylea, I think every fan can agree that if nothing else, the introduction of Fred in this storyline was worth it.

Up next: Evil nerds, drug parallels, and life sucks in Sunnydale...

Angel: Season 1 - Angel of Mercy

Throughout Season 3 of Buffy, Buffy and Angel tried to find a way to be together without risking Angel to lose his soul again. They had to put up with anger from Buffy's friends, temptation from Faith, and the pain that comes from two people in love who cannot be together. Ultimately, Angel made the decision that it would be better for both of them if he left Sunnydale and did not serve as a distraction and/or danger. Also, in Season 2, David Boreanaz proved that he could carry his own show when his depiction of Angelus wowed Joss Whedon (in the words of one of my friends, Whedon's reaction must have gone something like, "Holy shit, he can ACT!"). So now we have Angel, a show about dealing with adult life, redemption, and brooding. Whereas Buffy used monsters and demons to point out that school is hell, Angel shows us how adult life can be scary and unexpected. Buffy was a more classic hero, a soldier for good who goes out to defend humanity, Angel is about atoning for past sins.

Like the first season of Buffy, Angel's first season is its worst, with a much more episodic format. Whedon even said that his original plan for the show was that of anthology, with Angel as a supernatural detective. Like I said with Buffy, no season of Angel is bad, but the rest of the series is so much better. There are some great episodes this year, such as "I Will Remember You", "I've Got You Under My Skin", and "To Shanshu In LA", but we also get the two worst episodes of the series ("I Fall To Pieces" and "She"). And when compared to some of the phenomenal story arcs that show up in later years, episodic story-telling falls short.

That's not to say that the seeds of bigger stories aren't planted this year. Wolfram and Hart, a seemingly twisted law firm that is so much more, is slowly built up as the Big Bad for the entire series (unlike its parent show, not every season of Angel ends with a huge climactic fight against a villain that has been plotting something since the beginning of the year). Character arcs are begun, and in the case of Doyle, completed, and the final twist of the season starts a series of events that drive the plot all the way through Season 4.

So who besides Angel are the big hitters on this show? Cordelia Chase is the other major Buffy character to start out as a regular; after her father's tax fraud was discovered in Season 3 of Buffy, Cordy's family lost all their money, and she could no longer go to college, so she decided to come to Los Angeles to make it as an actress. Of course, like most people who share that dream without ever having done anything before Hollywood to try and achieve it, her efforts are in vain. A chance encounter at a party brings her and Angel back together for a time, but she joins up with him permanently when he saves her from a vampire in the pilot. For the first few episodes, she is, for the most part, the same shallow Cordelia that we came to know for the past three years, albeit with a slightly broken spirit. However, her path on this show is much different, and she is set upon it by the third regular, Allen Francis Doyle.

Doyle, who was modeled after Whistler, a character seen in Buffy's "Becoming, Parts 1 and 2", is a half-demon who has been gifted and cursed with visions from the Powers That Be (a group of omniscient, and most likely omnipotent, beings who watch over the world). These visions show him people who are or will shortly be in trouble and are in need of assistance. Claiming that his latest vision sent him to Angel, Doyle volunteers to help the vampire with a soul in his strange mission to help victims of demon activity in LA. Sadly, Doyle didn't last too long on the show (Whedon and co. don't talk about him too much, but I'm pretty sure that there were some remarks about drug use, and actor Glenn Quinn died of an overdose around the beginning of the fourth season). Midway through the season, he passed his visions on to Cordelia, setting her on a path to become a moral and courageous fighter.

Doyle is replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who tried to reinvent himself as a rogue demon hunter (what's a rogue demon?) after being fired by the Watchers' Council due to his poor handling of Faith. Like Cordelia, he starts off like he was on Buffy, but as the season and show go on, he experiences one of the most dramatic character arcs I've ever seen. By the end of the year, he has gone from bumbling goof to a somewhat competent fighter. His knowledge of demonology comes in handy for his work at Angel Investigations (the group needs to make money somehow), and he can hold his own against vampires as well.

Since arriving in LA, Angel has been living in an underground apartment, going out every night, and dispatching vampires and demons when he can find them. Without a big villain to fight against, he is out to redeem the crimes he committed as Angelus, one person at a time. But when he encounters Wolfram and Hart, he finds his nemesis.

Wolfram and Hart passes itself off as a law firm. However, if one were to look into its client base, you would find that they tend to represent demons, vampires, and other less-than-upright citizens. Representing the evil corporation archetype, the firm is an agent of a group known as the Senior Partners, the evil version of the Powers That Be. This year, we meet a few of the lawyers, including Lindsay McDonald, who becomes a rival to Angel, Lilah Morgan, and their boss, Holland Manners. The first few appearances of the firm shows them as nothing more than a well-funded place of evil, but by the end of the season, we learn that they have many plans that involve Angel and the end of the world.

When our heroes aren't taking on the soulless corporation, they are dealing with other issues that adults deal with when they venture out into the real world, like trying to find a good apartment ("Rm w/ a Vu"), dealing with one night stands ("Expecting"), and trying to earn a living.

Season 1 of Angel has a few less-than-stellar episodes, but it serves as an excellent set-up to a great series. Some of the show's staples, such as flashbacks to Angel's time as Angelus, when he and Darla terrorized Europe, are began, and we see the origins of characters who are almost unrecognizable by the end of the series (assuming they make it that far; sadly, Kate Lockley, a detective who serves as a contact for Angel, doesn't stick around for too long).

Up next: Extravagance and family in Sunnydale...

The Buffyverse: Right Back To The Beginning

I must say this right now: there will be numerous spoilers in the upcoming posts. Buffy and Angel both had more wonderful plot twists than you can shake a stick at, and I don't believe I can do these wonderful series justice without following where the story takes us.

Having said that, if anyone is a newcomer to the Buffyverse, I still encourage you to read this, as I will try to make it clear where the spoilers lie, and I hope that these posts will encourage you to finally take the plunge and discover one of the greatest fictional universes ever created.

As you no doubt remember from my Firefly and Serenity posts, Joss Whedon is a master storyteller. His ability to create compelling and extremely human characters, imagine situations both epic and mundane that enthrall the audience, and make us laugh one minute and cry the next with his wonderful dialogue is nearly unparalleled. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is probably his most incredible work, not because it is his best (I don't know what I like most, Buffy, Angel, or Firefly; they are each wonderful for different reasons), but because it was both a success and a failure. Both loved and hated. And it has the longest story of anything he's ever done, in terms of both length of produced material and behind the scenes events.

The story started in 1992 with the film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After graduating from Wesleyan's graduate program (where he was a TA for one of my film professors!!!), he started writing for Roseanne. He was good (the man is hilarious), but he wanted to create his own story. Whedon decided that he wanted to tell a horror story, but turn all of the cliches upside down. Usually, the first victim was a helpless blond girl, and the hero was a man who had to save the damsel in distress. Buffy Summers was a ditzy-looking cheerleader who had to save the helpless guys from vampire attacks. He planned the movie to be a horror comedy, which was a hard sell back then. Unfortunately, Whedon's script was heavily retooled after FOX bought it. The tone was lightened up to be more of a straight comedy, many of the dark scenes were replaced, among many other alterations. I've heard that Whedon became so frustrated with the changes that he walked off set and no longer wants to be associated with the film in any way. The film received mixed reviews, and did fair, but no one thought that the story of Buffy Summers would continue.

That is until four or five years later, when Whedon was approached by a FOX executive who offered to turn his original idea (apparently, the original script was praised in Hollywood, even though the final product was not), and the "true" Buffy the Vampire Slayer was finally born. The concept was broadened from that of an empowered woman to encompass the idea of high school as hell (brilliant!), and Buffy was moved from the LA suburbs to a town called Sunnydale, which happens to sit upon a "Hellmouth". The Hellmouth is a writer's device used to explain why so much demonic activity happens in Sunnydale; it is a mystical entity that acts as a kind of magnet for demons and vampires. Buffy was also given a group of fellow outcasts to make up her network of friends (the series begins after the events of the film, so Buffy has already lost her popularity, and has begun to walk the path of the Slayer, which is usually a solitary path).

One such outcast was Angel, a 250 year-old vampire cursed with a human soul and conscience. Created to be the male half of a Romeo and Juliet-esque couple, Angel should have been Buffy's sworn enemy, since she was a Slayer, but instead, the two fell madly in love. It didn't take long, though, for Whedon to realize that David Boreanaz, the actor portraying Angel, had the potential to carry his own show, and immediately after Buffy's third season finale ended, viewers were treated to their first Angel promo.

The next twelve posts (with probably a few LOST ones showing up in between) will cover the seven seasons of Buffy and the five seasons of Angel. However, I will do them in airing order; since Angel began its first season during Buffy's fourth, the first four posts will be about Buffy, and then they will alternate. Get ready...

Up next: Welcome to Sunnydale...