Angel Boxset: Review

Wow this is going to be a difficult series to review.

Right off the bat let me lay down the facts. I am a massive Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. I think it's one of, if not the best show ever made, which is why I will not review it on this blog. I feel like there would be no point in me reviewing Buffy because the fondness I have for the show would render any points I make extremely bias.

Angel on the other hand is a different beast entirely. It's not bad, actually I'd go as far to say it was excellent when it puts its mind to it.

Anyway I've got time to kill and a five season boxset to review so let's take a look at this cult classic from the beginning.

Season 1

Angel's first season had a rough time finding it's feet. It's pretty common for these kind of shows to have a few teething problems for a while before it gets a solid idea in its head of what is working for the characters and what isn't. We first meet Angel after his final appearance in Buffy. After helping to destroy the "big bad" Angel left for Los Angeles for the benefit of both of them. The first season actually handles Angels separation from Buffy pretty well. Angel has always been a darker and more tortured character than the quippy school badass that is Buffy and this first season shows that side of him pretty well. He's depressed, he's trying to atone for the horrible things he's done in his past as a soulless vampire and he's extremely lonely and determined to stay that way

However, "Angel mopes about in a basement" wouldn't make for good TV so a future seeing demon called Doyle is introduced and fan favourite Cordelia swaps over from Buffy to bring much needed levity and personality to what otherwise would be a damn boring show. Together they form a supernatural investigation agency who's motto is to help the helpless and occasionally ask them for cash so Cordelia can pay her bills.

It's definitely not the best first season you'll ever see but it's got heart (or soul... get it?). Angel's teething problems come mostly in the ever present evil law firm of Wolfram and Heart... yeah an evil law firm. While Angel is our protagonist I always felt like the real "big bad" of the series should be himself, trying to fight against his own inner demons or at least physical demons that personified his struggle. The evil law firm becomes a lot more interesting later on but unfortunately in this first season it's very... well... law firm ish... as in it's boring as hell even if they are talking about vampires demons and monsters. The high point of this series is when Buffy character Faith crosses over and starts to cause havoc in LA. Those episodes are dark and dramatic and give us a deeper look into the characters Psyche. The faith episodes gave me an indication of how good this series could be. This first season doesn't know what do do with itself but luckily the characters do.

Season 2

Now we're talking! Season 2 gives the show a much needed makeover. It's still dark, broody and noir but with some new cast members and much more sinister and exciting storylines. First lets talk about Lorne played by the brilliant Andy Hallett, a green demon who runs an underground karaoke bar and can tell how truthful a person is being by hearing them sing. His inclusion into the series gives Angel what it was missing and what Buffy had in spades, fun. I'm all for when a show needs to be serious but a show like Angel can't really get by being broody all the time with no fun at all, especially if Angel's character was to develop as he does over this season. We also have some returning characters. Darla is back this time as an instrument of Wolfram and Heart and she is delightfully creepy as always. Using Darla as a way to get to Angel elevated the law firm from being the worst thing about the show to being one of the most interesting and threatening presences in the Buffyverse even if I'll never fully be sold on the guys who are meant to be running this thing. They're not threatening just sayin'.

We also get characters such as Gunn becoming part of the main cast and honestly he fits right in to the Angel investigations gang. As does Wesley who was introduced in the latter part of season 1. His irritating yet entertaining first appearance on Buffy had me sceptical about how his character was going to fit on Angel. Wesley is amazing in this show and his character development is just downright fantastic.

One thing that made me uneasy watching season 2 is how some of Angel's actions are portrayed. I won't spoil too much just incase some nutcase is reading this full boxset review having not seen the series. It happens just as the season is getting interesting. You think Angelus is taking over and that the investigations team are going to have to re-claim his soul or something. Turns out the only thing he needed was to have sex with Darla in a creepy kind of rapey way... I get that Darla is evil and we're not meant to like her but in this series she's kind of vulnerable, a tool used by Wolfram and Heart to get to Angel and it made me feel iffy that these were the actions of Angel and not Angelus and afterwards he goes back to being a likeable and charismatic if not periodically depressed character. It's not like this doesn't have consequences... oh it has many, many consequences... but it still was kind of weird to watch through.

I especially loved the finale of this season where we get to go to a different dimension for the first time and where the art department get to go crazy. It's a great finale and sets the bar high for the rest of the series.

Season 3

Season 3 is both my favourite and least favourite series of Angel. Because it's both an incredible, dramatic and thoroughly enjoyable season of television and it sets up season 4... In this series we get the consequences of Angel's actions from season 2 in Darla becoming pregnant with Angel's child. Now comfortably set up in their new hotel digs Angel investigations tries to work out how a child born of two vampires could exist while also trying to protect Darla and later the child, Connor from a host of demons and an old van-helsing type character in Holtz, a much more interesting villain than Wolfram and Heart.

We also get the inclusion of new character Fred, who was saved from a demon dimension by Angel at the end of season 2. I must admit I didn't warm to this character immediately since I felt like she was mostly there as eye candy for Gunn and Wesley but she soon comes into her own and in time became one of my favourite characters.

The best story arc in this season is when Wesley discovers an old prophecy claiming that Angel would end up killing his son. Scared that Angel may revert to Angelus Wesley steals his child and the drama that spirals from their is so goddamn good that you feel like Angel has finally found it's place as a series.

That's until through hell dimentiony timey whimeyness Angel's kid Connor comes back as an annoying earache and spends the rest of the series getting slapped in my mind. Honestly the writing for this character is horrible and doesn't do the series any favours. They could have made him so interesting... instead they just went with irritating and unfortunately they decide to keep him around for later. It's such an inconsistent season! It's brilliant and then it's just kind of cringey...

Season 4

I won't talk much about season 4 because it's by far the worst season with very few redemptive features. This series decides to keep Connor around for the ride which is already enough to set the series out on the wrong foot and decides to assassinate Cordelia's character instead of just letting her have the perfect exit in season 3. It's painful frankly and... you can kind of skip it.

Season 5

While it never hits the dramatic beats season 3 part 1 has Season 5 was definitely the most enjoyable season. This is probably because it plays out a lot more like a season of Buffy. They decide to loose a lot of the noir aesthetic as the investigations team set up inside Wolfram and Heart after the events of season 4. Our heroes are now in charge of the most evil organisation on the planet and all of them except Angel have forgotten about the events of season 4 (thank god).

Season 5 has it's dark moments but ultimately it feels more like Scooby-doo but with added devil attorney's and amazingly choreographed fight scenes. At first the series lack of Cordelia makes it a slow burn, her character provided a lot of the emotional core of the series but not to fear as she's replaced pretty soon on with... Spike.

Angel season 5 ran after the final season of Buffy. This makes it a really interesting turn since it leaves a lot of the fallout from that season in Angel's hands and we get to see the consequences the destruction of Sunnydale has on the demon wold and the consequences of Spike's new soul.

Seeing these two characters riffing off each other is hilarious and means the series is never dull even in moments that should be.

Finally we've got to talk about the ending of this show, or in this case a lack of ending.

Because Joss Whedon asked for a cheeky early renewal of the series the studio cancelled Angel. Which basically the build up to the series finale is amazing and the last shot is a frustrating cliffhanger which will make you scream and cry until you discover the comic books which you read to fill the empty void within your heart where you know a satisfying resolution should be... or at least that's what I did.

Final Verdict

Angel is a beautiful hot mess of a tv show. It's got the scares, the edgy 18 rating, strong and interesting characters and dynamics, good comedy and drama that gives Buffy a run for it's money. When it's at it's best I'd even go so far to say it surpasses Buffy.

However, this show is also the most inconsistent of rollercoasters. It can have an amazing episode and a completely forgettable episode right next to each other and there are some questionable plot choices that just make the whole thing hard to watch at times (cough cough) season 4 (cough cough).

I would definitely recommend watching the show more as an extension of Buffy and it's universe than something that stands on its own because when it's anchored it's fantastic, when it's struggling to think on it's own it falls flat. Either way if you're a fan of supernatural shows it's definitely worth a watch.

7/10