The final season of this Buffy spin-off ends well enough for such a flawed series. The first two seasons are excellent but by the third seasons things start to unravel. Whedon and Greenwalt do their best to keep the series afloat with a great episode here and there but ultimately this series will go down as being less successful as the show that created it. The fifth season starts anew with a different setting and each of its characters given new jobs. Having Angel's crew head Wolfram and Heart was certainly a great way to change things up and start the whole "full circle" aspect of a final season. Spike's arrival was also refreshing and surprising because I didn't think it would work but his presence helps bolster the overall drive of the story. The problem is that almost everything I loved about the show was gone. The comedy was still there (thankfully) but the characters were so disconnected from their past incarnations it seems inconsistent. After seeing Fred fall in love with Gunn a year ago, I'm supposed to forget that and be happy with Fred's new hook up? Rooting for Angel and Cordelia to get together only for her to be in a coma and Angel to so easily romance a werewolf girl, that wasn't too cool. One of my pet peeves is when a show's character acts in away that would make you believe they forgot everything that transpired from past seasons. Sure the writers threw us a bone every once and awhile with a reference here or there but it wasn't enough for me, a character's actions determine who they are not a throw away line. A sixth season might have given this show time to return to its glory days, and with Spike there it was possible, but we'll never know. At least this season gave us probably the show's best episode ever, "Smile Time" where Angel is turned into a puppet. Genius. Grade: B
Spoilers!
What I liked: the addition of Spike, Lindsey's return, Fred's death and transformation, all the Buffy references, "Smile Time", Gunn's betrayal, Wesley's overall journey, Lorne's sad walk away, the very end (that line about the dragon is one of the best last lines of a series ever).
What I hated: Angel's new girlfriend (talk about forcing a new love interest down our throats), Cordelia being written out of the show (because she was as much of the show as Angel was; too bad the writers didn't recognize that), the sudden and convenient introduction of the Circle of the Black Thorn (even the name sucked), having the show end without ever seeing Detective Kate Lockley again was a disappointment (I mean if you need another love interest why not go back to that red herring from season one) and writing Cordelia off the show (it's worth repeating).
Series as a whole: When I think about this show it's easy to point out flaws in hindsight, I mean the writers believe they're making smart decisions at the moment of creation. But it seemed to me from the middle of season 3 they kept writing themselves in a corner and brilliantly fixing their mistakes only to write themselves back into another corner. For me the aspect of Angel that was never utilized properly was his evil demon Angelus. I always believed that when Angel looked upon his son, Connor, for the first time he should have lost his soul again. Seeing his son would have filled him with great joy and hence cursed him back to Angelus. That would have been a great element to the story as his friends protect Angel's child while Angel's evil self sets out to destroy the world. Or how about this? What if Angelus (still a bad guy) chooses to fight evil for a spell. Then in Season 4 they spend so much time trying to surprise the audience with Cordelia's real reason for returning it seems they never considered how the audience would feel seeing her seduce a teenager and become evil for no reason. But overall this is a good show with great writing. It could have been better but still I can't complain too much. Compared with most shows, Angel is a diamond in the rough, a wonder of wit and fantasy. It's too bad there are not more shows like it.
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