Customer Reviews

Angel: Season Five (Slim Packaging)

5 star:		(142)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This six Disk DVD Set is extraordinary. The Picture and Sound quality are so very good that you feel as though you are watching it in a theater. The closed captioning and Audio come in other languages besides English. It's jam packed with all sorts of extra bonus specials. The Brilliant creator, Joss Whedon and other staff members are at their very best, just as they were with their work on Buffy (which is also a must own). I not only highly recommend this Season disk set, but the other four seasons as well. Quite a bit of quality work went into the making of all five seasons. They are a necessary buy for any Angel fan! It's completely impossible to be anything but extremely pleased with this purchase as well as the rest of the series. The writing, acting , directing, etc... are amazing per usual. This is without question once again feature film quality.
The fact that all but the first season is filmed in Letter Box gives it that theater feel. In addition, the closed-captioning is less likely to interfere with the picture. David Boreanaz (Angel) and James Marsters (Spike) are brilliant in their performances together as well as with other cast members. I must credit Alexis Denisof (Wes), Andy Hallet (Lorne) and Amy Acker (Fred and Illyria) gives a wonderful performance playing two different characters. Joss Whedon comes through once again. I not only highly recommend this Season disk set, but the other four seasons as well, for Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) was amazing in her portrayal of the good Cordy, seen in many different incarnations throughout the years. She is sincerely missed in season five. Lucky for us she returns for the 100th episode titled "You're Welcome" when she comes back to wrap up her story line. She never looked more beautiful and did some of her finest work in that one show. Any true Angel fan must complete their set with this one. It's a keeper folks. Purchase this before it gets sold out and you miss your chance to finalize your collection. ORDER IMMEDIATELY OR I PROMISE YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY.

Warning: Many, many spoilers!

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately with Season Five of ANGEL we saw not only the end of one of the great series that TV has produced, but the end of Joss Whedon's Slayerverse. With Whedon's recent announcement that he was closing Mutant Enemy's offices and that he does not intend to do another television show in the foreseeable future, this truly is the end of an era. At least we have 144 episodes of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and 110 episodes of ANGEL to remember these remarkable artistic creations by. And meanwhile we can all hope that Joss will reconsider and decide that he does have another set of stories to tell.

After very nearly getting cancelled at the end of Season Four, the WB renewed ANGEL with the understanding that the show would try to move more towards a format where each episode stood alone (though they did manage to sneak in some great storylines along the way) as well as bringing James Marster's Spike over from BUFFY to try and bring some of that audience over. Artistically, Season Five is a huge rebound from the disappointing Season Four, with a large number of stunning individual episodes, a number of shocking plot developments, and some powerful storylines. I never did feel completely at ease with Angel and Co. taking over the running of the evil law firm of hell, Wolfram and Hart, but despite that they managed to do some amazing things. One reason I didn't like the Wolfram and Hart connection was the presence of the specially treated pane glass windows, which allowed vampires Angel, Spike, and Harmony to bask in sunlight without fear of combustion. But ANGEL was metaphorically always about being in the shadows, and I felt that visually the show didn't work as well in the light. But this was one of my only complaints with the season. The other was that some of the characters didn't receive quite the attention that they deserved. Even Angel moved somewhat out of the center at the beginning of the season, as Spike was brought in and established as a central character, though by mid-season he clearly was once again the star of the show. Wesley, who I always found to be the most interesting character on the show, was far less crucial to the plot for most of the season. Gunn for the most part was relegated to bit parts, while Lorne had almost no role to play at all. On the other hand, Fred became far more important, of which more in a second. Harmony, always a secondary character on BUFFY, became a permanent cast member and managed to inject some comic relief as Angel's secretary, though they didn't have time to blend her fully into the mix. After the initial jar of seeing Spike in L.A. rather than Sunnydale, he managed to become a great addition to the show, and one of the great regrets of the failure of ANGEL to get renewed for Season Six was the wonderful team that he and ANGEL made by season's end.

The season saw a great number of remarkable individual episodes. One of my favorites was "Lineage," where Wesley managed to confront his father (or what passes for his father) in what is one of the most stunning scenes in the five seasons of the show. "Smile Time," written by TICK creator Ben Edlund, was arguably the funniest show in the history of the series, when Angel is transformed magically into a two-foot tall felt puppet. His assault of Spike when the latter makes fun of him and their ensuing fight is one of the great absurd moments I've ever seen on TV. I also enjoyed the episodes that dealt with the demise of Fred and the ascendance and development of Illyria.

Just over halfway through the season, fans of the show were shocked beyond comprehension when one of the major and most popular characters, Fred, the geeky but beautiful scientist whom Angel had rescued from another dimension, died, her body being taken over by a powerful ancient demon Illyria. Although fans were initially angered by her demise, most quickly came to be fascinated by the demon who took over her body, and her bizarre relationship with Wesley, Fred's erstwhile lover, who hesitatingly helped her to live in a world she found completely alien. We know from Jeff Bell, ANGEL's executive producer, that in Season Six they planned to have the apparently dead Fred resurrected by Willow from BUFFY, who was to appear as a guest star. In Season Five we learn that there are remnants of Fred in Illyria, and Fred was apparently going to retrieve Fred, while leaving Illyria alive, allowing Amy Acker to play a double role. The possibilities in that would have been remarkable. For instance, Illyria retained many of Fred's memories, including the fact that she loved Wesley. Illyria had achieved a strange attraction of her own to Wesley, and one can only imagine how she would have responded to seeing Fred and Wesley together. Illyria's attachment to Wesley led to perhaps the most moving moment of the entire season, when Illyria, who could manage an absolutely perfect impersonation of Fred when she needed to, asked a dying Wesley if she wanted her to "lie" to him (i.e., pretend to be Fred). After he says, with a smile on his face, yes, she tries to comfort him by telling him that he is going to be with her very shortly. Immediately after he dies, the sorcerer who killed Wesley, regaining consciousness but not realizing that he was talking to a powerful demon and not a "little girl," tells her to take her best shot at him. She does, and in the season's best visual image, the "little girl" spins, throwing a fist at the sorcerer's head, transforming from human to her demon form as she throws a punch at his head, completely shattering his skull (something a mere human was not capable of doing).

The show ended with an utterly remarkably episode entitled "Not Fade Away" (which references great the Buddy Holly song later covered by both the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead). The controversial but to me very beautiful and appropriate ending expressed everything that the show was about. Ultimately, the series was about a man (or vampire) who had more to repent of than he would ever find forgiveness for. He had, therefore, more or less devoted his entire existence to the process of atonement, which the show finally interrupts as an ongoing struggle and not a mere event. As Angel, Illyria, Spike, and a severely injured Gunn rendezvous in an alley in the midst of a heavy downpour, they find themselves being approached by a huge group of demons, including a towering giant and a dragon. The odds look (and possibly are) impossible, but after saying that he wants to slay the dragon, Angel says to the remnants of his team, "Let's get to work." And with those words the episode and the series abruptly ends. I can't imagine a more perfect end. (April 2005 addition: In a new interview, Amy Acker says that Joss Whedon told her that Illyria at least would have survived the fight.)

The WB announced the cancellation ANGEL immediately after their 100th episode. What followed was the most extraordinary campaign to save a show in television history. Fans undertook a large food drive in the show's name, organized blood drives, mailed tens of thousands of post cards, sent cakes to the corporate offices, and even hired a billboard trick to drive around Hollywood, all to no avail. There had been hopes for some made for TV movies and recently it was rumored that the new head of the WB wanted to revive ANGEL for Season Six. But star David Boreanaz and other performers had gone on to other projects, and then came the horrible announcement from Joss Whedon that he was not at present going to work on TV. We can hope that he might change his mind at some point in the future, but I, for one, am profoundly grateful for the two remarkable shows that he gave us. Unlike THE X-FILES, which while brilliant was never able to present a coherent or intelligible narrative about the world it was attempting to narrate, BUFFY and ANGEL gave us not only a tremendous set of characters and a great series of narratives, but a world mythology that was rounded, complete, and convincing. Joss Whedon and his associates raised the bar of what could be done in the medium of television, and as we see new shows like LOST attempting to work along the same paths, we will hopefully continue to benefit in the future from his great vision that started with a petite blonde vampire slayer and ended with a rumble in an alley.

When the fifth season of Angel premired on the WB unbelivible things where happening and continued the happen all the way up until the final episode. Although viewership had gone down in season 4, and the rating for Angel's fifth season where the highest the show ever saw (and it was up against the breakout show of the year "the oc").

But in Febuary on 2004, despite all the high ratins, the WB announced teh cancellation of the show. For Three months following thousands of fans protested the cancellation and tried all they could to get the show to continue. Unfortunatly, there efforts didn't realize any results beyond the small promise of TV movies (which have been looking less and less likely).

But getting back to the fifth season, the story continues about 22 days after the events in the season 4 finale (and about 19 days after the events in the buffy the vampire series finale) and finds the gang working at wolfram & heart trying to figure out how they can use their new toy to help the helpless, but then Angel gets an unexpected packing containing an old friend (or enemy depending on how to look at it).

Despire loosing one of their strongest assets (Charisma Charpenter, who reprises her role of Cordelia Chase in episode 100 for Cordy's last Hurah) the fifth season is a pretty strong season, and one of the best in the buffyverse. Coming off the heels of the cancellation of Buffy, their was alot of pressure on Angel to continue the Buffyverse, which it did perfectly. The season was made up of many "stand-alone" episodes which suddely started an overlaping arc (which was to continue into season 6) and also dropping hints as the the whereabout of are favorite scoobies.

The one complant many fans seem to have is how the last 3 episodes of the show seemed rushed, which they do. Whedon and company basically had to put a season's worth of episodes in the space of 3 episodes to end the series, which under the circumstances they pulled of well.

Wheither you enjoyed the final season of angel, or if you didn't this will probably be the last Buffyverse DVD we see in a LONG time. Special Features are suppose to include:

- Commentary on "Conviction" by JOss Whedon
- Commentary on "Destiny" by Skip Schoolink, David Fury, Steven S. DeKnight, and Juliet Landau
- Commentary on "Soul Purpose" by David Boreanaz, Brent Fletcher, and Christian Kane
- Commnetary on "Your Welcome" by David Fury, Christian Kane, and Sara Thompson
- Commentary on "A Hole in the World" by Joss Whedon, Amy Acker, and Alexis Densiof
- Commentary on "Underneath" by Skip Schoolink, Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Finn, and Adam Baldwin
- Commentary on "Not Fade Away" by Jeffry Bell
- "Hey Kids! It's Smile Time" Featurette
- "Angel 100" Featurette
- "Angel: Choregraphy of a Stunt!" Featurette
- "Angel: The Final Season" Featurette
- "To Live and Die in LA: The Best of Angel"
- "Halos and Horns: Recurring Villianry"
- "Angel Unbound: The Gag ReelS"

Despite a massive 'Save Angel' campaign which was mounted by fans (such as myself) and a quick retooling of the series (to get it out of soap), Angel was canceled after five glorious seasons. I was sad, but also recognize I got an awesome last season.

It's taken some heat from other people, but I honestly liked Smile Time just because the idea of the 'brooder' as a Muppet character was irresistibly hilarious. If the writers hadn't done overkill with story arcs in earlier seasons (and the series had more confirmed time) a couple of episodes of Angel as a puppet would have been hilarious. Plus, in classic Whedon format, they could have extended the critique of children's television as evil by having Angel beat an insipid dinosaur (you know who I am talking about). The only really bad thing about the episode is the tie-in doll is unbelievably expensive (at least as much as this DVD.

I also liked the ending precisely because it reminded the viewers that everything in the world CANNOT be wrapped up in a cute little package. Life is tough because it has all of those loose ends which are never going to be together no matter how hard we try. Showing Angel's ultimate emotional-intellectual growth, it also is a good message for us at home.

Maybe there will be Angel television movies, maybe not---but this season recovered itself just in time to close with maximum viewer kudos. Because critics were originally skeptical how long this series could actually last before running out of ideas which were separate from BTVS, David Boreanaz and the rest of this cast should be very proud with their work on this series.

The fifth and final season of the outstanding spin-off of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" does not quite bring the show full-circle in the same way that its sister-show does, but it has the courage to stand on its own feet and go out with a bang in one of its strongest seasons. Far from the beginnings of the hopeful smile on the face of Buffy in her season finale, Angel and his (severely depleted gang) go out with a grim and determined air, and the differences in the final scenes cannot be a coincidence: "Buffy" ends on an open highway in the sunshine, "Angel" ends in a rainy alleyway. It underscores one of the crucial differences between the two shows; that for all its tragedy and pathos, "Buffy" was ultimately an upbeat show about the strength of friendship and the victory of goodness. "Angel" was more about the struggle against the encroaching powers of evil, forever hovering at the edges of ordinary life. (And for the record, as much as I love the Buffy finale "Chosen", I found the way that Angel's gang dealt with their final days [each going out to spend the day doing what they love most] far more touching than how the Scooby Gang dealt with *their* last apocalypse [which was finding a convenient partner and having sex]).

This theme was made particularly clear in the finale of Season Four, in which Angel makes a devil's bargain with the rebuilt law-firm of Wolfram and Hart: in return for a new life for his psychologically-damaged son Conner, he would take the dubious position of senior executive of Wolfram and Hart. Having no idea of his reasoning behind taking the deal (having their own memories wiped as well) his team: intellectual Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, street-fighter Charles Gunn, physicist Winifred "Fred" Burkle and aura-reading demon Lorne, hesitantly join him in the institute that has been his main antagonist for the previous four seasons.

That there is a deeper plan going on is certainly apparent - why else would the most evil company on earth sign on their sworn enemies as employees? With the absence of his best friend and seeress Cordelia Chase (in a coma since the previous season) Angel flounders in murky waters, unsure of where his allegiances lie. Clear messages from Buffy and the Scooby Gang indicating that they no longer trust him hardly help - and there's another unexpected spanner in the works. Spike (last seen being incinerated at the bottom of the Hellmouth) is unexpectedly resurrected as a ghost that cannot leave the Wolfram and Hart building. How? Why? There is clearly someone pulling the strings behind all of this, someone who's eventual appearance will send long-term fans into a frenzy of delight.

The creators of the show knew that Season Five was the end for "Angel", and so do everything in their power to make this a memorable final season. There are plenty of moments that can be described as nothing short of epic; returns from past characters, deaths of major characters, new heights of impressiveness in special effects and fight scenes, dark internal paths that are walked by our regulars, and the sense of something building - something that everyone's combined forces cannot hope to overcome.

There are so many *good* things that happen this season: all the treachery and plots that go on at Wolfram and Hart, the return of several familiar faces, such as Lindsay MacDonald (not seen since Season Two), Andrew from the Scooby Gang, Harmony Kendell as Angel's secretary (who had a great run in the franchise considering her character was introduced way back in Season One of "Buffy!") and even Anne, whose popped up both here and in "Buffy." Conner returns and is miraculously not-annoying, Cordelia returns to say her goodbyes, and there are plenty of new and fun characters such as the enigmatic Eve, brutal-but-charming Marcus Hamilton, and love-interest Nina Ash.

That's not to mention flashbacks that explore the tense relationship between Angel and Spike (including revisits from Darla and Drusilla), further exploration into the Sanshui Prophesy, the emergence of an ancient demon, the betrayal of a semi-trusted collegue...oh, and Angel gets turned into a puppet. Watching Angel-Puppet morph into vampire, take on Spike, dive behind desks, get mauled by a werewolf ("Is there a Geppetto in the house?!") and fight foul-mouthed, alcoholic muppets is surely the most hilarious hour of television ever. So much gets cramped into twenty-two episodes, and yet it never feels rushed or jumbled. Just writing all this great stuff down makes me want to go and watch it all again.

However, one thing does annoy me: I have been frustrated throughout the forth and fifth seasons of the show as to Angel's romantic attachments and loyalties. In this season alone he is linked with three love interests: Buffy, Cordelia and a werewolf named Nina. Expressing deep affection toward all three females, it would have been an interesting situation to see how he'd deal if all three ended up in the same room with him! It's hard to feel that he's being sincere to any of them when he's speaking of love to whoever's with him at that particular moment. I always felt it was a bad idea to link Angel and Cordelia romantically together, and although we get a kiss that brings Doyle's visions full-circle (nice continuity there, as well as tribute to the three original members of the team) it is difficult to understand Angel's heart when a few episodes after Cordelia's return he's chasing after Buffy in Rome and sleeping with Nina in his penthouse. Of course, we all *know* that Buffy/Angel has always been the central romance to the franchise, but it's frustrating to see him (or rather, the writers) play with his heart at random.

Although the ending tears one's heart out, and we're struck by the unfairness that there wasn't a sixth season that could have wrapped the show up to completion, it is a fitting end to the vampire-with-a-soul; an individual who was desperate to make amends for his past sins, and eventually comes to the realization throughout eight seasons of television (if you count his time on "Buffy", which I do) that he never could. But does this make him stop fighting the good fight regardless? No, the final words we hear him speak are: "let's get to work". Like Buffy, his journey is only just beginning. What a great, great show.

Angel Season 5 is one of the most interesting seasons in television history. Not merely because of the content of the episodes, but also because of the intense marketing done by Angel's fanbase in order to keep the WB from in essence canceling one of its highest rated shows. The ratings for Angel season 4 were lower than the WB anticipated, so when Buffy ended, the WB was quick to snatch up Buffy's largest talent, Spike, for what became Angel's 5th and last season. By the second half of the season, the WB announced that Angel's contract would not be renewed, much to the horror of the 5+ million Angel viewers each week, so what did we do? We fought the damn network, bought billboard truck to save our show, had thousands of signatures, and failed anyway!

Nonetheless, the remarkable competence of Angel's cast and writers shone through during season 5 even more than they had during the epic season 4. Angel's fifth season picks up with the gang newly taking over the "evil" lawfirm Wolfram and Hart in order to do right by the world and the powers that be. It is here that Angel receives a mysterious package containing an amulet that when released sets free the presumably dead Spike! The reason for Angel season 5's success rests largely on the history surrounding Angel and Spike, the only two vampires to have ever regained their soul, enabling them to have a conscious about their actions and the evil caused by vampire kind. There are many stand-alone episodes that cover both Spike and Angel's old and new relationships, as well as episodes that contain a substantial amount of plot that is necessary for the ongoing connectedness of the entire season. While season 5's episodes do not tie together in the same manner as season 4 (with a breathless cliffhanger at the end of nearly every episode) the plot involving the apocalypse and a mysterious hooded sect (I won't give away more about them because I don't want to ruin the season for non-viewers) is by far one of the more amazing season plots within the Buffy-verse.

Wes's ongoing descent into darkness, along with his intense longing to be saved by Fred's love is an extremely strong part of the show. The transformation that takes place in the resurrection of Illyria is one of the coolest and most intrinsically fascinating things ever to occur on Angel. The writers successfully killed off a character while allowing the actor and the essence of the character to remain on the show from week to week, an amazing feat that I do not believe should be overlooked. Also, the return of Lindsay to the show added suspense and intrigue without even trying. It broke my heart watching Lorne do what he knew he had to in the series finale. Cordelia's goodbye episode is so well written and directed that it breaks my heart every time I rewatch it. I was skeptical about Angel Season 5 without Cordy, but once again, the cast and writers pulled off Charisma's exit magnificently well.

The final episode of the season was a very defining moment in TV history in my opinion. The show went out with a bang that left longtime viewers and new viewers grasping unsuccessfully for more. While season 6 lives on on the internet, it's a pity that the WB did not have enough respect for one of its two largest shows (the other being Smallville) to keep it on the air. This show was tremendous, and season 5 was what I consider the best season of the series. This DVD is highly recommended for all fans of television young and old, fan and not-fan, because Angel Season 5 was intensely good.

A person I know told me that Angel Season 5 wasn't worth watching. I took a chance and all week I have been giving thanks that I didn't listen to him. I think this is the best season of the series. Fred and Wesley's dieing sceens in both "A Hole in the World" and the last episode were some of the best that I have ever seen done on film or TV. Charisma Carpenter was at her best in "You're Welcome." "Harm's Way" and "Smile Time" were both a lot of fun. Those are my favorites but the whole season was very good with a lot of good acting on the actors' part coupled with good stories and directing. My only regret is that since I don't have regular TV I have to wait for the DVD's to come out so I am way behind everyone else in watching and thus miss out on the message boards for the shows but I have not regreted buying all of the Angel and Buffy DVD's. The commentaries and featurettes have been informative and entertaining. As I said I am so glad that I wasn't talked out of buying it and would whole heartedly recommend this DVD set to anyone who asked me.

These releases of ANGEL in new thinpak editions is very welcome. I own a large number of television shows on DVD, but the original packaging for ANGEL was definitely among the worse. Almost all of the discs in all five sets have a tendency to pop of the packaging, resulting in loose discs and in a couple of cases some scratching. These new thinpak versions should take care of all the problems. But not only are these being released in superior packaging; they are bargained priced as well.

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately with Season Five of ANGEL we saw not only the end of one of the great series that TV has produced, but the end of Joss Whedon's Slayerverse. With Whedon's recent announcement that he was closing Mutant Enemy's offices and that he does not intend to do another television show in the foreseeable future, this truly is the end of an era. At least we have 144 episodes of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and 110 episodes of ANGEL to remember these remarkable artistic creations by. And meanwhile we can all hope that Joss will reconsider and decide that he does have another set of stories to tell.

After very nearly getting cancelled at the end of Season Four, the WB renewed ANGEL with the understanding that the show would try to move more towards a format where each episode stood alone (though they did manage to sneak in some great storylines along the way) as well as bringing James Marster's Spike over from BUFFY to try and bring some of that audience over. Artistically, Season Five is a huge rebound from the disappointing Season Four, with a large number of stunning individual episodes, a number of shocking plot developments, and some powerful storylines. I never did feel completely at ease with Angel and Co. taking over the running of the evil law firm of hell, Wolfram and Hart, but despite that they managed to do some amazing things. One reason I didn't like the Wolfram and Hart connection was the presence of the specially treated pane glass windows, which allowed vampires Angel, Spike, and Harmony to bask in sunlight without fear of combustion. But ANGEL was metaphorically always about being in the shadows, and I felt that visually the show didn't work as well in the light. But this was one of my only complaints with the season. The other was that some of the characters didn't receive quite the attention that they deserved. Even Angel moved somewhat out of the center at the beginning of the season, as Spike was brought in and established as a central character, though by mid-season he clearly was once again the star of the show. Wesley, who I always found to be the most interesting character on the show, was far less crucial to the plot for most of the season. Gunn for the most part was relegated to bit parts, while Lorne had almost no role to play at all. On the other hand, Fred became far more important, of which more in a second. Harmony, always a secondary character on BUFFY, became a permanent cast member and managed to inject some comic relief as Angel's secretary, though they didn't have time to blend her fully into the mix. After the initial jar of seeing Spike in L.A. rather than Sunnydale, he managed to become a great addition to the show, and one of the great regrets of the failure of ANGEL to get renewed for Season Six was the wonderful team that he and ANGEL made by season's end.

The season saw a great number of remarkable individual episodes. One of my favorites was "Lineage," where Wesley managed to confront his father (or what passes for his father) in what is one of the most stunning scenes in the five seasons of the show. "Smile Time," written by TICK creator Ben Edlund, was arguably the funniest show in the history of the series, when Angel is transformed magically into a two-foot tall felt puppet. His assault of Spike when the latter makes fun of him and their ensuing fight is one of the great absurd moments I've ever seen on TV. I also enjoyed the episodes that dealt with the demise of Fred and the ascendance and development of Illyria.

Just over halfway through the season, fans of the show were shocked beyond comprehension when one of the major and most popular characters, Fred, the geeky but beautiful scientist whom Angel had rescued from another dimension, died, her body being taken over by a powerful ancient demon Illyria. Although fans were initially angered by her demise, most quickly came to be fascinated by the demon who took over her body, and her bizarre relationship with Wesley, Fred's erstwhile lover, who hesitatingly helped her to live in a world she found completely alien. We know from Jeff Bell, ANGEL's executive producer, that in Season Six they planned to have the apparently dead Fred resurrected by Willow from BUFFY, who was to appear as a guest star. In Season Five we learn that there are remnants of Fred in Illyria, and Fred was apparently going to retrieve Fred, while leaving Illyria alive, allowing Amy Acker to play a double role. The possibilities in that would have been remarkable. For instance, Illyria retained many of Fred's memories, including the fact that she loved Wesley. Illyria had achieved a strange attraction of her own to Wesley, and one can only imagine how she would have responded to seeing Fred and Wesley together. Illyria's attachment to Wesley led to perhaps the most moving moment of the entire season, when Illyria, who could manage an absolutely perfect impersonation of Fred when she needed to, asked a dying Wesley if she wanted her to "lie" to him (i.e., pretend to be Fred). After he says, with a smile on his face, yes, she tries to comfort him by telling him that he is going to be with her very shortly. Immediately after he dies, the sorcerer who killed Wesley, regaining consciousness but not realizing that he was talking to a powerful demon and not a "little girl," tells her to take her best shot at him. She does, and in the season's best visual image, the "little girl" spins, throwing a fist at the sorcerer's head, transforming from human to her demon form as she throws a punch at his head, completely shattering his skull (something a mere human was not capable of doing).

The show ended with an utterly remarkably episode entitled "Not Fade Away" (which references great the Buddy Holly song later covered by both the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead). The controversial but to me very beautiful and appropriate ending expressed everything that the show was about. Ultimately, the series was about a man (or vampire) who had more to repent of than he would ever find forgiveness for. He had, therefore, more or less devoted his entire existence to the process of atonement, which the show finally interrupts as an ongoing struggle and not a mere event. As Angel, Illyria, Spike, and a severely injured Gunn rendezvous in an alley in the midst of a heavy downpour, they find themselves being approached by a huge group of demons, including a towering giant and a dragon. The odds look (and possibly are) impossible, but after saying that he wants to slay the dragon, Angel says to the remnants of his team, "Let's get to work." And with those words the episode and the series abruptly ends. I can't imagine a more perfect end. (April 2005 addition: In a new interview, Amy Acker says that Joss Whedon told her that Illyria at least would have survived the fight.)

The WB announced the cancellation ANGEL immediately after their 100th episode. What followed was the most extraordinary campaign to save a show in television history. Fans undertook a large food drive in the show's name, organized blood drives, mailed tens of thousands of post cards, sent cakes to the corporate offices, and even hired a billboard trick to drive around Hollywood, all to no avail. There had been hopes for some made for TV movies and recently it was rumored that the new head of the WB wanted to revive ANGEL for Season Six. But star David Boreanaz and other performers had gone on to other projects, and then came the horrible announcement from Joss Whedon that he was not at present going to work on TV. We can hope that he might change his mind at some point in the future, but I, for one, am profoundly grateful for the two remarkable shows that he gave us. Unlike THE X-FILES, which while brilliant was never able to present a coherent or intelligible narrative about the world it was attempting to narrate, BUFFY and ANGEL gave us not only a tremendous set of characters and a great series of narratives, but a world mythology that was rounded, complete, and convincing. Joss Whedon and his associates raised the bar of what could be done in the medium of television, and as we see new shows like LOST attempting to work along the same paths, we will hopefully continue to benefit in the future from his great vision that started with a petite blonde vampire slayer and ended with a rumble in an alley.

All right, I may have to duck behind something and hide because Whedon fans don't like it when their shows are critisized but here goes anyway:

Yes, Angel season 5 is by a wide-margin my least favorite season of the series. Just thought I'd get the most negative statement of the review out of the way.

At the end of Angel season 4, Cordelia had been left in a coma. Angel had made a deal with Wolfram & Hart to take over their Los Angeles branch provided his son Connor was given new memories and a happy home that he himself could never provide. Season 5 finds the Fang Gang uneasy in their new offices. As they are beginning to adjust, Spike appears out of nowhere in ghost-like form to haunt and annoy Angel.

Most of the people I've heard say they dislike Angel season 5 tend to think Spike is the problem with this season. That may be true for some fans who were never big Buffy viewers, but the addition didn't bother me. I was always a bigger Buffy fan than an Angel fan and Spike was a big part of that show. Nor was it the lack of Cordelia that irked me. I'd loved her in season one and two but the whole Angel loves Cordelia storyline, followed by the evil Cordy story had kind of killed the character for me.

I think for me the show was just starting to run out of steam. There are certainly many people who will disagree with that statement, but hear me out at least. I think the reason people think the show could have carried on for a few more years is because the final storyline is a particularly good one and the last episode is great (definitely a lot better than Buffy's). But all of the really good things about this season came after it was cancelled and things had to be wrapped up. The first half of this season is (for the most part) quite mediocre. Up until season 5, Angel had only had one really bad episode in my opinion (season one's "She"), although many of the individual Cordelia/Connor scenes in season 4 had been a little hard to swallow. In early season 5, I sat through three episodes in a row that were all pretty bad ("Hellbound", which I struggled to stay awake during, "Life of the Party" which is basically a less funny remake of Buffy's "Something Blue", and "Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco" which spent a lot of time concentrating on an unimportant/uninteresting character). To be fair, those were followed by "Lineage" which was fantastic. For much of the first half of season 5, the rest of the Fang Gang aren't given much to do, but for this one episode, Angel actually felt like Angel again. "Soul Purpose" was also a lackluster episode, though not to the same extent. Tom Lenk's guest appearence in "Damages" was somewhat awkward. I liked Andrew on Buffy, but that's one character that really just didn't seem to fit the tone on Angel.

Now that we're through with the unpleasant complaining, let's get to the good part of Angel season 5. As the show began to build up to the end, Joss Whedon got back to business. Fred is killed off in a heartbreaking episode, to be inhabited by the powerful Illyria. Wes is sent back to his dark place, and is in no mood to be forgiving when he discovers Gunn had a role in Fred's demise. Meanwhile, Angel seems to be going to a darker and darker place.

Anyway, I must say that I do like this series and parts of this season. I just feel that Angel peaked in season 2 and never got to be that good again. I was upset like everyone else when it got cancelled, but that seems to have been a blessing in disguise. It allowed Joss to really move things along in the latter half of season 5 and let the show end on a high note. People like to say it could have gone on several more seasons, but I feel like it would have done so in a diminished capacity. Buffy season 5 was (in my opinion) far stronger than Angel season 5 and Buffy definitely went downhill by staying on the air for two more seasons (although it was never terrible). Overall, I think five seasons is a pretty good run. Certainly the loss of Firefly is a greater tragedy. I would recommend this set to fans of the series, although I would warn them that the rest of the series is quite a bit better.

I have never been a superstitious person, but Friday February 13, 2004 was one of the unluckiest days in the lives of many people. On that day, executives at The WB sent a memo to the cast and crew of Angel. At that time, Angel's ratings were climbing ever higher (I think they were at an all-time high), many new fans were tuning in every week (myself included), and Angel was the #2 show on The WB in its demographics group (Smallville was #1, and it was actually losing ratings). The memo stated that Angel's fifth season would be its last and they had the rest of the season to wrap things up.
I'll come back to that later. Angel's fifth year picks up about 20 days after the events in Home, the Season 4 finale. Angel (David Boreanaz) and his friends had been given control of the LA division of Wolfram and Hart, free to do whatever they wanted with it. As we already knew from last year, Angel became CEO, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) became the head of the research department, Fred Burkle (Amy Acker) became the head of the science division, Lorne (Andy Hallet) was put in charge of the entertainment department, and Connor (Vincent Kartheiser), Angel's son, had his memories erased and was placed in a loving family. This year, we finally learn what happened to Gunn (J. August Richards); he underwent a procedure to artificially place an extensive knowledge of the law into his brain, so now we have Gunn the lawyer, which is an interesting turn for the character. But just as the crew begins to get settled into their new jobs, an unexpected curveball is thrown their way. Spike (James Marsters), the other vampire with a soul, is (mostly) ressurected after his heroic death in the Hellmouth last year. The amulet that he used to destroy the First's vampire army held on to his essence, and it was annonymously mailed to Angel. When he opened the package, Spike emerged as a ghost.
So for the first 1/3 of the season, Spike is incorporeal, and he takes out his frustration by annoying Angel and wooing Fred. Its mostly pretty funny, but after a while, the whole ghost routine gets a little tiresome. His body is finally returned to him in the 8th episode, and there was much rejoicing.
Meanwhile, Angel is dealing with feelings of doubt about taking the job at W&H, due to all the gray areas they run into on the job. For example, many of their clients are demons and/or sorcerors who, if displeased by Angel and co., can unleash some pretty powerful forces upon LA. So in order to save the city, Angel is forced to help out his scumbag clientele.
For about the first 7 episodes, there isn't much of a story arc (or so we think). One of the reasons is that The WB execs further meddled with the show; they told Joss that, unlike the serialized 4th Season, they wanted year 5 to be more episodic so they could attract new fans. I'll give them this- it worked. As I said earlier, ratings for Angel soared this year. However, while the first few episodes were very good, one of the things fans like about shows like Angel and Buffy is the grand story arcs. In episode 8, the episode where Spike becomes corporeal again, things really start to pick up. Angel begins to worry that he might not be the vampire that the Shanshu prophecy mentioned, Spike finally beats Angel in a fight, and an old adversary resurfaces. After that, things continue to spiral downward for Angel and his friends. A man who calls himself Doyle and claims he gets visions fromt the Powers That Be tries to get Spike to become a hero for the masses and counteract the evil Wolfram and Hart led by Angel, Cordelia (Charisma Carpentar), after falling into a mystical coma last year, regains consciousness in a world she barely recognizes, Angel is haunted by dreams where Spike becomes a great hero while he is forced to become a recluse, and worst of all, Fred is killed by the demon spirit Illyria who then proceeds to take over Fred's body.
Despite the episodic focus this year, a lot happened, and most of it was very enjoyable to watch. The whole Angel/Spike relationship was a riot, as well as a little inspiring as they put aside their differences in order to become powerful allies for the forces of good. The new character of Illyria was very interesting as well as comical in her own way, and yet the loss of Fred will reverberate through fans hearts forever. Still, as sad as I was to see Fred go, Illyria was a breath of fresh air. Gunn's overall arc was completed this year. He started out as a future-less street punk, became a force for good, achieved greatness through his new intelligence, committed a serious offense through it (accidentally of course), and, like a true hero, sought redemption. Wesley's further descent into madness and depression was both sad and intruiging. He probably has had the most dramatic character arc I have ever seen. The nerdy watcher from Buffy is long gone. By the end of this season, he can barely stand to be in this world any more. Finally, the reemergence of Angel's old nemesis was a very welcome twist. Their new relationship, which grew through the mutual hatred of W&H, was an interesting turn. The appearance of Andrew in a few episodes was priceless. The only thing that got me a little angry was that they had Buffy two episodes, but Sarah Michelle Gellar wouldn't guest on the show, so we only saw her from behind, and her minimal dialogue was recycled lines from old episodes. Oh well. This year's arc was ingenius; the lack of an arc WAS the arc. Yes, it sounds confusing, but by the end, Angel realized that, by sitting around and accepting the world as it was, he is no longer the hero he used to be. Solution: seek more redemption!
This is probably my favorite season, but it is a very close call. So many of the episodes were great this year. This season had the series' funniest episode Smile Time, where Angel turned into a little puppet! It also had an episode called Life of the Party, which was funny, but it was kind of a copy of the Buffy episode Something Blue. The season's very best episodes (they were all good, so here are the best of the best): Conviction, Hellbound, Lineage, Destiny, Soul Purpose, Damage, You're Welcome (100th episode!), Smile Time, A Hole In the World, Shells, Underneath, Origin, The Girl In Question, Power Play, and Not Fade Away.
The extras for the set are, for the most part, really good. There was a featurette with Joss talking about his favorite episodes. It was similar to the one on the Buffy Season 7 set, except instead of listing his Top 10 episodes, Joss talked about his favorite episodes from each season. He only went through Season 4, though, but I think that the Season Overview listed his favorite episodes from this year. Most of the other featurettes were entertaining enough. Finally, I've watched most of the commentaries, and they have been pretty good for the most part. The two best in my opinion were the ones for Conviction and A Hole In The World, both of which had Joss Whedon. One of my favorite lines was from the Conviction track; they started the year thinking that this would be their last season, and by the time they actually got cancelled, they had come to believe that they WOULD get a sixth season. However, I must say that I was extremely disappointed by the commentary for Not Fade Away, the series finale. Buffy's series finale, Chosen, got an awesome commentary track from Joss; it was informative about the story and had great little anecdotes. This commentary was from another Mutant Enemy crew member, who focused on production aspects rather than the story. Those are all well and good for most episodes, but for such an important story, we want to hear about the backstory to the writing, abandoned ideas, and possibly even what they were planning if there had been a Season 6. Also, the little jokes and anecdotes he made were pretty stupid, as if he were trying to hard to be Joss. But overall, the extras were good.
Here is what I have to say about Not Fade Away: the reaction to this episode is a little polarized. A lot of fans liked it, while others didn't due to the way it ended the series. Personally, I thought it was a great episode. However, it did not end the series the way I would have wanted it to. WARNING, SPOILER. I think that a show like Angel deserves closure, and this episode did not give it. My theory is that Joss Whedon was angry with The WB (and he had every right to be) for cancelling his show when it was doing so well, and he knew that fans would direct their anger at the TV station and not him. Also, this leaves the door open for future Angel stuff.
As of right now, things are looking very ironic. Joss Whedon is working on Serenity and some X-Men comics, and most of the cast and crew have gotten jobs elsewhere, and, while they miss doing Angel, they are content where they are. The WB is a different story. They are feeling a lot of pain due to the loss of Angel. A lot of fans decided to boycott the network due to the cancellation of the show, and a lot of their new programming is not earning high ratings. They want Joss to come back to do some Angel spin-off movies (or ressurect the show), but right now, it doesn't seem very possible.
So current events aside, this is definitely a must for any Whedon fan's collection. This is my favorite season of Angel, and it was also many others' as well. Also, if you've never seen the show before, you should definitely check it out, but you might want to start at the beginning. Enjoy the show, and hope for a return of the Vampire with a Soul someday.