10 Amazing Comeback Seasons That Saved Dying TV Shows

Right, let's get this out in the open: Season Four of Angel was dreadful. It was messy, slow, silly and full of poor characters (Connor) and a constant presence of character assassination. It cannot be forgiven for the way it betrayed Cordelia Chase, nor can it be justified for making Connor both a main character and Cordelia's (eww) love interest.

The only great part of Season Four were the episodes "Spin the Bottle", a classic Buffyverse comedy body-switch scenario, and the finale "Home", which promises a major shake-up for the future of the show. Before and after that, though, it failed both its narrative and its characters and never really picked up steam.

So Season Five admittedly had its work cut out for it. But, boy did it pull off a miracle.

Changing the setting of the show to a law firm (Wolfram and Hart, the Big Bad of the previous seasons) and giving the main group new and compelling roles - Gunn goes from muscle to brains; Wesley goes back to his Watcher roots; Angel becomes the good guy fighting evil from the inside - Angel became fresh, new, daring and intelligent, able to move its characters around with ease and not once betray them.

It also adds to the pot a back-from-the-dead Spike, who steals the show every chance he gets, and a satisfying look at life after the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oh, and it brought us "Smile Time." Enough said.