10 Best Angel Episodes

Building on Soulless' success, Calvary turned up the pressure as Angelus' manipulations continued. It was chilling to watch him goad Gunn into torture, which was followed by a more subtle act of cruelty when he revealed Wesley's relationship with Lilah to Fred, poisoning Wesley's hopes in the process.

However, it was Calvary's jaw-dropping ending that enabled it to (just) surpass its predecessor. The revelation that the spell to restore Angel’s soul had failed was one of the show's most intense moments, as Angelus savagely attacked Cordelia and escaped his cage. The intensity only mounted when he returned to the Hyperion to murder the team, hunting Lilah through the building in a terrifying sequence that came to a riveting climax when she was murdered by a possessed Cordelia, who revealed that she’d released Angelus deliberately.

Lilah had been one of the show's most complex, interesting characters, and her sudden death was a game-changing shock that placed Calvary among Angel's most memorable instalments. The fact that she’d never achieved any kind of redemption, despite the glimpses of her humanity shown during her relationship with Wesley, made her violent end even more tragic.