Angel: Every Season Ranked From Worst To Best
Which of this moody Buffy spin-off is the best?
When it was announced that Angel, having left Sunnydale at the end of Season Three of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, would be re-located to Los Angeles with his own show, there was a lot of anticipation.
Where would his story go? What kind of new characters would we meet? How would David Boreanaz fare as the star of the show?
Over the course of five seasons, it's fair to say that Angel had some rough moments to counter the moments of brilliance. What fans got from the spin-off was a much darker and mature show than Buffy ever was, and for the most part this paid off in spades, with broader themes being tackled and more compelling character arcs.
Sometimes, though, it fell flat on its face: too dark, too brooding, trying too hard.
The show introduced us a slew of great characters, with Doyle, Gunn, Lindsey, Lilah and Lorne all proving to be welcome additions to the franchise. Older characters, such as Cordelia, Wesley, Faith, Spike and Angel himself all proved to be arguably greater characters on the show than its predecessor.
And though it sometimes slipped into the over-dramatic and dark, it cannot be denied that Angel was a fantastic show with an awful lot to love.
The following list will have a look at all five seasons of Angel, from the unforgivable to the best of the best. Major spoilers follow, so take caution, but enjoy.
5. Season Four
Without question the lowest Angel ever stooped, Season Four featured a change in studio and less involvement from the master Joss Whedon, and the behind the scenes mash-up saw the show suffer big time.
Sporting a darker tone than ever before and some seriously questionable storylines, the whole season is a never-ending parade of character assassination and poor narrative choices.
Take Connor, for example. Angel's son is the most annoying character in the entire franchise, performed by Vincent Kartheiser with little to no passion or drive.
Because of him, the group dynamic fans had come to love was left in taters. Adding insult to injury, Cordelia - who has one of the franchise's best character arcs - is sidelined, forgotten about, and then completely betrayed with a sub-plot designed, it seems, to alienate the show's long-time fans.
There are some good moments, including Wesley's journey to bring Angel back to the group and the welcome return of both Willow and Faith, but aside from that Season Four is a mostly unforgivable mess with no real cohesion and lacklustre villains.
Ending on a happier note, the episodes "Spin the Bottle" (from Joss Whedon, marking his only involvement in Season Four) and the season finale "Home" are both solid, offering up some shenanigans reminiscent of the show's earlier run. It's just a shame the rest of the episodes failed to keep up with them.