Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vs. Angel: Which Show Is Better?
8. Worldbuilding
One of the many fantastic things about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel is how they're set in the same world, but use their worldbuilding in vastly different ways.
Buffy, not nearly as dark (save for its controversial sixth year) as Angel, is the most grounded of the two shows, using its fantasy setting and supernatural mythology as a backdrop to Buffy and her friends high school and college drama. There are plenty of hell dimensions and godly villains, but the series is ultimately very real-world.
The same cannot be said of Angel, which, thanks to its undead protagonist and more open reliance on the complexities of the world he inhabits, features more parallel dimensions, eye-opening flashbacks, demons, and deep insight into what makes everything tick in the underworld and beyond.
Buffy is rich with character detail and its Sunnydale setting is generously explored, but Angel is a much more exploratory series, and its worldbuilding is therefore leaps and bounds ahead of the show that gave it life.
Winner: Angel.