Angel: Season Five Essay

Season Five: Saving the Best for LastAngel, always good, hit a creative high in its final season. The cast was seasoned, the writers were outstanding and knew what they were doing, and the addition of popular character Spike (James Marsters) from Buffy was the icing on the cake.There were so many outstanding episodes in season five that I ran out of superlatives. "Lineage" blew us away as

Angel: Not Fade Away

Angel: "This may come out a little pretentious, but one of you will betray me."Spike: "Can I deny you three times?"I know Joss Whedon loves to break our hearts, but this is ridiculous.The title refers to the old quotation, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." This should have been my first clue that Everybody Was Going to Freaking Die. I expected death; last week's preview said

Angel: Power Play

Lorne: "It's like Angel suddenly started channeling Leona Helmsley."Sacrificing Fred... schmoozing with Marcus Hamilton... agreeing to Senator Bruckner's evil plan... the Fell and the baby sacrifice... even with all that, I knew immediately that Angel hadn't gone evil when he sent Nina and her family away instead of eating her. Dan figured it out even sooner than that.Of course Angel is

Angel: The Girl in Question

Spike: "How do you say 'wank off' in Italian?"I laughed out loud through most of this one, but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth.Every scene with Angel and Spike just sparkled for me. The opening scenes in the office and the plane were great; the best was the two of them comparing notes on how many times they've each saved the world. But I didn't like the thought of Buffy, or perhaps

Angel: Time Bomb

Spike: "I'm thinking that she cracked her engine block, and now she's leaking petrol all over the building."Pinch me. Did Angel actually save Spike's un-life? How far they've come from the beginning of the season. When Illyria staked Spike the first time through, I was so shocked that I almost didn't register what happened.The time travel loop was interesting, but the first time through, I

Angel: Origin

Connor: "I went a little hard core there for a second. That guy made me really cranky."When Connor was so beautifully written out of the show, several good-sized loose ends remained: (1) the possibility that Connor still had powers; (2) whether or not he would eventually remember who he was; and (3) the unfulfilled prophecy that Connor would kill Sahjhan. This episode took all of those

Angel: Underneath

Fred: "This is only the first layer. Don't you want to see how deep I go?"Tonight's theme was what's underneath, hence the title: layers, scratching the surface, painting on happy faces, digging beneath... even the hell metaphor chewy center scene with Zack. (I kept thinking, "From beneath you it devours.")Yes, we already knew that running Wolfram & Hart was selling out, but wow, we really

Angel: Shells

Angel: "Death doesn't have to be the end. Not in our world."I found "Shells" to be... well, hollow.Although it would appear to be about Illyria, this episode was more about Wes. He was on the verge of attaining true happiness, and he's lost everything; he's been emotionally hollowed out. His rage and despair alternated throughout with an almost inhuman calm as he stabbed Gunn, his former

Angel: A Hole in the World

Fred: "Cavemen win. Of course the cavemen win."Fred again a reluctant damsel in distress, her men all around her sickbed, Angel saying meaningfully, "Winifred Burkle," Wesley actually shooting that guy in the leg ... all very touching. Whedon's moving script and the sheer Buffy-ness of the dialogue were all quite satisfying. But to be honest, I can't help but feel manipulated; this is

Angel: Smile Time

Nina: "Are you okay?"Angel: "I'm made of felt. Ad by doze cubs off."Unique, and absolutely hilarious.The hair, the brows, the deep-set eyes, the frown, the broodiness -- the Angel-puppet was perfect. Angel and his puppet even have the same two expressions. And the puppet's interactions with the human cast were all done so well: wrestling with Spike ("You're a wee little puppet man!"),

Angel: Why We Fight

Spike: "Don't ever go to a 'free virgin blood' party. Turns out it's probably a trap."I assumed that World War II, Nazis, submarines, and vampires wouldn't mix. Wrong. This episode was a hoot and a half. Nazis experimenting on vampires? The United States launching a Demon Research Initiative (operative word, "initiative"), which must have been the forerunner of Riley's outfit in "Buffy"

Angel: You're Welcome

Cordelia: "I'm just on a different road. And this is my off-ramp."It was wonderful seeing the old "I take crap from no one" Cordelia again, the Cordelia we didn't see enough of in seasons three and four. They gave her an outstanding farewell episode, one of the best episodes of the series.There were several hints throughout about what was really happening:(1) The body on the hospital bed. "

Angel: Damage

Andrew: "Check the view screen, Uhura. I got twelve vampire slayers behind me, and not one of them has ever dated you."Lots of good stuff, but there were also beaucoup de possible boo-boos. And I could have done without my favorite character being dismembered.The best part of this episode (for me, anyway) was Angel and Spike finally bonding, especially in that final scene in the hospital room

Angel: Soul Purpose

Lindsey: "Hey, Spike. Get any interesting mail lately?"Despite the fact that it had delusions of "Restless," I really loved this episode. There was a lot going on in it, and it was fascinating. Spike is now helping the helpless, actively pursuing the Shanshu prophecy, taking on Angel's destiny, while Angel speaks longingly of fighting evil as he gets more and more lost in moral shades of

Angel: Harms Way

Harmony: "Ah ha! The smoking thermos!"This one was all about Harmony's point of view, like "Storyteller" was about Andrew's and "The Zeppo" was about Xander's. (Some of the music even reminded me of "The Zeppo.")One of the longest running fringe Buffyverse characters, Harmony hasn't changed much in eight years, even after becoming undead. She's still remarkably shallow and self-centered,

Angel: Destiny

Spike: "It's... Mountain Dew."This episode was absolutely orgasmic. And I'm not talking about the sex scenes, which were both interruptus, anyway.Last week's episode was about fathers and sons... and so was this one. The origin of the current Angel/Spike dysfunctional relationship has been a mystery until now. William, as a human, had no father. As a vampire, he looked up to Angelus and

Angel: Lineage

Fred: "It's like an M.C. Escher picture, but with wires and flesh instead of geese."For the past four years, Wesley has made occasional offhand comments about his father, the man who put the "D" in Dysfunctional. I've often thought that Wesley's father should guest star some day and die a suitably gruesome death at the hands of some skanky demon. I must admit I never expected Wesley to

Angel: The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco

Gunn: "Notice no matter how uptown we go, we always wind up in some stanky hole in the middle of the night?Today's theme is the nature of heroism.This episode reminded me of the way I reacted to "The Zeppo." It was very good, but it was different; I had to think about how to take it. Heroic, dead Mexican wrestlers in masks who helped the helpless? How weird, and how delightful.Angel isn't

Angel: Life of the Party

Lorne: "Here's the snafu in a nutshell, Top Cat."Let me be the first to say that an ongoing Angel/Spike nudity competition would be absolutely fine with me.Halloween, lots of Lorne, a silly party, sex and violence, gratuitous vampire nudity... what's not to love? It's hard to beat an episode where Wesley and Fred get drunk, Angel has sex, Gunn pees on the furniture, and Lorne hulks out. I

Angel: Hell Bound

Spike: "Vampire ghost here, you sod. I bloody well invented 'afraid of the dark.'"Tonight's presentation contains graphic and disturbing violent images like chopped off fingers, and partial nudity in the form of naked Spike. Viewer discretion advised.What can frighten a vampire ghost? The answer is: helplessness, pain, and dismemberment; we were clearly led to believe that Pavayne was going