Category: Angel Season 1

This is the equivalent of Buffy’s The Gift for me. An episode I loved as a child, but began to see for what it was the older I got. Yes it’s importat, and epic I guess? But it lacks soul, complexity and fun. I would rather re-watch a filler episode over it. Production-wise, it’s also quite bad. Some bad acting and cheesy dialogue but it picks up after Cordy and Wesley wind up in the hospital. The episode just didn’t age well for me or hit the right spots, but I feel obligated to appreciate it by default for the introduction of the shanshu prophecy, character development for Cordy and of course the reanimation of Darla.

A solid episode, just isn’t one you’d randomly watch for entertainment or a good sob fest. It’s very generic, but relevant to the overall storyline and accomplished what it set out to do. It’s the first one to focus on the inner dynamics of Wolfram & Hart. The power struggles between Lindsey, Lee and Lilah and their moral standings. The episode gave the company and characters a more humane face, although they’re pretty evil there is a level of understanding of why they do the things they do (not just power, but also to balance out the good vs evil and help the world work the day it does). The interactions between Lindsey and Angel were great, there’s much more of that chemistry to come next season and it makes me wonder how important Lindsey’s character was originally meant to be. In the end though, Lindsey sells his soul for his own office which sets up the tone for the next episode (with the shanshu prophecy being found and all).

One of my least favorite episodes and it really shouldn’t have been, it had all the potential: Demon whores, two new characters, a black vampire killer. It should have been awesome! Gunn could’ve been this badass counterpart of Angel, David could have been a hilarious geek Andrew-style, the demon brothel could have been taken further (R-rated), Gunn’s gang could have introduced more recurring characters but instead we got one giant missed opportunity. Writers tried to keep the demon brothel sub story comedic and failed, the Gunn character had little substance and a lot of predictability, his entire gang was lifeless and uninteresting. Because of this episode I was never quite able to get the Gunn character, poor introduction and he never recovered for me. Should’a been more like Blade minus the fangs, or at least more part of the story but he never really brought anything to the table despite being a regular for four seasons.

Often considered as one of the best episodes, but I believe it is only because it has both Faith and Buffy. It basically follows up 5×5 and features the final appearance of Buffy on the show (thank heavens!) and it wasn’t exactly a likeable final appearance. Buffy behaved like a jealous hellhag throughout, even moreso than usual. Her scenes and the council’s are stuff I could do without. To me (and most) it’s obviously all about Faith and how she tried to atone for all the things she’s done, all she ever wanted and needed was one person who went through a similar path to set her straight. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds and it showed in the flashes where she would repeatedly stab Angel, but in the end she decided to pay her debts by giving herself up and go to prison.

There are several Buffy characters that could have worked better as a main character on Angel, and Faith is absolutely on the top of that list. Not only is she a slayer, but a lost soul trying to find her way which is what Angel is all about. So Faith being brought in the mix was great, it allowed Wolfram & Hart to finally make a mark and start their rampage against Angel and it gave a more serious side to Wesley and show that his character wasn’t there to just be a goofy sidekick. 5×5 worked great as a followup to Buffy’s Season 4 arc and allowed the series to get darker and show what it could do (which we hadn’t seen since Doyle’s departure imo). My minor complaint would be the flashbacks, they were important but I just found them more of a distraction.

A very interesting episode, indeed. Certainly better than any other stand alone episode of the first season. Eternity is one of those episodes where the fanbase has very mixed opinions of, some seem to really despise it and i’ve seen people consider it to be the worst episode of the entire series, and then there are people whoa are very passionate about it (Like Joss Whedon who claims it’s his favorite of the first season). Personally, I think it’s great. Very witty throughout and Boreanaz playing Angelus (no matter how it happened) is always a treat, it just comes so naturally to him. The only thing that I never bought was the actress playing Rebecca, she was neither attractive or very good and people were supposed to think she was 24?

The Ring has always been hard one for me to judge, because i’ve always found it’s cliche idea to be pretty cool. The idea of Angel having to go into mortal combat Spartacus-style is something a fanboy like me can’t not enjoy. The problem is that it really is a very pointless stand alone and the only relevant factor was the introduction of my favorite lawyer; Lilah Morgan.The dialogue is mediocre, but the fanboy in me enjoys the episode for what it is.

I think that this could have been one of the big greats, but instead felt rushed and with poor production. The biggest complaint would be the terrible demon design: First the homeless looking ones, then the big ugly demon with the cheesy voice. It ruined the dramatic pacing of the episode. However, for one to feature the return of Darla and the only one to give some background on Liam is hard not to appreciate. Despite it’s faults, I loved the flashbacks. We saw the birth of Angelus and the defeat of his father. It’s an episode with unfulfilled potential, but the good outweighs the bad by a large margin.

An interesting Exorcist twist, that the victim was even more vicious than the demon. Apart from that little twist though, it wasn’t anything special and often overrated by some fans. It’s a fairly decent MOTW with slight character development and a good ending. Not as witty as most.

One of the sole episodes of the series that I plain out disliked. All Supernatural shows have their duds, some of them are horrific due bad writing and others are plain out dull and forgettable. “She” is somewhere in the middle, it isn’t painful to watch but it’s almost entirely forgettable after the first act. There is just nothing to take away from it and the fact that Bai Ling is a terrible actress doesn’t help a bit.