Touched by an Angel (Angel)

Member Name: edie

Product:	Angel
Date:	10/06/01 (277 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superior spin off show

Disadvantages: None of Xander's one liners

The end of the third series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer saw Buffy 's tortured vamp with a soul boyfriend Angel (David Boreanaz) leave Sunnydale to make a new start. Or in TV land speak to get his own show set in Los Angeles (Yes, the City of Angels). I didn't have great hopes for the spin off show. As Angel has always been a one dimensional character, (he broods, constantly ) I wondered how they'd manage to make a whole show around him.

The answer was surprisingly well. The LA move has been good for Angel. He's replaced the brooding sulks with a new purpose- to redeem for his centuries of evil vampire deeds. He opens a detective agency to "help the helpless", assisted by Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley Wyndham price (Alexis Denisof), also transferred from Buffy. The detective agency easily provides the story material and also gives the show has a cool film noir look in keeping with its urban setting. There's lots of neon-lit night scenes with Angel stalking down mean steers in his uniformly monochrome wardrobe.

The supernatural plots also mine the venal, desperate nature of the L.A setting. (One episode deals with an ageing actress who wants to become an immortal vamp to save her fading career) Big business provides lots of metaphorical material of the "businessmen are the real bloodsuckers" variety. The series chief villains are satanic law firm Wolfram and Hart who provide legal assistance for LA's powerful demons and who have a massive grudge against Angel for foiling so many of their evil plans.

The show is also good eye candy too. It was probably the fight scenes that first attracted me to Buffy and Angel also has some great fights and stunts. I'm sure the budget has been increased as theres's some superior (for TV) special effects. My favourite being where angel throws a vamp out of a window in daylight who bursts into flames before he hits the ground. And the
writers, knowing what Boreanaz's teeny bopper fans want still contrive to have Angel lose his shirt as often as possible- which I generally don't disapprove of!

Angel and BTVS share many vital cross over episodes that really need to be seen in the right order and the 2 shows compliment each other well. If Buffy deals with the problems of high school and college in a small town. Then Angel is the necessary progression, a twentysomething's show about making your own way in the big bad city. Angel's character has also been expanded from his time on Buffy. The final episode of series 1 finds Angel discovering that if he fights enough evil and pays off his karmic debt he can become human again. But the show's main subplot has been Angel learning what human means in the emotional as well as physical sense. So we've seen him laughing at himself, having a conversation, making real friends and unforgettably doing a woeful karaoke rendition of Barry Manilow's Mandy.

In fact all 3 Angel lead characters have to do a penance for their past. Sunnydale's former mega-bitch and spoilt princess Cordelia couldn't go to college with the rest of the gang after her father's tax problems. She now finds being a struggling actress among LA's millions of struggling actresses a humbiling experience. And Wesley, who was an unbearably pompous twit back in Sunnydale, has been sacked by the council for his stunning failure as Faith and Buffy's watcher and is now scraping by as Angels' bookish helper.

To begin with Angel didn't have quite enough characters, something not helped by the death in the first season of Angel's Irish assistant Doyle. But they've gradually rounded out the cast with some great regular's : Gunn, a street smart black kid who runs an anti-vamp gang, Kate, a tightly wound, sceptical cop, who's belief system crumbles when she encounters Angel. And back from the un-dead, Angel
s' vampire love Darla, who's been resurrected by Wolfram and Hart to tempt him over to the dark side. Whilst comic relief is provided by The Host an camp green-skinned demon who can tell people's destiny- but only when they're singing karaoke!

The first series in general whilst still enjoyable, felt a little fuzzy and safe, too obviously a spin-off. But the second series (just finished on Sky, on channel 4 in the autumn) has seen the increasing confidence of the writers and directors. This season has been a more darker ambitious vision, with Angel, prompted by Darla's re-appearance, experiencing a lengthy soul crisis. There's been more flash backs to angel's past (which i always find a bit embarrassing as he's saddled with a terrible Irish accent and even worse 18th century wig.) But they are useful for filling in his backstory.

The third series will be make or break for Angel. With Buffy moving networks to UPN and Angel staying behind at Warner Brothers the spin-off have to stand alone. Unfortunately it's lost its opportunity for supportive cross over episodes and its obvious lead in show. It remains to be seen whether Angel will flounder without the big sister show. Or hopefully the break will enable it to become a fully fledged show in its own right

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