After the huge success of its parent show Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel took Buffy's brooding vampire boyfriend and moved him to LA. Taking a more grown up and darker tone, it ran for five seasons on The WB network from 1999-2004.

The Premise

After deciding to leave Sunnydale to give Buffy the chance of a normal life and to find some kind of redemption for himself, vampire Angel ups sticks to LA where he decides he is going to brood for a few more centuries until he meets up with Sunnydale alumni Cordelia and half-man/half-demon Doyle and together they start Angel Investigations to help the helpless. They also face the ever-present evil of law firm Wolfram & Hart.

Main Characters

Angel - Brooding vampire with a soul. After leaving his one true love, Buffy, behind in Sunnydale he moves to LA to find redemption and ends up starting his own investigative agency which helps people to deal with the various supernatural forces that plague them. Also manages to father a child with resurrected vampire sire Darla. Likes Barry Manilow.

Cordelia Chase - After leaving Sunnydale to try her hand at acting, Cordelia soon finds herself working alongside Angel at Angel Investigations. After a final kiss from Doyle imparts his gift of seeing visions from the Powers That Be, she becomes the link between them and Angel. After being sent up to the Powers' realm and then coming back from a higher plain, she falls into a coma after ‘giving birth' to goddess Jasmine. Waking up one last time, she sets in motion the events for the final season.

Doyle - Half man/half-demon, Doyle is Angel's link to the Powers That Be and a very reluctant hero. He gives his life up to save Angel's and passes his gift onto Cordelia.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce - Having been Buffy's unsuccessful replacement Watcher, Wesley turns into a rogue demon hunter and soon joins Angel and Cordelia after the death of Doyle. Starting off as a comical figure, Wesley progresses into one of the darker characters of the show. He is ousted from the team when he mistakenly allows Angel's son to be kidnapped, but later rejoins, more bad ass than before. Is in love with Fred.

Charles Gunn - Street living demon hunter who first wants nothing to do with Angel as he is a vampire, but the two soon begin working together and he later joins the team. More brawn than brains, Gunn can always be found in the middle of a fight. He later starts a relationship with Fred that, although is very loving, doesn't end up lasting. When the gang take over Wolfram & Hart, he takes their offer to manipulate his brain to allow him to become a fully fledged lawyer.

Fred Burkle - Joins the gang after being rescued from the demon dimension of Pylea. Starts off being very quirky and anti-social, but becomes the big brains behind the team. After her relationship with Gunn fails she later falls into the arms of Wesley, but their happiness is short lived when her body is taken over by the demon Illyria, who keeps her form but holds hardly any trace of the body and soul she took over.

Conner - Angel's son who is kidnapped as a baby and taken to a hell dimension. When he returns a short time later he is a teenage boy who hates his father. Reluctantly, he begins to work with the team and later sleeps with Cordelia (while possessed by Jasmine) causing Jasmine to take human form. After Jasmine's true form is revealed to the rest of the world, Conner kills her and then attempts to kill Cordelia and himself, but is stopped by Angel who made a deal with Wolfram & Hart that if he took over the firm Conner would have his memory erased and be placed in a normal family able to live a normal life. It is later revealed he knows that Angel is his father and stands with him at the final battle.

Lorne - An empathy demon who can read people while they sing. Firstly, the host of a violence free karaoke bar, he later joins the team when his bar is destroyed. A pacifist by nature, he finds it hard to deal with the violence associated with the work and becomes much happier when the gang take over Wolfram & Hart and he becomes head of their entertainment division.

Spike - Fresh from destroying the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, Spike comes to Angel via an amulet and is first a ghost before Fred manages to get him back into corporeal form. A constant thorn in Angel's side, Spike is the vampire with a soul he used to be and the rivalry between them also keeps raising its head.

Why We Like It

Much like the show that spawned it, Angel had great scripts, action and characters. Made in a more adult tone, it looked more in depth at the evils that not only demons but humans do. Rather just having a big season baddie to contend with each year, Angel and the gang had the constant threat of Wolfram & Hart hanging over its head and made each season blend into the next. Nothing was ever completely wrapped up entirely and actions from previous seasons could sometimes come back to haunt.

Why It Sucks

Having started off strong in its first season, Angel became a bit muddled in the middle but came back strong for its fourth and fifth seasons. Much like its parent show, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, there was the odd filler episode here and there, which never really lived up to the excellence of the rest of the show.

Best Episodes

Smile Time

Angel is turned into a puppet - as funny as it sounds.

Not Fade Away

With everything turning to Hell (literally) the gang spend what could be their last day on Earth.

Hero

Doyle dies to save Angel and passes his gift onto Cordelia. Brave episode as a lead character is killed midway through the first season, proving to the audience what kind of show this would be.

Waiting In The Wings

Angel takes the gang to see the ballet and realises it is the same company he saw over 100 years ago. Watch out for Firefly's Summer Glau as the Prima Ballerina.

Sanctuary

Angel tries to save rogue vampire Slayer Faith from herself, Wesley, the police and Buffy, while having flashbacks of the evils deeds he has committed in the past.

Nuke the Fridge Moment

Evil Cyborgs attack Wolfram & Hart. The point of which ruined an episode which otherwise would have been great.

What Happened To It?

Almost criminally, when the show was really getting into its stride and almost certainly guaranteed another season, it was cancelled by The WB. Wanting just one more season fans began an all out campaign including blood drives and online petitions, but nothing could save the show and it had a rather abrupt and open ending. All is not lost, though, as you can carry on following the adventures of Angel and the gang in the official comic book series.

You'll like Angel if you like:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer
True Blood
Firefly
Dollhouse
Supernatural

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