Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

TigerHeron For three seasons, it was one of the best TV shows ever. The main character is charismatic and complex, and the show realistically grapples with the question of redemption and explores the nature of evil. Not bad for a fantasy about a vampire!"Angel" was a spin-off from the iconic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which was a pretty good series, but mainly aimed at teens. "Angel" is for adults.There are interesting meshed episodes between the two series (Buffy and Angel) which adds depth to the characters. For those who don't know, Angel and Buffy were in love in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," in what is perhaps the great fictional TV romance of all time. A little bit Beauty and the Beast, a little bit Romeo and Juliet, but a very modern story...it's a forbidden love, but not for the usual reasons. At the end of Buffy's third season, Angel moves to Los Angeles to start a private detective agency and David Boreanaz gets a starring role in his own show. And he deserved it. He was by far the most charismatic character on Buffy, perhaps in large part because Joss Whedon overdid Buffy's stereotypical teen traits and the rest of the supporting characters were often played for laughs in an exaggerated, jokey way (which ultimately proved to be an error in my opinion). Angel is no joke. He became a vampire as a young man in the 18th century and lived as a monster, committing murder, rape and other atrocities, until 80 years before "Buffy" begins, when Angel is cursed by a victim's family who somehow gives him a "soul" (a conscience). Wracked with guilt, he desperately tries to redeem himself, and thus is drawn to Buffy, whose destiny is to save the world from monsters. This all takes place in the Buffy series, which you should watch for a couple of seasons first. The themes of guilt and redemption continue in "Angel" but the series avoids most of the clichés of Buffy. Angel's main opponent is a demonic L.A. law firm and the humor in Angel comes from the juxtaposition of the vampires and demons with ordinary people, showing them as being remarkably similar...in the most compelling episode, a character from "Buffy" who is human yet thoroughly bad, reaches her nadir and Angel tries to help her as she struggles to make real-life decisions about accountability. Another great episode riffed on the classic film "Spartacus." Each episode has its own story, but unlike Buffy there is an ongoing development of the main character. Angel's backstory is told in occasional historical flashbacks and due to reasons I won't go into, at times he is flipped back into evil, and he is genuinely terrifying.Sadly the show became quite strange at the end of the third season and the fourth season was just weird. There is no good explanation for the bizarre new characters/changed characters and I never made it to season 5. Just watch the first three seasons; you won't be sorry!

notgivens Most of the initial early problems of this show were solved by the second season, the attention of Joss was probably not enough until Buffy ended, but by season 5 the show was going full speed and became as compelling as Buffy ever was. The crossover eps with Buffy were gripping, tears were shed, brow wet with sweat. Cordelia Chase finding a place in the show helped with familiarity, though sadly, she's had little luck other than cameos since, but I was glad to finally see her special side in Bound recently. Spike/James Marsden stole BOTH shows, and the hearts of every 13 year old girl in the country I'd bet, but if vampires don't breathe, how the heck did he smoke so much?Problems occurred only when the two shows moved to separate networks, as I'd hoped for far more crossovers, because their love was eternal and magical. Season 5 substituted the back of a blond girl as a weak substitute for SMG herself, but still stood out as the best of all with the wildly creative turns.Fun from beginning to end, if you've ever considered it, it's all worth a watch.DB, you'll always be Angel to me, even after 10 years as Booth on Bones.

annier-92577 In some ways Angel feels like four or five different shows because so much changes so drastically as the show progresses. It is definitely at it's best at the beginning. By late season 3 things have started feeling shark jumpy, and the show had already gone through at least 2 or 3 incarnations by that point. So here's my ratings for all the different Angels (descriptions contain broad story arcs which might count as spoilers but I tried not to give anything too secret away):{SPOILER START):Angel #1- Angel, Doyle & Cordie in small PI firm, lots of cop/Angel interactions & helpless-helpingAngel #2 -Angel, Cordie, Wesley still small PI firm, still some cop or walk-in PI cases Angel #3 -Angle, Cordie, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, Lorne. Few PI cases. Hotel instead of PI firm. Ongoing devolving battle with Wolfram & Heart, with Darla & Holt as additional long-story bad guys. No police investigations anymore. More demons as good and bad guys, and as PI clients. Less about vampires or the streets of LA. More supernatural. Angel & Cordie get close, it seems like they are about to get together. Angel #4 -Things change again. Conor comes back grown. Wesley's status changes. Cordie & Angel ...well things aren't as expected. Both Cordie & Angel stop being themselves for awhile this season. Then Jasmine's arc, which feels like it's a season long but is really only 5 episodes. Angel #5 -Most Drastic changes. Angel & team take over Wolfram & Heart. No more PI firm at all now. Angel is now head of an evil empire trying to stop evil. Everyone else changes too. Gunn magically becomes a lawyer, bye-bye tough street kid. Fred become Illyria, bye-bye sweet bookish Fred. Cordie is gone. Conor gone too. Spike joins them, but he doesn't seem entirely like himself either (he just came from making a huge sacrifice for love of Buffy but he won't even pick up the phone to let her know he's alive?). Lorne leaves at one point, but he had already changed before that too (he used to run a night club remember). Lindsay, Wesley & Harmony return and become different versions of themselves too. The whole feel of the show changes. Then it ends.(SPOILERS END)So, things change a lot. Which means it doesn't go stale, but it also means it is hard to get comfortable with it. You end up missing characters when they are still there on the screen but everything has changed so much that you don't recognize them anymore. That said, like all Joss Whedon, there are still moments of brilliance even in the parts I find the most difficult to connect to. Humour too (like the puppet episode in the last season). Also, one of my very favourite Buffy episodes is actually an episode in Angel's first season when she comes to visit her dad in LA. It is brilliant and beautiful and touching. All Buffy fans should at least see that episode (S01e08 'I Will Remember You'). Here's how my ratings would break down: Beginning = 10 Middle = 8 End = 6 So I averaged out to an 8.

SnoopyStyle Angelus is a vampire cursed with a human soul. He decides to leave Sunnydale and Buffy Summers after the finale of the 3rd season of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. He moves to Los Angeles where he battles the big bad and protect the helpless. He meets helpful Allen Doyle (Glenn Quinn) who is part demon. On the first case, he runs into Sunnydale alumni Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) who is trying and failing to break into show business. Another Sunnydale veteran Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) joins him as well as new people Charles Gunn (J. August Richards), Lorne (Andy Hallett) and Fred (Amy Acker).This is a darker, more serious, and more grim spin off of Buffy. The show got off to a rocky start with the loss of Glenn Quinn. He obviously had serious problems and the show stumbled trying to reorganize the group chemistry. They slowly recover as the group adds one character after another. Sure it's darker but it also has its fun comedy. It's a great group of characters.