Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23214 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-18
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 990 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the third series of Angel the titular vampire with a soul was forced to stand alone thanks to the (temporary) death of his beloved Buffy and her show's move to a new network, with no crossover between the two allowed. He returns from seeking peace in a demon-haunted monastery to find the LA Angel Investigations team fighting supernatural crime in his absence. Fred is still haunted by the nightmare dimension from which they rescued her; Cordelia's visions get ever more painful and debilitating. The schemes of the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart become every more imaginative and dragon lady Lilah Morgan becomes even more of an enemy when lusting after Angel. Unbelievably, Darla, Angel's vampire sire and lover, turns up, pregnant with his child and is tortured by inexplicable motherly feelings as well as a raging thirst for human blood.

For a few episodes things go pretty well--but Angel's enemies, both those he has made in his quest for redemption and those he made when he was unadulterated evil, are still out there. Stephanie Romanov comes into her silky own in this series, making Lilah Morgan all the more seductively evil because she is clear about the choices she has made; the satanic law-firm of Wolfram and Hart are this show's most inspired creation. As the series moves to its close, Wesley (Alexis Denisof) has hard choices to make. The devastating climax is compulsive viewing and this series also contains one of the most impressive single episodes of the entire show: in "Waiting in the Wings" writer, director and creator Joss Whedon comes up with a classic ghost story as Angel and his crew go to the ballet and find a performance that is literally timeless.

On the DVD: Angel, Series 3 DVD box set is generously stocked with extra features--a season overview, commentaries on three episodes, a documentary on the way scripts are transferred to screen, and an overview of the story of the doomed vampire Darla. Of especial interest to fans are two deleted scenes--one from the ballet episode "Waiting in the Wings", in which Amy Acker (Fred) and Alexis Denisof (Wesley) dance a pas de deux at once touching and hilarious, and the other a hilarious scene from "Cordy", the cute situation comedy in which Cordelia stars in an alternate universe. --Roz Kaveney

DVD Description
Disc One:
Heartthrob, That Vision Thing, That Old Gang of Mine, Carpe Noctum

Disc Two:
Fredless, Billy, Offspring, Quickening
Commentary for Billy by Tim Minear and Jeffery Bell

Disc Three:
Lullaby, Dad, Birthday
Trailers

Disc Four:
Provider, Waiting in the Wings, Couplet, Loyalty
Deleted scenes from Waiting in the Wings

Disc Five:
Sleep Tight, Forgiving, Double or Nothing,The Price

Disc Six:
A New World, Benediction, Tomorrow
Featurette: Season 3 Overview
Featurette: Page to Screen
Amy Acker Sceen Test
Vincent Kartheiser Screen Test
Still Gallery - 50 images

Synopsis
The entire third season of ANGEL, the BUFFY spin-off starring David Boreanaz as the heroic yet brooding vampire, is presented here. Episodes include "Heartthrob," "That Vision Thing," "Billy," "Offspring," "Lullaby," "Waiting in the Wings," "Sleep Tight," "The Price," "Benediction," and many more.

Customer Reviews

Between "We Got There" and "We're Way Beyond There"
Difficult season to comment on. Some point midway it gets an arc - but not like season 2 got from almost the world go. And it takes a few episodes apart for character development (but nothing like season 1). The end becomes epic and in Holtz with a troubled foe to match our troubled Angel. The Connor storyline (in view of season 4) seems now almost pointless. As does Wesley's betrayal. There just doesn't seem enough guilt or loss there to justify Lilah and his return to *True* Rogue Demon Hunter later on.
I agree that there are exceptional episodes. But also run-of-the-mill plain boring ones ('Fredless' 'Dad' and 'Waiting In The Wings' come to mind - a JW-written&directed episode can suck was my lesson).
So perhaps this is the transitional Angel Season. Fine. But there are no DVD extras to make you sit up and look at the screen, so I'm thinking 3 stars is pretty fair (for me).

Not the brightest Angel around...
Let us get this clear first: I've been a huge fan of Angel from the start. Granted - I had a hard time with Doyle going and Wes coming in, but Wes is going places in this season. Dark ones. Preparing him for the ambiguous role he will play in season four I guess.
But the overview of season three relies too heavily on Angel's son. By the show's own mythology it's a wild stretch he would ever have one (even Buffy's Dawn seems more plausible and that's saying a lot). The baby-to-angry teenager in a few Earth days routine is nothing new. And the ultimate result of the supposedly rugged teenager naïve behaviour somehow doesn't ring true.
On a very personal level, concerning the earlier episodes: I want my Angel dark, brooding and guilt-ridden (and I'll leave all the fun to Angelus when he re-emerges!). I do *not* want the dorky Angel of 'Fredless', 'Dad', 'Waiting In The Wings' or 'Couplet'. It's a lot like David Boreanaz. It plays into his acting skills. It does nothing for the character.
Wesley's character does not so much evolve as "slide down a slippery slope that once you're on it...".
DVD-wise: Too few commentaries and featurettes. And funny cut scenes or casting tests do not make up for what could have been - I mean, 6 DVDs and that's all we get?
Now that my bitterness is over I still loved the enhanced picture quality and whatever extras we *did* get! Hope the sound quality progresses from the Dolby 2.0 I got.
Oh yes, I'm a very bitter person who loves my 'Angel' and hates seeing the possibilities of 6 DVDs of it go to semi-waste like this. Sue me by disagreement, please! Or not ;-)

Continues the downward slide...
Angel Season 3 unfortunately continues the downward slide that started with Season 2. It throws character consistency to the winds and becomes forced and unbelievable in almost every area. This is a shame, as the production values remain high. There is no doubt about it: the most sharply written, engaging episodes of Angel were in Season 1, and while that season has its flaws, it shines in comparison to this.

Buffy Season 6 - which aired simultaneously - was much more daring than this, but also much more consistent in the development of its core characters. The storylines on Angel seem forced and increasingly are written as bad soap opera revolving around unconvincing relationships: this is a problem when Fred and Gunn have little chemistry together, and Angel and Cordelia have none. Add to this poorly drawn characters such as Justine and you have a mess.

The character of Holtz may be the honourable exception, who (by his final episodes) is beginning to show some pleasing shades of grey - you're not sure what his real agenda is, even at the end. But this isn't enough to save Angel Season 3 from being the unholy mess that it is.

Superior to Buffy? I think not.