---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3016 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-19
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 30

Amazon.co.uk Review
Season 1: The vampire Angelus, now known as Angel, has a human soul, but committed terrible crimes in the past. Seeking forgiveness and trying to redeem himself, he moves from Sunnydale (and a relationship with Buffy Summers, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) to Los Angeles, where he helps the downtrodden by thwarting the supernatural creatures that prey on them.

Season 2: Angel continues to seek redemption, but a fatal mistake makes him realize that racking up the body count isn't the way to go. So with a renewed sense of purpose and Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn at his side, Angel sets out to make the streets of Los Angeles a little safer for everyone - unaware that Wolfram & Hart has summoned someone from his past to make sure he fails.

Season 3: Even as Angel mourns the death of Buffy, Darla makes her way to L.A. with a mysterious new life growing within her. Now thrust into a role he never imagined, Angel needs the assistance of the Angel Investigations team more than ever. But while Cordelia, Gunn and Fred rally round the new dad, an ancient and deadly prophecy convinces Wesley to commit the ultimate betrayal.

Season 4: With both Angel and Cordelia still missing, Fred, Gunn and Connor try to keep Angel Investigations running while they search for their friends. Ironically, the man who everyone believes betrayed Angel is the one who finally comes to Angel's rescue. Then Cordelia mysteriously reappears with no memory of her life or her friends. Confused, she chooses to take refuge with Connor—setting into motion events that will alter their lives forever.

Season 5: The Angel Investigations team is stunned when the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart give them control of the L.A. office. The gang quickly moves in, and although everyone is delighted at the amazing resources they now have at their command, they can't stop wondering what the catch is. But the biggest mystery of all revolves around a small package Angel receives containing an amulet and a handful of dust—which coalesces into a very-much-alive Spike.

DVD Description
A former vampire, Angel was motivated by guilt, as well as a relationship with Buffy, to join her on the side of good. Now he heads up a team of sundry vampire hunters, who battle, among other enemies, the law firm Wolfram and Hart, which serves as a front for vampires. Angel's spiritual advisor, Doyle, who is part-human and part-demon, guides him as he navigates the dangerous, glamorous world of LA, which is, unknown to most of its residents, a constant battleground between the forces of good and evil. Meanwhile, Angel must constantly face his own dark side, which forever tempts him back to the vampire's life. Contains series 1 to 5 of Angel.

---

Customer Reviews

From Greatness to Irritating Mediocrity in Five Easy Stages
"Can you fly?"

This line at the end of the first episode of `Angel' really summed up its potential for me.

Leaving behind the irritating, "I just want to be normal," High School schlock of BTVS, Dave Greenwalt, David Boreanaz and Charisma Carpenter had broken away to create the deep an enthralling story of the Vampire with a soul, working to rid the world of evil and to `Help the Helpless.'

It was incredibly promising. Even Dave Greenwalt's tendency to add utterly inappropriate humour whenever he got bored wasn't enough to destroy the overall feel of the programme. But then, about half way through the second series, everything began to fall apart.

Having spent the first series killing the demons and Helping the Helpless, Angel became trapped in what would later become known as the "Troclon;" the long, tedious and incredibly irritating storyline in which he became utterly obsessed with Darla, his son and the `Wolf, Ram & Hart.'

The number of times I screamed "Just Kill Her" must have really worried my neighbours. But of course, Darla had to survive to give birth to a son who would then grow up to father an megalomaniac who was trying to take over the world and on and on and on.

Even after this storyline was finally dead and buried however, in the fifth series, Angel was given full control of W&H so that nobody trusted him and he was constantly doubting himself.

Again, the words "Just Kill Her" tripped across my tongue more than once. And although the storyline in which Fred's body was possessed by an ancient Goddess was emotive to say the least, Whedon and Greenwalt seemed obliged to balance this dark, dramatic plot with even more stupid and irritating `comic relief.'

At the end of the day, the creative vision and the whole point of the series became lost in a sea of distracting rubbish.

Whedon and Greenwalt were so desperate to create a long, all-encompassing storyline that they left the `soul' of the series behind. And so because Fox denied them the chance to give the fans the final victory they craved, I thought that the last episode of series five was the best I'd seen since series one.

There was no grand victory, no great reward. And if Angel had destroyed the Wolf, Ram & Hart, it would have completely nullified his epiphany at the end of series two:

"If nothing that we do matters, then all that matters is what we do; now, here, today."

The Shanshu prophecy would never come to pass. And so instead of living on their knees, they all chose to die on their feet.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna fight the dragon."

A great series that was sadly cut a little too soon.
That said it did have a great ending. Anyway the entire run of angel what can I say.
Season one.
This was okay, it took a while to really find its feet and it's own identity as opposed to being a buffy spin off show. Initial side kick Doyle was a likable character but the addition of cordelia seemed a bad move at first. Still after getting used to the idea of demon lawyer and a heroic end to doyle it started to get going towrads the end, even with the addition of the extremely annoying wesley. Gunn was a good addition at the end of the season.
Season two.
Right better, mostly in ther middle it good a bit too gloomy but was still a good watch. Wesley became less annoying Gunn became a full time cast member and Lorne was a brilliant addition adding a sense of fun to the show. The season finale is genius.
Season three.
The best season imho, the addition of fred sets off a little rivalry with gunn and wes, and the tone is perfect throughout, mixing drama and laughs nicely. Holtz makes a great bad guy and the twists and turns are genuinely shocking and/or believable.
Season Four.
Sadly season four mixes drama, spectacle and some excellent stories with some really over complicated plots and just plain absurd twists. Over all it is still a great season just not as good as three.
Season Five.
Attempts to rectify season fours mistakes by going for stand alone episodes and making it easier to follow. Also the addition of spike is interesting, he makes a great foil for Angel but often steals the show.

Lost Souls in the City of Angels
"Buffy" spin-off "Angel" could have easily proved a flop with audiences. Angel is a dark, laconic and morally ambiguous character; a vampire with a soul who constantly walks the fine line that separates daring `Batman-like' heroism and true, unrelenting evil. It was questionable as to whether Buffy fans and new audiences could connect to such a considerably darker universe than what Joss Whedon presented with "BtVS." Plus, "Angel" was always going to be compared to its Sister original throughout its initial run, and while David Boreanz makes a less perky TV series lead than Sarah Michelle Gellar, his performance is very much solid and engaging from start to finish. I guess it's helpful that he is surrounded by an ever growing cast of interesting support characters who follow his journey to the dark side, although most of them were sadly never to come back. "Angel" is a brooding, downbeat supernatural drama that outgrows its simplistic concept of the first season (vampire with a soul seeks redemption by fighting the forces of darkness) as it delves deeper into its protagonist's world and the struggles within it.

The show's production values are impressive, with the special effects holding up well by today's standards, and the intelligent plotting for the most part does justice to its Buffyverse beginnings. However, the core cast of characters lack the comfortable warmth and endearing comical interaction that blessed the Scooby-gang in "Buffy," and the season story arcs do tend to get increasingly schizophrenic and harder to follow as the show gets older. I think it's the fact that "Angel" goes to much more darker places than "Buffy" did, which gives the show its own singular identity by the time Angel and co. reached Season Three.

To break the seasons down in terms of quality and criticisms;

Season One is still quite possibly the best of the lot, providing exciting episodes and stand-alone storylines that whilst episodic, provide plenty of bone breaking, demon fighting action and razor sharp, smart scripting. "City of Angel" is a wonderful beginning to the series and thrusts us into this universe with big ideas for the future. Ironically, for a show that wanted to stand on its own two feet, some of its finest episodes are crossover's that tie in with Buffy; "In the Dark," "Five by Five," "Sanctuary," "I Will Remember You." No matter what, Season One is great entertainment and a terrific introduction to TV's most tortured soul.

Season Two goes AWOL on it's First Season's promise by taking some odd turns with its story and characters. Charisma Carpenter's Cordelia is the weak link for the most part, while J. August Richards' Charles Gunn lacks the intensity or depth expected from such a street fighter type (he improves much in Season Three), leaving it to the show's best character Wesley (played to perfection by Alexis Denisof) to keep things on an even and interesting keel. Lots of Angel history and backstory accompanies the arrival of a fantastic mid-season arc involving vampy vampires Darla (Julie Benz), Drusilla (Juliet Landau) and the Big Bad law firm Wolfram & Hart (Sam Anderson's evil lawyer Holland Manners is just a consistently wonderful treat). But everything eventually cops-out when this involving plot is dropped for a banal and quite frankly irksome trip into another dimension for the final four episodes. It fails to grip the attention and proves Angel's worst storyline as he and his pals get all medieval on some other-dimensional demon asses.

Season Three gets back to what makes this show tick. It's dark, complex, emotionally turbulent and full of strong character arcs, providing a couple of ingenious twists and villains that redeem any missteps taken in Season Two. Vampire hunter Holtz's arrival and the birth of Angel's miracle baby boy Connor gives the show a huge shot in the arm, reviving the flagging interest of earlier. Definitely one of the strongest season arcs of the entire show. The scene at Wesley's bedside in the hospital is quite possibly one of the most intense and disturbing moments this show ever delivered and sets the stage for Wesley's evolution into a real badass bookworm with cool pointy gadgets and twin handguns. Plus more screentime for Andy Hallet's delighfully one-liner filled Lorne.

Season Four gets off to a wonky and unfocused start thanks to co-creator David Greenwalt's exit from creative supervision, and Whedon's attention focused elsewhere with a final season of "Buffy" to finish and a "Firefly" to ignite. Character relationships are strained, romantic entanglements have become dull, new faces have little to do and the story is going very nearly nowhere. Then we meet The Beast. Surely one of Angel's biggest and baddest adversaries ever? Like Season Two, the story arc in the middle, roughly eight or so episodes, really knocks you for six. It's brutal, intense and frightening. But the winning streak Season Four finds inevitably declines as we discover who The Beast's master really is, and unfortunately get saddled with some truly disappointing resolutions to these dangling plot strands. Thank God the last six episodes make up for the blunders in storytelling by giving us the wonderful Gina Torres in the role of Jasmine, whose "evil master plan" involves world peace. The wit and intelligence finally returns to the material in some inspired subversion of what we consider to be evil. The dilemma extends beyond what Angel Inc. often come up against on their weekly diet of evil and beastie battling. Season Four is a paradox entry into the "Angel" mythology, it begins badly, then takes off like a dynamite packed rocket before falling back down Earth with some laughably convoluted happenings, and then charges back into the incomparably brilliant fold. Schizophrenic indeed.

Season Five, the final and arguably finest season, kicks off with our heroes working in the lion's den at Wolfram & Hart and then gives us an incorporeal Spike (James Marsters). This season's magical trump card is whenever Boreanz and Marsters get screen time together; they are a terrific double-act providing hysterical asides and some riveting confrontations. Their chemistry perhaps steals the entire season away from the rest of the cast, at least until the adorable Fred (Amy Acker) gets into some trouble with an ascending God named Illyria. Then its sheer unbridled action from "A Hole in the World" onwards. It expands on the main characters with greater efficiency than Season Four managed and marks itself as a fitting, if untimely end to a wonderful series.

The choice episodes from Angel's entire run are pretty much anything from season one; specifically "City of Angel" "Eternity," "Blind Date," "To Shanshu in LA," and then; Season Two's "Darla," "Reunion" and "Reprise"; Season Three's premiere opener "Heartthrob," "Lullaby," "Sleep Tight," and "Forgiving"; pretty much any Season Four episode involving The Beast or Jasmine, "Apocalypse, Nowish," being the finest; and finally Season Five's "Conviction," "Destiny," "Timebomb," and the two-hander season finale "Power Play" and "Not Fade Away." Although a personal favourite for me is the widely criticised "The Girl in Question," purely because it's the funniest thing this show ever did. Well, besides Angel dancing like a freak in Season One. That was also hysterically disturbing.

"Angel," evolved into an epic drama from humble beginnings, breaking away from the shadow of Buffy and building the bricks of its own universe with its own fascinating mythology rooted in mysticism. Though one can view it separate from the Buffy series, it works much better as a companion piece. "Angel" may not have reached the emotional heights of its older sister show, but it certainly matched it in wit and style. I would go as far as to argue that it actually out-matched Buffy when it came to the brilliant staging of its action sequences and the all-encompassing darkness inherent within its themes about making your life count for something. This truly is the alter ego dark half of the Buffyverse about a rabble of lost souls on a mission to make the world safer for us civilians, so don`t expect happy endings but by all accounts don't miss a single second of it. It rocks.

Trust the cult following, they know their fiction. Join the fight with Angel and Co. cus they got game.