Lives were upended--and some co-opted--in the fifth and final season of Angel, as the denizens of Angel Investigations found themselves taking on one of their scariest endeavors ever: corporate life. After making a literal deal with the devil (or something distinctly devil-like), Angel (David Boreanaz) moved his team from their crumbling hotel to the high-rise digs of law-firm-from-hell Wolfram & Hart, his reasoning being they could better fight the forces of evil from the inside, and with more resources to boot. Clever maneuvering or easy rationalization? A few members of Angel's team accused him of selling out (as did a number of viewers), but as with most of the show's previous four seasons, Angel somehow took a dubious premise and mined it for gold. And with one core cast member gone (Charisma Carpenter, whose Cordelia was immersed in a deep coma), it seemed as if the show, from within and without, would suddenly fall apart--that is, until Angel's longtime nemesis Spike (James Marsters) showed up, fresh from his sacrificial roasting at the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Let the vampire games begin!

With Buffy off the air, fans flocked to Angel's last season to get their fix of Joss Whedon's "Buffyverse" in any form they could, and the addition of Spike was a shrewd one, albeit not enough to keep the show from getting canceled. And for the first half of the season, the creative forces behind the show seemed to be toying ruthlessly with the audience. Spike was around, but not entirely corporeal; Angel himself became sullen and withdrawn; and most horrifically, sweetheart scientist Fred (Amy Acker) and former watcher Wesley (Alexis Denisof) underwent traumas that would test even the most devoted viewer. However, just when you'd be about to throw in the towel, things started changing for the better--Spike became a permanent fixture (both in the flesh and on the show), Angel's secret motives were revealed, and the introduction of demon warrior Illyria, who proved to be the show's answer to Buffy's sardonic demon-made-human Anya, was a welcome breath of fresh air. Creatively, Angel also came up with some of its best episodes, including "Smile Time" (where Angel is turned into a puppet ??? really!) and "You're Welcome" (the show's 100th episode, which marked the bittersweet return of Carpenter's Cordelia). The ending of the series was deliberately ambiguous, and not everyone made it through alive, but in going out kicking, it was a proper sendoff for a show that always fought the good fight. --Mark Englehart

This is the third copy of this boxset I've had the fist was not working on arrival the second failed after a month or two and now the third has failed after two years. I'm careful with my discs and don't abuse them, but the discs must be cheap rubbish I've tried contacting Fox to find a replacement as ??55 is a fair bit of money, but they ignore all attempts at contact.
This is not the only Fox DVD I've had problems with other Buffy and Angel DVDs have had similar problems.
Love the show and enjoyed watching the discs, but now I can no longer watch the last disc.

The 5th season of Angel saw the writers desperately seeking inspiration. At times they found it, but all too often they didn't. The first half of the season is a slog, with a number of poor, unexciting episodes. Smile Time was an entertaining diversion, but the show only struggled back onto its feet with the prelude to and appearance of Illyria about 2/3 of the way through. The latter part of the season has some cracking episodes, but on the whole it is the weakest season.
I am still keenly interested in what Joss Whedon does next, as he has some excellent and creative ideas - but network TV being what it is, these are milked until they go sour.

Absolutely (underlined) NO spoilers. Well, that???s it. It???s all over???I???ve just watched the last ever episode of ???Angel???, violins literally playing as the credits rolled and now I???m wishing I hadn???t. I managed to wait over a year from the terrestrial transmission of the last episode (???Home???) of Season 4 before I began this 5th season on DVD, don???t ask me how, but I did manage it and now I???m truly gutted that I???ll never again be spellbound by the action-packed and thrilling adventures of Team Angel. Unfortunately, the loss is compounded by the fact that (for me, at least)???this is one of the weakest seasons of the unrivalled, vampire spin-off show.

The potential for this season was off the scale, but not only does it fail to deliver in the first half a dozen episodes, it also fails to deliver consistently throughout the season- only brief glimpses of brilliance occasionally hint at what could have been. IF ONLY there had been another season! But perhaps it???s best to end it here before it shrinks too deeply into the shadow of Season 3. It???s not just the lack of humour, warmth, spark or solidarity in Team Angel that???s a disappointment here, it???s the transformation of these characters from what was familiar and from those people I'd come to know and love in 4 years of loyal viewing and into something much less aspirational and a lot more human.

In previous seasons of ???Angel??? I was often left wondering why creator Joss Whedon felt it necessary to fix a formula that I never thought was broken in the first place with radical location and character changes and similarly, I was also left wondering why at the end of Season 4 (and Lilah???s extraordinary proposition) Whedon decided to mix things up to such a degree. But what I realise now is that ???home??? for Team-Angel is wherever they happen to be, as long as they???re together (corny, but true) and this season proved to me to be no exception. But while they???re still together, fighting evil and making the world a safer place in the process???it???s inescapable that they HAVE sold out and in the fifth and final season of ???Angel??? I was never quite convinced that that was possible, let alone the basis for an entire season. The makers also struggle considerably with the tone of many of the episodes, too often descending into science-fiction and horror territory for my liking and moving away from the fantasy aspect of the show that had proved such a huge success in previous seasons. And after so much hype (as far exceeding its counterpart ???Buffy??? in its attempt to conclude the story of these characters who we???d journeyed with for so long) ???Don???t Fade Away??? was an extreme disappointment to me, not just leaving me bewildered, but also a little angry (in much the same way as the last episode of 'Farscape' had a couple of years ago) and feeling that somehow, as an avid and devoted follower of the programme???I deserved more. Having watched as much fantasy and science-fiction as I have I'm quite accustomed to being left in the dark and never learning the answers to many questions posed in regards to character and story, even after years of loyal viewing, but with 'Angel' being left so ignorant and about so much just didn't ring true for me.

However, this season is by no means a wash-out and however many gripes I might have with the central theme of the season, there were more than a handful of moments when my head, my heart and my funny bone were each stimulated way beyond their previous thresholds, or more accurately??? moments when I was scratching my head like a madman, crying like a baby and howling with laughter, but always in appreciation of an exceptional example of television.

What a shame 'the Powers That Be' decided to end this series just as it was coming in to its own and finally coming out of the shadow of BTVS. Spike's arrival and the subsequent petty feuding between dark 'n' broody and bleached 'n' bolshie was a joy to watch. Angel took a comic tone which contrasted nicely with the menace of Wolfram and Hart and the theme of appearance and reality seemed to come straight from Macbeth 'fair is foul' and all that! The 'muppet' episode is compulsive viewing, it's absolutely inspired and deserves an award! My only gripe is the ending - I didn't want it to happen!!

I have been a fan of this show since i first got hooked into watching the Buffy repeats on BBC2. I now own all the dvd boxsets of both series apart from Angel season Five. Why?

I watched this season on Sky from beginning to end- hoping it would get better. Instead each episode only proved more and more how far the standards for 'Angel' had slipped down. Obvioulsy i am not alone of this opinon, if this was not true, the show would never have been cancelled.

One of the main problems for this season was that there was no story arc which spanned across all 22 episodes and held everything together. As a result characters acted out of character and spent their time sitting around staring at the walls of Wolfram + Hart and wondering like the viewers if anything would ever happen.

Another problem was the axing of principle characters Cordelia and Connor. Getting rid of Cordelia was a big mistake as she gave light and humour to an overall dark tv series as well as the character of Angel himself. Bringing in Spike as a replacement was no substitute. While with Connor - so many possibilities left unexplored!

In my opinion, it seems this season has been getting overall good reviews only because the show was axed but this is not a good enough reason which is why i have wrote this review in the first place.
Save your money and buy Joss Whedon's 'Firefly' instead or if you have to watch this season- rent it first and then decide for yourself if you still want to buy it.