I was always a Buffy fan and I liked the character of Angel. However, when Angel became a spin-off, my viewing of the series was only sporadic. I don't think, at the time, it captured my attention. Consequently, I did not see the entire set until I purchased this boxset - and I have found it worth the money and now realise how good Angel really was. In fact, I feel seasons one-three could even have surpassed Buffy.

For me, the first seasons were the best. They certainly set the scenes and introduced new interesting characters, while maintaining plenty of humour and the sense that good will ultimately overcome evil (essentially what I always considered a fundamental part of both Buffy and Angel). Importantly, these seasons really allow the characters - Cordelia and Wesley in particular - to grow and mature to become very likeable and integral parts of the tale.

However - and this is where my mixed feelings come in - seasons four and five are much darker and more intense. In some ways this makes the show stronger - you quickly learn that no matter how hard anyone fights, evil will always be there. This may add a bit more realism to the show.

Yet, there is something about these two final seasons that makes me unsure. You do have some brilliant episodes - like the one where Angel becomes a puppet in season five - and the toll of the fight is clearly evident on the development of the characters. I felt this was handled very well.

BUT, certain aspects just didn't jell. One example is to do with Cordelia. By the end of season three, her character has really developed into one of best of the group and her relationship with Angel is one based on deep respect and affection (which eventually becomes love). Being a romantic at heart, that's a lovely storyline. In fact, Cordelia seems to be Angel's main confidante and their friendship/love comes across as far more mature and deeper than the impression I ever got with the Buffy/Angel relationship.

Yet, by the end of season four, Cordelia is in a coma and is rarely mentioned until the wonderful episode 'You're welcome', which does her character justice,and in which she dies. The thing is, I never really got the sense that she was mourned - considering how much she had become part of the group and maybe even second to Angel's character, the lack of grief I really found noticeable, particularly when compared to the mourning surrounding Fred's death. In earlier seasons, Angel often said he 'needed' Cordelia's friendship and love, but even while she's in a coma and certainly after she dies, he just gets on with things and it doesn't come across as if he's inwardly grieving.

It was things like this that were evident to me in the last couple of seasons, and as I said before, didn't quite jell. It may have been because the show was frequently under the threat of cancellation. Even so, to be fair, Angel was a decent and enjoyable programme.

You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse defanged me. Now I'm just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth. No, not the hair! Never the hair!

After saving Sunnydale from an impending apocalypse (again!), a heartbroken Angel travels to L.A. in search of his destiny. While there, he meets up with Cordelia. For next five seasons, with the help of some new and old friends, they set out to help the helpless while battling the evil Law firm, Wolf Ram and Hart.

The problem with spin-offs is that they will always be compared to the original series and are often looked upon as a lesser substitute. This is the case with Angel. As a series, Buffy took a lot more risks than Angel by using silent episodes, musical episodes and even a rather brutal attempted rape scene by one of the shows regular characters. However, Angel still had a lot to offer - good characters, eternal struggles, snappy dialogue and parallel dimensions (check out the episodes set in Pylea at the end of season two, fantastic stuff).

Towards the end of Season Four, it kinda lost it a bit. Cordelia gets pregnant by Connor, Angel's son, which in itself was heavy on the Ick factor!!! And then, Cordelia gives birth to a fully-grown God, which was just a little bit odd for me. Therefore, with Buffy ending and Angel losing viewers, threats of cancellation loomed. A huge internet campaign was launched by all of the loyal Angel fans and they managed to save it for one more season... and what a season it was!!!

From the final episode in Season Four, Angel got its magic back. It took risks with content - we were treated to a puppet Angel, Fred turning evil, Cordelia making her final repose and Spike being resurrected. The only slightly annoying thing was that Eve was no substitute for Lilah. Every episode of the last season was a gem and Angel could no longer be seen as a lesser substitute for Buffy, for in the last season it kicked Buffy's proverbial...

Angel is one of the best series ever produced on TV, which tells the story of a vampire with a soul bent on redemption to right the wrongs of his dark past. A spin-off series made after the first 3 years of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel is a series that rivaled (even bettered!) it's parent show! The writing was top notch, the acting was amazing, the special effects are stunning, and the storylines were shocking. Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt really created a brilliant series which blended dark storytelling, classic humor, fantastic fights and original characters. From it's refreshing first season to the sinister events of it's fifth and final season, Angel was an inventive yet short lived series that put a new spin on redemption with gripping storylines. Each season had strong themes and episodes that always tested the core cast that made up the Fang Gang: Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred with Lorne as their lovable ally. All 5 glorious seasons can be summed up like this:

Season 1 (1999-2000)-Angel, a vampire with a soul, arrives in L.A. ready to start his road to redemption but finding a hard time to control his thirst for blood. Doyle, a mysterious half-demon Irish bad boy, comes to Angel and reveals he is a messenger for the Powers That Be. With his visions, Doyle guides Angel to the innocents of L.A. he must protect. One of them being Cordelia, the smart mouthed ex-rich girl from Sunnydale, who joins Angel and Doyle on the mission to save the lost souls of L.A. by creating a detective agency, Angel Investigations. But the trio better beware, Law firm Wolfarm and Hart is an enemy that will continue to do battle with them. A battle that will unleash a variety of demons, vampires, even slayer threats that will cost the lives of the group and bring new allies, like Wesley, to the table.
Rating: 9.5/10
Best episode: Five By Five
Worst episode: She

Season 2 (2000-2001)-Angel, now with Cordelia, Welsey and Gunn at his side, continues his mission as he tries to save the lost souls of L.A. They run into a charismatic yet over the top lounge singer demon, The Host, who reads the auras of all who sing to him. But Angel better beware Wolfarm and Hart as they won't make his mission easy, as they bring back a pivotal woman from his past, Darla. Darla's appearence brings back horrifying memories from Angel's dark past and to make matters worse, Drusilla returns to make Darla what she once was. The fearsome duo reck havok on the streets of L.A. which forces Angel to take a dark persona and set on a new mission that drives his 3 good friends away. It's a dark year which ends with a trip to The Host's home dimension where they meet demonic knights and mystical creatures.
Rating: 10/10
Best episode: Reunion
Worst episode: The Shroud of Rahmon

Season 3 (2001-2002)-After a summer of grieving over the lost of his former lover, Angel returns back to L.A. to continue his mission of redemption at Angel Investigations with Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, and now, Fred, by his side. It's a tough year for Cordelia, as her visions begin to manifest in horrifying ways, which leads her to make a life-changing decision. Fred adjusts to life after Pylea and begins a romance with Gunn. But as things seem to be going just as usual for the Fang Gang, Darla returns 8 and a half months pregnant and seeking the father for answers. As the gang tries to find out how a vampire with child is possible, Wolfarm and Hart gets involved and they are just as curious with the miracle child. But just as the mother and father prepare for the birth of their son, an old nemesis from their past returns and prepares to take his revenge that will involve the child once it's born. Also, a shocking prophecy that threatens the life of the child forces Wesley to make the ultimate betrayl.
Rating: 8.5/10
Best episode: Waiting In The Wings
Worst episode: Provider

Season 4 (2002-2003)-Angel has descended and Cordelia has ascended, Wesley has been outcasted, Lorne aka The Host has left for Las Vegas, leaving Fred and Gunn to take care of a now teenaged Connor who is the cause of his father's disappearence. Wesley surprisingly rescues his former friend, and even the gang reunites with Lorne only to cast Connor away. But as Cordelia's where abouts are still in question, she returns home with amnesia and soon fleeing into the arms of Connor. But when an unstoppable creature known as The Beast appears to create chaos in the streets of L.A., the whole gang must come together to try and stop it's rampage. It's Angel's darkest and most epic year as the appearance of the Beast sets into motion some shocking events like the return of Angelus, Faith, and Cordelia's new mysterious personality as she becomes pregnant with Connor's child which leads to her giving birth to an ebony goddess who has a strange hold on all of L.A.
Rating: 10/10
Best episode: Orpheus
Worst episode: Shiny Happy People

Season 5 (2003-2004)-It's the beginning of the end as Angel enters it's fifth and final year. Angel and the rest of the Fang Gang have been given the ultimate reward as they are now completely in control of Wolfarm and Hart. But just as the gang try to find out what the price is for taking such an offer, Spike appears and becomes a major pain in Angel's side. But now with 2 vampires with a soul, how will the shanshu prophecy turn out now? But as the year goes on with the gang going deeper into the heart of their once greatest enemy, it leads to old enemies returning, Cordelia's re-appearence to aid her friends one last time and Fred paying the ultimate price as an ancient god from primordial times takes her body. It's not just an apocalypse, it's THE Apocalypse that threatens our heroes as we leave them with a unlimited army of demons and a dragon no less as they prepare for the final battle with an unknown outcome.
Rating: 9/10
Best episode: A Hole In The World
Worst episode: The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco

I'm one of those people who'd be first to admit that Buffy the Vampire Slayer did quite well for the first half and got quite silly after early season 4. Where Buffy fails in maintaining the premise of a show about a small group of people fighting against tremendous and horrific odds, Angel succeeds beautifully.
The vampire with a soul is one of the most incredible protagonists of any sci-fi/fantasy series in recent history, and the willingness of the show's writers to take him in directions which would be impossible in the Buffy setting is just one of the factors which makes Angel so very worth watching. Throughout the series we see some truly incredible development concerning all of the show's characters. We see what begins as a motley bunch of ex-Sunnydale heroes undergo lessons in life which leave them stronger, smarter, more sympathetic and more real than anything which the parent show ever achieved. The overriding theme is one of the necessity of compromise; the realisation that evil is simply far too prolific to be beaten, and that every decision we make in life must be for the greater good, even though people will inevitably get hurt.
Seasons 1 and 5 stand out as the best in my eyes, in particular season 5 where the premise shifts from being the small-time goodguys 'Fighting the Good Fight' to sitting on top of the world's most powerful and evil law firm, where the fight against corruption from within is far more perilous than that against the monsters walking the streets. Even though the show had many more seasons' worth of potential, the finale of season 5 alone makes the whole story worth watching.
In short, I definitely recommend this to any and every fan of vampires, monsters and all things creepy, as well as anyone who just wants to watch a brilliant and dramatic story.

This show is one of my all-time favourites not because I loved Buffy The Vampire Slayer but because these 5 series,expanded on the darker,twistier Buffy promise until it stood as a show quite apart and in my opinion arguably superior to its inspiration.

Kudos to show creators Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt for trying to do something different and mostly succeding,from the acting,to the scripts to the willingness to experiment and to make the characters unsympathetic at times,this show always had an interesting angle and great moments of brilliance'

Worth owning for season 4 alone,which is an anstonishing achievement n my opinion.

Peace out