Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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33 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Angel better than Buffy? YES!, 18 Dec 2006
Angel's fifth season was its final and greatest season; building on four years worth of history the episodes were able to reach new levels and enabled the writers to add vast depth to their already wonderfully realised characters. It does start off at a somewhat unsteady pace; it would seem that the writers were approaching this season with caution as they were close to being cancelled the year before.
As a condition of being renewed for a fifth season Angel suffered large budget cuts and a return to a more 'stand alone episode' formula. Although this was never going to benefit the show, the writers pulled out all the proverbial stops to make this one of the most emotionally explosive and exciting seasons ever! Had this not been the last season I wonder whether Joss Whedon would have had the heart to kill off certain characters; not that I'm complaining. This season hit all the right buttons, in a way no other one did, in fact it is probably better than most, if not all, Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons and I don't say that lightly! As well as saying goodbye to a number of well loved characters this season, a number of them make a return including; Andrew (geek from Buffy), a much better drawn Connor who is entirely less annoying and dear Cordelia, among a few others.
The season opens with `Conviction', as the gang were handed over the keys to Wolfram and Hart at the end of season 4, this episode was based upon them settling in to their new home and the season sees them progressively getting to grips with their situation. (This leads to many moral quandaries and Angel (quite often) killing his clients!) Despite the slow start, the early episodes are not without merit but when compared with the second part of the season they are evidently nowhere near as good. Weaker episodes, most notably are `Destiny' and `Unleashed'... `Unleashed' being miles worse! Personally I hated that episode; worse was the writers shoe horned attempt at adding a love interest into Angels life so soon after Cordelia: I wasn't impressed. Though thankfully she only appears in around two more episodes and even in those she is only a minor annoyance.
As the season moves into its latter half the stand alone element basically goes out the window and a large number of smaller story arcs appear. More significantly the new character Illyria (yep another god!) means we lose one character that has been with the show for a long while. But this was not done without sentiment and in my opinion the Illyria arc turns season fives conclusion into an epic tragedy shining with brilliance.
In Illyria's wake comes far reaching consequences for all the remaining fang gang, sadly we did not get to explore all of these as the show was cancelled, but for the seven or so episodes she appears in, Illyria shows growth and alteration and even love towards another character (I wont spoil it for you); this is exactly what TV shows should be about.
The inclusion of Spike was both welcome and not, but hey he's around to annoy Angel and to provide some much needed comic relief, which was welcome. Despite trying to muscle in on Angel's territory (they explore the issue of having two vampires with souls in `Soul Purpose' and `Destiny' among others), it remains clear that this is still Angels show and we watch him grow and rekindle his passion for the good fight. By the end of the season we see Angel make a selfless sacrifice in regards to the Shanshu prophecy and then there's the last fight and the overall message that hangs over the season; that the fight goes on. It was indeed a fitting end for what the series was trying to say, but one more season still would have been awesome!!
Season highlights include: The hilarious `Smile Time' in which Angel gets turned into a puppet, `A Hole in the World' where we first glimpse the Goddess Illyria and say goodbye to a main character, `You're Welcome' the milestone 100th episode where we see the return of Cordelia who's thankfully back to her old self; an utterly heart breaking episode and one of the best in the shows history. Probably the most important episode of the season being `Not Fade Away'. It is the best Angel season finale ever hands down; it's also sadly the series finale. Both its scope and emotional content blows the Buffy series finale `Chosen' out of the water.
So should you buy this DVD? Even if you have never really liked nor watched Angel? Yes you should, it may not be for you but it is and always will be one of the greatest television shows ever and in many respects miles better than its parent show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not often you hear such ringing endorsement for a spin-off show is it?
So if you want intelligent storylines, continuity, humour, philosophical and moral questions, something to stir your emotions and characters you will grow to love then buy this DVD: you will not be disappointed.
10/10
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Angelic, 5 Jun 2006
Probably the bravest of the series so far - Season 5 of Angel ends the saga well. Considering the show's producers were not given a great amount of time before they knew they would not be renewed for another year, they did a sterling job in rounding out the story so well.
Everyone so far has raved on about the inclusion of Spike to the cast, and whilst he does bring his trade mark good humour and has some excellent stories, he is not the best thing in it. He is one of the many strong characters supporting their leader Angel in his neverending fight to rid the world or maybe just LA of evil. Plotting is tight, stories are sharp (with the odd miss-fire like 'Unleashed') and the setting is enticing.
'Smile Time' is the funniest episode but the most tragic and rewarding have to be 'A Hole in the World', 'Shells' and 'Never Fade Away'
If you're a fan you've probably already bought this. If you're not I'd suggest asking a friend to borrow a copy of the first 3 series of Buffy followed by the first 4 of Angel.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Fade Away, 15 Nov 2006
Angel's last season is an entertaining yet flawed collection of episodes -this can be largely attributed to the WB network's demands to make more standalone episodes of Angel in order to increase the number of casual viewers. Apparently there were not enough people willing to sit down and loyally follow a TV show from week to week. In making this decision the network seemed to ignore the success of such shows as Lost and 24 which prove continuity is key amongst fans of cult television, not one-shot efforts which tend to please casual viewers only.
As a result of these requirements we get plenty of mediocre episodes in the first two thirds of the season (Hell Bound, Damage) and even a couple of plain bad ones (The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco, Why We Fight) as the show attempts to diversify into a CSI mentality where every tale is told in the space of forty minutes. The series is still by and large entertaining but from Angel we've come to expect the exceptional, not just the watchable or even the very good (Destiny).
Thankfully there is golden wheat amongst the relative chaff and this comes in the form of the hilarious Life of the Party which sees the former staff of Angel Investigations on top comic form. The great Wesley-spotlighting Lineage also gives us more insight into the harsh complex relationship between the ex-watcher and his father and the inventive David Boreanaz-directed Soul Purpose sees an unconscious Angel feverishly dreaming that he no longer has an important place in the world. The epic You're Welcome sees Angel fighting against an on-form Lindsay (Christian Kane - is he ever not on form?) to save himself and recognise with Cordelia's help that he is still worth saving.
With just 8 of 22 episodes remaining of the series, A Hole in the World kickstarts a delicious rebellion against the WB which takes the series back into continuity overdrive where it belongs and my, oh my, don't we notice the difference. The Whedon-penned and directed A Hole in the World, a beautiful yet upsetting episode brings us the death of Winnifred Birkle and the rise of the wicked (and wicked cool) godess Illyria inside her body. The classic action-packed Shells makes you delighted the blue Smurfette isn't going anywhere. Origin sees Connor's welcome return as a confident more well-rounded character than that seen in the third and fourth season and more than I expected I was sad to see him leave at the end. Time Bomb sees another brilliant starring role for Amy Acker's Illyria written by the equally brilliant Ben Edlund.
Only the abysmal De Knight/Goddard collaboration, The Girl in Question shows the writers on bad form in this final third of the season. De Knight's work is frequently exemplary and the viewer is left wondering whether someone drugged his coffee that day to make him produce this disappointing (to say the least) Buffy-starring Sarah Michelle Gellar-free episode. In my opinion they should have done away with this script altogether (unless it could be rewritten and feature SMG), except for the brilliant scenes in which Illyria pretends to be Fred for her parents and Wesley, and begun the focus on The Circle of the Black Thorn an episode early.
Because when it begins you will be very, very glad. Power Play and Not Fade Away are two of the best episodes in the show's entire history and you will find it much easier to forgive the season's slow start when you see that it culminates with sheer excellence, the like of which almost never seen. Not Fade Away is everything one could hope for of a season finale, except of course for the absence of a "To be Continued" message at the end thanks to the US WB network's cancellation of the show. Each one of the main characters spends his day in Angel's words as if it's to be their last "because it probably will be", which leads to some touching scenes including Spike reciting poetry in a biker's bar and an embittered Wesley spending his time with Illyria - tragically he would rather spend his last day with even a shell of her than be anywhere else.
Then we are treated to a Godfather-esque climax where each of the characters are entrusted to kill at least one key member of the Black Thorn and like Buffy's last battle before it not everybody makes it out alive. As the surviving characters of Team Angel prepare to fight against the worst hoardes the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart can throw at them one cannot help but be inspired. Our heroes know that they will probably die but that really isn't the point. We learn that the point is to go on fighting and improve the world as much as we can before we meet our fates. Since Angel has left our television screens there truly is a hole in the world. "Live fast, die never."
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