Angel - Season 5 (New Packaging) [DVD]

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

Angel was the best series on television, and I felt such regret when it ended. If you're reading this, chances are that you probably feel the same. However, because it was never the fans who deserted Angel, Joss Whedon himself personally supervised an official (and canonical) Season 6 in full colour graphic novel format. It's called Angel: After The Fall and it continues the story as it would have been had Angel continued. The drawn likenesses are spot on and all the action, plot and humour of the TV series has been captured perfectly. As someone who never buys comic books, I bought the first volume Angel: After The Fall: After the Fall: After the Fall v. 1 (Angel (IDW Publishing)) hesitantly, but it's fantastic, it really is, and if you want to find out what happened after that fight in the alleyway - the official story as told by Joss Whedon - then you must buy this. Find out what happens to Angel, Gunn, Spike, Illyria/Fred, Wesley, Lorne and also Gwen, Nina and Connor. Hope you don't mind that this isn't a review of Season 5 as such, but I hope you've found it helpful.

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.