The case for season 5 of Angel
But what about Buffy’s spinoff, Angel, starring David Boreanaz as the titular vampire with a soul? The occasionally acknowledged series that’s still, let’s face it, the relation that’s forgotten at Christmas?
Angel started after season 3 of Buffy. It punched out a few seasons: the comparatively weak season 1 (highlights include episodes that feature Gellar and other Buffy cast members), the richer and darker and often quite depressing seasons 2 and 3, and the “love it or loathe it or just not know what to do with it” season 4, which does at least feature a great season premiere.
With all that out of the way, however, Angel could focus on what really mattered: season 5, unfortunately also the final season of the show (total injustice). Season 5 takes a completely different tack. In this season, Angel’s working for the wrong side of the tracks (i.e., evil). Many of the scenes actually take place in daylight – filtered daylight of course, since otherwise, Angel the vampire would be a pile of ash, which, you know, might backfire in the ratings. Season 5 is also lighter in a figurative way; there are physical gags, silly and often quite campy situations, numerous buddy comedy moments (think The Odd Couple
Sure, it’s all leading to the emotional nuclear holocaust that is the latter part of the show, but that devastation is rewarding too, in a gut-wrenching, heart-rending, and, well, devastating sort of way. And it all ends with a series finale that is, in my opinion, much better than Buffy’s, if not quite as epic in scope.
Other great things about season 5 of Angel – it takes place after the final season of Buffy, and even continues a few plotlines from its progenitor. I’m personally still recuperating from the bitter depression that came after finishing season 7 of Buffy (I didn’t watch it when it first came out, but instead recently caught up on DVD, probably too quickly for any “not obsessive!” arguments), and those season 8 graphic novels (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 1: The Long Way Home) were nice and all, but they’re not, well, “alive” in the same way. (I know, isn’t that argument illuminating?). Not to mention the fact that season 5 features that bleached blond guy on the cover up there, whoever he is, and some other, you know, unimportant people who might possibly be of interest to at least a few Buffy fans.
So, to recap, by watching season 5 of Angel, you’ll get:
- sunlight
- silliness and camp
- alive-ness
- physical gags
- Angel’s version of an Animal House party
- emotional nuclear holocaust
- a great series finale (and how many of those are there, really?) that, to me, totally leaves room for the (futile) hope that there will be future seasons that are not graphic novels (Angel: After The Fall Volume 1
)
Plus:
- magic and fantasy stuff
- for manly men: long, old-looking swords, air acrobatics, and plenty of hand-to-claw combat
- the satisfaction of watching David Boreanaz do “serious” acting while, at the same time, picturing him doing the dance scene in the video below (from a season 1 episode of Angel, and one of my all-time favorite moments on either series):
I can definitely acknowledge not wanting to watch all of seasons 1-4 in order to just watch season 5 - and, honestly, you’ll be pretty confused if you haven’t seen the preceding seasons. But that shouldn’t stop you from just watching season 5, as a sort of season 8b of Buffy at the very least. Or a creative, addictive, funny season to watch even if you’ve never seen Buffy - to which the following link may or may not be incomprehensible to you. So click on Angel season 5 - cheat sheet (it’s a Word file) for a woefully brief, and speedily put together, cheat sheet for season 5 (obviously, SPOILER ALERT!!!).
You can buy season 5 on Amazon (click on DVD image at the top for link), or rent the entire season on Netflix. All of season 1 of Angel is available for free, yes free!, on hulu.
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What line of work you in, Bob?
- Ryan the Temp to "Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration" at The Office's Christmas party
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featured brown paper packaging
What is it with accessories and DVD sets these days? Are knick knack companies going through some rough times? Or are studios just really desperate to sell DVDs? (Probably the latter.) First there was A Christmas Story (Ultimate Collector's Edition), with its cookie cutters, recipe book, apron, commemorative Christmas tin... (Whoa, I know.)
And now there's The Notebook (Limited Edition Gift Set), which comes with a scrapbook album (with stickers!), notecards, envelopes, and "themed" bookmarks. But... wait for it... no new DVD extras or features! So totally worth it. Check out Entertainment Weekly for the lackluster DVD set review (a grade of D - harsh). Or, even better, Amazon's video montage of the contents, set to the soothing, Jane Austen movie-esque sounds of The Notebook's theme music. Hey, they know their audience.
