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Spin-off shows rarely match the success of their parent programmes, especially in the superhero/fantasy genre (cf. The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., The Bionic Woman, The Green Hornet. Characters who were perfectly useful as supporting figures dwindle when forced into the spotlight, and Angel takes a special risk by building an entire series around a character who is: a) supposed to be a mystery man; b) a vampire who once spent half a season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a dastardly villain who killed without remorse; and c) played by David Boreanaz, who is well up on handsome and broody but still can't do an Irish accent to save his l
Spin-off shows rarely match the success of their parent programmes, especially in the superhero/fantasy genre (cf. The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., The Bionic Woman, The Green Hornet. Characters who were perfectly useful as supporting figures dwindle when forced into the spotlight, and Angel takes a special risk by building an entire series around a character who is: a) supposed to be a mystery man; b) a vampire who once spent half a season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a dastardly villain who killed without remorse; and c) played by David Boreanaz, who is well up on handsome and broody but still can't do an Irish accent to save his life and is visibly learning this acting lark as the series progresses. The premise is that Angel, the vampire with a soul, has finally admitted he will never get it together with Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), unless a reunion crossover episode or two are scheduled. He moves to Los Angeles, a city haunted not only by demons and vampires but lawyers and agents. Angel sets up as a private eye and solves cases with a supernatural aspect, and is partnered with Doyle (Glenn Quinn), a half-demon with a proper Irish accent and the useful psychic ability to know when someone is in trouble (thereby predicting any given week's plot), and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), another Buffy refugee here trying to reinvent herself as a struggling big-city single girl. Far less consistent than its parent show, but also not saddled with quite so much of a continuing story arc, Angel has a very different feel, cued by its effective semi-Goth violin theme tune and lots of film noir-ish LA street scenes, with a dose of cynical inside-the-entertainment-industry stuff. It has its share of familiar ideas (like a "fight club" episode) and simply daft premises (a demon-centred show which allegorises the debate about female circumcision, for example). Angel alienated a lot of initial fans by killing off its most appealing regular a third of the way into the run, dusting off hideous English comic stereotype Wesley the Watcher (Alex Denisof) as a replacement. However, it also comes up with some ingenious moments: in a two-parter guest starring sometime Buffy villainess Faith (Eliza Dushku), the show finally delivers something scary and emotionally powerful as Angel proves he can solve cases his ex-girlfriend can't. Meanwhile, the last couple of episodes--which beef up a Satanic law firm as regular foes and resurrect a long-dead character as a major troublemaker for the future--go from promising to delivering. --Kim Newman--This text refers to the whole of the series, not just this box set.
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Number of discs: 3
EAN: 4010232009036
Tags: Drama (1), Action (1), Comedy (1), Fantasy (1), Mystery (1), Horror (1), Vampire (1), Tv (1), Supernatural (1), Tv Show (1), Whedonverse (1), Joss Whedon (1)
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