Angel

Our Review

The Buffy spin off moved the vampire with a soul to Los Angeles and quietly became a different, better show than most people remember. Where Buffy was about surviving growing up, Angel is about a grown man trying to atone for a century of atrocities and learning that redemption is not a finish line but a job. Angel Investigations, a detective agency that helps the helpless, gives the series a noir spine Buffy never had, and the early case of the week years use the city’s neon rot far better than most LA dramas.

The transformation across five seasons is the real attraction. Wesley’s arc from buffoonish watcher to ruthless, tragic operator is one of television’s best slow burn character collapses, and the arrival of Wolfram and Hart as a corporate law firm for evil gives the show a long game antagonist Buffy rarely attempted. Season five, with the team running the evil law firm itself and a spectacularly good Spike as a rival ghost, is the strongest year, and the Not Fade Away finale, which ends mid battle by design, remains one of the ballsiest series endings ever aired.

The rough spots: the first two seasons wobble with monster of the week filler and a Cordelia arc that the writers visibly lost control of late, and season four’s Jasmine plotline divides fans hard. But the floor is watchable and the ceiling is superb. If you liked Buffy, this is essential, and honestly the back half holds up better than its parent’s.