Angel the series

[SPS]

I've been watching Angel from beggining to end lately and since I'm pretty far in here is my thoughts on the various seasons:

season 1- Arguably the best season so far. But that's because it can't really be considered an Angel season more like Buffy season 4.1. Features some of the best episodes of Buffy/Angel ever. Also shame Doyle had to die but he served his purpose and he was too similar to Angel so he had to go. Wesley made a fine replacement also.

season 2- This season is 50/50. It's the first real season of Angel as opposed to season 1. The overall plot is awesome with Darla and Angel, but the series looses the plot a few times. Then the season finale completely looses the plot with the trip to Pylea. Also Lorne and Caritas seems like a concept more suited to Buffy than Angel but that's just me.

season 3- A decent season overall, not great. But seeing Angel happy and then just as it builds to a crescendo it all goes to hell it's great. Connor comes off pretty strongly when he reappears and Holtz is a great villain. Too bad the rest of the season could've been better

Season 4- Not all the way through it but overall it is a pretty weak season. Gwen was one of the few good things about this season. Connor became a whiny little child and all the potential he had is wasted and he just becomes a punching bag for everybody. I was cheering to see Faith kick his ass. I think had Charisma Carpenter not had her pregnancy the season would've been better because they wouldn't be bending over backwards to explain the pregnancy. The fans would've understood. But on the other hand if Season 4 wasn't so bad the team wouldn't have done a rethink and we wouldn't have gotten season 5.

[Elliot Kane]

Sounds about right to me, SPS, though I'd say S3 was really a 50/50 season too. First half is rubbish, second half is great. Connor is fantastic when he's an obvious Illyana-inspired character, then vastly less so when he loses that edge.

[Gray Lensman]

Yeah, SPS, that sounds fair to me. Though I can't comment on Season 4, which I haven't seen.

The best episodes of S1 were the Buffyverse tie-ins, must be said. The Buffy, Spike, and Faith appearances were far more interesting than anything with Angel on his own. That didn't change until S2, as has already been noted.

Connor had potential, but I never sensed a clear direction with him the way there was with Wesley. Though S5 Connor might have turned into something... I kinda like the idea of a seemingly normal kid who could switch into a battle-hardened killing machine at a moment's notice. I feel like Connor was more an execution problem than a concept problem, all in all...

[hector]

Connor unfortunately ranks besides Dawn as the two stupidest characters to ever appear in the Buffyverse. The mere sight of them makes my stomach churn.