On a related note, I watched the whole first season of Madmen and it was only days later that I realized the character of Peter Campbell was Connor! He looks very different, but you soon realize Campbell's character is defined by all the qualities that made Connor unpopular with a lot of fans (creepy and shifty and whiny).

I should probably have mentioned that, but I seem to have stirred the pot more than enough with my other comments.

Spike wanders over from the end of ‘Buffy’, which causes a problem [...] There’s a sense, almost from the beginning, that this isn’t going to last. Sure enough, Season Five was the last season,

Come on! Spike was the best thing that happened to Season Five! (Besides Masked Luchadores!)

Not only did Angel get its best ratings...EVER! (Thanks to Spike ...and masked luchadores!)

But it got its most memorable oneliners... EVER! (Thanks to Spike ...and an Italian Woman with huge Bosoms!)

I mean, who could forget... "You're a... You're a bloody puppet!"

Anyways...

I always thought that Angel's story engine was... "Nobody gets out of here alive!"
I mean, they killed everyone! By the end of the series, the only characters that were alive were Lorne and Connor. Everyone else was dead or in the process of dying (like Gunn).

Honestly, I loved that series. I think it was better than Buffy in many, many ways! ...but the order of the day was "there are no happy endings". Even characters that somehow "got away" like Cordelia & Lindsey, were brought back so that they could be "killed proper!"

But apparently canon decided not to go that way with interpreting the prophesy.

And then Christian Kane, Julie Benz, and Juliet Landau became unavailable for the S2 finale, the narrative detoured into the enjoyable-but-frivolous Pylea arc, the Wes/Fred/Gunn triangle popped up, Connor derailed the Holtz story, and Saint Cordy developed. Suddenly, the personal stories became mythic ones that didn't always match the persons, and the engine stalled out. Once Cordy becomes fixed and perfect, then why is she still there? If Angel always has the moral high ground and can be broken and repaired at will, then what's the point? Only Wes seemed to be adhering to the themes, to the point where he essentially took over the show for a season and a half.

By S4, the vehicle had stopped. S4 itself wasn't half bad in the middle -- "Spin the Bottle" was good, "Apocalypse Nowish" was epic, "Habeus Corpses" was the series' best zombie story, and the Angelus and Faith trilogies were often outstanding -- but besides being a neat riff on 24, the series now didn't have much of a point. At the end, Wes's redemption arc just sort of faded away, Cordy was the flamingest wreckage of the entire Buffyverse, and Angel was a tourist in his own show.

But then came "Home." FINALLY personalizing Angel's struggles with Connor, the themes suddenly reappeared. Lilah's gifts regrounded the supporting cast, and S5 almost copies S1 -- broken people trying to fix themselves in an environment non-condusive to repair, two call-backs to "Hero" ("You're Welcome" and "A Hole in the World"), and a Shanshu finale -- with the added twists of Spike, Illyria, a suddenly-welcome Connor, and the resumption of Wesley's redemption. If "Not Fade Away"'s ending proved anything, it's that the engine still had spark even if they weren't going to drive it.

It's interesting to me that AtS went downhill almost precisely concurrent with BtVS's intrusion on its themes. The episode where the writers started losing the Fang Gang, "Offspring," aired the day before the episode where the Scoobies began breaking in line with AtS S1, "Once More With Feeling." And the last AtS-themed episode of BtVS, "Touched," aired the day before AtS rediscovered itself in "Home." It seems to me that AtS's problem was that it had a parent series in need of a theme and AtS had a nifty one all polished up, and while BtVS was dealing with that theme, AtS had to find something else to do. Appropriately, ANGEL sacrificed itself for BUFFY, then couldn't save itself from the wrath of the Powers That Dubya-Be.

Season one was lumpy, but I liked it well enough. Two was excellent. Three, aside from Wesley's character arc (Wesley is probably the most well-developed character in the Buffyverse), was pants. Four had its moments, but on the whole, I didn't like it-- plus they had to shoehorn in yet another demon pregnancy, and they ended up breaking the story engine so badly they had to dump Cordelia, nix Connor (well, I didn't mind nixing Connor), and completely invert the status quo.

And you know what? Season five was AWESOME. Maybe one or two naff episodes, but it pretty much rocked-- Spike was Spike, Illyria was fascinating, and the last moments of the finale were so perfect, I never wanted to see these characters ever again. And so I haven't bothered with After the Fall.

I'm wondering if I should buy s3 and 4 just to complete the set, as I've got 1, 2, and 5, but... I dunno.

My favorite season was the first half of 5 until they realized that they had to wrap things up by the end of the year and they had lots of dangling plotlines to handle. Had they been given a sixth season, the Lindsay storyline could have lasted a little longer and the Illyria storyline should have closed out the season, probably ending with Fred's transformation. Some development could have been given to the Circle of the Black Thorn storyline, which should then have been the focus of Season 6; the seduction of Angel by the most evil of evils, whereby he alienates his closest friends, ultimately resulting in his reconciliation with them and his redemption, perhaps through the Shanshu prophecy.

I liked Connor. He was a great villain, in a Dr. Smith sort of way. A villain that Angel should be able to beat, but can't because it is his son. He can be dropped to the bottom of the ocean, but he can't ever fully turn away from his son.

I also liked those two seasons because they were written so smart. People made bad decisions for great reasons. Wesley in particular had evolved from a joke to a very complex character.

I actually found season 2 the weakest. I like the idea on paper of Angel becoming evil in a non-Angelious sort of way, but it just didn't click for me. I find myself bored during those episodes and waiting for him to reunite with his gang.

I do agree Spike didn't gel well with the show for a while. It took ages to find the place for a neutered Spike, until they really got into the two vampires as fighting family.