September 2005

Angel must leave Buffy to keep the two of them from getting “fleshy” again and keep Angelus at bay. Still atoning for his wrongs, he moves to L.A., a town close enough to the Hellmouth to find all kinds of nasty little creatures to beat and plenty of the helpless to help. A spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel tries it on his own with a little help from a few cast members from Buffy and some new ones too. Still looking for his purpose, Angel sets off to save L.A. from the bad guys and help those who are not capable of defending themselves.

Angel Season One
Custom Rating

Angel must leave Buffy to keep the two of them from getting “fleshy” again and keep Angelus at bay. Still atoning for his wrongs, he moves to L.A., a town close enough to the Hellmouth to find all kinds of nasty little creatures to beat and plenty of the helpless to help. A spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel tries it on his own with a little help from a few cast members from Buffy and some new ones too. Still looking for his purpose, Angel sets off to save L.A. from the bad guys and help those who are not capable of defending themselves.

Plot: Angel moves to L.A. to fight the good fight. Wolfram & Hart is a law firm that plays a major role in all evil that goes on and protects the demons and monsters that create it. Angel enlists the help of Cordelia, Doyle, Wesley, and Gunn along his path of redemption and earning his humanity back. Angel had been defined by Buffy, the creators of the show decided to give him a shot on his own and he grew with the writers with each episode defining his path and future.

Characters:

Angel:(David Boreanaz) A tall dark and brooding 244-year-old vampire out to save mankind and gain his humanity.

Doyle:(Glenn Quinn) Angel’s link to The Powers That Be. A half-man, half-demon spiritual guide.

Cordelia:(Charisma Carpenter) A character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer who experiences a great deal of growth and understanding about her purpose in life. No longer the selfish and vein girl she was before, Cordelia finds that she wants to help Angel on his quest.

Wesley:(Alexis Denisof) Another crossover from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after Wesley is canned from the council he becomes a rogue demon hunter and ends up in Angel’s backyard. With no where to go and no one to turn to he fits right in with Angels crew and starts fighting the good fight by Angel and Cordy’s side.

Kate:(Elisabeth Röhm) An annoying and self-pitying character indeed. She is an L.A. police detective who takes a great deal of undeserved anger out on Angel. Most annoying character in the show.

Gunn:(J. August Richards) He is a streetwise slayer who has taught himself to fight and battle the evils that exist in L.A. Gunn helps Angel save his closest friends in the season finale and joins the team.

Lindsey:(Christian Kane) A squirmy little lawyer who works for the evil firm of Wolfram & Hart. Angel has many disputes with Lindsey throughout the season.

In The Beginning

Crossovers:
Buffy(Sarah Michelle Gellar)
Spike(James Marsters)
Oz(Seth Green)
Faith(Eliza Dushku)
Darla(Julie Benz)

Episodes:
Disc 1
City of…

Angel moves to the City of Angels, not sure of his true function there until he meets his link to The Powers, Doyle. Doyle, half-man and half-demon, gets visions that show people in danger and Angel ventures out to rescue them. He leads Angel to Russell Winters, a powerful vampire who feeds on young lonely women who have no links to family or friends. Russell screws up and tries to prey on Cordelia; Angel sets into motion to save her and in the process starts his path to redemption. Cordy and Doyle helps Angel and they start Angel Investigations together.

Lonely Hearts

Doyle gets a new vision that leads Angel on a search for a parasite that invades bodies and leaves a trail of corpses behind. He starts off in a bar called D’Oblique where he meets Kate, a L.A. police detective, who he initially bonds with, but finds that there is a huge trust factor that will keep them from ever being friends. Doyle and Cordelia get closer in their research for the true identity of the demon.

In the Dark

This episode has the first crossovers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oz shows up with a ring of life for Angel. It’s a jewel that will allow him to go out in the light. Spike appears and tortures Angel for the where abouts of the ring. Cordy and Doyle hunts for the ring to make a trade with Spike so they can’t get Angel back. Oz helps in Angel’s rescue and Angel destroys the ring, leaving Spike running back to Sunnydale with his tail between his legs.

Kate

I Fall to Pieces

A creepy peeping tom is able to disconnect his appendages to terrorize an innocent woman. Angel and the crew separates this perv from all his parts in metal boxes, keeping him from bothering anybody ever again.

Disc 2
Room With A View

Cordelia is chased out of her old apartment by roaches and Doyle helps her find the “perfect” place. Her new apartment his haunted by an evil old woman who terrorizes her and preys on her weakness. Cordy almost falls for not being good enough to have such a wonderful place and gives up until Angel and Doyle steps in to help her and remind her of who she really is, a bitch. Cordy fights back and finds the truth behind this evil old woman, she had killed her son and haunts the place to keep him from getting out. When the curse is lifted, Cordy finds herself in a beautiful new apartment and has an invisible roommate who’s friendly and easy to get along with.

Sense and Sensitivity

Kate beats up on a bad guy and is forced, along with the rest of her fellow police officers, to enroll in sensitivity training. A set up by Wolfram & Heart to protect their evil client, the sensitivity training goes wrong and the emotions get the best of Kate the police officers causing chaos and death. Angel and Doyle figure out the set up just in time to clear up any true crimes and death.

The Bachelor Party

Doyle’s x-wife shows up with her half-demon, half-human fiancé. She asks for a divorce and her fiancé invites Doyle to his bachelor party, he wants to eat Doyle’s brains to put a blessing on their ceremony.

Wesley

I Will Remember You

Buffy shows up and Angel becomes human for a night. He mixes blood with a demon that has the power to regenerate giving Angel a moment with Buffy. Angel must go to The Oracles to see what Doyle’s new vision means and they explain a major event coming and lets Angel know that all will die if he’s not there to stop it. He asks them to set time back and erase everybody’s memories of him being human. The only one who remembers this moment is Angel and he must live with that memory forever knowing that Buffy will never remember the night they spent together as living breathing humans.

Disc 3
Hero

Doyle accepts his demon side and helps a group of half-breeds survive The Scourge, a Nazi-like group that kills any creature that is not full demon. Cordelia finds out Doyle’s secret of being part demon and still loves him no matter what he is. Doyle gives Cordy a final kiss passing on his visions and sacrifices himself to stop the deaths of the half-breeds, Angel and Cordelia.

Parting Gifts

Angel returns to The Oracles to request another turn back in time to save Doyle’s life, the reject him and explain that there is a new link with visions. Cordy finds out that Doyle has passed on his gift, a direct link to The Powers That Be. Wesley appears as a rogue demon hunter and joins the team.

Somnambulist

Angel fears that he is murdering girls in his sleep, but finds out it’s a boy that he had turned years ago. Kate sees what Angel really is and can’t forgive him for showing her the truth about what evils lurk in the dark. Ben, the puritan, who is reliving his first years of being a vampire just to get under Angels skin, is destroyed in the end.

Special Features included on this disc are a featurette of season 1, art gallery and biographies of the cast.

Disc 4
Expecting

Cordy thinks she found herself a nice rich young man, she invites him in for a night of comforting and awakes 8 months pregnant. She has a short amount of time before she gives birth to an army of demon children that will kill her in the process. Angel and Wesley fight against the clock to save Cordy and kill this monstrous demon.

She

Jhiera, a female demon, is trying to protect her kind from destruction. She fights with Angel until he realizes she means no harm to anybody and only wants to protect what is left of her family.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

It’s like a T.V. version of The Exorcist. A boy is possessed by an evil demon and it’s up to Angel, Wesley and Cordelia to destroy the demon and save the boy and his family. After they expel the demon, the truth comes out, the child is more evil than any demon that could possess him, and he has no soul.

The Prodigal

This episode mixes Angels altercations with his father from the past and Kate’s differences with her father now. Kate’s dad is involved with drug trafficking to demons. She finds out too late and blames Angel for his death. Angel is clearly innocent, but Kate looks for someone to blame for all the evil that exists in the world. Throughout the episode Angel confronts memories of his father and killing his family and Darla, the one who turned him.

Faith

Disc 5
The Ring

Angel is set up for a kidnapping and forced to fight in a ring to the death with other demons. He has no interest in killing for sport, but is forced into it by Wolfram and Hart. Cordelia and Wesley come to the rescue, but Angel isn’t quite the same.

Eternity

Angel saves an Actress and in return she request his help with a stalker. Later she finds out it is all a set up for publicity to help her get a role in a film, but she is too old for the role and is turned down. She finds out what Angel is and tries to set him up to turn her into a vampire too, but Cordy stops her just in time.

Five By Five

Wolfram & Heart hires Faith to kill Angel. Angel takes down one of their clients and they are looking for a little revenge, it backfires and Faith ends up looking for Angel’s help in the end.

Sanctuary

Buffy shows up to make Faith pay for all the wrong has done and finds Angel helping her, not surprising Buffy is pissed and takes it out on both of them. Angel offers faith Sanctuary and a helping hand and tells Buffy to leave his town and never return again. Faith turns herself in to the authorities and goes to prison.

Disc 6
War Zone

While retrieving pictures for a rich, geeky software designer, Angel comes across a group of street-kids who have taken up vampire slaying. The leader, Gunn, is a hardheaded young man who doesn’t want to take any advice. Angel tries to explain to him that he is only going to get everybody killed if they keep trying to battle the vampires and demons roaming the streets. Gunn tries to explain to him that street-life is hard and he must train these kids to protect themselves and their families. Later on Angel offers up help to Gunn, but he refuses and Angel proceeds to explain that he himself might need Gunn’s help someday.

Gunn

Blind Date

A client of Wolfram & Hart has just murdered a man and Angel is shocked to find out that she is blind. Her purpose for being in town is to kill 3 children who are seers and can help The Powers That Be. Lindsey, a lawyer at Wolfram & Hart, gets a guilty conscience and tips Angel off about their planned death and how to stop her.

To Shanshu in L.A.

Wolfram & Hart, in an effort to bring down Angel, causes Cordelia to see all the pain in the world at one time putting her into a comma. Angel is distracted long enough for the law firm to perform a ritual to bring Darla back to turn Angel to evil before the prophecy is fulfilled. Wesley reads the scroll that Angel has stolen from Wolfram & Hart and finds the prophecy to read that The Powers That Be will make Angel human again. Angel goes after Wolfram & Hart to release Cordy from her comma and we are left with an end that can only be solved in season 2.

Special Features included on this disc are 3 featurettes, “Introducing Angel”, “I’m Cordelia” and “The Demons”.

Overall Angel Season One maybe weak in comparison to the events that are still to come but makes a great intro into the dark streets of L.A. The first season of Angel gets the audience excited about what evil Wolfram & Hart can create with a cliffhanger to keep you guessing. Why did they bring her back and why did they bring her back in human form? Wolfram & Hart is out to get Angel in one way or another, but nobody’s sure if they are trying to destroy him or turn him evil and have Angelus work for the firm. There is enough back story with Angel that a new comer can catch on, but it will be a little slow at first with the handful of crossovers, you may want to catch up on who is who and what role they play or have played. Angel is one dark handsome vampire that may walk the earth for eternity, because fans will never let him die and after the end of the series they are still trying for his return.

To each generation a slayer his born, a chosen one who has both strength and courage to conquer all evil, forever having the fait of being alone and friendless, unless your Buffy. Season one is a T.V. series continuing from first time screenwriter’s, Joss Whedon, effort of a mainstream film, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The series, only being 12 episodes long from a mid-season crunch for The WB, comes off a little unsure of its staying power, provides an all-inclusive season without a cliffhanger. Joss provides us with an inside look at the trials and tribulations of teenage life on the Hellmouth. Introducing the characters right out of the gate, each episode shows the “Scooby Gang” getting closer and stronger as a paranormal crime fighting team.

Buffy Season One
Custom Rating

To each generation a slayer his born, a chosen one who has both strength and courage to conquer all evil, forever having the fait of being alone and friendless, unless your Buffy. Season one is a T.V. series continuing from first time screenwriter’s, Joss Whedon, effort of a mainstream film, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The series, only being 12 episodes long from a mid-season crunch for The WB, comes off a little unsure of its staying power, provides an all-inclusive season without a cliffhanger. Joss provides us with an inside look at the trials and tribulations of teenage life on the Hellmouth. Introducing the characters right out of the gate, each episode shows the “Scooby Gang” getting closer and stronger as a paranormal crime fighting team.

Plot: A teenage slayer, Buffy Summers, carries the wellbeing and safety of all inhabitants of Sunnydale on her shoulders. She must fight the evils of the world and underworld to keep all her friends safe and still try to get an A in her Geometry class. Buffy accomplishes her fait with the help of the “Scooby Gang” (Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, and Cordelia Chase) and her “Watcher” (Rupert Giles), the gang and her grow stronger with each monster they battle.

The Gang

Characters:

Buffy:(Sarah Michelle Gellar) The chosen one, the slayer, but still a teenage girl who wants to be normal and date like any other girl in her school. She’s not too quick with book smarts, but has a mouth like a whip and a questionable fashion sense.

Angel:(David Boreanaz) A 250-year-old vampire who is dark and brooding and starts out as a mysterious guy who gives Buffy little bits of advice to lead her along her dark path. Later on in the season the truth comes out about Angel’s life and his feeling for Buffy.

Giles:(Anthony Head) The “watcher”, Buffy’s trainer, teacher and coach; he keeps her in line and helps her understand her path. Gile’s cover is a librarian for Sunnydale High. Right from the beginning of the season Giles acts like a father figure for Buffy.

Xander:(Nicholas Brendon) Sensitive, unsure, comical relief guy, who always gets himself in some form of trouble. He has serious self-confidence issues and covers up his shortcomings with witty comments and jokes. Xander spends the season crushing on Buffy and oblivious to Willows feeling towards him.

Willow:(Alyson Hannigan) Nerdy computer girl, whose hacking skills add great assistance to the Scooby Gang. She is always looking for romance in all the wrong places and desperately wants to be noticed, but hides in Buffy’s shadow most of the time. Xander and her have been best friends since childhood and her feelings towards him have become less friendly and more romantic.

Cordelia:(Charisma Carpenter) Cliquish and snobby through and through, Cordy only thinks of herself and goes through her days completely oblivious to the real dangers that are complexing the students of Sunnydale High. She doesn’t see the monsters around her until the end of the season, when one of them comes after her and all her friends. She plays a significant role in the show, but a small one in the Scooby Gang during the first season.

The Master:(Mark Metcalf) Lead bad guy, but he only appears on and off throughout the season. He wants to kill Buffy, escape his mystical jail and rule Sunnydale, this makes him a pretty simple and flat lead bad guy and since he never does any of the fighting himself and only sent minions to do his evil bidding then he’s not really that evil.

Darla:(Julie Benz) Angel’s maker, the two spent centuries together and when Angel got his soul she left him. Darla plays The Master’s right hand (wo)man, but gets a stake through the heart halfway through the season.

Miss. Calendar:(Robia LaMorte) Computer teacher and Giles love interest. She plays a big part in season two.

Joyce Summers:(Kristine Sutherland) Buffy’s there sometimes and not other times, mom.

Buffy’s First Day

Episodes:
Welcome to the Hellmouth

Buffy continues with a transfer from a school, which she burned down in the original film. Meeting Xander a skater and dork first, then Cordelia snobbish click leader and Willow nerd girl. Yummy, running into Angel was quite a treat and The Master yuk gross. Willow really never could dress and Xander stays the comic relief no matter what. Angel is always suave and smooth. Then she meets Giles, the British uptight watcher/librarian. She doesn’t want to listen to Giles, at first, she doesn’t’ want to be the slayer, but he convinces her that this is her talent and her birthright and she must.

Buffy, suspicious of a student’s death, she finds herself checking his neck and returning to Giles for help and further training to start her role as the protector of Sunnydale. Xander over hears their conversation and the Scooby Gang are assembled quickly and the group starts slaying.

The Bronze being hangout central and cool bands with coffee and non-alcoholic beverages. Willow instantly finds herself as dinner and Buffy comes to the rescue. The Master wants to escape his mystical jail and it’s up to Buffy to keep him in his place.

We meet Darla right out of the gates and the introduction to the Harvest begins.

The Harvest

The Scooby Gang is in full force talking in the library about vampires and demons. Enter the world of computers and Willow’s strongest contribution to the gang. The Master still wants out and Buffy is the key, he sends his minions off to have a little dinner at The Bronze and strengthen his abilities to escape. All goes wrong when Buffy shows up and stops The Harvest. Angel helps out with cryptic messages, but keeps his distance in fights.

The Witch

This episode shows us the implications of how much pressure parents can put on their kids. Buffy tries out for the cheerleading squad and becomes second alternate and soon finds herself under the curse of a witch. Amy’s mom takes over her body to relive her glory days as the queen of Sunnydale High’s cheerleading squad. The gang gathers their resources and Giles reverses the spell.

Teacher’s Pet

Xander dreams of being a rock star and Buffy’s hero. Buffy’s favorite teacher becomes lunch for a female preying mantis and Xander is kidnapped for mating purposes. Angel accidentally throws Buffy off track with some new bad guys in town. Buffy figures out what the new substitute teacher really is, kills the bad guys and saves the day.

Angel

Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Buffy shows that she still is a teenage girl and wants a normal life, she tries to date and it, of course, fails. The Master is trying to escape, yet again, by bringing the anointed one to town. Buffy thinks that she has killed the anointed one, but doesn’t know she got the wrong guy. She finds out that she isn’t capable of having a normal teenage dating life and starts to go all warm inside for Angel. Xander starts to show some jealousy and crushing on Buffy and Angel shows jealousy when he runs into her and her date at The Bronze.

The Pack

The Pack gives insight on the need to be accepted and the negative implications of teenage cliques. While on a field trip to the zoo, Xander and a mean clique of kids get possessed my hyenas. The group starts to prey on the emotions of students at Sunnydale High and moves onto attacking and eating the principle. Buffy and Willow, finding Xander’s change in personality weird, gets Giles in on a little research and finds the solution.

Angel

Darla shows back up to stir up trouble for Angel. Willow is still crushing on Xander. Angel finally comes out of the shadows to help Buffy in fighting the 3 who has been sent by The Master to kill her. Angel and Buffy kiss, he sleeps on her floor, she finds out he is a vampire and wigs out. Darla bites her mom, Angel is left holding the evidence, Buffy blames him and then goes after Angel to ultimately kill him. She couldn’t kill him and he couldn’t bite her, Darla shows up with guns a blazing and Buffy finds out the truth about Angel’s curse. Angel has a soul, because he killed a treasured gypsy clan member. Darla is dusted and Buffy is in love with Angel.

I, Robot…You, Jane

Willow shows her need for love and romance from the opposite sex by falling for an internet buddy. Some insight on the problems with trusting online dating. Demon possesses school’s computers and charms Willow to turn himself back into corporeal form. Miss Calendar shows herself as a trusted new member of the Scooby Gang with her online witch coven and Giles fins her attractive. Buffy, with the help of Miss. Calendar, Xander and Giles, saves Willow in the nick of time.

The Puppet Show

A wooden puppet is a demon fighter, but misunderstood for a form of Chucky, the evil little doll who wants to be human.

Nightmares

The Scooby Gang and all of Sunnydale are introduced to their worse nightmares. A little boy was beat up after a little league game and put into a comma. He is in a permanent state of nightmare and escapes into the real world, bringing his curse with him. Xander finds himself naked in front of the class; Willow is supposed to sing first soprano opera, Giles forgets how to read and Buffy becomes a vampire. Buffy fights the ugly man who beat the boy and helps release him from his nightmares in time to save Sunnydale from theirs.

Out Of Mind, Out of Sight

A girl is ignored over and over again until she literally becomes invisible. Angry and scorned, invisible girl takes her revenge on everybody who ignored her. Cordelia being the meanest of them all, gets hit the hardest. All her friends find themselves in harms way and she herself goes blind and then finally in a chair for an unwanted face lift. Buffy comes through again, to put invisible girl in her place and sends her off with the FBI. Cordelia wakes up to all the bad things that has been going on around her and ultimately joins the Scooby Gang.

The Scooby Gang computes

Prophecy Girl

This episode really shows Buffy’s hero side and the strength that the Scooby Gang contributes to the overall picture. Master tries to rise. Xander asks Buffy out and gets his heart broken. Angel steps forth as a true love interest. Willow and Cordelia finds a room full of dead students. Buffy goes down to face The Master and gets herself killed. Xander saves Buffy. The Scooby Gang faces off with a giant demon from the opening of the Hellmouth in the library. Buffy kills The Master. The whole gang dances in the end.

 

Overall season one is well written T.V. series that provides a great introduction to all the characters and enough interest to keep us coming back for more. It’s the lightest season of the series and most family friendly, as the other seasons start adding up so does the blood, sex, and mayhem. I don’t think anybody would have suspected that it would be the beginning of six more seasons for Buffy and five seasons for the show’s spin-off Angel, that is 9-years of vampire, demon and paranormal mystery solving.