Angel - Season Two

Rating:
Summary: Very good season.. 4 1/2 stars
Review: I never managed to catch Angel while it was on television. However, I have been watching the show season per season on the DVD sets. After the first season of Angel, my doubts of Angel not being a success were put to rest. Now I have only seen the first four seasons of the show. But based on what I have seen, even though the second season was very good it is actually my least favorite season of the show. The storyline of season two moved somewhat slowly because of the neverending series of flashbacks into Angel's life. It was necessary to show some backstory on Angel's life as Angelus, but the writers went overboard.

However, the positives far outweigh the negatives in the second season. The core group of characters was only helped by adding Charles Gunn to the mix, the evil lawfirm of Wolfram and Hart was expanded on and involved much more in the story than in season one, and Julie Benz did such an amazing job as Darla that it was most unreal. One of the best things to come out of season two was the introduction of a demon named Lorne who is able to read a person's soul by listening to them sing. Lorne definately helped to make season two an enjoyable one and he has slowly become one of my favorite characters. Perhaps the thing that suprised me most of all, was how much I enjoyed the end of the season. The idea of sending the characters off to Lorne's home dimension of Pylea to rescue Cordelia after she is sucked through a portal is definately out of left field. But the writers handled it suprisingly well and manage to supply a fitting end to the season.

A few episodes worth mentioning are "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" in which we learn about how Angel is connected to the group's new basis of operations the Hyperion Hotel, "Guise Will Be Guise" in which Wesley is forced to impersonate Angel to protect the daughter of a client, "Reunion" in which Drusilla returns and Darla and Drusilla team up to massacre the people of Los Angeles, and "Disharmony" in which Harmony visits and Cordelia has no idea she is a vampire.

While season two of Angel is my least favorite of the show, it is still a very good season filled with some really great episodes. This is definately a must own for any fans of the show, and the extras only make the DVD set that much better.

A solid 4 1/2 stars...

Rating:
Summary: Great second season! Much darker.
Review: ANGEL SEASON TWO

regular cast:
David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, Alexis Denisof, J. August Richards.

season plot summary:
Angel Investigations has moved to the Hyperion Hotel and is joined by street vampire hunter Charles Gunn (J. August Richards). The team also recieves help from Lorne (Andy Hallet), a demon who can read people's fortunes when they sing. Angel goes down a dark path when he realizes Darla (Julie Benz), a vampire that he has spent 150 years enjoying murder and sex with, has been resurrected by Wolfram & Hart.

Also, later on in the season, the gang travels to the dimension Pylea to save a girl named Fred (Amy Acker) who Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) saw in a vision.

review:
This season turned the show a lot darker, introduced some more important characters, and started a story arc that continues on until the end of the series.

This season has two of the best vampire villains ever: Darla and Drusilla (Juliet Landau), who are from Angel's past. This also has a fun but less dark story arc about Lorne's home dimension Pylea, where humans are sold into slavery.

To me, this is the third best season out of 5.