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Since I watched the Buffy series, I figured I might as well just delve into all things Joss Whedon, and decided to check out Angel, especially since half the characters from Buffy ended up over on that show. Angel came out a few years into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Once it was established that Buffy and Angel were meant to be together but couldn't because bad things happened when they were near each other, Angel (vampire) ended up moving to Los Angeles and starting up a business of fighting evil. He met up with Cordelia, a high school classmate of Buffy's, and eventually teamed up with Westley (formerly on Buffy as well), Gunn, Lorne, and Fred.

When I first started watching this series, my first thought was wondering how it made it past its first season. It wasn't all that amazing, and didn't really find its groove for a while. I didn't care at all for the lady detective friend/foe storyline, and the show felt too serious. I was really happy to see Glenn Quinn, though, who I loved from Roseanne, although when I looked him up I was sad to find out that this show was the last thing he did because he overdosed and died. So unfortunately, he didn't get to return to the series, and he was one of the strongest parts of it at the beginning.

Thankfully, as it continued, things got stronger. The introduction of more characters lightened things up, and the show felt more focused. I absolutely loved the addition of Lorne, played by the late Andy Hallett, whose singing and backstory gave the show the kick it needed. And who couldn't love Amy Acker when she was introduced? My biggest surprise was when James Marsters joined the show, because I had no idea that his character Spike had a future after the end of Buffy. That sealed the deal for me. Oh, and Skip was one of the nicest touches too.

Just like on Buffy, though, some of the key decisions for the main characters irritated the heck out of me. Whedon must love leaving the viewers unfulfilled, because the favorite characters mostly either die or suffer unrequited love. And as the Cordelia storyline went way out into left field with Connor, the misery of all the characters got to me after a while. It didn't bother me so much in Buffy that as the characters got closer to the end of the world (again), things got darker. But here there were wasn't a lot of relief towards the end of the show, and some of the melodrama got a little too heavy. And I thought it was a little lame how often they teased about Buffy possibly being in the show (last couple seasons) and then never actually showing up in it.

In the end, though, I was absolutely entertained, and it was tough for me to press the stop button, especially since I wasn't working at the time when I watched it and could stay up as late as I wanted. While it drove me crazy some of the time, it made me laugh a lot and was full of interesting characters, plots, and action that I got into more than I would like to admit. I had a fun time. Thanks to Brendo for letting me borrow his set!