Review: ANGEL (Season 1, Episodes 9 to Finale)

Angel
Season 1, Episode 9 to Season Finale
Starring David Boreanaz.
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: dvd box set

About Angel:

At the start of the series, Angel has just moved to Los Angeles. He is soon visited by Doyle, a messenger sent to him on behalf of The Powers That Be. Doyle receives visions that can guide Angel on his mission as a champion of humankind. Angel also encounters Cordelia Chase, who is trying to launch an acting career. The three group together to form Angel Investigations, a detective agency that hopes to "help the helpless." When Doyle dies in the episode "Hero", he passes on his 'visions' to Cordelia with a kiss. Shortly thereafter, the ex-Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, joins the group. Meanwhile, the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart pay increasing attention to Angel. They tempt him toward darkness when they resurrect Darla, Angel's ex-lover and sire — killed by Angel in the first season of Buffy in the episode "Angel".

Source: Info in the About Angel was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_%28TV_series%29 on 25/02/2013.

Review:

I bought the 5 Seasons Angel dvd box set originally because I wanted more David Boreanaz goodness having been addicted to his Special Agent Seeley Booth character in the Bones TV show. At first I wasn't too keen on his Angel persona. But after Season 1, I was a convert. The Season still ended in a cliffhanger, of course, but I got 4 more Seasons to go! Yay for me!! So the disappointment is deterred for another day. It is still very obvious though that this show was filmed during the times before sophisticated 3D computer animation was widely used in television. Because I could distinctly see the difference. In what I could only term as "smoothness" in the blending of elements in the show, or transition from scene to scene or whatever, in television now-a-days. The absence of this "smoothness" is sometimes quite distinct in the Angel show at times. I think this "smoothness" is quite important specially in a fantasy show because it plays an important role in being extra convincing that the supernatural elements in the show is authentic and not plastic props. Helps the audience forget the props and therefore adds to the enjoyment in the watching experience. But then again we have to remember that this show was filmed more than ten years ago. We have to be fair and give them credit for a good job without the advanced technology that film-making enjoys now-a-days... I still have questions about the world building though but I am now willing to put those issues in the back burner for the pleasurable few hours that an Angel show offers!

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 4
Acting = 4
Character development = 3
Story itself = 4
World building = 4
Attention to details = 3.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries