![]() | Starring: David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter Format: Box set PAL Widescreen Released: 21 Feb 2005 RRP: Average Rating: ![]() |



The potential for this season was off the scale, but not only does it fail to deliver in the first half a dozen episodes, it also fails to deliver consistently throughout the season- only brief glimpses of brilliance occasionallly hint at what could have been. IF ONLY there had been another season! But perhaps it’s best to end it here before it shrinks too deeply into the shadow of Season 3. It’s not just the lack of humour, warmth, spark or solidarity in Team Angel that’s a disappointment here, it’s the transformation of these characters from what was familiar & from those people I'd come to know & love in 4 years of loyal viewing & into something much less aspirational & a lot more human.
In previous seasons of ‘Angel’ I was often left wondering why creator Joss Whedon felt it necessary to fix a formula that I never thought was broken in the first place with radical location & character changes & similarly, I was also left wondering why at the end of Season 4 (and Lilah’s extraordinary proposition) Whedon decided to mix things up to such a degree. But what I realise now is that ‘home’ for Team-Angel is wherever they happen to be, as long as they’re together (corny, but true) & this season proved to me to be no exception. But while they’re still together, fighting evil & making the world a safer place in the process…it’s inescapable that they HAVE sold out & in the fifth & final season of ‘Angel’ I was never quite convinced that that was possible, let alone the basis for an entire season. The makers also struggle considerably with the tone of many of the episodes, too often descending into science-fiction & horror territory for my liking & moving away from the fantasy aspect of the show that had proved such a huge success in previous seasons. And after so much hype (as far exceeding its counterpart ‘Buffy’ in its attempt to conclude the story of these characters who we’d journeyed with for so long) ‘Don’t Fade Away’ was an extreme disappointment to me, not just leaving me bewildered, but also a little angry (in much the same way as the last episode of 'Farscape' had a couple of years ago) & feeling that somehow, as an avid & devoted follower of the programme…I deserved more. Having watched as much fantasy & science-fiction as I have I'm quite accustomed to being left in the dark & never learning the answers to many questions posed in regards to character & story, even after years of loyal viewing, but with 'Angel' being left so ignorant & about so much just didn't ring true for me.
However, this season is by no means a wash-out & however many gripes I might have with the central theme of the season, there were more than a handful of moments when my head, my heart & my funny bone were each stimulated way beyond their previous thresholds, or more accurately… moments when I was scratching my head like a madman, crying like a baby & howling with laughter, but always in appreciation of an exceptional example of television.


I watched this season on Sky from beginning to end- hoping it would get better. Instead each episode only proved more & more how far the standards for 'Angel' had slipped down. Obvioulsy i am not alone of this opinon, if this was not true, the show would never have been cancelled.
One of the main problems for this season was that there was no story arc which spanned across alll 22 episodes & held everything together. As a result characters acted out of character & spent their time sitting around staring at the wallls of Wolfram + Hart & wondering like the viewers if anything would ever happen.
Another problem was the axing of principle characters Cordelia & Connor. Getting rid of Cordelia was a big mistake as she gave light & humour to an overalll dark tv series as well as the character of Angel himself. Bringing in Spike as a replacement was no substitute. While with Connor - so many possibilities left unexplored!
In my opinion, it seems this season has been getting overalll good reviews only because the show was axed but this is not a good enough reason which is why i have wrote this review in the first place.
Save your money & buy Joss Whedon's 'Firefly' instead or if you have to watch this season- rent it first & then decide for yourself if you still want to buy it.
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