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Though interbreed over intermittently . the show travel along Angel ( David Boreanaz ) , fellow Sunnydale transplants Cordelia Chase ( Charisma Carpenter ) and Wesley Wyndham - Pryce ( Alexis Denisof ) , and a growing shape of new eccentric fight monsters , solve mysteries , and avert the occasional apocalypse .
LikeBuffybefore it , Angelhad a hang for reinvention , and it evolve from a monster - of - the - week procedural to a grim serialized family dramatic event to a workplace dramedy throughout its five seasons . It may not have the same legendary repute , butAngelcould be as thrilling , heartrending , or uproarious asBuffy , and these 10 episodes fend out among the very best the Whedonverse has to offer .
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10. A Hole in the World (season 5, episode 15)
It may be scandalous to some referee to seeA Hole in the Worldlisted so far down our list , but in accuracy , we almost did n’t include it at all . This episode , in which adorable skill whiz Winnifred Burkle ( Amy Acker ) die a dumb , horrible last that gives nascency to newfangled character Illyria ( also Acker ) , is one of the barbarous hour in the history of television , an model of writer - manager Joss Whedon show off his top executive over the interview for his own jollies .
Whedon perfectly loves to “ recoil the puppy , ” to take out the rug out from under his character the moment they find any sorting of repose or happiness , and much like Tara ’s slaying in season 6 ofBuffy , Fred ’s torturous demise only one episode after eventually receive together with Wesley feels like the show ’s Maker pointing and laughing at us for daring to experience hope or joy .
A Hole in the Worldis also undeniably great . Its opening number has the levity and jest of your typical monster - of - the - week episode , quiet the audience into a false sense of security system . Once the post are set , the team ’s determination becomes a loving protection to Fred and her impact on their life . ( Wesley shoot down a Wolfram & Hart staffer in the shin for airily interrupting his research is a great bit . ) But as hope erodes , A Hole in the Worldbecomes a showcase for Acker and Denisof as thespian . Fred ’s deterioration is heartrending to check , not only because of Acker ’s tearful performance , but because of how Denisof plays against it . Wesley wants to put on a brave face for Fred , but as the clock turn tail out , you could see it ’s absolutely killing him to watch her suffer . We are observing the death of a beautiful time to come , in real meter .
9. Orpheus (season 4, episode 18)
It ’s grueling to traverse thatAngel ’s 4th time of year is an uneven mess , in particular since Carpenter went public withher allegationsof abusive behavior by Whedon regarding her maternity . It ’s hard not to read Cordelia ’s possession by the goddess Jasmine , which turns her into the season ’s primary opposer , as a petty retaliation for the shock her family leave of absence would have on the show . Still , the story spark in which Angel ’s demonic persona Angelus breaks slack and wreaks havoc is a series highlighting , even if it ’s snuggle in the midsection of a lot of weirdness . We could have picked any chapter in this six - part story for our inclination , but we ’ll go with the grand finale , Orpheus , in which the despairing Angel Investigations team recruits the only other person who ’s ever restore Angel ’s person — Sunnydale ’s own Willow Rosenberg ( Allyson Hannigan ) .
Of course , Orpheushas more move for it than an exciting guest star , or eventwoexciting guest stars , as vampire slayer Faith ( Eliza Dushku ) is also in the mix for this storyline . The episode ’s A - plot view Angelus and Faith in a shared magical hallucination that has them revisit some of the darkest moments in Angel ’s past , when he was tramp America with a soul , but without purpose . This century - spanning retrospective ends with a one - time - only metaphysical matchup between Angel and Angelus , as they throw down for dominance over their torso and their time to come . It ’s Angelus ’ last show on the show ( except in flashback ) , making it the coming of an internal battle that had been raging since we first satisfy him onBuffy .
8. Conviction (season 5, episode 1)
time of year 5 ofAngelis essentially a whole new show that dally its established action / adventure data formatting with the bones of a legal drama and , to an extent , a workplace comedy . Team Angel ’s mission to “ help the helpless ” is put on hold as it takes the rein of the proudly vicious law house Wolfram & Hart and try , against all betting odds , to use its resource for beneficial . Convictionputs Angel ’s old mission and his new job at cross purposes in a fully grown mode , when one of the firm ’s awful clients threatens to let go a deadly virus if he ’s found guilty in courtroom . The story sees each member of the team work the problem from their own angle , expeditiously reestablish each of their function in the show ’s raw status quo , as well as the internal force they ’ll have to contend with to change the workplace civilization at Wolfram & Hart . For model , where it was once accustomed to , say , massacre a classroom full of children so as to moderate a threat , this is frowned upon by the new direction .
Perhaps the episode ’s coolest twist — cool even than the addition of Spike ( James Marsters ) to the cast — is the revolutionary change in the role of Charles Gunn ( J. August Richards ) on the show . Once the team ’s “ muscle ” and Everyman , Gunn accepts an offer from Wolfram & Hart to have their entire police library download into his head , stimulate him the superintelligent drawing card of their effectual department . It ’s smashing to see Gunn make in a whole Modern lane , but just as interesting to see the ways in which his new skillshaven’tchanged him . He is , essentially , the same guy rope with a young confidence , which becomes tragical when that self-confidence slips away after in the time of year .
7. Five By Five/Sanctuary (season 1, episodes 18 & 19)
Buffy Summers ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) make only two appearances onAngel , and most sports fan might prefer to see the amorous tragedyI Will Remember Youmake our top 10 . But for our money , we find Buffy ’s final sojourn to Los Angeles , in which she and Angel are at odds over the fortune of murderous rogue lamia killer Faith , to be far more interesting . religion come to LA after heat from a coma and hijacking Buffy ’s dead body in a recentBuffy the Vampire Slayerepisode , and accepts a declaration from Wolfram & Hart to assassinate Angel .
Before long , however , it becomes clear that Faith is trying to project herself into being “ evil ” because she believes she deserves to pass . After torturing Wesley , her former witness , Faith goads Angel into a competitiveness and , essentially , attempts “ suicide by cop . ” Angel , who recognizes Faith ’s self-reproach and helplessness from his own aliveness , instead offer her shelter and mentorship . This presents a job when Buffy render up in town to apprehend her , and Angel wo n’t allow it .
Faith is an excellent enhancer for Angel , an opportunity for him to help someone fight back similar ( if not literal ) demons to his own . Faith would re-emerge onAngela few more times , and always seemed more at home base here than onBuffy . But more than that , Sanctuaryis basically the final nail in the coffin for Buffy and Angel ’s romance , as they ’re forced to recognize that they ’ve begin to work up disjoined , uncongenial lives . When he was a suffer character on her show , Angel ’s life could revolve around Buffy . Now , as the leading human beings , he has his own goals , his own crew , and there ’s simply no way for either of them to encounter 2d violin for the other . It make for terrific drama , as well as a serious explanation for why neither of them appears on the other ’s serial publication for a while .
Also , Buffy and Faith fight a helicopter . That alone is enough to secure this episode a place on this inclination .
6. Spin the Bottle (season 4, episode 6)
Nestled into the incredibly grim darkness of time of year 4 is this comedic installment from Joss Whedon in which a magical spell go incorrect reverts the memories of each member of Team Angel to the age of 17 . It ’s an opportunity to estimate just how much these character have rise since we first take on them , and to get a peek into the former liveliness of the ones we have n’t known very long . Cordelia is once again the self - centered holy terror we first fit onBuffy , a far cry from the compassionate , functional adult she ’s become since acquiring her visions . Wesley is even more buffoonish and useless than when he first go far in Sunnydale , the total opposite of his present , grizzle retaliator character . Gunn arguably gets the least interesting alteration , merely becoming more justificatory and mistrustful , but it ’s fun to see Fred as a stoner and a conspiracy freak , and Angel — or should we say Liam — as a man out of time who mistakes auto for screaming metal ogre .
Sure , Whedon himself had already pulled a similar gimmick in theBuffyepisodeTabula Rasa , wiping the Scooby Gang ’s memories and let the cast encounter unlike versions of their character reference , butSpin the Bottleadds an extra dash of nostalgia for longtime sports fan . According to this installment ’s videodisk commentary , the total story was reverse - engineered from the desire to let Denisof dally the comically useless interpretation of Wesley again , which sire so many laughs on set that it in reality prolonged the shot agenda . The stamp is clearly accept a ball with this one , and in a twelvemonth that ’s mostly bummers and straits - scratcher , Spin the Bottleprovides some welcome funny relief .
5. Life of the Party (season 5, episode 5)
Season 5 has a fistful of comedic episodes ( withSmile Timebeing an obvious pick ) , but none of them are as consistently suspect asLife of the Party , pen byThe Tickcreator Ben Edlund . In this instalment , Lorne ( Andy Hallett ) goes overboard in design Wolfram & Hart ’s Halloween bash , which ends up receive a death toll . Lorne is the member of Team Angel who was the most natural fit at W&H as the head of the amusement division . He ’s a schmoozer , a the great unwashed - pleaser , and a demon who does his best to hold judgment on the citizenry with whom he work .
So , when Angel ’s do - gooder reputation jeopardizes the firm ’s biggest public event of the year , Lorne implores him to extend an olive ramification to some of LA ’s vicious elite . Meanwhile , Lorne ’s workload has gotten so indefensible that he ’s resorted to get his sleep removed , which has some unexpected side effects . mirthfulness ensues .
Life of the Partymakes tremendous use of the total ensemble , as Lorne ’s raw power to compose fortunes rather than read them puts the respite of Team Angel into compromise situations that have them play against eccentric . Wesley and Fred get stupid drunk , Angel and Eve ( Sarah Thompson ) answer their sexual latent hostility on the part floor , Gunn keep peeing everywhere , and Lorne ’s subconscious frustrations have manifested physically into a big , murdering muscle-builder . What ’s not to care ? Even more than the gimmickySmile Timeand its Muppet mayhem , spirit of the Partyis the quintessential “ workplace comedy ” episode ofAngel , and we like the serial had play long enough to grow a mass more of them .
4. Waiting in the Wings (season 3, episode 13)
Compared to coincident showsBuffyandFirefly , Whedon has relatively few writing or directing credits onAngel . Before take over as showrunner in season 5 , only a smattering of episodes received his personal stamp , and even these tended to be less experimental or groundbreaking than theBuffyepisodes that bore his name . Waiting in the Wings , however , is Whedon through and through , a data formatting - breaking hr in which the gang from Angel Investigations gets dolled up for a night at the concert dance .
There , sparks fly between the squad ’s various will they or wo n’t they partner off as they are swept up in both the rousing emotion of classical dance and , of grade , a magical mystery . As it happens , this concert dance company has been undone in meter , and its prima ballerina ( Summer Glau ) is squeeze to repeat her performance forever for the pleasance of a creepy warlock ( Mark Harelik ) . Angel and Cordelia may become trapped , too , if they ca n’t find a way to soften the spell .
Waiting in the Wingsis a ‘ shipper ’s dream , with the spell force would - be buff Angel and Cordelia to enact a torrid affair from a century ago , and the formal social function and lethal stakes last inspiring Fred and Gunn to playact on their feelings for each other , much to the dismay of the lovesick Wesley . It ’s also a dreamy , methodically flash episode , as one might await from Whedon , who aspired toward a filmic atmosphere for many of his episodes . In place of the usual soundtrack , the sequence is score almost completely by Adolphe Adam ’s balletGiselle . Just as the trip to the theater is a special juncture for the theatrical role , Waiting in the Wingsfeels like a momentous , classy affair for the interview as well .
3. Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (season 2, episode 2)
From the other days ofBuffy , audiences have been acquaint with the terrible guilty conscience that Angel deliver for the atrocities committed by his soulless fiend self , Angelus , in the 18th and 19th century . However , until his spinoff , precious little was known about Angel ’s sprightliness between the restoration of his individual in 1898 and his getting his turn together to help the Slayer in 1996 . InAre You Now or Have You Ever Been , Angel becomes fixated on a derelict , supposedly haunted hotel , the Hyperion , and enquire Cordelia and Wesley to enquire it .
Angel lead them in the nighttime as to the reference of his oddment , but the hearing is treated to a serial publication of flashbacks to the mid-1950s , during which Angel was a occupier at the Hyperion . A full solitary , Angel tries to debar entanglements with the other resident , but when fuss arrive at his doorstep , he ’s drive to select between maintaining his anonymity and compensate an injustice . adjust against the backdrop of the Red Scare and the McCarthy audition , Are You Now … is a portrayal of both humanity and Angel at their worst .
In addition to being a hearty hour of standalone period dramatic play , Are You Now … depicts Angel in a new light , both in the flashbacks and in the present day . In the ’ L , he ’s ensouled but envenom , a world worn down by witness centuries of fight actuate by lower-ranking dogmatism . In the present day , we see Angel facing his guilt over a shameful incident in his lifespan for which he can not blame the devil inside of him . His failure at the Hyperion was a human one , labor by the same fear and selfishness seen in the tough of humanity . It ’s also a sinning for which he may still be able to make meaningful restitution .
2. Sleep Tight/Forgiving (season 3, episodes 16 & 17)
When Wesley Wyndham - Pryce is introduced during the third time of year ofBuffy , he is essentially the show ’s C-3PO , a prissy and jittery clown whose persona is chiefly to make his fellow watchman Giles wait cool and rugged by comparing . After three eld of ontogeny onAngel , Wesley is scarce recognizable — he ’s a ruggedly well-favoured warrior and tactician with sad eye and a hurt heart . Like everyone else at Angel Investigations , Wesley has been through perdition both nonliteral and literal , but his defining moment get along when a prophecy lead him to believe that Angel , his friend and friend , is destined to consume his own new-sprung son , Connor .
InSleep Tight , after urgently searching for any agency to disbelieve the prognostication , and also witnessing Angel ’s recent uncharacteristically tearing behavior , Wesley makes the fateful decision to kidnap Connor and skip township — only to have his throat slit by Justine ( Laurel Holloman ) , who delivers the baby to Angel ’s swear foeman , Holtz ( Keith Szarabajka ) . The sequence ends with a devastating cliffhanger , as Angel discovers Wesley ’s betrayal and Wesley hemorrhage out on his front lawn , with no help in sight .
The disaster only deepens in the next episode , Forgiving , as Angel and caller find out just how good they ’ve been played by the alliance of Holtz , Lilah ( Stephanie Romanov ) , and the prison term - traveling fiend Sahjahn ( Jack Conley ) . By the goal of the 2nd hour , Holtz has run off with baby Connor into an unprocurable hell property , with no hope of rescue . EvenSleep Tight’sending pales in compare to the devastating final view ofForgiving , in which Angel jaw the ail Wesley in the hospital and tries to surround him to decease with a pillow .
This is the dramatic peak of the serial , the point at which the conflict between the protagonists feels most irreconcilable . It speaks to the long suit of the plotting and characterisation ofAngelthat these two Heron could both break our hearts so soundly , and yet still elicit fellow feeling . They ’ve both done something terrible , and yet it ’s hard to say that either of them is wrong . It ’s a perfect portrait of the complexness and moral equivocalness thatAngelwas create to explore , painted in a dozen shade of gray .
1. Not Fade Away (season 5, episode 22)
While it ’s inauspicious thatAngelwas trim short after five season , it ’s surd to envisage a good finale for the serial thanNot Fade Away . From the beginning , Angel has been fighting an acclivitous struggle against the entrenched evils of the world , represented by the interdimensional constabulary firm Wolfram & Hart . Though he ’s been able-bodied to cut up out a few victory and even win controller over W&H ’s Los Angeles branch , it ’s become clear that he will never be able to permanently defeat the gods and monsters that rule over the Earth . At best , he can give them a flaming nose , and perhaps some good can be done while the fauna recover .
InNot Fade Away , Angel and his allies decide to take the only shooting they ’ve got and embark on a suicide foreign mission to wipe out the Circle of the Black Thorn , a conspiracy of fiend that carry out evil ’s will on Earth . They succeed in settling all family business , assassinating the Black Thorn ’s entire leadership , but as expected , Wolfram & Hart ’s otherworldly “ senior spouse ” bring the hammer down hard . The series end with Angel , Spike , Gunn , and Illyria squaring off against a literal U. S. Army of demon , giant , and a flack - breathe dragon . With no promise of victory , our heroes ready their weapon system and burden into battle , and the screen cut to black .
cut the comics continuation — this is the ending of the story , and that ’s well . Angelis not , and never has been , a tale of good triumphing over immorality . It ’s been about goodstrugglingagainst evil , whatever the toll . Throughout the series , Angel much never gets a white win over the military group of shadow . Every victory is short - live and comes at a terrible cost , but he keeps push . Angel ’s net human action is this same melodic theme on a grander scale . It ’s the biggest win Angel ’s crew can perchance manage , it will have a limited impact , it will cost them everything , and they ’re go to do it anyway , because that ’s what makes them champions .
There is , and can not be , a goal line of business , which is why Angel contract away the Shanshu Prophecy before the terminal battle . Even if he stopped the apocalypse mentioned in the ancient curl and received his manhood as a reinforcement , there would just be another apocalypse to fight afterwards , as there have been several before . The fight is only over when they ’re dead , and since we do n’t actually witness Angel and company ’s demise , we are left to imagine that it goes on perpetually .
