Angel

Part of marvel's whedon-wit origin story. Though the writing takes the occasional weird turn, the dialog can be cringey and the production cheap, it felt more "mature" than buffy, had a fun setting (fantasy-noir), and most importantly: angel wasn't an infallible hero. He messed up many, many times, dumped all his friends in season 2, became the villain in season 4 and ended up CEO of a devil-worshipping law firm in the final season. The series may lack many things, but heart's not one of them.

Gets better and better as it goes on. Season 1 is almost entirely a case-of-the-week procedural, an above average one, but still repetitive enough that I asked myself "Do I even want to go on?" But I did, and I'm glad I did, because it gets more serialized and better and more ambitious and emotionally rich with every season, eventually ending in season 5 as a thrilling apocalyptic epic that was one of the very best shows on TV in 2004.

Buffy's spin off has not aged as well. A lot of it is aggressively self serious, convoluted and tedious. However, it has some high points, often when it embraces its inherent silliness. Unlike Buffy, dramatic moments rarely work in this show and plotting is stretched as thin as Doyler the Dublin mystic after a smack binge. Angel's irish accent is also a fuckin travesty and likely constitutes a hate crime. Despite all this I would very lightly recommend to those who want some late 90's escapism

Not as good as Buffy, but solid enough. Unlike other people, I think I actually liked the original setting of the series more than where they went later. The hotel and running basically the enemy business always felt weird to me, even if the stories surrounding those seasons were ultimately better than the first season. I do wish there was more crossover with Buffy.

very nice series

Never hit the Buffy levels of charisma and storytelling as frankly Boreanaz is a bit of a bore. It did however feature a pretty fun supporting cast.

i miss lorne and his obscure references to early jazz

On one side, an enjoyable show. On the other... Some murky, awful and displaced plot decisions (like Lorne being in love with Fred all this time?!). Speaking of her, were the producers that cheap? Instead of hiring different actresses for love interests, they made all the male characters like Fred. Furthermore, most of the female roles were badly written. The twists - mostly predictable. The bad guys were flavorless and awkward to watch. But still, on a day to day basis - a fine enough show.

Props for turning obnoxious ponce Wesley into the most badass character in the Buffy franchise.

Angel gets better with each season, a trend continued with its second life in comic format. It's not Buffy, but it never should have been.

Not quite as good as Buffy, though it's pretty great still.

Entertaining and well cast. Probably already feeling a little dated now, but fun.