Shivers Magazine, September 2003

A Shivers feature by Keith Topping 

(transcribed by Setje –http://www.cityofangelus.com )

As Buffy ends, attention switches to its spin-off series, Angel. But how will 
the radical changes at the end of Season Four affect our heroes? And what about 
the new arrival?

The Story so far : Los Angeles, a city of angels and demons.
Into this ghetto of metaphorical scorpions and vipers comes Angel, a vampire 
cursed with a soul – cursed with the knowledge of his crimes against humanity.
Given the chance, by The Powers That Be, to atone for his sins, Angel begins an 
agency – its aim : to help the hopeless. To achieve this, he gathers around him 
a team of crack specialists; there’s Cordelia Chase, former Sunnydale prom queen 
and failed actress, who provides Angel with his vital link to both Humanity and 
The Powers. There’s ex-Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, a loyal and brilliant rogue 
demon hunter. There’s Charles Gunn, a brave fearless vampire killer. There’s 
Fred Burkle, a genius physicist who was once abandoned in a Medieval universe by 
a man she trusted. There’s Lorne, a karaoke-singing empathy demon with a 
weakness for cocktails and showbiz. And there’s Angel’s son, Connor, a feral 
teenage warrior, born of the union of two vampires, and raised to hate his 
father in a Hell dimension. The Angel Investigations team must do their work 
whilst fighting to overcome some demons of their own, searching for a path of 
redemption in the lonely city. And they have to achieve this whilst also keeping 
one eye trained on the sinister machinations of the evil law firm, Wofram & 
Hart. Then, having fought off the apocalyptic schemes of The Beast and its 
Godlike master, Jasmine, the gang discover that there is a price to pay for 
ending world peace.

The Best TV in Years 

Angel’s been a bit good recently. If, as is likely, you’re one of the people not 
watching it, then that’s something you really need to remedy. The final episode 
of Season Four, Home, was a fabulous end to what had been, quite simply, one of 
the best seasons of popular television in years. A six-month critical summation 
of the many strengths that this cleverly multifaceted series has as its 
disposal. Dramatic, funny and cynical, the episode and, indeed, the season, 
reminded us that Angel is a show about choices and hope – just as its parent 
show, Buffy, always was.

For a while, however, as Season Four careered towards its dramatic conclusion, 
it appeared as though this may have been our final glimpse of the activities of 
Angel Investigations. The perilous nature of US network television is such that 
even if a show is regarded critically, if the ratings aren’t up to scratch then 
the series ain’t gonna last.

Following several months of speculation, however, the revamp proposed by the 
production team in Home paid off and the series was picked up in May by The WB 
for a fifth year. So, the future’s bright, as the crew’s skills combine to 
produce an underrated, under-appreciated, overlooked gem. Next year, if there’s 
any justice, Angel will finally get the wider recognition it deserves.
Homecoming 

Season Five will be something of a homecoming for Joss Whedon, who is believed 
to be working close to full-time on Angel next year. However, the really big 
news surrounding next season came with the confirmation, in May, that James 
Marsters would be joining the regular cast, reprising his popular Buffy role as 
Spike, the (other) vampire with a soul. ‘We think Spike could add something to 
the show,’ writer/producer Tim Minear noted. ‘He’s great character and a great 
actor.’ Given Spike and Angel’s complex past – a touchy master/pupil 
relationship, tinged with mutual mistrusts, enlivened by both having, at one 
time or another, shared the bed of Buffy Summers – sparks are, somewhat 
inevitably, bound to fly. Rumours concerning what Spike is actually returning as 
– ghost, human or vampire – have done little to quell the anticipation of fans 
for a whole year of watching James Marsters and David Boreanaz acting together.

Biggest Challenge ? 

What we do know about Season Five is that the Angel Investigations team is now 
running the LA branch of Wolfram & Hart. In this regard they will face their 
biggest challenge to date as they battle to maintain their integrity whilst 
being offered temptations of almost Biblical proportions. Whatever it was that 
happened to Gunn in The White Room in the final episode of last season will, no 
doubt, have a significant impact on his character’s development. Similarly, 
Wesley’s motivation in getting into Wolfram & Hart in the first place – to save 
the soul of his former lover., Lilah – has seemingly failed.

Likely, the forthcoming season will see the return of several old foes to haunt 
the heroes. One definite such return will be that of Vincent Kartheiser, who has 
been contracted for at least one episode, suggesting that Connor’s story, 
seemingly wrapped up for good in Home, is actually far from over.

Another will be the welcome reappearance of Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall, 
the willfully narcissistic vampires whose past relationship with Spike is sure to 
cause a few complications to an already complicated backstory. Perhaps we’ll be 
seeing some other old faces too : Angel’s former nemesis Lindsey McDonald, 
Wesley’s would-be assassin Justine Cooper and Spike’s sire, Drusilla, are all 
rumoured to be potential visitors to Wolfram & Hart’s plush Wilshire Boulevard 
offices. There will be a new character for the team to interact with, Eve, a 
Wolfram & Hart liaison whose agenda may not be all that it, initially, seems.
However, as several new doors open, another important one closes. The news that 
Charisma Carpenter would not be returning as a regular for season five was 
greeted with disappointment and surprise by many fans.

‘We felt like we had taken that story about as far as it could go,’ Whedon said, 
adding that the Angel/Cordelia romance had ‘not been popular with fans’, a claim 
that has been disputed by many within the Angel fan-community. Additionally, it 
does seem rather strange for Whedon to suggest that this move was designed to 
appease fans when, just a year earlier, he had told many of those same fans, 
outraged at the death of Tara in Buffy, that it was his job to give them what 
they needed, not what they wanted. ‘I’m hoping that we’ll get Charisma to do 
some episodes sometime during the year,’ continued Joss.

Asked if the parting had been on good terms, Whedon’s reply was enigmatic : 
‘That’s between us and not stuff that I would talk about in an interview.’

New Captain 

Running Angel’s fifth season will be former X-Files writer Jeff Bell, who made 
such a good job of the previous year, and in such difficult circumstances. Tim 
Minear’s involvement in the show is likely to diminish as his work of Fox’s 
mid-season series, Wonderfalls, increases. Having, in effect, provided the pilot 
for the future of Angel with Home, Minear feels that the new direction will 
‘allow Angel to break out of its cannibalising soap-opera-ness. It’s not feeding 
on itself any more.’ Series co-creator David Greenwalt, who will continue to act 
as a consulting producer, believes that Angel could ultimately match Buffy’s 
record and run for seven years. But, he notes, the new set-up will enable the 
characters to face new dilemmas and, perhaps inevitably, new temptations. 
‘Obviously (Wolfram & Hart) will wish to corrupt our people and some of them 
will be quite happy to be corrupted,’ Greenwalt noted. ‘Gunn is going to be the 
coolest. Lorne is in heaven because he gets to talk to Michael Jackson. 

Meanwhile they can use Wolfram & Hart to help people.’

Greenwalt also says that he hopes Sarah Michelle Gellar may find the time in her 
rapidly expanding movie career to make an appearance on Angel. ‘I’d bet you’ll 
see her,’ he noted. ‘David’s done a lot for her. When we launched the show, she 
showed up on the set in downtown LA in the middle of the night with a cake. 
She’s quite capable of the big, lovely gesture.’

Summing up Angel’s new direction, Greenwalt notes that it will be an inventive 
mixture of elements from several stylistically fascinating non-genre shows like 
The West Wing and LA Law. ‘It’s not going to be dreary and dark. It’s like a 
brand new show.’

Angel, like Buffy before it, seemingly knows the value of creating characters 
with whom the audience can empathise and identify. What the future has in store 
for them, we’ll find out soon!