Angel

Angel: Season Two Angel becomes angry, depressed, and hopeless. Then things get dark.

July 13, 2004 - [Editor’s note: Funny how things work. I said in a letter to the editor that we had no one who knew the Buffy and Angel shows, and wouldn’t you know it, a reviewer comes out of the blue. And he did a good job, too. So I hope you all enjoy our newest contributor.]

Any fan can tell you that Angel started off as good and quickly became great; this season was the turning point. In perhaps one of the darkest and most existential stories on television, Angel’s second year saw the emergence of the arc-based storytelling for which the series would become known.

This set follows the same design as its predecessor and the Buffy sets. The sophomore season comes on six discs with featurettes, scripts, blueprints, a still gallery and commentaries.

The great thing about Joss Whedon’s shows is that despite the fact that they deal with vampires, demons and forces of darkness, they also feature some of the most human stories on television. Stories of love, pain, friendship, grief and above all, hope.

Angel’s second year, considered by many fans to be one of the best seasons of the show, weaves those elements together to form a darkly tinted tale. However, it’s not so dark as to prevent a glimmer of hope from shining through.

The season one finale left us with Angel’s (David Boreanaz) nemeses, the attorneys in the law firm of Wolfram and Hart, using dark magics to conjure up an important individual from Angel’s past: Darla (Julie Benz), the vampire that sired him. What follows is a complex plot designed to cause Angel to break down and give in to his evil side.

The lawyers of Wolfram and Hart may have brought Darla back, but they made a mistake — they brought her back human. And with a human body comes a human mind, heart and soul. Darla quickly learns that she cannot act with the malicious hatred and violence that she had as a vampire, for the cost to her conscience is far too much to bear.

Our title vampire has been learning to live with the same guilt and repression for the past 100 years, so Angel embarks on a new mission: to do whatever he can to ease the suffering of Darla. Perhaps by saving her, he can also save himself.

The discs break down as follows:

Disc One: Judgment, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been, First Impressions, Untouched

Disc Two: Dear Boy, Guise Will Be Guise, Darla, The Shroud of Rahmon

Disc Three: The Trial, Reunion, Redefinition, Special Features

Disc Four: Blood Money, Happy Anniversary, The Thin Dead Line, Reprise

Disc Five: Epiphany, Disharmony, Dead End, Belonging

Disc Six: Over the Rainbow, Through the Looking Glass, There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb, Special Features.

Just when you think you know where the story-arc is going, those tricky writers turn the story around 180º and the rollercoaster ride begins. A rapid succession of deception, loss, and disaster causes Angel to spiral into a bout of despair that not even his friends can save him from.

Where most television shows would bring their hero to the edge and then pull back, this show pushes its hero right over and we see him fall. He all but becomes a villain, dismissing the help of his friends and ignoring what is left of his conscience

The great thing about it is that from our perspective we can understand exactly why Angel is acting this way. Who hasn’t felt as if the entire world was against them? Who hasn’t wanted to just give up? And if you do, what then?

What happens when you’ve hit rock bottom? You can either stay there, or brush yourself off and begin the long climb back up to the life you want; it may be hard and you may not get there, but not trying is worse than defeat. To borrow a line from pivotal episode Epiphany, "If nothing we do matters, then even the smallest act of kindness can be the greatest thing in the world."

Unfortunately, all of this great drama and existentialism is derailed with a cumbersome trek into the country in a storyline that pops up at the end of the season. Apparently some of the supporting cast had other commitments and could not stay for the last quarter of the season, so Darla’s story was pushed aside and concluded in the third season.

Thus, an "alternate dimension" mini-arc was concocted. It’s easy to see that the writers and actors must have had a great time doing it, but it isn’t very good, especially when compared to the plot that preceded it. The light-hearted romp is refreshing after the previous somber tone, but it would have been nice for the season to have followed through with the momentum it had built up.

Despite a slight bump in the road towards the end, the second season of Angel is one of the show’s best. It’s not just great television, it’s great storytelling.

Score: 9 out of 10

The Video

Now this is interesting. For the DVD set, the show is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. However, it was framed for television in full screen mode. The result is a handful of mistakes, like a ladder and crew member who appear in the edge of a shot (see screen cap below).

There was a ruckus when Buffy season four was released as many were expecting it to be in 1.78:1 (like the R2 releases). However, Whedon was adamant about the fact that the show was filmed for full screen and that is how he wanted it shown. He even went so far as to include a note in the DVD set.

Apparently, after that ordeal, the Fox Home Entertainment people decided that they wouldn’t consult the producers any longer and went ahead and put out this set out in 1.78:1.

There are not many gaffes like the one above — only three or four in all, and you probably won’t notice them unless you know where to look.

The show does look darn pretty in widescreen. This season is very dark in a literal sense, with much of the action taking place at night or in darkened locales. This means the transfer had to be spot on with the black levels or things would get ugly. Luckily, they got it. Color separation is nice, everything looks vibrant, and edge enhancement is not a problem.

Score: 8 out of 10

Languages and Audio

Each of the set’s 22 episodes are available in Dolby Surround 2.0 in English, Spanish, and French. There are also subtitles in English and Spanish.

The ambiance and instrumental music comes through clean and voices are clear. The "hyper-cut" moments that connect scenes have a lot of rapidly changing sound that comes through nicely. Nothing too spectacular, but for a TV show this is more than good enough.

Score: 7 out of 10

Packaging and Extras

Just like the previous set, this one comes in the standard 6-disc foldout digipak case. A booklet is included that lists the episodes, and there are the usual Fox inserts.

As always on these sets, the folks at Fox Home Entertainment have been kind to us in the extras department. There are four featurettes spread across the discs. Making Up the Monsters runs six minutes and is your standard latex demo.

Stunts is five minutes long and is exactly that, stunts. Inside the Agency is 15 minutes long and has a set designer take us on a tour through the various sets. It’s neat getting a closer look at the Hyperion hotel.

Finally, we have the surprisingly good Season 2 Overview that runs a little over 15 minutes. What makes it interesting is that it isn’t just a recap of the season, but consists of interviews with the actors and creative team. It’s nice to see David Boreanaz talking about the show and actually participating in interviews. You hear that, Sarah Michelle Gellar?

This is the only Mutant Enemy DVD set without a commentary from Joss Whedon, a shame because his commentaries are usually the best of the bunch. However we do have a so-so commentary from director Fred Keller (Over the Rainbow), and a pretty good track by Tim Minear (Are You Now or Have You Ever Been). Two commentaries seems a bit low. Nevertheless, what we have is nothing to complain about.

Rounding out the extras are two scripts, one for Darla and the other for Disharmony. While usually the Buffy/Angel sets are a bit more packed, this one delivers reasonably well and should be enough to please the fans.

The art section includes the now standard still gallery and a blueprint gallery. The stills aren’t particularly exciting — more behind-the-scenes stuff would be nice — but the blueprints are neat. Now if only we could figure out what Angel keeps in his closet, since he clearly only owns three shirts...

Score: 7 out of 10

The Movie : Despite a slight hiccup near the end, this season is very intelligent, exciting, and mature. One of the series’ best. 9
The Video : Pretty enough for a TV transfer. Widescreen looks nice even though it is misplaced. 8
The Audio : Sounds good. Not great, but good. 7
The Extras : Good featurettes, a few more commentaries would have been nice. 8
Overall Score (not an average) 8