Joss Whedon

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

You’re Dating A Dead Guy!

Oh, it’s a cliche these days all right: teenage girl falls for ageless vampire, it’s True Love but he could turn at any moment, blah blah bleeding blah. But back when Buffy The Vampire Slayer was young and fresh, delighting us every week with its sass and the way it turned convention on its head, the revelation that – gasp! – the dark, broody guy Buffy had just fallen for was a vampire was pretty damn astonishing… not least to the Slayer herself, as seen in the episode “Angel”.

This unlikely and unexpected coupling was also the catalyst for many more game-changers to come, from the immense Buffy/Angel love story that was the cornerstone of the first three seasons, to Angel becoming Angelus and killing everyone in sight, to him buggering off to LA to get his own series. Not bad for a character who wasn’t even a series regular at first – David Boreanaz didn’t even make the main cast list until season two. Andrew Lloyd Webber was right: love changes everything.

ANGEL

Lawyering Up

Angel, Angel, Angel… Now here’s a show that took the idea of “game-changing” and decided to make it its vocation. How many times did the writers pull the rug from under our feet? How many twists and turns did this show go through? From co-stars dying off with no warning (RIP Doyle) to headquarters being abandoned (or blown up) to vampiric baby mommas turning up out of the blue, Angel did it all and our jaws got so fed up of dropping that we just rested them on the floor before each episode to save time.

But the biggest change – and surely its most controversial one – was giving Angel and co command of evil law firm Wolfram & Hart in its final season. Suddenly our heroes were working for the enemy: hell, they were employing the enemy, too, and everything that had gone before had been undone in one way or another. Throw in Spike, business suits and the odd death along the way and season five of Angel had its game changed beyond all recognition.