(James, I know the whole reason you fixed my site was for more Buffy-related posts, so here you are!)

Well, I finally finished the first season of Buffy’s spin-off show, Angel. Overall I enjoyed the show, and it was nice to get to spend more time with the brooding vampire with a soul. Aw hell, who am I kidding, I really just was happy to see Cordelia again. I mean, what a fox!

I dug the character of Doyle, but I felt that his arc seemed sort of rushed considering his early demise. Without knowing the story behind the scenes, it seemed to me like he might have been replaced with Wesley to have another former Buffy cast-member around. Is that true? I have nothing against Wesley ro anything, I was just sort of sad to see ol’ Doyle go.

The show definitely had some great moments – Doyle’s death was extremely shocking, and I Will Remember You did a great job at teasing a happily-ever-after for Buffy and Angel. The story of an underground demon fighting club was also fun, and the episodes with Faith did a nice job at restoring the character’s humanity. I also like Kate as a cop who has learned a lot about herself, her family, and the things that live in her world. I’m hoping she and Angel can get past their feuding and move on to some loving, but only the kind that makes Angel a little bit sort of glad, and not totally happy.

There were some weaker parts of the show as well, though. Cordelia becoming pregnant with seven demon babies sort of made me roll my eyes (and make me even more jealous of Ken Marino). And the doctor who could remove his body parts for fun was also far more hokey than it was scary. And the lonely celebrity story was a huge cliché, and the way that Angelus was brought back felt forced and sort of stupid. I really hope the show doesn’t have him go back and forth regularly between good and evil, because it takes away from the whole redemption aspect of who Angel is.

I think my biggest complaint with the show though was that it lacked a season-specific “Big Bad” like Buffy had. Granted, I’m not saying I want this show to be a Buffy clone, but that was a nice feature (that many other shows have employed as well) that give the season a wider purpose. Wolfram and Hart, chock full of evil lawyers you just love to hate, were certainly menacing, but they seemed like more of a recurring annoyance than a mortal enemy. But there was a nice set-up of things to come with bringing Darla back, and I think the show has a lot of potential to grown in the next four seasons.