Buffy and Angel Wrapup by Michael Lee

Say no more. Evil's still afoot, and I'm almost out of that nancy-boy hair gel I like so much. Quick, to the Angelmobile. Away!
-- Spike, In the Dark

If you have seen my Slayer review or one of my video picks, you know that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show currently on television, and I really see Angel as a second hour of Buffy. My comments will contain spoilers for the 1999-2000 season, Buffy's first year of college and the first season of Angel.

A primary reason that both series are so effective is they use the fantastic to heighten real world issues and problems; you literally have the roommate from hell, and your lawyers will help you get out of jail -- but the deal with the devil won't be a figure of speech. These series aren't just telling adventure stories, but are actually about something that deals with our lives.

This season was perhaps a little bit more uneven than previous seasons of Buffy, as they were adjusting to the new dynamics of college, a second series, the loss of the high school, characters moving between series and new cast members. Both series at times felt like they were struggling to find their new identities -- and by the end of the season, they both found those identities, making me look forward to next season with great anticipation.

This proved most effective with Buffy -- the season frequently felt odd, as the characters slowly moved apart from each other throughout the season. Each of the characters being forced to learn and adapt to something new about themselves -- Willow, in her relationship with Tara. Giles, going through a midlife crisis without a job or family. Xander, aimlessly wandering but still stuck in the basement. Riley, discovering that both he and the Initiative had a secret. Oz, discovering that he couldn't completely control his werewolf nature. Anya, trying to discover what life was like as a human being, not a demon filled with vengeance. Spike, stuck with a chip in his head that forced him to no longer be a violent killer, castrated even more than Angel. And at the end of the season, the revelation that there are secrets to Buffy that we haven't even really addressed yet.

As the more mature series, Buffy proved more experimental this season than ever before. Hush was definitely the highlight of the season, taking a gimmick like making most of the episode completely without speech, but also with the Gentlemen introducing one of the most spooky visions I think I've seen on television. Hush is mandatory viewing by everyone as a classic piece of television. The season finale Restless is less experimental and more a tribute to eccentric series like Twin Peaks, and so isn't quite as good, but in its ability to reveal things about the four central characters of Buffy, and set up some of the questions that we will want to see answered over the next year or so.

Angel, however, took a little time to really settle in. Some of this was the replacement of Wesley for Doyle. To some extent, I've forgotten that Doyle was ever in the series, especially as Wesley becomes less and less of a wanna-be Giles. (And it appears that Wesley will become a regular punching bag -- how many times does the poor guy get seriously hurt?)

One of the main weakness to this season (for both series), it is that demons and vampires are now appearing to be more and more common, and more human, than ever before. Sometimes they're little more than humans with funny faces, and it seems that everyone is not only aware of their existance, but regularly goes out to the bar with them as well. I think Doyle was part of the problem here really; as we couldn't have both him and Angel be unique as the good demons.

Wolfram & Hart, with most of the lawyers we've seen so far being completely human, on the other hand (with apologies to Lindsey McDonald), have a lot of unrealized potential. They weren't overused, and I think the primarily human villains are something both series need more of. I'm very pleased that they weren't eliminated at the end of the season, as Buffy tends to do with with their Big Enemies, and I think what they summoned at the end of the season was appropriate, something I figured out two seconds before they revealed it (my favorite type of surprise), and I'm very excited to see where this goes.

All and all, both series continue to prove themselves to be the best shows on the air, amongst the best genre shows ever made. Where many of the other genre shows have stumbled over the last couple of years -- the self-destruction of the Babylon 5 TV universe, the slow wasting away of The X-Files, and the pointlessness of Star Trek: Voyager, these series are even more a triumph for fans of good quality fantasy television.

If you are looking for some good sites, try out Buffy Guide for Buffy and Sanctuary for Angel.

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Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Michael Lee stepped into the MISFITS Website and vanished .... He woke to find himself trapped on the Internet, facing pages that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change the MISFITS Website for the better. His only guide on this journey is Professor Maxwell Misfittle, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Mike can see and hear. And so Mr. Lee finds himself leaping from site to site, striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home. Michael wrote about his Mission to Marscon.

Both series continue to prove themselves to be the best fantasy shows on the air.