reviewed by: Charity Bishop
                

The final season of the WB's highly successful spin-off to the Buffy saga left audiences reeling with a deliberately ambiguous ending, the death of primary characters, and fantastic mid-season horrors. After the loss of his son Conner, Angel (David Boreanaz) faces a new set of challenges as the head of Wolfram & Hart, the LA branch of the most devious law firm in the world. Known for their underworld dealings and schemes for ultimate world domination, the firm have an interest in their assets. An ancient prophecy says that a vampire with a soul will play a key role in an impending apocalypse, for good or evil. Not wanting to take any chances, they place Angel in a position of power in order to monitor him, granting the entire assets of their extensive forces to the use of his investigative team.

Brainy scientist Fred (Amy Acker) now is the head of the lab department, and is torn between the loyalties of a fellow technician and the attentions of former Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof). With the most amount of potential and the least social skills, street-wise Charles Gunn (J. August Richards) undergoes mental treatments that turn him into a fast-talking lawyer who knows demon laws like the back of his hand. In the midst of this, Angel must contend with the belief that they are being steadily groomed for ultimate evil. With dangers both from within and without, his greatest torment comes in the form of a yellow envelope. When torn open, it deposits a ghostly Spike (James Marsters) in their midst. Neither ghost nor corporeal, after his sacrificial death on the hellmouth to end the impending apocalypse, Spike has returned. His attempts to leave Wolfram & Hart are futile, since the medallion that assisted him in the battle prevents him from quitting LA.

Taking on haunting Angel as his full-time job, Spike experiences mystical forces that repetitively draw him into hell. A mysterious force intervenes in their lives and transforms Spike into his complete physical form, but for a dark purpose. Suddenly there are two vampires with souls in the running for the prophecy's meaning, and their mutual presence throws the world into chaos. With this newfound power comes the presence of a sarcophagus older than the earth itself, holding a terrible power. What it unleashes will change the lives of our heroes forever. One thing can be said for Joss Whedon and his team of writers. They were never afraid to land hard punches. 

Angel's fifth season has its share of sardonic irony, slightly screwball humor, and outright hilarious predicaments, but deep at its soul is a tentative understanding of man's attempts at self-betterment, and ultimate sorrow. Audiences know they're not safe in this universe, for characters take deliberate turns and sometimes are killed off entirely. It's what kept people watching, and what makes it such remarkable programming. After having your emotions put through a ringer three times in the course of four episodes, the show takes a deliberate twist into newfound territory. There are a lot of things to like about this season, not the least of which being the constant bickering between bad-boy Spike and his original sire. Their relationship is replete with insults and the occasionally bloody fistfight, but also consists of flashbacks to their days of terrorizing Europe together. Spike remarks at one point that the reason Angel cannot stand to look at him is because Angelus is responsible for everything "William the Bloody" has done.

We see Angel attempting to come to grips not only with his guilt, but the redemption of his former fellow hell-raiser. And ironically enough, the two return to a semi-hostile friendship that is surprisingly poignant. It doesn't prevent the show from having issues, though. Demonic violence is present in enormous amounts, a little more gruesome this time around. Gunn spends some time in a hell dimension where his heart is repetitively ripped out of his chest and thrown onto a pile on the floor. Internal organs are briefly shown. Severed limbs go flying. Demons plunge their fists into humans, with gory results. An insane slayer goes after people with a hacksaw. A vampire is shown with his arms only bloody stumps. Spike and Angel beat one another to a pulp. They are pitted against female adversaries on occasion. A werewolf has a vision of slashing someone's throat open. Demonic puppets are dismembered, stuffing flying.

There's also an unfortunate amount of graphic sexual content in several episodes. Spike and Harmony, Angel and Eve, and couples in flashbacks get fleshy with one another, usually with brief movement. Angel has a nightmare in which he's watching Spike and Buffy make love. Nudity is barely obscured on a few occasions, giving us glimpses of women's bare backs and parts of their sides; a woman's arms cover up her breasts as she gets up from the floor. Spike is once shown nearly nude. There is some sexual dialogue and innuendo. Angel is shown waking up next to his girlfriend. Spike is known for crude British slang. Profanity is occasional, but terms such as "bloody" pop up constantly, and there are several uses of d**k. There are supernatural forces at work (attempting to speak with Spike once he's vanished, the firm calls in a medium that is then attacked by an evil force, causing her to spit up blood and die; Mexican ghosts are resurrected to defeat an old nemesis in a graveyard), but for the most part at the heart of this battle against impending doom are the characters that have captivated our hearts. Their emotions are real, even if everything else is just sheer imagination. Not all the episodes are outstanding, but some are remarkable.