reviewed by: Charity Bishop
               

Every city must have a hero, someone to combat the forces of darkness that threaten to steal the joy from our lives. In the successful television series Angel, we are introduced to quite another brand of hero: a vampire with a soul. A member of Angel Investigations, an elite group of demon-slayers that protect the streets of LA, Angel (David Boreanaz) is attempting to come to grips with the loss of his beloved Buffy. Spending three months recovering in a European monastery, Angel returns to his crime-fighting team, made up of book-addict Wesley (Alexis Denisof), perky Cordelia (Charisma Carpender), who has powers of precognition that allow her to foresee deadly future events, and street-boy Charles Gunn (J. August Richards).

The organization faces a new series of challenges as they attempt to unravel the devious dealings of their greatest rival, Wolfran & Hart, a sleazy law office who works with the criminal underground. When Cordelia begins to suffer physical manifestations of her violent visions, Angel is forced to alliance with their enemies in order to purchase her sanity. Traveling into a demonic dimension, he brings back to earth an evil human being ensnared in a hellish punishment for crimes against humanity. This individual threatens their existence several months later when a series of woman-battering crimes plagues the streets. Angel and his associates have taken into their keeping Winfred (Amy Arker), a young woman who spent most of her childhood imprisoned in a second dimension as a slave. Fred suffers from paranoia and won't set foot outside her bedroom door. Eventually she begins to show promise in assisting them to battle the forces of evil, using her mathematical mind to reach logical conclusions, but her heart is set on Angel, her eternal hero.

Her faith in her dark guardian is shaken when Darla (Julie Benz) arrives, Angel's former flame from the 1700's and recent one-night fling during one of Angel's sporadic periods of depression. The beautiful blonde vampire is extremely pregnant and although she's made every attempt to get rid of the thing growing inside of her, something is protecting the child. Shamans and mystics are unable to determine what it is, or what it means, but Wesley believes it is part of a prophecy concerning Angel and the impending end of the world. What transpires is a weak season to begin with, but once we're midway through, takes some fascinating twists and turns. All of the characters are evolving. Cordelia becomes a higher being. Angel deals with the emotions that come with fatherhood. Wesley betrays his friends and suffers emotionally, and Gun falls in love with the young, sweet Fred, who is a breath of fresh air to the show.

Focusing more on the structure of a plot line rather than individual events, Angel does have an intelligent plot. I wasn't as keen on this season because it's much more focused on sex. A lecherous old man body-jumps with various victims, bringing out sexual aggressiveness. In youthful form, he's shown in a hotel room with two scantily-clad hookers. When occupying Angel's body, he makes suggestive remarks to all the girls in the agency and cavorts with a woman on a desk (they tear at one another's clothes; before they can go too far, his vampire instinct kicks in and he bites her). A colleague of the woman later uses a tape of this escapade to blackmail her. A graphic flashback shows Angel and Darla (half-undressed) in the throes of passion. Angel and Cordelia enter a room flooded with sexual chemistry and begin to reenact a love story that took place a hundred years before: they engage in passionate kissing, making out on the couch, and sexual dialogue. It's implied that Cordy's top comes off (only her shoulders and part of her stomach are seen). Cordy pleads with Angel to find her a potion so she can sleep with her boyfriend from another dimension. This boy lives with her for awhile. Wesley is shown in bed with Lila. Her bare back is seen as she gets dressed. Sexual dialogue such as "screwed" and "boned" are occasionally used.

There's some profanity (numerous uses of a** and b***h). Violence is more extreme this time around, with numerous decapitated demon heads, a high body count, and spattering green blood and goo. Demons are dismembered and slain, humans are attacked, thrown through walls, drained of their blood, and melt out of their skin. A shaman removes his hat to reveal half of his brain; it moves and bubbles. He's later shown with a stake driven through his head. Fred chops in half a severed demon head, spilling cockroaches into the room. Cordelia suffers from grotesque slashes across her body after a vision splits reality. Vampires are dispatched with stakes. There's also an element of dark magic. Demons are both good and evil; one of the good guys is Lorne (Andy Hallett), a seer who can read people's minds if they sing. Cordelia becomes half-demon, giving her supernatural abilities (for good). Desperate to pass into another world, Angel uses witchcraft and paints a pentagram on the office floor. Six months later, they still can't get it off (he suffers vile repercussions for using dark magic).

The supernatural elements aren't as disconcerting as the sexual ones. Fans of the show might be disappointed that the brooding vampire with a soul has lightened up and become a little more... normal. The wonderful thing about the former character of Angel is that he was unique in his limitations. Most of those issues have been stripped away, leaving a hero that's a little too human in his approach.