Sweeney: We’re done! Finally! When we left S4, everyone kept promising us that things were going to get good and I was terribly suspicious of that claim for a while. The first half of this season was not good. My feelings on this show are basically that everything from the Summer Glau ballet episode up to halfway through this season is mostly not good with the occasional fluke.
SO I’M INCREDIBLY PLEASED THAT WE’RE DONE:
(Someone mentioned the lack of “She” gifs and I agree that this was unfortunate since that episode is actually the very reason we have gif thumbnails on the blog.)
That said, the end of this season really was great, save for a certain episode that definitely should not have been placed where it was. (I’d also like for it to not have existed, but I’d settle for it being moved up about 15 episodes.) As mentioned in the finale post, this was an end worthy of the show on its best days. I wish it had lived up to its potential more often than it did, but something about the very notion of the big apocalyptic finish just suited this show very well. I’m not entirely sure how to word this (maybe I’ll find the words between now and my vlogs) but I think the show’s great success as a concept-driven story was well-suited for THE END. They deal best in big ideas and the final episodes of a five season show gets to be nice and large and so they excelled.
- You’re Welcome – The way this show built up Cordelia Chase only to destroy her absolutely breaks my heart, but here was a farewell worthy of what the character was at her peak.
- Not Fade Away – This was such a fitting end to the series – definitely one of its highlights. This 1-2 spot is a tie for me.
- Origin – I love New Connor. I still can’t get over that. Who would have thought it possile?
- A Hole In The World – FEELINGS. But, you know, it was supposed to be full of feelings. Well acted from start to finish.
- Shells – Again, superbly acted from start to finish.
- Time Bomb – The loop was such a weird little plot device and it was the rare episode of this show that I think I actually liked more for recapping it.
- Damage – Andrew! And Slayers! I loved that we got those things and I especially love how very Angel it was to say, “Hey, maybe there are some negative consequences to calling up every Potential Slayer in the world?”
- Underneath – Not as strong as some of the others because of all the epic contrivance, but Gunn’s volunteering as tribute in order to make things right was truly delightful.
- Smile Time – On the heels of recapping the finale, I’m having a hard time figuring out where to put this. I might rank it higher with a little more distance because PUPPET ANGEL. It was easily the most successful silly episode of the season.
- Power Play – This episode was filled with all the heavy lifting for the finale. I enjoyed it, but it’s ultimately weaker than some others for that fact.
- Soul Purpose – Dream sequences are fun. That’s about all I can say about this.
- Harm’s Way – Fun throwaway episode.
- Conviction – It was an OK start to the new season. The show’s way of saying, “DO OVER, PLEASE!” but from lackluster beginnings, things got even worse before they got better.
- Why We Fight – I still don’t know what to make of the Nazi sumbarine full of vampires. It happened?
- Life of the Party – I kind of enjoyed this at the time, but mostly because the beginning of this season was so bad, that this cracked out crazy episode was easy to enough to just go along with.
- Lineage – I still was not enjoying the season at this point, but this gave me some Wesley feels.
- The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco – Another fairly stupid episode.
- Hell Bound – I don’t really remember this episode, but the thumbnail is a cute scene with Spike and Fred, so I’m ranking it higher than the other episode I don’t remember.
- Unleashed – I don’t really remember this episode either.
- The Girl In Question – I hated this. It absolutely should not have been episode 20.
- Just Rewards – I hated this even more.
- Destiny – I hated this most of all.
Lorraine: Overall, I’m pretty pleased by how we leave the world of Angel. I mean, after season 4, it wouldn’t have taken a whole hell of a lot to just be much better in comparison. I probably say that with the last half of the season in mind, because the first half was rough. Tight plots were never Angel’s strong suit, and it got a little bit ridiculous as the writers tried to force us into Wolfram & Hart and shoehorn Spike in and otherwise sell us a number of nonsensical plots. Angel’s saving grace was always the characters, and for a while there at the beginning, not even they were enough to pull me out of my Angel burnout.
Episode 11, Damage, marked the turning point for me in the series. Not everything was perfect after that, and the sloppy plots still showed up from time to time, but it was quite the turnaround. I was interested, engaged, curious and impressed by a lot of the acting. Season five might not end up being my favorite season of the bunch, but I can’t help but feel a little squishy about it. It gave us so many feels.
Here are my rankings:
- Not Fade Away – Maybe it’s because it’s fresh in my mind. I just love what this finale did for this struggling season and inconsistent show. Well played, Angel. Well played.
- You’re Welcome – This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, because I love Cordelia, probably much more for her (technically) two season absence. Beyond just her, though, it was a nostalgic 100th episode that reminded me a lot of happier times. I appreciate it for that too.
- Shells – If I could rate this with A Hole in the World, I would. I rate this slightly above because the phenomenal acting continued in this episode and because by the end of it, I was so excited to see what they would do with Illyria and where the rest of the Fang Gang were head, post-Fred.
- A Hole in the World – I have complicated feelings about Fred’s death for in and out of story reasons. But in story, it happened, and Acker and Denisof completely wowed me. Years from now, these are some of the moments I will remember most of all.
- Smile Time – This season attempted a number of these sillier episodes but it never succeeded quite at this level. Puppet Angel is everything I wanted him to be. This might actually be sandwiched between Shells/A Hole in the World but I didn’t want to separate those on the list and I’m giving priority to feels over laughs.
- Damage – I just LOVED the reveal that we were dealing with an unbalanced Slayer. Andrew’s cameo was superficial, but the whole concept was A+.
- Time Bomb – Ranking everything from A Hole in the World on is tough, because it truly feels like one cohesive story. Especially so with Origin-Underneath-Time Bomb. Basically, I can (and did) put these three in all the possible arrangements. Whatevs: All three good.
- Origin – I give bonus points to episodes that entertain or intrigue me in this universe which has lost my interest on more than one occasion. I was riveted by the return of Connor and surprised as anyone that that’s the truth.
- Underneath – It suffered from following two of the best episodes of the season, but when stacked up against the rest of the season, it still comes in pretty high.
- Lineage – The best of the season by the time we got to episode 7, but there were issues with Spike and Fred that keep this from being at the very top.
- Soul Purpose – I’m a sucker for a dream episode, but all said and done, this was a poor man’s Restless.
- Power Play – This suffers because it did all of the set-up for the finale and in record time. I’m putting it just above where the downward trend begins.
- The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco – My assessment at the end was that this was just “okay” but at six episodes into the season, that was the most positive thing I had to say yet.
- Conviction – Someone hit the rest button and though it had some highlights, it mostly felt a little nonsensical and out of tune with the past four seasons of everything we’d watched.
- Unleashed – The worst and best I can say about this episode is that it’s insanely unmemorable, apart for the gross person-eating bit.
- Harm’s Way – This is probably the episode I’m most confused about rating. IDK guys. The lighter episodes suffered in this season that was often silly and not on purpose.
- Life of the Party – I wasn’t a huge fan of this episode while we watched, but I have more favorable thoughts in retrospect and while considering the season as a whole. It was just sort of dumb fun, and I can appreciated it, at least a little, for that.
- Hell Bound – Four episodes into the season and nothing made sense yet.
- Why We Fight – I called it not bad in the recap, and it isn’t TERRIBLE, but it’s #meh with the added disadvantage of being pretty inconsequential. It’s probably worse than episodes below this, but those are ranked for FEELINGS, where this doesn’t inspire all that many.
- Destiny – Quite interchangeable with Just Rewards because in both cases, I just don’t buy this hundred year old feud. It’s dumb and immature and beneath these characters and this show’s potential.
- Just Rewards – Reasons for Spike’s existence were sloppy and slapped together and there was way too much bickering.
- The Girl in Question – You probably think I’m listing most of the Spike episodes at the bottom. Hey, it isn’t my fault this one sucked and was EPISODE 20.
Kirsti: For me, this season felt a lot like season 7 of Buffy. It felt like a whole new show in the beginning, and we were cautiously optimistic. But then Spike came back and things started to go downhill. Sure, there were still some fantastic episodes that reminded you of just how much the show was capable of. But there was also an awful lot of meh and oh-God-not-this-again.
But hey, we finished a thing!!! WOO. Now let’s rank these suckers:
- You’re Welcome – This was a tough call, because my top five were pretty much on a par for me. But this one came out on top for several reasons: a) CORDELIA, b) it felt more like season 2 Angel, and c) it was the last time we saw the Fang Gang together and whole.
- Origin – I’m as surprised as anyone that this episode ended up ranking this high. If you’d told me last season that I’d rank a Connor-centric episode at number 2, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed. But there were so many great moments in this episode, and not just from Unexpectedly Sassy Connor.
- Smile Time – Okay so it’s totally and utterly stupid from start to finish, but it was just so FUN.
- A Hole in the World – Yes, it was heartbreak-central and I ugly cried my way through it. And yes, I wish things had gone very, very differently for Fred’s character. But the acting was phenomenal.
- Damage – Given that this show was always the dark counterpart to Buffy, it seems appropriate that the concept of a psychotic Slayer, created by the Scooby Gang’s actions, be dealt with here. Sure, there were some moments of WTF-ery, like no one in the Scoobies trusting Angel now that he’s taken over Wolfram & Hart, but it was still pretty incredible.
- Shells – This one is only JUST outside the top 5. Like, I had to debate the merits of various episodes with myself for like an hour before I ultimately decided where to put this. Amy Acker is phenomenal from start to finish, and Alexis Denisof made me feel All the Feels.
- Not Fade Away – Not gonna lie, I was let down by this finale. Yes, Wes’ death gave me OMG ALL THE UGLY CRYING FEELS, and I loved that Connor came back. But at the same time, it felt really unfinished and I spent most of it thinking about how much better it would have been if The Girl In Question hadn’t existed and they’d dedicated that time to giving us a two part finale…
- Conviction – The first episode of the season felt a lot like a pilot to me. Which is fair – they were effectively pitching the audience an entirely new show. And I didn’t hate it. Although laughing at Angel’s ridiculously tall hair probably helped.
- Harm’s Way – This wasn’t a great episode. A lot of it was heavy handed and LOOK HOW DUMB HARMONY IS-y. But it was great to have a Harmony-centric episode. And having seen the finale, the events of this episode take on a whole new meaning. Harmony goes out of her way time and time again to do the right thing, and Angel shoots her down every time. It’s no wonder she ends up betraying him.
- Power Play – Eh. The whole “THEY NEEDED TO THINK YOU DIDN’T TRUST ME” thing was annoying. Especially that close to the end of the series. But there were a lot of worse episodes this season, so…yeah.
- Lineage – It’s just not Traumaland without some shitty parenting, and even though Wes’ dad turned out to be an evil robot, that doesn’t change the fact that Wes thought it was his father the entire time. But it still gave me Wesley feels, so there’s that.
- Underneath – Decidedly middle of the road. While Adam Baldwin turning up will never not be hilarious, I couldn’t bring myself to care much about Lindsey’s repeater hell, and the big revelation was less revelation and more “um, duh?”
- Just Rewards – The beginning of all the bickering and some early notes of shipper baiting. Basically, this was dumb from start to finish.
- Time Bomb – I can’t quite pinpoint what it was that I didn’t like about this episode, but I was firmly on Team Meh. Yes, Alexis Denisof and his PTSD vibe were fabulous, but that wasn’t enough to redeem the time loop-y confusion.
- Life of the Party – I wanted to like this Lorne-centric episode, but the entire concept was just SO FREAKING DUMB. Especially when you add in how his throwaway lines were interpreted – Gunn peeing everywhere, Wes and Fred being faux-drunk, Angel and Eve having sex. Ugh.
- The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco – Seriously, people?? You give us ONE episode that features Hispanic characters in any significant way, and then you make them enormous stereotypes whose faces are permanently hidden behind masks? DUMB.
- Hell Bound – Squabbling over Buffy with a side of torture porn put me firmly on the nope train for this episode. Sorry not sorry.
- Soul Purpose – Lindsey pretending to be Doyle was always going to make me ragey, but add in never ending crazy dreams and a Fake!Buffy, and this sucker is firmly in the bottom five.
- Unleashed – The werewolf thing was fine, I totally understand them bringing back an old favourite monster-wise. But the “ooooh, gourmet food!” group were just batshit crazy and more than a little gross.
- Why We Fight – If you include Spike, this makes FOUR of Angel’s vampire babies/grand-babies that have turned up and been all “Man, you’ve changed. Y U NO KILL PEOPLE ANY MORE?” over the twelve seasons of Buffy and Angel. Add in bad dye jobs and Nazism and it was equal parts confusing and boring.
- Destiny – How best to summarise this episode? How about: bicker bicker bicker bicker bicker BUFFY IS MAHN. Pass.
- The Girl in Question – Maybe I’d have liked this episode better if it had happened at ANY OTHER POINT IN THE SEASON. But with two episodes to go, this was totally out of place. And totally gross.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.