With my thanks to Boo who allowed me to adapt his/her review format used in the Buffy rewatch and Keith Topping's excellent fan books Slayer and Hollywood Vampire for inspiration;
City of Angels
The Good;
Impressive opening scenes, funny yet moving. Love Angel choosing the wrong car and very suprising that he doesn't save the girl, at least not the guest star (they use the same time difference trick as they did in Helpless to convince you he will). Especially loved him killing Winters at the end, real vicious stick it in and break it off revenge, great stunt, great effect. Cordy realising that Winter's is a vamp and him initally denying it is also fun.
The Bad;
If Winters had all this security at his House how can Angel just walk into his office?
Best line:
Angel; Can you fly?
Jeez, how did they get away with that?
Winters killing the heroine is very brutal. Also the whole sugardaddy/casting couch scenario shows the stark reality behind the Hollywood glamour.
Apocalypses: 4
Angel Cliches
Damsel in distress; 1
Inverting the Hollywood cliche; Doyle rams the gates of the Winter's mansion but they seem suprisingly resilient. Also Angel fails to save the girl.
In disguise; Angel does his rube in the big city act for the first time
DB get's his shirt off; in order to allow Doyle and Cordy to remove the bullets. Yeah, right!
Fang Gang in bondage: no but he knocks out and ties up the guard at the mansion
Cordy: 5
Angel: 4
Wes: 1
Fang gang knocked out: no but Angel knocks out about 4 guys
Cordy: 6
Angel: 6
Wes: 1
Kills:
Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, � a demon from her time in Sunnydale
Angel: kills 4 vamps in the opening episode which is remarkable as according to Boo's figures he only killed 3 in the whole 3 seasons of Buffy. So that gives Angel 7 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human.
Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 1
Angel: 1
Alternate Fang Gang:
Cordy: 1
Angel: 3
Characters killed:
2; Tina and her missing friend Denise (offscreen)
Total number of Angel Investigations:
3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy
Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 4, pumped full of lead by Winter's bodyguards
Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
Cordy: 1?
Angel: 1;Buffy
Kinky dinky:
Tina appears to be Winter's kept woman. She describes him as 'liking pain' (his own or other peoples?). Cordy also considers him for a sugardaddy much the same as she'll consider doing later to David Nabbit. Tina offers herself to Angel as a reward for saving her but like the white knight he is he gently turns her down.
Captain Subtext;
Oliver at the party considers Angel a 'beautiful man' but only on a professional basis, he's currently in a long term relationship with a landscape gardener. 'Drunk' Angel also gives the appearance of hitting on the guy in the bar.
Questions and observations;
Doyle drinks Colt .45 beer, the equivalent of Tennants Extra in the UK, pretty much in keeping with the down at heel nature of his character. First appearance of Lindsey, he and Angel are the only characters who appear in both the first and last eps of the series. Angel goes all Punisher finding his way to Winters, not hesitating to beat and threaten his way to his goal. The series already appearing much darker and more adult than Buffy. Angel's narration is similar to Angelus' in Passion and Whistler's in Becoming. It's also reminiscent of the noir crime fiction set in LA, could easily be the The Black Dahalia or LA Confidential or Chinatown. When I first saw this I wasn't sure if Winters was a vamp or not, the vamp makeup is subtly different but will eventually fall back into resembling that on Buffy once more. Angel was in Montanna during the depression, maybe Spike's line about vampire cowboy wasn't too far off the mark? Angel tells Cordy there's no cure for vamparism but we'll actually find 3 in the first season alone. Cordy refers to Angel having never developed an investment portfolio but he must get money from somewhere, he seems very well to do. The money he and Darla stole from their victims or does he just have loads of bank accounts with 200 years of interest to collect, much like Highlander Angel shows some knowledge of explosives which he'll also use in Dad but according to the dialogue he's seen 14 wars and Vietnam in his time. Nice crossover when he phones Buffy in Sunnydale.
Marks out of 10; 6/10 good beginning but not compared to the heights Angel will eventually soar to.
City of Angels
The Good;
Impressive opening scenes, funny yet moving. Love Angel choosing the wrong car and very suprising that he doesn't save the girl, at least not the guest star (they use the same time difference trick as they did in Helpless to convince you he will). Especially loved him killing Winters at the end, real vicious stick it in and break it off revenge, great stunt, great effect. Cordy realising that Winter's is a vamp and him initally denying it is also fun.
The Bad;
If Winters had all this security at his House how can Angel just walk into his office?
Best line:
Angel; Can you fly?
Jeez, how did they get away with that?
Winters killing the heroine is very brutal. Also the whole sugardaddy/casting couch scenario shows the stark reality behind the Hollywood glamour.
Apocalypses: 4
Angel Cliches
Damsel in distress; 1
Inverting the Hollywood cliche; Doyle rams the gates of the Winter's mansion but they seem suprisingly resilient. Also Angel fails to save the girl.
In disguise; Angel does his rube in the big city act for the first time
DB get's his shirt off; in order to allow Doyle and Cordy to remove the bullets. Yeah, right!
Fang Gang in bondage: no but he knocks out and ties up the guard at the mansion
Cordy: 5
Angel: 4
Wes: 1
Fang gang knocked out: no but Angel knocks out about 4 guys
Cordy: 6
Angel: 6
Wes: 1
Kills:
Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, � a demon from her time in Sunnydale
Angel: kills 4 vamps in the opening episode which is remarkable as according to Boo's figures he only killed 3 in the whole 3 seasons of Buffy. So that gives Angel 7 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human.
Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 1
Angel: 1
Alternate Fang Gang:
Cordy: 1
Angel: 3
Characters killed:
2; Tina and her missing friend Denise (offscreen)
Total number of Angel Investigations:
3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy
Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 4, pumped full of lead by Winter's bodyguards
Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
Cordy: 1?
Angel: 1;Buffy
Kinky dinky:
Tina appears to be Winter's kept woman. She describes him as 'liking pain' (his own or other peoples?). Cordy also considers him for a sugardaddy much the same as she'll consider doing later to David Nabbit. Tina offers herself to Angel as a reward for saving her but like the white knight he is he gently turns her down.
Captain Subtext;
Oliver at the party considers Angel a 'beautiful man' but only on a professional basis, he's currently in a long term relationship with a landscape gardener. 'Drunk' Angel also gives the appearance of hitting on the guy in the bar.
Questions and observations;
Doyle drinks Colt .45 beer, the equivalent of Tennants Extra in the UK, pretty much in keeping with the down at heel nature of his character. First appearance of Lindsey, he and Angel are the only characters who appear in both the first and last eps of the series. Angel goes all Punisher finding his way to Winters, not hesitating to beat and threaten his way to his goal. The series already appearing much darker and more adult than Buffy. Angel's narration is similar to Angelus' in Passion and Whistler's in Becoming. It's also reminiscent of the noir crime fiction set in LA, could easily be the The Black Dahalia or LA Confidential or Chinatown. When I first saw this I wasn't sure if Winters was a vamp or not, the vamp makeup is subtly different but will eventually fall back into resembling that on Buffy once more. Angel was in Montanna during the depression, maybe Spike's line about vampire cowboy wasn't too far off the mark? Angel tells Cordy there's no cure for vamparism but we'll actually find 3 in the first season alone. Cordy refers to Angel having never developed an investment portfolio but he must get money from somewhere, he seems very well to do. The money he and Darla stole from their victims or does he just have loads of bank accounts with 200 years of interest to collect, much like Highlander Angel shows some knowledge of explosives which he'll also use in Dad but according to the dialogue he's seen 14 wars and Vietnam in his time. Nice crossover when he phones Buffy in Sunnydale.
Marks out of 10; 6/10 good beginning but not compared to the heights Angel will eventually soar to.
Yeah Keith Toppings books are pretty good but I felt the need to do my own.
that would be shiny 
