Angel's standout episodes

[Ethros]

Whenever there's an article or whatever on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a lot of the time the show's standout episodes will get a mention. Now these may not be your favourite or all-time best, but they do standout from the crowd. The main "trilogy" would be-
Hush, The Body and Once More, With Feeling. And then you could maybe add other popular eps like Innocence, Passion, Becoming, Restless, The Gift, etc etc

But Angel on the other hand doesn't really seem to have as many "standout" eps as above. Don't get me wrong I lurve the show, but the only kinda "gimmicky" episode I can think of like Buffy's trilogy is Smile Time, which IMO is quite an overrated episode anyway


So I'll leave my views on the subject for later, but what for you would be the equivalent Angel episodes. Not necessarily your favourite, but ones that standout from the crowd a bit

 

[Lindley]

I always liked "The Trial". And anything heavily featuring Lindsey McDonald.

 

[Warp Coil]

I think the difference between Buffy and Angel is that, as the series went on, Angel became so serialized that individual episodes didn't stand out as much as the overall arcs. While there may have been less "gimmicky" episodes, there were plenty of important, powerful episodes. My personal favorites:

"I Will Remember You"
"Reprise" / "Ephiphany"
"Sleep Tight"
"Apocalypse Nowish"
"You're Welcome"
"Smile Time"
"A Hole in the World"
"Not Fade Away"

 

[Ethros]

You know looking at that pic above is kinda sad...

Spoiler: spoilers for Angel s1-5 and Angel:ATF

in that not including baby Connor, 4/6 of them are dead

 

[JonathonWally]

Nevermind my post, you read your spoiler wrong.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

"Not Fade Away", "You're Welcome", "Darla", "A Hole in the World", "Smile Time", "Lullaby", and "I Will Remember You" are the half-dozen or so standout episodes that come to mind. There would also be some from the fourth season, but that's hard to narrow down because the season is so serialized. I guess "Orpheus" and "Home" would be the two that stand out the most there.

 

[Lindley]

"I Will Remember You"

That's a Buffy episode disguised with Angel's opening credits. The neat part is, you can tell the difference between the two shows early enough in Angel's run to realize that.

 

[ialfan]

I always liked "Eternity", "Blind Date", anything with Faith or Lindsey, "Reprise"/"Epiphany", "That Vision Thing", "Birthday", "Orpheus", "Destiny", "You're Welcome", "A Hole in the World"/"Shells", "Underneath", "Time Bomb", and "Power Play"/"Not Fade Away". Looking back through the episode list those are the ones that come to mind as standout and when I am feeling like watching Angel I will go to first.

 

[Kemaiku]

You know looking at that pic above is kinda sad...

Spoiler: spoilers for Angel s1-5 and Angel:ATF

in that not including baby Connor, 4/6 of them are dead

Huh?

Spoiler

Angel is already dead being a Vampire. Cordelia died in her coma. Fred died when Illyria consumed her soul. Wesley died in the finale and Gunn was bitten, in Season 6 hes a Vampire so hes dead too. Connor is working with Nina to help LA refugees and Lorne made one appearance where its left up to the ready whether or not he left or even committed suicide over his guilt.

So yeah more than that

Overall, "I Will Remember You" and "Hero" from season 1. "Smile Time", "A Hole in the World" and "Time Bomb" leading up to the finale.

The other seasons for me where a bit too arc based to really pick out a particular outstanding one. I love to watch for a continuing storyline more with Angel than popping in a stand alone with Buffy.

 

[Ethros]

Huh?

Spoiler

Angel is already dead being a Vampire. Cordelia died in her coma. Fred died when Illyria consumed her soul. Wesley died in the finale and Gunn was bitten, in Season 6 hes a Vampire so hes dead too. Connor is working with Nina to help LA refugees and Lorne made one appearance where its left up to the ready whether or not he left or even committed suicide over his guilt.

Spoiler: more spoilero's

The 4/6 were Cordy, Fred, Wes and Gunn. Connor is alive and kicking, especially the kicking. And don't know if you've read ATF but Lorne is alive & well and back on the team.
Angel may be technically "dead" as a vamp, but A. Angel is still around and B. he's human now anyway. And although Gunn is around, the Charles Gunn we knew is dead now he's a vampire... as far as we know anyway. Oh and so is Wes, but he's a ghost. its always complicated on Angel!

As of the last issue (#10) Team-Angel currently consists of Angel, Spike, Illyria, Lorne, Connor, Groo, Gwen, Nina and Ghost-Wes

 

[Trubinator]

I prefer any of the episodes where Angel is alone or dark and brooding. They tend to not include the rest of the cast as much and the show feels more mature. Oh, and any non-connor episode is a good episode!

 

[blaXXer]

Lvovin' the WR&H-centric episodes, 'specially when the gang takes over said enterprise.

 

[Kemaiku]

Huh?

Spoiler

Angel is already dead being a Vampire. Cordelia died in her coma. Fred died when Illyria consumed her soul. Wesley died in the finale and Gunn was bitten, in Season 6 hes a Vampire so hes dead too. Connor is working with Nina to help LA refugees and Lorne made one appearance where its left up to the ready whether or not he left or even committed suicide over his guilt.

Spoiler: more spoilero's

The 4/6 were Cordy, Fred, Wes and Gunn. Connor is alive and kicking, especially the kicking. And don't know if you've read ATF but Lorne is alive & well and back on the team.
Angel may be technically "dead" as a vamp, but A. Angel is still around and B. he's human now anyway. And although Gunn is around, the Charles Gunn we knew is dead now he's a vampire... as far as we know anyway. Oh and so is Wes, but he's a ghost. its always complicated on Angel!

As of the last issue (#10) Team-Angel currently consists of Angel, Spike, Illyria, Lorne, Connor, Groo, Gwen, Nina and Ghost-Wes

Spoiler: Season 6

I can't get the comics here, I only have volumes 1 and 2 of Buffy (collecting the first 10 issues of the 17 available) so I have to go by whats on Buffy Boards. They aren't always the most reliable bunch. Glad Lorne is still around and yeah I heard something weird was up with Angel, that he finally been Shan'Shu'd but with a twist.

Gunn was a Vampire but fighting his new nature in some way and yeah I saw the artwork for Ghost Wes

One of the up coming issues of Angel is going to force another recount, looks like Illyria 'and' Fred. Joss always said if he had another year on air he would have had them split, looks like he wrote that into the storyline of the comics, should be interesting.

 

[Ethros]

^ Yeah that's happening now, and been explored more in Spike: After The Fall too (prequel to Angel: ATF) The first TPB of A:ATF is available now btw, #1-5 in a very nice hardcover book.

So back to the topic, as for standing out from crowd, I guess eps like Waiting In The Wings and Smile Time spring to mind.
But as for the main big standout awesome-o eps for me, well I love the arc plots and Wolfram & Hart shennagins episodes. Such great characters and villians (Lilah, Holtz, Lindsey, Darla, The Beast, etc)
Some of my big faves eps are...
s1- Five By Five, To Shanshu In LA
s2- Darla, Reunion/Redefintion, Reprise
s3- Lullaby, Sleep Tight, Benediction
s4- Apocalypse Nowish, Salvage
s5- You're Welcome, Hole in the World/Shells

And then of course my favourite episode bar none, Not Fade Away. Love every second of it.


I'm listening to the score soundtrack as I write this btw. "Darla's Sacrifice", used when she kills herself in the alley to reveal baby Connor, and Holtz slow-mo walks through the flames crossbow in hand.
God I love this show


btw, found this on Youtube, a possible new spinoff?-
Daniel Holtz in the 21st Century
Video starts a bit slow but stick with it, hilarious

 

[JNG]

The fourth and fifth season finales are probably what I remember most years down the line like this. Of "Angel," I think I can honestly say its bad episodes tended to come in short bursts instead of entire seasons (with a lot of them at least leading to something good), and so when I look back on it it feels like a more consistently watchable series than "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" does.

 

[amdmiami]

A lot of my fave Angel eps have been mentioned already. My favorites are Five by Five and the Darla/Drusilla arc in season 2.

 

[Trent Roman]

I started watching Angel mid-season 3, after I began watching Buffy in syndication earlier that year. I thought it was basically okay (in retrospect, I can see I was missing the background to better appreciate the character interactions), until "Sleep Tight", which entirely blew me away and ensured I would become a fan of the series. Having since seen the entire run, it's still one of my favourites, not just because it's the one that made me a 'convert', so to speak, but because of how unpredictable and brutal it is.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Jen]

I just finished watching Angel from start to finish, and I have to say....I'd forgotten how great this series was. Far superior to Buffy, in my opinion.

Stand out episodes for me would be Five by Five, Epiphany, Spin the Bottle, Orpheus, Smile Time, and Not Fade Away.

 

[label]

My favorite episodes from Joss's best show to date (because Firefly wasn't allowed to surpass it........stinkin' Fox execs)

Note: I Will Remember You is really good but doesn't count because as many have pointed out, this is really a Buffy episode

In chronological order:

I've Got You Under My Skin
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
The Trial
Lullaby
Sleep Tight (representing that whole Wesley/Connor/Angel/Holtz storyline)
Spin the Bottle
Apocalypse, Nowish
Orpheus
Lineage
You're Welcome!
Smile Time
A Hole in the World
Not Fade Away

 

[amdmiami]

Ethros,here are some of my other favorite Buffy episodes besides the one you mentioned:

Angel
Ted
Homecoming
This year's girl/who are you
Bad girls
Chosen
Fool for love
Graduation Day part 1 and 2
Potential
Bargaining 1 and 2
When she was bad
Whats my line 1 and 2