lucy4

I read Adam Tyner's DVD review of Angel - Season Four at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12183 and...

i completely disagree, angel season 4 is by far THE worse angel (and buffy) series ever made. For fans of the show it neglects almost everything you like about it and its characters. Its like a series of 24 and gives all the characters personality transplants so they're barely recongnisable. If you like the other Angel series then i think its safe to say you wouldn't like this series as it doesn't resemble te previous 3.

Slayer2005

Sorry, gotta disagree with you. I loved season 4. I sometimes love a change in direction, mood and/or style for a new season. I especially love when the show gets really dark like in season 4. Season 4 was absolutely amazing IMO. It felt like the season was closing in on the finale by episode 7 or 8 and then it completely changed directions. It was a rollercoaster ride of a season. Lots of twists and turns. Great stuff!

I couldn't stand waiting for each new episode when it was first airing. I was actually looking past Buffy (during Buffy's 7th season) for the first time during Angel's 4th season. I believe the poll for favorite Angel season on the TV talk forum is one vote away from 3-way tie between the final 3 seasons.

I also really LOVE long story arcs and season 4 was basically one long story, almost no stand alones. So, to me it was basically an epic 15-16 hour movie or like a novel unfolding before my eyes (The series as a whole feels like this to me really, but season 4 really stood out because of it having very few stand alones.).

Best to least Best seasons IMO (there are no "worst" seasons for me, because I found them all great):

3 & 4 (tie)
2
5
1

I know what happened to Cordy in S4 pissed off many fans, but to me the story was just too rivetiing & addictive to complain about that or Connor. Yes Connor was annoying, but he was supposed to be. Even though I loved season 5 I really wish they wouldn't have done so many stand alones. I heard that it was demanded by the WB Executives that season 5 have a lot more stand alone episodes, because long & complex story arcs (like seasons 3 & 4) were turning off potential fans who would be incredibly confused during each episode that bleeds into the next episode.

Baron Of Hell

Nah, season 4 was great. I think you just don't like change. From the first season to the last all the characters go through some type of change. Fred psycho to sane, Gun lost his street attitude, Wes went from weak to badass, Cordy naive to oracle of sorts. They all went through life changing experiences and changed as needed. For season for continues the evolution into something greater.

Adam Tyner

I agree with every single word of Slayer2005's post.

Nick Martin

I absolutely second that, Adam.

das Monkey

I'm not going to defend the OP, but Season 4's failure isn't that it's large in scope but that the story arc is sometimes focused, sometimes meandering, and towards the end, it's as if the writers just started pulling plot points from their asses. Watching this season, I always got the feeling that there was a great idea buried deep within it, but for whatever reason (likely offscreen issues), it got lost along the way, and some of the resolutions to major issues are borderline laughable. It's certainly not a terrible season, but IMO it's far from the best, and it was the first time I found myself rolling my eyes at groups of episodes instead of just one.

That said, "Awakening" is one of my favorite episodes from the series, and while Adam disagrees, I found "Home" to be one of the best of the season (in the tradition of "Restless"), which just shows how a good television series can appeal to viewers on different levels, and agree with it or not, the review (which one would think is the subject of such threads) is quite good.

das