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Critic Reviews
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Angel is more straight-ahead action than Buffy, but it is a spin-off that twirls terrificly. Plunked behind Buffy, it completes the most joyously entertaining two hours on television. [5 Oct 1999, p.E01]
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Boreanaz oozes the perfect mixture of angst and irony. He's darkly foreboding when necessary, and then slips into the glib, smart humor that's the hallmark of the Buffy franchise. [5 Oct 1999, p.1E]
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In the pilot, at least, Whedon manages to capture some of the same "Buffy" sensibility -- a rare combination of sexual energy, irony, intelligence, hot bodies, cool moves, action, menace and comic relief. The challenge is to sustain that tricky tone for a full season. [5 Oct 1999, p.1E]
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Angel turns out to be as nimble, in its own way, as "Buffy" itself, and Boreanaz a revelation. It helps matters that Whedon has said his primary focus this year will be on the progeny, not the parent. [4 Oct 1999, p.1]
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The good news is that the folks behind "Buffy" -- notably writer-creator Joss Whedon -- have come along for this new chapter in a vampire's life and, at least for the first episode, have brought their wit, style and keen sense of pop culture with them. [4 Oct 1999, p.1C]
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Some weeks, the series works beautifully, moving along like the otherworldly detective show it's meant to be. ... But other times Angel can tip too far into jokiness—or, worse, come off like a supernatural version of hollow USA Network shows such as Silk Stalkings.
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Angel abounds in the kinds of frills, luxuries and extras that make it a cheerfully guilty pleasure--and also, on occasion, a very bloody mess. [5 Oct 1999, p.C01]
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Darker and more adult than the campy Buffy, Angel works like a detective series with supernatural overtones: Raymond Chandler meets The X-Files. [5 Oct 1999, p.E1]
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Angel the WB's new child of "Buffy," is no ordinary spinoff, and it has the potential to become a witty hour of unearthly allegory in its own right. If it can maintain a sense of humor about itself, Angel, which stars David Boreanaz as Buffy's brooding former beau, may become one of those rare spinoffs that isn't merely a flat-out cash-in. [5 Oct 1999, p.D1]
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In Angel, both Angel and Cordelia are far more appealing than they were in Buffy. [5 Oct 1999, p.1D]
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Not only does Angel make sense as an extension of the "Buffy" mythology, it makes Angel seem more alive than he's been in about, oh, 240 years
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Angel upholds Whedon's spellbinding "Buffy" mantle and expands it, taking his surprisingly mature and witty view of life among the supernatural into an adult realm. [5 Oct 1999, p.B27]
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Given that there's no earthly reason for Angel besides the sex appeal of David Boreanaz, it looks like a pretty good show.
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At heart, Angel is another Whedon treatise on the need to accept responsibility and to move past atonement to engagement. But Whedon never overemphasizes his deeper meanings, and neither should we. [5 Oct 1999, p.1D]
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Besides its hulking, gloomy lead and self-absorbed-as-ever foil Cordelia, Angel also borrows Buffy's stylish thrills and its flashes of humor, sharp and surprising as teeth on your neck in a dark alley. Here's hoping it ultimately infuses more originality into the dynastic bloodline as well.
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As good a couple as he and Sarah Michelle Gellar made, Boreanaz was too boxed in by the "Buffy" love story. The actor, formerly tagged by some as just another pretty face, is given much more to do here and proves that he can handle the load. [4 Oct 1999, p.4]
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This first episode won't grab new viewers by the throat either, although it does reveal David Boreanaz's immense attraction as the brooding, hunky, laconic vampire. [5 Oct 1999, p.E7]
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The first episode of Angel is exciting and enticing. [5 Oct 1999, p.74]
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Weighed down by an uncertain design, the rookie series certainly is off to a rocky start. [5 Oct 1999, p.2E]
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The premiere of Angel suggests this is a fairly grim and humorless series, though perhaps not entirely predictable. With no Buffy to offset the intensely glowering and eternally brooding Angel (David Boreanaz), the former love of her life, the spinoff becomes a sort of "Touched By a Vampire," a show in danger of taking itself far too seriously and the audience far too lightly. [4 Oct 1999]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 165 out of 186
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Mixed: 1 out of 186
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Negative: 20 out of 186
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Nov 5, 2014This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.
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May 18, 2011
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Mar 19, 2012This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.