As the Season Goes On: Angel Season 4

Hello all and salutations to Day 2 of As the Season Goes On. This time around I felt I can get back to a spin-off of the popular horror TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We follow the vampire with a soul and his crew. When last left, Angel had lost his son only to gain him again but from an infant to a young adult. Cordelia has disappeared as had Angel. Wesley wounded and left the team leaving Fred and Gunn all alone. This is Angel Season 4.

So who wants to hit rooftops?

Our season opens with Gunn (J. August Richards of Undressed, Angel, Conviction, Raising the Bar, Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Fred (Amy Acker of Groom Lake, Angel, Justice League, Alias, Dollhouse, Happy Town,The Cabin in the Woods and Much Ado About Nothing)in hot pursuit of Angel's son Connor (Vincent Kartheiser of Ricky 6, Dandelion, Angel, Alpha Dog, Elektra Luxx, Beach Pillows, Mad Men and Red Knot) chasing down a lead they may find Angel's whereabouts. Wesley (Alexis Denisof of Sharpe's Revenge, Sharpe's Justice, Sharpe's Waterloo, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse, The Avengers, and Grimm) who was all but banished from the group after losing Angel's son to his mortal enemy through a dimensional tear into a demon realm (... yeesh that will hurt the brain) uses a former enemy's intel and a tug boat to find Angel (David Boreanaz of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Valentine, Bones, Justice League: The New Frontier, and Officer Down) in a large see-through coffin so he got to gaze up at the sea above and damn near lose his marbles.

Trying to mold me into a bad ass.

Angel back in the game, not knowing where Cordelia or Lorne are, is trying to bring the band back again. Unknownst to the gang, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter of Malibu Shores, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Miss Match, What Boys Like, Angel, Charmed, Veronica Mars and Voodoo Moon) has moved to a higher plane of existence. Wolfram & Hart seem to be following a prophecy or two... but they are not understanding if they are on the side of evil, why are they terrified of the big bad of the creature simply known as The Beast. The Beast (Vladimir Kulich ofMacGyver, Highlander, Firestorm, The 13^th Warrior, Ground Zero, Smokin' Aces, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Vikings) interacts with Angel and company and refers to Angel as his alternative villainous version Angelus. As the season progresses, we learn the big bad beastie boy is not a mastermind. Terrifyingly powerful, yes but brain power not his thing. A lackey to a higher or in this case, lower rank of demon. So who is pulling the Beast's strings? Why does he know Angel but Angel doesn't recall him?

A few comments on the season.

Boreanaz and Denisof giggled like kids during Spin the Bottle due to Boreanaz's insistence of demons surrounding the Hyperion Hotel. Multiple takes was the order of the season, from giggling and screwing up lines to the gang goofing on the set.

The Beast was not supposed to appear until much later in the season but the looming threat of cancellation hung over the show like the Sword of Damocles, so Vladimir had less time with his suit that covered him entirely and the stilts were difficult to walk about in.

Team Evil's got some hotties!

Random TV Week: Angel Season 3

Hello and I hope I can entice you for Day 1 of Random TV Week. This time around I thought we would check in with the deceased detective, the post-mordum p.i., the man with fangs and a soul, Angel. When last I wrote anything about the fellow he was on a downward spiral to damnation and found refuge in the loins of his former sire/lover Darla. When two vampires managed to bring into the world a boy born of vampire. A prophecy child if you will and we all know how well that can go. So it is time for Team Angel to be able to swat off the dastardly demons and vicious vampires that want the day old boy for food, fiendish plots and felonious deeds. This is Angel Season 3.

Team Angel went struttin'.

As the spin-off continues, Angel (David Boreanz of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Valentine, The Hard Easy, The Mighty Macs, Full Circle and Bones) has been told his estranged lover/vampire slayer Buffy has died. Balancing with Season 5 of Buffy, the slayer has past and her undead beau doesn't know what to do other than carry on his mission against evil alongside his friends/colleagues/fellow monster hunters to perhaps dull the pain and loss.

His closest friend Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Voodoo Moon, Relative Chaos, Veronica Mars, The Expendables, Greek and The Lying Game) tries her level best to be there for his friend and stay strong for him. Rejoining him in the fight against evil, a street-smart hunter Charles Gunn (J. August Richards of Why Do Fools Fall in Love, The Temptations, Conviction, Raising the Bar and Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) a former Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Price (Alexis Dunoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Much Ado About Nothing, How I Met Your Mother, Finding Carter and Grimm) and a recently rescued physicist from a hell dimension Winifred Burkle (Amy Acker of Alias, 21 and a Wake-Up, Dollhouse, The Cabin in the Woods, Much Ado About Nothing, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Person of Interest) must all rally against the forces of darkness one case at a time to aid the City of Angels no matter what the cost.

Yes, I am the show's Femme Fatale.

Darla (Julie Benz of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Brothers, Desperate Housewives, Dexter, Rambo and No Ordinary Family) reappears bearing... a pregnant belly???? The evil law firm Wolfram & Hart also are back to make Angel's unlife a living hell which is no small task with the rogues gallery this guy is stacking up. Seriously, he and Batman could compare nutters in their lives. Is the child of Angel and Darla to be a savior or a sinner? What will his life mean in the grand scheme of things?

A few comments about the season now. We see more of the Host/Lorne (Andy Hallett of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Enforcers, Chance, Angel and Geppetto's Secret) as he becomes a regular on the show rather than a side character.

More elaborate demon make-up by Dayne Johnson and Robert Hall as well as poor stunt double for Boreanz, Mike Massa gets flung about on pulleys and tossed about like so much rubbage.  

Too late for a group hug?