Angel

Angel, Strange Name for a Vamp

Strange name for a two century old vampire, but Angel's had a strange career. A carousing wastrel in his pre-vampire days, he celebrated his initiation into vampirehood by killing his own family, and then gleefully slaughtered the innocent for over a century. But then a gypsy curse gave him a heavy burden. It restored his soul. And with the soul came the guilt associated with his many crimes. So he has a lot of atoning to do.

Show History

A spin-off from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel was created by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, along with David Greenwalt. It premiered on the WB network in 1999 and ran for five years. Buffy fans will remember Angel as Buffy's tragic love interest, but the curse kept them apart. So Angel chose Los Angeles as a likely place to do good and store up karmic brownie points.

The Characters, and Characters They Are

In the series, Angel (David Boreanaz) runs Angel Investigations, with a mission to 'help the helpless'. He is assisted in his work by Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley Wyndham-Price (Alexis Denisof). Cordelia, the snooty rich girl from Buffy, comes to Los Angeles as a struggling actress and becomes office manager for the agency. She also is given the gift of prophecy, so more often than not she's the one who identifies the helpless needing help for the week's episode. Wesley, the bumbling junior Watcher from Buffy, tries to repurpose himself as a "rogue demon slayer", joins forces with the team, and discovers he's really not half bad at this demon slaying business.

Through the run of the series, other stalwarts join the band. Charles Gunn (J. August Richards), streetwise urban vampire hunter, becomes an asset once he can be convinced not to slay Angel. Winifred "Fred" Burkle (Amy Acker) is rescued from a demon dimension and turns out to be just the science nerd the group needs. And lounge-singer Lorne (Andy Hallett), a horned green demon, has an in with demon gossip, and can read the souls of karaoke singers.

Story Arcs

Angel and Company do battle with episodic vampires and demons, but their most long-running recurring foes are... lawyers. Hey, not all lawyers are bad, but these guys sure are. The law firm of Wolfram and Hart represent the forces of darkness, and make a sleekly elegant living doing so.

A significant plot line dealt with the return of Darla, the vampire who turned ouur hero into a vampire. (In the Buffyverse terminology, that makes her his 'sire'.) Darla was Angel's original love interest, a sort of anti-Buffy. A surprising outcome of her return is that the pair create a child. Two vampires, becoming parents? It's supposed to be impossible. But it happened. The offspring of the unholy union, the baby Connor (fully human, no less!) is kidnapped and spirited away to a demon dimension, returning in a short time as an angry, conflicted young man, with some impressive slaying moves of his own.