Angel - Season 4 Review

It’s customary for me to watch your reviews, and this was no exception. A very fine job, and Angel season five is one of the things I am really geared up for on your Patreon coming up. Not the only thing, of course.

Koz

Great recap/in-depth reflection on the season! One thought I wanted to share about Connor: Nothing against Vincent, but I think he was miscast. I think the character should’ve been more reflective of Holtz (accent, dress, demeanor). Rather than thin & teenage-like, it should’ve been someone who looked like they survived 20 years in a hell-dimension by an anachronistic man with a singular, revenge-driven goal. Also, as superficial as it is, someone who didn’t look like a gangly 16-year-old might’ve been easier to stomach Cordelia getting freaky with. Additionally, would’ve loved a flashback or two to Connor growing up in Quor’Toth so that we as the audience could’ve sympathized with how brutal of a life he had, rather than just being told about it.

Regarding the Season 5 hype, I totally agree with others when they say don't listen to it. The trouble with people hyping or bashing certain seasons is that you never really know why exactly they love or hate certain seasons, not at least without people giving out spoilers. Some people may love a season due to it's themes, others due to a particular character arc, others because the episodes are consistent in quality, and so on. For example, with Buffy I am pretty insistently vocal in my love of Season 6, and yet it contains my least favourite episode out of the entire show, and despite Season 6 being my favourite season I will always concede that I think Season 5 has the more consistent quality in terms of individual episodes. It's all relative, and unless it's open season on spoilers you will never know exactly why one season is hyped or bashed over another - ergo sum it's really a moot point.

Claire Eyles

I actually really enjoyed season 4 when it first aired, despite it's faults. It was only on subsequent rewatches that I started to not like it as much due to the faults seeming to become more pronounced. Season 4 Buffy I was really 'meh' for me when it first aired, but later watches I came to really enjoy it. Everyone has an opinion on different shows and different seasons, I'm glad being bombarded with opinions didn't ultimately ruin you being able to enjoy Angel Season 4 on its own merits.

Claire Eyles

I feel with social media, people will jump on a bandwagon very easily. Season 4 is bad? Not at all. In fact it has some of the best of Angel in my opinion. Yeh, there is some nasty Connor/Cordy stuff, but I think people bash it just to be in on the bashing. You know what I mean? This is just my opinion naturally. Come at me, I know you all will

Einar Sigurðsson

Not disagreeing, just adding my two cents. Bad and 'meh' episodes. They exist in every year of Buffy and Angel. However, in context to most other shows, even a bad Angel/Buffy episode is often better than even some good episodes of other shows. This is even more accurate in the context of time that Angel/Buffy aired, as good television like we have today was really rare back then. The classic comparison, bad pizza is still pizza and pretty good. I have similar feelings with Buffy/Angel, its still pretty good. ;)

TheMartinScott

I think maybe "Calvary" was originally just the name of the location where Jesus was crucified, but later the word and name "calvary" came to be closely associated with the crucifixion and suffering in general. Not sure. I took a look at Wikipedia, and I was clearly going to have to read more paragraphs than I was interested in, in order to understand the details of the meaning [or rather, origins] of "Calvary". Most importantly, we should always try to send in the cavalry to rescue people from calvary, whether or not each of the terms "the cavalry" and "calvary" are literal or figurative. :P

UTU49

I have been trying to tell people for years that season 4 is actually not bad when you look at it as a whole unit. I completely understand the hate against it. The Connor/Cordelia line is so wrong and disgusting and I understand it taints this season for so many people. It is justifiable. And I have known about the bts crap that charisma had to deal with for years (she has spoken about it at cons, I have met her and heard her talk about it herself on a panel) and that is unacceptable and I know it lead to this awful story arc. But yes, if you don't focus on that and look at the rest of the season for what it was, it has a lot of really great parts, and, overall, is a good story. But, like you, I understand if people just can't, but I like that you had a lot of the same views I have had for so long about this season. Great review as always, Liam. Edit: Just fyi upon googling cavalry vs calvary On the battlefield, one should send in the cavalry, which is the word for an army component mounted on horseback. The similarly spelled word calvary however, refers to "an open air depiction of the crucifixion," or more recently "an experience of intense suffering."

Katherine Thoreson

People who like season 5 tend to do so for one reason - which is, I have to say, a very good reason but I'm not sure you'll be so on board with it. Try to ignore the hype :) There are some great moments but, as others have said, these are balanced out. When I first watched it I loved it but on re-watching I'm not quite so keen. Still, it's up there in the series rankings for me either first or second (at the end of the day, I'm much more of a fan of Buffy than Angel).

Good, I guess that, if the Buffy review comes out in the next few days, I have podcast for my commute for the whole next week :D

Khanach

Thanks as always for the in-depth review! Listening as I type. As you said, I really don't think Season 4 is as bad as people make it out to be. All the good things just get overshadowed in people's minds by the unnecessary butchering of Cordelia's character unfortunately. Additionally I will never understand why people hype Season 5 up so much. While there are indeed some absolutely standout episodes, there are also a number of episodes that are just straight up bad. I really hope they're not setting unrealistic expectations in your mind, going into this final season.