Cheap Angel - Season Three (DVD) (David Boreanaz) Price

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Customer Reviews of Angel - Season Three

Son of Angel
After seeing the marvel that was Angel-Season 2, I never thought that it could be topped. We saw the fall and rise of Angel (David Boreanaz), without turning into Angelus, at the hands of Wolfram and Hart, Darla (Julie Benz), and Drusilla (Juliette Landau). We saw Cordelia (Charisma Carpentar), Wes (Alexis Denisof), and Gunn (J. August Richards) form deep bonds. And we saw the group go to Pylea, the home-world of Lorne the Host (Andy Hallet), where they rescued Fred (Amy Acker) and turned the feudal land into a democracy. I am telling you this because I want you to know the competition Season 3 had when I tell you that it successfully outdid the previous season.
Things start off three months later with Angel in a Tibetan monestary, where he has gone to sort out his thoughts about his dearly departed lover, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), the Slayer. While the gang was in Pylea, Buffy died defending the world... again. Anyway, upon his return, he learns that everything went smoothly, except that Fred is afraid to leave her room without the vampire hero. She was sucked into Pylea through a portal five years ago, and she doesn't want to repeat the experience. Anyway, after Angel's first case back, he realizes something that nearly kills him; Buffy's death, while tragic, has not prevented him from living on, which he thought would be impossible. Quite the contrary, really. I believe that this set in motion a series of events that may not have transpired had Buffy not moved to a different network, but more on that later.
Soon, Darla is revealed to be pregnant, which should be impossible. Vampires are sterile, and even if they weren't, they are dead, so there would be no way for her to nourish hers and Angel's child. Yet it has come to pass. Wes determines that the birth of Connor, Angel's son, is part of the Tro-Clan, a prophesised series of mystical events that will change the world greatly. The other part of the Tro-Clan is the re-emerging of Daniel Holtz (Keith Szarabajka), a vampire hunter whom Angelus and Darla tortured in the 18th century. He was brought forth by the time-travelling demon Sahjahn (Jack Conley) in order to help get revenge upon the vampire pair. However, when Holtz sees Darla die and Connor born, he changes his strategy; he organizes a group of people who have lost loved ones to vamps in order to steal Connor away from Angel. One of these people is a woman named Justine Cooper (Laurel Holloman), who becomes Holtz's lover and confidante.
Wolfram and Hart also take an interest in baby Connor, as does Wesley, who believes Angel may kill his new son. Things continue to go from bad to worse up until the heartbreaking season finale.
This has been the best season of Angel yet, but it is not without some "problems". First of all, even though I grew to like the Groosalug (Mark Lutz), his relationship with Cordelia was a repeat of Buffy and Riley (Marc Blucas). He loved her, she didn't love him back the way he wanted. He leaves. Sound familiar? This takes me back to what I was saying earlier about Angel and Cordelia; had Buffy's show remained on the WB, crossovers would have been allowed (this was a problem too; no Buffy/Angel crossovers), the Angel/Cordelia romance would never (I think) have happened. Buffy is Angel's only true love. Angel pulled himself out of the gutter to help her, then he rose from Hell to be with her again. Would he have done anything like that for Cordelia three years ago? Two years ago? Not even last year would he have done this. But this year, all of the sudden, they realize this deep love for each other. Oh well. This was a great season, none the less.
Joss Whedon is one of television's greatest assets, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly are undeniable proof. This is one of the best TV boxed sets that I own. Some good episodes are: Heartthrob, Carpe Noctem, Fredless, Billy, Offspring, Lullabye, Dad, Birthday, Provider, Loyalty, Sleep Tight, Forgiving, The Price, A New World, Benediction, and Tomorrow. Yes it is a lot, but it shows you how good this season is.

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Hitting it's stride
Just like the show it was spun off from, Angel achieved greatness in it's third season. Beginning with Angel (David Boreanaz) mourning the death of his former lover Buffy, the vampire with a soul finds his old love Darla (Julie Benz) pregnant with his child, while the evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart begins to dismantle everything that Angel and his crew have built around them. Evil seductress Lilah Morgan (Stephanie Romanov) has her own plans as well, and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) faces a destiny that she, nor viewers who have watched her since she was on Buffy, would have never expected. As the season comes to a close, the love triangle between Wesley (Alexis Denisof), Fred (Amy Acker), and Gunn (J. August Richards) explodes, and the super cliffhanger season finale has to be seen to be believed. The cast of Angel excels in this season more than ever (I firmly believe that this is the best season of Angel) and the casting of Vincent Kartheiser as Angel's estranged son Connor is perfect. Andy Hallet is plain loveable as the green skinned, karaoke loving demon Lorne, and Boreanaz is at his brooding best. All in all, season 3 of Angel saw the show step out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's shadow and stand on it's own as one of the best prime time TV dramas on the air.

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Angel stands alone in excellence
Angel Season Three was one of the best of the stellar show's five seasons. While it wasn't quite the best (wait for fall 2004 and the release of the season 4 DVD and you'll see what i mean), but it did mark the show's divergence from the shadow of its sister show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It also shifted the focus from the more stand-alone episodes of the previous two seasons to the more structured storyline that would continue into the excellent fourth season.

The season opens with Heartthrob, an episode that has Angel dealing with the death of Buffy, as well as facing an old friend from his demonic past, who returns as an enemy out for vengeance against Angel for killing his lover. The episode finally allows Angel to put Buffy behind him and move on. The season's main arcs are introduced in the next few episodes, dealing with the worsening of Cordelia's visions, the deepening feelings of Cordelia and Angel for one another, Darla's pregnancy with Angel's son (a birth by two vampires, an unprecedented event), the Wesley-Fred-Gunn love triangle, and the reappearance of the 18th century vampire hunter Daniel Holtz, who makes a pact with the demon Sahjhan to return in the 21st century to avenge his family, who Angel brutally murdered before being re-ensouled.

The season is incredibly well-written, showing Angel coming to terms with fatherhood and growing to deeply love his son. It shows Wesley sinking slowly into darkness as he is forced to betray Angel in an effort to do the right thing. It shows Lilah Morgan of Wolfram and Hart finally begin to show glimpses of inner conflict. And it shows Holtz, a potrait of a man consumed by hatred, with nothing left but a thirst for vengeance which he will do anything to satisfy.

Although the best part of this season is the main story arc, there are several excellent stand-alone episodes, including That Old Gang of Mine, where Gunn must finally choose between Angel Investigations and his old gang; Billy, where, infected by a demon who Angel freed from hell to save Cordelia, Wesley stalks Fred through the hotel with an axe; and Waiting in the Wings, where Cordelia and Angel fall under a spell and are possessed by the spirits of dead lovers and eventually save a ballerina who has been pulled out of time.

Season Three of Angel showed that the show could survive on its own, and since the show has surpassed the show that spawned it with the stellar fourth and fifth seasons. It's a shame this show got cancelled. But this is what the miracle of the digital video disc is for.