Favorite Episode From Each Season

[BlasterBoy]

Simple: Choose your favorite episode from each season and list reasons why it's your favorite.

Season 1: Five By Five - Easily my favorite. Firstly, I love Faith so, so, so much! She kicks ass and Eliza is such a phenomenal actress that it blows my mind so much. Wes's torture scene gives me chills every time I witness it and the Angel/Faith fight was the first really good fight on Angel, imo. It never had that fight stuff that Buffy had, but Five By Five brought it. And it brought it good. Plus, Faith's, "Angel! KILL ME! I'm bad, Angel!" was so amazing. Eliza deserves an emmy, no wait, she deserves five.

Season 2: Reunion - Fabulous episode! Possibly in my top 5. Darla's turn is absolutely horrible to view from Angel's perspective, and her whole "birth" is amazing. We see more mythology about how a vampire feels once they get vamped...disoriented. Darla and Dru as an evil duo are quite possibly the best villains Angel has ever witnessed! Their connection with W&H and their betrayal, their evil, sadistic minds, and their need to kill is so shocking and terrifying. Plus, the end is one of the most memorable Angel moments ever. Angel's, "I just can't seem to care" sends chills down my body.

Season 3: Forgiving - Amazing and powerful. We get another glimpse at evil!Angel, but not Angelus. We saw it in Season 2, especially "Reprise", but this goes even further, imo. David acts like he's never acted before on Angel, and it's damn impressive. Angel's pain and his torture of W&H people and the fight and Angel's hate for Wesley and all of it is tremendous! After this whole thing's done, you only no one thing: the whole Jossverse has changed.

Season 4: Calvary - Okay, I had four in mind (this, Salvage, TMB, and Inside Out) which switch from best to best constantly, but at the moment, this is my favorite. I love Angelus. He is another brilliant villain and how he toys with the gang is a delight to watch. Everything changes, and it ends with a bang. Cordelia's "vision" was a nice twist, and I loved Cordy letting Angelus out! What a shocker! But, the big shock was at the end. They go to find Angelus, but realized he doubled back and is with Lilah and Cordy. We know that one of them has to die. I'm shaking. Lilah is running from Angelus, being pretty kick ass. We know Angelus is going to kill her though BUT, Cordy saves her, so we think. And then Cordy kills her. :eek: And, best line ever: "Why do you think I let him out, you stupid, stupid bitch." Best. Line. Ever. You know this was a collaboration of three of the best writers television has ever witnessed. Congrats, Angel. You rule.

Season 5: Not Fade Away - My favorite episode of the whole series. Joss and Jeffery bell come together to pull together a whole season arc and put it into one episode, and it actually worked. The final battle was spectacular, or should I say final battles. The way everyone spent there final hours was amazing! Spike doing poetry (bringing back old William memories), seeing Anne again, seeing good Connor with Angel, having Harmony sleeping with Hamilton, etc. All of it! Awesome! I loved Hamilton vs. Angel and Connor helping out. Great stuff! Also, Wesley's death was amazing and Illyria's, "should I lie to you?" is amazingly touching. Not to mention the iconic, "Take your best shot, little girl," while Illyria changes back to herself and blows his head off. Perfect. Also, Lorne's exit, the death of Lindsey, Gunn's going out in a fight, "Let's get to work", just amazing. You do not know how much I love this series.

Yours?

[Jenni Lou]

1. Hero. It has some substantial cheese going on but it makes me cry every time. Every time. I get chills. I just love the whole "You never know until you've been tested." I really grew to love Doyle and it's hard to belive he was only in 9 episodes because he seemed like such a huge fixture to me.

2. Reprise. Followed closely by Epiphany. I love that the arc of Angel's rogue-ness comes to a close and that elevator scene with Holland Manners is pure awesomeness to me. I know a lot of folks don't like it but it was really just a mindf*ck and yet it still had Angel realizing something profound about his purpose.

3. Wow. Tough. Strangley, the episode I am drawn to choosing is The Price. And even I think that's an odd choice. But....it was the first full episode of the show I ever saw and it really drew me in. SO it just has a special place in my heart for me.

4. Inside Out. Don't care 'cause I LOVE it. LOVE it. The Skip speech about how everything has led to this gives me chills and the little Fred/Gunn scene does as well. And the Connor stuff is creepy, but in a really beautiful way. He's such a messed up kid and he wants to do right but doesn't know what it is.

5. Hmmm. I know Ben thinks A Hole in the World is overrated. And maybe it is. And I can't think of what other ep I would choose over it for the season. Except maybe Not Fade Away. However, AHITW has that excerpt from A Little Princess that is just so haunting and serene. And something about it just...I don't know. There's beauty there. Simplicity in the darkness.

[KingofCretins]

Season 1: 1.15 "Five By Five" -- Blaster said it about as well as it could be said. I think Faith's breakdown with Angel is what the series was all about, though.

Season 2: 2.10 "Reunion" -- this is just the most sweepingly cool, mythos-driven episode of the series to me. It might be my favorite one.

Season 3: 3.13 "Waiting in the Wings" -- this season isn't all that great to me, so this was hard. But, I like how this one is driven by the relationships between the characters, with Cordy and Angel ignoring the elephant in the room that is the hots they have for each other, and the Fred/Gunn/Wes triangle.

Season 4: 4.13 "Release" -- I'm biased because Faith is one of the three or four favorite characters in the Buffyverse, and this one is all about her. Again, I love epic-scale given to some of the one on one fights, and this episode delivers with Faith vs. Angelus. And, the ending that's so awesome it makes you think the spoilers have all been fakes! "You will be."

Season 5: 5.08 "Destiny" -- again, epic, mythology driven one on one fights. Spike and Angel have it out for basically good and all. I liked the shanshu plot in that season more than the Circle plot, too. "Not Fade Away" is great, "Shells" is better than "A Hole in the World", but none of them are this

[LRae12]

Season 1: I Will Remember You - it was a great wrap up to Angel's story on BTVS - and gave him some truly deserved happiness for a moment - and then ripped it away in one of the most heart-wrenching episodes ever made. Truly a remarkable episode.

Season 2: Disharmony - I know it's a strange pick, but I truly didn't care for a lot of this season early on - I don't like dark/mean Angel. In this episode we got to see Angel trying to make amends with his friends, and he had to work extra hard to win Cordelia - until he remembered how shallow she really is... I totally loved the 'happy clothes dance'

Season 3: This was such a hard choice because I feel this season is so underrated, and so with that in mind I'm picking an underrated episode - Fredless. From the hysterical beginnings with Cordy and Wes acting out the melodrama that is Bangel to the end of the show when I totally became a Fresley shipper, this episode just has me squealing with girlish delight everytime I watch it.

Season 4: I'm with Dan on this one, I'd have to go with Release. I think it was the best of the Faith arc and it delivered some outstanding performances - especially by ED and DB.

Season 5: This one is so especially hard because it's my favorite season of all of Angel and houses my 3 favorite Angel eps of all time - A Hole in the World, Origin, and Lineage. But if I have to pick right this minute, I'm going to say Origin - because I think it wraps up the ongoing storyline from Season 3 very well while including the tragedies that unfolded in S5 (Fred's death). Now mind you if you ask me tomorrow - my opinion could change to AHITW or Lineage....I'm so fickle among my faves...

[alexa]

Hmm this is hard. I love Angel, but it took longer to grow on me then BtVS or Firefly.

Season 1... Parting Gifts. (but I also really enjoy lots of others and recently saw a couple for the first time which was great! Almost like seeing a new episode) I just love Wesley so much, and love how his intro was dealt with after the death of Doyle Love the funny kisses with Cordelia, and the scene where she gets her first vision is classic.

Season 2... Used to be Guise will be Guise, but I must have watched it too much. Think it has to be Epiphany.. followed closely by Reprise. I love the old guy who meet Angel when he first decided to help humans, really gave me another reason to hate Darla when she killed him. Love the scene where Angel goes to Wesley's place "Invite me in!" - "Well perhaps if you'd show a bit of interest". Also the bond between Gunn and Wesley is nice.

Season 3... Didn't love this season as an arc. But I do like certain episodes, my favourite easily being Couplet. Simply because it's so funny, but you also get an insight into what Wesley is going through.

Season 4... Bit dramatic, but this season was ok I guess, liked it at the time. I do enjoy the last part of the season and right at the begining. Think I'll say Sacrifice because the scene between Wesley and the demon is so amazing.. the acting is stellar! Give the man an emmy now! (they call them emmy's don't they?).

Season 5.. Favourite season by far. Spike just gave so much to the show. Hard to pick just one episode. I usually say Damage for my favourite episode because I love the primal nature of Dana, and how funny Spike and Angel are together.. plus Andrew. But lately the episode I watch the most is Lineage.. love me some Wesley-centric episodes... (Of course NFA, Power Play and AWITW are great, but too sad sometimes).

[skinless]

1. Hero, Yes Maybe a Bit Overrated on this Site. It is a great Episode and I was Devestated when I watched Doyle's Sacrifice as I liked him More than Quite a few Characters.

2. Theres no Place like Plrtz Glrb I loved the Whole Pylea Arc and The Ending of this Episode and the Quote "Its Buffy" Is in My eyes a Great way to end a season.

3. Birthday- I rewatched this Episode again today and Realized How great it was. Cordelia's Vision and Everything that Came after that make this one of the Top episodes of the Series.

4. I Havent seen or remember too many Episodes from this season so I cant Comment on Any Sorry.

5. I Like so many Episodes in this Season so Im going to Chose Not Fade Away Because It a Perfect way to go out. It was a great episode and I share Angel's Logic that If u gonna go Down, At least Go down Swinging. And the Quote " Well, personally, I kinda want to slay the dragon" Is my favorite from the Season

[Nina]

Let's see.

season 1, I Will Remember You
Maybe it's my Bangel-heart but I love this episode. It's so sweet and I knew the whole episode that I couldn't be this way. But when the end of the episode came I cried anyway. Angel almost never cries, (Only in IWRY and Enternity I believe) which is another reason why I always start sobbing.
But Cordelia and Doyle have great lines and Angel and Buffy who are happy. I don't think I saw them many times more happy. They can be happy right ...

season 2, Reprise
The final of the great Darla-arc. The scene with Holland is fantastic and the scene after that if Angel walks around and he only can see the bad parts of humanity. And the moment that Angel wants to remove his soul and has vampire!sex with Darla. I love it,

season 3, Forgiving
Just for the last scene, it's such a great scene.

season 4, Orpheus
The shot of Wesley who brings Faith back in the hotel, more flash-backs of Angel's lonely years and the real Willow was back.

season 5, Not Fade away
It's a great ending, the plan was stupid ... but the stories were ended. The characters were brave and still IC. I loved how Anne went on with her job, the last days of Spike, Lorne and Gunn. I loved Wesley who planned not to die but went down first. I love how Angel won because of his fangs, I love Connor who came back for his father ... They won't fade away.

[Kold]

Season 1: The Prodigal / Five By Five
To be honest I can't remember season 1 very well, but these two episodes are very powerful. The Prodigal was very good because I am a big fan of Kate's character, and her father played a good role. The Darla/Angel flashbacks were also very effective. And was Darla in Five By Five as well? Five By Five had one of the verse's best characters, Faith, making an appearance. The fight scenes were great and the ending -- Wesley! -- was excellent.

Season 2: Reunion / Reprise
I am very familiar with these two, and I might as well cite both of them. Reunion is an action-packed episode, with great scenes of Darla and Drusilla. It also has one of Angel's most compelling decisions leading to one great final scene. Reprise is the end of the arc that began with Reunion, where Angel's state of mind comes to the point where he no longer wants to suffer on this hell on earth, but enjoy it. Great appearances from Holland Darla.

Season 3: Lullaby
This is a really sweet, sad episode. The Darla and Angel dialogue on the rooftop, and of course the final scene, is all really good. It's a real defining episode for Holtz too, learning that Angel has a soul and not finding that enough reason to let him go.

Season 4: Inside Out
The Freudian madness of season 4 comes to a peak as Cordelia becomes one of Freud's favourite characters, Lady Macbeth, and implicates Connor as both Oedipus and Macbeth. The Darla scenes were a beautiful continuation of Lullaby, Skip's speech was almost nightmarish and it had two of the most dramatic moments of the series: firstly, Connor choosing Cordelia over Darla and sacrificing the girl, and secondly, Cordelia's labour, with Angel struggling to be able to kill her.

Season 5: Time Bomb
I was tempted to say Conviction, just because of the way Angel kills the soldier... but enough of that. Time Bomb perhaps wasn't the most powerful episode in season 5, but I've got little problems with the other powerful ones -- You're Welcome, A Hole in the World, Origin, Not Fade Away etc. -- and Time Bomb has always been good. It has Amy Acker portraying a very raw fury (some of her best acting) and cool fight scenes.