Angel

So what are the Top Ten episodes of Angel? Is your Top Ten the same as mine? Read on and find out which of the five seasons of Angel dominated the Top Ten.

Well, I’m back from my Top Ten Episodes of Buffy, and now this time I have my keen eye and intellect focused on giving you the definitive Top Ten Episodes of Angel. Now, much like my Buffy list, you will not see any episodes on here that are defined by their single moments. A single excellent moment does not necessarily make a great episode. If this Top Ten was based solely on moments, you would see Angel turning into Angelus after taking drugs, Wesley shooting his robotic father, and Angel trying to kill Wesley with a pillow.

There are also some favorite episodes of mine that had to be left off the list much to my dismay. I looked back at all the seasons of Angel and left with an initial list of over twenty episodes that I had to trim down to only ten. Some of these honorable mentions include: “RM W/A VU,” “Destiny,” “Soulless,” “The Trial,” and “Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?” Those are only a few and are in no particular order.

Now, onto the list:

NUMBER TEN
Season Five - Episode 20: The Girl In Question
Written By: Steven S. DeKnight and Drew Goddard
Directed By: David Greenwalt
Original Air Date: 5/5/2004

This is but the first of several offerings that come from the final season of Angel. ‘The Girl In Question’ isn’t a great example of literary achievement, but then again not everything has to be ground breaking and exceptional. This episode is just a good old time that will make you laugh at so many things. The episode focuses on Angel and Spike who rush to Italy, in part to exchange a head, but more importantly to save Buffy who they think is under the spell of one of their greatest enemies...The Immortal. Hilarity ensues as Angel and Spike do everything from ride mopeds together, wear the latest Italian fashions, do slow-mo bar fights against each other, and the general mayhem as they argue about even the slightest thing. The story wasn’t that inspirational or important to the overall arc of the season or series, but it was a great time that is sure to make you laugh at least several times.

NUMBER NINE
Season Five - Episode 12 - You’re Welcome
Written By: David Fury
Directed By: David Fury
Original Air Date: 2/4/2004

Another episode already from the fifth season...makes you think that the show was just hitting its prime when it was taken off. ‘You’re Welcome’ marks the last appearance of everyone’s favorite Cordelia Chase. After giving birth to Jasmine, Cordy was put into a coma and lasted there until this episode. She comes back to give Angel a mission and to put him back on the right track. The episode works so well because Charisma Carpenter jumps right back into the character without missing a beat. Cordy plays off the other characters as if she never left. The episode is also very funny with Cordelia, of course, getting the best lines of the night. The capper is that in the end we find out, along with Angel, that Cordelia never woke up and actually was dead the whole time she was helping them. Cordelia’s final line - the name of the episode - is both a thankful farewell to Angel and to the fans that loved her on Buffy and moved with her to LA to be on Angel.

NUMBER EIGHT
Season Three - Episode 6: Billy
Written By: Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell
Directed By: David Grossman
Original Air Date: 10/29/2001

Amy Acker’s Fred hadn’t been with the show long - only the last three or so episodes of season two plus the first five episodes of season three - but fans already knew that Fred would be a quality character for as long as they kept her on the show. The episode centered on a guy named Billy who could make the primal urges in men come out to play. The episode is a well-done look at violence and that ability to do it that lies within us all. The defining moment of the episode is when Fred must run for her life - threatened by Wesley, her own colleague, who has slowly started to have feelings for her. Acker does a terrific job of playing the helpless woman in this scenario and Dennisof equally does great work as the raging man who is hunting her down. Wesley never seemed scarier. The final worthwhile moment is when Fred goes to cheer up Wesley, to tell him that it wasn’t his fault what he did to her, but Wesley can’t let it go that easily. Wesley knows that it wouldn’t have come out if it weren’t inside him to begin with.