The second season of Angel picks up more or less where the first one ended. And the season’s opening is very effective in reintroducing the characters and “re-attaching” the plot-lines from season 1. A new, mysterious supporting character is introduced; Angel and his team are trying to figure out Wolfram and Hart’s plans; and they are looking for new office space. In addition, Gunn (J. August Richards) is brought into the team as a more or less permanent member.
The season is divided into three arcs, and the first half of the first arc is, unfortunately, not very interesting. There are a lot of flashbacks to Angel’s past – something I did already not enjoy on Buffy. But these flashbacks at least allow us to see some old acquaintances from the Buffy days: Spike, Drusilla, Darla, and the Master (James Marsters, Juliet Landau, Julie Benz, Mark Metcalf).
The second arc sees a rift developing between Angel and his team as Angel becomes convinced that playing by the rules is not the way to fight an evil as big and cunning as Wolfram & Hart.
Finally, the third arc tries something different: a visit to another dimension for a full three episodes.
As I said, the overarching constellation of Angel being opposed by the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart is still in place, so apart from our main cast we also see the antagonistic lawyers return (Stephanie Romanov, Christian Kane, Sam Anderson), supplemented by an additional character played by Gerry Becker.
Another familiar face is that of Elisabeth Röhm whose character Kate returns from time to time. And Julia Lee’s character from Buffy has a guest spot in this season, giving this show some much-needed warmth.
The main characters feel more established in their new roles by now, and the actors appear to be on a safer footing. There was already an improvement developing in the second half of season 1 when the actors (David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, Alexis Denisof) became more comfortable with the new character constellation. And that feeling of being “settled in”, carries through into season 2.
The first half of the first arc did not entirely work for me, but there are a number of very good episodes in this season. And despite the show’s generally more sombre tone as compared to Buffy, there is also a lot of fun sprinkled throughout. I believe that adding Lorne as a major supporting characters helps a lot in that regard, as does the minor supporting character of Merl. And Andy Hallett and Matthew James give excellent performances in these eccentric roles.
Another addition to the show is Brigid Brannagh (Kindred), whose character appears in 4 episodes. But the writers seem to have trouble to find a place for her within the dynamics of the other characters.
A number of one-off “guest appearances” stand out as particularly enjoyable, such as Melissa Marsala (Van-Pires) in episode 2, or Jim Piddock as a supernatural butler in episode 9.
And then there is the one episode which sees Mercedes McNab’s Harmony hit L.A. like a pink, fluffy tornado, creating chaos everywhere.
Episode 2 stands out visually as well as thematically, as it is set in a 1950s hotel and tries to capture the paranoia of the McCarthy era. Likewise, the final arc of the season stands out, being set in an alternate dimension that looks like a cheap Dungeons&Dragons B-movie. The production team probably knew they could not pull off a different dimension with various races and a distinct medieval setting convincingly, so they opted for a SyFy-channel aesthetic and combined it nicely with various digs at tropes of a certain type of pseudo-historic fantasy film (not to mention a fair bit of social commentary). It is rather fun, and Mark Lutz, who appears in a supporting role in that arc, is helping that tone greatly with his performance. But one cannot help but wonder if all that effort was necessary as I have no idea what purpose this short story arc had. Usually, an elaborate arc, especially one that concludes a season, is going to be significant in terms of character development or evolving the show, etc. I can see nothing of the kind here.
And in that way this final arc is emblematic for the entire season. You are asking yourself what it was all about, what it was all for. There is lots of good stuff in here, but it all feels a bit disjointed. And Angel’s “crisis” was not all that well set up.
Still, season 2 is better than the first season which was a bit “bumpy”, especially in the beginning.
I rate season 2 at 6.5 to 7.0 out of 10.
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