"City Of"
Air Date: October 5, 1999

The thing about series premieres is, there's usually a lot of kinks to be worked out. Oftentimes the actors haven't caught their rhythm yet; there's not a lot of chemistry, the lines sound a little off. Maybe the lighting's weird or budget isn't allowing for much. Those are just some of the problems common to pilot episodes. Angel, passes almost all of them right by. Critics have already called the Buffy spinoff shades of everything from Batman to Touched By An Angel to The Equalizer (Angel executive producer David Greenwalt even once jokingly called it "Touched By An Equalizer"), but none of those classifications really fit the show. I prefer the more simple adjectives: beautiful. Stunning. Engaging. Wonderful. I could go on, but I'm supposed to be providing a review of substance, here...

The show's opening scenes, in which the title character, a vampire of 240+ years, is getting completely sloshed and pouring out his woman woes to an uncaring bar patron, are probably the only truly clunky moments of the pilot. Boreanaz doesn't seem to be very good at piss drunk. In fact, during his time on Buffy, I didn't think Boreanaz was really great at anything but stripping off his shirt (he's totally talented there; he's had a lot of practice).

I'm happy to say that if Boreanaz had never proved himself on Buffy, he certainly did it in "City Of". This Angel is less broody, coming out with a dry humor and a fierce determination. He doesn't sit around moping about Buffy all the time, as I'd feared he might, but the excellent writing guides him into small moments where he's obviously thinking of her; he even picks up the phone and calls Buffy's house, which was a small crossover to the Buffy premiere that ran immediately before (Buffy answers the phone, but Angel says nothing, quickly hanging up again). Instead of constantly focusing on his guilt, as we're used to seeing Angel do, the character finally comes out of himself and begins to help those around him.

Of course, it's not a spontaneous transformation. He's reluctant to become involved in people's lives, but he's given a shove in the right direction by his new sidekick of sorts. Doyle, a half-demon, half-human (on his mother's side), appears to guide Angel to the lost souls that it's now his lot to save. "The Powers That Be" send Doyle visions ("which is to say great splittin' migraines that come with pictures") in which he sees the name or the face of the next person that Angel's meant to save. The half-demon is played beautifully by Dublin native Glenn Quinn, who utilizes his own Irish accent to bring his knight with tarnished armor to vivid life in a single short episode. The character provides some levity, and tiny hints at Doyle's past leave the viewer yenning for more.

Together the guys set out to save souls in the City of Angels... but they manage to pick up a girl friday along the way. Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter, also coming to Angel from Buffy), who's traveled from Sunnydale to LA to start up an acting career after all of her family's riches were lost to the IRS. Things don't go so well for Cordy, though; she's targeted by a rich vampire who craves a snack, and ends up being rescued by Angel and joining forces with him and Doyle. We're showed signs of future conflict between Angel and the lawfirm of Wolfram & Hart, which as most viewers already know will be Angel's main nemesis throughout the season, and the anticipation is good.

The show's overall atmosphere is wonderfully dark; many have compared it to Tim Burton's Batman, and it's pretty fair assessment; Doyle even picks up the vibe in Angel's basement apartment, noting that it's "got a nice Batcave sort of a feel to it." But this is a strength, not a weakness, and the moody tone is complimented by haunting theme music (the score makes wonderful use of violins) and beautiful visuals. There were only a few really rough patches that I noticed; the makeup and visual effects were somewhat clunky; they didn't have that smooth transitional feel that I've become accustomed to with the work of Todd McIntosh and Optic Nerve on Buffy. The vampires are uglier and their makeup somehow doesn't seem as real. A few points carry too much exposition... but it's necessary, I suppose, for viewers less familiar with Buffy to get into the plot. The pacing is sure to speed up once everybody understands where we've been and can get into the vibe of where we're going.

I can say with confidence that "City Of" is not only the best pilot of the fall... it's also one of the best I've ever seen, period. This could have something to do with much of the cast and crew having already worked together for the past three years, giving it an edge over shows that are starting from scratch... but who cares? Angel is already shaping up to be an excellent series, and there's no question what I'll be watching every Tuesday night.

Angel airs Tuesday nights on the WB at 9pm EST (immediately following Buffy)

-- Lisa Kohles