Product Description

Angel continues to seek redemption, but a fatal mistake makes him realize that racking up the body count isn’t the way to go. So with a renewed sense of purpose and Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn at his side, Angel sets out to make the streets of Los Angeles a little safer for everyone – unaware that Wolfram & Hart has summoned someone from his past to make sure he fails.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8442 in DVD
• Brand: ANGEL
• Released on: 2006-11-28
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: .75 pounds
• Running time: 990 minutes

Amazon.com
The second season of Angel saw the cult vampire show finally stand on its own from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, assembling all the members of the show's core cast, transferring the action to a fashionably run-down L.A. hotel, and bringing in a few Buffy characters from Angel's history to further establish the moody vampire's own mythology. Moving their Angel Investigations to posher digs, Angel (David Boreanaz), Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) were soon joined by street fighter (J. August Richards)–-and by street fighter, of course we mean demon street fighter. But just as this group was solidifying, up popped Angel's old love, Darla (the fantastic Julie Benz), freshly arrived in L.A. from a hell dimension… just in time to be turned into a vampire again by her old cohort, Drusilla (Juliet Landau), and lure Angel into abandoning his newly formed team. It was the best and worst of times for Angel in its second year, for while the basis was being set for the show's stellar third and fourth seasons, dramatic tension was diluted by Angel's going solo and the necessary (but plot-debilitating) flashbacks to various points in Angel's history. However, just when it seemed everything was about to fly out the window, Angel's creative team threw its characters for a loop--literally--by transporting them to the demon dimension of Pylea, a medieval-style fantasyland populated by monsters and humans alike. It shouldn't have worked, as hokey as it was... but it did, thanks to crack storytelling, sharp dialogue, and the sheer joy the actors unleashed, especially the gifted and fiendishly funny Carpenter. The second half of the season also saw the addition of two of Angel's best characters: the horned Lorne (Andy Hallett), a green demon with a penchant for karaoke, and Fred (Amy Acker), a physicist trapped in Pylea who helped the gang engineer their escape. With these two in tow, Angel began to soar. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews

Angel - Vampire Extraordinaire
The following paragraph is in my other reviews, but I believe it bears repeating. This six Disk DVD Set is extraordinary. The Picture and Sound quality are so very good that you feel as though you are watching it in a theater. The closed captioning and Audio come in other languages besides English. It's jam packed with all sorts of extra bonus specials. The Brilliant creator, Joss Whedon and other staff members are at their very best, just as they were with their work on Buffy (which is also a must own). I not only highly recommend this Season disk set, but the other four seasons as well. Quite a bit of quality work went into the making of all five seasons. They are a necessary buy for any Angel fan! It's completely impossible to be anything but extremely pleased with this purchase as well as the rest of the series. The writing, acting , directing, etc... are amazing per usual. This is without question once again feature film quality. The fact that all but the first season is filmed in Letter Box gives it that theater feel. In addition, the closed-captioning is less likely to interfere with the picture.
David Boreanaz (Angel) and Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) are brilliant in their performance together as well as the growing sexual tension between them. I must give extra credit to J. August Richards as (Charles Gunn), he is a perfect addition to the cast. He was introduced at the end of Season One. He adds the much needed diversification of characters to the growing cast. He's known mostly as the muscle, but is so much more. A fine actor with much charisma as well as humor. The addition of the karaoke singing club owner Andy Hallet (Known as The Host in the beginning and then Lorne). He plays our green demon from another dimension with physic ability that gives much room for expanding the stories. He adds some comic relief along with a fabulous singing voice. Last, but certainly not least, look out folks here comes Julie Benz (Darla). She is by far one of the BEST actors on TV and now lucky for us DVD. She is without a doubt AMAZING. You'll just have to by this season to see what I mean. Don't miss her incredible performance in season three. Joss Whedon once again comes through with continuing to make the show interesting, believable even though it's all fantasy. He does this because he makes the people real and the stories real despite that they are all rooted in fiction. I not only highly recommend this Season disk set, but the other four seasons as well. Any true Angel fan must complete their set with this one. It's a keeper folks. Purchase this before it gets sold out and you miss your chance to continue your collection. ORDER IMMEDIATELY AND DON'T FORGET TO BUY SEASONS ONE, THREE, FOUR AND FIVE WHILE YOUR AT IT.

On its own... at last
Angel: Season 2 was where the show started to move into its own 'formula', and the opening statement that Angel himself was not devastated by the loss of Buffy served to encompase one fact: the show was on its own.

Where the first season essentially followed the monster-of-the-week plus occasional storyline episode formula that has been tried and true on Buffy, Season 2 started to move away from that into the darker, emotionally churning state of being that we viewers have grown so used to in the third and fourth seasons.

The second season of Angel also points at the show's tendency to serve an overarching plot rather than a seasonal "Big Bad", when it ends with a trip to a different dimension instead of concluding the Darla storyline (which is completed in the third season).

But though this season has a darker, more plot-arc oriented spine, it still contains some excellent character and monster-of-the-week episodes. One of these is "Are You Now or Were You Ever?", thought by fans everywhere as being one of the best episodes of the show. Other greats include "Darla", "Guise will Beguise", and "The Shroud of Rahmon".

There are also portents of the futures of the different characters interspersed throughout the season. This is where Wesley really matured, becoming a hard-bitten leader rather than a comical sidekick. You can see his character being prepared to make the harder choices that cause him to be so dark later on in the series.

Angel himself has a hard time of it throughout this season, but then, when does he not? He grows dark, deep-set despair keeping him from both his mission and his friends. But his redemption is both funny and touching when he returns towards the end of the season.

Cordelia grows immensely during this season, primarily because of her visions. She's still "tell it like it is" Cordy, but her caring for others grows by leaps and bounds, setting the stage for the Cordelia we know later on in the third season.

Charles Gunn also joins the Fang Gang, forsaking his old 'crew' to help Angel Investigations in a slow process that is (fortunately) very believable.

Also in this season we are introduced to two new characters that will later become regulars: Fred and Lorne (the Host). The first is a slightly cooky, very intelligent woman who was stuck in Pylea for five years before returning with the Angel Investigations gang. The second, Lorne, is a truly unique character - a demon that sings, and can read a person's destiny when that person sings. Both are excellent additions to the group, and help to flesh out the dynamic between the characters.

In conclusion, Angel: Season 2 serves as a stage-setter for the third and fourth seasons' storylines and characters, and contains some truly memorable episodes as well.

The Very Best of Angel
Season 2 of Angel is definitely the best, and I've seen all of Season 3 and all that has aired of Season 4. Why is Season 2 the best? It has the best cast of recurring characters, almost all of whom are gone by the end of episode 18. And it has a definite arc, although some freestanding episodes are interspersed in among the progressing shows. One of the very best of the freestanding episodes is Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been, which is a true masterpiece (and has echoes of the original Twilight Zone episode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street!). Disharmony is also an excellent stand-alone episode, but this is one of the funniest episodes yet as Mercedes McNab reprises her role as Harmony the ditzy vampire from Sunnydale. She is a riot! This season also provides the strongest conflict between Angel Investigations and its nemesis, the evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart, as Angel's sire Darla is brought back from the dead (at the cost of Lindsey's right hand) to beguile and bedevil Angel. Lorne the empathetic demon is a welcome addition to the cast from the first episode, and the addition of Fred in the last four episodes (and also The Groosalugg, who will be around in the beginning of Season 3) is a touch of genius.

However, the highlight of Season 2 is the Angel/Darla/Lindsey conflict, with the brilliant contributions of two gorgeous and remarkably talented actors, Julie Benz and Christian Kane. They were a devastating loss to the show when the storyline ended (although Benz makes a few appearances in Season 3 and one in Season 4). Drusilla enters in The Trial and, along with Stephanie Romanov (Lindsey's evil colleague Lilah), Sam Anderson (their boss Holland Manners), and Gerry Becker (his replacement Nathan Reed) provide the counterpoint to the Angel Investigations theme. These magnificent actors are gone from the show much too soon, with the exception of Romanov. And the storyline peaks in Reunion, an episode with an ending that must be seen to be believed.

Elisabeth Rohm (Kate Lockley) is another brilliant cast member who leaves the show at the end of this season, and Julia Lee (Anne Steele, who had called herself first Chanterelle and then Lily on two episodes of Buffy) appears too briefly.

Other highlights include songs by Andy Hallett (Lorne), Julie Benz, and Christian Kane, all of whom sing very well, and songs by David Boreanaz and the trio of Wes, Cordy, and Gunn, who don't! And the bookish Wes becomes a true hero as the season develops. In the last four (Pylea) episodes, he becomes a leader. There is also a very brief appearance by Eliza Dushku as Faith.

Buy this, watch this, and cherish this. You'll never see its like again. This is definitely the best of Angel.