Angel: The Complete Fourth Season: A

It's not like I didn't think Angel had it in him; it's just...well...can this fourth season, this exemplary showcase for a daringly cohesive dramatic serial, really be the same show that once spun an entire episode from the pronounciation of the word "Shanshu"? The answer, it seems, is yes. And who am I to quibble when the end result is this: a thrilling drama with spiky jolts of comedy to keep you on your toes? After having viewed all 22 episodes (and in one marathon week-long sitting, too!) all I really know is this: I must be one big Angel addict, or Angel must be one heck of a show. Or both.

Narratively speaking, it doesn't pull any punches; the tag-line for the penultimate year might have been "Things Fall Apart: How to Structure a Fiendishly Clever Plot in Concentric Circles."
Everything kicks off with "Deep Down", the first of the season openers not to have been written by series creators Joss Whedon or David Greenwalt. The thought of whom then sets me on a rant full of pleasant surprise: it seems most of the Angel writing-producing staff was shuffled around this season. Greenwalt and Tim Minear are credited solely as Consulting Producers and Minear and Mere Smith, both of whom were some of the most prolific and talented of the staff writers, contribute a measley total of four eps this year; shockingly though, this fourth season was actually better without them - the new scribes (Steven S. DeKnight, Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain) are as gifted as any I've seen. Anywho, back to the original programming: with the season premiere firmly in place, the Angel Investigations team attempts to rebuild after Angel's (David Boreanaz, a better vamp with each season) dunk in the ocean and Cordelia's (Charisma Carpenter) ascendence to God-status. They need not look hard for long - the pieces practically start falling in their laps. Yet it may not portend all happiness and joy; just after the whole gang comes tentatively back together, they run smack up against The Beast (Vladimir Kulich).

This monolith of misery runs the gamut from invincible to apocalyptic but he's only the first in a series of whammies. His arc gives way to one even more surprising and then that falls back to reveal a third - the final of the season - that has got to be one of Joss Whedon's most cleverly constructed. And all along each installment crackles with dramatic power, each one rife more and more with mystery and suspense. Indeed, look no further than "Calvalry" or "Shiny Happy People" for just indications of plotlines that keep throwing you for a loop. Or, failing that, "Supersymmetry" and "Home" (the season finale, a one-night-only engagement by writer-director Tim Minear that has a sharpened, heart-in-your-throat, final sequence) are perfect examples of two stand-alone stories that hold their own in this serialized universe. But if you still need something to hit the spot "Spin the Bottle" and "Ground State" are just about the wittiest things you'll view.

Am I making my point? If what was so extraordinary about Angel's third season was its newly-found restraint and balance, than the wallop of a shock in its fourth year is the way that Angel keeps pushing the envelope, luring the audience into a plot as dense and tricky as any possible - full of villians and crossed schemes. Sprightly as ever, and all the more happy to oblidge the increasingly sadistic writers (and thus, the masochistic auidence) is the cast. Though Charisma Carpenter is, I'm almost certain, present on screen in true character for about 0.07 seconds of the year, she does perfect with what she has. And Vincent Kartheiser is a freak-puppet genius: he floats above and drowns below his emotions. Of the rest, Alexis Denisof, as Wesley (that most sardonically bitter of rogue hunters), and Amy Acker, as Fred, are standouts. But that doesn't mean the rest of Angel: The Complete Fourth Season doesn't shine. Or that such brilliance (in both meanings of the word) doesn't bode well for the final season, because - God help me - I'm addicted and I can't wait to find out.