From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   http://whatculture.com/tv/10-reasons-angel-is-better-than-buffy   
      
       5. Character Growth   
   There is no doubt that Buffy had some extremely memorable characters.   
   Obviously Buffy herself, but also Spike, Giles, Willow, Faith, Xander, Oz,   
   and on and on. But the show also gave us some extremely irritating   
   characters. Riley, Tara, Andrew, and especially Dawn were all painful to   
   watch in virtually every scene. Others, like Anya, alternated from annoying   
   to mildly amusing.   
      
   Angel didn't always have the best character introductions. Fred and Lorne   
   come to mind as two characters who seemed like they wouldn't work with the   
   show at all. But over time—and pretty quickly—they became wonderful to   
   watch.   
      
   In five seasons, Angel even managed to redeem some of the irritating   
   characters from Buffy. Cordelia went from a shallow, self-centered bully and   
   became a true warrior and hero. Even Harmony, an even more vapid version of   
   Cordelia, became a real bright spot in Angel's final season.   
      
   Angel even managed to do the impossible in the final season. As mentioned,   
   season four went off the rails and took some characters with   
   them—particularly Cordelia and Connor. But in the final season, Angel   
   managed to turn the clock back and in a few guest appearances (only one in   
   Cordy's case), both those characters ended up redeemed and went out on a   
   high note   
      
      
       4. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce   
   Some keen readers may have noticed that there was no mention of Wesley   
   Wynham-Pryce in the entry on characters, and there's a reason for   
   that—because Wesley deserves his own entry.   
      
   When Wesley first appeared, it was on Buffy as Giles' replacement. Wesley   
   was an intelligent yet extremely arrogant and cowardly young Watcher who   
   could barely handle himself in a fight. As described in the script for his   
   first appearance in BTVS, "Young, not bad-looking, but a bit full of   
   himself. Thinks he's Sean Connery when he's pretty much George Lazenby."   
      
   Wesley was intended to be an irritating foil for Giles, so when he came over   
   to Angel to replace Doyle, it first seemed like a step down. However, over   
   the course of the seasons, Wesley evolved from this incompetent pain in the   
   ass into a mild-mannered, intelligent man. Then to a dangerous badass.   
      
   If you've never watched the show, this may seem like a ridiculous   
   transformation. But the writing - and Alexis Denisof's amazing performance -   
   makes the whole thing completely believable. It's hard to think of another   
   character in either series who went through more growth and transformation   
   than Wesley, who became one of the best characters in the Buffyverse.   
      
      
       3. The Big Bad?   
   One of the characteristics of Buffy was the presence of the "Big Bad," a   
   season-long villain who would lurk in the background, manipulating things   
   from behind the scenes, before an inevitable confrontation with Buffy at the   
   season's end.   
      
   Angel took an opposite move. Instead of each season having a separate Big   
   Bad, Angel gave the entire series a Big Bad—the interdimensional law firm,   
   Wolfram & Hart. Run by a trio of ancient demons, the Wolf, the Ram, and the   
   Hart (known as the Senior Partners), the law firm defends the worst of the   
   worst.   
      
   The use of Wolfram & Hart allowed for a lot of interesting concepts to be   
   developed over the course of Angel's run. In the first season, Angel   
   expresses frustration at the fact that he can't fight for mankind because   
   Wolfram & Hart can use the laws to bend the rules in their favor.   
      
   One of the most chilling moments of the series came in the second season   
   when Angel finds a way to Wolfram & Hart's Home Office. Thinking he's going   
   to go to Hell, Angel is told by Holland Manners that Wolfram & Hart exists   
   because of the evil within humanity, so he'll never be able to destroy them.   
      
   With Wolfram & Hart, Whedon created a villain Angel could never defeat,   
   could never even punch.   
      
      
       2. Shades of Gray   
   The world of Buffy was always very straightforward. From the first season,   
   the world was presented in a very stark black and white. Demons were   
   soulless, evil things that had to be killed or else they'll destroy the   
   world. Angel was considered the exception because of his soul. Yes, as Buffy   
   went on more nuance was added, but overall it was more black and white.   
      
   Right from the first episode, Angel took a different route. He's paired up   
   with Doyle, a half-demon who receives visions from the Powers That Be to   
   help Angel save people. The episode "Bachelor Party" introduced the idea of   
   demons who had assimilated into humanity.   
      
   Angel and his allies helped, worked with, and even employed numerous demons   
   over the course of the series. But some of the show's greatest villains,   
   such as Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan, were 100% human.   
      
   The shades of gray used in Angel portrayed a world that wasn't always black   
   and white. Which made doing the right thing much harder, because it wasn't   
   always clear what the right thing was.   
      
   The final season dealt heavily with this ambiguity when the Fang Gang was   
   given control over Wolfram & Hart's LA offices. It forced Angel to make   
   compromises, never knowing if the action he took was something that would   
   lead to the Apocalypse or   
   further taint his soul.   
      
      
       1. Choice Vs Chosen   
   Buffy was chosen to be the Slayer. She had the life of a hero thrust upon   
   her. And though Angel had a soul forced upon him, we learned through   
   flashbacks that it took him nearly a century before he finally became the   
   champion we all know and love. He had to make the choice to be a hero.   
      
   Buffy was about dealing with the life that had been thrust upon you and   
   coping with the hand you're dealt. But Angel was about making hard choices   
   and dealing with the consequences of those choices. And that concept didn't   
   stop with Angel. All the characters had to continuously make the choice to   
   be a hero.   
      
   There was never any question if Buffy and her friends would remain on the   
   righteous path. But with Angel, it was a harder choice. Angel walked on the   
   dark side several times, particularly in the second and fifth seasons. It   
   happened to Wesley in the third and fourth seasons, Gunn and Fred/Illyria in   
   the fifth season, and Connor in the fourth season, to name a few notable   
   examples.   
      
   The entire final season of Angel was all about the consequences of choices   
   made. As mentioned before, when taking over Wolfram & Hart, everyone in the   
   Fang Gang had consequences associated with the choices they made.   
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)