i loved to watch Angel , and missed the last season , i thought the last season was wicked having just finished watching it , but the ending was well not a ending , pointless!!! . i cant believe such fab writers/producers let the final programe in the season be so lame .

I'm also a newbie to the Angel series, and I agree that Season 5 was quite good. I liked the comic relief that Spike brought to the episodes, and I agree that there was a lot of mutual respect between Angel and Spike. I also agree that the line about the "wee little puppet man" was one of the best lines of the whole season.

I thought Fred really came into her own in Season 5. In prior seasons, I always felt as though she was kind of unsuccessfully trying to find a niche for herself. It seemed like running the science department brought her a lot of confidence and a sense of purpose. I also liked how Wes became a more integrated person in Season 5, after he successfully went through his dark phase in Season 4. I actually liked Illyria and thought there were a lot of good possibilities that could have been explored between her relationships with Wes and Spike if the series had continued. It's also too bad we didn't see too much of Nina, since she was one of the few potential romantic interests of Angel who I really liked.

I'm glad Connor became more stable, which brought good closure for his character. I always wanted to like Connor, but the creators in Season 4 just insisted on making him as unlikeable as possible. I also appreciated how they brought Cordelia back one more time. And Lindsey rocked, and I missed Lilah.

The best part of Season 5 for me was the continued questioning of the gang on whether accepting the assignment to run the LA office of W&H was a good idea. I always like the theme of how people are forced to explore the shades of gray that fall between black and white. I personally felt Angel Investigations almost had no choice but to take over W&H since they were pretty badly beat up both physically and emotionally by the end of Season 4. By taking on the plum assignment, it gave Angel and his pals a chance to recover a bit and plot their next moves.

All in all, I was sad to see the end of the series, but at least it ended on a high note.

What made "Angel" great and the better series in my opinion was that while "Buffy" drew clear lines between the heroes and villians "Angel" always dealt in the grey areas. Whedon proved with Season five that its the writing acting that makes a show great. Not the make-up, not the exotic locals, or the special effects. Of course when I think of "Angel" season five I think of Amy Acker as Illyria. We only got her in about five episodes or whatever but Amy knocked that performance out of the park. Season five gave us a great mixture of some of its darkest episodes in the series, as well as some of its funniest.

Yes the Puppet Episode brought us one of Spike's greatest lines ever uttered: "You're a wee little puppet man" (The greatest lines ever uttered by Spike on Angel happened in Season One Episode "In the Dark" where Spike voices a conversation between Angel and Girl in an alley..."To the Angelmobile...away!")

But one thing that made season five on Angel so great was the whole first part of the episode, "A Hole in The World". It starts off hilariously, Angel and Spike pulling everyone in Wolfram and Hart into a heated discussion about Astronauts vs Cavemen. It's such a ridiculous and normal conversation and you're expecting a lighthearted and amusing episode when out of nowhere Fred starts spewing blood and collapses.

Not only is the argument Astronauts vs Cavemen pure Angel humor at it's best, but the unexpected injury and then eventual death of a main character is what Joss does best, that fine line between comedy and tragedy.

And honestly if you have the time, do pick up the Angel After the Fall Comic book, the unaired season 6, it makes me so mad that it was never realized on screen but it's definitly worth the money.

very dark and great even the puppet episode was a classic

Connor told Angel "I know you're my father" in Not Fade Away when Angel went to meet him for coffee. Connor told him he was grateful for what Angel had done and he understood why, but that he didn't want to talk about it.
Season IV the whole Cordelia and Connor romance made my cringe. The ick factor was high any time those two were together. I felt bad for Charisma having to be romantic with this kid after having David as her partner.

Connor told Angel "I know you're my father" in "Not Fade Away" when Angel went to have coffee with him. Connor tells him that he knows why Angel did what he did and he is grateful, but he doesn't want to get into it with him.
Also, Season IV, the whole Cordelia and Connor romance made me cringe. The ick factor was really strong during those scenes. I felt bad for Charisma having to play romantically off this kid when previously she had David B. to smooch with.

Not sure why you didn't like the other seasons, but I'm glad you stuck it out until the end. The last season of Angel was my favorite. I wish they would have let it continue, but at least it wrapped up with the greatest last episode in TV history.

One thing you didn't mention that I loved about the final season was more of Harmony - especially her relationship with Spike. The one where he got his body back and tried to go for a romp with Harmony until to get attacked when she went crazy was just hilarious.

I liked season five a lot. I think that you (Jane) are missing some key plot elements here, which may be causing your confusion. Connor got all his memories back at the very moment that Wesley broke the illusion.

Lorne's final scene was sad, but it wasn't out of character. If you noticed, he was acting out of character for the whole episode. This is because when Angel was formulating his final plan, he secretly told Lorne to assassinate Lindsay after Lindsay kills who he was supposed to kill. Lorne is a firm believer in redemption and that anyone, good or evil, can be guided on the path to righteousness with the right advice (which was the main point behind his karaoke bar Caritas). However, Angel tells Lorne to kill Lindsay, rather than give Lindsay a shot at redemption. Since Angel forces him to murder Lindsay, he slips into the shadows and tells Angel never to come looking for him because he can no longer trust and is no longer willing to follow Angel.

I also thought that, while it was great, Season five suffered from a lack of Lilah. She was great for the entire series and Eve (and Sarah Thompson) did not bring nearly as much to the table.

Overall, Angel should at least have gotten another two seasons.

and yes....i really loved season 5 back then....i think it the best Angel season out there and even after all these years i still watch some episodes like the one with the puppets again and again ^^