(1.01) City Of (Series Premiere)

[Phoenixlighter]

1.01 "City Of" (Series Premiere)



Written By: Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt
Directed By: Joss Whedon
Original Airdate: October 5th, 1999.

Synopsis: Newly arrived in Los Angeles, Angel is befriended by a half-demon named Doyle whose visions lead him to a powerful vampire whose next victim just may be Cordelia Chase.

[Phoenixlighter]

From where a load of fans stand, despite being cancelled, this was a pretty damn successful spin-off that launched with this episode. How many shows can say that they made it to five seasons where they were privileged to broadcast their one-hundredth episode, let alone a show spawned from another show? Not many, so well done, Show.

I'm not going to drop a full review right now, but it was great seeing Cordelia back in the loop though I never really appreciated Doyle. The Angel-History Recap was certainly necessary for newcomers to the show that weren't Buffy-versed and even as a fan, it wasn't awful. The writers clearly knew that for the fans, it would come off a bit cheesy and had it acknowledged so through Angel's dialogue.

Still, it wasn't nearly the best series premiere that was out there. Buffy's wasn't a 10/10 either, but these shows definitely only evolve onwards. What did everyone else think of this episode? Did you like/hate Doyle's character? Enjoy Cordelia's comic relief? And most importantly, were you nervous about the future of a Buffy-less Angel and how his character would play out?

Let's get discussin', guys.

[Active Engaged]

Nah. Buffy-less Angel was decent enough. I don't think he really worked as a proper member of the Scoobies. He was however, the perfect leader to the Fang Gang.

I've never really seen season 1 properly. I've seen season 4, 5 and 2. But never really bothered with the entire of season 1. I have seen this episode though, and I've always admired the title and the intentional pun. But the episode wasn't that strong to be honest.

I've always thought that Cordelia was better in Angel than she ever was in Buffy. In Angel, she was comic relief, the heart of the group whereas in Buffy she was put there solely to stir things up between other characters.

Doyle, meh. I don't know anything about this character. I know he has the power of premonition and that he had an irish accent.

[Quadquetra]

I just finished watching the whole series this past summer and I have to say this show was really good. "City of" was a great series premiere, especially with the retelling of Angel's story at the beginning.

Cordelia was definitely comic relief as AE said above. She had alot of scenes that made me laugh like the scene at the party when she asked Angel if he is still "grrr" and also when she told the vampire towards the end he was about to get his ass kicked. But it was priceless when she argued with the guy on whether he was a vampire or not.

Doyle was an ok character I liked that he was someone Angel could talk to and someone who knew his story.

I have to say though the best Angel moment was kicking Russell through the glass and out into the sunlight.