on Google Preferred Source Google News Link copied to clipboard By Sam Nelson Published Sep 15, 2026, 12:41 AM EDT What to Watch The Buffy: The Vampire Slay spinoff Angel just keeps getting better over five seasons
Image: Mutant Enemy Angel Sign in to your Polygon.com account Add Us Add on Google Preferred Source Google News Summary Generate a summary of this story Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Buffy: The Vampire Slayer is widely considered to be one of the best and most influential TV shows of all time. Series creator Joss Whedon crafted such a rich mythology for vampires, demons, witches, and mad gods that it provided material for seven seasons of escalating threats for Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends, aka the Scooby Gang. That world building also paid off in one of the best TV spinoffs of all time – which is now streaming for free on Tubi.
Angel premiered in 1999, running side by side with Buffy’s fourth season. It followed the soul-stricken vampire, played by David Boreanaz, after he leaves Sunnydale to become a paranormal private investigator in Los Angeles. Just as Buffy didn’t hit its stride until season 2, it took a while for Whedon and his co-showrunner David Greenwalt to figure out exactly what they wanted from Angel . But what could have easily been just a supernatural-flavored crime procedural grew up to deliver episodes that were just as good as the best of Buffy .
The series begins as a highly episodic neo-noir as Angel meets a generic LAPD detective/love interest who helps him find cases involving ghosts, demons, and other supernatural creatures. He’s assisted by Francis Doyle (Glenn Quinn), a half demon who gets visions of people in need, and Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), the former Sunnydale mean girl who gives up her dreams of Hollywood stardom to help protect people.
Photo: The WB Television Network/Everett Collection Things start improving halfway through season 1 when Doyle heroically dies, passing on his prophetic powers to Cordelia. He’s replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof), the slimy, self-righteous, and incompetent Watcher of the twisted vampire slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku). Wesley was one of Buffy’s most hated characters, and he starts off as a joke, an egotistical “rogue vampire hunter” trying to make up for his failings by serving as the team’s occult advisor. Wesley grows into one of the show’s best characters, becoming a relentless crusader who really embodies Angel ’s neo-noir sensibilities with his willingness to do almost anything to get justice.
The ensemble really came together in season 2 when the vampire-hunting street fighter Charles Gunn (J. August Richards) joined the main cast. The season also introduced the demon bar owner Lorne (Andy Hallett) and Winifred Burkle (Amy Acker), a physics genius who spent years trapped in a demon realm. The group’s dramatically different skill sets and personalities provided endless opportunities for teasing banter, unlikely romance, and clever problem solving.
Just as Buffy had some far weaker plots and seasons, Angel hit a big snag with the introduction of Angel’s teenage son Connor (Vincent Kartheiser), who winds up impregnating an amnesiac Cordelia, putting her in a coma she never wakes up from. The plot is especially awful in light of allegations…