Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 16 (BtVS Season 4/Angel Season 1)

Start of my Season 4 of Buffy and Season 1 of Angel rewatch reviews! S4 is considered to be Buffy's worst season so I'm not hugely excited about getting into it, but I adore season 1 of Angel so I am looking forward to that.

A few notes:

• I'm watching the seasons together according to this list, which when I asked about which list to follow seemed to be the most popular choice.
• I'll post the reviews in the order that I watch the episodes so there will be a mixture of Buffy and Angel reviews.
• Since the episodes don't always go Buffy, then Angel, then Buffy; there is a chance I'll screw the order up and watch the episodes the wrong way round. I'll try and make sure I don't do that for the crossover episodes, as that will ruin the re-watch I've planned ever so slightly (!) but either way I'll still post the reviews in the order that I watch the episodes.
• At the end of both seasons, I'll do individual season reviews and an overall review.
• Whilst posting the season 3 reviews I've become aware that they've become very long, whereas my season 1 reviews were a lot shorter. For most episodes I'll try and shorten the reviews, so they don't take too long to read!
• I'm also aware that I may have become a little generous with my scoring as I've watched more episodes as many season 3 episodes were getting 8/9/10 scores. This may be because season 3 is such an excellent season, but just be aware that I have become a touch more strict with my scoring.
  

And now (finally!) onto the reviews! Enjoy!

A1.01 City of Angels
This easily has to be my favourite Joss Whedon pilot/first episode. Granted it had a 3 season set up on Buffy which meant a lot of Angel and Cordy's backstory didn't have to be explicitly covered, but I also think this episode had the hardest job as it had to establish its tone, themes and identity independent of Buffy. For newer viewers I like the way Angel's story is covered through a series of flashbacks from Buffy. It also serves as a nice reminder for those familiar with Buffy and I think its effective in covering the main points from his past. The main focus of the show is largely channeled through Doyle as puts Angel on course to start helping people. Doyle is well introduced, he's such a fun and likeable character and that comes across really well in this episode. His own history is nicely teased yet retains some mystery for future episodes (well really just Bachelor Party and Hero).
The story of the week here is a fairly standard one- Angel saves girl from vampire, but I like that they twisted it leaving him unable to save the first girl. The show employs several neat tricks to make sure Angel's vamp killings differ from Buffy's namely the double wrist stakes and pushing Russell Winters out of the window. He wasn't the most interesting villain we get on the show but he serves his purpose for the first episode and also neatly introduces us to W&H. I love the early mention of the Senior Partners- a sign of things to come. One thing I didn't like about this episode was the vamp make-up, apparently they experimented with it in this episode and it just looks silly. Glad they go back to the Buffy vamp make-up after this.
One of the things that struck me about this episode is that it is actually quite funny, Doyle and Cordy get some great one liners and even brooding Angel gets in on the action by pretending to be drunk and jumping into the wrong car. Overall its a great first episode and sets the series up perfectly. (8.5/10)

B4.01 The Freshman
This was always going to be a difficult episode to do for the show, the first out of high school and actually this time I quite enjoyed the episode. It isn't the mist enjoyable episode but that's because the writing is so good on it. You can empathise with Buffy's feelings of loneliness and its hard to feel them too. Buffy definitely struggles in this episode but I think its pretty realistic as these are common feelings upon entering university. The second half of the episode is much more enjoyable where Buffy regains her confidence. A big part of this is Xander's oh so sweet (and slightly creepy) speech to her. I'd forgotten about this speech and it was really nice to see Xander be her confidante here. I also like the way the Initiative is teasingly set up at the end of the episode. (7.5/10)

B4.02 Living Conditions
For me, this episode really dragged on, it felt a lot longer than 40 minutes. I think its a little more interesting when you watch it first time round, as the reveal towards the end of the episode is quite a good idea. I liked that Buffy had to deal with a roommate, this was a good topic to explore especially as as Giles points out she is an only child, who will probably find it harder to deal with living with someone. (but then again so are Xander and Willow as far as we know) Its also a good idea for them to get rid of the roommate early on as it isn't really practical for Buffy to be sharing a room with someone who didn't know her secret, though admittedly this could've been an interesting way to bring someone new into the Scoobies. Overall this isn't a bad episode, especially as there are some pretty funny moments in it, its just not that interesting. (6/10)

A1.02 Lonely Hearts
The first demon of the week investigative storyline and its pretty average. There's a still a fair amount of exposition for the show in general (eg vampire mythology on how vamps have to be invited in) which slows down the episode somewhat. There are some good bits with the organic growing of the group bond. There's also the introduction to mostly unlikeable Kate Lockley, who I think is just too prickly to actually like, even in this episode. The storyline overall is quite good though, the concept of loneliness and dating definitely helps set the show apart from Buffy as a bit more 'adult'. The execution of the story is a little bit icky though. (6/10)