Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 64

I must say I'm a little sad about beginning this final season of my rewatch. It's a little odd to watch Angel just on it's own and for me personally this wasn't Angel's best season, so it'll be interesting to see how my opinion changes/stays the same this time.

5.01 Conviction
Taking over the evil law firm was always going be a difficult things, for the characters and for the viewers. Whilst we didn't see Wesley struggling too much, Angel definitely had it the hardest as the boss. He battled with Eve and with the overzealous special ops unit as he tried to do what he has always done. Gunn, Lorne and Fred on the other hand seemed to fit in more happily into their new roles. In a way it's a thrill to see Gunn get a little more status in the team, though intrinsically it does change who he is. Fred, though doubtful at first, does learn, very quickly, how to be a leader. The additions of Eve and Harmony to the team are a little irritating. Both characters were brought in to up the female quotient and fill the giant Cordy shaped hole, but quite frankly Eve is far too annoying to do that. She does bring some clarity to the season in which she tells the gang that they have to actually run the business. On first thought shutting the business down would be a great idea, but by having Eve point out why they can't do that, perfectly lays the scene for the season. A decent season opener and a good way to introduce the inside-W&H element of the show. (7.5/10)

5.02 Just Rewards
I'm not a huge fan of the show's decision to bring Spike on board. Whilst James Marsters is a talented actor who brings a lot of charm and humour to the proceedings, Spike's presence on the show is an odd one. Just like on Buffy season 4, Spike hangs around here for no good reason, but another set of plot contrivances that have to be resolved. The it was his chip, now it's the amulet. A lot of this episode is taken up with exposition of Spike and who he is, most of which is is old news to Buffy fans. The sheer amount of talking means that the episode can get pretty bogged down. This is added to the villain of the week in the necromancer, who's pretty downbeat as characters go. It's a shame though because he actually is a nice example of the kind of people Angel will now be dealing with. I would've liked to see more about what this necromancer actually does rather than the bickering we actually got. (6/10)

5.03 Unleashed
The werewolf theme is a little overdone in the Buffy-verse. A lot of what Nina goes through, we have seen before with OZ in Buffy, but I did like the eating werewolf spin they put on it as it kept the story fresher than it was. Casting Nina as a love interest feels like it was clearly a network decision to make Angel 'normal' like other leading men. However since Angel isn't like other leading men, the boys joking about whether Angel is in with her, doesn't quite fit in with the show.
I'm not a fan of the Spike and Fred storyline either. Spike is quite annoying and Fred seems to have fallen under his spell quite quickly, though perhaps that's to be expected.
There were some nice moments of the episode however; Wes' jealousy of Fred as it's always sweet to see Wes passionate for Fred, Lorne reminding Angel to not forget the gang and those group get togethers at the beginning and at the end of the episode where they are almost happy- a rare scene in Angel. (6/10)
5.04 Hell Bound
Whilst this is an interesting episode, it's also an odd one. The role Spike played in this episode, the hero, is the one Angel traditionally plays. He has dealt with spooks before, but it has always been Angel who saves the day not Spike, which makes this episode disconcerting to watch.
Otherwise though this isn't a bad episode; the idea of Pavayne is a neat one and it makes a lot of sense in the context of W&H. Fred also had a nice role to play in desperately trying to free Spike. It was nice also to see the gang solving problems together and keeping them all in the building made for a nice intimate episode which amped up the spooky. I'm surprised there wasn't a bigger mention made of Gunn's relationship with the conduit; he doesn't just have law knowledge in his brain now, he is a trusted member of W&H. It would've been nice if the gang picked up on that a bit more. (6.5/10)