When I first watched Welcome to the Hellmouth, I liked Angel. I liked the cryptic guy who came around once in a while to tell Buffy of impending danger and to give her a bit of a hard time.

Then, in the second season he started to brood. That was still okay, he seemed like the type that could brood well. Then third season comes along, and he comes back from hell. That's when he became just plain annoying. By the time he broke up with Buffy, I was saying to myself, "Fine! Let him be depressing on his own show!" This comes from a girl that believes Buffy and Angel belong together. And I love Angel. I liked him at first and I still do. So why did I get a thrill of joy along with the fear when I thought for a second that he might actually be evil again in Enemies? What happened?

I will hypnotize you....

When A:ts first came out, I was glad that Cordelia would be going to Angel simply because I could see him trying to be disturbed, and with Cordy being Cordy, not putting up with it. So, I hoped, that with the focus on him, Joss would loosen him up a bit. And so far, that seems to be the case.

I think that, with the wealth of interesting characters on the spin-off, that Angel has grown not only from the cryptic guy and the brooding guy into a real dynamic and interesting character. And yes, the writers have made him do some stupid things, or act in an one-dimensional way, but now it seems his depression has so many new layers. For instance, when Darla was re-introduced, he was obsessive, but he was almost evil as well which was completely refreshing. And now that he's back for his third season, I am very interested in seeing what the fall-out from the alternate dimension and a new character injection (Fred) will do to him now.

Wheeeeeee!