Better season: Buffy Season 5 or Angel Season 2

[Joshua]

Both are very well liked by fans of both shows, both seasons aired at the same time but which season do you love, like and prefer? Buffy Season V or Angel Season II

 

[thetopher]

Comparing these two, for me, is like comparing S2 and 3 of Buffy.

Angel S2 has really high highs (the Darla/Angel stuff and then Angel going all dark) and really low lows (the Pylea arc probably contains the worst Angel episodes ever for me- it's boring, it drags, there are no stakes, and it's just not good comedy)

Whereas Buffy S5 is just consistantly good right the whole way through. I can only think of one or two dud episodes ('Out Of My Mind' and 'Weight Of The World') out of 22, which is pretty darn good. Plus there are the exceptional episodes, such as 'No Place Like Home', 'Fool For Love', 'The Body', 'The Gift' along the way.

Both Buffy and Angel go on important journeys, they really get tested to their limits...but I think overall Buffy S5 is the more satisfying journey for all the characters involved. 🙂
Both shows had poorer follow-up seasons though, so they have that in common.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

For most fans this is probably a close decision, but for me it's Angel S2. I've been very open in other threads about my dislike for Buffy S5 and I know I'm in the minority. It seems like everything that everyone else likes about s5 is what I don't like. Or at least just don't care about. Angel season 2 I think is just great and so entertaining to watch. I love seeing Angel go dark and his journey and how he chooses to deal with Darla. Having the team work without Angel is great because it shows that while they both can work separately they both really need each other to keep the mission going. I actually like the Pylea episodes. I like getting to know more about Lorne, introducing Fred (and even Groo), exploring different dimensions and I really like the idea of Angel's human and demon sides being radically split. Season 5 to me just feels like, it's going to happen just because of (reasons) and less because the story asks for it. I guess the story is Buffy growing up, I really don't know. Just seems like Joyce is going to die, because Kristen Sutherland wants off the show, not because Buffy really needs her mom dead in order to grow up. Joyce was barely around for season 4 and Buffy did just fine living at college. I don't know, there's just a lot of things with season 5 I won't even get into Spike, which again is only there not because the plot needs him to be but because the writers/producers/fans want him there.

 

[Aud]

I like both of these seasons, and I don't think I can answer which is better (in terms of storytelling, writing, acting, etc.). However, I prefer ATS S2. It's my favorite season on that show, whereas BTVS S5 is only my third favorite on that show. ATS S2 was just all around entertaining; I even enjoyed the divisive Pylea arc (it introduced us to Fred! Angel was out in the suns! Wesley had that hilarious "I think we're winning!" moment!). Also, I know a lot of people think BTVS S5 was good almost the entire way through, but I actually thought there were moments in the season that dragged (not the Joyce stuff, but the Glory stuff). That's not to say this season didn't have some truly amazing episodes. It just didn't keep me as entertained as ATS S2 did.

 

[sk]

Between Angel and BtVS I always pick Buffy. No matter what seasons you compare.
I enjoyed Angel but I just prefer BtVS overall. Find it funnier and I care about the characters a lot more.

Season 2 of Angel was good though.
Wesley was still funny and not yet another super fighter that broods a lot... 😉
Bringing back Darla seemed quite contrived (is that the right word?) even for these shows but I really enjoyed that.
The Pylea arc brings it down a bit. It just felt silly and out of place. I can like silly at times but this just didn't work for me.

Season 5 of Buffy is up there at its best and got a brilliant ending.
Glory brings back a fun / crazy villain. Which was missed in the previous season.
The only thing I'm not a huge fan of in this season is the Knights of Byzantium.
It's mostly that I prefer them fighting monster and demons. It gets weird when they fight humans. It doesn't fit the show.

/SK

 

[TotallySpiked]

@Fuffy Baith I completely agree with you about BTVS season 5, it is actually one of my least favourite seasons in all honesty. I don't like Glory so that might be an indicator as to why I don't really enjoy it. Besides a couple of episodes, I actually skip it on rewatches. I think I find Dawn changes the dynamic of the show too much from previous seasons and it bothers me. Those are the main reasons, but there are many more.

Atv season 2 is probably my favourite Angel season, but is very close to Angels final season in my like for it. I love the Darla arc and seeing Angel go a little darker was enjoyable too.

Just because of my dislike of season 5 of Buffy, I will always almost choose the other option against it...unless of course if that was Angel season 4...

 

[Taake]

Angel season 2 no contest.
It was quite the journey for Angel and his team. This one of my favorite seasons for Angel as well as Cordelia. For me the story was consistenly good (even if I'm not a big fan of the Pylea arc - it was a little too Charmed for me) but right up until then I thought it was brilliant. Basically I like everything up till the very end, when it feels like a completely different show.

Buffy season 5 however I like nothing until the end instead.
I don't think season 5 was consistently good at all, I thought it was bland and oddly dull and detached for a show that had run for five years. "The Gift" and "The Body" are brilliant but that's about it.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Pylea arc - it was a little too Charmed for me

That's it! Brilliant. I never watched Charmed, never cared for it.. and now it makes total sense. It did FEEL Charmy. And I liked Lorne much better when he was simply called The Host as opposed to Lorne. Which is another result of Pylea.

 

[SiegePerilous02]

I've always thought that these two seasons, along with AtS Season 5 and seasons 2/3 of Buffy, were the best the Buffyverse had to offer, despite a few flaws each of them had. Between these two, it's really difficult for me to choose.

I think season 5 was a little more consistently good, with the only things dragging it down for me being the stupidity of the VAMPIRE WHORES arc, and, as usual, Spike being there for no apparent reason outside of fanservice (admittedly, though, "Fool For Love" is awesome). But otherwise, this is Buffy and the Scoobies at their best, matured after their teen years but not yet the obnoxious, cynical adults they would further grow/regress into, and united as a family against a common threat. This was the season that best utilized Dawn, and while she wasn't the best Big Bad the series had to offer, I loved Glory. Really, if they added return cameos from Oz and Cordelia, this would have been the ideal season to end the show.

The Darla arc on Angel, though, was was more adult and sophisticated. As much of a diehard Bangel shipper I am, Angel/Darla is pretty high up there in terms of my favorite dynamics. Julie Benz owns this season, and she and DB have some great chemistry together. Wolfram and Hart was also at their best with the perfect Holland/Lindsey/Lilah combo, and the writers went all out in showing was a brilliant character Angel could be. But like others have said, the season peters out after the Darla arc is wrapped up. I still really like the Pylea episodes, but maybe would have liked it more if they had been moved towards the middle of the season and the Darla/Drusilla/Lindsey arc came back full force for the final episodes.

So my final verdict is...I don't know. They both have their strengths and drawbacks, so I think I will consider them tied.

 

[Silverspike]

For me Buffy season 5 wins hands down. Although I normally love AtS I just hated the extremely OTT and daft Pylea storyline and thought it dragged the season down.

BTVS 5 on the other hand had a terrific arc topped off with some brilliant production values (FFL).

 

[Blaze]

That's a VERY hard decision, as both are some of my top seasons for both show (I think actually they are both placed as my second favorites). Overall, I think that I like AtS s2 better on a storytelling standpoint, as a whole it was a stronger season.

But on an emotional level some of the s5 episode, notably The Body and The Wish, just do things to my little heart. Those are really, really important episodes to me, and they almost surpass any other season just by themselves. I think the most perfect Buffy episode were in s5, whereas the most perfect Angel episode were not necessarily in s2 for me (A Whole in the World, Hero..)

Although, I must also say, the first 3 episode of AtS s2 were one of the strongest opening to a season out of any seasons of both shows.

I think that I'll give the prize to Buffy though, overall, it just has some important moments that can't be overlooked. It was very much like the conclusion to Buffy (even though it wasn't the final season), and it felt like the proper way to end things. AtS s2 is stellar, but it felt more like the bump in the road that you overcome, it didn't have the same feeling of finality that Buffy had. So although equally good, for some reason s5 feels a bit more important to me.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

@Fuffy Baith I completely agree with you about BTVS season 5, it is actually one of my least favourite seasons in all honesty. I don't like Glory so that might be an indicator as to why I don't really enjoy it. Besides a couple of episodes, I actually skip it on rewatches. I think I find Dawn changes the dynamic of the show too much from previous seasons and it bothers me. Those are the main reasons, but there are many more.

Well I'm glad that I'm not the only one then. I don't mind Glory. I like Clare Kramer, and I think she could have been a great big bad, they just didnt use her right, and I don't like the ben is glory thing. In fact, we can just get rid of Ben all together. lol. I just find it really hard to care about the Dawn is the key thing since I don't care about Dawn because I don't know Dawn yet. Personally I just don't get emotionally involved in the season. There's nothing I can really relate too, which might be a good thing. Of course The Body is extremely sad and emotional but The Gift does nothing for me. Maybe its because I know Buffy comes back.

the first 3 episode of AtS s2 were one of the strongest opening to a season out of any seasons of both shows

It really is a good set up to the season. Having just watched S4 I actually like the first 3 episodes but it's because it has nothing to do with the season's arc same with Buffy s7.