Welcome to Ryan's reviews of the spin-off television series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Angel: the Series (AtS). Here you'll find my comprehensive literary analysis of every episode of the series, written within the context of the entire series. You may ask me, "Ryan, you dashing hunk of analytical prowess, you, what does that mean?" What makes this site different from other review sites is that these reviews are written with every episode of the series in mind. If you are reading my review of an episode that takes place in the middle of season three, for example, this means I will not only be looking at what happened before it, but what will come after it. This site is meant for serious fans who've seen the whole series.

By reviewing in the context of the entire series, I can look at it the way first-run reviewers do not: seeing the entire whole. This means that my reviews will not be bursting with anticipation of what's to come so much as analyzing the part each of them play in the whole; a cog in the big, thematic machine that is the show. Be warned though, as this also means that like Mike's Buffy the Vampire Slayer review site (the sister site to this one), each review will not contain spoilers just for that particular showing, but will contain SPOILERS for episodes anywhere in the entire series. Each episode will be graded using a score out of 100.

These reviews are done in my free time between work, school and the other writing projects I have going, so like Mike Marinaro's this will be only as frequent as I can manage. After an entire season has been reviewed, I'll do a comprehensive review of the season as a whole and display the average episode score for that season as well as my own personal score, and awards for Best/Worst Episode, Most Important Episode and the like.

Finally: since these reviews are done in my free time, and that amount of time is sometimes sparse, there can be large gaps between reviews. Consequently, the newer my reviews are the higher quality they will be, as I'm always striving to better myself and expand my artistic knowledge. On the flip side, the older my reviews are, the more they'll pale in comparison to my current work. I do intend to edit large portions of this site when I've completed the series, but for now, take the truth to be fluid: what I hold true today might be very different in a month. When this project is finished, I'll get to the nitty gritty of making it all fit together. Until then, enjoy the ride.

You can click the reviews button or simply jump into my review of "City of" [1x01] to get started. From time to time I may write some articles, and you can view them in that section appropriately. Also visit the links section for all the best Whedon stuff I frequent, or visit the chatty rooms in forums to dice up the show to your monad's content.

My methodology for reviewing has constantly changed since I've worked on the site, but my later reviews are written more academically. I'll not only be analyzing the core ideas and plots of the individual episodes and seasons, but their implications for the real world. Art can and does have a profound effect on the way we view ourselves and the world, and Angel in particular makes a lot of excellent intellectual points, which is why it begs such deep analysis. In analyzing the episodes I'll be dissecting and interpreting the themes/ideas, and on top of that I'll be evaluating how well they're executed through the episode's plots.

It's my belief that characters are the story, since our emotions and intellects are engaged through them. How well they're developed within the plot, by the ideas, reflects how I'll score episodes and seasons overall. The Perfect episode (the episode that is scored a 100) is difficult to describe because every perfect episode achieves that status in some unique way, but the basic criteria is that it must: be emotionally/viscerally engaging, intellectually stimulating, original within the context of the show (something the series has not done before) and make an artistic point that's relevant to the real world. It has to do all of this very well, and it has to do this genuinely; an episode that pulls a situation out of its rear for the sake of drama will score considerably lower than an episode that builds that situation out of something that comes naturally from the characters.

But hey, what do I know? Artistic taste is entirely subjective. Different things interest people for different reasons that usually have to do with fundamental things about their personalities. You may see something entirely different in the series because you are you. My only claim to fame here is that I've developed a precise methodology for critiquing the series and articulating my interpretations. This is just how I'll be doing things, and since any criteria for artistic preference will always be somewhat vague, I'll do my best to adequately justify every score within every episode review.

So what does all this add up to? My ultimate goal here is to enhance your understanding of the series so you can better reflect on the writers' ideas and take something more powerful away from the show; a message about hope, a warning about dishonesty, a new way of seeing other people. If you come away from these reviews with something beneficial to your life, then maybe this was worth the many unpaid hours. Enjoy.

My name, as mentioned, is Ryan, and I'm a College student studying the Arts for a career that will no doubt be penniless for many years. Besides working on this site, I study, work, and maintain several other writing projects: I'm currently plugging at some spec scripts and doing some journalistic work as well. I love collaborative writing. Got an idea? Drop me a line.

I also enjoy music of all different kinds of music, from Progressive Metal to the Romantic era of Classical music. I've played Guitar, Bass Guitar and Drums at different points in my life, but writing is where I'm set. My favourite shows, besides the whedon-trio of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, are Battlestar Galactica, Arrested Development, House, Flight of the Concords, and Dead Like Me. Feel free to PM me on this site's message board, or e-mail me at gob_666(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Originally hosted over at SuperJer.com, Mikelangelo "MikeJer" Marinaro moved out on his own to create, develop, administer, and launch the review network CriticallyTouched.com in mid-2009. This site is part of a larger network of review/analysis sites for quality television shows and other media. Each reviewer goes through a thorough interview process in which they are screened for insight, skill, sanity, and overall intelligence. If you have any problems with the reviewer of this site or the functionality/design of the site itself, please feel free to e-mail Mike at mikejer(at)gmail(dot)com. We hope you enjoy all the time, effort, sweat, and tears put into the development, design, and content of this network.