Well thanks for all the comments on the first part, hope you're all enjoying it! Think there could be another couple of controversial episodes in here too, but hopefully my summaries will justify their position. I don't just place popular episodes low to be different, honest!

91. Reunion

Season 2 Episode 10

With Darla on her way to becoming a vampire once again Angel set out to stop it from happening by killing her before she woke up. It was nice to see Drusilla again after such a long absence from the Buffyverse (not including a couple of flashbacks and the end of the previous episode) as she had been missed. Still there was something about this episode that just felt missing. Dru and Darla going about together had moments of both dark humour and full on terror, without ever going to either extreme. If they'd just gone with one tone and kept with it would've worked better. Seeing Angel obsessed with finding the two of them was done nicely and even Cordy's vision couldn't stop him. Speaking of if you look at Cordy during the stunt when the car does a 180 turn you can clearly see that she's a mannequin! The episode isn't bad but it's the ending payoff that it's all about. Angel locking the lawyers in with Darla and Drusilla was the major turning point for him this season and a very dark moment. The scene after when he fired his team pushed him further into it but the one thing that annoyed me about that last moment was that it appeared to be played with a small bit of comedy that felt really out of place. Unless that was just me and my weird sense of humour.

92. Why We Fight

Season 5 Episode 13

First off this undermines Angel's grasping at straws logic in The Trial that him siring Darla might leave her with a soul as he should've known what the effect was from Lawson. My second major compliant is the vampire makeup on the Prince of Lies as he had eyebrows despite being in vamp face. The older looking face kind of makes sense when you think the similar thing happened to The Master and Kakistos, but I'm not forgiving the eyebrows! As far as the rest of the episode goes it was a pretty average one. Trying to use vampires in the war would've made sense within the realms of the show and we even got to see what was most likely the humble beginnings of The Initiative. Still I found the submarine setting a bit boring. Being stuck in a small claustrophobic area with vampires could've worked as a really good horror episode, but they did away with that far too early. I did like seeing vampiric abilities being used in a unique way though, in this case being able to get Angel down to the sub by simply attaching chains to him and letting him sink! Unfortunately the logic for Angel needing to sire Lawson felt forced and wasn't the best story point. On top of that this episode really did not seem like a great way to follow up on the events of the hundredth episode.

93. Supersymmetry

Season 4 Episode 5

So we find out how and why Fred ended up in Pylea, as it turned out her physics professor sent her their. It worked nicely to tie this story into her opening arc and gave a bit more validity as she didn't just end up in Pylea by chance. The dark turn the episode took after Fred found out what Seidel made sense but never really worked for me. I can fully understand why Fred wanted to kill the professor but it felt a bit too much for what was essentially a stand-alone episode. The really dark stuff like this only really works for the bigger story arcs. What I did love was the way Gunn killing Seidel drove him and Fred apart, as an ironic turn on the notion "I'd kill for you" being the highest way to show your love for someone. There were also some other nice moments such as seeing what the outside world knows about Angel through internet forums and the first time we see the vampiric photographic memory. There was also some stuff with Cordy and Connor which dragged the episode in places but also had its moments.

94. Shiny Happy People

Season 4 Episode 18

Well the Jasmine arc is out of the way now on this list (not including Inside Out). It's a shame this story arc wasn't better as Gina Torres put in a great performance throughout. Her obvious ties to the Whedonverse helped the character elevate higher than if any other actress had played her too. This episode is all about the setup before everything went dark and downhill. Seeing the gang all happy and managing to justify Jasmine's responsibility over the horrors of the season as birth pains was nice to see and worked. There were also a few nice fight scenes against some vampires, even if it did seem like the FX team were only doing the dusting effects half-heartedly. Of course the happiness doesn't stay for too long as Fred discovers Jasmine's true form and ends up on the run. As the starting episode of this arc it does show some potential, but there's nothing really gripping about it. Fred being on the run is done well enough and her feeling of being alone is nicely conveyed too. I guess the main problem is that it's the main characters whose eyes we see the show through. So when they're under a spell for an entire episode like this and the stakes are so high it doesn't make it as good to watch.

95. Couplet

Season 3 Episode 14

With the return of the Groosalugg DB got to play jealous Angel for the most part of this episode which is great to watch. Angel was a great dark and mysterious character on Buffy but seeing all the different elements of his character on Angel, including the less champion-like ones, is one of the best things about this show. His pettiness throughout the episode, such as seeing if he's taller or complaining about Groo using his broadsword, is very funny. Still while this episode does have a nice light-hearted tone there are a few moments that fall flat. Why is it that no one minds a demon melting in the middle of a park and the tree demon wasn't the best monster they've ever done. While certainly an entertaining episode there's nothing that really makes it stand out. The one exception being the ending reveal of "The father will kill the son" which although shocking, seems completely out of place tonally in this fairly upbeat episode.

96. Habeas Corpses

Season 4 Episode 8

Zombies are always good and they work pretty well here. Seeing the Beast go in and murder everyone in that place was incredibly brutal and well done. While Angel's always handled gore well, this was above what had been done before which fit the story nicely. The only thing that annoyed me was it's not well explained why the staff turn into zombies. It's addressed with a couple of possibilities which I guess is enough as there were more important issues going on. After seeing Connor and Cordelia having sex Angel was appropriately devastated. What's handled well is that he's only angry at Cordy which makes perfect sense as he couldn't blame Connor for it really. The gang going into Wolfram and Heart to save Connor was good for the most part, despite Angel seemingly clambering up the escape tube Spider-Man-esque. Escaping through the White Room seemed a bit of a cop out and for some reason I really hated the line "Hello, photographic memory!".

97. Peace Out

Season 4 Episode 21

Angel's quest through the demon dimension to find Jasmine's true name wasn't too bad, although the priest was annoying. Was he meant to be reading Angel's mind or did he just know everything? Either way his comments about Connor did work, if being a bit unnecessary. Back in our world Jasmine had the gang captured to use as a bargaining chip against Angel where there were some nice moments between the characters but nothing special. When Angel eventually returns with the demon's head it unveils Jasmine's name and breaks the spell she had over everyone. It worked well enough I guess and seeing all the people scatter in fear and devastation was nicely played. Angel trying to get through to Jasmine rather than take her on was a good moment that felt right for the character, even though she just threw a car at him instead. Their battle was a bit more epic than the usual which was nice; before a distraught Connor killed her. While there was some good stuff in this episode, including Lilah's surprise return, the Jasmine arc was poor so the best thing this episode had going for it was that it finally ended it!

98. Redefinition

Season 2 Episode 11

After the huge cliffhanger ending of the previous episode this one had to deal with the fallout. An interesting point is that unless I'm mistaken Angel doesn't have a single line of spoken dialogue in the entire episode; all of his lines being voiceover. So Wes, Cordy and Gunn go and try to find themselves having been fired and end up getting wasted at Caritas. This allowed for some funny scenes before a well timed vision to put them back on their path. However the main focus of the episode was Angel's story. Seeing him train and take out a group of vampires to get ready to face Darla and Drusilla was pretty cool and nicely showed what he was going through. It was mostly good, but the episode went downhill towards the end. So there's a warehouse full of demons that Angel goes up against and we don't get to see a single second of it! While I can understand they couldn't afford to show all of it just a few moments would've been enough. Then it got worse when Angel set Darla and Drusilla on fire. I don't care what arguments you have about them being powerful vampires or whatever any other vampire would've disintegrated ten times over in the time it took them to douse themselves so I'm not buying that they could've survived. If you could overlook that the episode was probably a really good one, but it completely ruined it for me.

99. The Magic Bullet

Season 4 Episode 19

The episode begins with Fred on the run from her friends as she knows the truth about Jasmine, while they're all still under her control. While not a fan of Jasmine's story arc it did allow for some nice moments between the main characters, particularly Angel and Connor. This was the first time they were really working together and Connor telling Angel about his childhood in Quor'Toth as well as them singing together were both great. Of course it all fell apart when Fred shot Angel, complete with overused bullet-time effect. While having two of the main characters on the run could've been really exciting it just wasn't. Maybe it's just because this storyline felt very weird and out of place for me, something not suited to Angel's usual tone. Angel using Cordelia's blood to break the spell over the others made sense and was explained nicely. Each of the actors did a decent job conveying their reactions to the realisation that Jasmine was a fraud considering what they had to work with. Then there was the cliffhanger ending that, by this point, was getting very tired. Almost every episode in season 4 had a 24-like ending and it seemed like it was getting to the point that they were struggling to think up decent ones.

100. Unleashed

Season 5 Episode 3

While not a bad episode this just wasn't particularly good. So we get introduced to Nina, who is bitten by a werewolf and therefore turns into one herself. One major thing this episode has going for it is that it manages to handle the werewolf issue very differently to Buffy's Phases. While it could've ended up as a retelling of that instead it comes at things from a much darker angle. This ultimately works well and allows Nina to accept herself as a monster right from the outset, which is kind of where Oz's story left off. So not only do Angel and co have to find her but they have to convince her that her life's still worth living. So it all sounds good right? Well despite a few lines of dialogue from Enterprise's John Billingsley it's not explained why the werewolves turn back to their human form when killed, which didn't happen on Buffy. This wouldn't have been an issue if it wasn't used as a major plot point. On top of that some things felt a bit poorly executed, like Spike just happening to walk into the right office to advance the plot. And my final complaint is a bit of a superficial one, but while I'm aware the budget was lowered for the fifth season it really annoyed me that you never saw Nina transform to or from a werewolf. Considering what the episode was about surely they could've managed to get it in there once!?

If any of you were tracking me way back in 2007 you may remember that I did a series of blogs about my 50 favourite computer games. Then last year I did a countdown of all the Buffy episodes, so to follow on from those this year I'm going for an Angel episode countdown. 110 episodes will nicely divide into 11 blogs going from my least favourite episode to the one I judge to be the best.

As Angel is a bit more story arc based than Buffy it's been a bit harder to separate the episodes and judge them on their individual merits. At least that's my excuse if you don't like where I've placed some episodes. Either way here is the first part, enjoy!

101. Spin The Bottle

Season 4 Episode 6

Let's get this out of the way first; if it wasn't for Buffy's Tabula Rasa I'd probably have this episode a bit higher up this list. Although the characters didn't completely lose their memories it was still the same basic idea with characters fully aware of the demon world suddenly know nothing about it. The main difference between this and Tabula Rasa is that the backgrounds of each of the characters here are much more different, and this is where all of the good stuff from this episode came. Seeing Gunn and Wesley as even more exaggerated versions of when we first met them was cool, although Cordelia was a bit annoying. It also shed some light on Fred's childhood years. To find out she used to be a stoner who listened to death metal was a great touch and a lot better than if she'd just been a geek. Unfortunately there was also a lot to complain about. Angel going to and from his vampire face being compared to him having a gentleman's rest was poor and unnecessary, as was Lorne's narration of the episode. Also why didn't the spell affect Lorne? That was a poor way to be able to resolve the episode. Still I can understand the logic behind the episode. As everything kicked off after this it was understandable to have one last fun, silly episode. I just wish it had also been good.

102. Over The Rainbow

Season 2 Episode 20

As already mentioned I didn't think the combination of humour and horror worked too well for the Pylea arc. However that wasn't as much of an issue here as it was in Through The Looking Glass. What was more of an issue is that Pylea came off as a bit too cheesy to begin with. It seemed like they were going too far with the attempts at humour and unnecessary wackiness. Back in our world Angel and co were trying to find a way into Pylea to rescue Cordy and it was done well. The idea of mystical hotspots was a quite clever and worked well within the episode. Once they got to Pylea there were some nice touches with Angel being able to walk in the sunlight. Again the slightly light-hearted nature of the scenes played down Angel's happiness at being able to walk in the daylight, but as usual David Boreanaz's performance was spot on. The fight scene that followed in the town square was entertaining with a great cut to the gang in chains after Wes yelled "I think we're winning". The end reveal of Cordy as Princess was a nice ending too, but overall this episode's tone was too all over the place to be a great one.

103. Damage

Season 5 Episode 11

The basic idea behind this episode was good. As Willow's spell to turn all of the potential slayers into full slayers happened in the finale of Buffy any fallout from it would need to be seen on Angel. Add to that getting some information as to where the Buffy gang ended up after the show and surely this episode should've worked brilliantly. Unfortunately not and there are a few reasons for this, the first one being Andrew. While a great comic relief character on Buffy, and sometimes being a bit more than just that, his type of humour simply didn't work on Angel. Considering he'd meant to have grown up a bit it would've been better if his more silly jokes (like mispronouncing vampire) had been done away with. The other issue is probably something that just annoys me, but I really don't like seeing main characters mutilated, even if Spike did get his hands reattached. It almost felt like they were trying too much with the crazed slayer character as there was too much going on with her for a small one episode role. The episode had a very dark tone to it which sometimes works perfectly but felt out of place for a stand-alone episode like this.

104. Sacrifice

Season 4 Episode 20

Another storyline I didn't really like was Jasmine's, and while it's hard to separate the episodes in that arc as they seemed to be one long one, this would be the weakest of them. Finally having a villain that showed itself to more than just the core characters was something original, but I didn't feel that it worked. As far as this episode goes a decent reason is given to explain why Connor was still happy to follow Jasmine even after discovering the truth, and the gang being on the run had some cool moments. Still the Invasion of the Body Snatchers feel didn't really work. After retreating to the sewers it was a nice touch that they ran into some folk that Gunn knew. If anyone was still going to be Jasmine free in the city at this point it would be people from or affiliated with Gunn's old crew. Still that the demon that had been attacking them just happened to be from a dimension that had the key to defeating Jasmine seemed just a bit too convenient. Although it did look pretty sweet and the mutilated vampire was a cool idea too. The ending again just felt like they were dragging this out a bit too long and I just wanted this storyline to be over.

105. Heartthrob

Season 3 Premiere

This was a very disappointing season premiere. To start with the first vampire that gets killed isn't seen disintegrating! I mean they have to at least show the opening dusting surely!? In fact that whole fight scene was a bit poor as you could clearly see the supposedly dead vampires on the ground by the car. As for the main plot I found it hard to accept. If a vampire could become invincible by simply cutting out their heart why did no one know about this? To be fair connecting James with Angel's past worked nicely and they also introduced Holtz who would become the main villain for season 3. Of course the other thing going on was how Buffy's death had affected Angel. The main story did work nicely to run alongside what Angel was going through, even if it was a bit heavy handed. So there was some decent stuff in here, just not enough. Then there was the ending scene with a pregnant Darla (and dodgy looking superimposed vampire face) which is great knowing how that story played out, but at the time just seemed to be weird for the sake of weird.

106. Through The Looking Glass

Season 2 Episode 21

Firstly I love Lorne, he was a great character but the episodes in his home world were a poor way to end the second season. The humour and horror in these episodes both went to extremes and didn't balance well together. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of laughs in the episode, like Numfar's dancing (played by Joss Whedon) and it was good to get more backstory on Lorne. I just wish it could've been done better. Angel becoming a monster when changing into his vampire form was another cool idea, but all the elements of the episode simply didn't mesh well. This was a fairly major one all things considered with Angel meeting Fred for the first time and the introduction of the Groosalugg, which unfortunately just fell flat in so many places. From a production standpoint Pylea was well designed and put together which was impressive. Also you couldn't argue with Cordelia's outfit!

107. First Impressions

Season 2 Episode 3

I don't know if it was because of a tight schedule or budget restraints but almost everything about this episode felt rushed. First off the fight scene with the group of vampires near the start of the episode faded out before it finished. Off-screen dustings I can deal with, but cutting out entire fight sequences was poor. Next issue is when the vampires crash the party despite not being invited. Also Cordelia's visions about Gunn were never expanded on, but I guess that was more a flaw with the episodes after this one really. Of course as usual there was still some good stuff. Combining the supernatural and the darker side of real life is something Angel always did well and here it's seen with something as simple as Angel's car getting stolen. While mainly a plot device to get the characters moving I thought it was a nice touch. Add to that continuing to see Cordy being great in a crisis (here being her helping Gunn's friend after she was put through a pane of glass) was a very good way of expanding her character and she got a couple of other cool moments too. Finally I can't not mention the naked Darla clambering over Angel at the end. Piece of advice: make sure to watch that scene in widescreen mode!

108. The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco

Season 5 Episode 6

Angel teams up with a Mexican wrestler and no one saw the flaw with this? This episode is far too cheesy throughout, from the brothers always being in costume to the super-human strength Number Five had despite seeming to be a normal human. It simply didn't work and his brother's rising from the dead at the end because he was worthy or whatever was poorly done too. The logic behind it didn't really make sense and could've easily been made clearer with a few decent lines of dialogue (after all I get that it was meant to be the Day of the Dead). Even so it still wouldn't have saved the episode. I didn't find Number Five that likeable and did I mention the cheesiness? That said the large demon was pretty cool and the reasoning behind why he didn't want Angel's heart was nicely thought out too, but the main story significantly let it down. On top of that we did get a mention of the Shanshu prophecy which was a nice set up for the rest of the season as well as being its first mention in almost two years.

109. The Girl in Question

Season 5 Episode 20

A Buffy episode was a great idea, unfortunately Sarah Michelle Gellar wasn't able to appear in it. So the logical thing would've been to come up with a new idea, but no, instead they went ahead with the Buffy episode minus Buffy. Considering how much this episode focused on Angel and Spike's love/obsession with her she really needed to be in it, not just have Andrew talk for her. On top of that this was very much a money saving episode in preparation for the finale, so it wasn't the best idea to try to recreate a foreign city on a cheap episode. Editing around explosions and having the same Wolfram and Heart set really hurt the level of immersion the show normally does so superbly. Also while it was fun to see Spike and Angel bicker the episode in general felt out of place considering how close to the last episode it was. Despite a decent B-story with Wesley, Illyria and Fred's parents and Darla and Drusilla in some flashbacks this episode is probably one that shouldn't have been attempted.

110. Disharmony

Season 2 Episode 17

Harmony's a great character when it comes to comic relief, and it doesn't hurt that she's really hot too! However the whole not knowing what to do with her life storyline seemed to undermine the entire vampire mythology a bit. Granted they tried to fix this by having her team up with the vampire cult, but that was the other major problem with this episode. The vampire play on a pyramid scheme was a nice idea but just not executed very well. This was mainly in the final battle where Angel's team managed to take on over fifty vampires and all come out without even a scratch on them. That they only went in with basic weapons, nothing special, completely removed me from the episode. While there may have been some funny stuff and a nice cameo from Willow this episode was simply uninspired. Also simply having Angel buy Cordy a load of clothes to get her to forgive him was a very lazy writing device.

Well now that we're well into summer we can go outside in the glorious sunshine, head to the beach and have barbeques! But before all that I want to reflect on the TV season that has just finished with a (not so) brief recap of each of the major shows I watched.

24

It had been over a year and a half since the previous season, a good thing as it allowed us to forget the mess that was season 6. With so much time apart I was yearning for some more Jack Bauer action and really excited for season 7, which for the most part didn't disappoint. So we had Tony Almeida return as a bad guy, except he wasn't really a bad guy because he was working undercover, except then he was a bad guy after all but not really. That run-on sentence is both accurate and pretty much sums up how a typical season of this show's plot jumps about. So this was more of the same really; Jack being super-cool, various spies in various organisations, new characters, returning characters and lots of explosions.

However while the show followed a familiar formula it helps that most of the characters are likeable and well defined. Jack's always been the heart of the show and Keifer Sutherland manages to superbly elevate the character above just being the action hero. So the decision to give him a fatal disease about halfway through the season wasn't the best one. Almost all emotional impact was lost as we knew Jack would never die!

As far as the other characters went the new President was portrayed well and while nothing compared to David Palmer, was a lot better than Powers Boothe. Her story was interesting and as usual worked alongside the more action orientated stuff and with the exception of her annoying daughter was pretty much all good. Then there's Tony who despite jumping from one side to another throughout the season still worked well. The finale was a bit weird as it didn't really wind down in the same manner most do, but still did the job of giving an exciting conclusion to the season while nicely setting up the next one.

Dollhouse

I think even the most hardcore Joss Whedon fan would be pushing it to say this show was fantastic. It was good, but if it hadn't had the Whedon name attached to it I probably never would've given it a second look. But let's try to judge the first season on its own merits, without comparing it to any of Whedon's other shows or mentioning any problems behind the scenes.

The basic premise of the show is an interesting one, if not completely engaging. Having the cast able to take on different characters each week is entertaining, but not enough to keep ongoing interest. The first few episodes suffered by being too stand-alone, the ongoing attempts to find the Dollhouse barely even a sub-plot. Obviously these episodes were meant to introduce us to this world before everything kicked off and they certainly weren't bad, just not great. I think the crew realised this as there are many shots of Eliza Dushku wearing very little in the opening episodes, and while I'm not complaining, it felt like a cheap attempt to hold the audience.

However after a few episodes the main story kicked in and the show became a fair bit better. Yet despite definite improvements it still wasn't anything to write home about. While none of the characters are outright annoying, very few really had me sympathise with them. Other than Paul Ballard and Boyd Langton the rest of the cast are fairly forgettable, to the point where I can't remember most of their names, and that unfortunately includes Dushku's character. Still there are some good supporting characters, mainly Whedonverse alum, that are fun to watch. Alan Tudyk's major role in the last few episodes being of particular note.

Heroes

This season was quite simply woefully bad. After news of a reshuffle behind the scenes there was hope that the second half of the season could redeem it a bit, but unfortunately it just never happened. Nathan's sudden obsession with rounding up all the people with powers was a nice device for the volume, but didn't really fit for the character. Of course the main problem the show has had for a while is that the characters don't act logically, simply to serve the story. Even if the overall story was stellar on its own it should be the characters we get invested in, but with them jumping from side to side nonsensically you couldn't get behind any of them.

The show's answer to developing older characters seemed to simply be either giving them new powers or taking their old ones away. Without his powers Peter became a shadow of his former self and Hiro just became annoying. Sylar does buck this trend a bit but for the first half of the season you have no idea what direction he's heading in and for the second half he just goes on a road trip which doesn't make for particularly entertaining television. Add to that the unoriginal plot points of characters seeing a horrible future that needs to be averted and someone who can paint the future and you're left with a poorly written and poorly executed show. Such a shame considering this show should really be hitting its prime now.

Lost

As the second last season of the superb show we're almost there and this season had a lot to do and live up to; and for the most part it did I guess. It opened incredibly strongly with possibly the best season premiere the show has ever done. Unfortunately the only way to go from there was down and while the on island action was excellent, the stuff back in the real world wasn't so great. It slowly got weaker until it culminated in the poor Jack episode in which they returned to the island. For such a big occasion it didn't really feel epic enough, and part of that was the fact Jack is boring, as well as that the characters only teleported back in time as opposed to seeing the plane they were on crash.

Thankfully the show bounced right back from this episode and continued to get stronger as the season progressed. A superb Sawyer episode that saw those left behind join the Dharma Initiative and actually getting to see the plane land on the island from Frank the pilot's perspective was all awesome! That said the fact the show had two different timelines going, with flashbacks on top of that, meant for several episodes at a time to go by without getting to see many major characters. While some of this can be forgiven it was annoying to have to wait up to four weeks to get our next piece of Ben or Locke action.

Still, Lost is the kind of show that has to be judged differently from most everything else on TV because it's that good. So petty annoyances aside the second half of the season was great and thoroughly enjoyable with some cool character moments and some major mysteries being addressed. Unfortunately the finale ruined it all by introducing a new major villain far too late in the story and having half of the episode simply being set-up for the poor ending reveal regarding Locke. And that's not even including the terrible last shot of the nuke going off and possibly destroying everything the show has done over the last five seasons! I know I'm probably in the vast minority regarding the finale but it really put a downer on the season for me. Which is a shame because without it the penultimate season of Lost was one of the best this year.

Prison Break

This is a show that should've ended after two seasons at most; I mean it's in the title! So after breaking out of two prisons where could the fourth season go? Fortunately they didn't just go for the "on the run" storyline again and instead the first part of the season involved finding access to something that was the heart of The Company's organisation. The whole A-Team-esq vibe worked quite well and it was certainly enjoyable, but then it took a turn for the worse. At the halfway point the FBI agent turned out to be a bad guy and it was back to everyone double-crossing each other again.

To be fair there was still a lot to like in this final season: most of the main characters were as great and as deep as they had been all along and there were still some clever moments and cool action scenes. The problem is that the show has simply lasted too long. I actually missed the last two episodes when they were on Sky1, but the fact I'm not bothered by that pretty much sums up the season. It's entertaining if you have the time for it, but nothing worth going out of your way for. A huge shame considering how fantastic the first season was.

Smallville

This show had seemingly run its course, after the terrible seventh season I was ready to give up on what was once one of my favourite shows. Yet despite all that I still for some reason had high hopes for the premiere, and to my delight it met them! The change in management behind the scenes turned out to be exactly what the show needed and gave new life to it. With Michael Rosenbaum (Lex) having left the show there was a pretty big void to fill. Fortunately it was done very well with new villains Tess Mercer (a play on Lex's assistant in the cartoons) and Davis Bloome (the eventual Doomsday). On top of that the fantastic Justin Hartley (Green Arrow) was made a series regular too which all worked well to vastly improve the show.

So other than the altered main cast, what made this season great? Well the main reason was that Clark no longer took a back seat on his own show. Ever since Chloe found out his secret it seemed that Clark couldn't do anything without her telling him to. Fortunately the Clark of season 8 was a different creature and began embracing his destiny. While he didn't wear glasses or a cape at any point he did start working at the Daily Planet across from (the gorgeous) Lois Lane and patrolled the streets of Metropolis as his superhero alter-ego. On top of that the episodes felt more distinct and memorable than in previous seasons. There were more action based episodes, more mythology based ones and more Lois ones.

Unfortunately it wasn't all good and while Davis Bloome was a great character, a bit more work was needed on his Doomsday persona. Add to that the poor decision to bring back Lana for a string of episodes which just returned Clark to the whipped schoolboy he used to be. Also despite having a few good storylines I really wish Oliver had been given more to do and the fight scenes still sucked. The real kicker though was the finale. Like Lost it had been built up so much that it really needed a great pay off and just couldn't manage it. Which, again like Lost, really sullied what had been a great season.

Spectacular Spider-Man

As it's only just begun airing in the States and as I've already done a full blog on it I won't say too much more about this fantastic show. Unlike the movies this version gets the character of Spider-Man and what he's all about spot on. Despite being primarily a kids show it's doesn't shy away from darker stories and does them superbly. However it also gives a good sense of the fun that was sorely lacking from the films. Add to that well written dialogue, superb action sequences and relatable characters and you have one of the best shows around in any genre.

Supernatural

Considering how season 3 ended, with Dean being sent to Hell, the forth one had to do something special to get him back. And special it did, and then some! The introduction of Angels into the Supernatural mythology was ultimately a superb idea, especially considering how awesome the main Angel Castiel was! Similarly to the previous year there was a specific end point for this one too; specifically being to stop Lucifer from rising. A great idea that works believably within the Supernatural world due to how well it has been developed over the course of the show.

Of course that didn't mean the season was one long story, far from it. The usual monsters of the week were in there, quite often interspersed well within major mythology episodes. There was also the usual amount of horror, comedy and simply fantastic eps in there too. In fact I'm hard pressed to think of a single episode that was under par. Dean working with the Angels while Sam seemed to slide deeper towards his demon side was handled superbly and allowed for a fantastic confrontation between the two brothers in the penultimate episode. In fact my only real gripe is that the show doesn't always have the funding to show the epicness that the stories are telling. Off-screen effects work to a point to but eventually you just want to see everything that's being hinted at.

Still that's a small complaint which doesn't hinder this brilliant show. The humour, the genius lines and the fantastic performances from both lead actors every week make for excellent television. Season 4 was both the best season of the show so far and, in my opinion, the best show on TV this year.

Wolverine and the X-Men

The second animated show on my list is also a Marvel comics property. With the release of Wolverine at the cinema this year another X-Men cartoon was to be expected. What maybe wasn't expected was how good this show is. Instead of re-telling the X-Men story from the start it is assumed most are familiar with the idea thanks mainly to the four films. Due to this the story begins a good way into the X-Men mythology. The event that kicks everything off and gives the show its initial direction is a strange explosion outside the mansion. It causes Jean Grey and Professor Xavier to vanish, immediately throwing up several questions as to what really happened.

Throughout the course of the season these questions are answered successfully and satisfyingly. However the show is mainly about Wolverine and the remaining X-Men (hence the title). The characters are as well defined as you'd hope and the action sequences (while not quite on par with Spider-Man) are very impressive too. While some episodes are weaker than others (the Wolverine vs The Hulk one springs to mind) the various overarching stories work well to keep you interested. However my favourite thing about this show is how it manages to take from many different X-Men stories allowing for many different types of episodes without it ever seeming like the show is jumping randomly between stories.

For the most part each of the stories work great together and throughout the season you'll see parts of about a dozen well known storylines and many more characters. Obvious characters like Magneto and Mystique make appearances as well as more outthere ones like Apocalypse and Mojo. My only real complaint is that as we're coming into the story halfway through in a way you don't always know who's meant to know who. For example when Mystique first appears no-one recognises her, however everyone is fully familiar with Juggernaut. Also despite generally approving of the many storylines that go on in the show it's not uncommon for one plot to be started and then not revisited again for many episodes which can be a bit frustrating at times. Still despite a few issues this is definitely a show worth checking out which is fully worthy of the X-Men name.

Well there you have it. I've been really busy lately and so it's taken me a while to finish this season review and I might not be on again for a while. However when I do return look out for another episode countdown, similar to the Buffy one I did last year.

All the best, later!