A Stake to the Heart (50 Favorite Moments in "Angel")

I got a friend of mine to start watching the TV show "Angel" back in the winter, and he just finished the fifth and final season on DVD.

He was so excited to talk about it that we ended up gabbing for three hours -- in that great way you do when a show hits you on an emotional level.

Which this one really did. It will always remain one of the all-time greats for me. Like a stake through the heart. Even more than "Buffy."

And make no mistake, Buffy was gorgeous, but "Angel" transcended the "high school is hell" themes of Buffy while ramping up the tension. On "Angel," work was hell. Love was hell. Life was hell.

The conversation reminded me of how much I love the show, and also of how much I still miss it. It was like a recitation of Angel's greatest hits -- "Didn't you love it when Angel did this? Or when Wes did that? Or that moment when Fred--?"

So much so that it inspired me to do a countdown, simply of some of my favorite moments ever in the show. Warning: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. BIG SPOILERS. LOTS OF SPOILERS.

Go watch the show, then come back and read it. I'll still be here. Promise.

50 Things to Love About "Angel"

The gorgeous theme song by Darling Violetta. I never got tired of it, the rock-cello combination ending quietly with the melancholy descending piano.

And while we're on the subject of music, the gorgeous, dark and truly cinematic score by Rob Kral all the way through the show.

The opening credits. Especially the way the opening credits always always ended with poor Angel walking off into the shadows, his dark black coat billowing behind him like wings. That shot right there? That's the whole show.

Angel staking two vamps at once in the show's first episode. Because how cool was that?

The pilot episode, "City of..." -- and what a great pilot. Especially the fact that the girl freaking dies. Right away you knew two things: (1) it was gonna be dark, and (2), this wasn't storytelling by rote.

The Shanshu prophecy. The carrot on the stick for the vampire with a soul.

The "Touched" montage in "Lonely Hearts." All those beautiful, lonely people, taken in, touched, killed. I always thought this was one of the most powerful uses of pop music in the show, or any show.

Spike's hilarious rooftop commentary as Angel saves two girls far below in "In the Dark." Spike: "I'm just a big fluffy puppy with bad teeth." And "Quick! To the Angelmobile!"

Doyle's quiet, surefooted assistance as Angel eased into his new life of vampire-private-eye-superhero-dom. Glenn Quinn always brought a lovely easy grace to Doyle for me, with a natural Irish humor and soulfulness that I loved. I never stopped missing Doyle. Or Quinn (RIP).

Angel's delirious, sexy-funny-heartbreaking romp with Buffy for a single day in the sun.

Angel's mental 'party dance' (complete with cheesetastic lower-lip-biting -- Boreanaz never got enough credit as a comedian). Darla's return.

Cordelia's ghostly roommate, Phantom Dennis, consoling her with a floating box of tissues when she has a one-night stand with a guy from a bar, and ends up 9 months pregnant. (Phantom Dennis was one of my favorite characters in Angel, and I always loved the fact that we got to see him in the credits all the way through Season 5!)

Kate and Angel's hilarious touchy-feely conversation in "Sense and Sensitivity" ("Don't be a painbow!")

The worst version of "Mandy" ever sung (and how much do I love it) at Lorne's club Caritas.

Lindsey's Evil Hand.

When Angel shuts an evil, ravenous Darla and Drusilla in with the Wolfram and Hart senior partners, the Senior Partner (Holland Manners) begs for mercy, and in response Angel gives a shrug and says, "I just can't seem to care." And closes the door on them all as Darla begins to grin. Chilling.

Faith's breakdown and repentance in Angel's arms at the end of "Five by Five"

The quietly poignant conversation at the conclusion of "Are you now or have you ever been?" -- one of the best-written episodes in the show's history, and example of how "Angel" was always so much more than "a vampire show." Not that there's anything wrong with that. Heh.

The moment when Angel bites Kate in "The Shroud of Rahmon." One of the creepiest and most effective moments of the show for me, especially leading up to the last 5 minutes of the show, when we see, "Rashomon"-style, Kate's view of events

The final line of dialogue by Wolfram & Hart's Holland Manners to Angel in "Reprise": Promising to take the vampire to hell itself for a confrontation, Manners takes Angel on an endless elevator ride, with the doors opening on... present-day L.A.

Wesley's chilling transformation into stalker and killer -- and Lilah's utterly unexpected act of revenge -- in "Billy"

After her rescue from near-suicide by Angel, when Kate admits to a stunned Angel that a greater power may be on their side because, "I didn't invite you in."

The moment Darla shows up with a big pregnant belly. Vampires aren't supposed to do that!

Connor's birth -- in the rain, in the dark, as Darla's ultimate sacrifice. Gorgeous moment from Julie Benz.

Holz's arrival in L.A. I loved the fact that a vampire hunter who was essentially good and heroic had become the Season 3 villain -- it was brilliant. And I always had a little crush going on Holtz, who kind of purred all his lines in a fabulously creepy way.

Speaking of Season 3, that shocking moment when Wesley steals baby Connor to protect him from the prophecy, and Justine slits his throat (!) I died a thousand deaths until we found out if he had survived

The terrible final moments between Angel and Wesley in "Forgiving." Angel at Wesley's hospital bed, calm and collected, saying, "You know this is me, right?" Right before he tries to kill him (and I realize, because I'm slow, that Angel was asking this so that Wes knew it was Angel himself, not Angelus, his evil alter ego, doing the deed) This still kills me. The acting was just superb by both Boreanaz and Denisof.

Teenaged Connor's arrival in the Angelverse. I know many fans didn't adore Connor, but I loved him and thought he brought a downright Shakespearean slant to Angel Season 3. And Vincent Kartheiser was absolutely wonderful in the role, and he moved gorgeously, bringing a dancer's grace to his fight scenes.

Angel's heartbreaking fantasy of a happy family around a communal table even as he is trapped (undying) and slowly going insane at the bottom of the ocean (thanks to dear little Connor) in "Deep Down."

When Lorne's head is shockingly served to a queenly Cordelia in "Through the Looking Glass"

"Numfar, do the dance of shame!"

Electro-girl Gwen's gorgeous introductory episode. In fact, every episode with Gwen. I would have been thrilled with an entire show about Gwen. Can somebody make that happen?

Lilah's takeover of the top spot at Wolfram & Hart. The scene in which she neatly decapitates John Rubenstein in a conference room (not long after he deadpans for her to find her own "piece of sky" -- a very funny inside reference to Rubenstein's role in the original cast of "Pippin") is as funny as it is awful.

Angel's hilarious and affecting Indiana Jones-style fantasy in "Awakening" about a happy family at Angel investigations, leading to his new moment of 'pure happiness' for the emergence of Angelus (It's interesting and believable how much this concept of 'pure happiness' changed from an intimate moment with Buffy before, to now being something far more complex and involving Angel's whole life -- not just his love for one person)

When Cordy kills Lilah with a knife through the throat. I never saw THAT coming!

The moment we realize what Jasmine has been doing to all those worshippers who visit her alone in her room (seconded only by Connor's reaction when he finds out!)

The moment when Fred shoots Angel with the "magic bullet" so that he finally sees the truth about Jasmine

The chilling final moments of "Home," when Angel agrees to the terms set by Wolfram and Hart, and does a terrible thing in order to save Connor (as a long-ago prophecy actually comes true)

Angel's very funny jealousy of Spike (and assorted nightmares about being overlooked) in "Destiny." The image of Angel in short nerdy shirtsleeves pushing a mailcart as the office heralds the wonder of Spike has to be seen to be believed.

In "Time Bomb," when Illyria takes out the entire Angel team in fifteen incredible seconds. And smiles.

Adam Baldwin's arrival as Marcus Hamilton, the new liaison with the Senior Partners. Partly because I will always love My Bodyguard and also because Adam Baldwin just rocks. (See also: Firefly)

Spike's quiet conversation with Angel about their self-awareness of damnation, and how there is no such thing as making up for an act of murder

Spike 'haunting' Wolfram & Hart in the genuinely creepy "Hellbound"

Cordy's bittersweet and lovely return (with snark, thank God, fully intact) in "You're Welcome"

Every single delirious fabulous hysterical second of "Smile Time," when Angel is hilariously turned into an Angel puppet. But most especially the moment when the Angel Puppet actually vamps out during the big fight at the end. I will never get over the dorkalicious awesomeness of that moment. Never.

Lindsey's fabulous character arc into the light and then back into the dark -- only to ironically die in the light because the darkness was too much with him, and Angel knew it. (Poor Lorne). His outrage over his own death is all the more touching because he doesn't mind dying -- had obviously expected it at some point, in fact -- but he had always expected Angel to be the one to kill him. You could tell Lindsey's pride hurt worse than the mortal wound.

The final battles of the Angel crew with the Black Thorn, in a wonderful and demonic homage to those final scenes in "The Godfather"

In series finale "Not Fade Away," when Illyria (still in her "Fred" guise) punches through the head of the bad guy begging her to take her best shot, transforming back into Illyria even as she does so. It's not just one of the coolest shots ever, it's also the quintessential Joss Whedon moment for me, the "little girl" stronger than the evil that confronts her, stronger than they can imagine.

In that same episode, the last stand of a motley crew of vampires, demigods, and wounded humans as the wrath of Wolfram and Hart descends in an army of darkness

"If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."

Man, I miss this show.

What were your favorite moments?