The vampire has been recovered from the ocean depths like so much salvage, the green demon has gone to Vegas and Cordy's gone to heaven - and found it boring as hell. Yes, it is hard to convince the uninitiated (and scornful) of the appeal of shows like Buffy and its spawn, Angel. It might be even tougher in this fourth season unless the group dynamics that made Angel such fun are restored soon. Fragmentation is clearly the name of the game for now, with Wesley going solo, Connor sleeping rough and Fred and Gunn struggling to keep it all (and us) together. Perhaps the cohesion we all crave will come from a new character who adds electricity, but only by taking the show into comic-book territory. Like an X-men mutant, Gwen's "talent" has made her one of society's outsiders - and cranky about it, too. Angel encounters her during his quest for an artefact that may help him locate Cordelia and the sparks certainly fly between them, adding some of the URST that necessarily diminishes when your loved one is an inaccessible Higher Being. Gwen's arrival signals a change in direction, but not as much as a more obvious cue: Angel staying unvampy for the whole show.

Annmaree Bellman