Angel (season 3)

After Angel mourns Buffy's death, he returns to Los Angeles and is welcomed by Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred. Wesley starts to grow into his leadership position, and develops feelings for Fred. Cordelia is attacked by Wolfram & Hart, when Lilah hires a shaman to physically manifest the visions granted to her by the Powers That Be, causing her great pain. Angel is forced to free the felon Billy from a hell dimension to save Cordelia. Billy is eventually dealt with, as his misogynistic powers threaten the females of the group, causing Wesley to halt his advances toward Fred.

In "Offspring", Darla returns to L.A. heavily pregnant with Angel's child, brought upon by their one night stand. Although vampires are supposedly unable to reproduce, the second chance Angel won for Darla allowed a child to come to term. Wesley researches the existence of such a child in ancient prophecies. As Darla comes closer to labor, people find out about the child, including Wolfram & Hart. In addition, a man from Angel's past, Daniel Holtz, is brought forth from two hundred years in the past, by the demon Sahjhan. As Angel had killed his family, Holtz seeks revenge on Angel.

As Darla enters labor, these parties assault Angel's group, who seek refuge in Lorne's club. Holtz attacks them there, intending to kill Angel and Darla. As they escape, Darla feels the child dying, and, telling Angel that the child is the only good thing they did together, stakes herself, allowing the child to be born. Holtz comes within killing range of Angel, but after seeing the baby, seemingly spares him, informing Sahjhan that he intends to truly destroy Angel.

Over the following months, Angel Investigations become a surrogate family towards the baby, who Angel names Connor. Wesley and Gunn vie for Fred's affection. After the destruction of his club, Lorne moves into the hotel. On her birthday, Cordelia falls into a coma, as her human body cannot sustain her visions. The demon Skip makes her half-demon, to better sustain the visions, which cease to cause her pain. After a night fraught with sexual energy, the gang finds that the Groosalugg has left Pylea to find Cordelia, who he loves. Angel sends the two away on a holiday. Meanwhile, Fred chooses Gunn as her suitor, leaving Wesley devastated.

While researching the ancient prophecies, Wesley finds passages that imply Angel will eventually kill Connor. Meanwhile, Holtz has been raising an army of vampire hunters, such as Justine Cooper. Wesley meets with Holtz and learns that he plans to assault Angel Investigations, although Holtz tells Wesley to take Connor and go. Fearing for Connor's safety, Wesley takes him away in secrecy, but is ambushed by Justine who slits his throat and steals Connor. Holtz attempts to flee with Justine and Connor, but is ambushed by Angel and Wolfram & Hart. The standoff is joined by Sahjhan, who opens a portal to the hell dimension Quor'toth. In the ensuing chaos, Holtz jumps into the portal, which disappears before Angel can follow.

Angel is left emotionally shattered, and attempts to kill Wesley. He fails to do so, but banishes Wesley on threat of death. When Cordelia returns from holiday, the group begin to rebuild their lives, Wesley is approached by Lilah, who he begins to form a relationship with, although he refuses to join Wolfram and Hart.

After the Hyperion Hotel is infested by inter-dimensional demons, a portal to the Quor'toth is created through which Connor returns. As time flows differently in Quor'toth, he is now sixteen years old, having returned to kill Angel for what he did to Holtz' family. He fails to do so, and the two eventually begin bonding. Holtz, having also returned, is confronted by Angel, and seemingly makes peace with him, claiming that he will leave and instruct Connor to be with Angel. However, this is a ruse, as he has Justine kill him and frame Angel for the deed.

An enraged Connor infiltrates Angel Investigations, and seemingly bonds with them. Cordelia is again approached by Skip, who tells her that she has been called to a Higher Plane, which she reluctantly accepts. Meanwhile, Connor separates Angel from his group, and incapacitates him. With the help of Justine, he traps Angel in the bottom of the ocean. The season ends as Fred and Gunn, the only remaining members of the group, wonder where everyone has gone.

Series creators Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt served as executive producers, while Greenwalt would serve as the series' showrunner as Whedon was running Buffy and developing his new series, Firefly. Whedon wrote and directed one episode during the season; "Waiting in the Wings". Greenwalt wrote four of the season's episodes and directed two, the premiere and the finale. Tim Minear was promoted to executive producer midseason and wrote and/or directed six episodes of the season including important, Connor-centric episodes such as "Lullaby", "A New World" and "Benediction". Buffy writer/producer Marti Noxon served as consulting producer for her final season on Angel, as she was also running Buffy since she was promoted to executive producer. Buffy writer David Fury wrote one freelance episode, and he officially joined the writing staff in the following season.

The only other returning writer was Mere Smith, who was promoted to story editor. New additions included Jeffrey Bell, who wrote and/or co-wrote six episodes during the season, and served as co-producer, then promoted to producer midseason. Scott Murphy was hired as story editor, although he only wrote two episodes in the first half of the season. Buffy script coordinator David H. Goodman was hired to write two freelance episodes.[1]

This was the last season in which both David Greenwalt and Tim Minear served as full-time writer-producers, as Minear left to help develop Whedon's new series, Firefly and Greenwalt left as his contract with Fox was up. They both served as consulting producers for subsequent seasons.

Writer Tim Minear directed the highest number of episodes in the third season, directing four episodes.

The third season was nominated for three Saturn Awards – Best Network Television Series, Best Actor on Television (David Boreanaz) and Female Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award (Amy Acker). The episode "Waiting in the Wings" was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.[3]

The Futon Critic named "Billy" the 36th best episode of 2001[4] and "That Vision Thing" the 14th best episode of 2001.[5]

The third season averaged 4.4 million viewers, slightly lower than the sixth season of Buffy.[6]

Angel: The Complete Third Season was released on DVD in region 1 on February 10, 2004[7] and in region 2 on March 3, 2003.[8] The DVD includes all 22 episodes on 6 discs presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Special features on the DVD include three commentary tracks—"Billy" by writers Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell; "Lullaby" by writer/director Tim Minear and Mere Smith; and "Waiting in the Wings" by writer/director Joss Whedon. There are two sets of deleted scenes, for "Birthday" with commentary by Tim Minear and Mere Smith and "Waiting in the Wings" with commentary by Joss Whedon. Featurettes include, "Darla: Deliver Us From Evil", a featurette on the character of Darla with interviews with actress Julie Benz; "Page to Screen" which details the process from the script to the completed episode; and "Season 3 Overview" is a summary of the season featuring interviews with cast and crew members. Also included are screen tests for Amy Acker and Vincent Kartheiser, series outtakes, and photo galleries.[9]

• Angel – list of episodes at IMDb
• List of Angel season 3 episodes at TV.com