The cult classic show Angel has been off our screens now for over 15 years now, but its legacy still lives on. Originally a spin-off of the sci-fi classic Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel more than grew into its own, and some argue it even surpassed its parent show in terms of popularity.
This was thanks to a great cast, with new and unique characters being introduced in every season. Fan-favorite individuals like Angel, Cordelia and Fred will be forever remembered in the hearts of fans, but there were other characters whose introduction to the series felt more like a punishment than a breath of fresh air.
Kate Lockley
When Kate first appeared in the early seasons of the show, it was clear that she had so much potential to be a great character, perhaps even become a regular cast member. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. Kate was a police officer who met Angel when they were both working the same case, although at this point, Kate remained unaware of the supernatural.
The two immediately hit it off, and Kate assisted Angel on numerous cases. Unfortunately, when her dad was killed by vampires, Kate blamed Angel, and so began their adversarial relationship. Angel took it for a while, until he didn't. Yes, Kate was grief stricken, but to hold a vendetta for almost 2 years against a former friend who had saved her life multiple times was pathetic.
Daniel Holtz
First of all, Holtz wasn't a badly written character, or even a mildly irritating one. Quite the opposite in fact. He was fiercely compelling, and had an extremely justifiable reason for wanting to ruin Angel and Darla's lives. It was the way he went about it though, that made fans hate him.
Holtz was the Big Bad for Season 3, and he wanted revenge on Angelus and Darla for them killing his family, including his infant son. However, Holtz was far crueller than anyone realized, first taking Angel's new born son into a Hell dimension, and then on his return, turning Connor against his father by framing Angel for his death.
Harmony Kendall
Bless Harmony. As endearing as she was irritating, like many characters on Angel, Harmony initially appeared on Buffy in a recurring capacity before becoming a series regular on its spin-off. Harmony was a vampire but unlike Spike and Angel, she didn't have a soul, which made things a little complicated.
She joined Angel's team at Wolfram & Hart as Angel's personal assistant, much to the distrust of everyone there. Harmony wasn't a bad character but she was basically a walking stereotype. She wasn't very bright, she was incredibly naive and she was also extremely whiney. She was fun to watch in a guest role, but as a series regular, Harmony just became a bit too much.
Merl
Merl was a demon, but he wasn't the scary, threatening kind. He was the nasally, pathetic sort of demon. Honestly, we can't really imagine what the production crew were thinking when they introduced Merl to the series, other than that it would be a wonderfully big waste of everyone's time.
Merl was a snitch, and one of Angel Investigation's sources of information. His annoying mannerisms and his god awful nasally voice meant that no one particularly took a liking to him. Plus, he occasionally betrayed Angel, who didn't take that very kindly. Merl was just a rather pointless character and the show would have been better off without him in it.
Eve
Eve was a Child of the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart, a being created to do their bidding. It stands to reason then, that Eve should be quite powerful, right? Right? Apparently not. Eve only ever appeared in her human guise and it seemed that her only supernatural power was causing increased irritation in those around her.
She served as the liaison to the Senior Partners when Angel and his team took over the Los Angeles branch of the evil law firm. However, she didn't really do much, apart from put a parasite on Angel and throw some snide comments his way. Much of her storyline involved Eve falling in love with Lindsey, which relegated her to a side character, and a stereotyped one at that.
Gavin Park
What was the point of Gavin, seriously? After Lindsey left the show, it was understandable that Lilah needed a foil at Wolfram & Hart to keep her on her toes, but to have Gavin act as that foil was utterly surreal. Angel has faced countless demons and monsters but Gavin thought he could beat him with lease violations? We all shared Lilah's derision when she heard about his scheme.
Although evil, at least Lilah and Lindsey were interesting and compelling characters who didn't immediately bow down to Angel. Whenever Gavin was interrogated, he would rather talk his mouth off than be tortured, meaning that he was also a coward. This guy really needed to get himself some principles.
Anyone From Pylea (Excluding Lorne, Of Course)
Season 2 of Angel was probably the best season of the series. It had so many interesting storylines, yet none of them felt rushed or underdone. It also featured a variety of different and unique episodes, which was refreshing to see. However, Angel very nearly squandered an entire season of good will with its last few episodes.
Angel Investigations's trip to Pylea was extremely disappointing considering the quality of the rest of the season. Quite a lot of that was down to the natives of Pylea, a bunch of human-hating bigots. Obviously, viewers were supposed to hate them, but by the time the Pylea arc was over, all our patience was wearing extremely thin.
Knox
Knox first appeared in the Season 4 finale and had a recurring role in the show's fifth and final season. Fred was his boss and the two had a close friendship due to their shared interest in science. Knox originally developed a crush on Fred, who initially didn't return his advances. However, they did go out on a few dates before Fred decided they would be better off as friends.
Unfortunately, Knox's obsession with Fred remained and, unbeknownst to anyone, he was actually a follower of Illyria. Knox chose Fred's body to host the demon, who proceeded to slowly kill Fred in front of her friends. Seeing as how Knox was directly responsible for Fred's demise, many fans were extremely glad when Wesley shot him dead.
Cordelia Chase (Possessed By Jasmine)
I wanted to start off by declaring my love for Cordelia, who is an amazing character in her own right. However, during her last season on Angel as a series regular, she was massively let down by the storyline.
In the previous season's finale, Cordelia had ascended to become a higher power but she later returned with no memory of who she was. This meant that the audience had to sit through a pointless couple of episodes in which Cordelia faffed about with Connor. Once she got her memories back, it transpired that she had been possessed by Jasmine for the entire season, which meant Cordy didn't even get a proper goodbye before she left the series.
Connor
No character has been disliked as much as Connor. Sure, he had a really rough childhood growing up in a Hell dimension, so it was only natural when he returned to the present day that he would be rather feral. What wasn't natural was his hatred and disgust for his biological father, passed down to him by Holtz.
Good characters can start off annoying and unlikeable, but then the audiences get the thrill of watching them grown and develop into a great person. Connor had none of that. He was on the series for an entire season and never evolved once. He was very self-involved but his greatest sin by far was sleeping with Cordelia. By that point, it was already too late.