Angel's character has been through so many phases. Where is he at now?
To answer that question, you have to look a little bit where he’s come from. I’m fond of saying - although the network doesn’t like it - that he’s the oldest twenty-something ever on television.
Because he’s a vampire, he’s been around for 251 years and he’s done every horrible thing you can imagine, and then was cursed with a soul a little over a hundred years ago. It’s a metaphor for being cursed with a conscience, for being cursed with "Oh my god I remember all the terrible things I’ve ever done".
So he’s on a road to redemption, he really wants to make up for his horrible past. He’d have to live 500 years to really do it so it’s a one day at a time thing.
He came to Los Angeles in the first year of our show and hung out a shingle, basically saying "I’m here to do good, hopefully the universe will tell me what I’m supposed to do". He originally had a sidekick named Doyle who got these terrible visions of people in trouble and then Angel would go and help these people. Eventually Doyle sacrificed himself in a very heroic episode and these visions were passed on to Cordelia.