Dark Angel

When I typed 'Dark Angel' into google, a load of vampy, dark, wing spread angel illustrations came up. This was one of my favourites. In actual fact, I was looking for images to portray the television series starring Jessica Alba.

Lately, I have been watching the show online. When I was younger, I used to lie down on the floor in my back room and turn on channel 5 every Saturday evening. I didn't have a clue what was going on because I came across it randomly one night, but I enjoyed watching it. A few years later, it was on E4 on a Saturday and Sunday. I continued to watch the series then; but I never really watched the entire thing, up until now.

Set in the future, Dark Angel is about genetics and building the 'perfect soldier'. Our protagonist is one of those soldiers who escaped the project 'Manticore'. Max (Jessica Alba) is one of the twelve X5 who - when they were nine - escaped into the real world, hoping to find freedom, perhaps love, and a life that they could call their own. We follow Max, one of the best female warriors, also living in Seattle, Washington trying to live the most normal life she can whilst hiding from Lydecker and his men of Manticore.

She meets Logan aka 'Eyes Only' who is 'the one free voice left in this city' meaning Seattle. They embark on a professional relationship whereby he finds information about her free brothers and sisters, and she is his personal cat burglar who steals things from the government in order to right the city. Of course, this relationship is set on the trail of disaster as it is obvious that they fall in love with each other which leads to destruction at the beginning of the second season.

The fight scenes are a little lousy (you can tell that they don't make contact and the 'punch sound' is really fake), but the effects are good for the technology they had in the late 90s, early millennium. The relationships between the escaped brothers and sisters of X5 are extremely real and heartwarming which is ironic considering they are supposed to be soldiers with no feelings or emotions at all. It is sad in one episode when Max has to kill one of her brothers, Ben, so that he does not have to go back to Manticore. You can really connect to Max's character when she breaks his neck and slumps back in tears. The relationship between Max and Logan brings a comical aspect to the futuristic drama. They know their feelings for one another, yet keep it strictly professional with short anecdotes and one-liners. Lastly, the relationships between Max and her co-workers at a messenger service are funny and charming. There are connections between all of them, not including their boss Normal who Max and her friends help from time to time even though they dislike him.

'She is the shape of things to come'

A truly great watch if you want something a little bit older which is post-apocalyptic at the same time with genetic soldiers who are hard to be killed. Throw in some fight scenes, friendships, love, and saving the world from the government, and there you have Dark Angel in a nutshell.

faye xoxo