My observation is that much of the things that occured in Season 5 were due to the push from the WB to change the show in order increase the audience. I don't believe that Spike would have been a main character if the WB had not pushed it, rather I believe he would have been a reaccuring character used at some point to show Angel's confliction. As for the whole Angel taking over Wolfram and Hart, I don't believe the Angel from Season 1 or 2 would have ever cocidered it. Yeah I realized Angel has changed in the past few season's but not that much, even in trying to save Conner he would have found a better way. Again I believe the change was to reduce the expense and make it more audience friendly. I think the first part of the season was spent trying to explain all the changes they had to make in the show including finding a place for Spike. So for the most part I found Season 5 lacking in many ways. It was not until the episode "Welcome Home" that I really began to enjoy the show again and it appeared that the writers were back on track. Having said this, I still loved the show and the actors were terrific as always. James Marsters is a wonderful actor and I had concerns that his character would over shadow Angel but in my opinion David Boreanaz and the writers held their own. The show continued to be about Angel and his crew.