It's probably worth keeping in mind that Whedon was really only peripherally involved in most of Angel. The series was really, Tim Minear and David Greenwalt's baby. When they left, they hired Jeff Bell to take over the reigns.
Whedon acted more as an executive producer.
M-hm. The problem of course being that Scott Allie is no Greenwalt...

I think Whedon wrote Angel as a metaphor, then never quite made it past the metaphor.
Like I said somewhere else - it's a bit like Twilight.

And you see Minear saw Angel as more complex than Whedon did. I'm not saying Minear is a better writer, just that he was more comfortable, as was Greenwalt, in that specific genre.
I just wish Joss would leave it all well alone. :(