Angel's Pitiful Love Life

[white avenger]

If Angel's love life is deemed "putiful" because all of his relationships have ended, then every character - bar Oz - must be deemed to have "pitiful" love lives too, as they have exactly the same experiences as Angel has in that department i.e. all their relationships ended too. When it comes to love lost, he certainly is not exceptional among this group of characters.

My point precisely. Joss for some reason abhors a stable, loving, long term relationship the way Nature abhors a vacuum. All of his characters have pitiful love lives.

Angel's is just the most pitiful of them all, because it's happened to him the most often.

 

[Kean]

Angel's is just the most pitiful of them all, because it's happened to him the most often.

Well, not quite.

Angel's tally is four (Darla, Buffy, Cordy, Nina). Buffy has the same number, as does Willow. Xander is currently at five (with the possibility for six).

But this is such an arbitrary manner by which to determine whose love life is the "worst." For instance, Wesley's tally is four, but that doesn't account for the truly appalling way in which he lost the love of his life. Or Cordy, whose tally is four but is tragic in a much deeper way as she twice missed the chance to see what her love could have become.

Mere numbers are not a true expression of what these characters experienced in love.

 

[Kairos]

Also, Angel's been around for a longer span of episodes than any other character, and he's significantly older than most other characters - he has more story and more background, so of course he's going to have more failed romance.

I think the heart of this debate is that your standards for 'pitiful' are rather unclear, @whiteavenger.

 

[white avenger]

Well, not quite.

Angel's tally is four (Darla, Buffy, Cordy, Nina). Buffy has the same number, as does Willow. Xander is currently at five (with the possibility for six).

You forgot Gwen Raiden, the only girl in the entire series to make Angel's heart go "pitty pat" with just a single kiss.

Eve was just a one night stand, but you could tell that she broke poor Angel's heart. Then she threw him over for Lindsey, of all people. Cruel

And Hamilton. "Not gonna happen any time soon." A pure tease if there ever was one

Okay, seriously, now.

Buffy had two boyfriends, a one night stand, and one dirty little secret (Sorry, Riley, the truth sometimes hurts)

Willow had one boyfriend, one girlfriend, and one disaster.

Xander has had two girlfriends, a one night stand, and whatever Dawn eventually turns out to be (or are we counting the mantis lady, the mummy girl, the witch from Season 7, that fantasy about Joyce, and Dru coming on to him that one time?)

Angel's score is one girlfriend, sleeping with whom caused him to lose his soul, try to destroy the world, and spend a century in hell, one old (REALLY old) flame who was dying of syphilis, who gave him a son who grew up hating and wanting to kill him, one girlfriend who couldn't remember whether or not they were ever in love, but wound up sleeping with his son and giving HIM a daughter who almost destroyed the world, a one night stand with his liaison with an evil law firm, and a one night stand with a lady werewolf, after which he sent LA, people, buildings, dogs, and amusement parks to hell. Then he returned from his second trip to hell, raised an army to defeat his old girlfriend and her army of Slayers, kills a few thousand people, and winds up separated from her by the combined width of a continent and an ocean, trying to do something that is probably going to upset that girlfriend enough to make her send him on Trip Number 3 to hell.

I would say that Angel's love life, along with all of its complications and consequences, still qualifies as "pitiful," if not downright disastrous.

This is becoming more fun than Spuffy vs Bangel

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Well, in all seriousness, the Bad Relationships Award has to go to Buffy. I mean, come on: her first boyfriend ended up gay, Riley cheated on her with vampire whores, Angel left her, and Spike died.

I mean, really. Poor Buffy.

I would say that Angel's love life, along with all of its complications and consequences, still qualifies as "pitiful," if not downright disastrous.

Angel even admits that his love life is pathetic, or something along those lines, when he's discussing his interest in Cordelia with Lorne.

 

[Kean]

What about Joyce? Her husband cheats on her, she gets divorced. The next guy she is with turns out to be a wife killing robot. Then she has really great, but ultimately really awkward sex with Giles, all to be topped off with finding a guy who appeared to be nice and normal, only to die on her own couch after the first date.

Harsh.

 

[white avenger]

What about Joyce? Her husband cheats on her, she gets divorced. The next guy she is with turns out to be a wife killing robot. Then she has really great, but ultimately really awkward sex with Giles, all to be topped off with finding a guy who appeared to be nice and normal, only to die on her own couch after the first date.

Harsh.

You completely forgot about inviting the Prince Of Darkness in for coffee. I mean, granted, the guy didn't look much like Bela Lugosi, but the accent, strange clothes, and pallor should have been a dead giveaway.