People always say Angel was Buffy's first love which is why it can't last, but Angel is the biggest love because it was the first. That's just bullshit. It implies that Spuffy has better chances of lasting because it's not the first love
I've said this before, but I guess it bears repeating.
Angel is the first great love of Buffy's life. That in no way belittles the relationship, and there is most certainly no way to deny its importance in Buffy's life. But the most important thing about that first love is that, without it, Buffy could never have a second love, or a third, or a fiftieth love, and each and every one of those loves will be compared to that first love. That is its significance. Trying to make Bangel the only significant relationship that either Buffy or Angel have belittles and limits both characters.
The story of Buffy and Angel in the first three Seasons of the show is a perfect Harlequin Romance, but neither character should be expected to cling to those three years to the point of denying any chance at happiness that might come later.
Let's be honest. When Buffy and Angel consummate their love, the only result is tragic, either on a personal level, or to the point of threatening the entire human race. That's a tragedy, but, in the Buffyverse, it's also an apparent fact of Nature. Happy Bangel just ain't never gonna happen.
And before anyone says that this is some kind of pro-Spuffy rant, guess again. I don't think that Spuffy is any less doomed as a relationship than Bangel is. Joss simply can't, or won't, write a "happily ever after" story line.
