Much prefer Angel and his influence on Buffy. He always pushed for her to connect with her human life, even if it was without him. He didn't want to see her inevitably destroyed by the world he's stuck in. Angel learning to be a selfless hero in his own right is also so much more positive and honoring of his relationship with Buffy than being a dependent lapdog who is selfishly keeping her in the dark. It's a shame she regressed so badly and ultimately did start to become more demon than human with little will to live, just as he feared. He wanted her to retain her humanity and to not give up her what she wanted out of life so she would have something left to live for.
Give me the speech about Angel wanting to protect Buffy's heart and being able to see her humanity (rather than the Slayer as an emotionless killing machine like they were supposed to be) any day over Spike putting her on a lofty pedestal that separates her from humanity. Making thousands more Slayers against their will didn't make her feel any less alone; it just reinforced her status as something other than human (also done against her will, which she used to have a problem with).
Angel could relate to seeing one's life and everything one had ever known change in an instant; having one's life taken away without any say in the matter. That's what he saw and empathized with when he saw her on the steps of Hemery, when she failed to stake her first vampire and when she cried as her parents' marriage collapsed before his eyes. He didn't see the oh-so-scary vampire killers of legend who are meant to strike fear into beings just like him, but rather a very sad human girl whose life would likely be painful, violent and short. Buffy was extraordinary not because she was a better Slayer, but because she refused to give up her humanity, family, friends, hopes for love, hopes for a future, etc... Buffy at the end was just a normal Slayer like all the others who gave up, had no hopes for a future and had nothing to live for.
