Why does always seem like a choice has to be made between Spike or Angel?
I keep banging my head on the idea that you can only chose one or the other - Angel or Spike. But that's the message that keeps popping up here. If you say something nice about Spike, then you must be down on Angel. If you say something bad about Angel the you must be a Spike fan. If you say something nice about Angel, then you must be down on Spike If you say something bad about Spike the you must be a Angel fan fan.
I started as a rabid Spike fan - my first time through I was mesmerized by his arc and Marsters performance. So I sat down and rewatched the show trying to figure out how the hell that was done and taking copious notes.. (Not really creepy - I'm an author, so I do that when something really works for me. Market research.) I ended up still a Spike fan, but with a more realistic image of all the show, the characters, lessons and dynamics. I still love Spike - he's original. He has obnoxious down to an art form, and he doesn't care if you like him...except when he does. He likes to be underestimated - and he can screw up big time. He is weirdly honest at times and effectively manipulative in others. He is alert and savvy enough to be able to break the Scooby gang down in one afternoon. He's mercurial and he likes it that way - he's full of contradictions.
I also watched AtS twice - found that I loved it...and I had a new appreciation, affection - yeah, I fell for Angel. He's got those subtle and not so subtle mannerisms on the surface and he's wrestling against the darkness in himself so strongly below the surface. Yeah, he like to believe he's in charge, and he is the one in charge. He carries the heavy burdens, and each time he falters he gets back up. He wants to atone more than he wants redemption - he is in it for the right reasons. He's not only out there helping, at the start he's also learning how to live and work with humans - how to connect - a skill he has never needed. He's learning who he can be on his own. I love the moody, the angst, the wicked sense very dry humor, the mistakes, pain, strength. There's someone still young and unsure inside, and that's tough to play. Boreanaz really grew as actor - and I think it bears the best fruit during Angel.
Between them there's over a hundred years of knowing each other no matter how often or seldom they meet. There is Darla, and Dru, and a shared history. They're all relatives in the sense that they know each other much more deeply than anyone else can know them.
So it's never an either/or choice to to me. Saying Angel did something bad doesn't mean I am comparing him to Spike. nor does it make Spike better than Angel. It not an owie or a hero contest. I tend to support Spike here on the board since he's the one more often attacked, but defending him is not attacking Angel. When I talk about believing that the two are seldom judged by the same yardstick, I am not saying one is better than the other. I like their shiny spots and their warty spots.I do ship them together but I also love them apart. Bangels and Spuffies have some bad blood between them, yeah. But I don't see Buffy as a trophy and I don't care who or if she chooses. There are reasons to dislike actions and choices both of them make. So why does comparing the two seem like it always has to have a winner?
