Angel vs. Spike

Obviously, the ultimate question of the Buffy series. Or not -- I mean, there's the whole saving the world (again), sharing power, not being alone anymore thing. Maybe the ultimate question is supposed to be "what happens next?" But right now, just after finishing all 7 seasons of Buffy, I'm all about Angel and/or Spike.

I've mentioned in my previous post that in Buffy, we didn't actually see enough of Angel (pre-Angelus revival). Sure, I was attracted to his mysteriousness and his brooding, but we weren't let in on his character. Not that Spike did any better in the earlier seasons, especially since he wasn't supposed to last too long in the show.

After Angel branched out to Angel and Spike became a more permanent fixture in Buffy, things got more interesting. We get to see who Angel(us) is and how much he's willing to give to help the helpless. We also get to see how adorable Spike is when he's in love with Buffy. Spike is definitely the breakout character in the universe, so if we're just talking about character development, Spike is the runaway winner. However, I'm very interested in the fact that pre-chip, soulless Spike is very tame compared to Angelus; this makes me think that character-wise, we can dig much deeper into Angel(us).

We can't really compare their relationships with Buffy, since it was more about Buffy growing up than Angel or Spike themselves. Angel's relationship was all about romance. It was both of their first loves. It was very romantic and innocent -- well up until Angel achieved that moment of true happiness and lost his soul and turned evil and tried to kill everyone. Spike's relationship was definitely not about innocence or romance. It was physical and maybe even a little toxic to both of them. Buffy admitted it herself, she was using him. Not that he minded.

Tall, dark, and forehead.

I have to say, I was very disappointed of how small Angel's part was in the final battle. I expected him to stick around until the end, but Buffy had to kick him back out to Los Angeles. I would have loved to see an Angel and Spike scene (or, even better, multiple scenes) with Buffy caught in the middle of it all. I absolutely loved it that the hundreds of years old vampires turned into jealous preteens; they're just so adorable. Both of these relationships were given a great ending, in my opinion. Sure we don't know what happens to Buffy next (except for the comic books -- I should look into it after I'm done with Angel), but it was just so them, the way it ended: Angel telling Buffy that he'd wait until she's ready, and Spike telling Buffy that he knows she doesn't love him, and still thanked her for saying so.

So, Angel or Spike? I really can't choose. I agree with Buffy. Have them wrestle it out, with oil of some kind involved. I'm sure there are fanfictions on this...right? (To Google I go!)