30 Day Buffy Challenge: Day Nine - Favourite Relationship

[vervet_monkey]

 I've mentioned this one before, but Buffy/Angel, hands down. It might be all tortured and painful, but bits of it are beautiful, and apparently I'm a sucker for punishment. I love to watch it all, the build up, the crash back down again and the sort of reunited before crashing AGAIN. And I love Joss's conclusion to it all, it felt right. 

Plus, pretty...




































Well that ended up longer than planned...

Day One - Favourite Season
Day Two -Favourite Song
Day Four - Favourite Female Character
Day Five - Least Favourite Female Character
Day Six - Favourite Male Character
Day Seven - Least Favourite Male Character
Day Eight - Favourite Friendship

Screencaps from Screencap Paradise

Comments

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

I'm a Buffy/Spike shipper above all other BtVS ships, but when I go back to watch S1-S3 I always get caught up in the Buffy/Angel again. It's beautifully tragic.

[vervet-monkey.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy watching Buffy/Spike, but something doesn't quite sit right, he claims to love her, but the first thing he does when he thinks his chip isn't working is hit her? It works as a story, and Buffy just finding a nice normal relationship would have felt like cheating somehow, but as a relationship it doesn't strike me as healthy.

And Buffy/Angel was the first fandom ship I ever really got invested in, so yeah, always going to be Angel.

[chloris67.livejournal.com]

Buffy/Spike isn't healthy and that's what I love about. I never got caught up in Buffy/Angel but they are certainly pretty together! Nice picspam! :D

[vervet-monkey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see how you could get caught up in it, I kinda do, just never find myself cheering for Buffy to get with him. But like I said it did fit the story really well.

They are, aren't they? Also I was watching this for the first time when I was about 12, and Angel definitely appealed to me then.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

It's a pretty messed up relationship (especially S6, when they were actually together), and certainly not one I would wish on a friend. However, it's important to remember that at that point Spike didn't have a soul. There's no conscience to get in the way of a vampire's tendency to conflate sex with violence. When Angel lost his soul, he tortured and killed people and tried to destroy the world, so in a similar state Spike was actually doing pretty good. I think much of why I prefer Buffy/Spike to Buffy/Angel can be summarized in Spike's speech to B&A in "Lover's Walk":

You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other until it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood -- blood screaming inside you to work its will.

He's right about Buffy and Angel being in love but not able to be friends. Spike and Buffy, in a weird way, WERE friends on top of being in love (for example, he's the one she told about being pulled out of heaven), and that's important to me.

I certainly understand about the pull of one's first ship. :) I can relate from my feelings about Doctor Who fandom, where I might like River Song and think her story with the Doctor is interesting, but I'm just never going to care about that relationship as passionately as I care about Doctor/Rose, because that's what I imprinted on.

[vervet-monkey.livejournal.com]

so in a similar state Spike was actually doing pretty good

A very good point! Like I said, it's a brilliant story, but there's always the back of my head pointing out the physical fighting between them, and that Buffy herself is torn over it.

Spike and Buffy, in a weird way, WERE friends on top of being in love

They were in a way that Buffy and Angel never could be, because they B/A will always want more, but can never have it. I do think that B/A can be friends as well as being in love, but not without it, because they crave it too much. So yeah, I can see your point there.

For some reason the age gap between the Doctor and Rose stopped me shipping them (I know, illogical, as it's no different to Buffy/Angel...), but then I'm not sure I really ship the Doctor with anyone. And Doomsday still makes me sad...