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I was surprised to realize, when I heard there wouldn't be a new Angel ep until January, that I was really, really disappointed at not being able to see new Spike until then. Or new Angel, or new Wes... or even new Knox. Because, really, I didn't want Spike to go on Angel.
I'd wanted Spike's sacrifice to be more significant, not something easily rectified. Wanted his ending to be more heroically conventional, I suppose, even for a guy who was never conventional, heroic or evil. Mostly, I wanted the ending to my Spike-and-Buffy-together love to... well, end, rather than continue on in a way that made me miserable, where they were not together and Spike was forgotten or discarded. Especially because of ME's tendency to make a mockery of everything that Buffy and Spike were, so that we'd be reminded their relationship was never good enough. When I heard he was going to be on Angel, I cringed. I mean, I was happy to be able to see him, but... it wasn't what I'd wanted.
Even this whole first part of the season, while I've loved the show and the development of the new Angel and crew, I've wondered if this was any better, if it was necessary. I'd liked Angel as a show enough before that I didn't need Spike for comic relief, really. The character of Spike has changed a lot from what I loved initially. Sometimes I don't mind that, sometimes it hasn't sat too well. And I've had a hard time with JM's aging (because I'm so hung up on that vampires are immortal thing), so I kept thinking that seeing him on the show week in and out would be a bad thing -- not only was there a great deal more potential for ongoing character destruction, but I'd have to worry about the age thing as well.
Yet I'm enjoying having my weekly Spike fix. And the fact that it comes with a fix of Angel and Wes is icing on a really wonderful cake (and cake is always, always good). Suddenly I'm without a weekly new Spike fix, and I'm all "hey, wait a minute! This is boring!" Color me surprised at my own surprise. I can't say I'll always like what they do with him, and I know this won't go in a direction I probably will be happy with ultimately, but his continuing presence means I not only get to ogle the cheekbones of heaven, but find new stories for fanfic, get new background to develop, and even get more footage for vids. Yay for that. And I've been in fandom long enough to know that continuing series and characters have much more fan involvement than once they're gone, so... there's more likelihood of vids to watch and stories to read.
I especially liked Spike's confidence during this last new go-round, his assumption that he will see Buffy again and that they'll be together. This is the hopelessly romantic pragmatist that I fell in love with, this guy who has a melodramatic streak a mile wide while still having a kind of... almost vatic understanding of his purpose and who he is, for good or bad. He's still the model of conflicting personality traits within one character, and god love him for that.
So December's going to be a long month. Thank goodness for the season 5 Buffy discs, the Firefly discs, and the two new Hornblower movies (not to mention repeated viewings of The Two Towers and at last, Return of the King!). Now that I've grown accustomed to Spike's face again, I don't want it missing from my weekly TV viewing.
I'd wanted Spike's sacrifice to be more significant, not something easily rectified. Wanted his ending to be more heroically conventional, I suppose, even for a guy who was never conventional, heroic or evil. Mostly, I wanted the ending to my Spike-and-Buffy-together love to... well, end, rather than continue on in a way that made me miserable, where they were not together and Spike was forgotten or discarded. Especially because of ME's tendency to make a mockery of everything that Buffy and Spike were, so that we'd be reminded their relationship was never good enough. When I heard he was going to be on Angel, I cringed. I mean, I was happy to be able to see him, but... it wasn't what I'd wanted.
Even this whole first part of the season, while I've loved the show and the development of the new Angel and crew, I've wondered if this was any better, if it was necessary. I'd liked Angel as a show enough before that I didn't need Spike for comic relief, really. The character of Spike has changed a lot from what I loved initially. Sometimes I don't mind that, sometimes it hasn't sat too well. And I've had a hard time with JM's aging (because I'm so hung up on that vampires are immortal thing), so I kept thinking that seeing him on the show week in and out would be a bad thing -- not only was there a great deal more potential for ongoing character destruction, but I'd have to worry about the age thing as well.
Yet I'm enjoying having my weekly Spike fix. And the fact that it comes with a fix of Angel and Wes is icing on a really wonderful cake (and cake is always, always good). Suddenly I'm without a weekly new Spike fix, and I'm all "hey, wait a minute! This is boring!" Color me surprised at my own surprise. I can't say I'll always like what they do with him, and I know this won't go in a direction I probably will be happy with ultimately, but his continuing presence means I not only get to ogle the cheekbones of heaven, but find new stories for fanfic, get new background to develop, and even get more footage for vids. Yay for that. And I've been in fandom long enough to know that continuing series and characters have much more fan involvement than once they're gone, so... there's more likelihood of vids to watch and stories to read.
I especially liked Spike's confidence during this last new go-round, his assumption that he will see Buffy again and that they'll be together. This is the hopelessly romantic pragmatist that I fell in love with, this guy who has a melodramatic streak a mile wide while still having a kind of... almost vatic understanding of his purpose and who he is, for good or bad. He's still the model of conflicting personality traits within one character, and god love him for that.
So December's going to be a long month. Thank goodness for the season 5 Buffy discs, the Firefly discs, and the two new Hornblower movies (not to mention repeated viewings of The Two Towers and at last, Return of the King!). Now that I've grown accustomed to Spike's face again, I don't want it missing from my weekly TV viewing.
