Yeah, you're right about in The Zeppo. But again, the dynamic isn't the same as a relationship, IMO. I can't hold that against her any more than I can hold 'The Lie' against him.
Same as in End of Days, while it's clear that Buffy only trusted Xander with Dawn, her major reason for him to leave was so he won't get hurt "This place isn't for either of you"
I think you might be defeating your own argument in that one. If he's so damned loyal except when he disagrees...that means he agreed with her not to be there, right? There was no subterfuge there. Heck, he called her on it.
How about when she broke up with Spike in As You Were?
That's not the same situation, either. Buffy totally takes the blame for everything, doesn't even hold the eggs against him. There's no 'for your own good' or anything of the sort, she says she's doing it for herself. She willingly takes the bad guy role, wholly deserved or not. If Angel had stated that he was leaving her for things *she* couldn't give him, I would've thought more of it. But he basically says everything she's willing to give up to be with him isn't enough, and that irks me to no end.
Well, I wouldn't call her actions on AtS childish so much as human. After all, if he'd have come back and found Buffy and Wesley snuggling up after the Connor incident, I doubt he'd have responded all that well, either. My argument isn't that Buffy didn't act badly/naive sometimes, it's just that he's not any better. And yet he claims to be more capable of making decisions regarding them than she is. *That's* my principle issue with the relationship.
his possessive attitude in AtS season five. Before that, I thought he was a decent guy.
Yeah, but that possessive attitude was always there. Well, except when he was with her. He only seems to act like that when she's with someone else, Yoko Factor, as you exampled. Again, shades of Dru.
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Same as in End of Days, while it's clear that Buffy only trusted Xander with Dawn, her major reason for him to leave was so he won't get hurt "This place isn't for either of you"
I think you might be defeating your own argument in that one. If he's so damned loyal except when he disagrees...that means he agreed with her not to be there, right? There was no subterfuge there. Heck, he called her on it.
How about when she broke up with Spike in As You Were?
That's not the same situation, either. Buffy totally takes the blame for everything, doesn't even hold the eggs against him. There's no 'for your own good' or anything of the sort, she says she's doing it for herself. She willingly takes the bad guy role, wholly deserved or not. If Angel had stated that he was leaving her for things *she* couldn't give him, I would've thought more of it. But he basically says everything she's willing to give up to be with him isn't enough, and that irks me to no end.
Well, I wouldn't call her actions on AtS childish so much as human. After all, if he'd have come back and found Buffy and Wesley snuggling up after the Connor incident, I doubt he'd have responded all that well, either. My argument isn't that Buffy didn't act badly/naive sometimes, it's just that he's not any better. And yet he claims to be more capable of making decisions regarding them than she is. *That's* my principle issue with the relationship.
his possessive attitude in AtS season five. Before that, I thought he was a decent guy.
Yeah, but that possessive attitude was always there. Well, except when he was with her. He only seems to act like that when she's with someone else, Yoko Factor, as you exampled. Again, shades of Dru.