I sort of recall reading this before but obviously I would not have had all the context at the time. *thumbs up* :)
It's interesting to me because season five of AtS is where I first met Spike, and now watching it again, after all the rest of both shows, where it's "meant" to be, I'm wondering how much of my generalized dissatisfaction with Spike on BtVS is my sense that he *doesn't* really belong on that show. Could well be. And I love S5 of AtS for being the culmination of everything that came before? I love Spike's development on BtVS, but when I look at him, those years are just a part of his whole life, which ultimately fits into the overall narrative set by Angel. Buffy is about growing up, Angel is about family. Completely different focus. And Spike was introduced, from the bat, as family.
As you note (did you? I've been meta surfing and it's all starting to run together), he fits much better on AtS than he ever did on Buffy, despite the fact that him being on AtS (on a story level) is all about Angel (and him being on BtVS, on a Watsonian level, is all about Buffy). Also, I am so much happier with where he ends up on AtS than with leaving him with the "Chosen" ending. I feel like Chosen was a good *character* moment for Spike, but as a story I feel like it fit the narrative of BtVS better than it fit Spike, if that makes sense? Oh it makes PERFECT sense, and this is an argument I've tried formulate numerous times when people argue that he should have stayed dead because it was a much more 'fitting' ending. But much like I wouldn't have wanted Buffy to stay dead (no matter how neat and symbolic her ending), so I don't want my stories tied up with a neat ribbon... The fight always goes on.
But then, AtS just gets my vote all over for taking a hockey stick to the shins of the hero narrative and leaving it on its back, wondering what happened. Indeed. And here is shadowkat67's post where she talks about redemption stories and why some work and others don't. You'll like it.
I'm feeling like AtS really could have used either Spike or Faith as a full-time character for most of its run? Either could have fit in well and would have given the team a bit more leavening. I do generally like the whole Angel team, but they often need a little . . . something. Shadowkat actually touches on this in her post and I think the problem is that too often the sidekicks become enablers. Take Ten for example. There's all this talk about how 'he needs Companions', but most of the time the Companions are just enablers. (Adelaide apart, but then she's not a Companion.) This is actually my problem with Wilf - he's a HUGE enabler. Sure he points out a truth or two, but he does it within a framework of enabling. Compare and contrast with River in AGMGTW, who manages to be loving and yet at the same time call the Doctor on his behaviour. Which is (again) Spike's role, and could have been Faith's. Maybe. Faith might come at it from a different angle, in that she'd be out to save Angel.
But then, I have this generalized desire to reel every outlier character from BtVS over onto Angel: Foster's Home for Sunnydale Rejects. Faith on AtS! Anya on AtS! Dawn on AtS! LOL. Well I've written Anya on AtS, and I'm sure Dawn could be added. :) (Dawn was supposed to have been in TGiQ, but the actress couldn't make it, so they had to use Andrew instead.)
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:)
It's interesting to me because season five of AtS is where I first met Spike, and now watching it again, after all the rest of both shows, where it's "meant" to be, I'm wondering how much of my generalized dissatisfaction with Spike on BtVS is my sense that he *doesn't* really belong on that show.
Could well be. And I love S5 of AtS for being the culmination of everything that came before? I love Spike's development on BtVS, but when I look at him, those years are just a part of his whole life, which ultimately fits into the overall narrative set by Angel. Buffy is about growing up, Angel is about family. Completely different focus. And Spike was introduced, from the bat, as family.
As you note (did you? I've been meta surfing and it's all starting to run together), he fits much better on AtS than he ever did on Buffy, despite the fact that him being on AtS (on a story level) is all about Angel (and him being on BtVS, on a Watsonian level, is all about Buffy). Also, I am so much happier with where he ends up on AtS than with leaving him with the "Chosen" ending. I feel like Chosen was a good *character* moment for Spike, but as a story I feel like it fit the narrative of BtVS better than it fit Spike, if that makes sense?
Oh it makes PERFECT sense, and this is an argument I've tried formulate numerous times when people argue that he should have stayed dead because it was a much more 'fitting' ending. But much like I wouldn't have wanted Buffy to stay dead (no matter how neat and symbolic her ending), so I don't want my stories tied up with a neat ribbon... The fight always goes on.
But then, AtS just gets my vote all over for taking a hockey stick to the shins of the hero narrative and leaving it on its back, wondering what happened.
Indeed. And here is
I'm feeling like AtS really could have used either Spike or Faith as a full-time character for most of its run? Either could have fit in well and would have given the team a bit more leavening. I do generally like the whole Angel team, but they often need a little . . . something.
Shadowkat actually touches on this in her post and I think the problem is that too often the sidekicks become enablers. Take Ten for example. There's all this talk about how 'he needs Companions', but most of the time the Companions are just enablers. (Adelaide apart, but then she's not a Companion.) This is actually my problem with Wilf - he's a HUGE enabler. Sure he points out a truth or two, but he does it within a framework of enabling. Compare and contrast with River in AGMGTW, who manages to be loving and yet at the same time call the Doctor on his behaviour. Which is (again) Spike's role, and could have been Faith's. Maybe. Faith might come at it from a different angle, in that she'd be out to save Angel.
But then, I have this generalized desire to reel every outlier character from BtVS over onto Angel: Foster's Home for Sunnydale Rejects. Faith on AtS! Anya on AtS! Dawn on AtS!
LOL. Well I've written Anya on AtS, and I'm sure Dawn could be added. :) (Dawn was supposed to have been in TGiQ, but the actress couldn't make it, so they had to use Andrew instead.)