I love this post! I've gone back and forth on season 8, sometimes loving it and being optimistic,, sometimes being quite pessimistic. The Angel reveal has me back to hopeful because I am *exactly* where you are on Angel.
I very much understand your fear that if Spike shows up in season 8, it will be as a villain. Maybe I'm perverse, but even that would be better to me than any implication that we can tell Buffy's ongoing story without making any reference to teh guy at all. Though probably if it actually happened, I'd melt down into a puddle of abject misery. I continue to harbor hopes, though, that Spike would show up NOT as a villain.
I probably place entirely too much weight on it, but Joss has said that Spike is more evolved than Angel and that Angel is the one who has the big struggle with darkness within. The only way I see Spike getting dragged down is if his sense of loyalty and lack of confidence in his own judgment cause him to trust Angel's judgment. That did happen in NFA and that's the only way I can see Spike going evil again -- by following Angel down the road to hell. Meanwhile, I think there's a live possibility that Buffy and many fans's long-standing assumption that Angel is the true hero and Spike is at best playing catch up could get upended in this season. And I think I carry on because if that actually does happen, I want to be right there when it does.
no subject
I very much understand your fear that if Spike shows up in season 8, it will be as a villain. Maybe I'm perverse, but even that would be better to me than any implication that we can tell Buffy's ongoing story without making any reference to teh guy at all. Though probably if it actually happened, I'd melt down into a puddle of abject misery. I continue to harbor hopes, though, that Spike would show up NOT as a villain.
I probably place entirely too much weight on it, but Joss has said that Spike is more evolved than Angel and that Angel is the one who has the big struggle with darkness within. The only way I see Spike getting dragged down is if his sense of loyalty and lack of confidence in his own judgment cause him to trust Angel's judgment. That did happen in NFA and that's the only way I can see Spike going evil again -- by following Angel down the road to hell. Meanwhile, I think there's a live possibility that Buffy and many fans's long-standing assumption that Angel is the true hero and Spike is at best playing catch up could get upended in this season. And I think I carry on because if that actually does happen, I want to be right there when it does.
Is it OK if I friend you?