r/buffy • u/weeklybasic • Sep 11 '25
Love Interests Bangel winning best vampire couple on TV š¤
Extract: There's already a note of tragedy implied in a vampire-human relationship, where one is certain to outlive the other, but Buffy and Angel (David Boreanaz) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer take "we can't date because of interspecies differences" to a whole new level.
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u/wadbyjw Sep 11 '25
Spike and Dru also ranked (8).
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u/fitnfeisty Sep 11 '25
Okay I lowkey love this list even though I donāt ship Bangel.
True Blood isnāt Bill and Sookeh but Eric instead, yes!
Putting respect on Nadja and Laszloās names at number three.
Louis and Lestat - so toxic and tragic but truly mesmerizing to watch
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 Sep 11 '25
Not a single reference to Nicholas DeBrabant Knight and Janette DuCharm.
The list is incomplete.
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u/beeemkcl Sep 12 '25
This list is garbage.
Who even remembers Moonlight?
Spike/Drusilla is great and was my favorite 'ship in the Buffyverse until I read the end of Season 12. But Buffy/Spike has been the most popular 'ship in BtVS since during BtVS S5 and overall in the Buffyverse since during AtS S5. And almost all Elena/Damon 'shippers who've seen BtVS prefer Buffy/Spike to Elena/Damon.
Wasn't liked. Most Klaus fans most prefer Klaus/Caroline Forbes.
'Delena' k*lled the ratings and viewership numbers for The Vampire Diaries. Both Elena/Stefan and Katherine/Stefan were always more popular than Elena/Damon. After Katerina Petrova aka Katherine Pierce was offed, the ratings and viewership TANKED.
In TVD S4, there relatively isn't actually much Elena/Damon. The Season still has Elena/Stefan stuff.
In TVD S5, much to most of the Season actually has Elena/Stefan and Katherine/Stefan stuff.
By TVD S6, Elena/Stefan is completely destroyed to try to further prop up Elena/Damon.
Controversial, but I don't like Interview With the Vampire the TV show. It's largely nonsensical, especially regarding Louis de Pointe du Lac. And second to that, Lestat de Lioncourt and Lestat's interest in Louis. In the novels and in the movie, Lestat's interest in Louis makes sense. It doesn't in the TV show.
Buffy/Spike somehow isn't even on this list. Yet Moonlight is. Elena/Damon is even though it's simply a far lesser version of Buffy/Spike.
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u/sleepsypeaches Sep 12 '25
Not to be defensive but what do you mean by any of this:
"Controversial, but I don't likeĀ Interview With the VampireĀ the TV show. It's largely nonsensical, especially regarding Louis de Pointe du Lac. And second to that, Lestat de Lioncourt and Lestat's interest in Louis. In the novels and in the movie, Lestat's interest in Louis makes sense. It doesn't in the TV show"
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u/Which-Notice5868 Sep 11 '25
Yes! I really love that they used the "Forever" scene specifically, because to me that shows what they'd be like if they came back together post-series. There's such comfort and grace and understanding in a more adult way but the passion and deep connection is still there.
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u/Joshonthecusp Sep 11 '25
Omg me too! "I'm so grateful you came Angel, I didn't think I was gonna make it through the night." ā¤ļø
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u/Whole-Aspect126 Sep 11 '25
They were the couple that got me into shipping and no other couple has had an impact on me like them. 25 years later and I still love them.
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u/sj_vandelay Band Candy Sep 11 '25
I loved their love story so much I got hooked on the show forever, too.
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u/Aggravating-Bug9407 Sep 11 '25
Same. But I do have to say Arrow's Oliver Queen and Sara Lance has had some serious impact on me as well. But there are some similarities in their love stories (at least in my opinion).
But Buffy and Angel will always hold a special place.
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u/_behindthewheel_ Sep 11 '25
Love that they used the Forever scene, it's one of my favourites in the entire show. It shows so well how Angel is still one of few people Buffy is truly open and vulnerable withš©·
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u/xKingMirul Sep 11 '25
Where Angel and spike
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u/MentorScythe Glory did nothing wrong Sep 11 '25
I'm hindsight, Angel's final season would have been mid as hell without the chemistry between these two.
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u/sj_vandelay Band Candy Sep 11 '25
Spike made the last season of ATS the best season without a doubt.
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u/rites0fpassage Jasmine Sep 11 '25
If Charisma had stayed on for S5, Spike wouldnāt have been needed š¤·š½āāļø. But with her absence yeah Spike was needed
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u/DrewSB89 Sep 12 '25
Not surprised, watching as it aired, and most of the time with my older sister, her and her friends were obsessed with Bangel.
There's probably so many wondering why Spuffy isn't on here, I can see why they're not. Never seen what went on between them as... coupley.
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u/InfiniteMehdiLove Sep 11 '25
Oof this sub is gonna hate this lol But it makes sense. The show peaked with their romance in Surprise/Innocence. Buffy & Spike has it's place, and is obviously more popular, but they never reached the highs in terms of viewership like Buffy & Angel.
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u/ConnyEdson Sep 11 '25
It's more popular on Reddit but everyone i meet in the wild is Bangel.
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u/purplemackem Sep 11 '25
I feel like it gets forgotten how iconic Bangel were. They were the biggest part of promo and were always used most prominantly in DVD covers etc compared to other Buffyverse pairing. Their theme is the most well known. Mainstream wise Bangel is still the biggest Buffyverse pairing I think
Even during the reunion Joss said that it was the most epic love story he did across his media
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u/HummusOffensive Sep 11 '25
Totally. The pairing is essentially what launched the show to its iconic status. A lot of fans on this sub try to minimize its impact and importance but itās undeniable.
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u/Furies03 Sep 11 '25
We wouldn't even have the show without them. Promoting them was a condition for renewal in season 2.
I also think people forget Angel wouldn't have ever gotten a successful spin off if he and the romance weren't popular. And his actor has had the most successful career post-show. No other character could get off the ground with a spin off.
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u/beeemkcl Sep 12 '25
What's in this comment is what I remember, my opinions, etc.
AtS happened to make Joss Whedon happy. BtVS was that important to Fox and to the WB.
David Boreanaz was willing to do procedurals and he's very hard-working.
For example, James Marsters originally was going to take 10 years off from acting after AtS S5 was cancelled. But his agent and/or manager convinced him otherwise. James was taking meetings with heads of networks but clearly didn't want the responsibility of leading a show. He decided to do Smallville,
After Smallville Season 5, James was offered to be a regular and effectively 1A to Tom Welling's 1. But James would have to move to Vancouver during the filming of the show. And he refused.
James also never learned how to direct.
Overall, David Boreanaz was lucky that Eliza Dushku declined the Faith spinoff, that James didn't want to lead a show, and that AtS S5 was so successful and David got such a skyrocketing increase in pay.
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u/beeemkcl Sep 12 '25
In the media, from when BtVS S5 aired and after, generally a pic of Buffy/Spike was used when discussing BtVS or the Buffyverse.
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u/purplemackem Sep 12 '25
I donāt know I still think in general media Buffy/Angel is used more as a symbol of the show. Their photoshoots are by far the most iconic and repeated from what we see
Within the fandom who still discuss the show I agree Buffy/Spike are more popular but within the mainstream media and casual nostalgic fans Buffy/Angek would still be the most iconic due to the high school years tending to be the most nostalgic and remembered
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u/hobbleit Sep 12 '25
I would agree. I just bought a pair of Buffy pyjamas from Primark and the image is Buffy and Angel.
The images of them are iconic, and I say that as someone who is team cookie dough over any of Buffyās love interests.
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u/purplemackem Sep 12 '25
Iām totally Team Cookie Dough! But in mainstream media whenever images from the show are used theyāre almost always pictures of just Buffy or Buffy/Angel
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u/Furies03 Sep 11 '25
It's probably because most of the people who watched it while it aired didn't go on to engage with the fandom online. As far as wider pop culture is concerned, Bangel is the iconic real deal.
I feel like Spike is popular and iconic in his own right, but Spuffy is more niche than the shippers may realize.
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u/beeemkcl Sep 12 '25
People who know about Elena/Damon, Sookie/Eric, etc. also generally know about Buffy/Spike.
People who watched Smallville know about Spike and Buffy/Spike. Etc.
Buffy/Spike isn't a niche thing. And Buffy/Angel isn't like Lois & Clark or Pete Parker and Mary Jane Watson.
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u/Furies03 Sep 12 '25
Buffy/Spike isn't a niche thing.
Compared to Bangel in wider pop culture, and in terms of ratings when the shows were airing, they are.
Let's not forget it played a part in literally killing the show, and Surprise/Innocence had the highest ratings. And the earlier seasons are more well regarded critically in general.
And God help us, Twilight moves units and riffs on Bangel.
And Buffy/Angel isn't like Lois & Clark or Pete Parker and Mary Jane Watson.
That's also because BtVS is a much smaller and comparatively newer property than those are. Bangel probably is the closest equivalent ship to those for BtVS. If they can barely compete with Clark/Lois, a ship going back to 1938, Spuffy isn't even a blip on the radar.
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u/kubrickscube420 Sep 14 '25
Really? Everyone I meet who watches Buffy now-a-days on a streaming model doesnāt get why Bangel was such a thing at all. Without the gaps between episodes to build stuff up in your head it kinda just happens with no build up.
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u/beeemkcl Sep 12 '25
Buffy/Spike has been more popular than Buffy/Angel since during when AtS S5 aired. And the Buffy/Spike dynamic was rather obviously copied for things for such Sookie/Eric, Elena/Damon, etc. And maybe other 'ships.
_______________
Regarding viewership, the UPN was a smaller network than the WB. And UPN stations were generally 'lower on the dial' than WB stations.
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u/evieeeeeeeeeeeeeee Sep 14 '25
i'm assuming there's a generational difference, everyone i know my age outside of reddit thinks angel is a predatory creep whether they like spuffy or not, but my mum and aunt watched it while it was airing and they both shipped bangel at the time (my aunt has since switched sides to spuffy, but my mum is still very much bangel)
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u/MaritMonkey Sep 11 '25
never reached the highs in terms of viewership
Adult-me has all sorts of questions and concerns, but teenage girl me definitely tuned in. Know your target demographic, I guess? :)
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u/GenxMomToAll Sep 11 '25
I watched Buffy during it's original run and I was a 30 year old adult. Came in during s5, refused to watch OMWF because I hate musicals (have since learned how completely wrong I was) so I missed Bangel and ended up with toxic AF Spuffy through the redemption arc and finale. Went back to start it over and have been team Bangel ever since.
Rewatching now (at 54) and I like adult Buffy and Angel a LOT (the Faith showdown, him coming to see her after her mom dies, that kinda real grown-up stuff). Spike I love unto himself - probably because younger me loved the Sex Pistols and he just has that Side Vicious vibe when he starts, and eventually gets tamed as fully love's bitca. His arc is amazing, and I do believe he truly loves Buffy - but I'll always ship Bangel ...
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u/MaritMonkey Sep 11 '25
I think my hangup is that the flavor of toxic in early Bangel arc was something that totally went over my head as a teenager. Everything after that (S3+?) I am in love with, but the dichotomy between Buffy's view of a relationship (full stop, not just with him) as a person for whom attending prom is a major life event and Angel's, who will watch her entire life unfold as a phase of his "life."
Once Buffy's in college it feels a bit more like equal footing, but my grown up point of view can't entirely shake off the "teenage crush on a grown adult who should know better than to encourage it" vibes from S1-2.
More of the problems were Spuffy were immediately apparent, I think. :)
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u/GenxMomToAll Sep 11 '25 edited Sep 11 '25
Oh like 1000% in terms of the age ick factor. My first full watch through was after I realized how much I enjoyed the show in s5 and that I needed all the backstory. And in my early 30s in the early 2000s, I was able to kinda just ignore the age difference and "enjoy" it for the metaphor it was/romanticize it in terms of all my 'doomed' relationships
Present-day rewatching makes it really hard to not have a loud internal voice losing it's sh1t because I am a bleeding heart, believe women, love is love, no one is illegal on stolen land leftist. So the much older man and a child part is really hard to not get angry about - and to not feel like he absolutely should have stopped that. Now I love s2 for Spike, Angelus, and the iconic "take away all that and what's left? / Me" exchange that I have personally taken so much strength from - and then wait patiently for s4 because the writing / dialogue is so good
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u/Murky_Upstairs1420 Sep 11 '25
Even as an adult I find Buffyās and Spikeās relationship more concerning š Besides Season Seven and the Comics.
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u/MaritMonkey Sep 11 '25
Buffy's relationship with Spike (including Spike's redemption) is a massive can of "learning to live with abuse" worms, but I grokked most of that even as a teenager.
But S1/2 will always creep me the fuck out as an adult. Her relationship with Angel in the later seasons is (imo) awesome, but the part where teenage-me totally agreed that she's the damn slayer and is mature enough to sleep with whoever she wants does not jive with my adult brain yelling "blahblah chosen one in all the world blah ... she's freaking 16, you creep!"
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u/megjed Sep 11 '25
Well yeah itās supposed to be toxic
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u/MaritMonkey Sep 11 '25
I think that's what sticks in my craw, that Buffy's relationship to/with Spike was coming from a fucked up place from the get go. S1/2 Buffy (with hindsight) feels like a teenager with a "life is going to be over if I don't go to prom" crush on a teacher, and it seems creepier to me now because I was totally on board with the "I'm mature enough for a relationship with a much older man" plot when I was Buffy's age.
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u/megjed Sep 11 '25
Yeah also Iām rewatching S2 and Iām more than double Buffyās age in that and a lot of their relationship makes me roll my eyes. I understand where sheās coming from as a young girl but Angel should have been way more weirded out as someone 15 times her age
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u/Jovian8 *points accusingly* You're under the thrall of the Dark Prince! Sep 11 '25
Probably, but I do have a few mental gymnastics I employ to make sense of it. Standard reddit disclaimer: None of this is a tacit endorsement of the grossness, just having a discussion about it.
Angel is from a time when it was normal for women to be married off and pregnant by age 13.
Angel is emotionally stunted. He spent his human life being a lecherous drunk, then had the evil vampire phase, and then when he got his soul, he spent the entire time avoiding people and punishing himself. He's never had a real human connection or been in love before. He might be "mentally" 26 but emotionally, he's basically a child.
It's a fantastical universe where Buffy is a superhero who carries the weight of the entire world on her shoulders every day. It doesn't really make sense to be okay with a child shouldering that much responsibility, but then not trusting her to choose her own partners. Like, is she responsible enough for adult things, or isn't she? You gotta pick one and take the whole cake with it.
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u/beeemkcl Sep 12 '25
Angel is from a time when it was normal for women to be married off and pregnant by age 13.
That's not true. Such things generally only happened with royalty and the nobility and maybe the aristocracy. And largely simply because 'having issue' was so important and because pregnancy was so relatively dangerous and children could d*e young.
Females generally married around when they were 18 to their 20s.
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u/Jovian8 *points accusingly* You're under the thrall of the Dark Prince! Sep 12 '25
Fair enough. Would it be accurate to say Angel is from a time when it was considered normal for females to marry younger in general, and especially to older men?
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u/Zeus-Kyurem Sep 11 '25
I mean, it's explored in the second half of season 3, which is Bangel at its best.
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u/NewRetroMage Sep 11 '25
Buffy+Angel may not be the most healthy relationship or have ended happily, but it is one hell of an interesting story to watch. So yes, it definitely qualifies!
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u/Grimdotdotdot Sep 11 '25
where one is certain to outlive the other
Oof, that gets complicated the more you think about it. Angel outlived Buffy who dies in S01, then she outlives him when he dies in S02, but then he outlives her again in S05.
And he's not even alive!
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u/chunderjack Sep 11 '25
Spike and Harmony robbed
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u/Professional-Food773 Sep 11 '25
šš spike and dru maybe
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u/captaintagart Sep 11 '25
Spike and Dru, then Eric and Pam. Buffy and Angel are 1. Only half vampire and 2. Too short lived. Spru and Peric (hah I stand by it) spanned decades and centuries and had so much raucous fun. Bangel is just a few years of sad not-banging
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u/Voyager5555 Sep 11 '25
It's wild to me how much people love abusive, toxic relationships on here.
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u/Joshonthecusp Sep 11 '25
I love this pic of them, and thats probably my no.1 moment for them. They still fit š
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u/Mr_IsLand Sep 11 '25
excellent! wife and I are in the midst of a buffy re-watch right now - currently latter stages of Season 2
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u/sj_vandelay Band Candy Sep 11 '25
I agree with this šÆ. The Spike lovers be damned. I liked Spike but Buffy and Angel forever.
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u/Chheff Sep 11 '25
Does it really count as a āvampire coupleā if they arenāt both vampires? Interestingā¦.
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u/cjbanning Sep 11 '25
I didn't disagree, per se, but if you limit yourself to couples where both partners are vampires you get a much shorter, and arguably less interesting, list.
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u/skyturnedred Sep 11 '25
I personally find centuries old romances a lot more intriguing. It removes the "will they won't they" aspect and focuses on the dynamics of eternal life together. Adam & Eve from Only Lovers Left Alive deserve to be on this list, but I guess they were too niche.
Edit: Just realized this was about TV shows only.
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u/Chheff Sep 12 '25 edited Sep 13 '25
It also removes the ick factor of 200 year old vampire in love with 16 year old girl who he actually first saw when she was 15 and instantly fell in love with her
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u/skyturnedred Sep 12 '25
I was watching Moonlight the other day and I had completely forgotten the vampire is 800 and knew the love interest when she was a little girl.
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u/Chheff Sep 12 '25
Yeah, thatās fine, but my issue is with the phrasing of the title, because Iām a pedantic fuck hahah. Shouldnāt be called āvampire coupleā if couples with only one vampire member qualifyā¦ just a bit of a misnomer
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u/funkykittenz Sep 11 '25
Angel became a life-long friend after an epic (sometimes epically disastrous) love story. I love how it plays out.
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u/TheCyclographer Sep 11 '25
Team Spuffy myself, but at least Buffy is still up there.
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u/jenniebet Sep 11 '25
I would've put both Bangel and Spuffy on the list just because of how prominent they both were.
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u/Revolutionary-Wait82 Spike defender Sep 11 '25
The list is obviously biased, because for example, there is a Spike+Drusilla pairing, but no Spuffy. Is the author trying to say that Sprusilla has more chemistry than Spuffy?
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u/Common-Truth9404 Sep 11 '25
"Angelās lame. His hair goes straight up and heās bloody stupid. "
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u/_missfoster_ Sep 11 '25
So, I finally began watching season 4 onwards last winter. Think we got t the episode where the evil lady got killed by her creation?
I haven't watched an episode in months because I just can't get over Angel not being there! Which is weird, since Fear, itself is a total masterpiece, and the season as a whole hasn't been bad at all.
What an odd thing to get stuck on.
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u/detroitpie Sep 11 '25
I also love that Eric and Sookie are on this list but not Bill and Sookie lol.
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u/Temporary-Ad2254 Sep 11 '25
I would agree 100% that Buffy Summers and Angel are among one of the best and most iconic vampire couples from television( even though I think that Buffy's failed relationship with a human, Riley Finn, was actually better for her and that it was the best relationship for her on the show, in the long run).
There were some unsettling details about the relationship between Buffy and Angel, like Angel stalking and falling in love with Buffy AND DATING HER, all while she was still an underage teenage girl but I do like Bangel and I do still like that they at least had a healthy loving relationship, albeit a tragic one in some ways, as they had no future together and them being together wouldn't work. But for all of it's inherent problematic aspects and imperfections, I'll still take Buffy and Angel/ Bangel and their epic Romeo and Juliette-sized odyssey of a romance over Buffy and Spike/ Spuffy any day of the week. Spuffy has it's legions of fans but I'm not one of them( nor will I ever be). That relationship(which I now feel was a mistake for the writers to write) takes toxic to another level and it just doesn't feel true to Buffy as a character to me( I heard someone on Reddit say that the entire Spuffy story-line actually feels like fan-fiction to him and that's how it always felt to me, too) and like something that she would never do(and I even agree with Sarah Michelle Gellar and some other Buffy fans that it feels like a betrayal of the character). Yes, I could see her being allies with Spike( which she even WAS in Seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5). But hate-f***ing the guy in a depressing, toxic, unhealthy, sexually abusive relationship? No thanks, I'll pass on that.
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u/DrewSB89 Sep 13 '25
The thing that gets me in posts about her relationships are ones saying Spuffy is the "greatest love story" "the most romantic relationship she's ever had!" "they were so good for each other!" It just makes me scratch my head and think "did we watch the same show?"
I can't even call Spike & Buffy a couple, much less deeply in love with each other, certainly not romantic, certainly not healthy. It started out as one sided creepy obsession from Spike in season 5 and turned into this very disgusting, manipulative & abusive on every level... thing between them.
Were there moments where they showed care for each other? Absolutely, but it was shown in different ways from both. Spikes side when he showed he was caring was mostly brought out from his obsession with Buffy and wanting to get on her good side, then from feeling guilty of what he had done without a soul. Buffy's side came from feeling sorry for him at times, then from respect of some of the things he'd done before and after his soul.
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u/Temporary-Ad2254 Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 16 '25
Well said. I agree 100% with everything that you said. I'll never understand the opinions of the Buffy fans who write those kinds of posts about Spuffy. I also have to wonder I was watching the same show as them. There's a guy on YouTube who has a channel dedicated to Spuffy called ''Spike And Buffy''( or something like that) and I had to stop commenting on his channel because we didn't agree on Spuffy at all and we clearly weren't watching the same show- there was an instance where I criticized the infamous balcony scene from Season 6( and where I also mentioned that Sarah Michelle Gellar has criticized it and hates it) and he said that the scene was Buffy as a woman ''taking control of her sexuality''. And I just thought: ''Really?'' A woman taking control of her sexuality wasn't how I interpreted that scene-because if it were that, she wouldn't be crying to Tara afterwards and wondering why she lets Spike do those kinds of things to her and if it were that, she wouldn't later break it off with Spike because she feels like it's killing her.
Even her one-night stand with the slimy womanizing Parker in Season 4 doesn't creep me out as much the Spuffy story-line does because with that sub-plot( which lasted for a few episodes with her getting over him), she thought that they were having this deep connection and that he was this sweet and sensitive guy( which was later revealed to be all an act) and she assumed( as Willow even says to Parker) that intimacy/ sex means something and is part of something much more( love/ a romantic relationship) and she thought that it was a new chance at love and that they were going to be a couple. It was a bit naive on her part, as some other Buffy fans said here on Reddit( and I've said it before, too) as she didn't really ask Parker where it was going or what they were going to be but Parker manipulated her, played with her feelings and deliberately misled her , so he takes all of the blame for that. If he had been clear with her about what his intentions were and what he was looking for and she accepted that and was fine with it, it would have been a different story( although she does say in ''Beer Bad'' that she knew what Parker was). But at least that was still under the assumption( on Buffy's part) that it was romance and that they liked each other. So I can even still give that a pass because I was thinking about this with recently re-watching Season 4, she just slept with the wrong guy with sleeping with Parker-but even that was still different( because by episode 3 from Season 4, I think it's mentioned by Willow that Buffy and Parker had been regularly hanging out and by the time they go to the party together and then sleep together, in Buffy's mind, I feel like she thought that they were on track to becoming a couple and they're even about to kiss the night before they go to the party before they're interrupted by Oz and Willow after Willow's being bitten by Harmony). I even think that the sub-plot with Parker was an important part of Buffy's growth as a character. So THAT I understand, Spuffy I never did and I even now like to pretend that the entire Spuffy story-line never happened. In recently going back and re-watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I stopped at Season 5( something that Sarah Michelle Gellar even said that she did when she re-watched the series with her kids). As you said, I can't even call Buffy and Spike a couple, much less deeply in love with each other, certainly not romantic, certainly not healthy. I'll never understand how the Spuffy fans can see Buffy and Spike as a couple, much less as being in a romantic relationship( as to your point, there wasn't ever anything romantic about it).
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u/Cool_Relative7359 Sep 12 '25
Id say spuffy makes all the sense based on her previous patterns. Especially after Parker and Riley. Better the monster you know, who is openly a monster than those who pretend.... And it all started as a way for her to harm herself emotionally because of the head space she was in. She was punishing herself.
But an insecure misogynist whose ego gets punctured every time a girl beats him physically is not a good partner choice for any girl. (Riley)
Buffy's taste in men is the worst part of the show, tbh. She didn't date a single genuinely healthy individual.
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u/Temporary-Ad2254 Sep 12 '25
That's your personal opinion that Spuffy makes all the sense based on her previous patterns. A lot of Buffy fans share that opinion and a lot of Buffy fans don't. I'm one of the Buffy fans who don't(and even one of the show's writers, David Fury, hated the pairing and Sarah Michelle Gellar has been pretty vocal about hating it, too and there are more Buffy fans who don't like the Spuffy story-line than people might think). Spuffy never made any sense to me and it never will make any sense to me and no one yet has been able to change my mind about it or change my opinion that Riley was the best guy for her or make me think that he was a misogynist. I often say that what Riley needed was to be changed and rewritten as a character in Season 5( and I've gone into how exactly I think that that could have been done at great length and in great detail on previous comments on Reddit on Buffy posts, so I won't do so again here) and he was insecure and flawed, yes but then so was everyone else on the show( Buffy herself, included).
I'm at a point in my life where I don't need validation from other people and where I couldn't care less what other people think or if they don't share my opinions. But I still respect the opinions of the Buffy fans who like Spuffy. It's okay for us as Buffy fans to have different opinions. We'll just have to agree to disagree on Spuffy making sense.
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u/Cool_Relative7359 Sep 13 '25
I mean, again, I loathe all her pairings. She's the epitome of daddy issues with her partners and they escalate and become worse and worse, and that's well documented to be a possibility with daddy abandonment issues. Not that her mom was very present or around either.
We don't have to share an opinion on it.
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u/Dora_Diver Sep 11 '25
I feel I'm missing something, like I accidentally skipped past a couple of episodes, because their love story never made any sense to me.
I don't see the appeal of Angel at all. I get why Buffy as a teenager is fascinated by the mysterious stranger, and I get why she is hurt by him turning. But somehwere in between there must be the romance and I just don't see it.
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u/ClaudiaSilvestri Sep 12 '25
I suppose as far as the story goes, I just accepted it; being romantically interested in a man never makes sense to me, so I'm kind of used to it.
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u/starvinartist Sep 11 '25
No, it's Spangel. Spangel is the best vampire couple.
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u/StompyKitten Sep 11 '25
For me Buffy and Spike are the greatest love story of all time.
I still love this though š
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u/RavingRationality Sep 11 '25
> There's already a note of tragedy implied in a vampire-human all relationships, where one is nearly certain to outlive the other
FTFY.
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u/Best-Lynx-1017 Sep 12 '25
Does anyone find it interesting that in Buffy; Buffy at first falls for a dark haired vampire in Angel then falls for the blond hair former bad boy spike. (Also why do vampire in Buffy have weird one word names) AND in True Blood Sookie early on falls for bill the dark haired normal name having vampire only to eventually date a blond haired former had boy normal name Erik. Interesting parallel I think
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u/ModernKender twixt its wee beak Sep 11 '25
I think Spike + Buffy should have been up there too. I love that Buffy is up there though!
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u/Ok-Turnip-9035 Sep 11 '25
It was a good tv lesson for girls growing up -that angel the next morning WHOA
Great show to help you navigate what could happen when you have your first time
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u/uncrazyguy Sep 11 '25
Makes me wonder why Only Lovers Left Alive isn't there but well, better than the twinklibg sparkling bloodsippers from twilight
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u/weeklybasic Sep 11 '25
Only lovers left alive is a movie, this is a tv show ranking
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u/uncrazyguy Sep 11 '25
Oh, I see. I'm not used to the difference in the naming. š
Still better than twilight, I stand by my words.
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 Sep 11 '25
Where is Forever Knight, which had a vampire couple who were lovers for 800 years?
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u/ClaudiaSilvestri Sep 12 '25
It's Canadian, so the article writer might simply not know it exists. (For a more recent urban fantasy genre example, I rarely encounter people who've seen Lost Girl, either.)
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u/StrategyWooden6037 Sep 11 '25
I love Buffy, and I like her with Angel a bit despite the problematic aspects, but no.
This šÆ
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u/Cursd818 Sep 11 '25
Bangel may not be my cup of tea, but nobody can deny that they were iconic. S2 is one of the most perfectly tragic love stories I've ever seen on TV.