Sarah's opinion, Freddie's opinion and my opinion
Fandom has been in an uproar since Sarah Michelle
Gellar gave her opinion on Angel vs Spike. Now Sarah's
husband has spoken as well.
Freddie Prinze Jr. has committed the ultimate TV sin:
"I've never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Though he's married to Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar,
Prinze, who makes his return to Fox's Bones in tonight's episode,
admitted to E! News that he's only seen one episode (Once More With Feeling)
of the beloved cult hit. "Oh, you can judge. That's fine, I don't care," he said after
we shamed him for missing out on Joss Whedon's masterpiece.
"It wasn't written for my demographic, so I never saw it."
Prinze did weigh in on the everlasting Angel (David Boreanaz)
vs. Spike (James Marsters) debate, which recently resurfaced in a big way
when Gellar revealed she's team "ANGEL," (all-caps!) in a Reddit AMA.
"I would have to go Angel, just because he's tougher and he always won,"
Prinze said with a laugh. "I know he always won, so I'm going with the winner."
Source
Frankly, I think most of this is all a PR movement. Sarah has been all over
the media since she began her new show, The Crazy Ones. Sarah avoided
doing much in fandom till 2008 when she did the Paley Center reunion. At
that time she was trying to get a new show on TV. After a failed pilot for cable,
The Wonderful Maladys, and her short term, Ringer, Sarah has learned to use
Twitter and other media to spotlight her career. She, Freddie and David are
friends who are pimping each other. That's my opinion. There have been
photos and articles all over about them talking about each other. Freddie
has another episode on Bones this week.
It's clear Freddie didn't watch ATS either. Otherwise he would know Spike
beat Angel in the last year of the show. Even Angel stated Spike beat him
for the first time because he wanted it more.
To me, Spike was the long haul guy. Angel was all about his own journey to
becoming a Champion. When he was first shown Buffy just before she found
out about being the Slayer, he decided to get his act together and out of the
shadows. To me, he saw Buffy as his prize and reason to be a hero. Spike
wasn't like that. He came to love Buffy due to herself and not what she could
help him become. Spike stayed in Sunnydale after Buffy's death. He made a
promise to a lady and kept it.
Angel went to monastery in Sri Lanka. When he came back he was doing his
hero act and ran into a vampire from his past. He stakes Elisabeth. Then James,
who had been with Elisabeth since Darla and Angelus were together, comes after Angel.
James stalks the ATS group, he dies due to having his heart removed so
he could walk in the sun to go after Angel and his crew. Angel and Cordy have
a talk about Buffy's death and Angel feels about it.
Cordy: "And how about you?"
Angel: "I'm o..."
Cordy: "And don't say 'okay.' Angel, please. I know you. Ever since you've come
back from your grief trip I can tell that something's not right. And, and *obviously*
it's not. - Buffy's - dead, and I don't mean to diminish that. I miss her too. - I just
wanna say - I know that James with all his Romeo and Juliet madness, opened
up a lot of wounds for you, but you'll be okay."
Angel: "I am okay."
Cordy: "Then - what's the problem?"
Angel: "That I'm okay. That losing Buffy didn't kill me. That I could deal with it. -
In all those years - no one ever mattered. Not like she did. - And now she's gone - forever."
Cordy: "And you're still here."
Angel: "Yeah. I just feel like I'm betraying her somehow."
Cordy: "No! If you were a loser, if you were some sick obsessed vampire,
you'd go to a Snod demon, or whatever, and get your heart cut out. But you're
not! You're a living, breathing... Well, living, anyway - good guy, whose still fighting
and trying to help people, and that's not betraying her, that's honoring her."
Angel: "You think?"
Cordy: "I'm Cordelia. I don't think. I know. Okay?"
Cordy gives him a big grin, which draws a small smile in response.
Angel: "Okay."
Cordy: "So - can we get back to work now?"
Angel: "Yeah. Sure. - There's work?"
So Angel is okay and goes back to his unlife and his new crew.
Even when Buffy comes back, he meets her and nothing much
changes for them.
I think Cordy says it best when she explains Buffy and Angel to
Doyle. In I Will Remember You, Buffy comes to LA to confront Angel
about spying on her during BTVS Pangs Season four Episode eight.
Doyle: "So? Don't they deserve a little happiness after all they've been through?"
Cordy sighs: "Let me explain the lore here, okay? They suffer, they fight. That's
business as usual. They get groiny with each other, the world as we know it falls apart."
Doyle: "Well, he's not cursed anymore. And anyway, you can't be sure that they're.."
Cordy: "Oh, please! They've got the forbidden love of all time. They have been apart
for months. Now he's suddenly human? I'm sure they are down there just having tea and crackers."
For me Buffy and Angel are young romantic love that they both have built up to be legendary and
would never survive in daily life. Spike and Buffy are the real deal. They aren't pretty or sweet, but
very real. They support each other and work side by side. They are stronger together not a danger
in the making as Buffy and Angel often are. Just my own opinion.