Enemies In Love

[deird_lj]

I think I've figured out why I love the Spuffy relationship so much more than I like Buffy/Angel.

And it's quite simple, really, because it's the same reason that I like almost all the couples I'm madly shippy about.

One's good, one's evil, and they're in love anyway.

It seems to be a fool-proof way of making me like a couple: put them on opposite sides, and then have them fall in love.
And that's definitely got to be the main reason I'm into Spuffy, because if you look at most of the other couples I like, they all fit the same pattern:

Darla/Angel - She's evil, he's good, and they just can't help themselves.

Wes/Lilah - Same deal.

And then there's Elizabeth/Darcy, Tru/Jack, Buffy/Faith, Angel/Lindsey, Wes/Illyria, Lilah/just-about-anyone... even Mal/Inara fits the pattern. Sure, they're not a straight good/evil pair, but they are very clearly on opposite sides - and they're still in love.

And as much as I liked Buffy/Angel, it was basically a good person in love with a reformed person. Which is fine - but not nearly as interesting as a good person in love with someone who's flat out evil.
The Buffy/Spike relationship, on the other hand, is insane. People just aren't supposed to fall in love with their arch-nemesis. Spike is horrified when he realises he's falling for Buffy, she's horrified in return, they both know how ridiculously stupid a relationship would be... and yet...

This is why, as much as I go nuts for Wes/Fred, I'm even more nuts about Wes/Lilah - and downright thrilled when Illyria comes along, because suddenly the relatively straightforward Wes/Fred relationship gets turned into another good/evil pairing. It's awesome!

This also applies from a friendship point of view. As much as I enjoy Crichton and D'Argo as friends, their friendship is nothing compared to Crichton/Scorpius. Ditto with the Doctor/the Master, House/Wilson, and, mostly inside my own head, Spike/Angel.
I just love it when two people are working from such completely opposing perspectives, and yet they keep being friends, because when it comes down to it, they can't not be.

This is why my version of Tru Calling will always include a very twisted Tru/Jack relationship, why I rewatch that phonecall between the Doctor and the Master again and again, and why my absolute favourite moment in the whole of Angel is Wes growling "He's necessary - for fighting people like you," and then wrestling Lilah to the floor...

*happy sigh of shippiness*

Questions? Comments?

Comments

[shapinglight]

Londo and G'Kar from Babylon 5?

Boy, you'd love that relationship.

[deird1]

I really should try Bab5 again...

(Watched the first episode, wasn't thrilled, and had plenty of new tv to watch. Maybe if I tried a few more episodes?)

[shapinglight]

Hard to say really.

I watched it when it was first shown on TV over here in the early 90s and loved it- the first TV show I was ever fannish about.

It was flawed, sure, but its ambition was pretty breath-taking. It's also one of these shows that has to be seen in context. What it tries to do has been done better since (BSG, for instance), but at the time, for TV sci fi it broke the mold - or several molds.

I guess what I'm saying is it might be one of those shows it's hard for people to get into years later, whereas for me, when I started my first ever rewatch last weekend, I was enthralled all over again.

Should have said, too, that I know what you mean about Spuffy. It's vastly more interesting to me than Bangel for the snark factor. I'm just sorry we didn't get more of it, partly due to Joss and co feeling they had to hammer home the whole Spike Is Evil message in season 6, which impacted on the relationship in season 7.

Not that I don't enjoy their relationship in those two seasons, I do, but sadly it made more snark between them impossible.

[deird1]

...can't stop watching your icon.


It's vastly more interesting to me than Bangel for the snark factor.

Absolutely.
This might be one of the reasons that, when I write Spuffy, they're almost invariably arguing about something...

[shapinglight]

...can't stop watching your icon.

Heh! You can snag it if you like. It was made by frimfram a few years back, after some annoying person posted a rant somewhere (I think in the parts of LJ where I don't venture because it's full of Spike-haters) about how Spuffy had ruined all TV evah! No, literally ruined it.

[deird1]

Yay!

(Okay - stupid question. How the heck do I get an animated icon to stay animated when I put it into my userpics? *is computer-illiterate*)

[shapinglight]

Er- I think it just does. I always save them the same as icons that aren't animated. You just upload them to your userpics and when you use them, they just happily carry on wiggling about.

:is also computer illiterate: