I think season 4 of Angel is the best thing that ever came out of Mutant Enemy. But I like serials.

Whee! I love S4. Because I, too, like serials. And they kept pulling the rug out from under me. Like, ooh, Satan is the Big Bad! Except, whoa, they already killed him. Oh, Cordy's the Big Bad! Except, whoa, Jasmine. Oh, Jasmine's lost her powers and they're going to spend forever fighting her! Except, whoa, Connor punched through her head. Cripes, people. Be predictable now and then, it's comforting.

I think season 4 of Angel is the best thing that ever came out of Mutant Enemy.

Word.

I found the first third of S5 immensely annoying, mostly due to the awkwardness of having Spike around, and spending so much time dealing with his souledness/incorporeality/etc.

The end of the season, as asspully and handwavy as it was, was at least asspully and handwavy in a way that felt like AtS.

I thought the post about being "emotionally traumatized by Spuffy" overstated its case quite a bit, but I can see what the writer was getting at, especially in re: the show's "women who like bad boys suffer" thing. However, I think she's misunderstanding the cause of Spife/Buffy people moving to slash. I think it's more about some people needing to support "edgy" relationships than it is about "OH NOES I cannot trust the show ennymore!!!1".

Edit: I'm leaving in the accidental typo, and I shall call him Spife forevermore.

but I can see what the writer was getting at, especially in re: the show's "women who like bad boys suffer" thing.

Well, except that her definition of "bad boy" is "my wonderful dad who rides a motorcycle," and her definition of "good guy" is "alchoholic child abuser who seemed nice at first."

What Jess said. I had a post about that last night, but something went kerfluey with the board, and I lost it, and couldn't bother.

Also, no offense, but *actual* bad guys--that is bad in reality, and not just a little snarky, or given to wearing leather jackets, but actual bad men--they're not the salt of the earth. They're the epiphanies of therapy.

All that whole entry was--was another "Buffy's a bitch because she didn't wuv Spike enough, and Spike didn't really attempt to rape Buffy. The writers made him do it. He never would have done that on his own," load o crap.

I didn't see it that way, but I haven't watched Buffy in a while, so I might just be in the wrong headspace for this.

You know, they should have left the bedroom prep scene in in Smashed. Make it damn good and clear what they thought Spike was capable of right then and there. I mean, they wrote it, and the Roxy Music alone would have been worth it.

However, I think she's misunderstanding the cause of Spife/Buffy people moving to slash.

Anna S has wondered if many of the new to fandom Spuffy people didn't realize that for her, and many other writers, the Spike/Buffy stuff was an unexpected detour from their normal slash country and into the wacky world of het.

Spike didn't really attempt to rape Buffy. The writers made him do it. He never would have done that on his own

(brain explodes)

Raq, just think of it as the same phenomenon where angry housewives approach soap opera stars in supermarkets and hit them for cheating on their favorite characters. No ability to perceive the distinction between real life and fiction.

Fandom is a nutty place, sometimes.