There are things I like and things I dislike about them. The one thing about their story that I really can't get over is the fact that Angel stops loving her when he loses his soul.

<3

I'm just starting with the show (beginning of season 3) and so far I can't say that I loved them, but they have potential and they are cute.

Such a beautiful and tragic love story.

I didin´t liked how quickl they fell in love with each other in season one. There was not really a great built up, but they had the awesone Angelus storyline and some of really beautiful scenes ever...

pastthemoon, it depends on how you define love. Soulless vampire love is not the same as selfless human love. So it's difficult to compare, and difficult to say he didn't love her when he had no soul since soul-less love was shown to be a selfish type of love time and time again on the show (through Angelus and Darla's relationship, Spike & Drusilla, Spike & Buffy, Spike & Harmony, and Angelus & Buffy). But if you look at vampire love as selfish desire the way it was often portrayed- than Angelus "loved" Buffy in his own sick way since he spent every moment thinking about her, being OBSESSED with her, and even being affectionate (in a creepy way) towards her by kissing her and calling her pet names. And Angelus even admits to loving Buffy when he says "to kill this girl you have to love her." He says "love" which is present tense; he doesn't say "to kill this girl you have to have loved her" which would be past tense. He emphasizes how he loves her and as a result knows her so well that he knows her weaknesses and knows just how to kill her.

I think they have the most amazing love story among all television couples. I love how they spent season 1 building up their flirting and sexual tension, to then slowly falling in love toward the middle of season 2. I love how making love to Buffy was Angel's one true moment of happiness. I think their constant sacrifices for one another were incredible, the way they always loved each other equally was beautiful, and the way they encouraged each other to become stronger & better while together was inspiring. I love how they tried so hard to stay away from each other and tried to fight their feelings because they were supposed to be mortal enemies (well maybe not "mortal" enemies since only she was mortal), yet something always brought them back together.
The ONLY thing in their entire love story I was not really in love with was that at the end of season 2 we find out that Angel saw Buffy before she became the slayer and seeing her was what inspired him to make something of his life because he didn't want Buffy to have to face her hardships alone. It's a beautiful idea and I'm sure many Bangel fans love it... but I think it was a kinda cheap and obvious move. I don't like the idea of love at first sight... that's why I love Bangel because their first meeting in the pilot was clearly lust and intrigue at first sight -- but not love. Buffy even describes Angel in the pilot as "Dark, gorgeous in an annoying sort of way...I really didn’t like him." So clearly it wasn't love at first sight. So seasons later when we find out that Angel had seen Buffy before their meeting and "loved" her- I think that kinda changes the dynamics of their first encounter. I think they are such an incredible couple they didn't need a cheesy idea like that to make them more "epic." They were better off not being love at first sight in my opinion. But that's honestly the only thing I KIND OF didn't like about their love story. Everything else was both brilliant and perfect in my opinion. <3

♥

jemgrl323 I see what you're saying. But being a Spuffy fan, I can't help but compare the two. Maybe Angel said he loves Buffy when he has no soul, but he tortured her, tortured the ones she loved, killed Jenny, tried to kill Buffy. And he killed Jenny for trying to bring his soul back. Then you have Spike who does all of the things Angel did without his soul UNTIL he falls in love with her. Still soulless, he protects her and keeps his promise and protects Dawn even after Buffy dies. When he does hurt Buffy, he ACTIVELY SEEKS HIS SOUL FOR HER. And while the happiest night of Angel's life was sex with Buffy, the happiest night of Spike's was just holding her and watching her sleep.

I think Buffy and Angel's story by itself is really beautiful and tragic. But when put side-by-side with Spike and Buffy's, I see a lot of holes in it.

I try not to compare Bangel and Spuffy cause I think both relationships were really special in their own ways.
But while Spike's soulless love for Buffy was probably more similar to human love than Angelus's soulless love for Buffy... Spike still created a robot that looked just like Buffy in order to have sex with it. Not only is that creepy, it's a violation of Buffy on so many levels (her image, her body, her self, her reputation..etc). He also attempted to rape her. Spike did seek his soul... but why did he do that? Why couldn't he just love her without a soul? Because it's impossible. Just as Angelus couldn't love Buffy in a human way, Spike without a soul couldn't love Buffy in a human way. A soul is required to experience true love. A soulless being cannot love in a human way. I think it's amazing that Spike seeked out his soul. We all know that having a soul is torture for someone who was a mass murderer (hence why Angel's soul is his "curse"), so the fact that he would not only go through difficult and painful trials to earn his soul- he was also willing to live for the rest of eternity with a soul knowing all the horrendous crimes he committed and lives he took. That was certainly a sacrifice. And he did it because he wanted to be able to experience a human type of love. He couldn't provide Buffy with the love she deserved unless he had a soul.
But that just shows how all soulless love is about desire and the self. There may be selfless moments, but they are not at the core of their love. A soulless vampire experiences love in a consuming way that is solely about desire. It's why Spike betrayed Drusilla in Becoming Part 2, it's why Angelus treated Darla the way he did, and it's why Spike tried to rape Buffy.

From a story-teller stand point: Spike had a chip in his head, so while soulles Spike loved Buffy in season 5 and 6- Buffy didn't need to kill him because he wasn't a threat to anyone else. But Angelus didn't have a chip, so Buffy needed to kill him. So the writers needed fans to understand that this was not the same Angel that Buffy was in love with. If Angelus had done selfless things for Buffy, fans would never be able to understand Buffy's need to kill him. If we saw Angelus fighting bad guys side by side with Buffy, we wouldn't be able to accept Buffy's need to kill him (even if we saw him killing other people right after he left Buffy's side). The writers needed to turn Angelus into a lunatic vampire in order to get fans to sympathize with Buffy.
And I personally LOVE that part of their story. Without the darkness of their relationship in season 2, I don't think their story would be half as appealing.

And in response to the comment that And while the happiest night of Angel's life was sex with Buffy, the happiest night of Spike's was just holding her and watching her sleep.
that's because that was the closest that Spike & Buffy ever got emotionally. Sure they had lots of sex in season 6, but they were not really emotionally close in season 6. They had their emotional moments, but their relationship in season 6 was really mostly about sex and Buffy's struggle. It wasn't as much about Spuffy as it was about Buffy using Spike to relieve the pain she was experiencing. But season 7 was when Buffy was more emotionally invested in Spike, and they never had sex that season. So they never got to "make love," instead they had other emotional sentimental moments like Spike holding Buffy and watching her as she sleeps.
Angel and Buffy never had sex like Spuffy season 6 sex. The one and only time they ever had sex (as far as Buffy remembers) was right after they exchanged their first "I love you"s and then engaged in the act of love. Angel experienced his one true moment of happiness (and as Wesley points out on AtS: that is an extremely rare event in and of itself since most people will never experience true happiness) while professing his love to Buffy and receiving her love in return. They were doing something that brings two people closer in the closest way possible. Angel hadn't loved anyone else in his 240-ish years and this was way beyond a physical act. It was an emotional and (literally) life altering act of love.
Angel's true moment of happiness and Spike's best night of his life were both when they were the closest emotionally they had ever been to Buffy.

I think both love stories are meaningful...and have many similarities and differences... but since this pick is about Buffy & Angel (and not Bangel vs Spuffy)- I will once again say that I think Buffy & Angel's love story was the most beautiful love story on television. I think they captured the essence of the modern day Romeo & Juliet, star crossed-lover tale beautifully and were able to display the dark spin on the story in a compelling and intriguing way! I find their story romantic, dark, tragic, and beautiful. <3

PERFECTION.

maybe a 9 & this is coming from someone who doesn`t ship them