Volvo-boy
I’ll admit that my prejudice against Angel was irrational, not unlike my prejudice against Janeway’s annoying old flames, Mark and Justin. Reading about them in fanfic just made me queasy. I put up with it when I was a young VOY fan, but now I just stop reading when Angel shows up in fic - I even stopped reading Phoenix Burning, and I was really enjoying that until the wet blanket of Buffydom appeared.
I say it was irrational because I’ve just seen “Graduation Day” (both parts), an excellent example of the wisdom of my anti-Angel instincts. Not only is Angel annoying in principle, he’s downright infuriating in practice. The boy is built like a Volvo with the personality to match. Ok, so some people like the 70’s neanderthal look - eyebrows that obscure your eyes are not the real issue here. There’s no accounting for taste, as I learned from Voyager, when people watching other UPN stations were seeing Cute Icheb while we poor folks within range of UPN38 were subjected to Butt-Ugly Icheb.
No, the real problem with everyone’s favorite poolboy is that he can’t act his way out of a paper bag. That’s fine if you’re a starship captain, but I’ve come to expect more from BtVS. As far as I could tell, Angel had one, petulant, expression, and it wasn’t very expressive at that. He sucked the life out of every scene he appeared in. How I wished Faith had gone for the heart…
Consider, if you will, the closing scene of “Graduation Day”, where Angel is (thank the gypsies) leaving. He stands off in the mist and aims his one, all-purpose, expression at Buffy. What the actor cannot convey is left to the mist and the imagination. Casablanca it’s not.
Compare and contrast the scene in “After Life” where Spike first sees the resurrected Buffy. There’s genuine affection in his expression, enough to hold the camera by himself, without mist. Spike has a personality. In fact, all the other characters have personality - it seems only Angel got a be a wet-blanket for free card.
Volvo-boy isn’t getting one from me.