I appreciate your concerns, I've had them myself at times - even during the show.
I used to post on a general fanboard, populated by a lot of Angel-centric fans, who saw Angel as a hero and Spike as either comic relief or well, not a hero. A sort of snarky side-kick. (Those were the nice ones. I won't tell you what the others thought, except that I'm sure you've seen the Robin/Nikki/Spike icon?) So many of the concerns you raise above - were actually interpretations made of the show, of both series.
Spike and Angel's roles as hero have always been rather ambiguous. I don't think the writers will ever tell us exactly what they think - they can't, they'd piss off half the fandom. Remember - there are a few Angel-centric fans out there who do not want to see their favorite character portrayed in a certain light.
Lynch is skirting a delicate line. Angel like Buffy is a tough character to write well, because he's so complicated. Sometimes, it's not clear whether he's a hero or an anti-hero. So in response to your question above and my reading of the comics - I think the writers see Angel as both. He's not that interesting from a writing perspective if he isn't. Also, I think they demonstrate that they think he's both -the murderer of innocents and the hero. Heck - we even see it on the page. Remember that drawing of Angel killing hordes of people? HE does and he doesn't. Just as Gunn does and he doesn't. And Angel's perception regarding Spike and Illyria killing the humans (thanks for the correction by the way, I'd forgotten the specifics of the scene - it was a while ago that I'd read it) - that makes sense. He thought it was Illyria. And..as Spike stated in Destiney, Angel needs to think of Spike in derogatory terms because he wants Spike to be worse than him - Angel is, oddly enough, in competition with Spike - it's a sibling thing.
As for your annoyance about the whole - "has Spike turned evil" or "can we really trust Spike twist"? Sigh. I know what you mean. It got old in S7 Buffy. They've been doing that twist as far back as S2 Buffy, after a while it becomes redundant. I really wish they'd stop already.
That said, I think I understand why they are doing it - Spike is a bit of a wild card character or what I like to call "the trickster". He is opportunistic (I like that about him) and he's brutally pragmatic. He will take the shortest route. Angel is an overthinker and tends to make huge complicated plans. Spike is less predictable, he goes for the punch. We really don't know what he's going to do. Or what priority he will put first. What Lynch was trying to do - by doing that twist, was to show Spike's soul's effect on him. A lot of fans have troubles seeing the difference between Spike with a soul and without one. I never did. He is different. Without a soul, Spike most likely would not have taken those people with him and Illyria and he would not have saved them. He would have saved Illyria perhaps. Also Spike without a soul would not have been horrified when Illyria killed Jeremy in Spike:After the Fall. Nor would he have offered to train Connor or for that matter asked Connor to help him save people at night. Spike without a soul did what was best for Spike, what Spike enjoyed, he had fun. He was the same person, just without a conscience, he did not care about anyone who did not in some way benefit him. Care may be the wrong word. He did not "think" about them.
Re: Angel...-and Spike
I appreciate your concerns, I've had them myself at times - even during the show.
I used to post on a general fanboard, populated by a lot of Angel-centric fans, who saw Angel as a hero and Spike as either comic relief or well, not a hero. A sort of snarky side-kick. (Those were the nice ones. I won't tell you what the others thought, except that I'm sure you've seen the Robin/Nikki/Spike icon?) So many of the concerns you raise above - were actually interpretations made of the show, of both series.
Spike and Angel's roles as hero have always been rather ambiguous. I don't think the writers will ever tell us exactly what they think - they can't, they'd piss off half the fandom. Remember - there are a few Angel-centric fans out there who do not want to see their favorite character portrayed in a certain light.
Lynch is skirting a delicate line. Angel like Buffy is a tough character to write well, because he's so complicated. Sometimes, it's not clear whether he's a hero or an anti-hero. So in response to your question above and my reading of the comics - I think the writers see Angel as both. He's not that interesting from a writing perspective if he isn't. Also, I think they demonstrate that they think he's both -the murderer of innocents and the hero. Heck - we even see it on the page. Remember that drawing of Angel killing hordes of people? HE does and he doesn't. Just as Gunn does and he doesn't. And Angel's perception regarding Spike and Illyria killing the humans (thanks for the correction by the way, I'd forgotten the specifics of the scene - it was a while ago that I'd read it) - that makes sense. He thought it was Illyria. And..as Spike stated in Destiney, Angel needs to think of Spike in derogatory terms because he wants Spike to be worse than him - Angel is, oddly enough, in competition with Spike - it's a sibling thing.
As for your annoyance about the whole - "has Spike turned evil" or "can we really trust Spike twist"? Sigh. I know what you mean. It got old in S7 Buffy. They've been doing that twist as far back as S2 Buffy, after a while it becomes redundant. I really wish they'd stop already.
That said, I think I understand why they are doing it - Spike is a bit of a wild card character or what I like to call "the trickster". He is opportunistic (I like that about him) and he's brutally pragmatic. He will take the shortest route. Angel is an overthinker and tends to make huge complicated plans. Spike is less predictable, he goes for the punch.
We really don't know what he's going to do. Or what priority he will put first. What Lynch was trying to do - by doing that twist, was to show Spike's soul's effect on him. A lot of fans have troubles seeing the difference between Spike with a soul and without one. I never did. He is different. Without a soul, Spike most likely would not have taken those people with him and Illyria and he would not have saved them. He would have saved Illyria perhaps. Also Spike without a soul would not have been horrified when Illyria killed Jeremy in Spike:After the Fall. Nor would he have offered to train Connor or for that matter asked Connor to help him save people at night. Spike without a soul did what was best for Spike, what Spike enjoyed, he had fun. He was the same person, just without a conscience, he did not care about anyone who did not in some way benefit him. Care may be the wrong word. He did not "think" about them.
TBC, because I'm long-winded.