he doesn't seem to question Angel's basic moral judgment
Well, that started in Angel season 5, when he was the first one to raise his hand to volunteer for Angel's suicide mission. As for the sense of history, I think it's there, but much like season 8, there are gaps that we are left to fill in ourselves, and I'm sure some people find the development more logical than others.
Spike has a soft spot for damsels; he's got a little brother's snarky attitude towards the big brother he secretly admires; he is like a 14-year old boy when it comes to sex; he'll do the right thing when push comes to shove, but only when push comes to shove.
Well, I disagree on that last one (I don't think that's how Spike was portrayed in ATF), and I'd substitute "women" for damsels in the first bit, but other than that, I think we've seen Spike embody all of those traits at some point in the TV series, so I don't see how portraying Spike this way is a departure from the TV character. It's not all Spike the TV character was, but I don't think the moments "where you see how the whole man and his history particularly informs a narrative" were quite as frequent as you seem to, so to me, it seems like a regular slice of Spike that we'd get in any given episode.
I'm not saying you have to like it - we all have episodes we don't like or writers we think don't do justice to our favorite characters. I just feel like if you judge it for what it is, maybe you'll be less pissy about it. :) I don't like "Go Fish," but I'm not enraged that it's considered canon.
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Well, that started in Angel season 5, when he was the first one to raise his hand to volunteer for Angel's suicide mission. As for the sense of history, I think it's there, but much like season 8, there are gaps that we are left to fill in ourselves, and I'm sure some people find the development more logical than others.
Spike has a soft spot for damsels; he's got a little brother's snarky attitude towards the big brother he secretly admires; he is like a 14-year old boy when it comes to sex; he'll do the right thing when push comes to shove, but only when push comes to shove.
Well, I disagree on that last one (I don't think that's how Spike was portrayed in ATF), and I'd substitute "women" for damsels in the first bit, but other than that, I think we've seen Spike embody all of those traits at some point in the TV series, so I don't see how portraying Spike this way is a departure from the TV character. It's not all Spike the TV character was, but I don't think the moments "where you see how the whole man and his history particularly informs a narrative" were quite as frequent as you seem to, so to me, it seems like a regular slice of Spike that we'd get in any given episode.
I'm not saying you have to like it - we all have episodes we don't like or writers we think don't do justice to our favorite characters. I just feel like if you judge it for what it is, maybe you'll be less pissy about it. :) I don't like "Go Fish," but I'm not enraged that it's considered canon.