Looking pretty decent for a half-century and change.

;D

Happy birthday, James!

BlueEyedBrigadier | August 20, 18:50 CET

Oh, yeah! He's catching up to me in age! Still devilishly handsome!

Nebula1400 | August 20, 19:30 CET

Happy birthday to a guy who made his role into one of TV's most memorable villains . . . and heroes!

Squishy | August 20, 20:28 CET

Happy Birthday, James!

Shade of Pale | August 20, 23:33 CET

Happy birthday, James!

ActualSize | August 21, 12:48 CET

Happy birthday, James, and keep going strong! Now, let the throwing of hard objects begin. Storywise, I always thought the ensouled Spike should have turned genuinely evil and been the Big Bad for Season 7. In the end Buffy would have had to...finally...spike Spike. After all they'd been through, that would have brought the character full circle, and it would have been an awesomely tragic way to end the series. I'll start ducking now.

Enphilistor | August 22, 19:54 CET

That wouldn't have been very coherent with his overall arc, his characterisation or the soul mythology of the verse considered against his human years flashbacks we were shown. I think they would have had to write him going mad from the soul torment or some such to explain that kind of switch of characterisation. I'm glad they didn't go that way personally. Spike is my fave fictional character and it is his overall path development and his unique character that makes his story so compelling.

Stoney | August 23, 00:49 CET

I can understand most people NOT wanting it to go that way because both the character and the actor are very popular, and deservedly so. But I thought it would make sense because it was shown how much of a struggle it was for Angel to control his demon. It was believable he could succeed because what we saw of him pre-bite was a very strong-willed, stubborn person. However, Spike's pre-bite character was none of those things, so it seemed likely the demon would have been able to seduce him to the dark side, probably using Buffy's rejection of him as an emotional lever. I thought that would have been an interesting way to go, but I wouldn't seriously try to argue that's the way it SHOULD have gone.

Enphilistor | August 23, 21:30 CET

But one could argue that Angel actually DID lose that battle in season 8 with the Twilight storyline.

Xane | August 24, 10:31 CET

I'm ashamed to admit, I've ALL the Buffyverse comics neatly racked, but haven't read any of them. Someday. But that would just seem to reinforce how difficult that battle is.

Enphilistor | August 24, 18:05 CET

Spike's demon was more on board though, in the sense that he made the choice to go and fight for his soul whilst he was soulless, so I really don't think it works well for his character arc as you suggest. It makes more sense for Angel's story to focus heavily on treading the line and the struggle because of the curse I think (even though it is obviously a relevant issue to them both once they have both soul/demon in the mix). But what you are talking about is more a constant part of Angel's story, and his always has had this element highlighted.

Stoney | August 25, 12:58 CET