“Angel or Spike?” asks Entertainment Weekly. It’s a debate for the ages.
Yeah, yeah, Angel was brooding and dreamy in an undead puppy-dog sort of way. And Spike was fun and funny and troubled and complicated… and everything that your daddy would HATE – which made him, like, PERFECT. Plus, he had the bleach blond hair and those horrible Hot Topics outfits which somehow looked sexy on him.
But we’re forgetting about THE HOTTEST GUY of the series, possibly the HOTTEST GUY OF ALL TIME (and you know me, I don’t say that lightly): Riley Finn! Her season 4 rebound that everybody on the planet hates for no good reason. He was sweet. He was attentive. He had that perfect ’90s prep school school hair and that disarming, oh-so-shy smile. And on top of that, he was part of a top secret super-militia group consisting of homoerotic solders who fought supernatural nasties and protected the world from the Hell Mouth threats.
I would have chosen Riley in a heartbeat.
Then Spike.
THEN Angel.
But, when recently asked, Buffy portrayer Sarah Michelle Gellar went with Angel. Predictably.
“People ask who I thought was Buffy’s ultimate and I get a lot of hate and a lot of death threats — seriously,” says Gellar. “There was something so beautiful to me about the Buffy and Angel story. I think that Spike understood a different part of who Buffy was and I think she needed to understand that and discover. But for me as Buffy, I think Angel.”
Even creator Joss Whedon says he has trouble picking a winner.
“I’m split right down the middle because in terms of a long-term relationship: Spike’s kinda your guy because he actually went and got a soul because of her. But [Angel and Buffy]’s the grandest love story I will ever tell. You can’t argue with that.
But what about RIIIIILLEEEEEEEEEEY?