To ignore the Spike's kinder, gentler side devalues what Buffy saw in him and thereby lessens her character. Everyone loses.
Exactly - in this case, it was a Spuffy author bashing Riley, but the point holds.
I think a key thing to do, as a viewer, is to ask yourself of each character:
What does Character X "get right" that Character Y could or should learn from, and then vice-versa. People are going to have rankings and judgements, and that's natural and fine... but one needs to be able to find something admirable and something inexcusable in each character (Characters like Warren or Caleb excepted...) if only to maintain some semblance of balance.
no subject
Exactly - in this case, it was a Spuffy author bashing Riley, but the point holds.
I think a key thing to do, as a viewer, is to ask yourself of each character:
What does Character X "get right" that Character Y could or should learn from, and then vice-versa. People are going to have rankings and judgements, and that's natural and fine... but one needs to be able to find something admirable and something inexcusable in each character (Characters like Warren or Caleb excepted...) if only to maintain some semblance of balance.