On Buffy, if somebody was happy in their relationship, well … it was about to end brutally. Because Whedon hates happiness and fulfillment.

• Giles and Jenny: murder.
• Buffy and Angel: soul removed and demon restored.
• Xander and Cordy: cheating and then impaling.

The list just goes on, and somehow continues to get worse.

But every now and then, for brief moments, you got to see true contentment.

I mean, just look at them. This is The Moment that I fell in love with Season Two. After seeing how the Master affected Buffy, I was curious as to how the writers would follow up his obviously big shoes, and damn if they didn’t deliver with these two. Neither followed the pomp and circumstance of the Master or the Anointed, which actually made them more difficult for Buffy to defeat, and the twisted love and adoration they had for each other was something we hadn’t seen to that point. Angel didn’t necessarily seem as novel as he did once it was revealed that vampires could love just as well as mortal creatures, and this really only began the gray moral area that she show decided to tackle as the series continued.

This relationship plays out over even more than the one season in which it was featured. By the time we see Spike again in Season Three, Dru has left him due to his temporary alliance with the Slayer – an event that truly did change him, even though Spike didn’t realize it until much later – and he spends the next year trying to win her back. His love for her is possessive, cult-like even, but it doesn’t impress Drusilla. She sees right through him: he will eventually admit that he has fallen in love with Buffy, even if it takes him, like, two full seasons to come to terms with it. 

Now, even though I’m a huge Spike/Buffy fan (I refuse to call it Spuffy, ugh), there’s something so pure about the love between Spike and Drusilla that gives it the edge over the former for me. The problematic nature of Spike’s behavior in both relationships is troubling, but there’s quite a bit more consent involved with Drusilla. She wants and encourages him to be evil, especially when it comes to his treatment of her; Spike even determines the only way he will win her back is to torture her until she likes him again. Granted, Drusilla was an abused woman, starting back in her childhood and ultimately culminating with her siring by Angelus, so take that with a grain of salt. 

Art Credit: Buffy Wiki, GFY Cat