Inextricably Linked: an essay on B/A/S
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| Title: | Inextricably Linked: an essay on B/A/S |
| Creator: | Nevernever (elucidate_this) |
| Date(s): | 11 October 2004, edited "days later" |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | Buffy the Vampire Slayer |
| Topic: | Buffy/Angel/Spike |
| External Links: | Inextricably Linked at ship_manifesto Inextricably Linked, Archived version at Octaves |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Inextricably Linked: an essay on B/A/S is an essay by Nevernever originally written for ship_manifesto. It includes some links to recommended fan stories.
It is also one of many essays at Octaves, a Buffy and Angel website.
"Ever wonder what's so damn fine about Buffy and Angel and Spike together? You're not alone."
Excerpt
A few things you should know about me before we start talking about my favorite love triangle:I’m new to the fandom. I saw my first episode of Buffy on January 1, 2004. I saw the first five seasons within the next ten days. I also saw the first two seasons of Angel in that time. A few months later I saw Season 3 of Angel. A month or two after that I saw Season 6 of Buffy. A little over a month later I saw Season 7 of Buffy. A week or two after that I saw Season 5 of Angel. I have not yet seen s4 of Angel.
I started out as a B/A shipper. And in a world without threesomes I ship B/A and S/Dawn. But what kind of fun is a world without threesomes?
Also, you should be aware that I tend to view everything through the lens of Buffy. I over-identify with her a wee bit (especially in Season 6). Keep this in mind when you read my opinions on things. I do care about and love the characters of Angel and Spike, but Buffy is the one who I tend to think of first and root for most.
The idea of a threesome between Buffy, Angel and Spike is never directly addressed on the show. It’s understandable. The writers already pushed the sexual envelope and there is only so much they could do. It’s no wonder they didn’t want to tackle polyamory as well. And of course there’s the fact that after Angel got his own spinoff the characters were never all on the same show at the same time.
However, each of the possible pairings within the threesome is addressed and amply supported by canon. It is clear that these are three people who share great love, affection and chemistry with each other.
Each pairing within the threesome works. None are perfect, all have work that would have to be done if they wanted to be happy and functional, but each has potential. There have been beautiful manifestos written by theantijoss (B/A ), kita0610 (S/A ), tallgent (B/S ) and moscow_watcher (B/S ) on these pairings, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but let me give you a quick rundown of what works and what will be hard for these pairings.