Implicit shippiness in "Choices" and "The Prom"

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Okay, in fbing the Bear, I mentioned Angel's key breakup line in "The
Prom":

"You deserve more. You deserve something outside of...demons and
darkness. You should have someone who can take you into the light."

And I thought: Hey, did you ever notice that "Choices", which is after
all the set up for "The Prom", the end of B/A, and that "take you into
the light" line above, ends with:

1) Buffy and Willow, Willow showing her devotion and Buffy declaring her
love, outdoors in the bright sunlight.

2) a very brief Cordelia scene, then

3) Buffy and Angel, at night, in the cemetery, trying to convince
themselves that the Mayor was wrong and there's nothing wrong with their
relationship, and neither of them really believing it? (in fact, I'm
not even sure Angel's trying to convince himself; he may just be
putting on a show for Buffy's sake.)

So, skipping the 3 seconds of Cordelia, what are we presented with but a
contrast: day and night, happy and sad...B/W and B/A? In other words,
a...choice. (Episode Theme Alert!) 

Buffy can suffer in dark relationships, or she can be with someone who
can...well, I refuse to quote a line three times, but you get the point.

Now to be fair, with regard to who could give Buffy what Angel couldn't,
I think that David Fury was thinking of Riley, and that Angel himself
always assumed it would be Xander. (For one thing, Angel goes on to
talk about children.)

But as we all know, sometimes things don't go as planned, and sometimes
it takes a little while to realize what's right in front of you. After
all, who is the light in Buffy's life, if not her Willow? She has two
lives, one centered on her friends (and especially her best friend) and
the other centered on her "cradle-robbing, creature of the night
boyfriend". And even he knows where she'd be happier :)

Dan

finding 'shippiness in darn near anything...