Family Matters:
why the alpha/beta pack model really does work for Angel and Spike
thatotherperv
The biggest contention that people had was that Spike didn’t fit the role of beta because he’s not classically submissive, and that Angel(us) didn’t fit the role of alpha because he talked the talk but never really backed it up. What I came to was that the model that most people have of wolf pack dynamics is inaccurate in subtle but important ways. Basically the model that average joe has in their head of how a wolf pack works is fifty years old.
Spoilers for both series through As5 Not Fade Away
The basic premise of the essay is that Spike and Angel don’t fit classic alpha / beta roles if you are thinking in terms of the old model—which most people are. When you get into the complex workings of a wolf pack as we now understand it, they actually fit quite well. You have to take into account:
- pack relations are *rarely* violent
- it’s all about posturing and putting the least amount of energy into maintaining order
- ’beta’ is not a permanent state of inferiority
- alpha / beta dynamics aren’t constantly in motion—most of the time, they give it a rest
Where the heck did this come from, anyway?
feel free to skip this part if you couldn’t care less :)
So, there was some discussion a while back about the nature of Angel and Spike’s relationship, whether or not they were equals. It sort of grew out of that poll I did on ‘Spangel discipline methods,’ something I designed sort of tongue-in-cheek, but it sparked some serious conversation that made me step back and think about some things (which…yay, always yay). This has been stewing at the back of my brain for the past month or two. Several people expressed the opinion that Angel wasn’t dominant or alpha to Spike at all—that instead their relationship was more that of brothers, or equals—and they made some really great points. Tabaqui in particular was the one I went back and forth with on this, and so some of the skeptic’s points I built this essay around in my mind were hers. I state a few of the points she made in bold to help me format the essay, but she was a hell of a lot more polite in her phrasing, and kind enough to let me use her arguments to structure my thoughts. :) my phrasing there is my own skeptic’s voice when I was thinking all this out.
The biggest contention that people had was that Spike didn’t fit the role of beta because he’s not classically submissive, and that Angel(us) didn’t fit the role of alpha because he talked the talk but never really backed it up. These were very interesting points to me…first I went back to canon and rewatched in a skeptical way to see if I was delusional in what I remembered. Then I asked myself why it was that I really saw alpha/beta dynamics written all over it when some very smart people were able to make convincing arguments that they didn’t exist between them at all.
What I came to was that the model that most people have of wolf pack dynamics is inaccurate in subtle but important ways. Basically the model that average joe has in their head of how a wolf pack works is fifty years old. And I did most of my master’s work on wolves, so this is something I can totally explain!
The high points (for those who don’t want to read War and Peace here) are this: One, wolf packs are families (literally), and any alpha displays of dominance usually involve posturing…there is hardly ever violence involved, because it is senseless to injure one’s offspring. Alphas are *literally* all talk and no action, most of the time. Two, ‘beta’ is not a permanent state of inferiority—in fact it’s very changeable. Beta males often grow up to be alphas in their own right, because offspring only stay with the pack for a period of their youth. Three, alpha/beta dynamics are not exercised every minute of the day…mostly just for feeding and uh…fucking (what, it’s alliterative!). You wouldn’t expect to see a beta permanently groveling towards the alpha…there are some wolves in the pack that are ‘omega’ wolves and they’re very submissive (to everyone), but betas aren’t.
Most of the essay deals with Angelus and William before 1900…before the “pack” was scattered. I do address Angel and Spike’s relationship in canon timeline (after 1997) at the end…because their status as near-equals actually reinforces my theory :)
The real deal on pack behavior…
Ok, I hope you’ll bear with me through some wolf pack background before I can get to how this relates to our boys.
One of the fundamental things about wolf packs that pop culture understanding often misconstrues is that wolf packs are not just a social unit. They are a *family* unit. The old way of thinking was that wolf packs consisted of unrelated individuals who cooperated because the only way to hunt successfully was to work in large groups. Close study has revealed this to be untrue—lone wolves or mating pairs without packs survive and feed themselves just fine. The purpose of a pack, as it turns out, is the raising of pups. It consists of an alpha pair (the parents, who are more or less equals), and their offspring. Wolves produce one litter a year during the winter, and offspring stay with their parents for two to three years before they head off on their own to find a mate (thereby becoming ‘alphas’ themselves). At any given time, the pack consists of the parents and 2-3 year’s worth of pups. Sometimes the wolves that can’t hack it on their own for one way or another will stay with the pack longer, but that’s more the exception than the rule. Most strike out and try to find a mate, and if they are successful, become ‘alpha’ themselves. Alphas aren’t born, they’re made…which means no wolf (vampire) can be alpha when he’s still a pup (fledge).
Let me step back for a moment and explain, one of the basic concepts of biology is that from a coldly scientific perspective, we only exist to pass on our genetic material. Everything important that we (as animals) do is to that end, and the rest is all window dressing—a die-hard biologist can relate *anything* you do to this goal, though philosophically that seems rather stupid, so I won’t do that :) But at any rate, you can basically kick off as soon as you’ve spewed out enough offspring, as long as those offspring have everything they need to survive long enough to produce their own baby-making machines. Different animals have different strategies for this. They range from animals that reproduce once in mass quantity and immediately die (salmon, or this one marsupial mouse in Australia…the male literally fucks himself to death in a frenzy of mating) all the way to animals that live long lives in order to produce very few offspring that they spend years devoting attention to (pandas…many species of large whales). Wolves fall in the middle of that spectrum. But the only thing that matters is that your offspring survive to have offspring. Gotta pass on that genetic material.
So an animal’s highest bottom-line priority beyond preserving themselves (so they can make more babies) is to protect their offspring. Mates rank slightly below that in importance, because you know…*those* are a dime a dozen ;) Next down the list are full siblings…if your full siblings survive to have offspring, those offspring carry a quarter of your genetic material to pass on down the line. Better than nothing! And so on…the less related to you someone is, the less of an evolutionary incentive to help keep that individual alive. This is known as ‘kin selection.’ There is also something called ‘reciprocal altruism,’ in which two individuals that are not related at all cooperate over long periods of time, trading favors back and forth, because it increases both their chances of successful reproduction. So really, it should be called reciprocal selfishness :)
Back to wolves, with that in mind. There are two basic reasons why pups stay with their parents as long as they do—two reasons why packs exist. One is to learn enough from their parents to hunt, survive and reproduce on their own. The other is to help their parents raise the youngest generation of pups to that end. It’s the sibling theory…until they can viably live on their own and start reproducing themselves, they might as well give a helping hand to cute little furballs that carry (statistically) half their genetic material.
What does this have to do with the price of pig’s blood? Our understanding of the purpose of a wolf pack *completely* changes how we view the way an alpha (male or female) deals with ‘beta’ wolves (I’ll speak mostly in terms of the males though, because we’re dealing with Spike and Angel). Really, if we could start from scratch on terminology all over again, I don’t know that those terms would exist, but this is the legacy we’ve got. The old way of thinking was that all alpha/non-alpha relations were about dominance in a very violent way and that status was fairly permanent/inherent—and so that’s the pop culture understanding: it’s the old fight-to-the-death for dominance. The understanding most people have is that the alpha…*vigilantly suppresses* any independence or…err…uppitiness that the other pack members might have. That a beta wolf must display complete subservience at all times.
But they’re a family, and as parents, the alphas want their offspring to survive and flourish. It’s like your household: between your teenagers and yourself and your husband, only one set can be in charge, and if you want your kids to be successful at life, it had better be the parents. One of the reasons wolf packs are so fascinating, as we understand them now, is that they *are* so parallel to human families. More violent conflict can occur, in the months before the offspring leave the pack…rather like your teenage kids. They’re getting cocky and independent and you’re-not-the-boss-of-me, so the parents have to lay the smack down with ‘my way or the highway.’
But up until that point, the majority of the moments where an alpha asserts his/her status are very subtle, and even when they’re less subtle, they are very rarely violent. The exception would be the few times that the alphas allow an unrelated wolf into the pack (because of ‘reciprocal altruism’). This isn’t a regular practice, but when it happens, more violent conflict is more common than it would be with offspring…the alphas have no reason to avoid injuring the interloper, and actually, every reason *to* injure them if they’re not respecting their alpha status—can’t have someone upsetting the apple cart by trying to mate, contaminating the good little baby factory they’ve got going.
I’ll get into the ways that alphas *do* make their authority known to offspring—and how we see those behaviors with the boys— a bit later.
Skeptic’s point 1: Angelus wasn’t violent enough with William to have been alpha…he’s all talk and no action. He had no real authority over him.
“The autocratic leading wolf does not exist.”
--Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation
So, ok…does the basis of this model (pack as family) even apply to the boys, or the fanged four in general? It’s generally accepted in the fandom that Angelus, Darla, Dru and William were a ‘family’ of sorts, however they thought of themselves. But obviously inheritance doesn’t work the same way for vampires as it does with…uh…non-demon animals. They were related by the demon but not by genetics…related, but not. Plus, it gums up the works a bit that Angelus was having sex with Dru (and possibly William), because it’s very rare for incest to occur in a pack, even if one of the alpha pair dies. The alphas in a pack are only mating with one another, not their offspring. We’ll write that off to demon perversion, because it seems that Angelus treats Dru as a fondly-regarded daughter more often than not—*Darla* is his mate and equal, not Dru.
Anyway, as a result of these complications, you could argue that William was both family *and* an interloper in relation to Angelus. Angelus certainly seems to make William out to be an intruder several times. In Destiny, he calls William “another cock in the henhouse”—competition for the attention and/or ‘fertility’ of the women. If Angelus truly viewed William this way only, the wolf model would lead us to believe that conflicts would be violent—with intention to harm. In Fool for Love, Angelus makes a threat to William’s life (“Remind me. Why don’t we kill you?”) for putting the pack—or as Angelus puts it “*my* women”—in danger. So you might suppose that Angelus is dealing with Spike as an interloper here. A non-family member of the pack who is expendable.
But—as was pointed out to me by tabaqui and others—Angelus is all bluster in this scene. He makes a lot of threats, both physical and verbal, but he doesn’t back them up with any real pain or violence…not by vampire standards anyway. What’s *that* all about? If Angelus were really alpha, he would be beating William down. But actually, Angelus’ behavior is very much that of an alpha male comfortable in his status.
That’s true if he considers William to be family. Because injuring *family* would be counter-productive. You avoid that if at all possible. Obviously sometimes you reach a point when you cannot avoid it, if behavior is outlandish enough or, in the case of human complexity, if their behavior completely incenses your morals—Angel stakes Penn and Lawson. We don’t know if it plagues him at all after he does it, but he does. Offspring or not, he can’t let Penn’s behavior stand.
And I think that he does consider William family. If not, he would have driven that stake through William’s chest in the mineshaft in FFL. Angelus engages in behaviors you’d expect towards ‘offspring’…teaches him by example how to be a vampire, as we gather from the conversation about crashing the wedding in Destiny. He expresses some concern for William’s safety—at the end of that carriage scene, Angelus reminds him that he needs to get home before sunrise. A small thing, but these guys were never demonstrative, and that show of concern stands out to me as something you’d not automatically expect between them, given their relationship.
Vampires of the Order of Aurelius (god, how snooty does that sound? I kind of love it) aren’t related by genetics, but there does seem to be a strong sense of kinship and ‘continuing the line’—loyalty to the Order—implied by the Master. Angelus doesn’t put much stock in that and he’s a renegade from day one, but he *is* a very arrogant man...pire. I can see him viewing the other demons in his line as a family legacy, made in his image. That he would get off on his offspring living long lives, spreading terror the Aurelius way…an extension of his own prowess as a bad-ass vampire. And if you think about it, vampires that share a line might be *more* related, in some way, than animal lineage. Most of us don’t have a really good grasp on the mechanics of turning, but there’s no sexual reproduction there—when you turn someone, they’re not getting half of your demon and half of someone else’s, it’s all you. The rules of relatedness I explained above might mean that William would be *just as* related to Angelus as Dru is. Which is maybe one explanation for why he calls him sire—he may as well be.
Skeptic’s point 2: Spike/William never acted submissive to Angel(us), even back in the day. They were equals, or something like it.
Ok, first of all, I’m going to head something off at the pass…much of Spike’s bristling towards Angelus can be taken as an individual case—for his own reasons. There’s no real way for me to get around the fact that although people share all of the same biological principles with the rest of the animal kingdom, things are more complicated with us and our big brains. However, wolves and other predatory social mammals aren’t all that different, really—we share the ability to reason, problem-solve, and generally be more complex than our baser needs. So wolves can still be used as a model but…yeah. There are some very valid psychological reasons, given his personal history as a human, why Spike defies Angelus even when it seems like a bad idea for his continuing good health. The boy has an inferiority complex a mile wide, poor thing. I’m not going to try to remove those, but I’m not going to address them here, because they’re off-topic. But they are there, right alongside what I’m discussing.
The fact is that asserting dominance in a wolfpack is a rather capricious thing. Step out of line *too* far and you’re sure to get knocked down, but it depends on the alpha’s mood, the circumstances…hell, the weather, who knows. The other pack members are allowed a lot more latitude than people think. My understanding is that the majority of the time, dominance *isn’t* asserted—mainly just when it comes time for feeding and copulating. It’s possible that on a hunt, in play, in relaxation, that fathers and sons will behave very much as though they are equals. There’s always going to be an undercurrent of power, but the pressure is not always on. The ‘beta’ wolves need not always grovel…in fact, that’s bad for the pack. They need everyone to be strong and somewhat independent, able to take care of themselves and back each other up in a fight with other packs or on the hunt. The fact is that most of the time, there’s no *need* to assert dominance. Why waste the energy? Why does it matter most of the time if the young buck talks back? You know you’re a better, more experienced fighter than him. It’s just *talk*, he can’t back it up. Let him yap till his heart’s content.
I’m not saying that Spike couldn’t hold his own with Angelus later in the timeline, but early on—in the mineshaft scene, in the Destiny flashbacks, we see no evidence that he can really back up his defiance, even when he wants to. No doubt in my mind that if William had been capable of besting Angelus when he walked in on him fucking Dru, he would have staked him…he was furious! Instead, he makes a rather ineffectual lunge and gets pushed to the floor. End of fight. And Angelus doesn’t pursue further physical violence because he doesn’t need to.
So it doesn’t surprise me that Spike was able to back-talk Angelus and posture and even threaten him a little, and get away with it. Angelus really only asserts dominance (with posturing but no violence, as you’d expect from an alpha in this circumstance) when Spike makes real threats to Angelus’ masculinity (and therefore status)—calling him a pouf in the mineshaft, or trying to lay claim to one of his women, thereby breaking the cardinal rule of the pack…generally only the alpha pair are allowed to copulate. In fact, while female offspring are in the pack, their heat cycle is delayed or dampered. In *those* cases, it was worth the effort for Angelus to assert his dominance…but again, I can’t stress enough, alphas go with the least necessary effort. Some of the behaviors in wolves are so subtle it took *years* of close study to identify what was going on. And until a ‘beta’ is *really* ready to strike out on his own, he will back off pretty easily once the alpha puts his foot down. It’s in his best interest to stay in the pack until he can make it without them. For Spike, I think this independence occurred around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, but by then it was really a moot point, because the family unit was already falling apart.
Why would a ‘beta’ act out? Because he can. Especially with males, there’s a lot of sexual frustration. They’ve got all that testosterone, and they want to be alpha, but they’re not ready yet. Not because they’re inherently inferior (as is the old conception, and what I think folks might be taking exception to)…some day, they will stand on their own as alpha of their own pack. But until then, they’re stuck in the uncomfortable position of not being able to lay claim to anything. Angelus *literally* says this to William in Destiny—you can spin your wheels all you want, but nothing will ever be yours. This pisses little wolf boys off as much as it pisses off Spike. They get their digs in where they can…it’s just that the places they get their digs in are insignificant, in the grand scheme of things…so the alphas allow it.
The instances in which we see Angelus and Spike/William act as ‘equals’ in canon are ones that I outlined for wolfpacks above—on the hunt or against a common enemy. I put the word ‘equals’ in quotations because when I watch at the carriage scene in Destiny, I don’t see them acting as equals at all, actually, but I’ll get into that later. But arguably, they’re conducting themselves as equals on that scene…and what is the circumstance? They just got back from a hunt. During actual feeding, pecking order is very important, but after everyone is all fed and sated…you could knock the alpha over the head and he wouldn’t care. He’s satisfied, he’s happy, he’s master of his domain and all is right with the world *beats chest like a gorilla*…and therefore, he’s more lenient on behavior. He’s feeling magnanimous, unless the little up-start tries to make a claim on something important that belongs to him. *pointed look at Drusilla* The other time that comes to mind are The Girl in Question flashbacks…pretty clearcut case of a common enemy—another, unrelated alpha male, the Immortal. And he was trying to bogart their pack! It makes sense they’d be working together to get it back.
Skeptic’s point 3: What are these alpha/beta behaviors of which you speak, and where can I find them. ;)
ok, this section could really go on forever, so I’m just going to hit the highest points. As I said before, access to food and mates are the two most important—and strategic—times for dominance displays to be made in wolf packs. We see both of these in the Destiny flashbacks.
One place where pop culture does get it right is feeding hierarchy: alphas always feed first, often simultaneously making sure the youngest pups get their fill. But the most common interaction between the alpha and ‘beta’ wolves is not violence, as you’ve been led to believe—it’s appeasement. The offspring suck up to dad before they join in the feast. How exaggerated it is depends on the scarcity of food and the submissiveness of the individual, but in wolves, appeasement includes behaviors like ‘groveling,’ face-licking, and tail-wagging.
So, this allows me to show you what *I* see when I watch the carriage scene in Destiny. William reminds me kind of that slightly geeky kid in awe of the popular boy…he’d never say it out loud, but you can tell by the way he praises him, or brags on his behalf, a little too enthusiastically—“I mean, honestly, you're a bloody killing marvel.” He’s appeasing, though I doubt he realizes it. So much of our behavior is instinctive…few people can really control their body language. He’s talking a bit too fast, laughing a bit too hard…overeager. None of this would really be apparent except for the fact that Angelus’ demeanor doesn’t match his at all. He’s laughing, he’s enjoying himself (who wouldn’t enjoy someone singing their praises?), but he’s a little more relaxed and aloof about the whole thing. And after this appeasement behavior, Angelus literally concedes some of the kill to William (or tries, because William refuses the offer). He even says, “I've had my fill. Go on, take her.” He’s had his fill. Like a good alpha.
Then tangled into this whole sequence is a display of dominance through access to mates. When William blunders unknowingly by making a proprietary claim on a female Angelus thinks is his, he seems to completely miss Angelus’ change in demeanor…the subtle claim he sends out in the way he says “She's special, isn't she? *Our* Drusilla.” Not to mention the way in which Angelus seems to view Dru through clearer eyes than William’s—he knows her better. William intercepts Angelus’ second claim well enough, but then again it’s hard to misunderstand when another man is fucking your girlfriend in front of you…and your girlfriend seems to really really like it. Angelus tells William that he can have Drusilla, but she’ll never be his—unlike a real wolf pack, the alpha isn’t restricting access to the female so much as dictating when and how. The ‘when’ being whenever Angelus doesn’t want her, and the ‘how’ being as second-best to the man she really worships.
So, I keep saying over and over that avoidance is the name of the game with violence, but our boys do like to get into it…so what happens when aggression between (especially male) members of a pack finally surfaces? It is *rare* that any injuries are inflicted, or that actual physical attacks are made at all. Between unrelated individuals, hostility is high, but between relatives, it’s a very subdued affair, and in general it’s *all* posturing. Literally. They hardly ever hurt one another, they just growl and snarl and circle one another until one of them relents. It’s often described as a ‘dance’ (which is ironic considering Spike’s infamous speech to Buffy).
The coal mine scene in Fool for Love gave me a real headache after my exchange with tabaqui, until I remembered this ritualized posturing in wolves. Because she’s right, Angelus never even comes close to actually hurting Spike, even when things get physical…and vice versa. Most of the posturing in the scene is actually verbal—both of them make claims to their superiority, from their own perspectives. Spike because appreciates the visceral pleasure of a good brawl, and Angelus because he exercises patience and self-control. Dick-measuring of this sort is definitely ritualized human male posturing :) The physical attacks that are made are very restrained…classic behavior, really. And when Angelus stops short of staking Spike, Spike doesn’t jump to his feet and continue the brawl, as he would if the fight was a serious one…like the viciousness of the fight in Destiny, where you can’t keep a good vamp down. Instead, he remains on his back, literally baring his belly until Angelus moves away…a posture that is classically submissive no matter what species you’re dealing with.
And there is one other way in which I see Spike appeasing Angelus in order to break the tension of the conflict. The first thing that struck me when I rewatched FFL years after I’d seen it the first time was the way that Spike starts…flashing his tongue at Angelus towards the end of the scene. Out of the context of the rest of the show, it would mean nothing, but as zillions of fic writers acknowledge in their fic, Spike’s tongue is a sexual tool. *ahem* Throughout his relationship with Buffy, we see him make these kinds of gestures when he’s provoking her sexually—either as a serious come-on to get her thinking about naked-time, or in mockery (especially in seasons 2, 3, 4) to distract her, because whether it makes her mad or gets her thinking about naked-time despite herself, he’s drawn her attention away from the issue at hand. I don’t remember him ever using the tongue-roll in canon when he was just plain teasing, without sexual overtones. I don’t remember him ever doing it when he was joking around with Dawn, for example. He also does it to Xander in the infamous Dailies Gospel for Spander Lovers ™, which I would interpret as the mocking sort of flirtation, personally. So the only way that I can interpret this obviously deliberate flash of tongue in FFL is that he’s introducing sexuality into the conversation *in some way*. Maybe it’s the mocking way, I don’t know. But it’s a gesture that would distract from hostile conflict, if you accept that they had UST if not a sexual relationship. Calling attention to his mouth…which calls to mind ways his mouth can be used…all of which are popularly considered to be submissive acts when performed on a man.
Skeptic’s point 4: One big problem: in present-day canon, Spike and Angel interact as equals, and in one case, Spike even bested Angel. Once more with feeling—Angel was never alpha.
Well…not really that big of a wrench in the works, as it turns out. Remember how I said all the kids eventually leave home and get their own pack? Well, Spike did that. I think it would have happened regardless of Angelus being cursed with a soul, but at any rate, it happened. Spike was never interested in turning other vampires, making offspring…his pack was Drusilla, and once he had sole rights to her, he was content.
Bs2: Classic alpha
So the Spike that we meet in School Hard, and the Spike we know earlier on in Bs2 acts every inch the alpha male. He and his alpha bitch (*snerk* sorry I couldn’t resist…*snuggles crazy Dru*) move into another ‘pack’s’ territory, and the almost straight off, Spike dispatches of the resident pack—staking the Annointed One and his minions. This is what wolves do…two packs can’t exist in the same territory, and it’s decided one way or the other by violence of some degree. Spike plays at being beta to the snotty little alpha kid for a while, but in the end, he can’t abide by it because he is stronger than the alpha. So as soon as the kid demands obedience, he loses patience and stakes his claim on the territory properly (and literally…look ma, I made a pun). We see him displaying this same independent, alpha behavior at the beginning of As5, which I’ll come back around to later.
But then something happens in Bs2 Innocence which turns everything on its head—Angelus comes back. The way in which Spike receives him is interesting. In the moments after he realizes Angel is soulless again, he is *thrilled* to see him. All laughs and smiles and good-natured teasing on his part. In fact, his demeanor in that scene is to me submissive—which I’ll explain. Angel quickly falls out of favor with Spike when he tries to take his pack away from him, and Spike retaliates as soon as possible through his pact with Buffy. The moment of submission is easily forgotten in all that ruckus, but it’s there.
By my understanding, it’s a relatively uncommon thing with wolves for an alpha male to meet back up with his father…males in particular disperse long distances, sometimes hundreds of miles, before they settle into their own territory. But sometimes they settle close enough that they meet again. So what happens when this wolf, with a pack of his own, meets his former alpha? They don’t have a standoff as two unrelated males would. Instead they greet one another as you would family—just because he’s grown doesn’t make him less genetically related, and his well-being is good for the father’s genes. And the younger alpha might even display some submissive behavior, in the way of face licking and wagging and that sort of thing. Your dad is your dad no matter how old you get, and as long as he’s not trying to take your pack away from you, it’s easy to fall back into those old roles.
Temporarily. If it doesn’t result in a loss of status. And there’s the rub.
When Angel first shows back up in Innocence, Spike is positively effusive. He says things like, “This is great! This is so great!” and “Oh, who cares? What matters is now he's back!” Angel, on the other hand, is far more reserved...he seems to soak in Spike’s praise, but gives none of it back, really…something you’d expect from alpha behavior. I’m not saying that Spike *is* beta to Angel again, but it’s a *temporary* lapse back into that behavior. It’s a knee-jerk greeting…their first *real* greeting in decades, because in School Hard, Spike seems to already know that Angelus is not himself and he rejects the souled version as having any authority at all over him. It’s easy to act like your parent’s child, even after you have a family of your own. Now if your mother moves in with you and tries to tell you how to raise your kids, you might have a problem with it :) but holidays, special occasions…no biggie, it doesn’t change who you are as an adult. Yes maam, no maam, eye-roll till you get to go home.
So I think that’s what’s going on with Angel and Spike there. Spike greets Angel in such a way because I think it doesn’t really occur to Spike yet that Angelus is going to expect to pick up right where he left off as alpha…because Spike is alpha now, and as he tells Angelus in Bs2 Passion, he’s in *Spike’s* house now, his territory. He’s a guest. Spike expects him to understand that. The bloom comes off the rose pretty quickly when it becomes apparent that Angelus intends to take his pack—Drusilla—back away from him. And Spike can’t stop it at first, because he’s physically incapacitated…temporarily thrown back to a place where he is *physically unequal* to Angel in his ability to claim alpha status. As soon as he’s healed and back on equal footing, Spike makes a bid to overthrow the new order through his deal with Buffy. He does so because he’s *not* actually beta to Angel any longer. My jury’s out on whether Spike actually intended for Angel to die or not, because the fanged four were always betraying one another…hell, Spike threatens to stake *Dru* for Buffy. I don’t think it means anything one way or the other. All he cares about is detaining Angelus long enough to take back the pack…he grabs Dru and runs off to find another territory, because this one’s not looking so good any more.
Bs4-5: Coping with a real loss of status
And then there’s a period of time where Spike finds himself at loose ends due to the loss of his mate…and then put at a further disadvantage because he’s crippled by the chip. So he joins the Scoobies to survive—completely reluctantly, because he’s still hanging on to his alpha status. He tussles with Buffy for it, which is what that end-s4 business was all about with Adam. He doesn’t want to be beta to her, especially a slayer, so he tries to find an innovative way around the problem.
Later, he does submit to her a bit, following her lead, but he gets around this by falling in love with her…if she’s his mate, then they can *both* be alpha, as the mated pair. I’m not saying that’s *why* he fell in love with her, just…it salvaged his pride a bit, and it explains why he’s not classically submissive to her. Buffy demonstrates multiple times on and off from s5-7 (protecting Dawn, fighting the First) that she feels as though Spike is the only other pack member as strong as she…she relies on him occasionally as an equal.
As5: Living on the fringes of someone else’s pack
For the first portion of As5, Spike is back to acting classic alpha, albeit one without a pack. Spike has lost his again (the Scoobies), and he’s reluctant to join Angel’s. So he kind of hangs around on the fringes for a while, doing his own thing…which again, is something wolves do. If an individual can’t form a pack of their own for whatever reason (can’t find a suitable mate, for example), sometimes they join an existing pack. Wolves are social creatures, they don’t really *prefer* to be alone, and god knows Spike doesn’t. But it’s a delicate kind of process, because the lone wolf is reluctant to give up his independence and submit to an alpha, and the alpha of the resident pack is reluctant to allow a stranger—especially another male—into the party. So they dance around each other for a while.
At the end of s5 (I’m thinking very end, last two eps particularly), Spike is back in the pack, treating Angel as the alpha—though he’s not quite so…eager to please as he was when he was young. He’s a bit more aloof, but he’s still ‘beta’…following Angel’s direction. When Angel asks for his pack’s support in a *very* risky (and honestly, insane) proposition, Spike is the very first one to raise his hand (As5 Power Play). He is trusting of Angel’s judgment there, even though that judgment was iffy at best. He does so without reservation. Yes, I’m with you. If Spike isn’t treating Angel as alpha here, I’m at a loss as to explain why he behaves this way…yes, Spike likes a good fight, but he has never hesitated in the past to call anyone on it when he smells bullshit…*especially* Angel. And Angel’s plan to overthrow the Circle of the Black Thorn is bullshit (tell me what you really think, Mel)…they can’t possibly win (even Angel admits it) and it doesn’t really serve the good fight in the long run except to ease his own conscience about running W&H. Spike should have called him on that—he calls him on other matters throughout the season. But he doesn’t call him on this, because he’s back in the pack and he’s not acting as an alpha for the time being. He’s in someone else’s pack, and they’re calling the shots.
But there’s a big fat wrench in the works in As5, getting from point A to point B—Destiny. Spike fights Angel and wins. They both acknowledge it. I struggled with this. Why would Spike later accept himself as a member of Angel’s pack if he fought Angel for dominance and *won*? Why be beta when he bested Angel? This should make it nearly impossible for him to be willing to submit to Angel on any level—an alpha wolf will not submit to another unless he is the weaker of the two.
Every way that I tried to turn this in my mind inside the wolf pack model, it didn’t make sense. If Spike had been physically incapacitated in some way between Destiny and his joining of Angel’s team, it would make sense to me. But he’s not. He’d been out there on his own, and though he got fooled by Lindsey, he was doing fine. I think this might just be a case where Spike’s humanity, so to speak, puts him outside of the model. People sometimes have reasons that have nothing to do with the biological…we’re more than the sum of our parts. Spike had a bone to pick with Angel…an old, festering wound, which the writers prove to us by infusing Destiny with flashbacks the flashbacks. Just proving to himself and to Angel that Angel isn’t really stronger anymore might actually be enough for him. In the end, Spike needs people…he needs Angel’s pack, or he’d be terribly lonely, and I think he is, in the middle of the season—it’s why he jumps at ‘Doyle’s’ offer. I think his victory in Destiny actually enables him to treat Angel as alpha, rather than prevents it…they both know now that he could stand on his own if he wanted to. Secure in that knowledge, he can let Angel run the show—because tabaqui’s right, Spike doesn’t really like to do that sort of thing anyway. I think if he still had a bone to pick, it would still rub him the wrong way, but he’s put that to rest. And Angel, by turn, interacts with Spike very much like an equal because he’s earned it—treats him almost like a mate, if you will *cough* sorry, I couldn’t resist the shippy plug.
The one thing that convinces me that Spike sees Angel as either alpha or mate—he follows Angel right into that alley, despite the fact that Spike has always had a pronounced sense of self-preservation. It’s his ultimate vote of confidence.
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