Angel Has More Than Two Expressions! Maybe.

I mentioned last Saturday I loved the expression Rebekah Isaacs gave Angel as Spike announced his presence. So why not look at it?

As best we can from this blurry photograph, anyway. Sorry about that. It looked better on the camera screen.

The upper and lower halves of his face tell different stories, don't they? The lower half is a slight frown, which might not even be notable. This is Angel we're talking about. Slightly down-in-the-mouth is his default setting. The upper half, though, has the raised eyebrow as he looks to his left.

Maybe it's different for other folks, but for me, a raised eyebrow doesn't usually accompany anger. A smug expression? Absolutely. A cocky grin? Hell yes. Admittedly, a cocky grin is more Spike's style than Angel's, but we know these two have been changing themselves in response to each other for decades, as part of some macho posturing, alpha male thing.

I look at the eyebrow, and I think Angel's smiling a little, maybe in spite of himself, but he is. Of course he isn't, but that only makes me believe he's suppressing it. He can't be surprised that Spike would announce himself with a jab at Angel. It's Spike. Poking fun at Angel is what he does. Maybe he's relieved. He's so close to being able to resurrect Giles, to set things right, and it's the moments when Angel's almost got what he wants when things tend to go south. Sure enough, there's a full-fledged demon between him and his goal, and he has to rely on a lot of brassed off Slayers. What's more, they Slayers are pissed at Faith, which means she's pissed at him, which means he's on the verge of losing the one person who's had his back throughout.

But here's Spike, leaning against the doorframe, the swagger, the cigarette, the little swipe at his grandsire. Even with everything else going wrong, Spike's the same as he always was. Has to reassuring after the shock Angel received when he ran into Drusilla.

I wonder if Spike knows about that. He has contacts. Could he have heard? I wouldn't be surprised if he was keeping tabs on Dru. Trying to make sure she didn't cause enough damage to land in the Slayers' crosshairs, for everyone's sake.