Thread:LucidPigeons/@comment-24859393-20160609220233/@comment-2059440-20160612183825

it used to in early Buffy but Angel really altered the "soulless equals evil" thing, many soulless beings show complex human emotions in the show and those that don't tend to be like the Judge and come off as generic "doomsday" monsters due to being.. well.. without any trait other than "kill everyone".

what makes me feel Ryan is a throwback to the "old" Buffy rules is his utter lack of any emotion whatsoever, suggesting he runs by the old rule that "soulless beings are unable to be anything but evil".

ultimately it is also due to the fact he shared a universe with people like Darin, who were also "monsters of the week" but had more revolting acts (not that Ryan's act was without heinousness).

the swim coach was nasty (he was willing to trap Buffy with the team as a sex offering).. fun fact about Buffyverse.. demons and vampires are *nothing* compared to humans in levels of CM..

Caleb, Warren, Darin, Ryan (debatable), a majority of Wolfram and Hart.. all human but far nastier than most "Big Bads" on the show (I mean the Big Bads tended to be quite lovable, in a twisted way and were rarely CMs.. until Warren and Caleb came along.. they radically changed the "Big Bad" formula by stripping them off any charm.. even Glory, as psychotic as she was, at least had enjoyable moments.. Warren was a twisted descent into the mind of a terrorist and Caleb.. well.. Caleb was the definition of "Game Changer" and "Hero Killer").