Spike calling Angel Liam

[angeldork]

I'm not really sure but I think it's the episode where Spike is being haunted by the ghosts of Wolfram & Hart where he does this. But does anyone else think that it was weird that Spike called Angel by his human name 'Liam'. What I never really understood about it is that I think when they had done the whole flash back scenes of the past with Spike and Angelous is that I didn't think that Spike knew his actual name; I just thought that he had only known him as Angelous and Angel. Does anybody else think that this is weird.

[Edmund Blackadder]

I'm not really sure but I think it's the episode where Spike is being haunted by the ghosts of Wolfram & Hart where he does this. But does anyone else think that it was weird that Spike called Angel by his human name 'Liam'. What I never really understood about it is that I think when they had done the whole flash back scenes of the past with Spike and Angelous is that I didn't think that Spike knew his actual name; I just thought that he had only known him as Angelous and Angel. Does anybody else think that this is weird.


Those flashbacks we're mere moments for a century.

I'm not having a go but why do people find it so difficult to imagine that some stuff happened outside the flashbacks/episodes.

I mean in the real world, a week isn't 44 minutes long is it and a year isn't 22-24 weeks long and before 1998 weeks/days/eternity was shorter.

Maybe one night Angelus and Spike went down t'pub and have a brother to brother heart to heart over a frosty glass of serving wench?

Maybe Spike in his infinite wisdom did a little research on Angel/us.

Maybe Darla told him.

Maybe James Marsters read the script.

I really don't see things like this as odd and people that do and obsess about it have FAR too much free time.

[Hello Cutie]

I agree with BotD (what a surprise). Just because you see flashbacks, it doesn't mean it's always like that! I mean, Angelus/Angel knows that Spike's real name is William, so why on earth wouldn't Spike know that Angel's name is Liam... it's not like he tries to hide it, it's more that no-one seems to want to know about it... you don't know how it came up- maybe they were discussing names over a pint of O neg, or maybe someone from Angel's past pops up at some point and uses it, or maybe he was just in a sharing mood.

Its ridiculous to assume that nothing happens outside of what we watch... instead, what we see is more an insight into a world that continues whether we're watching or not. People don't just freeze and do nothing, they carry on living, so why wouldn't everyone in Angel (and Buffy) do the same?

You just have to accept that things happen that we don't see, because they're not integral to the storyline- Spike knowing Angel's real name isn't integral to the storyline so we don't have to know why or how he knows it, just accept he does.

[JCC]

Does nobody find it weird that in the first episode of Buffy, we all just take it for granted that her name's Buffy?

We didn't SEE her birth certificate! And when she was at Hemery High, we all just took it for granted that her name is Buffy.

Isn't that soooo weird?!

[white avenger]

I agree that Spike probably learned Angel's human name at some point in the past that wasn't covered by the flashbacks. The writers can't explain every minute detail concerning the history of each character, and don't worry about how much spare time you have or how you spend it. I've been accused of wasting quite a bit on one thing or another myself. It's called being a fan. If you look carefully, you might find a few more of us around here.

[Tranquillity]

It's not so much that he knows Angel's human name, to me it's more interesting that he uses it at all. Why in that particular scene does he use the human name?

Spike: Never much cared for you, Liam, even when we were evil.
Angel: Cared for you less.
Spike: Fine.
Angel: Good. (beat) There was one thing about you...
Spike: Really?
Angel: Yeah, I never told anybody about this, but I—I liked your poems.
Spike: (frowns) You like Barry Manilow.

Spike uses Angel’s human name to get his attention, to claim intimacy, maybe even to flatter. And it works, because, to the audience’s amazement, Angel throws him a bone. He complements Spike’s poetry; something innately connected the human William. It’s not much of a complement; because Angel’s artistic appreciation is, well questionable, but still…