One of the interesting things about Buffy/Angel/Spike is that while Spike really has no impact on the Buffy/Angel relationship, Angel is a constant ghost presence in Buffy/Spike. Part of it is because of the longterm enmity between Spike and Angel and the existing Spike/Drusilla/Angel triangle, but the show has an annoying tendency never to let you forget that Angel is Buffy's True Love no matter what else happens. There is the actual triangular showdown in the end of S7 when Angel shows up.
One kind of triangle I do tend to enjoy is Triangle E: Girl dates Boy A but Boy B is an active platonic presence in her life. Girl breaks up with Boy A. Later, Girl dates Boy B. Often, the relationship with A is relatively tempestuous and fits a more stereotypical romance, while the relationship with B is a relaxed relationship between people who fit well into each other's life. The main example I'm thinking of is Nick/Janet/Thomas in the Pamela Dean Tam Lin. I'm not sure if this is more "Triangle A with early involvement by boy B", or "Subverted Triangle C where girl ends up with boy B instead of the one she's supposed to."
For all its flaws, I really enjoyed the degree to which Twilight was meta about its triangle, which started off as C and then took a disastrous turn for D. Bella's constant speculation about which fictional characters she, Edward, and Jacob were like never failed to crack me up. Especially when she was coming up with elaborate Romeo and Juliet AUs to convince herself that a relationship with Jacob was a reasonable idea. And when Edward started sympathizing with Heathcliff, which I maintain is the single best moment in any of the Twilight books. I literally threw my fist into the air.
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One of the interesting things about Buffy/Angel/Spike is that while Spike really has no impact on the Buffy/Angel relationship, Angel is a constant ghost presence in Buffy/Spike. Part of it is because of the longterm enmity between Spike and Angel and the existing Spike/Drusilla/Angel triangle, but the show has an annoying tendency never to let you forget that Angel is Buffy's True Love no matter what else happens. There is the actual triangular showdown in the end of S7 when Angel shows up.
One kind of triangle I do tend to enjoy is Triangle E: Girl dates Boy A but Boy B is an active platonic presence in her life. Girl breaks up with Boy A. Later, Girl dates Boy B. Often, the relationship with A is relatively tempestuous and fits a more stereotypical romance, while the relationship with B is a relaxed relationship between people who fit well into each other's life. The main example I'm thinking of is Nick/Janet/Thomas in the Pamela Dean Tam Lin. I'm not sure if this is more "Triangle A with early involvement by boy B", or "Subverted Triangle C where girl ends up with boy B instead of the one she's supposed to."
For all its flaws, I really enjoyed the degree to which Twilight was meta about its triangle, which started off as C and then took a disastrous turn for D. Bella's constant speculation about which fictional characters she, Edward, and Jacob were like never failed to crack me up. Especially when she was coming up with elaborate Romeo and Juliet AUs to convince herself that a relationship with Jacob was a reasonable idea. And when Edward started sympathizing with Heathcliff, which I maintain is the single best moment in any of the Twilight books. I literally threw my fist into the air.