Wow. I mean, I thought Damon was evil when he flips it- but I quickly realised upon watching 8x11 that he is a lot like Buffy's Spike- all wading in violently with little thought but lots of passion. Stefan, on the other hand- is something else entirely. Stefan is supremely evil- in the manner of Angelus. I was truly shocked by his actions in that last episode.
shareStefan and Damon are nowhere near well done as Angel and Spike were, Damon with humanity has the passion you're talking about, Damon without doesn't care about anything either, he just doesn't go destructive out of nature, he's actually just more menacing (Killed Tyler, tried to kill Bonnie) meanwhile Stefan's humanity is what actually holds the evil in him together, without it, he's a monster.
That said, I wasn't shocked by his actions, from what we saw in S6 he would've helped Caroline kill Tyler and Matt, and killing Enzo should've been something Stefan with humanity did multiple years ago. Trying to kill Bonnie is something he was also willing to do in S3.
Oh I know, this show is great but it will never be in the same league as Buffy. I just think the comparison is there in styles between Damon/Spike and Stefan/Angelus. It's like you yourself said, Stefan NEEDS his humanity. Without it, he is a complete monster. Like Angelus. Damon is a dimmer switch who is still capable of killing even with humanity. Again like Spike.
shareOkay, yeah, I see what your saying. I take Spike and Damon as different because Damons always more of on his dimmer, and Spike once he had his soul was straight up good.
shareStefan seems to revel in being evil with his humanity off and when it's off it's all the way off. Damon seems to always be on a dimmer switch with his no humanity. The way Stefan was going to kill Elena last episode was just...wow. Drowning her like she was originally supposed to die. Also, if he'd killed Bonnie first Elena would've been awake when he drowned her.
shareOkay, but Damon WITH his humanity on is reckless and emotional; he acts on a whim and then cries about it later. Damon is already "violent with little thought" when he is in his right mind.
He killed Jeremy in a fit of anger, he force fed Elena his blood in a moment of impulsiveness. I don't remember if he ditched Enzo before or after he flipped his switch but I don't even know if it matters because IMO Damon with the switch and without is one of the same.
Damon is truly a poor man's Spike. I love Spike and I agree that his violence was usually thoughtless; he had no passion for it like Angelus, but he wasn't a petulant baby without any control over his emotions like Damon is. His emotional outbursts were usually just rants and speeches, not a murderous rampage of those closest to Buffy just because she set him off. Of course, Spike was neutered for a large part of the s4-5 so we don't know what his kill list would have been like had he not fallen for Buffy. Ripper Stefan is definitely a carbon copy of Angelus though.
A rose is just a rose.