Buffy - Season 5 impressions (episode 14)
Jan. 8th, 2006 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thalia_seawoodCrush
For a summary click here.
- A very intense episode. Things certainly get stirred up quite a bit. It also contains some of my favorite scenes for this season so far.
- Love the first scene between Buffy & Spike. I was totally surprised to see that he had dressed up for Buffy and tries to have a civilised conversation with her. From his point of view, this makes perfect sense. He has tried to comfort Buffy in the last episode and she didn't bitch at him for it. Also he has helped her to fight Glory. Buffy, of course, is just confused by his behaviour and doesn't want to get chummy with him. Which I also can understand. Still I felt sorry for Spike by the end of this scene.
I believe that like Angel he would like to be surrounded by a family of sorts. Yes, they can both live on their own, but they much rather prefer being part of a family group. If this wasn't the case, the Darla, Angel, Dru and Spike wouldn't have spent nearly 20 years together. So my theory is that if the Scoobies allowed Spike into their family, he would try to adjust and become a true part of their family. He would stir up things from time to time, but on the whole things would work out.
The problem is that the Scoobies have made some bad experiences with him in the past and therefore do not want to become his best buddies now. The irony is that they gave Spike several chances in season 4 to connect to them and he always refused them in the most obnoxious way possible. Now he wants in, but isn't allowed into the inner circle any longer.
- Willow is still suffering from the aftermath of the teleportation spell - and Ben/Glory is back already.
- Ben chatting up Buffy in the bar. - Oh, Buffy, you really aren't very lucky with the men who are interested in you.
- The sequence of the train arriving in Sunnydale gave me the shivers. There's just something very ominous to the way the scene is shot, even before we see noone is getting out of the train or what has happened inside the train.
- This scene made me laugh. Buffy and Dawn are acting like normal sisters again with Dawn feeling automatically guilty because she might have done some wrong. The hightlight is, of course, the cut to Spike with Buffy's sweater.
Buffy: So how is Dawn?
Giles: She's, uh, she's coping very well. Extremely well, really, considering the extraordinary circumstances of her origin.
Buffy: Then lemme ask you something. Um, we've been going easy on her the last week ... letting things slide?
Giles: Oh, I don't think that's at all wise.
Buffy: You don't?
Giles: No, the best thing you can do now is behave exactly as you always have. Any special treatment at this stage is likely to undermine Dawn's sense of normality.
Buffy: You think so?
Giles: Absolutely.
Buffy: (nods) Thanks. (turns around and yells sharply) Dawn!!
Dawn jumps up from the floor.
Dawn: What?!
Buffy: What did I tell you about borrowing my clothing?
Dawn: I didn't take your clothes.
Buffy: Bull!
Dawn: I never touched your stuff.
Buffy: Really. Then what happened to my blue cashmere sweater?
Cut to Spike sitting in his crypt, fondling Buffy's blue cashmere sweater.
- Harmony pretending to be the Slayer so Spike still takes an interest in her. Oh my. She's really, really bad as Buffy. *g*
Harmony: Oh, I'm gonna stake you! (looks around) I'm coming after you, you bad, evil vampire, (gestures with the stake) and I'm gonna slay you! (pauses and thinks for a moment) I'm sneaking up, and I'm going to stake you so much with my slaying powers that I have because I'm the chosen-
Good thing Buffy doesn't know about this or she be very, very angry.
- The interaction between Spike and Dawn rocks. This is such a great scene:
Spike: Because, I've got things to do.
Dawn folds her arms over her chest, looking skeptical. Spike approaches her.
Spike: Bad, evil things! (Dawn tries to stifle a grin) That are not for a child's eyes.
Dawn: (stops smiling) I'm not a child. (goes to lean against a pillar) I'm not even human. Not originally.
Spike: (sighs) Yeah, well, originally I was. I got over it. (Sits on the edge of a coffin) Doesn't seem to me it matters very much how you start out.
Dawn: That's smart. I get that. (pauses) I like how you talk to me like I can understand things. Everyone else is being all ... twitchy and secretive.
Spike: They're just trying to keep you safe, I expect.
Dawn: I feel safe with you.
Spike chokes on his cigarette smoke in horror. He begins to cough and jumps down from the casket. Dawn moves forward from the pillar in alarm.
Spike: Take that back!
Dawn: (quickly) I, I mean, you have that whole ... superpower thing, and ... you're just as tough as Buffy is, maybe tougher. (quieter) Buffy thinks so too.
Spike: She does?
Dawn: Well, she's always worried about what she's gonna do if you ever get that chip out of your head.
Spike: Is that right? So, um... (He sits back down on the coffin and Dawn leans back against the pillar) what else does Buffy say about me?
Spike may be shocked by Dawn's admission that she feels safe with him, but part of him is certainly flattered. And hearing Dawn talk about Buffy is too good an opportunity to miss. Since we only learn shortly afterwards that Dawn knows Spike has a crush on Buffy, I wonder if she's playing him here a bit. I.e. talk to him about his favorite topic and therefore be allowed to hang out with him.
- Spike telling scary stories to Dawn.
To be honest, in Buffy's place I wouldn't want my little sister to hang out with Spike either. Not if he tells true stories of his past "adventures" to her and she finds it cool. This scene shows how young Dawn still is. I doubt she really understands that Spike story is about real people he killed. If she did, she wouldn't want it to end as grizzly as possible. While Dawn is still an innocent here, Spike knows that this story wouldn't find Buffy's approval and changes the ending.
Buffy: Yeah. Okay. Let's hear the story that Spike is telling my little sister.
Spike: (nervous) Right. Yeah. (Shot of the two girls watching, Dawn interested, Buffy with her arms folded) So, uh, I knew the girl was in the coal bin. So I rip it open, very violent, haul her out of there ... (looks at Buffy) and then I give her to a good family in a nice home, (Buffy rolls her eyes) where they're never ever mean to her, and didn't lock her in the coal bin.
Dawn: What? That's so lame!
- Another great scene:
Buffy: You have a crush on him.
Dawn: No I don't! It's just, (giggles) he's got cool hair, and he wears cool leather coats and stuff. (stops smiling) And he doesn't treat me like an alien.
Buffy: He's a killer, Dawn. You cannot have a crush on something that is ... dead, and, and evil, and a vampire.
Dawn: Right, that's why you were never with Angel for three years.
Buffy: (quietly) Angel's different. He has a soul.
Dawn: Spike has a chip. Same diff.
Buffy: (turns away, gesturing angrily) I, I can't listen to this! (sighs, turns back) Spike is a monster, okay? A-and plus, you are only fourteen years old.
Dawn: I like hanging out with him is all. And even if I did have a crush, he wouldn't notice in a million years. Not with you around.
Buffy: What does that mean?
Dawn: Spike's totally into you.
Buffy is speechless.
Dawn: Oh, come on. You didn't notice? Buffy, Spike is completely in love with you.
Buffy stares at her.
Buffy: Huh?
Interesting remark about the soul and the chip.
There is, of course, a big difference between chip and soul. The chip doesn't allow a vampire to kill someone; it doesn't give any awareness of right and wrong; it forces you not to kill, there is no possibility to choose the morally right option.
However, since the chip removes the chance to kill viciously, memories of humanity and human moral codes can resurface.
So while chip and soul are very different things, the end result can be very similar.
- Buffy goes to Xander for advice which makes sense. In season 5, he's a lot closer to her than Willow.
While Xander finds it funny that Spike has a crush on Buffy, he's not so happy to learn that Dawn has now a crush for Spike. After all, she used to be the energy girl who found the Xan-man cool. *g*
- Spike hanging out with Joyce and Dawn is cute. Can totally understand Buffy's shocked reaction, though. It must be scary to see someone sneaking into your family behind your back and making friends there.
- Spike then gives Buffy a fake lead to the train killer, so he can spend some time with her.
Things start really going wrong, when holds open the door for her. Well, William knew how to behave around a lady back in the 19th century and love just brings this back.
- Buffy: Please! Spike, you're a vampire.
Spike: Angel was a vampire.
Buffy: Angel was good!
Spike: And I can be too. I've changed, Buffy.
Buffy: What, that chip in your head? That's not change. Tha-that's just ... holding you back. You're like a serial killer in prison!
Spike: Women marry 'em all the time!
Buffy: Uhh!
Spike: (realizing that's not what he meant) But I'm not ... like that. Something's happening to me. I can't stop thinking about you.
Buffy: Uhh. (turns away)
Spike: And if that means turning my back on the whole evil thing-
Buffy: (turns back) You don't know what you mean! You don't know what feelings are!
Spike: (offended) I damn well do! I lie awake every night!
Buffy: You sleep during the day!
Spike: Yeah, but - (through his teeth) You are missing the point. This is real here. I love-
Buffy: Don't!
Interesting scene. I've noticed before that Spike always tries to get out of Angel's shadow. Here he is told that Angel is better than him, because he has a soul. What must really hurt though is that Buffy denies he can have feelings. The one thing I don't doubt at all is that vampires have feelings and that some of them feel things very intensely.
I understand Buffy is shocked. She certainly isn't in love with Spike at the time, though there is an underlying attraction. I think it's this underlying attraction that lets her react so strongly in the negative. With any other guy she have tried to be more gentle when letting him down.
Now under normal circumstance, I believe Spike would have been depressed for a while and then tried to win her affections again. However, Drusilla comes back...
- Spike and Drusilla on Buffy are what Angel and Darla are on Angel. Both couples have so much chemistry the screen starts melting. Dru calling Spike "my darling deadly boy" is strongly reminiscent of Darla calling Angel "my dear boy". Like Darla was willing to take back a souled Angel, so Dru is willing to take back a chipped Spike.
Harmony has absolutely no chance. Spike really just put up with her for the company, whereas he has strong ties to Dru. Poor Harmony. You can be very silly, but you deserve better.
Harmony: You'd better not be thinking what I think you're thinking. 'Cause my answer is the same as always. No threesomes unless it's (gestures to Spike) boy, (gestures to the air) boy, (gestures to herself) girl. Or Charlize Theron.
Spike: Harm, you moron, this *is* Drusila.
Dru just watches with a small smile.
Harmony: Oh. Well, (walks toward Dru) you've got some nerve showing up here like this. After all this time. After breaking my sweet boo-boo's heart.
Dru looks over Harmony's shoulder at Spike and mouths the word "boo-boo." Spike shrugs.
Harmony: Do you have any idea how hard it's been to break down the walls he put up after you left? I mean, *serious* trust issues.
Spike: Harm...
Harmony: So it's no use you crawling back to him, 'cause Spikey don't play that game any more, Morticia.
Dru puts up a hand as if to block out the sight of Harmony. Harmony turns back to Spike and he grabs her by the throat.
Spike: (looking at Dru) It's been fun while it lasted, Harm, (Dru smiles) but I think it'd be best now if you hit the road.
He throws Harmony across the room. She hits the wall and slides down to the floor, clutching her throat and panting.
Harmony: Why? Because she's back?
Spike: (still looking at Dru) No. (moves closer to Dru) Because I am.
Dru smiles. Harmony begins to get to her feet. Spike puts his arm around Dru's waist and pulls her up against him.
Drusila: And there you are, my darling, deadly boy.
She puts her hand on the back of his neck and they kiss.
- Drusilla and Spike visiting the Bronze is another intense scene. It's the first time, we really see them on the hunt together. (Beforehand, either Dru was sick or Spike was sick.) They are both graceful and very deadly.
It's obvious that Spike is now conflicted about feeding from a victim, but his bond to Drusilla overcomes his scruples.
This scene also mirrors what happened to Angel some episodes ago: Both Spike and Angel haven't fed from humans in some time. In The Shroud of Ramon, Angel drinks briefly from Kate. And here Spike drinks from his first human victim since season 4.
- The "shrine to Buffy" in the crypt:
Seems that vampires in love are vampires obsessed. The pictures of Buffy strongly reminded me of Angel drawing Darla again and again.
- The showdown between Spike, Drusilla, Buffy and Harmony:
In this scene, Spike is confronted with the three women in his life.
Now I don't know what gave Spike the idea that chaining up both Buffy and Drusilla and threatening them alternatively with death is a good way to win Buffy's affection. Maybe it's acceptable for vampires, but most human women won't be flatttered by the offer to kill your ex-girlfriend to prove your love or the threat to by killed yourself if you don't say "I love you.". Nope, blackmail rarely does the trick. The sad thing is that Spike manages to lose any trust he might have won so far with Buffy and the Scoobies.
Favorite lines:
Buffy: And whatever you think you're feeling, it's not love. You can't love without a soul.
Drusilla: Oh, we can, you know. We can love quite well. If not wisely.
Word, Drusilla!!
Drusilla: But it's so funny. I knew ... before you did. I knew you loved the Slayer. The pixies in my head whispered it to me.
Dru is laughing here, but I got the impression she's both amused and sad. She really has lost Spike now.
Spike: This is Drusilla, girl! You have the slightest idea what she means to me? It's the face of my salvation! (looks at Dru, smiles slightly) She delivered me from mediocrity. For over a century we ... cut a swath through continents. A hundred years, she never stopped surprising me.
He caresses Drusilla's cheek ad she leans her face into his hand.
Spike: (quietly) Never stopped taking me to new depths. I was a lucky bloke. (Dru smiles) Just to touch such a black beauty.
This also mirrors Darla and Angelus. Angelus was created by Darla and also saved from what he would see as mediocrity. They both worked together for over 100 years. And Darla also took pride in still being able to surprise Angelus after all these years.
- Brilliant ending. What's very poignant is that his invitation was revoked before the confrontation between Dru, Buffy and him! Now I could understand if they revoked the invitation after this event, but doing it beforehand means is that he gets shut out simply for feeling too much for Buffy.
Spike: Like it or not, I'm in your life, you can't just shut me out.
He stops suddenly at the doorway as an invisible force prevents him from entering. Buffy stands right inside the door, giving him a grim look.
Spike stares in surprise, gives a tentative smile, not quite getting it yet. It begins to dawn on him that his invitation to the Summers house has been revoked.
Buffy steps back and closes the door in his face.
For a summary click here.
- A very intense episode. Things certainly get stirred up quite a bit. It also contains some of my favorite scenes for this season so far.
- Love the first scene between Buffy & Spike. I was totally surprised to see that he had dressed up for Buffy and tries to have a civilised conversation with her. From his point of view, this makes perfect sense. He has tried to comfort Buffy in the last episode and she didn't bitch at him for it. Also he has helped her to fight Glory. Buffy, of course, is just confused by his behaviour and doesn't want to get chummy with him. Which I also can understand. Still I felt sorry for Spike by the end of this scene.
I believe that like Angel he would like to be surrounded by a family of sorts. Yes, they can both live on their own, but they much rather prefer being part of a family group. If this wasn't the case, the Darla, Angel, Dru and Spike wouldn't have spent nearly 20 years together. So my theory is that if the Scoobies allowed Spike into their family, he would try to adjust and become a true part of their family. He would stir up things from time to time, but on the whole things would work out.
The problem is that the Scoobies have made some bad experiences with him in the past and therefore do not want to become his best buddies now. The irony is that they gave Spike several chances in season 4 to connect to them and he always refused them in the most obnoxious way possible. Now he wants in, but isn't allowed into the inner circle any longer.
- Willow is still suffering from the aftermath of the teleportation spell - and Ben/Glory is back already.
- Ben chatting up Buffy in the bar. - Oh, Buffy, you really aren't very lucky with the men who are interested in you.
- The sequence of the train arriving in Sunnydale gave me the shivers. There's just something very ominous to the way the scene is shot, even before we see noone is getting out of the train or what has happened inside the train.
- This scene made me laugh. Buffy and Dawn are acting like normal sisters again with Dawn feeling automatically guilty because she might have done some wrong. The hightlight is, of course, the cut to Spike with Buffy's sweater.
Buffy: So how is Dawn?
Giles: She's, uh, she's coping very well. Extremely well, really, considering the extraordinary circumstances of her origin.
Buffy: Then lemme ask you something. Um, we've been going easy on her the last week ... letting things slide?
Giles: Oh, I don't think that's at all wise.
Buffy: You don't?
Giles: No, the best thing you can do now is behave exactly as you always have. Any special treatment at this stage is likely to undermine Dawn's sense of normality.
Buffy: You think so?
Giles: Absolutely.
Buffy: (nods) Thanks. (turns around and yells sharply) Dawn!!
Dawn jumps up from the floor.
Dawn: What?!
Buffy: What did I tell you about borrowing my clothing?
Dawn: I didn't take your clothes.
Buffy: Bull!
Dawn: I never touched your stuff.
Buffy: Really. Then what happened to my blue cashmere sweater?
Cut to Spike sitting in his crypt, fondling Buffy's blue cashmere sweater.
- Harmony pretending to be the Slayer so Spike still takes an interest in her. Oh my. She's really, really bad as Buffy. *g*
Harmony: Oh, I'm gonna stake you! (looks around) I'm coming after you, you bad, evil vampire, (gestures with the stake) and I'm gonna slay you! (pauses and thinks for a moment) I'm sneaking up, and I'm going to stake you so much with my slaying powers that I have because I'm the chosen-
Good thing Buffy doesn't know about this or she be very, very angry.
- The interaction between Spike and Dawn rocks. This is such a great scene:
Spike: Because, I've got things to do.
Dawn folds her arms over her chest, looking skeptical. Spike approaches her.
Spike: Bad, evil things! (Dawn tries to stifle a grin) That are not for a child's eyes.
Dawn: (stops smiling) I'm not a child. (goes to lean against a pillar) I'm not even human. Not originally.
Spike: (sighs) Yeah, well, originally I was. I got over it. (Sits on the edge of a coffin) Doesn't seem to me it matters very much how you start out.
Dawn: That's smart. I get that. (pauses) I like how you talk to me like I can understand things. Everyone else is being all ... twitchy and secretive.
Spike: They're just trying to keep you safe, I expect.
Dawn: I feel safe with you.
Spike chokes on his cigarette smoke in horror. He begins to cough and jumps down from the casket. Dawn moves forward from the pillar in alarm.
Spike: Take that back!
Dawn: (quickly) I, I mean, you have that whole ... superpower thing, and ... you're just as tough as Buffy is, maybe tougher. (quieter) Buffy thinks so too.
Spike: She does?
Dawn: Well, she's always worried about what she's gonna do if you ever get that chip out of your head.
Spike: Is that right? So, um... (He sits back down on the coffin and Dawn leans back against the pillar) what else does Buffy say about me?
Spike may be shocked by Dawn's admission that she feels safe with him, but part of him is certainly flattered. And hearing Dawn talk about Buffy is too good an opportunity to miss. Since we only learn shortly afterwards that Dawn knows Spike has a crush on Buffy, I wonder if she's playing him here a bit. I.e. talk to him about his favorite topic and therefore be allowed to hang out with him.
- Spike telling scary stories to Dawn.
To be honest, in Buffy's place I wouldn't want my little sister to hang out with Spike either. Not if he tells true stories of his past "adventures" to her and she finds it cool. This scene shows how young Dawn still is. I doubt she really understands that Spike story is about real people he killed. If she did, she wouldn't want it to end as grizzly as possible. While Dawn is still an innocent here, Spike knows that this story wouldn't find Buffy's approval and changes the ending.
Buffy: Yeah. Okay. Let's hear the story that Spike is telling my little sister.
Spike: (nervous) Right. Yeah. (Shot of the two girls watching, Dawn interested, Buffy with her arms folded) So, uh, I knew the girl was in the coal bin. So I rip it open, very violent, haul her out of there ... (looks at Buffy) and then I give her to a good family in a nice home, (Buffy rolls her eyes) where they're never ever mean to her, and didn't lock her in the coal bin.
Dawn: What? That's so lame!
- Another great scene:
Buffy: You have a crush on him.
Dawn: No I don't! It's just, (giggles) he's got cool hair, and he wears cool leather coats and stuff. (stops smiling) And he doesn't treat me like an alien.
Buffy: He's a killer, Dawn. You cannot have a crush on something that is ... dead, and, and evil, and a vampire.
Dawn: Right, that's why you were never with Angel for three years.
Buffy: (quietly) Angel's different. He has a soul.
Dawn: Spike has a chip. Same diff.
Buffy: (turns away, gesturing angrily) I, I can't listen to this! (sighs, turns back) Spike is a monster, okay? A-and plus, you are only fourteen years old.
Dawn: I like hanging out with him is all. And even if I did have a crush, he wouldn't notice in a million years. Not with you around.
Buffy: What does that mean?
Dawn: Spike's totally into you.
Buffy is speechless.
Dawn: Oh, come on. You didn't notice? Buffy, Spike is completely in love with you.
Buffy stares at her.
Buffy: Huh?
Interesting remark about the soul and the chip.
There is, of course, a big difference between chip and soul. The chip doesn't allow a vampire to kill someone; it doesn't give any awareness of right and wrong; it forces you not to kill, there is no possibility to choose the morally right option.
However, since the chip removes the chance to kill viciously, memories of humanity and human moral codes can resurface.
So while chip and soul are very different things, the end result can be very similar.
- Buffy goes to Xander for advice which makes sense. In season 5, he's a lot closer to her than Willow.
While Xander finds it funny that Spike has a crush on Buffy, he's not so happy to learn that Dawn has now a crush for Spike. After all, she used to be the energy girl who found the Xan-man cool. *g*
- Spike hanging out with Joyce and Dawn is cute. Can totally understand Buffy's shocked reaction, though. It must be scary to see someone sneaking into your family behind your back and making friends there.
- Spike then gives Buffy a fake lead to the train killer, so he can spend some time with her.
Things start really going wrong, when holds open the door for her. Well, William knew how to behave around a lady back in the 19th century and love just brings this back.
- Buffy: Please! Spike, you're a vampire.
Spike: Angel was a vampire.
Buffy: Angel was good!
Spike: And I can be too. I've changed, Buffy.
Buffy: What, that chip in your head? That's not change. Tha-that's just ... holding you back. You're like a serial killer in prison!
Spike: Women marry 'em all the time!
Buffy: Uhh!
Spike: (realizing that's not what he meant) But I'm not ... like that. Something's happening to me. I can't stop thinking about you.
Buffy: Uhh. (turns away)
Spike: And if that means turning my back on the whole evil thing-
Buffy: (turns back) You don't know what you mean! You don't know what feelings are!
Spike: (offended) I damn well do! I lie awake every night!
Buffy: You sleep during the day!
Spike: Yeah, but - (through his teeth) You are missing the point. This is real here. I love-
Buffy: Don't!
Interesting scene. I've noticed before that Spike always tries to get out of Angel's shadow. Here he is told that Angel is better than him, because he has a soul. What must really hurt though is that Buffy denies he can have feelings. The one thing I don't doubt at all is that vampires have feelings and that some of them feel things very intensely.
I understand Buffy is shocked. She certainly isn't in love with Spike at the time, though there is an underlying attraction. I think it's this underlying attraction that lets her react so strongly in the negative. With any other guy she have tried to be more gentle when letting him down.
Now under normal circumstance, I believe Spike would have been depressed for a while and then tried to win her affections again. However, Drusilla comes back...
- Spike and Drusilla on Buffy are what Angel and Darla are on Angel. Both couples have so much chemistry the screen starts melting. Dru calling Spike "my darling deadly boy" is strongly reminiscent of Darla calling Angel "my dear boy". Like Darla was willing to take back a souled Angel, so Dru is willing to take back a chipped Spike.
Harmony has absolutely no chance. Spike really just put up with her for the company, whereas he has strong ties to Dru. Poor Harmony. You can be very silly, but you deserve better.
Harmony: You'd better not be thinking what I think you're thinking. 'Cause my answer is the same as always. No threesomes unless it's (gestures to Spike) boy, (gestures to the air) boy, (gestures to herself) girl. Or Charlize Theron.
Spike: Harm, you moron, this *is* Drusila.
Dru just watches with a small smile.
Harmony: Oh. Well, (walks toward Dru) you've got some nerve showing up here like this. After all this time. After breaking my sweet boo-boo's heart.
Dru looks over Harmony's shoulder at Spike and mouths the word "boo-boo." Spike shrugs.
Harmony: Do you have any idea how hard it's been to break down the walls he put up after you left? I mean, *serious* trust issues.
Spike: Harm...
Harmony: So it's no use you crawling back to him, 'cause Spikey don't play that game any more, Morticia.
Dru puts up a hand as if to block out the sight of Harmony. Harmony turns back to Spike and he grabs her by the throat.
Spike: (looking at Dru) It's been fun while it lasted, Harm, (Dru smiles) but I think it'd be best now if you hit the road.
He throws Harmony across the room. She hits the wall and slides down to the floor, clutching her throat and panting.
Harmony: Why? Because she's back?
Spike: (still looking at Dru) No. (moves closer to Dru) Because I am.
Dru smiles. Harmony begins to get to her feet. Spike puts his arm around Dru's waist and pulls her up against him.
Drusila: And there you are, my darling, deadly boy.
She puts her hand on the back of his neck and they kiss.
- Drusilla and Spike visiting the Bronze is another intense scene. It's the first time, we really see them on the hunt together. (Beforehand, either Dru was sick or Spike was sick.) They are both graceful and very deadly.
It's obvious that Spike is now conflicted about feeding from a victim, but his bond to Drusilla overcomes his scruples.
This scene also mirrors what happened to Angel some episodes ago: Both Spike and Angel haven't fed from humans in some time. In The Shroud of Ramon, Angel drinks briefly from Kate. And here Spike drinks from his first human victim since season 4.
- The "shrine to Buffy" in the crypt:
Seems that vampires in love are vampires obsessed. The pictures of Buffy strongly reminded me of Angel drawing Darla again and again.
- The showdown between Spike, Drusilla, Buffy and Harmony:
In this scene, Spike is confronted with the three women in his life.
Now I don't know what gave Spike the idea that chaining up both Buffy and Drusilla and threatening them alternatively with death is a good way to win Buffy's affection. Maybe it's acceptable for vampires, but most human women won't be flatttered by the offer to kill your ex-girlfriend to prove your love or the threat to by killed yourself if you don't say "I love you.". Nope, blackmail rarely does the trick. The sad thing is that Spike manages to lose any trust he might have won so far with Buffy and the Scoobies.
Favorite lines:
Buffy: And whatever you think you're feeling, it's not love. You can't love without a soul.
Drusilla: Oh, we can, you know. We can love quite well. If not wisely.
Word, Drusilla!!
Drusilla: But it's so funny. I knew ... before you did. I knew you loved the Slayer. The pixies in my head whispered it to me.
Dru is laughing here, but I got the impression she's both amused and sad. She really has lost Spike now.
Spike: This is Drusilla, girl! You have the slightest idea what she means to me? It's the face of my salvation! (looks at Dru, smiles slightly) She delivered me from mediocrity. For over a century we ... cut a swath through continents. A hundred years, she never stopped surprising me.
He caresses Drusilla's cheek ad she leans her face into his hand.
Spike: (quietly) Never stopped taking me to new depths. I was a lucky bloke. (Dru smiles) Just to touch such a black beauty.
This also mirrors Darla and Angelus. Angelus was created by Darla and also saved from what he would see as mediocrity. They both worked together for over 100 years. And Darla also took pride in still being able to surprise Angelus after all these years.
- Brilliant ending. What's very poignant is that his invitation was revoked before the confrontation between Dru, Buffy and him! Now I could understand if they revoked the invitation after this event, but doing it beforehand means is that he gets shut out simply for feeling too much for Buffy.
Spike: Like it or not, I'm in your life, you can't just shut me out.
He stops suddenly at the doorway as an invisible force prevents him from entering. Buffy stands right inside the door, giving him a grim look.
Spike stares in surprise, gives a tentative smile, not quite getting it yet. It begins to dawn on him that his invitation to the Summers house has been revoked.
Buffy steps back and closes the door in his face.
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Date: 2006-01-08 02:29 pm (UTC)Interesting when Buffy asked Spike to look after Dawn and her mother in Checkpoint, he bonded with them both. They truly like him, although Buffy's mom becomes concerned when she finds out he's in love with her. (again, why is it worse for him to love her than to want to kill her..lol)
Spike's hesitation before drinking from a dead person is quite remarkable. There's quite a bit of peer pressure coming from Drusilla, and the fact that he is torn is quite a bit of progress, IMO.
Also, going back, before his almost love confession, Spike and Buffy's date is funny. She is jumpy thinking he's got a crush on her, so everything he does is setting her on edge.
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Date: 2006-01-08 02:46 pm (UTC)I think that they all think of what happened with Angel. First he loves you, next thing he turns crazy, becomes super-obsessed with you and starts killing your friends. Nobody actively mentions this - Angel is the good guy after all - but I think beneath the surface this is the reason why they are worried.
I.e. along the lines of Spike is in love with Buffy because of the chip, but what if the chip no longer works. Wouldn't he then take revenge?
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Date: 2006-01-08 06:08 pm (UTC)All this also makes thing so much more poignant later, to be honest. *Hearts Joss Whedon for knowing how to write an epic that keeps people talking for years* (in spite of fan protests and gnashing of teeth along the way--and that would be for all ships/characters...lol.)
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Date: 2006-01-08 04:09 pm (UTC)The problem is that the Scoobies have made some bad experiences with him in the past and therefore do not want to become his best buddies now. The irony is that they gave Spike several chances in season 4 to connect to them and he always refused them in the most obnoxious way possible.
Yes. If Spike had responded to their overtures then, things might have been different, but that would have been ooc for him. Meanwhile, as soon as they learn about the "in love with Buffy" factor, everyone is as you noted of course having unfortunate Angel(us) flashbacks.
Harmony pretending to be the Slayer so Spike still takes an interest in her. Oh my. She's really, really bad as Buffy. *g*
It's very funny. It's also very sad. Sidenote, which I will ask again once you reach AtS season 4: can you imagine what the fannish reaction would have been if Buffy had asked Spike to dress up as Angel for her? Calling her a bitch would have been the mildest thing.
Spike and Dawn: what you said.
Xander being just the slightest bit peeved Dawn is now crushing on Spike, not him: LOL. Makes me smile each time.
Buffy denying Spike can love: aside from her own issues (like you, I really don't think she's in love with him at this point, but she is somewhat attracted, and that never happened to her before - being sexually attracted to someone she doesn't love or like, I mean), there is, again, the Angel factor. If Spike WITHOUT a soul can love her, why couldn't Angelus?
Now I don't know what gave Spike the idea that chaining up both Buffy and Drusilla and threatening them alternatively with death is a good way to win Buffy's affection. Maybe it's acceptable for vampires, but most human women won't be flatttered by the offer to kill your ex-girlfriend to prove your love or the threat to by killed yourself if you don't say "I love you.". Nope, blackmail rarely does the trick. The sad thing is that Spike manages to lose any trust he might have won so far with Buffy and the Scoobies.
Yep. Entirely the wrong, wrong thing to do, and yet it's so likely for Mr. "I'll chain her up and torture her until she loves me again". Alas, his interactions with human women were a century ago, and none too successful even then.
Dru and Spike on the prowl: terrific scene, and yes, very graceful, very deadly. Luminosity uses this to great effect at the end of her Spike and Dru section in Scooby Road.
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Date: 2006-01-08 05:23 pm (UTC)Also, there was a Spike Redemptionist group which had started(BAPS) with over 2000 members, and I'm sure it got hairy with that kind of intense love of the character and WANTING desperately for him to be redeemed. There were also rumors flying about James being shipped over to Angel at the end of season five and being made a big bad, which people seriously didn't want to see.
It's funny that Fury is the biggest Spike defender on the planet now. Things change, don't they..
To be honest, I've always liked his writing. I adore Spike's voice when he writes him.
Interesting about what the Spike fans reactions would be if she had asked Spike to do what happened in ATS or with Spike/Harm, who he never loved and never claimed too. I admit, I would have hated it, and I'm fine with the story as it was told.
Angel (in his own way) killed Darla for Buffy, so I guess Spike thought that would be a way to prove his love. I seriously never thought for a moment he could kill Dru.
Also, As you said, Buffy obviously didn't want to deal with why Angelus couldn't love without a soul, so she balked at any of the other vampires loving. (and Angelus COULD love because I believe he loved Darla and certainly was obsessed to a huge degree with sticking it to Buffy)
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Date: 2006-01-09 08:19 pm (UTC)(I was among the early Harry Potter slash fans so if you ever want to know what that was like back in the day, I'll be happy to share. :-))
Angel (in his own way) killed Darla for Buffy, so I guess Spike thought that would be a way to prove his love. I seriously never thought for a moment he could kill Dru.
Yes, very true! I love all the parallels that can be drawn between Angel and Spike. Something happens to Angel - and Spike follows in his footsteps, even if he isn't aware of it. Another parallel is that it's first Angel who nearly ends Dru's existence - and then Spike turns against her, too.
(and Angelus COULD love because I believe he loved Darla and certainly was obsessed to a huge degree with sticking it to Buffy)
I get the impression that this is something neither Angel nor Angelus ever admit to themselves. Spike always seems to define himself as both a fighter and a lover. With Angel I'm not sure yet as what he sees himself. Maybe as the one who managed to seduce Darla?
When they are still human, William and Liam are total opposites in their behaviour: You have William, the hopeless romantic who gets his heart broken and Liam, the seducer who breaks the hearts of others.
Angelus seems to view himself as above love. His first act as a vampire is to eradicate his village and then kill his family, renouncing any love he might have had for them.
So I guess William would do the opposite. He would try to turn his family members into vampires as well, because - despite being rejected by Cecily - he isn't ashamed of his feelings. (I guess that's why I care so much for Spike. I have a thing for characters who stand up for their emotions.)
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Date: 2006-01-10 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-10 08:38 pm (UTC)I definitely have some spoilers. E.g. I know about Spike and the soul. I know that he dies in the end, but comes back on Angel in season 5. (Which will make him the third resurrected character. Angel went to hell, Buffy to heaven - which leaves purgatory for Spike. If the writers take different approaches to the obvious parallel, that is.) Oh yes, and
But even without spoilers, speculation for the Jossverse is so much fun. So rewarding, because the writers seem to have thought about things very carefully.
I guess my "Spike tries to turn his family theory" got triggered by reading a story where Spike tells someone that he killed his family after turning into a vampire. This just sounded off. It would just be a boring repetition of what Angel did. While I've noticed that these two have a parallel arc, they also represent opposites.
After all, the Fanged Four family is a collection of parallels and opposites. The complement one another: Two men, two women. Two dark haired, two fair haired. A whore (Darla) and a saint (Dru), a heartbreaker (Liam) and a broken-hearted (William). The name of the women and the name of the men sound similar.
So playing on similarities and dissimilarities, I noticed that they all have different family backgrounds: Darla has no family when she dies; Drusilla has a big family that's important to her and who are all killed before her own death; Liam has a family he kills himself. So to fill the empty slot you need someone with a family he doesn't want to kill, but to turn, i.e. Spike.
In the scenes, in which we see Liam, he rebels against his father. So to give William the complete opposite position he needs to adore his mother. ("Mother is expecting me." - Such a good thoughtful boy, isn't he?)
This is reflected in how Angel and Spike interact with other characters on Buffy.
In the early seasons before Angel loses his soul, I thought he and Giles got along pretty well. They don't have many scenes together, but nevertheless I was intrigued by them. Angel seemed to look for Giles's respect.
Now compare this to Spike. He and Giles get along at times, but I never got the impression that Spike wants to get on Giles' good side, because he cares for him so much. However, Spike has a soft spot for Joyce. Even when he is unchipped and soulless, he's politely sitting in her living room making small talk. (I was really surprised by that, because I expected him to stroll around the living room taking things apart and commenting on everything. :-)) When he's lovesick, he lets himself be mothered by her, drinks the hot chocolate with marshmallows she made him and tells her all about his problems. Not something I can see Angel doing *ever*. :-)
So it seems Liam/Angel is focused on his father and William/Spike is focused on his mother.
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Date: 2006-01-11 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-09 08:27 pm (UTC)I couldn't *stand* him, if he didn't make mistakes.
It's very funny. It's also very sad. Sidenote, which I will ask again once you reach AtS season 4: can you imagine what the fannish reaction would have been if Buffy had asked Spike to dress up as Angel for her? Calling her a bitch would have been the mildest thing.
Oh, yes. The disparity between male and female characters.
Same thing with Faith nearly choking Xander. Also noticed that everyone mentions that Spike killed two Slayers, but hardly anyone notices that Drusilla also killed one, i.e. Kendra.
Alas, his interactions with human women were a century ago, and none too successful even then.
Somebody should have given Spike a book: "Translating the Romantic Rituals of Vampires into Human Terms - A Guideline for Safer Interspecies Relationships".
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Date: 2006-01-10 06:02 am (UTC)Somebody should have given Spike a book: "Translating the Romantic Rituals of Vampires into Human Terms - A Guideline for Safer Interspecies Relationships".
Alas, the only one qualified for writing it before Spike would have been Angel. *looks at Angel's romantic track record* Better not. Clearly, this is something Spike needs to do when feeling bored in his crypt...
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Date: 2006-01-09 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-09 07:51 pm (UTC)