Top 5 Buffy Significant Others.

Y'all know I have a RELATIONSHIP with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What you may not have known is that upon each re-watch I fall more in love with a different character I may have overlooked before.

I give you my current top 5 characters in Buffy I would so totally date if they were real and I weren't happily married to a man who embodies qualities of all 5 (yes, even the Honorable Mention, Michael. Embrace the similarities!). Oh, um *spoilers* ahead, if you care about that kind of thing.

#5 -- Giles.

Admittedly, though I do at times find him sexy as hell, what I really want from Giles is for him to be to me what he is to Buffy. He gets to be on the list because a) the older I get the more attractive I find him and b) if I were Giles' age and lived in the Buffyverse, I'd totally ask him out. Back to wanting him to be my dad though (ok, that sounded gross. Someone that isn't your dad you can find attractive AND want him to be your dad, right?)...

Giles is smart, protective, witty, goofy, and wise. My whole life I've chosen men in pop culture to be the "dad I never had" (It's a whole thing, but my dad and I were at odds most of my childhood. He wasn't really a "dad" so much as an adult who yelled at me every other weekend. We made up before his death in 2011, but our relationship was never easy.) in my mind, and Giles is really the most satisfying example of a father figure in pop culture. Though he did betray Buffy that one time (he tried to help Wood kill Spike in season 7), he was otherwise consistently supportive of Buffy without coddling her or sugar-coating life. He was willing to say and do the hard things (confronting Willow after bringing B back from the dead, killing Ben when Buffy couldn't, etc) while still being unquestioningly there for Buffy (When her mom dies, that moment when he immediately belays his reaction to comfort Buffy within an INSTANT of realizing what has happened just KILLS me.). If all dads could be like Giles, Cliff Huxtable, and Red from That '70s Show we'd all turn out just FINE, thank you.

#4 -- Spike.

Spike used to be my #1 Blondie Bear, but upon recent re-watchings I've realized how manipulative and terrible he was to Buffy when they were boinking in season 6. As SOON as he finally "got bouncy" with her, he got cocky and started saying controlling boyfriend-type things to her to get her to keep coming back to him. It was really gross. And I still haven't forgiven him this last time around for attempting to rape Buffy. That was a genuinely terrible moment. I kind of glazed over it like it wasn't "no thang" when it first aired (2002), which just tells you how abusive my relationship was at the time. Spike was a fluffy puppy in comparison. Anyway, he is #4 on my list because of his complete loyalty to the woman he loves. It's blind and retarded loyalty (he was willing to kill Drusilla to "prove his love" to Buffy!), but if that loyalty is directed at you, you've gotta respect that. The way he looks at Buffy when he's in love with her and having empathy for her is enough to put him in this list. That look he gets when he's awkwardly trying to comfort Buffy slays me. Even before he got his soul back, he had genuine love for Buffy and Drusilla. He would literally die for Buffy or Drusilla. He treated Harmony like shit though, so I don't know. Spike has the most interesting character arc of any male character on Buffy, and I really genuinely like him, but he would be an unhealthy boyfriend to have. Probably a good lay, however.

#3 -- Tara.

Tara is the perfect girlfriend. She's sweet and loyal and beautiful and awkward and nerdy and smart and empathetic and a good witch. She's just perfection. She has the coolest bedroom ever in the history of television (black walls, crystals, white Xmas lights, candles, jewel tones, etc). She doesn't put up with Willow's shit and she has integrity coming out her ears. There is literally nothing wrong with Tara. I wish Tara had gotten more development on the show, but since she wasn't a main character or a bf of Buffy, she was often too much in the background. She deserves her own comic or something. Origins of Tara? That would be awesome. Anyway, her place on the list starts the practical S.O.s. From here to #1 on my list, these are the relationships that could be forever-material as actual loyal, realistic, fully-actualized relationships to have.

Look, I refrained from posting that topless pic of Nicholas Brendon!

#2 -- Xander.

Xander is loyal, pretty (just look at those eyebrows!), and genuinely good. His character probably changes the least of anyone on the show. He starts off dweeby, cute, and sweet and he stays that way. Extra points for becoming a carpenter! His attraction to weird girls, demons, and tactless-truth-saying females is probably his most endearing quality. He also has mad empathy and delivers the most heartwarming speeches of anyone on the show. Why can't Willow magic him a freaking eyeball?!?! Grrr. He still has the patch in the comics! His refusal to like any vampires ever, even if they have earned redemption-status, is a little annoying, but I forgive him because he's just such a stand-up guy in every other respect. He's a lot like my pretty Mike, too.

I like pictures of pretty people
standing in trees, apparently.

#1 -- Oz.

Pale. Black fingernails. Ever-changing hair color, while being a ginger in his natural state (rawr). Smart. Loyal. Likes weird girls. Taciturn. Philosophical. He's just as perfect as Tara, really. I don't think I was ever mad at Oz, until he left Sunnydale. He needed to go, though. I understand that. I don't know how I could have chosen between Tara and Oz when he comes back after Willow is already beginning a relationship with Tara. Willow gets to have the most perfect boyfriend ever AND the most perfect girlfriend ever in the space of a year. Bitch! Seriously though, Oz makes my heart melt and he is absolutely the boy I'd pursue if I were Willow, and often when I dream about the Buffyverse, Willow is the character I embody. The only thing that could make Oz cooler would be if he could control himself when he was in wolf form, so he could be an asset in a fight and maybe be cuddled as a wolf. That could be cool, but that would require a totally different mythology of werewolves than exists in the Buffyverse. In my mind, he's that kind of werewolf, though. And he has Buddy Holly glasses. Ok, NOW Oz is perfect.

A velvet shirt AND a tree in this one. Ooh!

*Honorable Mention -- Angel.

Initially, Angel was a character I truly didn't give a fuck about. The more I rewatch both Buffy and Angel the more I like Angel. He likes to sit around in the dark and read all broody-like. I can respect that. He can be really funny and he's a good guy as long as he hasn't lost his soul or anything. The way he tirelessly seeks atonement for his evils as a vampire is pretty endearing to me, as well. I do love an angsty boy! I used to not find him attractive at all, but he's grown on me in the last 5 years or so. I absolutely love it when he and Spike bicker. Cutest. I also enjoy all the opportunities the writers of Buffy took in getting any male character topless whenever they could, though I wish Spike and Angel hadn't been intentionally hairless. Let that chest hair grow wild, boys! Angel does look good in velvet, I must say.


Thus concludes my list of Buffy relationships. Here's a couple of other pictures I found that are pretty hilarious:

This looks like if Willow, Xander, and Buffy had been a cool '90s electronic band. Awesome!!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seeing Red.

episode 119.
airdate: 7 May 2002.

Tara and Willow in bed together. Lots of doing it occurred. Willow confesses she suspects something might be happening between Spike and Buffy. Tara tells her how Buffy told her what was going on, and how it happened. Willow goes to check on her, but she never came home. Willow sees Dawn in the hall and they talk about finding out about Spike and Buffy. Tara comes out in a sheet and Dawn is super excited about them being back together. She squeals and everything.

Meanwhile, Buffy has found where the boys live and breaks in and is trying to call them out. The place is booby-trapped with giant buzzsaws. She barely makes it out with a few of their notes and a book. They've decided to find the boys without Anya, Xander, and Spike. Anya is doing vengeance, kinda. Mostly she's lamenting her own issues. The chick she's talking to is trying to wish things, but Anya keeps going on and on.

Dawn goes to see Spike as he's spiking his blood with booze. Asks Spike if he loves Buffy. Tells him what he did with Anya really hurt Buffy, then she leaves. Not sure her motivation there, unless she wants Spike and Buffy together or just wants to understand. "It's complicated, niblet." It's interesting how Joss deals with breakups. They are fluid on Buffy. They're told in present tense often. This is how breakups often are. Pain, relapse, betrayal. It's not like cutting off a limb...more like carrying around a dead limb for a time, jolting it back awake occasionally, before finally dismembering it. Or something. The fluidity of breakups is more true than the way pop culture usually portrays it, anyway.

It's revealed what the troika are doing: some invincibility balls of some kind. Warren gets to use them first, of course. Ooh, what's misogynist-boy going to do now that he's all

?!?

Buffy goes to see Xander who is drinking. He says he understands why Anya did what she did, but not why Buffy had sex with Spike. Buffy tells Xander what she does with her personal life is none of his business and Xander says, "It used to be." He's mean. Chastises her for doing what she did with Spike. Xander's place is a mess. He leaves in a huff. A girl tries to flirt with him at the Bronze, but he's too dismal. The boys show up. 

A vamp throws Buffy up against a tombstone and it hurts her back. Oh, god, this is the scene. *deep breath* She's about to take a bath when Spike shows up. He says they need to talk. He tells her he's sorry, that he originally went to Anya to get a spell for himself to not be in love with her anymore. He again insists that she loves him and she tells him she has feelings, but they're not love. "I could never trust you enough for it to be love." Then he starts insisting she loves him and attempts to rape her. *deep breath* She falls and her back hits the side of the tub. She's screaming for him to stop. It's just awful. She's really vulnerable and we've never seen Buffy like this. Finally she kicks him across the bathroom. "Ask me again why I could never love you." He's horrified at what he's done. He tries to say he "wouldn't" and she says "because I stopped you, something I should have done a long time ago." So, yes, as I've written before, this encounter isn't terribly different than the other times they had sex, only this time she was protesting and his pain was so loud he didn't hear her. This is the kind of situation women usually get raped within. Someone they've had sex with before. Someone they know intimately that just isn't hearing "no". There are many reasons this no isn't heard, many of them to do with our culture, but it doesn't make the man any less culpable. The precedent here is a vampire without a soul victimizing a woman he's obsessed with. He'd been let in before after taunting her and insisting she loves him, though she never told him so. Even a man as evil as Spike has never been seen to force himself upon a woman sexually, though the parallel could be made with forcing himself upon women in the biting and killing sense. Wow, that was upsetting.

Back to the Bronze. Jonathan and Andrew are waiting while Warren tries to mack on a girl. It doesn't work because the chick has a bf. Warren starts a fight. Xander notices and confronts him. Warren punches him across the room. Jonathan distracts him before he kills Xander. Xander goes to B's and sees Spike's leather jacket on the stairs. He barges into the bathroom (why would be do that? she could be pooping, hello!) demanding to know if she's still seeing Spike. He finds her crying on the floor with bruises, asks her if he hurt her. She says, "He tried. He didn't." Xander starts to go after him and she stops him. Willow shows up and Buffy covers the bruises. Not sure if Xander understands the attempted "hurt" was really an attempted rape. Willow has figured something out. The boys are going to rob banks and shit, apparently. 

Spike gets back home and the attempted rape scene is replaying over and over in his head. He pours himself a drink, then crushes the glass in his hands. Clem shows up with chicken. Spike starts ranting. "What have I done? Why didn't I do it? What has she done to me?" He wonders if what he feels is love. Starts ranting about "the chip" not letting him be a monster, and he can't be a man. Decides he's going to force change. We don't yet know what that means, of course. 

Buffy catches up with the boys as they're robbing some kind of truck full of money. Warren calls B a bitch and baby and kitten. Jonathan jumps on B's back and whispers in her ear to "smash his orbs". Warren says to Buffy, "Say goodnight, bitch." She smashes the orbs and says, "Goodnight, bitch." Warren leaves on a jet pack. The cops show up and take Andrew and Jonathan away to jail.

Spike leaves town muttering about when he gets back "things are gonna change". 

The next morning Xander comes over to make up with Buffy. They hug. Warren shows up and shoots several rounds at Buffy. Hits her, and Tara. I don't really see how that happened. Tara's upstairs and Warren is in the backyard, but whatever. It happened. Willow's eyes turn red.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Intervention.

episode 96.
airdate: 24 Apr 2001.

Giles, Buffy, and Dawn are doing dishes after a meal he made them. Giles asks her how she is and suggests they get back into training and B says she feels uneasy about slaying lately. She doesn't like how the slaying is making her into "stone". She laments not being there for Riley or Dawn. Giles tries to reassure her, but it doesn't work. Buffy doesn't want to lose her "heart". "Maybe being a Slayer means being too hard to love at all." Giles suggests a quest, spirit guide-type quest. A sacred place in the desert. She doesn't want to leave Dawn, but Dawn tells her she'll be ok.

Spike is admiring Warren's work at making his Buffy-bot.

Glory is telling the minions to investigate who's new in Buffy's life, who's precious. Giles is taking B to the desert for her quest. He does a funny gourd-shaking ritual. Spike is having fun with his new toy. Real Buffy is following a cat through the desert to get to the entrance of her quest-spot. "Hello kitty." Peaceful desert music, like from "Restless". Dawn steals Anya's earrings. The beginning of her kleptomania.

The minions are watching everyone. After lots of sex with the Buffybot, Spike is passed out and Buffybot goes to slay. She's been programmed to be just like B. The real Buffy is still waiting on a rock for her quest. Anya and Xander see Buffybot in the cemetery (they were patrolling for B while she's questing). Spike shows up and tries to diffuse the "Buffy's being weird" vibe going on. Vampires show up and Buffy stakes them, protecting Spike a lot. The minions see this. They send X and A home and then do it again. Xander observes that Buffy is still spacey from the quest. They see Buffy having sex with Spike. Xander and Anya get back to Xander's and tell Willow and Tara "Buffy is boinking Spike." Xander decides to go find Buffy and talk to her.

Real Buffy's quest finally starts. Xander shows up at Spike's and confronts him; minions show up and kidnap Spike. Buffy's spirit guide comes in the form of the First Slayer. "You're afraid that being the Slayer means losing your humanity." Tells her she loves with her "entire soul. Love is pain and the Slayer forges strength from pain. Love will bring you to your gift." Buffybot notices Spike is gone and goes to Willow. Willow is trying to accept that B had sex with Spike. Xander returns and tells everyone the minions took Spike. They're all looking to Buffy(bot) for answers and she says "I fight with weapons."

Real Buffy is asking questions of the guide. "Death is your gift." She doesn't accept this. But the guide leaves. The minions arrive with Spike, displaying him as the Key. Glory sniffs him and says the Key cannot be a vampire. The minions say B treated him as precious. Glory tortures him. Xander, Anya, Willow and Buffy(bot) are at B's house getting weapons when they suggest she go upstairs and get more weapons and change. After she goes they say they need to intervene about the doing it with Spike thing. Real Buffy gets home just then (obvs in a different outfit). Xander says "we care about you and we're worried about you". Buffy is confused, of course. Buffybot gets back from changing, only she didn't change. Xander says, "Hey, I know this! They're both Buffy!" Buffy immediately says, "No, she's a robot." They put it together. They update Buffy on the sitch with Glory/Spike.

Spike is chained up now and there's more torture. She's almost killing him, for information. He says he'll tell her who the Key is.

Buffy is taking charge and Giles is there now as they search for where Glory lives. Glory is giving Spike water because he said he'd talk. Spike says the Key is Bob Barker. He tells her he's not going to tell her anything. He starts mocking her. He does this so she kicks him so hard he's off his chains and he runs. He's very weak. He gets to the elevator just as everyone shows up. There's a fight: minions versus B and X. Who the hell is watching Dawn this whole time?

Giles and Buffybot show up to help with the fighting. Spike is barely conscious in the corner of the lobby. Buffybot saves Giles and starts short-circuiting. They all get out and Willow is working on the bot. Xander and Giles have taken Spike home. Buffy decides she needs to know if Spike squealed. Willow decides what's wrong with the Buffybot is "an easy fix". Xander sympathizes a bit with Spike because he was really "thrashed".

Buffybot shows up at Spike's. He looks terrible. "Why did you let that Glory hurt you?" "Because she wanted to know who the Key is..." "Well, I can tell her..." (Buffybot turns to go). Spike yells "No!" and stops her. Says she can never know, because the "not-so-pleasant" Buffy would be in too much pain if Glory got to Dawn. He'd rather Glory kill him than to see Buffy that hurt.

Wasn't the bot. Real Buffy is touched and kisses Spike. He realizes it's her. He asks about the bot as she's walking away and Buffy says she's "gone...gross and obscene...not even real". She almost walks out after saying this, then says "What you did for me and Dawn, that was real. I won't forget it." I know it's wrong, but I just rewound that scene and watched it again. It's a bit redemptive, yes?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Crush.

episode 92.
airdate: 13 Feb 2001.

Everyone is at the grand (re)opening of the Bronze after a remodeling (after the troll destroyed a bunch of stuff). They all decide not to talk about Glory for the entire night, which is very meta, because we're not going to talk about her for the entire episode.

Spike sits by B and starts just chatting away with her and she asks him why he's there talking to her. She's so mean to him.

Willow is still getting headaches from the teleportation spell. Buffy sees Ben and goes over to talk to him. She thanks him for hanging with Dawn at the hospital and then proceeds to flirt with him. He's super cute, so I would too if I were in her situation.

A train comes into town and everyone on it has been massacred, including a train attendant dude who goes to investigate.

When Buffy gets home, Giles is there babysitting Joyce and Dawn, apparently. As he's leaving, Buffy asks Giles what he thinks about how Dawn's doing. He says she's coping very well. Buffy consults his advice on the fact that her and Joyce have been really lenient with Dawn lately and Giles thinks they should treat her normal.

Harmony tries to seduce Spike, but he's "never in the mood". Harmony suggests a game, so he has her dress up like the Slayer. That works.

Dawn goes to see Spike in the morning/afternoon. She likes hanging with Spike because he talks to her straight. Doesn't tiptoe around things. Buffy goes to find Dawn when she finds she's not home after school. It's dark now. He's telling stories to Dawn about killing people back in his bad days. Buffy breaks in and starts yelling at Spike for hanging out with Dawn. Dawn wants Spike to finish the story. He edits the ending in Buffy's presence. Dawn sort of has a crush on Spike. Buffy tries to tell Dawn Spike is a monster. Dawn tells B that Spike has a crush on HER, and she's all flabbergasted. How did she not notice this?

The next day Xander and Buffy go to check out the train massacre. Buffy tells Xander about Dawn thinking Spike's in love with her. Xander laughs. Xander is jealous that Dawn has a bit of a crush on Spike. Joyce is entertaining Spike and Dawn at home. Spike is being all charming, like he does. Spike knows info on the train thing and takes Buffy to where the vamps are holed up. They're doing a stakeout. When they enter the nest the vampires just run. They had nothing to do with the murders, as they'd obviously been there awhile. Buffy confronts Spike about the crush. She acts very disgusted. He's a bit more confident than he has been in the past. He tells her he can be good. She rejects him definitively.

When Spike gets home, Dru is there seeking reconciliation.

Dru wants to be a family again with Angel and Darla. There's a whole Angel plot thing going on. Darla came back from the dead as a human but Dru made her a vamp again and now they're trying to turn Angel bad again. Dru had to kill all those people on the train because Angel (as Angelus maybe? She called him Angelus, but I don't remember the details) set her on fire. Possibly Darla too. Dru knows about Spike's chip. She tries to seduce him, of course. Harmony shows up, confronts her for breaking Spike's heart. Spike throws Harmony out, violently. Then he kisses Dru after saying "I'm back". Buffy tells Joyce and Willow about Spike's crush. Willow thinks she needs to talk to him again and make it really clear there's no chance with her, ever.

Spike and Dru are dancing at the Bronze. they pick a couple to kill together. Dru breaks the neck of the girl in the couple real quick so Spike can feed on her. He has a moment where he almost can't do it, then he does. Meanwhile, B is at Spike's crypt. She doesn't break in violently this time. She goes down to the underground part of the crypt and discovers a little shrine he's got going to her: drawings, the mannequin dressed in her clothes, etc.

When she goes back upstairs Spike is there with Dru. Dru knocks her out with a cattle prod. Then he knocks Dru out with the cattle prod. When B and D wake up, they're both tied up. Spike tells Buffy he loves her and that he's going to kill Dru to prove it to her.

This is a bad way to show "love". Buffy tells him he can't love without a soul, but Dru tells her, "We can you know, if not wisely." He tells her how seriously important Dru is to him and how much it means to kill her for Buffy. He threatens to untie Dru and let her kill B if she doesn't admit there's some teeny tiny possibility that "there's a chance". She won't do it. And he won't let Dru kill her. He starts yelling. Blames Dru for cheating with the chaos demon. Admits he knows his feelings for Buffy are wrong, but he can't change them. Decides he really should just kill them both. Harmony shows up as he's saying this and hits him with a crossbow. Misses the heart. Past, present, and future are all there. Harmony intends to kill Spike. They fight as Dru frees herself and starts attacking B. Spike gets Dru off her and undoes her chains. Dru leaves. Harmony does also. Buffy knocks Spike across the room and leaves.

Spike chases her back to her house. She tells him to leave her alone, leave town, etc. He tries to follow her into the house, but she's revoked her invitation. She shuts the door on him.

I used to hate her for that, but I completely get it now. He's, like I keep saying episode after episode, obsessed with her and it isn't really love. Or if it is, it isn't a good kind of love. He can't think about anything but her, and that's never healthy. Yes, Spike can be insightful and compassionate, and his "love" is very loyal in its tunnel-vision-ness, and he would do anything for Buffy, but it's not right. It's not a good thing, and even though I'm sure B is attracted to him and knows their sex would be freaking fantastic, she can't reinforce him. She really needs to shut him out entirely, even though it hurts to see him rejected. This is exactly what most women don't do when men are unnaturally possessive of them. I mean, he tied her up and let his ex knock her out with a cattle prod. He tried to KILL his ex in front of her in order to show her how much he cares about her! I used to think that was sweet. What the hell was wrong with me? I still kind of do, that's the sick part. But I understand why I shouldn't. You have to know your worth is more than being treated like an obsession. Obsession isn't good for any party involved and Spike needs to learn a different way to love. Ultimately, we find that he cannot do this without a soul. Even though he's a total mess, I still think Spike is one of the most interesting characters on this show. I don't really have a crush on him anymore, and that's progress (!), but I think he's terribly interesting nonetheless.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Love.

episode 85.
airdate: 14 Nov 2000.

Buffy is fighting a regular vampire and he turns her stake around and stabs her with it. What? She gets all vulnerable and Riley saves her. He also has "combat medical training", so he fixes her up. She decides (of course) to keep it from her mom, not to worry her. Riley takes over patrol with Willow, Xander, and Anya. He's being all military-stealthy while everyone else is eating chips and making jokes. So funny. One of my favorite scenes ever.

Buffy is having an existential crisis because she was almost bested by a regular vampire. She is studying old Watcher diaries to try to figure out why Slayers get killed. Giles explains that as a Watcher who also keeps a diary about his Slayer, after the final battle, a Watcher might be too emotionally compromised to tell a complete story. That's why they think of Spike, a surviving vampire who has killed two Slayers. So Buffy decides to talk to Spike. Ask him how he killed the Slayers. So this is a Spike-flashback episode.

She offers him money to tell his stories. At the Bronze. Spike is left-handed. 1880: he's a poet and in love with a pretty lady in an Austen-like land of aristocracy. Someone steals his poem and reads it aloud so they can laugh at him. Cecily, his love interest, rebuffs him. Tells him "you're nothing to me, William. You're beneath me." Heart. Breaking. OMG. He is crying, tearing up the poem, when Drusilla appears. She "sees him". His "strength". "You walk in worlds the others can't even begin to imagine." I would totally fall for her in that moment. I get it. She turns him. It's hot.

The guys are still hunting when they find the vamp that staked B. He goes into a crypt and you can hear other dudes in there. Riley declares they can "kill 'em just as dead in the morning".

Back to the flashback: Angel, Dru, Darla, and Spike. Spike is more like Spike now. Angel is threatened. Spike is all unruly and Angel is joyless. I love Spike's nails. They're all black at the beds and gradiate into regular nails. Very sexy. If only more men realized that painted nails are freaking hawwwt. Spike kills a Slayer in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. She's an accomplished sword-wielder. Hero shot as Spike struts off with flames behind him. "Best night of my life...and I've had some sweet ones."

Riley is breaking the rules! He went back by himself to kill the vampire-clan. With dynamite and a death wish. Buffy and Spike are sparring. He explains if there's no intent to hurt, he has no pain from the chip. Then he starts telling the story of 1977's Slayer he killed. He's all punk and fighting her on a subway. The fight he had with her is interspersed with the sparring with Buffy. He's telling B she's a little in love with the fear and uncertainty, the darkness. "Death is your art...every Slayer has a death wish...even you." He's taunting her. He tries to kiss her. She tells him he's "beneath" her and throws the money at him. He cries. Heart. Breaking. Has a new lust for the kill. Goes over to her house with a shotgun. He's been obsessed with killing Buffy since he met her. Another flashback to Dru. The reason she left him is because of his obsession with Buffy. The one he couldn't kill.

Joyce tells B that she has to go stay at the hospital overnight for tests. B goes to the back porch to cry when Spike shows up. His rage melts when he sees her crying and he simply goes and sits by her in companionable silence patting her on the back after asking her "what's wrong?" and "is there something I can do?" God, it is so fucking sweet. That is EXACTLY what you need in a time like that...someone to sit next to you, just BE with you. Spike is SUCH a lovesick puppy that he didn't even lose it all with the loss of his soul. I love his character arc so much and this is the season when he evolves the most. Another of my favorite scenes ever. This HAS to be on my top ten Buffy episodes of all time list. Fo Sho.

It's so smart that Joss is constantly drawing parallels between the vampires and Buffy. It's become a cliche that the Slayer falls for the vampire, but in this case (the premiere example, mind you) it makes total sense. She does love death. She loves the kill, the violence. She tortures herself with guilt, but to be as good as she is at her birthright, she HAS to be a bit in love with it. Riley knows it, to an extent. Spike knows it. And they are really foreshadowing her own death at the end of the season too. She doesn't have that death wish yet, but this is the season where she's trying to find herself. And the build to her sleeping with Spike is already starting. After her mom dies and everything goes to shit all around her and Spike proves himself to her over and over again that he cares about her, will even sacrifice himself for her (doesn't give up Dawn's identity in that ep where Glory tortures him almost to death), etc. It makes sense. There's a build-up. It's GOOD writing, man! So good.

And even the attempted-rape scene, as upsetting as that is...I think it's a valid commentary. To remind you that Spike does NOT have a soul...which is why he then seeks it out. Because he does care. Because he can't live with himself after what he tried to do. And you know his story, so you WANT to forgive him. And you do. And then you hate yourself for forgiving him, so you have to ask yourSELF what the fuck is going on that I'm forgiving an attempted rapist?! Putting yourself in his shoes and still knowing it is wrong and you'd never....It's NEVER excusable, but I get that in a relationship built upon abuse (from both sides, in this case) and darkness, there could be a confusing moment, a question of consent. She acts like she hates him the entire time she's fucking him, and really she hates herself the entire time she's fucking him. And for Spike's character, being soulless and recently losing Buffy, it makes sense that this happens, though she doesn't forgive him for a year and he never forgives himself. His love-sickness is more obsession than actual love and always has been. This is the moment he has to choose to change. A soulless creature can WANT to change.

Perhaps in this scene, Joss wants men to be put in Spike's place. If they've ever had that moment of almost overpowering a woman when they didn't realize what they were doing...the self-loathing that follows. The pain of seeing Buffy victimized, which you NEVER see in the show. Perhaps this scene is meant for men to see how this feels for a woman. How it is NEVER ok, even when the chick can kick your ass, even when you've had sex with her many times before. It makes the scene so much more intense when you know everything they've both been through to get to that moment. Everyone in season 6 reaches their darkest moments, and this is Spike's. I don't think he's trivializing rape here at ALL. People are more complex than their actions...and he didn't go through with it. And he will attempt to atone for it for the rest of his life.

There are consequences all over the place for every action in Buffy and this is why it's one of the best shows ever. Anyway, I'm getting YEARS (though for me, it will be only weeks) ahead of myself here. The arc of Spike/Buffy is very complex and interesting. His path is never clear-cut, but always nuanced and fascinating.

Commentary (by Doug Petrie) notes added 5.12.13: The point of having Buffy get stabbed by a typical vampire in a typical situation is to remind us how intrinsically dangerous Buffy's job really is. 

I think Spike's nature is really true throughout his existence. He tries in life to be good so badly with the same fervour he emloys becoming bad as a vampire. 

Doug talks about Spike's accent here. As a human, he had an aristocratic high-class accent and then as a vampire he employed (on purpose, presumably) more of a cockney working-class accent to differentiate himself from Angel. Never noticed Spike getting his eyebrow scar from the first Slayer he killed in China. Ha! I was right that Angel has a soul during the Boxer Rebellion. That he's trying to deal with what's happened to him and hasn't told his mates when Spike kills that first Slayer. This episode is essentially the story of Spike. It tells the story of the scar, the accent, and the coat. And no matter how far he's come, he's still William the Bloody when Buffy tells him he's beneath her and throw money at him like he's her whore. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of My Mind.

episode 82.
airdate: 17 Oct 2000.

Buffy is hunting in the cemetery. Riley is too, trying to help, horning in on her fun. Spike is there too, also fighting. She's annoyed by both of them.

Willow and Buffy are having an academic debate at school the next morning and Willow is all excited about it. Buffy is working hard at slaying and school. Getting her shit together. Giles has made a really great training area behind the magic shop for Buffy. I'm kind of jealous of where she is at just this exact moment in time, though I know it won't last. She's young, studious, fit, has the greatest friends ever...an annoying bf and sis, but you know...not everything can be perfect. It's just this moment in time that everything is right for Buffy. I've paused the episode just to soak it in for a sec. Trying not to focus on what's to come.

.........

Ok, I can't put it off anymore. Let's go. Harmony finds Spike. She thinks Buffy is after her because she tried to kill her. They decide to kill Buffy if Spike does the thinking. Joyce collapses. And it starts...*deep breath, Stephanie*. Dawn listens to everyone's heart and Riley's is super-fast. They're already in the hospital so they get him checked out. The doctors think he should stay, but he refuses. He's been all cracked-out lately. Buffy takes advantage of the fact that the Initiative is probably spying on Riley all the time by picking up his phone and saying that he needs their help into the receiver. It works.

"All it means is that he's way stronger than he ought to be and feelin' no pain...his heart can't take it." says an Initiative dude to Buffy. She needs to get him there to them, but he's hiding. Buffy bribes Spike to go find Riley and she's super mean to him, slapping him and stuff. Uncalled for, really. I mean, I guess we're still not supposed to trust or like him. As she told him where to take Riley once he finds him (the doctor to fix him) he takes Harmony to hold him at crossbow-point to get the doctor to take the chip out of Spike's head.

Buffy finds Riley and he explains that he doesn't want to lose his super-strength. He's worried about what they'll do to him. "Best-case scenario: they turn me into Joe Normal." He knows that being normal isn't enough for Buffy. He's right, but Buffy doesn't know it yet. Sarah Michelle Gellar is so good at the wide-eyed-tears-that-don't-surpass-the-waterline thing. Buffy Speech. She convinces him to go. The doctor announces the chip is "out", then Buffy arrives with Riley. Spike decides this is the time to kill Buffy. Riley fights Harmony and Spike still can't hurt anyone because the doctor didn't really take the chip out. Spike and Harmony run away. Spike is going on and on about Buffy. They're going to reveal his crush on her soon. Maybe this episode? There's still 5 minutes left.

Yep. The dream. Lovesick Spike is the best!!

Du NU...du nu du NUUUUUU.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: School Hard.

Season 2, ep 3.

Spike!! Spike!! Spike!!

Buffy and the other most meddlesome kid in school, a girl named Sheila, have to organize Parent/Teacher Night. Ope, Buffy has camel toe! Why do I keep noticing camel toe?

Hell, yeah! Metal music, Spike running over the Sunnydale sign and smoking a cigarette in his long black leather trenchcoat. I'm headbanging and holding up hardcore hand signals right now...and rewinding, so I can watch that entrance again. Also, combat boots, black nailpolish, a Zippo, and he exhales the smoke through his nostrils. Baaaaaaad boy, Spikey! Yeow!

So far, they haven't showed any vampire except Angel NOT in vamp face...I'm thinking Spike may be the second...oh, nope. The entrance of Drusilla, she was without vamp face and immediately when Spike sees her his goes away revealing his most human trait immediately, as love, of course.

Spike's first interaction with Buffy is a slow clap and a "Niiiice work, love" and then a threat to kill her on Saturday. Cordelia is helping whittle stakes. She's almost fully integrated into the gang these days.

Giles had to do research to find that Spike has fought and killed two Slayers in the last century? Why would he not have already known that? He's a professional Watcher, right? Perhaps Giles doesn't read as much as he says he does, eh?

This is Joyce's first time seeing Buffy in fighting action, I think.

Continuity Issue: Spike calls Angel his "sire" when we all know Spike's sire was Drusilla. But to be fair, they didn't know at this point they would be keeping Spike on for six whole seasons.

Yeah, Joyce hits Spike in the head with a fire ax!! Go Joyce-y!!

The first indication that Principal Snyder and the Chief of Police, later the Mayor, know about vampires is at the end of this ep. Snyder is talking to the Chief of Police and they decide to tell the press the "usual" story; "gang-related, PCP" instead of the truth.

Joyce gives Buffy a little approval and validation, making her into a little more of a sympathetic figure and not just the big scary mom.

Spike: A Slayer with family and friends, that sure as hell wasn't in the brochure!

Spike kills the Anointed One. Yeay for Spike and Drusilla!