The Redemption of Spike and Pretty Much Everybody Else, Except Warren

by Klytaimnestra

Intellectual Reaction:

Brilliant episode. Wow. Tightly written, acted and shot, no wasted moments. The entire episode finally brought out into the open, economically and powerfully, all of the issues that have been boiling around unspoken and unresolved all season. Extraordinarily well done. And the old Scoobies are back in force.

Emotional Reaction:

Holy S**t. I'm stunned.

***

First things first. The rape scene.

I did know about the attempted rape in advance. It played pretty much as I expected - Spike goes intending to make Buffy to admit her feelings for him, not to rape her. He goes because Dawn stopped by to tell him he's hurt Buffy, which had to be encouraging. The only time Buffy has ever ever shown warmth for Spike all year was while they were actually engaged in the act; he desperately wants that warmth again, and tries for the only way he has ever gotten it. He keeps trying to press his point, and unfortunately as things get progressively farther out of hand he is insufficiently morally evolved to realize what it is he's doing. He's shocked and horrified when he does realise it.

Spike has believed all along that Buffy really loved him and just wouldn't say so. I am finally convinced, and he seems to be too, that she does have feelings for him but that she does not love him. I even believe that it's because he is not "good enough" for her. As he says - he can't be a vampire. He can't be a man. He's come as far as he can and it isn't far enough.

I'd also say, based on that scene, and this episode as a whole, that we are to believe that as Spike and Buffy are now, the relationship could never have worked. She could never have loved someone who isn't "good enough" for her. Xander thinks the problem is soullessness, but I don't. I think the problem is that Spike is too evil for the Slayer.

However, Spike is phenomenally attractive to Buffy, even as evil as he still is. This may bode well for a future S/Bship. Assuming that his "changes" don't involve cutting a swath through Southern California, of course ...

***

Next: Spike's reaction and what it means for his redemption.

On the face of it, it's not looking good. His first reaction - shock at what he's done, horror and remorse - is very promising. He comes back and is so upset that even drinking doesn't help him. (Something I'm hoping Xander's going to figure out pretty soon now.) He's appalled at himself.

(As a comparative side-note: in the moral continuum of the Buffyverse, Spike is considerably more advanced than the ensouled Warren here. The emotions of shock and remorse never troubled Warren for a moment, even after he actually killed Katrina; nor did he feel the faintest hesitation about turning the woman he claimed to love into a mindless sex slave.)

Spike's next reaction however is less promising. He turns from being appalled at himself, to being appalled at the way he FEELS. The very emotions of shock and remorse - he shouldn't be feeling them. In fact he wants to be like Warren, and feel nothing. It used to be so different, he tells Clem. Slayer, vampire. Vampire, slayer. Vampire kills slayer, drinks Slayer dry, picks teeth with Slayer's bones. Simple. He shouldn't be ABLE to feel this way. And we've seen him try magic, drink, and drunken sex to make the pain go away. We've seen him make a last desperate attempt to get the one thing he wants more than anything, that will make these awful feelings go away - the Slayer's love. Everything has failed.

Now he wants to eliminate the root cause, and just go back to the way things were, before he had the chip.

He wants to get the damn chip out, and go back to "Slayer, vampire. Vampire, Slayer." - the simple world he knew, where it was black and white, and he was black, but that was okay. At least he didn't feel this bad.

In short, Spike wants to become evil again. And once he has, he wants vengeance. Hence the "Sleep nice and comfy, Slayer. I'll be back. And there's going to be some changes." Delivered in the old Evil!Spike tone of voice.

So in sum, his reaction is not a good sign for his redemption. But I am not worried. Because Anya made the same choice; decided to reclaim her demonic power. But so far, at least, she's been unable to use it, against either Xander or anyone else. What Spike wants now, and what a (probably) chipless Spike is going to want later, are not necessarily the same.

This is what we all wanted: Spike to get his chip out. We need to know what he'll do without it. He may become evil again; I don't know. But his moral evolution has come as far as it's going to on a leash.

They've sure set up a rivetting end-of-season! Talk about a cliff-hanger - especially for Spikeistas - wow.

***

Spike's Redemption - why I still think it's in the cards

I am, however, convinced that Spike is not going to come back evil, whatever his present intentions. I have two reasons (well, okay, I have lots of reasons, but two obvious clues from this episode).

Less cogent reason: he didn't bite her, he tried to have sex with her. She is the only person he can bite, and he didn't, even at that point. Of course this is because biting her would not have got him what he wanted - her love. (Neither would sex, but this was not yet clear to him.) Still, the "vampire" is not foremost in him anymore.

More cogent reason, though it may seem trivial: he left his duster at Buffy's house. This would be the duster he stripped from the last Slayer he killed. His trophy. Very Homeric incidentally - Hector stripped Patroclus' armour and wears it; Achilles stripped Hector's in turn. But if they're going to redeem Spike, he had to give up the duster sometime. Leaving it in the house of the Slayer he didn't kill is particularly telling. She's got his trophy; his 'scalp'. She's won.

But he doesn't know it yet.

(Uh, would this be everyone else's conclusion, in the million or so posts entitled "Coats and other anvils" that I couldn't read because I hadn't seen the episode yet?)

***

Redemption of the Scoobies - okay, maybe I exaggerated. But I liked all the Scoobies again, and it's been a very long time.

Xander and Buffy have a decent conversation, and they both get points for that. It was finally telling Xander that gave Buffy the strength to tell Spike to stay away.

Xander, even when drowning his sorrows, faces down Warren, and doesn't back down even when Warren turns out to be super-strong. When it comes down to it Xander's courage returned.

Willow and Tara were so sweet together, and Dawn was so happy about it, and I'm so sorry. Willow's glowing-eyes thing makes me suspect she's about to hit her personal low, though.

***

Things I liked:

Clem.

Buffy kicking in the door of the Nerd Lair. (My reaction - "finally, you've kicked in the right door!")

Xander watching Anya in the Magic Shop.

Xander and Anya's parallel conversations with strangers in bars. Are Xander and Anya going to get back together? I'd upgrade my prediction to a "looks likely".

Xander facing down Warren. I know, I mentioned it already. But I still liked it.

Buffy's fight with Warren, and the wisecracks. "There are two ways this can end, and they're both gonna hurt." But what I liked best - she was clearly channelling her Inner Spike, even down to the jutting-chin before the wisecracks.

Jonathan breaking ranks at last and giving Buffy the information she needed to win. I'm kind of glad he's in jail; I'm hoping it will keep him safe.

All the Tara/Willow scenes. I'm so sorry. I liked them so much.

Uh, hate to admit it, but I liked the return of Evil!Spike. I'm not expecting him to stay that way. But I always liked Spike with rocks. (Orbs. Whatever.)

***

Thing that made me wonder if Colleen is channelling ME:

So Warren WAS Andrew's lover. Or at least was using sex as a means of reinforcing his domination. I never guessed. Neither, obviously, did Jonathan.

***

In sum:

This was a very disturbing episode. But it does make sense of the whole season so far. It makes me like the Scoobies again, almost. And it lays the groundwork for a truly stunning season climax. I'm glad to see the writers knew what they were doing all along. They aren't telling the story I had in mind. I rather wish they were. But this is also a good story. And I couldn't have predicted it.

***

A quiet, bitter observation:

At least he apologized to her. That's more than she's ever going to do for him.

***

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Klytaimnestra