Klytaimnestra's Review of "Never Leave Me"

by Klytaimnestra

Not sure what I think of this one. Some parts were great; some just confusing; some offended me. I felt as if I was being deluged with too much information at times.

Principal Wood: I'm not absolutely sure, but signs are now pointing to "bad guy". Could still be a good guy working under cover, but he knew about the secret room in the basement; he showed no surprise at the seal and the corpse, and he hid the body.

Giles: At least we haven't been told he's dead. But he did the voiceover at the beginning so I think he's okay.

Council: Proof positive that this is going to be the last season. They're reactivating and tying off all the old story lines, including the Council of Wankers. I'm assuming that was the Council headquarters blowing up, and they're all dead now. Fortunately Giles wasn't there.

Andrew: nice parallels with Spike - same clothes, same knots - while at the same time being an utter pathetic coward.

The Scoobies - anti-Spike, which is bad; didn't actually hurt him, which is good. Xander gets points for not chiming in with Anya on the evil Spike party line, even though he's trying to make time with her.

Xander/Anya - yes, of course. GAnya fans can take what heart they may from the fact that we haven't heard Anya reciprocating. Yet. But she looks way too happy to be around him. Look for a joyous consummation just before everyone dies in Ep. 22.

Spike - Wonderful scenes with him of course. References to what he used to be were genuinely frightening. His assurance that Buffy has "never seen the real me"; his body language; I could really believe, and for the first time, that pre-chip Spike had been a monster, and they had to find a way to cure him or she was going to have to kill him. I did enjoy his seeing - and really understanding, really FEELING - for the first time what an abusive little trollop Buffy was (last year at least - we are now supposed to believe she's changed, but nothing in that bedroom scene convinced me of that). And he was genuinely angry about it; or that was one reading. I found his explanation that he could relate to the self-loathing a bit confusing, though; was he angry at her, himself, or what? I was too angry at the expression on Buffy's face at actually being called on her behaviour to really grasp the self-loathing stuff.

But I don't take pleasure in Spike torture scenes, so I was left decidedly turned off by the final shots. I didn't enjoy being put in the frame as the Evil Spectator, either ("I was going to bleed Andrew, but you look better with your shirt off").

Buffy - very mixed feelings here. The scene where she wipes the blood off Spike's face and tells him she believes in him were almost convincing. James Marsters played them so that we knew that Spike, at least, was convinced, took heart, was energized and given the courage to fight the good fight by her belief in him.

Unfortunately I'm beginning to wonder if SMG just can't act her way out of a wet paper bag where a positive emotion is required. Because the scene in the bedroom, where she reprised her role as Buffy the Meanspirited Denial!Slut with the nasty, shuttered expression as soon as Spike told her a word of the truth about her behaviour last year - well, I found that much more convincing than the scene in the basement. I kinda wished Anya were there to slap her face in fact. And the pleasure she took in kicking Spike in the head has lost her the respect I had been beginning to feel for her. Sure she needed to knock him out; but she liked it.

Now maybe SMG was supposed to show both sides of Buffy's feelings, and can only manage to project the negative ones successfully. Or maybe they've just done such a great job of showing what a cold-hearted bitch Buffy is that it's going to take me a long time to believe she's anything else. But the shippy Spike/Buffy basement scene just didn't work for me, because of the prior bedroom scene.

In fact now that I think about it, I really wonder about either SMG's acting skills, or the skills of the director. Because her lines in the bedroom did not call for the angry, dismissive expression on her face. She could have said "Did you just figure that out?" regretfully, or as if she was actually sorry. But her attitude was - suck it up, jerk, I don't care what you think,, as far as I could read it. I'm beginning to think that SMG can't make Buffy sympathetic even when she's supposed to. Hope I'm wrong, because that would mean I won't enjoy the season.

I think the one thing we're supposed to carry away from this episode is the idea that Spike has changed. I can buy that. But Buffy also claims that she has changed.

No, she hasn't.

You know why she hasn't killed Spike? It's not because she saw him change. As far as I can tell, it's because of her own guilt. She can't kill someone she used that way, because that would make her every bit the same monster William the Bloody was. I really expected Spike to say "you can't kill me because you'd feel guilty about screwing me, using me, never loving me, and then killing me as soon as I was no longer convenient. You can't kill me because you'd always wonder what your motives really were." I never expected him to say what he did, was really surprised, because I've never seen that pain-turns-me-on pathology in Buffy.Faith, maybe. Spike's usually excellent perception is off where she's concerned. But as soon as Buffy has an uncomplicated excuse to off him - as soon as she can convince herself that HE'S doing the killing, the Buffy I see on the screen is going to dust him.

But I say that knowing perfectly well she never will. Because we're supposed to believe that she respects Neo Spike and honours his journey. We're supposed to believe that Buffy's character is something different than what I see.

My problem is that the Buffy I see is not the one they're writing; but SMG has not, so far, convinced me that the Buffy they're writing is real. I hope that changes by the end of the season, because it's no fun to to be out of step with the story like this. And since I would say, based on this episode, that they are heading for Buffy/Spike after all, and I don't want to see Spike stuck with the self-righteous, judgmental, loveless, seriously damaged person I see in Buffy.

Favourite line: "You don't know what I'm capable of." Chilling. I didn't, either.

Klytaimnestra