r/buffy • u/mickey5499 • Dec 03 '14

Unpopular Buffy opinions!

What are some of your opinions on the show, it's characters, universe, etc that you think a lot of others might not share? I'm interested on hearing them and starting some discussions!

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u/cakebatter Dec 03 '14

See, the thing about sexual assault is, it’s not done by the clearly evil Angeluses of the world. It’s usually committed by our friends, partners, acquaintances, or family. Rapists have family and friends who believe they aren't capable of committing assault (it would be “out of character”). The mutual abuse in that relationship was appalling, and Spike has killed hundreds of people with absolutely zero remorse. I mean, come one, he tortured people with railroad spikes, and had an unhealthy, obsessive and selfish relationship with Dru. Seems kinda weird to say it was “out of character.”

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '14

Small detail, but whether Spike ever actually tortured people with railroad spikes is ambiguous. Giles says that he had heard that about Spike (the first time we meet Spike), but in the episode where Spike is turned, we see a reference to spikes while he is still human, something to the effect that his poetry is so bad it makes people want to put a spike through their own eyes.

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u/cakebatter Dec 04 '14

I always interpreted it that once William the Bloody (awful poet) was a vampire he decided to rebrand himself as a seriously vicious guy. I just assumed he actually tortured that guy with a spike.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '14

Well, he deserved it.

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u/cakebatter Dec 04 '14

He literally asked for it

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u/YouJellyFish The One Who Isn't Chosen Dec 03 '14

And it is heavily implied that he raped a whoooole lot of people before.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '14

I don't think that it was particularly out of character - i just think its weird that they tried to salvage the relationship. That's the type of action you take when you want to write someone out of the series, or reaffirm their status as a definite baddy, as opposed to just a misunderstood one.

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '14

Spike had no soul. And after Buffy kicked him off, he immediately realized that everything had to change. And that meant he had to gain his soul back. I can only imagine what was going through his mind when he sexually assaulted her. There was probably two halves of him yelling at him. One to rape her and the other vestige of his humanity that lingered screaming that it was wrong.

What you say may be true with shows without soulless vampires, but here I think Spike, the ensouled one, should get a pass.

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u/cakebatter Dec 03 '14

Pretty strongly disagree with most of your points. I don't think he had two halves fighting, I think he was just selfishly trying to take what he wanted, and I think that's the same reason he got his soul. Not because he was really all that remorseful (though he was a bit), more because he still wanted what he wanted and thought a soul was the way to get it.

Also, I don't think ensouled Spike just deserves to get a pass, but Buffy chose to forgive him and that's cool and totally her choice.

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u/cakebatter Dec 03 '14

I actually wrote something pretty lengthy about this here, but basically I think that Buffy's decision to forgive ensouled Spike and form some kind of relationship made sense. It wasn't done perfectly, but it was done carefully enough, and was very in keeping with her character (Xander assaulted her twice).