Except that Jayne’s “Welcome to the team” comment indicates that Spike, too, has been co-opted by the SP’s. Which I’ve been afraid would happen ever since Lindsay was sucked up the drain into Suburban Hell. When Lindsay was playing Anti-Doyle to Spike’s Angel, Spike was not exactly fighting on the side of Good- Lindsay obviously had his own agenda, but at least he was fighting against the Representatives of Evil. Spike, for the past few episodes has basically been an independent contractor working for W&H. He could delude himself that he wasn’t working for them because he wasn’t based out of the building, didn’t fill out a W-4, but it was still W&H providing him (via Angel) with wheels, enabling him to pay the rent on his basement apartment and stay supplied with blood and beer (he seems to have quit smoking, not sure if that’s good or bad).
I think Illyria is going to be the wild card in the series wrap-up. She seems to be bonding with Wesley, and once she “learns to walk among humans”, she may discover, like Anya on the Other Show, that she likes them. Kind of, “Well, I’m obviously not going to be worshipped, but at least I have some friends”. If the show hadn’t been cancelled, actually would have bet on her evolving into an Anya-like role. I can almost (not quite, but almost) see her evolving into a love interest for Spike. She actually had a couple of funny lines in this ep, and if she ends up fighting on The Side of Good, she has some serious badass “I don’t understand humans” comic relief potential. Of course the friction between her and the rest of the FG because she’s walking around with Fred’s body, and Fred is no more would create some interesting drama.
Damn, I can’t believe they’re cancelling this show.
Speaking as a recent Buffy/Angel convert (never make friends with people who own boxed sets of a good TV show on DVD), I must say I’m laughing at the mental image of Spike filing taxes. But I do like the ambiguity that they’ve put into the character: he’s not a bad guy, but I don’t think I’d classify him as a ‘good guy’ yet.