FX just started in on S3 again, and I’ve noticed they seem to be skipping a lot of episodes. Although, it also seems that the episodes they show seem to be timed so that key plot points from earlier seasons are shown on Monday night when they resurface in S7. Xander’s Lie being among them (Becoming was Monday’s FX double header, if memory serves).
Not real sympathetic to Xander on this point, 'course I’m not a Xander fan anyway, although the character seems to be changing for the better in this current season. If Xander had told Buffy that Willow was trying the curse again, instead of going for the outright kill, Buffy would probably tried to draw Angel away from the Acathla-rock and stalled for time. Don’t know it Spike would have been much help in that regard, he seemed kind of busy with Dru, but it might have been worth a try.
Too bad Whistler didn’t hang around, BTW. I liked the character, and it would have been neat to have him pop in every now and again in S3, especially while Angel was recovering from his trip to Hell.
Something has been playing around my brain about Spike the last day or so. It’s that sentence he can’t quite seem to finish…
Remember the last five minutes of “Beneath You”, when he said, “I wanted to be the kind of man who would never…a kind of man”, then in Selfless, when TETD-Buffy told him “I can help you”, he said, “I could never ask. Not after… I could never ask.”
I’m starting to think that maybe a key factor in Spike’s final redemption will be his finally being able to admit, out loud, that he tried to rape Buffy. I certainly think it will be a factor in Buffy’s being able to forgive him.
And where the hell is Clem? I want to see Clem!!! Five episodes into the season already and no Clem! What’s up with the lack of Clemmage?
Me too!!! You know what I wish? I wish thta she killed Angel as soon as she discovered he was a vampire. But then, if we didn’t have Angel, we wouldn’t have AtS, and then we wouldn’t have super-hot Wesley, so you know, I guess he served his purpose.
I could never accept a Spike-less Buffyverse. Not ever. Not even if it meant that I had to put up with a dozen Angels that got pulled in from alternate Buffyverses. A Buffyverse without Spike is like, well, I don’t know what it’s like, but whatever it is like, I don’t like it a lot more than I don’t like Angel. I mean, really, Angel is boring, so what? Ignore him, he’ll get his own show and go away. But Spike is so… yum, and he adds color and vibrance and peroxidedness to an otherwise dark and gloomy Buffyverse.
BTW, pepperlandgirl, where do you get your spoilers?
Pepper, sweetie, I want you to take a deep breath and think about what you just said. Angel hating, like magic, is perfectly right and natural, but you have just pulled a Rack and twisted it into something evil and wrong.
Thea, I am with you 700% on admission of the attempted rape being the key to resolving this mess. Granted, I’d bet money that this solution won’t lead to a Spuffy future, but I can easily see ME taking things in that direction [sub][sup]And I didn’t even hear that suggestion of Spillowness you made. Nope. Lalala. That way lies madness.[/sub][/sup]
Anyway, the ep was preempted in my area because the Pistons were doing some damn thing, so I only got to watch it last night (Nice KaZaa. Shiny KaZaa.) Emma is amazing in this one! I read what you guys said about her being great and all, but wow! Great! I can’t believe this show doesn’t get more ecognition in the acting department. [sub][sup]Or any department at all, for that matter. Grumble grumble.[/sub][/sup]
Plus, I couldn’t help noticing another amazing thing about Ms. Caulfield: her fantastic ass. Goddam! That’s one sweet tush. She needs to wear tight jeans more often, not just when she’s fighting Buffy.
Juniper, how did you get to see it? I thought UPN50 wasn’t showing it until Sunday. Love the Pistons, but preempting Buffy for preseason basketball is just plain silly.
Unfortunately, this kind of stuff happens all year long. UPN50 carries both the Red Wings and the Pistons so literally half of the season is switched to random time slots. Drives me crazy.
I went to www.divx.com to download a Divx player. Then I downloaded a spyware-free version of a popular peer-to-peer file sharing program, which I will not name because board higher-ups frown on file sharing discussions. Then I searched said p2p program for a Divx copy of the the episode. Easy as pie!
Oooh, sudden episode insight! Spike says “I could never ask…” when Buffy confronts him in the basement. He won’t ask her for help because he sees himself in a kind of botomless spiritual debt to her because of the rape. But when he tells her that he doesn’t have anywhere else to go, it’s like he admits that, while he won’t ask for her help, he’ll accept help if she’s willing to offer it. That’s kind of like progress, right? He’s not necessarily an Attonement Machine–he’s trying to let them interact on other levels again.
Actually, I meant to say something along these lines as well. Did it seem to anyone else that the women’s clothes in this one were a bit more revealing than usual? I’m pretty sure I saw Emma’s nipple when she was wearing that tank top. And Willow’s outfit was more form-fitting than she usually wears too.
There must be a Spuffy future. There will be a Spuffy future. But it’s more than just the admission on Spike’s part of what he’s done. He has already tacitly admitted to it. He knows he tried to rape Buffy. The whole rest of the Scooby gang knows he tried to rape Buffy. He obviously feels very, very bad about having tried to rape Buffy.
What he needs to do iis be able to say out loud that he tried to rape Buffy. With someone (not TETDITB) around to hear it. Preferably Buffy herself. Then have a good cry afterward. Then, she will look on him with forgiveness and everyone (except Xander, who I don’t think has it in his nature) will forgive and love and he will be loved. After that, the main obstacle I see to Spuffyness is Spike’s own feelings of guilt over the attempted rape. Will he be able to touch Buffy (or be touched by Buffy, as the case may be) without the memory of that awful bathroom scene replaying itself in his mind?
Oh, and it’s nice to see that someone whose favorite charity doesn’t stand to benefit financially from my being wrong still remembers my Fearless Prediction of Spillowness.
Yeah, that was what I meant by “admission.” (I’m Precision-In-Language Girl today!) He has to say it to her. She’ll hear it and gloat for a while, then she’ll keep gloating but she’ll feel bad about gloating because his loyalty won’t waver despite said gloating. And then he will be loved.
(Warning: some statements made in this post may come true only in my fantasy alternate Buffy universe. Void where prohibited. Some restrictions apply.)
Other people, on this and other boards, have noted this “continuity error,” but the thing is, there is no continuity error. We never saw any other Anyanka wish reversed except for the Big Reversal. The only “evidence” that destruction of the amulet would reverse all her past wishes, rather than (as happened) her most recent wish was the word of Giles. Giles (please don’t strike me down) has been wrong before.
Generally speaking, I don’t consider something to be a continuity error unless it something that actually happened conflicts with another thing that actually happened. Merely talking about it doesn’t count.
Ok, you’re right. Now tht I think about it, I realze that I too will gladly accept a dozen Angels if it means Spike gets to stay.
I gte my spoilers from www.spoilerslayer.com, and the spoilerboard at www.angelicslayer.com. THere is a Yahoo group called THe Stakehouse that deals with spoilers but mostly speculation.
EC does have a nice ass, but she’s got a great set of boobs too.
Spike was originally going to be paired with Willow…until they saw his amazing chemistry with Buffy and decided to run with that.
I’ve noticed EC’s rack too, but I guess I’m an ass man. That tightly wrapped gluteal package she was wielding was doing more damage than those demonic-powered fists could ever do.
That first scene after he got the chip in his head where he tried to bite Willow kinda foreshadows this, I guess.
“The only “evidence” that destruction of the amulet would reverse all her past wishes, rather than (as happened) her most recent wish was the word of Giles.”
And, SuaSponte, let’s not forget that the evidence was in the Alternate Buffyverse… perhaps in the “real” Buffyverse it doesn’t work that way?
Wait a second… let me try… I think I can grasp that straw if you can’t…
Well. Um. Ya. There just isn’t a combo out there that hasn’t been tried is there?
Hell I bet if one looked not so hard they’d find Spike/Giles stuff out there. Note that this is not an invitation to find it. Spiles Buffy-verse would be horrifying in the extreme.
