S05.E07: Fool for Love

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; All the flashbacks are great. It's also nice to see Riley who's been so put upon lately in full John Wayne mode, reminding everyone he can be pretty hardcore when he wants to be. Also love Dawn's pride at having participated in some Scooby-related cover-up, it's clear that despite their sibling rivalry she actually adores her sister and wants her to be proud of her .

The Bad; Not much this is pretty damn stunning

Best line; Buffy/Cecilly "You're beneath me" (Stick it in and break it off why don't you?)

Women good/men bad; In this case we see Cecily/Buffy destroy William/Spike with just a few words.

Jeez!; The deaths of both Slayers is awful. Buffy stabbed is pretty vicious too

Kinky dinky; Darla get's turned on by the thought of Spike and Angelus fighting. Buffy refers to her 'sexcapades with Riley' and once again Dawn seems to revel in the opportunity to burst in upon them at an intimate moment. Spike describes Buffy's wound as 'something nasty got a taste' which seems to be his plan. Dru sucking on Spike's bloody finger.

Captain Subtext; Spike calls Angelus a 'poofter' Also love Dawn's pride at having participated in some Scooby-related cover-up, she obviously longs to be in the gang. Buffy learns of a past Slayer who forged her own weapons and says that you "Gotta love a girl with her own anvil" Buffy tells Giles she loves him, obvious for a long time but possibly the first time she's said the words. Spike and Buffy at the Bronze could almost be construed as a date.

Guantanamo Bay; Buffy beats/bribes Spike for info

Scoobies to the ER; Buffy get's stabbed with her own stake. Thankfully Riley both saves her at the scene and patches her up afterwards.

Apocalypses; 5,

Scoobies in bondage: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 5 Will: 3 Jenny: 1 Angel: 4 Oz: 1 Faith: 3 Joyce: 1 Wes: 1 Xander; 1 Dawn; 1

Scoobies knocked out: Buffy passes out offscreen Buffy: 16 Giles: 10 Cordy: 6 Xander: 8 Will: 5 Jenny: 2 Angel: 6 Oz: 3 Faith: 1 Joyce: 3 Wes: 1 Anya;1

Kills: 5 vamps for Riley, even without his superpowers he's still a deadly warrior. Buffy: 86 vamps, 30 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon Will: 4 vamps Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie, 1 werewolf Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, a demon, a demon Anya: a demon Riley; 17 vamps + 7 demons

Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 6 Giles: 3 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 9 Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara

Sunnydale deaths; 83;

Total number of scoobies: 7 Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Riley

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?) Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot: how does Spike think he can shoot Buffy when he can't even aim the fake gun Xander brought him in the Yoko factor? Giles: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 4 Riley; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost: Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes? Cordy: 1? Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?) Angel: 1;Buffy Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?) Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley Xander: 2; Faith, Anya Willow: 2;Oz and Tara Riley; 2 Buffy and Sandy

What the fanficcers thought; nice one where William the Bloody turns down his housemaid who has a crush on him. She wishes vengeance upon him, wanting him to know the pain of rejection and Halfyrek in the form of Cecilly carries it out.

Questions and observations; In 'School Hard' Spike claims the last Slayer he killed begged for her life. Here we find she didn't although maybe he changes his story as he's trying to get with Buffy. Later we'll have yet another version. Spike's reasoning on why Buffy has survived so long seems very sound though, he's also correct that Buffy can't win forever, eventually she and Faith are going to lose if it's just the 2 of them.

Spoiler

The scene where the Fang 4 are strolling through the Boxer rebellion is interesting, if you watch Buffy first it's as it appears to be. If you watch the Angel ep Darla you realise that 'Angelus' is actually a resouled Angel and has just been saving missionaries. Buffy says she's in the best shape of his life. Dawn is still shorter than her although that will change by season 7

. Love the way Dawn takes such pride in covering up for Buffy, she really idolises her sister. Xander forgets the military signal Riley gives, his commando knowledge must have totally faded.

Willam the Bloody is just great. He's sired in 1880 which means he's NOT Jack the Ripper as some have suggested who terrorised London in 1888. Note that WTB has glasses but Spike doesn't need them. Now as a vamp his scar should heal so presumably the Chinise Slayer's weapon is enchanted.

This ep has one of the weirdest scenes ever where Buffy actually apologises to Giles that she's going to die young, implying that she's accepted her death and he hasn't?

Marks out of 10; 9/10 a stunning ep and to the delight of Spikettes everywhere.

[Halting Hex]

10 things to keep this episode from reaching the higher levels:

1.  Do we really need another vampire whitewash/woobification?  Wasn't Amends bad enough? Suddenly Spike isn't the infamous  torturer the books tell us, he's just a poor sensitive poet, yeah, that's the ticket.  Oh, bite me.  (At least I won't cry about it the way William does…)

2.  Even being retconned from his "cockney brawler" previous characterization to upper-class twitdom, Spike still comes off as rather a stalker, IMO.  It takes four rebuffs from Cecily before he gets the hint and goes away.  Don't know why I'm supposed to find him sympathetic, honestly,

3.  I have never, never understood why it would be so difficult to find a rhyme for "gleaming",  This gets me so annoyed, I'm practically steaming,

4.  Also not exactly thrilled with the "let's treat the Scoobs as loud goofballs who don't know the first thing about hunting vampires" characterization, just to fluff Lone Wolf Riley.  I mean, Buffy just got stabbed.  She nearly died.  I think Xander would be positively grim here, to be honest.

(Unless, of course, Buffy didn't tell them.  Par for the course, I suppose…grrr.)

5.  How did we turn a story about Buffy wanting to know how Slayers die into Spike spilling/retconning his backstory, exactly?  Seems as though Blondie Bear hijacked the plot, here.

6.  It is good that Doug has all of Spike's bravado (while talking to Buffy) undercut when we see the actual truth, but if you're going to point out that Spike is fulll of shit, pretty much full time, then why do you try to make him The Voice of Wisdom and have him give the Theme of the Season speech.  ("Death is your art", etc.) Either Spike's a bullshitter, or he isn't.  Make up your mind, show.

7.  And of course there's the classic "Spike could kill Buffy with that rifle, honest!  He just loves her too much to pull the trigger" nonsense, which is contradicted by Doug Petrie's own script for The Yoko Factor, where Spike can't even point a plastic gun at Xander without the Sodding Chip™ firing and sending him into paroxysms of agony.  But never let plot consistency get in the way of the Shmoop, apparently.

Okay, that's only 7, but I'm sure I could find 3 more.  Very highly skilled, technically, but the plot holes keep it down to an 8 from me.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

Now let me kill the good feeling. Joss and his team seemingly resolved to pander to Spikettes and Spuffy 'shippers no matter what from then on. Even if it meant writing some crappy storylines that were either completely illogical or made Buffy look like a fucking fool. Turning to Sssspike for information regarding Slayers' deaths after nearly getting herself killed by a common vamp? Very smart, Buffy, very smart. Once again the Slayer and we, the viewers, alike have to take Spikey's word for it. 'Cause there was no one left to turn to for the knowledge (no Giles and his connections or library, no Council) and Spike, as we already knew by then, has never lied and made no attempts to kill Buffy and her friends in the past.

Flashbacking is great, yeah. But why the heck it had to be Spikey and Angel to take the spotlight?? We saw very few of Buffy's flashbacks, probably one small "flashback" regarding Giles (The Dark Age) and zero W/X flashbacks. Since when did the two vampires,  their past and their un-lives in general become the main focus of attention in the show that was intended to be about the Vampire Slayer and her friends?

Edited September 17, 2018 by lembergwatcher

[Jack Shaftoe]

The premise of the episode is so stupid - what exactly does Spike know about Slayers who are not Buffy? And the answer which Buffy seeks - that the enemies of the respective Slayer just need to get lucky once is perfectly obvious.

[lembergwatcher]

23 minutes ago, Halting Hex said:

Suddenly Spike isn't the infamous  torturer the books tell us, he's just a poor sensitive poet, yeah, that's the ticket.

Yeah. Spikey was a poet, a "tortured artist", with the whole "Weltschmerz" shtick. He had no other choice left, but to turn to a random stranger (Dru) and get himself sired in the process after Cecily told him to fuck off, one might say. So it was kinda Cecily's fault  that Willie started killing people after all. Piles of bodies left from 1880 to 1999? Screw them all, who cares about those pathetic humans anyway? Spikey was the goody-good boy and merely a victim of circumstances, who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[lembergwatcher]

52 minutes ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

what exactly does Spike know about Slayers who are not Buffy?

It seems like Spike is some kind of SPEOE (Self Proclaimed Expert On Everything). And literally everyone has to take every single word spewing out of his mouth for granted.

Spoiler

Do you remember Glory's reaction to Spike's comment about her "skanky lop-sided ass" in Intervention? She turns around to check out her butt in dismay. If freaking goddess herself finds Captain Peroxide's words quite credible, what can be expected from a mere human?

[Halting Hex]

6 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

We saw very few of Buffy's flashbacks, probably one small "flashback" regarding Giles (The Dark Age) and zero W/X flashbacks.

Not true.  Willow and Xander are seen, quite possibly pre-Buffy, in one of Marcie's flashbacks in Out of Mind, Out of Sight.  Cordelia gets twice as many, I'll grant you, but still.

[lembergwatcher]

Well, it was Marcie's flashback. And it was lame compared to... Therefore it doesn't count.

Overall I find the original Scoobs to be much more interesting as characters and their pre-Buffy story more worthy of telling, than the tale of some bloodsucking pervs.

Edited September 18, 2018 by lembergwatcher

[lembergwatcher]

When I saw Fool for Love for the first time many years ago - especially that part where Buffy approached Spike and the bleached "goodness" tried to act like he was expert on all things Slayer-related - my initial reaction was like that:

And I watched that ep only one more time ever since.

Edited September 18, 2018 by lembergwatcher

[Joe Hellandback]

23 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

10 things to keep this episode from reaching the higher levels:

1.  Do we really need another vampire whitewash/woobification?  Wasn't Amends bad enough? Suddenly Spike isn't the infamous  torturer the books tell us, he's just a poor sensitive poet, yeah, that's the ticket.  Oh, bite me.  (At least I won't cry about it the way William does…)

2.  Even being retconned from his "cockney brawler" previous characterization to upper-class twitdom, Spike still comes off as rather a stalker, IMO.  It takes four rebuffs from Cecily before he gets the hint and goes away.  Don't know why I'm supposed to find him sympathetic, honestly,

3.  I have never, never understood why it would be so difficult to find a rhyme for "gleaming",  This gets me so annoyed, I'm practically steaming,

4.  Also not exactly thrilled with the "let's treat the Scoobs as loud goofballs who don't know the first thing about hunting vampires" characterization, just to fluff Lone Wolf Riley.  I mean, Buffy just got stabbed.  She nearly died.  I think Xander would be positively grim here, to be honest.

(Unless, of course, Buffy didn't tell them.  Par for the course, I suppose…grrr.)

5.  How did we turn a story about Buffy wanting to know how Slayers die into Spike spilling/retconning his backstory, exactly?  Seems as though Blondie Bear hijacked the plot, here.

6.  It is good that Doug has all of Spike's bravado (while talking to Buffy) undercut when we see the actual truth, but if you're going to point out that Spike is fulll of shit, pretty much full time, then why do you try to make him The Voice of Wisdom and have him give the Theme of the Season speech.  ("Death is your art", etc.) Either Spike's a bullshitter, or he isn't.  Make up your mind, show.

7.  And of course there's the classic "Spike could kill Buffy with that rifle, honest!  He just loves her too much to pull the trigger" nonsense, which is contradicted by Doug Petrie's own script for The Yoko Factor, where Spike can't even point a plastic gun at Xander without the Sodding Chip™ firing and sending him into paroxysms of agony.  But never let plot consistency get in the way of the Shmoop, apparently.

Okay, that's only 7, but I'm sure I could find 3 more.  Very highly skilled, technically, but the plot holes keep it down to an 8 from me.

1. William is the poor sensitive poet, Spike is the torturer. 

2. I feel for William, for Cecily to say 'You're beneath me' is beyond the pale no matter how much he's lost in love.

3. "Your visage gives true beauty meaning"

4. Buffy was putting on a brave face and the Scoobs are like combat veterans who are very used to injuries. The scoobs know about hunting vamps but not assaulting a nest (at least without Buffy/Jonathon).

5. Because Slayers dying is intrinsic to who Spike is?

Spoiler

And indeed it will again in a different way. 

 6. Oh he is!

7. Spike goes to try shooting Buffy but I figure he'll fail miserably as normal 

23 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Now let me kill the good feeling. Joss and his team seemingly resolved to pander to Spikettes and Spuffy 'shippers no matter what from then on. Even if it meant writing some crappy storylines that were either completely illogical or made Buffy look like a fucking fool. Turning to Sssspike for information regarding Slayers' deaths after nearly getting herself killed by a common vamp? Very smart, Buffy, very smart. Once again the Slayer and we, the viewers, alike have to take Spikey's word for it. 'Cause there was no one left to turn to for the knowledge (no Giles and his connections or library, no Council) and Spike, as we already knew by then, has never lied and made no attempts to kill Buffy and her friends in the past.

Flashbacking is great, yeah. But why the heck it had to be Spikey and Angel to take the spotlight?? We saw very few of Buffy's flashbacks, probably one small "flashback" regarding Giles (The Dark Age) and zero W/X flashbacks. Since when did the two vampires,  their past and their un-lives in general become the main focus of attention in the show that was intended to be about the Vampire Slayer and her friends?

But it grew beyond that?

22 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Yeah. Spikey was a poet, a "tortured artist", with the whole "Weltschmerz" shtick. He had no other choice left, but to turn to a random stranger (Dru) and get himself sired in the process after Cecily told him to fuck off, one might say. So it was kinda Cecily's fault  that Willie started killing people after all. Piles of bodies left from 1880 to 1999? Screw them all, who cares about those pathetic humans anyway? Spikey was the goody-good boy and merely a victim of circumstances, who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yes he was, just like poor Dru and Liam caught Darla's eye, just as Darla called out in her fever inadvertently inviting the Master in, it's all so tragic. 

[lembergwatcher]

1 hour ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Yes he was, just like poor Dru and Liam caught Darla's eye, just as Darla called out in her fever inadvertently inviting the Master in, it's all so tragic. 

Well, therein lies the problem IMO. A classic case of transference on writers' behalf. Because Angelus, Spike, Dru or Darla didn't have that much in common with Liam, William or the girls' pre-sired selves AFAIK. They wore their faces and shared some of their memories, but other than that? They were just the demons occupying the bodies of their victims. I can only feel sorry for pre-sired Darla, William or Liam, but that doesn't mean I have to confuse those poor guys with soulless beasts  impersonating them. I can see no reason to tolerate Spike as the show's new darling solely on the grounds of William being heartbroken over Cecily's refusal to date him and then meeting his demise at the hands (or should I say fangs) of Drusilla. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by lembergwatcher

[Halting Hex]

Quoting myself from upthread:

On 9/17/2018 at 5:43 AM, Halting Hex said:

5.  How did we turn a story about Buffy wanting to know how Slayers die into Spike spilling/retconning his backstory, exactly?  Seems as though Blondie Bear hijacked the plot, here.

Shan, in her vid, doesn't mind the hijacking so much (she was telling various people "Don't be mean to Spike!" throughout), but she has a simpler question…doesn't Buffy already know how Slayers die?  She's already died once, after all.  

(And if you dismiss the Master because that was a once-off prophecy, well then, what's to say that any "wisdom" that Spike imparts here couldn't be equally invalidated by similar prophecy?  So anything Spike tells her is, by definition, useless.  Never mind the part where we see that Spike's pretty much lying, all the way through…)

So, if Buffy's actually somewhat irrelevant here (which, grrr…), why bother to use her as an entry point to the "origin of Spike" story? Wouldn't we learn more about Spike if we spent more time with him, rather than cutting back to Buffy every 90 seconds and talking about how the differences between them are going to be such a factor when they have that final showdown…

Spoiler

that they don't actually ever have?

Well, because this is set up for the Spuffy relationship, of course.  But that leads us to the next problem:

On 9/17/2018 at 5:43 AM, Halting Hex said:

It is good that Doug has all of Spike's bravado (while talking to Buffy) undercut when we see the actual truth, but if you're going to point out that Spike is fulll of shit, pretty much full time, then why do you try to make him The Voice of Wisdom and have him give the Theme of the Season speech?

And, beyond that, how is 43 minutes' worth of lying supposed to set up the future "I trust you, Spike" and Dawn-sitting and dumpster-sex and all of that?  (Okay, now I'm imagining Buffy making Dawn watch her getting fucked in the dumpster, because she can't get a baby-sitter and so needed to keep an eye on Dawnie, but it's late and I shouldn't let my mind go there…)  Just as Spike's either a liar or he isn't, he's either trustworthy or he isn't…you can't really spend a whole ep on "Spike is so full of shit" and then use that as some sort of "bonding moment."  But JMO.

And finally:

On 9/17/2018 at 5:43 AM, Halting Hex said:

7.  And of course there's the classic "Spike could kill Buffy with that rifle, honest!  He just loves her too much to pull the trigger" nonsense, which is contradicted by Doug Petrie's own script for The Yoko Factor, where Spike can't even point a plastic gun at Xander without the Sodding Chip™ firing and sending him into paroxysms of agony.  But never let plot consistency get in the way of the Shmoop, apparently.

Yeah, Shan caught that, too.  Good girl.  But meanwhile, she's making me sit through the end of the episode, and I swear there's like 30 seconds of Buffy and Spike sitting silently on that back porch, which is like an eternity in TV time.  (It sure felt that way to me, let me tell you…)  Surely there could be something that was cut from the script that could be put back in, and you could put me out of my silent misery just a little bit sooner, no? No?  Oh, come on! (™Spike, Doomed)

Like here, for example.  Deleted lines from the script in bold:

Quote

RILEY:  So. Dawn takes household duty. I'll pick up tonight's patrol.

BUFFY: By yourself?

RILEY: It's just a sweep.

BUFFY: Do me a favor? Take the gang along with.

RILEY: I'll be okay.

BUFFY: No question. But, knowing you're out there with full Scooby backup would ease the mind of your poor injured girlfriend.

RILEY: You forgot "manipulative."

BUFFY: I really didn't.

RILEY: Okay. I'll patrol tonight with the group.

Aw, that's really cute.  (Plus it plays into Riley's "I want to do everything by myself to prove that Buffy needs me" issues.) I would much rather see that than sit through Buffy bonding with Spike in silent sympathy, blah-blah.

Spoiler

(Yes, I know in terms of the arc, Spike is the future where Riley is the soon-to-be past.  But screw that.  There's time enough for Spike later on.  And just think, the cuter Buffy and Riley are together, the more that Into the Woods is going to hurt.  That's gotta count for something, right?)

Edited November 26, 2018 by Halting Hex

[Halting Hex]

I know I spend too much time groaning about William's inability to find a rhyme for "gleaming"

Spoiler

which makes it ironic that the show will spend so much time REDEEMING him as a character

, but perhaps that's actually long-term continuity?
 

From Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered:

Quote

ANGEL:  Dear Buffy. I'm still trying to decide the best way to send my regards.

SPIKE: Why don't you rip her lungs out? It might make an impression.

ANGEL: Lacks... poetry.

SPIKE: It doesn't have to. (inhales and thinks) What rhymes with lungs?

So perhaps Spike still has something of William in him, after all.

Could this indicate that William/Spike has dyslexia?  Difficulty in rhyming is a symptom, because the dyslexic have more difficulty in seeing words as a composite of various sounds, and thus making the basic swaps (exchange "l" for "r" and "lungs" becomes "rungs", for example) that come so easily to us. 

But OTOH, apparently being dyslexic makes it more difficult to tell time on a clock with hands (again, the connection between the hand positions and the concept of numeric values for time is more difficult to establish), but Spike read his watch just fine in Lie to Me:

Quote

FORD:  6:27. Sunset.

INT. THE FACTORY - 6:27 (NIGHT)

Spike sits at the head of the table, feet up. He holds an antiques pocket watch, the face dangling in front of his. Reads it. Closes it.

SPIKE:  So. Who's hungry?

Except that…that shot was cut.  So do we accept what's in the script or do we go only by what made it to air, and suppose that the reason Spike didn't want to pull out a watch for Ford's "you've got 30 seconds to convince me not to kill you" game is that…he doesn't own a watch?  Because the same dyslexia that keeps him from rhyming also makes it too hard to tell (non-digital) time?

Poor Spikey 😞

[Halting Hex]

So Kassidy is just sprinting through S2, and she watched Becoming, Part 2 and really couldn't understand why Spike still wanted Drusilla, given that not only has she been all over Angel for months now, but she can't even stop kissing Giles.  (Which is probably just Dru showing good taste, but Spike might still be offended.)

And one of her commenters said that Spike was devoted to Dru because she's his sire, thus spoiling this episode's retcon (thanks a lot, dude!), but it did get me thinking…perhaps all the retcons in the episode are due to those ever-useful scapegoats, the Monks of Mindfuck?

Spike was sired by Angel (as he asserts in School Hard), but the monks realized that they're never going to finish reading all those Spangelus-slash pornfics, so they made Spike claim Dru as his sire, instead.

Spike couldn't even point a plastic gun at Xander in The Yoko Factor, but the Monks realized that this episode would lack a dramatic climax if that was still the rule, so they made it possible for Spike to aim that shotgun at Buffy's pretty little head.

And of course the Scoobies know how to go on patrol without chomping on chips and calling out to each other, but you know…a Monk's gotta do what a Monk's gotta do.

I guess we're lucky they didn't make WILLOW Spike's sire or something.

(And of course, William wasn't a fucking poet and even as the "Cockney brawler" that David Greenwalt originally conceived the character to be, his vocabulary was still TEEMING with rhymes for a certain word.  It's the Monks' fault poor Spikey can't rhyme!  Damn them!)

Edited April 30, 2023 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

On 4/30/2023 at 11:47 PM, Halting Hex said:

Spike couldn't even point a plastic gun at Xander in The Yoko Factor, but the Monks realized that this episode would lack a dramatic climax if that was still the rule, so they made it possible for Spike to aim that shotgun at Buffy's pretty little head.

You see, there are naïve fools like me who still think that if one creates some kind of a magic 'verse he or she still has to set up rules regarding how magic and the whole supernatural stuff work, and try to stick to them. People involved in creating Buffyverse clearly did not subscribe to this point of view. Hence all the superpowers and weaknesses manifesting or vanishing whenever writers want them to (like, say, Xander's "soldier memories" or Oz's "super nose").

But I guess now we know why the plot makes no sense or the characters act like a cheap caricatures of their former selves (it's good that you've reminded of the embarassing "patrol" scene). It's the freaking Monks' fault! They are the ones to blame for illogical contrivances that constantly change the "established" rules and rebut everything we knew so far and for our supposed heroes acting like freaking morons. They're the ones who mindfucked our beloved characters so hard and in such a perverted form those characters barely resemble the ones they used to be...

Maybe I'm too harsh but chomping on chips while on patrol or instantly believing Tara isn't demon just because your (former) nemesis (the one who tried to kill you and your boyfriend just two eps prior) says so doesn't seem to be a smart thing to do... 

Magic is the convenient plot device, yes, but even magic has it's own set of do's and don't's. No to mention that the piece of technology the Initiative put inside Spike's head isn't exactly magical in origin. But who am I to question anything if the Monks decided Spike can aim shotguns at Buffy for drama's sake? Those pesky Monks... 

I dunno... Maybe Spike's "feelings" for Buffy somehow enable him to coming close to hurting her. Since he doesn't want to make the beast with two backs with Xander (no matter what countless pieces of Spander fanfiction tell us) Spike has trouble with pointing toy guns. But because he wants carnal knowledge with Buffy... We know how to hurt those we love, right?..

[Halting Hex]

7 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

the piece of technology the Initiative put inside Spike's head isn't exactly magical in origin

Well, that's what Maggie and her techs think, but you never know how that ol' Hellmouth made that Sodding Chip react.

 

7 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Maybe Spike's "feelings" for Buffy somehow enable him to coming close to hurting her. Since he doesn't want to make the beast with two backs with Xander (no matter what countless pieces of Spander fanfiction tell us) Spike has trouble with pointing toy guns. But because he wants carnal knowledge with Buffy... We know how to hurt those we love, right?..

Of course, there could be an entirely different reason why Spike can't hurt Xander.  (Can't brain him with the wrench in Doomed, either.) Even though Xan's seduction attempt in Hush failed (as I noted, waving his butt at Spike doesn't work, because Spike's a bottom, himself), once Spike had nothing do but think about how "moist and delicious" Nummy Treat!Xander actually was, his chip knew what his heart wanted and wouldn't let Spikey even think about harming the X-man.

Whereas Buffy is just some cheap lust object.  Spike only likes her because she's a Slayer anyhow.  One Slayer dies, the next one's called.  Or maybe it's just because she's Angel's ex and he's just channeling his frustrated feelings about his Sire (you never forget your first…) onto her.  He might go soft when he sees Buffy all sad, but the chip clearly knows Spike dgaf if she lives or not.

(Likewise, Spike can't hurt Tara because he's gay, too.  LGBV solidarity, no matter how much Bottom Boi denies his Truth.)

Hey, it makes as much sense as the aired episode.  Just saying.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Halting Hex