This one's a doozy. In my opinion the strongest or one of the strongest videos I've made in this series. But it's tough and heavy, just like season 6, see description for more info and a trigger warning. Hope you enjoy!
Spike's redemption doesn't work because what he did was irredeemable. I totally agree with your comment on the previous video about the writers being clueless on the subject and needing a big event for his soul arc. It feels like they were in over their heads, like they wanted the impact of SA but they didn't know how to deal with the ramifications. You can't portray real world violence without impactful consequences, like you said it's irresponsible. And I totally forgot about Buffy having Spike babysit Dawn, like wtf were the writers thinking???!!!! I think a better story line to set up Spike getting his soul back would have been him trying to turn Buffy into a vampire. Spike trying to convince Buffy to leave Slayer life behind, a life that has brought nothing but pain, and come ride off into the sunset as Vampires would have been more appropriate for his character imo. Then when Buffy rejects his offer, because she obviously would, they could have Spike go through that trail of getting his soul back. I think that would have been way more impactful and even sad/beautiful for Spike to get his soul by wanting to change for Buffy, not out of guilt but through love.
See! Perfect! That would have been a MUCH better story, that would have made sense for his character so much more. That would have been forgivable and even understandable, since becoming a soulless vampire would take away much of the pain she's going through. It would make his later quest noble and important. I can totally hear Buffy giving Spike a sort of holier than thou speech about the importance of a soul, the importance of going through it, the pain being worth it, etc, and him never being able to understand. And then they still could have made him respond angrily and stubborn initially. Sigh, if only...
@@ASMRvelous It could have been like Spike was trying to recreate his relationship with Drusilla. When William was at his lowest Dru was there with the "gift" of becoming a vampire, Spike could have viewed himself as "saving" Buffy from the depths of her despair the same way Drusilla saved him.
@@maeg.9123 Yes, that's smart, I'm also going to consider this canon from now on. (And after that Dark!Willow ends the world and season seven doesn't happen. Kidding, kidding, mostly.)
I completely agree with your opinion on their handling of Spike’s character and Seeing Red. I was a young teenager when I watched that for the first time and a Spike/Buffy shipper and at the time I DID explain his actions away because I was young and ignorant and now as a woman in my 30’s I’m like wow that could have been really damaging and dangerous for me if I was ever faced with a similar scenario at that age.
All good points especially on the “Seeing Red” episode. The way they handled the rape and sexual assault between Spike and Buffy was very gross. They had an opportunity to talk about SA in a very real way but, missed the mark in ways that are insulting to victims of SA. To have Buff do anything less than put a spike through Spike is f’d and completely out of character for Buffy! I want justice for her and what is even MORE insulting… the end of the series, where Spike is redeemed by saving the world, so in a way, it says to the audience…. He committed a heinous act but hey, he saved the world! What the flying f*** 🤬
Can't get over softly spoken swearing, always gives me a bit of a chuckle. I agree about the irresponsibility of Seeing Red. The grey areas of morality are an interesting part of the Buffyverse, but Angel and Spike's soulessness really is difficult because as characters they maybe can't be held to normal moral codes, but then the show can't be detached from real world issues. Also I really don't understand why Buffy "breaking up" with Spike and telling him that sleeping with him was killing her wasn't enough to be the catalyst for his redemption arc. Stupid writers.
Haha, glad it makes you laugh. But yeah, stupid, stupid writers. I can't believe there was not one single person in the writers room that couldn't see the myriad of issues here. I would say that's one area the show does show its age, but I'm not convinced the same wouldn't happen today tbh
@@ASMRvelous I remember reading that the writers (Joss and David Fury in particular I think) wanted to continually remind the viewers that Spike was a bad guy and so would make a bad boyfriend. To me that just seems like "nice guys" being pissed that James made a bad guy so attractive, and that they thought girls and women weren't intelligent enough to do that critical thinking themselves. Blergh.
A lot of the times in real life when people experience SA with someone who is apart of their life they try to sweep in under the rug or excuse it as a coping mechanism to take back their power or to try to act like it didn’t happen. Not that it is right, because it’s not
Yeah, that's fair. But in my opinion if they wanted to show that aspect of coping with SA, they were clearly capable enough to do so. They did something similar in season 3 with Beauty and the Beasts. If that's what they were going for, we would have known. I think they just dropped the ball here 🤷🏻♀️
It was at the time, and I guess the person that originally requested this series triggered something, haha. I'd say TV and movies in general are a special interest. I could talk for hours like this about a lot of shows and movies
