Season 5, Ep 7
Added 2022-10-11 15:54:17 +0000 UTChello how do i get a full episode of just flashbacks please?? 😌
Comments
As someone with basically zero self control when it comes to stuff like that I can’t even imagine! Lol
Ashley
2022-10-27 23:00:11 +0000 UTCooooh ghost what an interesting thought re: how spike sees slayers! i never really gave much thought to that but that makes so much sense. i love this episode so much im glad it seems to be a fan fave!
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:15:33 +0000 UTCyes! oh i love that you pointed this out, ive been feeling like he's kinda different in how he feels the world without a soul. he's very intuitive too like hes got a grasp on people so well!
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:13:48 +0000 UTCME TOO!
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:13:03 +0000 UTCI FEELL LIKE I SAID ..... "dru we sure about that one?" or something along those lines and now i can confidently say dru BAD decision LOL
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:12:56 +0000 UTCme too! i never caught the accent thing until people pointed it out - such a good detail!
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:12:23 +0000 UTCooooh not you giving me a reason to go rewatch school hard :D
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:11:50 +0000 UTCYAY thank you for confirming this for me LOL
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:11:33 +0000 UTCLOL omg ashley i could see the blur of the white text on the screen but it was SO hard not to look lol and good thing cause well - despite what i said at the beginning i actually would have known those actors names LOLOL
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:11:07 +0000 UTCLOLOL
darciesnothere
2022-10-27 21:09:49 +0000 UTCAnd so Buffy continues the tradition of having the seventh episode of the season be an important one. There's the Spike backstory, obviously (which I love to see--human William was so cute!), but there's also the continued exploration of what it means to be a Slayer. Spike tells Buffy: "Death is your art. You make it with your hands, day after day. That final gasp. That look of peace. Part of you is desperate to know: what's it like? Where does it lead you?" (Side note, but I don't care what they say about his poetry back then, he's a hell of a wordsmith now. Maybe he improved with age, or maybe he just needed to stick to prose instead of poetry.) Buffy's conversation with Spike ties into her conversations with the First Slayer at the end of last season and Dracula at the beginning of this one, and lends credence to the idea that the Slayer's power has a dark side to it. I think that the better Buffy has gotten, the more she's come to embody the role of the Slayer, the more this dark side has become apparent to her and the more its existence has weighed on her mind. (This is probably especially true after she saw what happened to Faith...) At the end of the day, Slayers are basically child soldiers, pressed against their will into a supernatural war in which one mistake could mean the end of *everything*. That's... really fucked up, and is a big part of why Spike's belief that "every Slayer has a death wish" rings true. One thing to keep in mind, though: Spike's a vampire. He's the thing the Slayer slays. Which means that he's naturally going to have a very specific and, crucially, *limited* perspective on what Slayers are. He sees how they kill, and he sees how they die. He doesn't see (and doesn't really care about) the lives they save and the positive impact they have on the world around them. Because of this, and despite how insightful he is into the parts of the Slayer's experience he *does* see, I think we should take what he says with a grain of salt. Besides, even if we accept his perspective on past Slayers as more-or-less accurate, as he himself says, Buffy isn't exactly like past Slayers. She has "ties to the world" ("a Slayer with family and friends... that sure as hell wasn't on the brochure", as he said in "School Hard"). Anyway, I'll conclude by saying that this is a really meaty, thought-provoking episode that actually falls into my top 5 of the series for several reasons that I can't go into here (although since you've already watched the next Angel episode, I'll just say that the way that episode and this one tie together is a big part of it). I think this was the one that made me go from appreciating Spike as an entertaining Token Evil Teammate to actually caring about him and rooting for him to hopefully have some sort of proper redemption arc. For all his talk about how all he needs is one good day, he sure doesn't seem willing to take the opportunity when it presents itself to him at the end of the episode, does he? There Buffy is, as vulnerable as she's ever been in his presence, and instead of trying to kill her, he asks her what's wrong and tries to comfort her. Guy's got it *bad*.
ghostofdurruti
2022-10-16 22:32:36 +0000 UTCOmg I didn’t know that! I’m definitely about to watch that lol thanks!
Ashley
2022-10-12 07:01:57 +0000 UTCI always thought the padlock was because apparently Spike was fashioned after Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols (Joss wanted a punk rock vamp), who always wore a padlock, and the Pistols were at their peak in the 70s https://www.sexpistolsofficial.com/bio/sid-vicious/
Cáit ní Bhriain
2022-10-12 04:52:08 +0000 UTCoooh this episode puts in the work lemme tell ya! definitely a fan favorite, at least for this fan! this episode just feels important because we really get to meet spike -- or rather we get to meet william and better understand spike. it's impressive to me how angel is the vampire with the soul and yet spike just seems so much more emotionally connected especially since he doesn't have a soul so where is this sensitivity coming from?! his humanity somehow manages to peak through the grit
Jayme
2022-10-12 03:36:45 +0000 UTCI love this episode so much. I would love a prequel about one of the past slayers.
Svetlana Grabar
2022-10-12 00:41:21 +0000 UTCI'm very positive that every vampire conflates love, sex, and violence. Especially this foursome. The show also conflates those things throughout the bangel ship
SpikesEcho
2022-10-11 23:55:42 +0000 UTCSomeone has spliced together all flashbacks and put them in chronological order, and it's basically a movie length thing lol
SpikesEcho
2022-10-11 23:52:13 +0000 UTCI love the throw back in this episode to Lovers Walk. Remember when Spike kidnapped Willow and he was telling her about his breakup with Dru? He said he found her making out with a chaos demon on a park bench...."Have you ever seen a chaos demon? They're all slime and antlers."
Christine
2022-10-11 23:50:23 +0000 UTCI love that we see the evolution of William into Spike. Dru sires him. His accent changes from posh to semi-cockney. Then the Chinese slayer gives him the eye scar. In New York he gets his Bleached hair and Leather coat.
Thom Purdy
2022-10-11 23:45:14 +0000 UTCyes and this comment is the perfect segue to tell Darcie about the fact that Spike has always conflated love, sex and violence (for example when he says at the end of Lovers walk that he's gonna find Dru, tie her up and torture her until she likes him again) + interesting fact : Spike's wearing a little padlock necklace in the New York subway scene, which is code for being someone's sub in BDSM culture 👀
angelcakes
2022-10-11 23:37:00 +0000 UTCThis is my favorite episode of the entire series. There are other episodes that are "better", but this is my favorite. The final scene where they are sitting together like two old warriors. Spike in reality and Buffy just for a Slayer. Those two sitting on the porch could be the main image for the entire show. Spike, when he was talking to Buffy about how Slayers die, mentioned three ways. First, Slayers are in deep if they don't have a weapon. The first Slayer dropped her stake and dropped her life. Second is pure RNG. Keep fighting long enough, eventually something is going to get you. Third was the darkest. Eventually Slayers get to the point where they've had enough. When Buffy says, "Say it's true. Say I do want to." I don't think she was talking about making out with vampires. I think it was about that third way. Spike would never be the vampire that takes her out. But Spike was trying to get a physical relationship going, and that is how he took her rejection. Spike says that inevitably her death wish will come to the fore. S-"The second that happens, I'll slip in, have myself a real good day." Later, after his awkward attempt to hit on her he says "Come on. I can feel it Slayer. You know you want to dance." Spike is saying he can feel her desire for him. But then Buffy says "Say it's true." That she has desire for him? Or is she saying she has a desire for the dance. A death wish. "Say I do want to." But Spike also said it's her family and friends who tie her here. Keeping it at bay. So is it in her, kept at bay by her family and friends? We already know the answer to this, it's yes. In The Wish we see Buffy without her support system and she has death-wishyness all over her. B-"The world is what it is. We fight, we die. Wishing doesn't change that." And she turns down help to fight the Master. B-"There's only one thing I'm good at." G-"At least let's muster some force." B-"I don't play well with others." And eventually he kills her. So I think it is there, and Buffy is telling Spike he would never be the vamp who takes her down.
Bud Haven
2022-10-11 23:17:00 +0000 UTCI think your analysis of Spike’s “you have ties to the world” is spot on. And if you harken yourself aaaaaaall the way back something Spike said in “School Hard”: “A slayer with family and friends. That sure as hell wasn’t in the brochure.”.
Noah
2022-10-11 22:54:24 +0000 UTCOne of the best episodes in my opinion! And yes he totally looks like the Dawson's Creek guy
Rhi
2022-10-11 19:25:13 +0000 UTCSuch a great episode!
shellibelle77
2022-10-11 18:54:01 +0000 UTCyes been waiting for this episode! My absolute favourite!
Cáit ní Bhriain
2022-10-11 18:32:27 +0000 UTC1. I’ve been so excited for this episode because it’s one of my favorites for obvious reasons 2. I busted out laughing when Darcie looked away right when the names of the guests of the episode appeared on screen 3. I would still love a movie or mini series just of Darla, Angelus, Dru, and Spike 4. Fantastic reaction as always! ❤️Ashley
Ashley
2022-10-11 17:20:00 +0000 UTCI feel like "I'm a big fan of grenades" and "was it necessary" kinda don't fit in the same sentence 😬😆
Absolute0
2022-10-11 16:31:54 +0000 UTC
