Because I can do better than the snotty post I made on Tumblr.
Today, I made this post on Tumblr in response to a confession on the Buffy Confessions blog. I often do this to confessions I have feelings about. This one started with the snarky response, "Isn't it nice how people disregard season 7 in order to self-righteously get their Spike/Spuffy hate on?" but I expanded it. That post on Tumblr came from the heart and not the head. I knew I could articulate my feelings better than that, so I made this post.
At the beginning of Buffy season 6 and Angel season 4, you had two protagonists and a character that could occupy any narrative space you gave him. Buffy, Angel, and, of course, Spike. The writers had a major decision to make on the direction they were going to take on the ‘verse in general, and these three characters specifically. Buffy was dead, and she had to be brought back somehow; Angel was at the bottom of the sea; and Spike was mourning Buffy at the Hellmouth, keeping his promise about saving Dawn. It should be mentioned that the ‘verse had recently been expanded to include heavenly dimensions, as Cordelia ascended to one. At this point I want to mention that I’ll be focusing this post on the direction BtVS went alone. I really don’t know what could be done differently in Angel, but the assassination of Cordelia Chase is a mistake the writers made over there with season 4.
So they had these three major characters - Spike, Buffy and Angel - and a decision to make: were they going to allow for soulless redemption in the ‘verse? Spike was already on that trajectory. “Intervention” pretty much meant he was going to become a good guy, but to what extent? Would he become a hero without a soul? This is the conundrum the writers found themselves in. The implications of changing the mythology were dire: Angel would no longer be their special snowflake. If Spike was shown to be capable of fully loving without a soul, what did that mean that Angelus couldn’t? This decision, I think, is what ultimately dictated the direction season 6 would go in terms of the mythology.
Meanwhile, there was the character of Buffy. Where was she? In Heaven? In another dimension? Her body was buried, and we knew from Joyce that a body that died of natural causes couldn’t be brought back. So were we going to determine that Buffy had died of unnatural causes? Season 6 was not only a chance to redirect the mythology, but to explore Buffy’s character as well.
The writers started season 6 with a bang. Buffy is brought back, but as we learn in “Afterlife,” she was in Heaven. Being pulled from Heaven had an impact on our Slayer, and the writers were exploring how Buffy would react to being back. As Buffy is our protagonist, the decision of what to do with Buffy came before the question of what to do with the soul mythology. Joss and the writers decided to make a bold choice - they were going to have Buffy be clinically depressed for most of the season, something I am forever grateful for.
So they knew what they were going to do with Buffy. What about Spike? How would he react to Buffy’s depression? During the early episodes of season 6 the writers treated him as Buffy’s confidante, the only person recognizing that she was hanging on by a thread. Would he be her rock, her support during this time of troubles, or would he be a detriment to her healing?
The idea of a musical episode came up. And Joss wanted the episode to end with a kiss. We get “Once More With Feeling,” and Buffy and Spike kissing as the curtains close. Was this a good kiss, one that would lead to a healthy, healing relationship, or would it lead down a destructive road? And what about Spike’s redemption? Were they going to have him be redeemed while making Angel less special, or were they going to uphold the mythology, show that no soul means no real understanding of love, making Angel remain unique in the ‘verse?
Here’s one direction they could have gone in, starting with Tabula Rasa:
- The kiss was good. Spike connected with Buffy, and she began to become aware of how sad she had been.
- By recognizing her depression, she would be situated at a place where she would begin to heal.
- Spike would be the one helping her to heal
* Giles was gone because ASH wanted to spend more time in London with his family
* Xander was getting cold feet about the wedding and be in denial about a whole lot of stuff going on
* Anya wouldn’t have the cognizance to realize Buffy’s situation and would go on counting her money
*Willow would be going on that downward spiral storyline that Joss had wanted to tell ever since Willow began to use magic
*Tara was there to serve Willow’s story, so she wouldn’t be as readily available
*And Dawn would be a teenager, creating problems for Buffy instead of solving them.
- Buffy would slowly come back to herself. Maybe she would have started a sexual relationship with Spike during this time, maybe not. It would be clear, though, that her relationship with Spike had changed - he was good, and he was helping, and she was healing, and falling in love.
- Spike would continue to be allowed to evolve, perhaps helping Xander to not bugger up the wedding, perhaps noticing Willow’s encroaching darkness and help her there, maybe easing all the problems Dawn would cause as the bratty younger sister.
- Buffy would get another sort of income. No Doublemeat Palace in this narrative direction.
- Maybe they were able to stop the trio from killing Tara (yes, the trio would still be there, because while this was a happier season 6, real life was still the bad guy, though Buffy would be facing it with Spike at her side).
- If they still went with Tara’s death, Buffy would have been the one to reach Willow, using the skills and resources she learned while healing from her depression to show Willow how to heal.
Spike and Buffy would be an official couple. No AR, no soul necessary.
- Potentials around the world would start dying, and we’d get season 7, but one where Buffy wasn’t as closed off because she had Spike helping her and earning her love.
- Maybe Spike would have still died in the Hellmouth. It would be a deeper loss for Buffy, but it was where this trajectory towards redemption was leading anyway.
- We wouldn’t have that god-awful kiss in End of Days/Chosen. Or maybe that’s just me.
- The series would end, Spike would die redeemed and loved, and we’d get to where we were going anyway. The end.
Instead, they went another way. Maintaining Angel’s status was more important than immediately redeeming Spike. Buffy wouldn’t really heal from her depression - she would still have symptoms and be closing herself off from everyone in season 7. Willow would go dark. Tara was toast. Xander would leave Anya. We would have a problematic rape scene involving the two most beloved characters in the ‘verse. This is the direction they went in, and this is what we got.
I’m not saying I’m not immensely happy with how everything ended - I love that Spike got his soul and redeemed himself. I loved that we got to watch Buffy slowly fall in love with him. I love Buffy’s last words. There are things I think were wrong calls on the part of the writers (and I’m ingenuous enough to lump an attempted rape that was a poor choice by all accounts with a kiss that just personally irritates me). I needed Dawn and Spike to be reconciled, and Willow and Spike commiserate about being killers - because who would better understand Willow’s guilt than a guy who was killing for years before turning a corner. I really needed those two scenes. They got some stuff wrong. But they also did a lot of things right.
I think the point I’m trying to make is that the groundwork was there for soulless redemption. It wouldn’t have been out of character to go in that direction. Continuity would be kept, and the characters would continue going two steps forward instead of the two steps forward and one step back they did go. Season 6 wouldn’t have been as painful as it is. And rape culture wouldn’t have been perpetuated.
That’s really where this post comes from - my issues with the AR, and Spike’s behavior during the sexual relationship with Buffy. Both are examples of rape culture (though no, Mark, sex in “Smashed”/”Wrecked” is not rape, you self-righteous jerk). I’m doing a presentation on rape culture tomorrow, so I’ve been trying to go through my feelings about the Spike/Buffy relationship in season 6 in general and the AR specifically. I even went and read several posts written by gabrielleabelle, which those of you who know me know was difficult for me, but some of the best discussions on the subject are there. This is the conclusion I came to. The AR wasn’t necessary. The writers of Buffy were brilliant enough to come up with another reason for Spike to get his soul, if they were going to go with the “Buffy is depressed and self-destructive” storyline. They could have completely redirected how season 6 would go. They could have let Spike be the hero he always was inside earlier than they did, and without a soul. They could have given us Spuffy earlier, without problematic complications.
But they didn’t.
I’m not unhappy with how things worked out, but they easily could have been done differently. I’ve read too many season 6 re-writes that are perfectly in character for me to believe that what we got was the only way to go. And I guess that’s what my point is.
It could have been different.
But it wasn’t.
At the beginning of Buffy season 6 and Angel season 4, you had two protagonists and a character that could occupy any narrative space you gave him. Buffy, Angel, and, of course, Spike. The writers had a major decision to make on the direction they were going to take on the ‘verse in general, and these three characters specifically. Buffy was dead, and she had to be brought back somehow; Angel was at the bottom of the sea; and Spike was mourning Buffy at the Hellmouth, keeping his promise about saving Dawn. It should be mentioned that the ‘verse had recently been expanded to include heavenly dimensions, as Cordelia ascended to one. At this point I want to mention that I’ll be focusing this post on the direction BtVS went alone. I really don’t know what could be done differently in Angel, but the assassination of Cordelia Chase is a mistake the writers made over there with season 4.
So they had these three major characters - Spike, Buffy and Angel - and a decision to make: were they going to allow for soulless redemption in the ‘verse? Spike was already on that trajectory. “Intervention” pretty much meant he was going to become a good guy, but to what extent? Would he become a hero without a soul? This is the conundrum the writers found themselves in. The implications of changing the mythology were dire: Angel would no longer be their special snowflake. If Spike was shown to be capable of fully loving without a soul, what did that mean that Angelus couldn’t? This decision, I think, is what ultimately dictated the direction season 6 would go in terms of the mythology.
Meanwhile, there was the character of Buffy. Where was she? In Heaven? In another dimension? Her body was buried, and we knew from Joyce that a body that died of natural causes couldn’t be brought back. So were we going to determine that Buffy had died of unnatural causes? Season 6 was not only a chance to redirect the mythology, but to explore Buffy’s character as well.
The writers started season 6 with a bang. Buffy is brought back, but as we learn in “Afterlife,” she was in Heaven. Being pulled from Heaven had an impact on our Slayer, and the writers were exploring how Buffy would react to being back. As Buffy is our protagonist, the decision of what to do with Buffy came before the question of what to do with the soul mythology. Joss and the writers decided to make a bold choice - they were going to have Buffy be clinically depressed for most of the season, something I am forever grateful for.
So they knew what they were going to do with Buffy. What about Spike? How would he react to Buffy’s depression? During the early episodes of season 6 the writers treated him as Buffy’s confidante, the only person recognizing that she was hanging on by a thread. Would he be her rock, her support during this time of troubles, or would he be a detriment to her healing?
The idea of a musical episode came up. And Joss wanted the episode to end with a kiss. We get “Once More With Feeling,” and Buffy and Spike kissing as the curtains close. Was this a good kiss, one that would lead to a healthy, healing relationship, or would it lead down a destructive road? And what about Spike’s redemption? Were they going to have him be redeemed while making Angel less special, or were they going to uphold the mythology, show that no soul means no real understanding of love, making Angel remain unique in the ‘verse?
Here’s one direction they could have gone in, starting with Tabula Rasa:
- The kiss was good. Spike connected with Buffy, and she began to become aware of how sad she had been.
- By recognizing her depression, she would be situated at a place where she would begin to heal.
- Spike would be the one helping her to heal
* Giles was gone because ASH wanted to spend more time in London with his family
* Xander was getting cold feet about the wedding and be in denial about a whole lot of stuff going on
* Anya wouldn’t have the cognizance to realize Buffy’s situation and would go on counting her money
*Willow would be going on that downward spiral storyline that Joss had wanted to tell ever since Willow began to use magic
*Tara was there to serve Willow’s story, so she wouldn’t be as readily available
*And Dawn would be a teenager, creating problems for Buffy instead of solving them.
- Buffy would slowly come back to herself. Maybe she would have started a sexual relationship with Spike during this time, maybe not. It would be clear, though, that her relationship with Spike had changed - he was good, and he was helping, and she was healing, and falling in love.
- Spike would continue to be allowed to evolve, perhaps helping Xander to not bugger up the wedding, perhaps noticing Willow’s encroaching darkness and help her there, maybe easing all the problems Dawn would cause as the bratty younger sister.
- Buffy would get another sort of income. No Doublemeat Palace in this narrative direction.
- Maybe they were able to stop the trio from killing Tara (yes, the trio would still be there, because while this was a happier season 6, real life was still the bad guy, though Buffy would be facing it with Spike at her side).
- If they still went with Tara’s death, Buffy would have been the one to reach Willow, using the skills and resources she learned while healing from her depression to show Willow how to heal.
Spike and Buffy would be an official couple. No AR, no soul necessary.
- Potentials around the world would start dying, and we’d get season 7, but one where Buffy wasn’t as closed off because she had Spike helping her and earning her love.
- Maybe Spike would have still died in the Hellmouth. It would be a deeper loss for Buffy, but it was where this trajectory towards redemption was leading anyway.
- We wouldn’t have that god-awful kiss in End of Days/Chosen. Or maybe that’s just me.
- The series would end, Spike would die redeemed and loved, and we’d get to where we were going anyway. The end.
Instead, they went another way. Maintaining Angel’s status was more important than immediately redeeming Spike. Buffy wouldn’t really heal from her depression - she would still have symptoms and be closing herself off from everyone in season 7. Willow would go dark. Tara was toast. Xander would leave Anya. We would have a problematic rape scene involving the two most beloved characters in the ‘verse. This is the direction they went in, and this is what we got.
I’m not saying I’m not immensely happy with how everything ended - I love that Spike got his soul and redeemed himself. I loved that we got to watch Buffy slowly fall in love with him. I love Buffy’s last words. There are things I think were wrong calls on the part of the writers (and I’m ingenuous enough to lump an attempted rape that was a poor choice by all accounts with a kiss that just personally irritates me). I needed Dawn and Spike to be reconciled, and Willow and Spike commiserate about being killers - because who would better understand Willow’s guilt than a guy who was killing for years before turning a corner. I really needed those two scenes. They got some stuff wrong. But they also did a lot of things right.
I think the point I’m trying to make is that the groundwork was there for soulless redemption. It wouldn’t have been out of character to go in that direction. Continuity would be kept, and the characters would continue going two steps forward instead of the two steps forward and one step back they did go. Season 6 wouldn’t have been as painful as it is. And rape culture wouldn’t have been perpetuated.
That’s really where this post comes from - my issues with the AR, and Spike’s behavior during the sexual relationship with Buffy. Both are examples of rape culture (though no, Mark, sex in “Smashed”/”Wrecked” is not rape, you self-righteous jerk). I’m doing a presentation on rape culture tomorrow, so I’ve been trying to go through my feelings about the Spike/Buffy relationship in season 6 in general and the AR specifically. I even went and read several posts written by gabrielleabelle, which those of you who know me know was difficult for me, but some of the best discussions on the subject are there. This is the conclusion I came to. The AR wasn’t necessary. The writers of Buffy were brilliant enough to come up with another reason for Spike to get his soul, if they were going to go with the “Buffy is depressed and self-destructive” storyline. They could have completely redirected how season 6 would go. They could have let Spike be the hero he always was inside earlier than they did, and without a soul. They could have given us Spuffy earlier, without problematic complications.
But they didn’t.
I’m not unhappy with how things worked out, but they easily could have been done differently. I’ve read too many season 6 re-writes that are perfectly in character for me to believe that what we got was the only way to go. And I guess that’s what my point is.
It could have been different.
But it wasn’t.