Because I can do better than the snotty post I made on Tumblr.

[eilowyn]

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

Comments

[rahirah]

I always thought that if the writers needed to keep Angel's special snowflake status intact, then a great way to avoid the AR and still send Spike off for a soul would have been A) for the chip to go out, and for Spike to have killed Alley Woman, and then B) for Buffy and Spike to have a real relationship after Wrecked, and everything's peachy for several episodes, but Spike is killing people on the sly - and maybe he's not enjoying it as much as he thinks he ought to, and is sort of conflicted about it, but at least a few people end up dead anyway. And then Buffy finds out, and the shit hits the fan, but she can't kill him any more than she could kill Angelus right off the bat, and she's devastated and betrayed and Spike's genuinely angry and confused because he was only killing people she doesn't know and it was only a few of them anyway and there's a big fight and it ends up with both of them standing there totally unable to actually kill one another and Buffy tells Spike to leave and never come back and Spike says he'll do anything for another chance and Buffy says she can't, she can never trust him without a soul, blah blah and Spike leaves and goes to get a soul and goes through way more interesting trials than a few roaches that actually get into his state of mind, and meanwhile back at the ranch Buffy is dealing with Dark Willow.

Not that I've thought about it in detail or anything.

[tennyo_elf]

A) for the chip to go out, and for Spike to have killed Alley Woman, and then B) for Buffy and Spike to have a real relationship after Wrecked, and everything's peachy for several episodes, but Spike is killing people on the sly - and maybe he's not enjoying it as much as he thinks he ought to, and is sort of conflicted about it, but at least a few people end up dead anyway. And then Buffy finds out, and the shit hits the fan, but she can't kill him any more than she could kill Angelus right off the bat, and she's devastated and betrayed and Spike's genuinely angry and confused because he was only killing people she doesn't know and it was only a few of them anyway and there's a big fight and it ends up with both of them standing there totally unable to actually kill one another and Buffy tells Spike to leave and never come back and Spike says he'll do anything for another chance and Buffy says she can't, she can never trust him without a soul, blah blah and Spike leaves and goes to get a soul and goes through way more interesting trials than a few roaches that actually get into his state of mind, and meanwhile back at the ranch Buffy is dealing with Dark Willow.

I love you. No, seriously. This is exactly what I thought of as well for a good alternative to the AR. It fits perfectly for me in almost all the messages and for Spike's character. it doesn't regress him but pushes him further. It really highlights his problems. This would have been much more engaging to me and would have loved to see this play out.

The thing to push Spike forward is to hurt Buffy, which goes against his mantra, and seeing how he hurt her by just being him (killing people, even though Buffy doesn't know them) would really drive home he needed to change.

I think this is perfect and spot on and...and (ego boost) great minds think a like! ;)

[samsom]

And then Buffy finds out, and the shit hits the fan, but she can't kill him any more than she could kill Angelus right off the bat,

I would have preferred almost anything over a retread of Angel's story (with Spike as the souled vampire), so I kind of like your idea a lot. However, Buffy wasn't the same girl at 20 than at 17. I'm not so sure she wouldn't stake Spike if she found out he was killing innocent people again. The price otherwise got too high the last time. She told Giles that to save the world, she'd sacrifice Dawn in s7, so I think by s6 she's sufficiently hard enough to do what she needed to do.

Maybe if he was killing morally ambiguous people and when she confronted him, he could say "I was only killing the bad ones, Buffy - doesn't that satisfy you? Christ, what do you *want* from me?!"

"To be a man!" She'd cry back. "Not a monster!"

*cue the angst and running off for a soul*

[rahirah]

I'm of two minds about that. S6 and S7 have two canon instances of someone in Buffy's circle killing people, and Buffy reacts very differently. She's all gung ho to kill Anya, but she's equally gung ho to save Willow. Now, maybe the difference is that Willow is human and Anya isn't, and I'm sure that's how Buffy herself would justify her actions. But I can't help noticing that Buffy just flat out doesn't like Anya much. At best, she tolerates her. While Willow is her best friend (or at least, Buffy still thinks of her that way, even though in reality they've drifted apart and don't know each other very well any longer.)

We can also compare her reaction to Faith (also human) killing people: Faith has to go to jail and serve time, but does Willow? Nope, she gets a vacation in England.

I realize that there are an awful lot of other factors that figure into Buffy's reactions to each case, but still, I have to wonder if Xander isn't right to a degree in claiming that Buffy's pure and noble morality is just a tad tainted by emotion: she's way more willing to cut slack for people she likes/loves. Which is a very, very common human reaction, after all...

[samsom]

You make a lot of sense but Buffy's decision to save Willow during the last three eps of s6 was probably helped by the fact that Willow had only killed one really banal, evil little human being during what can only be inadequately described as a fit of grief over Tara's death. Anya, even though it helped that Buffy never cared that much for her, chose to become a demon again, and chose to kill as part of her job as a demon. She'd also been killing over the course of months, which makes her closer to the Spike you're proposing than to Willow.

We can also compare her reaction to Faith (also human) killing people: Faith has to go to jail and serve time

But going to prison was Faith's choice, not Buffy's. Buffy really couldn't do much once Faith turned herself in to the police.

I do agree though that if she's emotionally involved with someone who kills, it's tougher. I'd like to think she wouldn't stake Spike because of her feelings for him but it's hard to ignore something like what you're proposing Spike does - the willful, albeit conflicted, taking of lives and hiding that from Buffy. Maybe that's where I have the problem - him doing something he knows Buffy wouldn't approve of and hiding it from her. Whatever her reaction, there would be a huge amount of anger in the mix as well, yes?

[willowgreen]

This would have been SO MUCH BETTER that I think I'm going to make it my new head-canon. Thank you.

[eilowyn]

Not that I've thought about it in detail or anything.

Well your random thought without any detail works perfectly for me. Make Spike Dexter, only killing the bad ones, have Buffy pissed because he's not the judge of who gets to live or die, big fight happens, Spike is miserable, Buffy is miserable, maybe throw Dawn in there telling Spike off (kind of like she did but not about sleeping with Anya because for chrissakes . . .), then Spike goes off on a soul quest. Have him have to face his mother. Face Cecily (that actress who was Halfrek would likely be available). Have him face Drusilla. Have him face his failures, make some point about his ability to love but never having it returned, and poof! He gets himself a soul. Season 7 goes on like it did, but with A FRIGGEN DAWN/SPIKE RECONCILIATION SCENE, Spike dies in Chosen, comes back on AtS, hijinks involving astronauts and cavemen ensue. The end.

And the comics wouldn't exist.