I am not going to fangirl or wank about it.
I am enjoy Buffy/Spike in season 6 not because it's TEH HOT or TEH DARK but because finally it's not a love relationship that Buffy is in. No matter how much they humanized Buffy before this she was always the girl who was in love with the guy and they were together and it was epic and in some sense wholesome even when taboo. It was traditional and idealized and romantic(even with Riley's boringness). I have never been that girl. I cannot relate to her. I can however relate to the scared and unsure, angry lonely and isolated, loveless and yet desperate to feel excitement, lost and confused and ashamed and yet brazen young woman that Buffy is when she falls into sex with Spike. I mean the guys I had these unhealthy relationships with weren't in love with me like Spike is with Buffy, but that sems somewhat immaterial for some reason. Still. I find it appealing because it's grey area and it's not about love and it's not Buffy being victimized by love, but her acting out of very different things and those things are much more what most relationships are about. Now that's simplifying things and ignoring the archtypical dynamics and cliches that it does fall into... but hey I feel like being positive and I'm glad that it's not love and it's not right or wrong. There are no prophecies and no destiny about it. Actually, before I ever really watched Buffy at all, back in the first part of college I had a Buffy/Spike icon in my journal because that it was applicable to my RL in some way. So I guess it's not suprising that there is some resonance.