Thoughts about betrayal in the Buffyverse
To help with a new fic I'm writing, I've been doing a re-watch of both "Buffy" and "Angel" lately. It has inspired a few random thoughts. One of the thoughts that struck me is that the bad guys in the Buffyverse (and perhaps in all plays, films and TV shows) are largely marked by their instinct to betray. This is especially true amongst the show's seasonal Big Bads.
Angelus is made of betrayal in S2, just as Faith is in S3. In S4, Dr. Walsh betrays Riley, installing a chip in him that makes him her puppet. In S5, Ben betrays Buffy by concealing his identity as Glory's vessel, and later betrays Dawn by making a pact with Glory. In S6, Warren and Andrew betray Jonathan, and Willow is the betrayer of all her friends. In S7, Caleb betrays his Potential victims by posing as a Good Samaritan, The First deceives and betrays the Potentials by masquerading as one of them, and Giles and Principal Wood betray Buffy by trying to murder Spike (Upon further consideration, this is not a purely evil betrayal, but rather one of the more standard lies and minor betrayals that the show's human characters are always committing. Even Robin's thirst for vengeance doesn't make him "evil", merely human and fallible. They have reasons for doing what they are doing, and not all of them are bad ones.).
But there's another betrayal in the fourth season that I didn't mention, and I think it's a very important one for the larger arc of the series. Up until S4, Spike had been depicted as a creature of contradiction. He is a master at deception and betrayal, but he is also oddly trustworthy. This weird "trustworthiness" is ultimately the reason that in "Pangs," the Scoobies invite him into their home. It seems a strange decision at the time - Spike is a very powerful opponent - but oddly, it also feels very natural. How can this be?
Well, the reason turns out to be that - up until the end of S4 - Spike only betrays monsters. He betrays the Annointed One and his followers by hoisting him into the sunlight. He grandly manipulates and betrays Angelus (and even Drusilla, to some degree) in the S2 finale. He dusts fellow vampires left and right during his S3 return, and tries to dust Harmony early on in S4 ("The Harsh Light of Day").
Meanwhile, Spike mostly plays the game straight with humans. For example, in "Lie to Me" he keeps his word to Ford, making him an immortal vampire. In "Becoming", he keeps his word to Buffy by taking both Angelus and Drusilla out of action while Buffy fights the minion. When he returns in S3's "Lover's Walk" and comes to the realization that he doesn't want the love spell (drawing a contrast with Willow's later mind-rape of Tara that I hadn't really thought about before), Spike does something very interesting. At this point, he could simply walk away, or lie to Angel and Buffy about where Willow and Xander are, but he keeps his word. In fact, when you think about it, he more than keeps his word, because the agreement mentioned nothing about sudden revelations. In other words, he keeps showing himself to be evil, but with this bizarre catch: humans can trust him.
That is why the chipped Spike's manipulation and grand betrayal of the Scoobies in "The Yoko Factor" is so important. Suddenly, they can't trust him the way they could before. This connects to the moment in "Intervention" when Buffy realizes that she can, and that the instincts to trust him in the past weren't totally flawed. She sees that his S4 betrayal of the gang was the anomaly - the exception that proves the rule. As Xander noted when Willow was trying to puzzle through Spike's "Yoko" betrayal, he was "all dressed up with no one to bite. He's gotta get his ya-yas somehow." Buffy's S5 epiphany about this is made even more meaningful because she is deceiving Spike when it happens, pretending to be the Buffybot. That's why their "Intervention" kiss is more than just a reward, or the carrot being offered as an alternative to the chip's stick; it's a symbol of trust and the intimacy that trust allows.
Spike isn't the only weirdly trustworthy adversary in the Buffyverse. For instance, even though his arc is all about his grand deception of Sunnydale, Mayor Wilkins has an interior sort of honesty that feels somewhat strange and contradictory. He even references it occasionally, as he does in "Band Candy" while discussing Ethan with Mister Trick ("Unlike other politicians, I always keep my campaign promises.") He plays the game straight with the bad guys - and especially with Faith, because he loves her. This capacity for monsters to love seems to be a tipping point in the Verse, and what makes certain monsters oddly trustworthy.
Spike's love of Drusilla (and his later love for Buffy) is presented as unusual for a vampire, because it implies that he's not completely apathetic. He cares about something, and is invested in certain outcomes that aren't wholly destructive. It's never explicitly told how Spike retains this small shard of humanity, but I suspect it has something to do with him having been an artist. The creative instinct is something that distinguishes man from beast, and some of that artistic organ that tries so hard to visualize the soul might even be able to generate a bit of it (side note: I highly recommend Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" to anyone who hasn't seen it. Even minus the 3D effect of watching it in the theater, it is very worthwhile viewing). Even before Spike regains his soul, there is a "spark" left inside him, and much of his arc is about learning how to find it. He finally gains a teacher in Buffy Summers, by proving himself worthy of her trust.
Angelus is made of betrayal in S2, just as Faith is in S3. In S4, Dr. Walsh betrays Riley, installing a chip in him that makes him her puppet. In S5, Ben betrays Buffy by concealing his identity as Glory's vessel, and later betrays Dawn by making a pact with Glory. In S6, Warren and Andrew betray Jonathan, and Willow is the betrayer of all her friends. In S7, Caleb betrays his Potential victims by posing as a Good Samaritan, The First deceives and betrays the Potentials by masquerading as one of them, and Giles and Principal Wood betray Buffy by trying to murder Spike (Upon further consideration, this is not a purely evil betrayal, but rather one of the more standard lies and minor betrayals that the show's human characters are always committing. Even Robin's thirst for vengeance doesn't make him "evil", merely human and fallible. They have reasons for doing what they are doing, and not all of them are bad ones.).
But there's another betrayal in the fourth season that I didn't mention, and I think it's a very important one for the larger arc of the series. Up until S4, Spike had been depicted as a creature of contradiction. He is a master at deception and betrayal, but he is also oddly trustworthy. This weird "trustworthiness" is ultimately the reason that in "Pangs," the Scoobies invite him into their home. It seems a strange decision at the time - Spike is a very powerful opponent - but oddly, it also feels very natural. How can this be?
Well, the reason turns out to be that - up until the end of S4 - Spike only betrays monsters. He betrays the Annointed One and his followers by hoisting him into the sunlight. He grandly manipulates and betrays Angelus (and even Drusilla, to some degree) in the S2 finale. He dusts fellow vampires left and right during his S3 return, and tries to dust Harmony early on in S4 ("The Harsh Light of Day").
Meanwhile, Spike mostly plays the game straight with humans. For example, in "Lie to Me" he keeps his word to Ford, making him an immortal vampire. In "Becoming", he keeps his word to Buffy by taking both Angelus and Drusilla out of action while Buffy fights the minion. When he returns in S3's "Lover's Walk" and comes to the realization that he doesn't want the love spell (drawing a contrast with Willow's later mind-rape of Tara that I hadn't really thought about before), Spike does something very interesting. At this point, he could simply walk away, or lie to Angel and Buffy about where Willow and Xander are, but he keeps his word. In fact, when you think about it, he more than keeps his word, because the agreement mentioned nothing about sudden revelations. In other words, he keeps showing himself to be evil, but with this bizarre catch: humans can trust him.
That is why the chipped Spike's manipulation and grand betrayal of the Scoobies in "The Yoko Factor" is so important. Suddenly, they can't trust him the way they could before. This connects to the moment in "Intervention" when Buffy realizes that she can, and that the instincts to trust him in the past weren't totally flawed. She sees that his S4 betrayal of the gang was the anomaly - the exception that proves the rule. As Xander noted when Willow was trying to puzzle through Spike's "Yoko" betrayal, he was "all dressed up with no one to bite. He's gotta get his ya-yas somehow." Buffy's S5 epiphany about this is made even more meaningful because she is deceiving Spike when it happens, pretending to be the Buffybot. That's why their "Intervention" kiss is more than just a reward, or the carrot being offered as an alternative to the chip's stick; it's a symbol of trust and the intimacy that trust allows.
Spike isn't the only weirdly trustworthy adversary in the Buffyverse. For instance, even though his arc is all about his grand deception of Sunnydale, Mayor Wilkins has an interior sort of honesty that feels somewhat strange and contradictory. He even references it occasionally, as he does in "Band Candy" while discussing Ethan with Mister Trick ("Unlike other politicians, I always keep my campaign promises.") He plays the game straight with the bad guys - and especially with Faith, because he loves her. This capacity for monsters to love seems to be a tipping point in the Verse, and what makes certain monsters oddly trustworthy.
Spike's love of Drusilla (and his later love for Buffy) is presented as unusual for a vampire, because it implies that he's not completely apathetic. He cares about something, and is invested in certain outcomes that aren't wholly destructive. It's never explicitly told how Spike retains this small shard of humanity, but I suspect it has something to do with him having been an artist. The creative instinct is something that distinguishes man from beast, and some of that artistic organ that tries so hard to visualize the soul might even be able to generate a bit of it (side note: I highly recommend Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" to anyone who hasn't seen it. Even minus the 3D effect of watching it in the theater, it is very worthwhile viewing). Even before Spike regains his soul, there is a "spark" left inside him, and much of his arc is about learning how to find it. He finally gains a teacher in Buffy Summers, by proving himself worthy of her trust.