BtVS S9 #7 - The relationship part

[rebcake]

If you're not interested in parsing the comics, I don't blame you a bit, and this is probably not going to be your thing.

People who do read the comics seem fairly happy with one point in this issue: Spike came clean about his feelings for Buffy. To her face, even! Possibly.

Comments

[coalitiongirl]

There's a part of me that's wary of Spike ever trying to fit into that white picket fence kind of life just for Buffy- but that's mostly my fear of characters becoming characters-in-law for their significant others, and Spike molding himself into Buffy's ideas of how life should be. On the other hand, I think you can make a strong case for this being something Spike wants, too, and I'd be okay with him doing it for any reason but catering to Buffy's concepts of how life should be. So I think we do kind of agree in that sense. :)

I wonder if Buffy's old insecurities about "normal" crop up when she's in a bad place, as in S6 or now- while in S7 she's able to push that aside and turn down whatever bit of normal she might have had with Robin. So I can see this as a regression because she's back to facing life-as-Big-Bad rather than more tangible Big Bads, and she's grasping at old, safe ideas about that concept.

I also think she's got a hell of a lot of cognitive dissonance going on regarding Spike and normality because she's both telling him he's not normal (which I'm going to assume roughly means 'human') and having him call the doctor to schedule her abortion. I feel like it can't get much more normal than that!

Cognitive dissonance, thy name is Buffy! And I actually love SO MUCH that he called the doctor for her because it's indicative that 1) Spike can be normal for her! and 2) she's still not quite in a completely self-sufficient place, which Buffy by nature sees as unhealthy (though I'd disagree with her because I see it as completely okay to lean on someone for something like that!)

[gryfndor_godess]

And I actually love SO MUCH that he called the doctor for her because it's indicative that 1) Spike can be normal for her!

ME, TOO. That was one of my favorite parts.

because it's indicative that 1) Spike can be normal for her!

EXACTLY.

See, you do want them to be "normal" together. ;D

I wonder if Buffy's old insecurities about "normal" crop up when she's in a bad place, as in S6 or now-

Yeah, that makes sense. Like, she starts to think that she's the problem, and if she could only manage to be "normal," things would be okay.

(though I'd disagree with her because I see it as completely okay to lean on someone for something like that!)

Agreed!

[coalitiongirl]

Just 'cause he can be when she's in dire need of it doesn't mean I want to see it full-time! :D But I think there'd be a certain amount of give-and-take in that relationship if they were playing at normal no matter what. I can't imagine Spike ever getting to the point where he'd completely toss aside his nature for her- not anymore (if ever), and I can't imagine Buffy being happy with him if he tried.

[boot_the_grime]

I don't think either of them really wants "normal". I certainly don't think Buffy does anymore, if she ever did. She sure wasn't drawn to Spike because he was "normal dude" in training. She thinks she fails at all things ordinary, but I don't think she even wants those things. I think she was coming to that realization and trying to tell Spike that she isn't trying to have a normal life or looking for normalcy in him.

The idea that he might want to be "normal"? I don't think it was something she thought of. And really, it's not like Spike has been showing any signs of trying to be "normal"? He chooses to live on a bug ship, tells people at the party that he's a vampire living on a bug ship, goes to a meeting in a bug ship... I don't know what "normal" life he thinks he wants, but it doesn't seem to be one defined by usual standards of "normalcy".

I don't want Spike to be "normal". I don't want Buffy to be "normal". I want the comic to stop romanticizing the idea of "normalcy" as something awesome and desirable that everyone should aspire to conform to. But I think it's probably doing it just to subvert it. Spike lives on a bug ship, Buffy is a bot. Spike is a vampire, Buffy is a Slayer. The resolution to X-Men is never going to be that the mutants should assimilate and become "normal people", that would be wrong on so many levels, and I'm sure Joss knows that.