The Spike Problem or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Canon
Well, snickfic, I finally did it. :)
We all know Spike's an interesting character. But let me get meta, because he's not only interesting in the bounds of the show, but he's interesting in terms of the complications he presented to the writers.
Cause in S4, he becomes a regular. They made a former antagonist into a regular. In fact, a former Big Bad. And, unlike Angel, he wasn't all souled up and trying to fight on the side of the Good. He was still evil.
That's not an easy task. Because having an evil antagonist on the cast will typically lead to dumb storylines where he gets defeated every week but not quite killed. Eventually he descends into buffoonery. People, rightfully, wonder why he's even sticking around. He becomes a caricature. Like a cartoon villain that pops in every week just to be defeated.
No, really. Try to think of Glory being on the cast in, say, S3. The season arc isn't about her, but she shows up in every episode anyway just to satisfy the contract.
Not appealing.
So the writers added in a twist: the chip. They couldn't have Spike play the role of the full antagonist anymore. That just doesn't work when he has to be in every episode. Instead, they had to start working on integrating him into the cast. And the quickest way to do that is to defang him. Make him not an immediate threat.
Suddenly, we get a whole world of possibilities with Spike's character. Moral questions: Should Spike be staked now that he's defenseless? Thematic quandaries: If Spike is an outcast from the demon community, can he fit in with the Scoobies? Does he want to? Do they want him to? And tying everything into the main arc: Adam offers Spike a new niche. Can Spike still be evil with the chip?
S4 handles all of these adeptly. Spike's ostracism from his former group fits well with the thematic arc of the season. His eventual alliance with Adam reminds us that the chip may hold him back physically, but it doesn't stop the compulsion to be evil. And his early alliance with the Scoobies forms the ties that will make him an eventual peripheral member of the gang.
Spike retains his evilness in S4. At the same time, his character is allowed to change and go through trials of his own. Is the chip a plot device? Of course. But it's an effective device in ensuring Spike's place as a cast member. Without it, Buffy, frankly, would have had to kill him before the end of the season.
S5 presents new difficulties, though. We've already had it demonstrated that Spike can still be evil. Where to go from there, though? Static characters are boring. Spike in S5 could easily become a cardboard cut-out of a character, forever complaining about the chip and being compelled by outside forces into mingling with the plot.
They can't have Spike struggle with his place as a demon in S5. They did that last season. They can't use the season to demonstrate that Spike's still a demon. Again, it had been done. A new direction had to be taken.
So Spike fell in love with Buffy.
It's one of those retcons that makes so much sense, it honestly doesn't bother me at all. They took advantage of Spike's passion and already-established romantic nature, mixed it with his Slayer-killing reputation, and started up the Spuffy.
Suddenly, Spike's arc takes a whole new path. Instead of figuring out how to still be evil with a chip, Spike is trying to figure out how to get Buffy's attention. How to be Good so that she'll notice him.
His attempts are often-juvenile. And we, again, are introduced to a host of interesting questions. Can you love without a soul? Can a soulless creature do Good without being Good? Is this love sufficient to bring him into the Scoobies?
Throughout the season, we see Spike resort to chocolates and cattle prods to try to convince Buffy of his feelings. In the end, it takes being tortured by a hellgod to get some respect from her, and to be accepted by her into the group.
By the end of S5, we have Spike, the antagonist and former Big Bad, working with the Scoobies to save the world. Two seasons after his introduction as a cast member. This journey could easily have come out contrived. It could be unbelievable. Possible missteps were everywhere. But the writers ultimately handled it deftly and used the opportunity of Spike-as-cast-member to flesh out his character, develop it, and allow it to move forward.
S6 is something of the natural climax of Spike's story. He's become one of the team. He's done undeniably Good deeds. And yet...still a vampire. Still with no soul.
Where do you go from there?
His position as one of the peripheral Scooby members marks him as available for Buffy to use to get out her post-resurrection angst. In the meantime, as Buffy, his guiding light, falters, so does he. We see a regression, almost, of Spike. No longer spouting pure intentions as he did in S5, he takes advantage of Buffy's dark period to relate to her with his own darkness.
In some ways, it's not so much a regression but an opportunity to show us the demon side that still exists in Spike (as seen in S4). Good intentions can't get rid of that.
This all has the controversial culmination in the AR scene which has the effect of showing that despite the progress he had made - the chip, the love, the Good deeds - he's still a demon. And when unchecked, as it was with Buffy, he's still capable of doing Evil, even to the one person he'd never want to hurt.
Finally, we get to the soul. The staple of the Buffyverse to make vampires safe. In some ways, this turn of events could be seen as inevitable from the time he joined the cast in S4. Spike's struggles to be Good reflect the struggles the writers have to bring him into the cast, integrate him into the gang, justify having an antagonist as a regular character.
It's not an easy line to walk.
For a long time, S6 bothered me. I was caught up in what the writers meant with what they were doing. In S5, it seemed clear to me that I was supposed to view Spike sympathetically. We were shown his struggles. We were shown his point of view. We were shown his backstory. And we saw his eventual triumph and his final status as comrade. I took it as a sign that the writers wanted me to root for this guy.
S6 seemed like a betrayal, in many ways. Especially the AR. It seemed as if, suddenly, I was being told I was wrong. I felt the writers had sabotaged their own attempt at characterization in an effort to "prove" to me that Spike was still evil. The message in the AR seemed clear: "You stupid fangirl! See how evil your character is?"
This bothered me greatly. I resent being manipulated. I resent being shown such a sympathetic character in S5 and then being slapped upside the head in S6 when I actually sympathize with him.
Time passed, though, and, as things do, the show took on a different light. I know there was backfighting among the writers. I know there was drama going on there. But I realized that it didn't matter. Because the show they gave us can be taken independently of any of that. And Spike's arc, even up through S6, suddenly worked for me.
I stopped worrying about what the writers had wanted me to think. I stopped feeling insulted by the seeming betrayal of S6. Instead, I viewed it as a natural progression of the Spike character. I took the series in a vacuum, devoid of whatever motivations the writers may have had for it. And, to my surprise, the story worked. Even when the underdog Spike reveals the depths of his demon in S6.
Because Spike's story isn't one of love changing him from Evil to Good. It's a story about Spike changing himself from Evil to Good. Because of love, yes. But love alone can't do the trick, as we see in S6. There's more needed.
Spike's character is an oddity. Brought on as a regular despite the difficulties of having a former Big Bad on the cast. His character journey is so well-done, so poignant. And yet, it's all a result of the complications that come from his antagonist status. How to integrate him into the show. In some ways, these difficulties made the character who he is.
It also made him controversial. For how he challenged the mythology. Not even the writers agreed on his character. And watching the show with the view that the events onscreen are "messages" from the writer to the audience is an unpleasant experience.
That's not what the show is, though. It isn't a vehicle for telling us what to think of the characters. It's a vehicle to tell a story. The writers may have wanted to get a message across. Very rarely is this so transparently done that it confuses the natural story, though (AYW is a good example of this done all wrong).
I've reached the point that, barring a few exceptions where it is frightfully transparent, what the writers may have wanted me to think doesn't matter. Because ignoring all that - the backstage drama, the dumbass comments by various writers - and just watching the show as it is...it all works. It's painful sometimes. It's not easy to watch all the time. But it works. And Spike's arc is magnificent.
Or...if you really want to live by what the writers think, go by what Joss has to say:
TV's like whitewater rafting: Without rocks, there wouldn't be rapids, and it wouldn't be as much fun. ... [Rolling with it] gave us Spike falling in love with Buffy. ... You plan your ideas and themes, and then you let the rest form naturally, and then it feels real. It doesn't feel like you're imposing something on everybody. -- Joss Whedon (The Salon, 5-03) - Thanks to enisy for gathering
We all know Spike's an interesting character. But let me get meta, because he's not only interesting in the bounds of the show, but he's interesting in terms of the complications he presented to the writers.
Cause in S4, he becomes a regular. They made a former antagonist into a regular. In fact, a former Big Bad. And, unlike Angel, he wasn't all souled up and trying to fight on the side of the Good. He was still evil.
That's not an easy task. Because having an evil antagonist on the cast will typically lead to dumb storylines where he gets defeated every week but not quite killed. Eventually he descends into buffoonery. People, rightfully, wonder why he's even sticking around. He becomes a caricature. Like a cartoon villain that pops in every week just to be defeated.
No, really. Try to think of Glory being on the cast in, say, S3. The season arc isn't about her, but she shows up in every episode anyway just to satisfy the contract.
Not appealing.
So the writers added in a twist: the chip. They couldn't have Spike play the role of the full antagonist anymore. That just doesn't work when he has to be in every episode. Instead, they had to start working on integrating him into the cast. And the quickest way to do that is to defang him. Make him not an immediate threat.
Suddenly, we get a whole world of possibilities with Spike's character. Moral questions: Should Spike be staked now that he's defenseless? Thematic quandaries: If Spike is an outcast from the demon community, can he fit in with the Scoobies? Does he want to? Do they want him to? And tying everything into the main arc: Adam offers Spike a new niche. Can Spike still be evil with the chip?
S4 handles all of these adeptly. Spike's ostracism from his former group fits well with the thematic arc of the season. His eventual alliance with Adam reminds us that the chip may hold him back physically, but it doesn't stop the compulsion to be evil. And his early alliance with the Scoobies forms the ties that will make him an eventual peripheral member of the gang.
Spike retains his evilness in S4. At the same time, his character is allowed to change and go through trials of his own. Is the chip a plot device? Of course. But it's an effective device in ensuring Spike's place as a cast member. Without it, Buffy, frankly, would have had to kill him before the end of the season.
S5 presents new difficulties, though. We've already had it demonstrated that Spike can still be evil. Where to go from there, though? Static characters are boring. Spike in S5 could easily become a cardboard cut-out of a character, forever complaining about the chip and being compelled by outside forces into mingling with the plot.
They can't have Spike struggle with his place as a demon in S5. They did that last season. They can't use the season to demonstrate that Spike's still a demon. Again, it had been done. A new direction had to be taken.
So Spike fell in love with Buffy.
It's one of those retcons that makes so much sense, it honestly doesn't bother me at all. They took advantage of Spike's passion and already-established romantic nature, mixed it with his Slayer-killing reputation, and started up the Spuffy.
Suddenly, Spike's arc takes a whole new path. Instead of figuring out how to still be evil with a chip, Spike is trying to figure out how to get Buffy's attention. How to be Good so that she'll notice him.
His attempts are often-juvenile. And we, again, are introduced to a host of interesting questions. Can you love without a soul? Can a soulless creature do Good without being Good? Is this love sufficient to bring him into the Scoobies?
Throughout the season, we see Spike resort to chocolates and cattle prods to try to convince Buffy of his feelings. In the end, it takes being tortured by a hellgod to get some respect from her, and to be accepted by her into the group.
By the end of S5, we have Spike, the antagonist and former Big Bad, working with the Scoobies to save the world. Two seasons after his introduction as a cast member. This journey could easily have come out contrived. It could be unbelievable. Possible missteps were everywhere. But the writers ultimately handled it deftly and used the opportunity of Spike-as-cast-member to flesh out his character, develop it, and allow it to move forward.
S6 is something of the natural climax of Spike's story. He's become one of the team. He's done undeniably Good deeds. And yet...still a vampire. Still with no soul.
Where do you go from there?
His position as one of the peripheral Scooby members marks him as available for Buffy to use to get out her post-resurrection angst. In the meantime, as Buffy, his guiding light, falters, so does he. We see a regression, almost, of Spike. No longer spouting pure intentions as he did in S5, he takes advantage of Buffy's dark period to relate to her with his own darkness.
In some ways, it's not so much a regression but an opportunity to show us the demon side that still exists in Spike (as seen in S4). Good intentions can't get rid of that.
This all has the controversial culmination in the AR scene which has the effect of showing that despite the progress he had made - the chip, the love, the Good deeds - he's still a demon. And when unchecked, as it was with Buffy, he's still capable of doing Evil, even to the one person he'd never want to hurt.
Finally, we get to the soul. The staple of the Buffyverse to make vampires safe. In some ways, this turn of events could be seen as inevitable from the time he joined the cast in S4. Spike's struggles to be Good reflect the struggles the writers have to bring him into the cast, integrate him into the gang, justify having an antagonist as a regular character.
It's not an easy line to walk.
For a long time, S6 bothered me. I was caught up in what the writers meant with what they were doing. In S5, it seemed clear to me that I was supposed to view Spike sympathetically. We were shown his struggles. We were shown his point of view. We were shown his backstory. And we saw his eventual triumph and his final status as comrade. I took it as a sign that the writers wanted me to root for this guy.
S6 seemed like a betrayal, in many ways. Especially the AR. It seemed as if, suddenly, I was being told I was wrong. I felt the writers had sabotaged their own attempt at characterization in an effort to "prove" to me that Spike was still evil. The message in the AR seemed clear: "You stupid fangirl! See how evil your character is?"
This bothered me greatly. I resent being manipulated. I resent being shown such a sympathetic character in S5 and then being slapped upside the head in S6 when I actually sympathize with him.
Time passed, though, and, as things do, the show took on a different light. I know there was backfighting among the writers. I know there was drama going on there. But I realized that it didn't matter. Because the show they gave us can be taken independently of any of that. And Spike's arc, even up through S6, suddenly worked for me.
I stopped worrying about what the writers had wanted me to think. I stopped feeling insulted by the seeming betrayal of S6. Instead, I viewed it as a natural progression of the Spike character. I took the series in a vacuum, devoid of whatever motivations the writers may have had for it. And, to my surprise, the story worked. Even when the underdog Spike reveals the depths of his demon in S6.
Because Spike's story isn't one of love changing him from Evil to Good. It's a story about Spike changing himself from Evil to Good. Because of love, yes. But love alone can't do the trick, as we see in S6. There's more needed.
Spike's character is an oddity. Brought on as a regular despite the difficulties of having a former Big Bad on the cast. His character journey is so well-done, so poignant. And yet, it's all a result of the complications that come from his antagonist status. How to integrate him into the show. In some ways, these difficulties made the character who he is.
It also made him controversial. For how he challenged the mythology. Not even the writers agreed on his character. And watching the show with the view that the events onscreen are "messages" from the writer to the audience is an unpleasant experience.
That's not what the show is, though. It isn't a vehicle for telling us what to think of the characters. It's a vehicle to tell a story. The writers may have wanted to get a message across. Very rarely is this so transparently done that it confuses the natural story, though (AYW is a good example of this done all wrong).
I've reached the point that, barring a few exceptions where it is frightfully transparent, what the writers may have wanted me to think doesn't matter. Because ignoring all that - the backstage drama, the dumbass comments by various writers - and just watching the show as it is...it all works. It's painful sometimes. It's not easy to watch all the time. But it works. And Spike's arc is magnificent.
Or...if you really want to live by what the writers think, go by what Joss has to say:
TV's like whitewater rafting: Without rocks, there wouldn't be rapids, and it wouldn't be as much fun. ... [Rolling with it] gave us Spike falling in love with Buffy. ... You plan your ideas and themes, and then you let the rest form naturally, and then it feels real. It doesn't feel like you're imposing something on everybody. -- Joss Whedon (The Salon, 5-03) - Thanks to enisy for gathering