“Saw a man about a girl. I went to seek a legend out. Traveled to the other side of the world, made a deal with a demon” – Spike
Alright, i am just going to come out and say it. I am totally and completly in love with James Marsters Spike. He is the only one of the Buffy cast-members that i have gotten the pleasure to meet, and may i just say that those cheek-bones are just as jaw-dropping in person. And his real eye color is this stunningly beautiful blue, and the eye-brow scar… yeah, thats real. Okay, now that i have properly swooned over this beautiful man, i shall get onto talking about the magnificent character he has played in the phenomenon that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Spike’s character, believe it or not, was only scheduled to be a one-episode villain that was supposed to be dusted at the end of that episode. Obviously, Joss Whedon made the super smart choice to keep in on, eventually becoming a regular on the show, and later on Angel. In an interview with James Marsters he says that he originally auditioned for the character with the full knowledge that the character would only last for one episode. He says that the next week he received another script for a new episode, and kept thinking that this week will be my last episode, yet he continuously kept receiving more scripts. I for one, am very happy he was kept onto the series.
Spike is without a doubt a very complex and dynamic character, evolving constantly through the series, and beyond (on the spin-off Angel). His first appearance in the show he is very clearly perceived as a bad-boy, rebel vampire who truly embodies the whole, ‘vampires are evil and kill for fun’ mentality that Angel despises, immediately making them polar opposites. So when his past with Angel is reveled, it makes them more like dramatic foils then just complete opposites. Spike always keeps his bad-boy mentality in tact, yet evolves beyond the rebellious, evil being that he was at first glance.
Spike is first introduced to us in ‘School Hard’, which is the third episode of season one. He is a bad-boy who only follows rules he sets for himself. He is dating the vicious Drusilla, and they are engrossingly adorable. You know, in that “Aww…(then go puke)” kinda way. Dru is fairly crazy (all thanks to our lovable Angelus), but Spike actually treats her fairly well, all things considered. This shows us Spikes sensitive and loving side. One that constantly proves to be only of benefit to him, (plus its the one main thing that he kept from his human ‘poet’ life). His relationship with Dru is very important in the first few seasons, causing him to do things and make decisions he probably wouldn’t have if it was not for her.
Drusilla is the vampire who sired Spike. They couple up immediately, and be come a super-bad vampy team with Angelus and Darla. The four of them wreck havoc through out a vast bulk of the 18th century, up until Angelus became Angel, all brooding and soul-having. This tore the group apart, needless to say, yet Spike and Dru remained a couple, continuing out their evilness, while Darla (at some point) joined forces with the Master, as we learn in the first episode of the series. Spike and Drusilla had hundreds of years to be in love, touring around the world, bringing torture wherever they went.
The first time Spike crosses over from the dark side to the good side, was in season 2 when Angel became Angelus after him and Buffy got a bit frisky. 😉 Angelus and Drusilla were getting closer and closer (shining back to how Angelus drove Dru crazy, killed her family in front of her, then turned her into a vamp, just like him), and this bothered Spike. Dru’s increasingly close relationship with Angelus wasn’t helped at all by the fact that Spike was in a wheel-chair due to the church collapse in season 1. Spike begins to realize that he doesn’t really agree with Angelus’ and Drusilla’s plan to end the world because he says, “We like to talk big. Vampires do. ‘I’m going to destroy the world.’ That’s just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You’ve got… dog racing, Manchester United. And you’ve got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It’s all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real… passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square. You know what I’m saying?” After he has this interesting chat with Buffy, the two of them team up, against all conceivable odds to try and save the world from their lovers. After Spike and Buffy successfully save the world, Spike goes off to win Dru back, not to come back until the 8th episode of season 3. When Spike comes back in season 3, it is just for that one episode, at the end he leaves again to find Drusilla.
Spike is most popular in Seasons 4-7. The introduction of the initiative and his chip that prevented him from harming humans was the reason he ended up teaming up with the Scoobies. He isn’t trusted at first (and let’s be honest why should he be, it literally used to be his mission to make the Scoobies lives a living hell). Having Spike kept almost like a pet, tied up, fed from a ‘Kiss The Librarian’ cup, and sometimes chained up in the bathtub are some of the most humorous moments of season 4. His role in the show becomes more complex once his feelings for Buffy begin to appear. She obviously never truly falls for him the way he has fallen for her, but she keeps him around during Season 5, mainly because she could use all the help she can get at that point, feeling helpless to Glory’s power. In my opinion, the first moment when the audience sees that Spike is in love with Buffy, and not just amused by the idea of being with her, is the end of Season 5, when Buffy sacrifices herself for Dawn, and you see all of her friends crying, and you see Spike drop down to his knees and just start sobbing. THAT is when i knew, without doubt, that Spike truly was in love with her. In Season 6, Buffy is so wounded from her friends pulling her out of Heaven, that she confides in Spike, knowing he was the only one who had no true part in bringing her back, and would not have been okay with bringing her back. Deep down, i think Spike always kinda knew that Buffy never loved him, i think he hoped she would, but i think he was just taking advantage of her vulnerability and her willingness. But that glimpse of being with her, that glimpse of happiness he could have, is what drove him to go out and seek his soul. I think Buffy should have given the poor bloke a chance after he got his soul. She should have seen his willingness to change as proof of love.
At the end of Season 7, after Buffy has been kicked out of Slayer base-camp, she confides in Spike once again. At this point, I am somewhat angry that she is stringing this poor guy along, but i also really want them together, so screw it. They have this big meaningful talk, about how they feel and it kinda sorta totally brings tears to my eyes. I am not joking when i say that i have the speech on my Ipod. Its so sweet and meaningful, he explains his love so well, he explains that he doesn’t expect anything back in return, but that he is just so captivated by her, and what she is, and who she is, and how she tries (yes im paraphrasing, i love this part, so shhhh) and how he just knows that she is the one for him. Although she never says that she feels even a little bit the same way, i think the fact that Buffy let Spike spend the night with her (in a non-sexual way) made him feel a little bit better, made him feel that she at least trusted her, and that’s a start.
Season 7 definitely ends with a bang. Spike, in all his chosen glory, kills the uber vamps, destroys the Hellmouth, the First and Sunnydale, and saves the world. Of course he dies in the process, but we all kinda knew that was coming. BUT WAIT, THERES MORE! I don’t really think anybody was expecting Spike to show up in the fifth and final season of Angel. It was the first season of Angel that aired without a Buffy counterpart. I love the way Joss introduced Spike, making him a ghost at first was really cool, and of course once he gained corporeal form, he was ready to kick some ass on the side of good. Of course there was a Spike Angel conflict, but the way their relationship as partners, and antagonistic friends progressed was really kinda heartwarming.
Spike. British. Hot. Surprisingly insightful, and always humorous. Oh, yeah, he’s also kind of a bad-ass. 😉
“Google.” Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2012. <https://www.google.com/search?num=10>.
Whedon, Joss, and Marti Noxon. Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Los Angles, California, 1997-2003. Television.
buffysavedmylife 