December 9, 2001

I just had a revelation *g*, so bear with me...I'm unsure if it's an original thought, as BtVS inspires so many people to think deep thoughts. Hang on while I lay it out as it came to me making tea this morning.

*We* know It's.All.About.Spike. *beg*

Somehow, everyone else has made it that way, too. I mean, the strange tunnelvision of the B/A & B/X shippers, all atributed to a Spike-Hate/Dislike. The Fundies say it all went to hell when his character was changed (some other stuff, but the main arguement I see is that Spike is wrong-wrong-wrong & we should go back to the *way*). Even ME has made it the Buffy and Spike show in some ways.

Why do they give so much power to one character, not a central character btw? We know the power of JM's charisma & acting ability. He could take a walk-thru, no-lines part and steal the scene if he wanted to. But, he's *not* in that many scenes. He's not driving the bus, Buffy is. They make accusations that all of her *bad* decisions are based on her interaction with him, even prior to the S6 S/B ship arc.

Granted, Spike's arc of Redemption is major. We know that, and even if they don't like it, the anti-Spike contingent knows it, too. The question is then, why are they so bitter?

Here's the theory part (oh, and you've been so good reading though this rambling part - thx) Somehow, there are a great deal of folks IRL who've had someone let them down or not reach their potential, that is, their Redemption. They can't bear to see someone, even a fictional character fer cryin' out loud, succeed at something so wonderfully life changing and affirming. They *want* to make Spike stay who he was to make sure that there little world makes sense. IOW, "It was so much easier to talk to him when he was trying to kill me."

What if it comes down to something like, "I can't do what he did, so I'm not going to like him because of it. I hate that he's changed the character I like (Butfy, whoever) because of the changes he's made." IMO, they are projecting onto the character of Spike, and the others on the show, for the lack of Redemption in their life.

I thought this might be a silly theory, but as I got to thinking about it, it's very serious. People are very hung up on religious things (not going into a religious discussion relax) and they will argue 'til the cows come home. Redemption is something that could be tied to religion or not as the case may be. It's *personal*. It hits very close to home. Some people may not be comfortable with the thought that someone so bad could change. Some people might be unhappy that Spike could change and someone they know or another character in some other fandom can't/won't change. I didn't say it was logical thinking - it's all about the emotions. Spike/Buffy & Co. all make us feel a great deal. We project onto them all the time. It's the same for books, movies, t.v., etc. We use them as ways to understand ourselves and our world.

I'm thinking that Joss has caught the tail of a comet with this plotline. It's a bumpy ride, but the view is beautiful and the trip is so worth it.

What do you think?

*Pet the philospher/shrink*

December 1, 2001

Just a little shout out to BAPS listers. The new adjective for Spike in Smashed and Wrecked is *Honery* - a three way combo of ornery, honey, and horny!

November 28, 2001

Wrote a LONG post to BAPS and NG's re Wrecked. Read it & reply if you so desire. I love email!

November 25, 2001

We have a theory....Here is a link to a Theory we've been working on at BAPS - that Smashed echoes a whole lot of previous episodes. It's done brilliantly up by Ophelia.

November 24, 2001

Why the Smashed love scene *was* a love scene, not a remake of Moonlighting or Cheers

I watched both Moonlighting and Cheers through both of these painful relationships. I can say that I was disappointed in the denouement of both of them. I was not with the S/B - Smashed one. Oh, of course, I would have like a bit more time, but it *was* a jam-packed episode as it was.

The reasons you may ask? Well, take Moonlighting. For years, we got David and Maddie sniping at each other, doing goofy cases, and trading snarky quips with guest stars and their from wacky-central-casting troup of supporting players. It was funny the first year, then tiresome, then boring, then it was a shag-fest that was not romantic in the least. It was violent without any passion, sex without any love. You could see that there was no chemistry between CS & BW...you could *tell* they disliked each other. I could have lived with that, but they are not such good actors...it spilled over into their fictional counterparts. They might have had sex with each other, but there was no underlaying love, which I see screaming at me from S & B's relationship.

Everyone was caught up in how *romantic* it was and after so long, *it* was finally gonna happen. At that point, I didn't care. I already knew that once the deed was done, they wouldn't have anything to write about. This was because, they didn't have anything to write about before. They just built up something that was hollow. We know that S/B have so much more than just sex going for them. Don't get me wrong, the sex is great, but there *is* so much more.

On to Cheers. I may be in a minority, but I never had the great fondness for Cheers or ever considered it a 'masterpiece' of comic genius. I found it mildly funny and would watch it if there wasn't anything else to do. Sam and Diane were fun to watch in the early years of the show. But, as a sit-com, they never went very deep into character revelation. When they did, you found some not nice things about the two of them. When they did talk about the problems, they did it in a way that cheapened them and gave them the 22 min *solution* that sit-coms are ham-stringed by.

Sam's character was a very dark one, but he was pretty shallow also. He was not someone who I could ever really care about. Diane was a snot, but she had qualities that were a lot better than him. Both of their characters, IMO, suffered from the sit-com malaise, but that's just the nature of the beast. They wrote that "I hate you" "Are you as turned on as me?" scene for laughs, but I didn't laugh. I felt it was a sell-out. The two characters, as much as they were able to under the sit-com system, had discovered much about the other and were willing to forgive each other their foibles. By putting their relationship on this footing, they sowed the seeds of self-destruction as surely as if they'd planted a neon sign in the middle of the bar. Of course, Shelley Long leaving put the final stake in the heart of the S/D rel. Did I mention that I love the fact that Joss loves JM and that he has a contract through S7?

Now, on to S/B. Their relationship is fraught with edginess, emotions, sex, desires, confliction, love, arguments, and needs. They have a depth and weightiness that is lacking in most television relationships, regardless of the ship. They are important to one another, whether or not they love/lust after each other. From as far back as Season 2, we see Buffy acknowledge Spike's importance in her life. He exists, no matter what Denial!Buffy is saying right now, and occupies a big part of her life. She is the majority of his life now. They are intertwined on a cellular level.

He understands her, and as much as she protests, I think she gets him a lot more than she lets on. They are, pardon me, destined to be involved. I don't know how ME's gonna do it, but I have seen all the eps that everyone agrees are important, SB, Bec 2, OomM, FFL, Restless, Intervention, etc. There are enough anvils to open a black smithy in these eps.

Spike is part of the endgame of BtVS, and I'm am positive with Buffy through it. There's just so much going on, that we get caught up in what's being told. Joss wants us on the edge of our seats, and he did it on purpose. Smashed made us gasp and gnash our teeth and has generated thousands upon thousands of posts, and maybe not a few tears. Pretty good for a t.v. character, hmmm?

I don't see the end scene with Spike and Buffy as anything but pure, vintage ME storytelling, with multitudes of layers and interpretations. You can even enjoy it on a purely prurient level ;) *Pet fans herself thinking about 'that' scene* There has never been a scene like it before on t.v. No one but ME has the chutzpah to do it, and the talent.

November 19, 2001 - Here's a portion of SMG's interview with BBC earlier this year. It sums up the S/B relationship in a nutshell!

The thing about Buffy and Spike is they understand each other on a level that nobody else understands her... I think there's a connection there that we will see evolve over the next couple of years where she realizes that he really is someone that she can trust,someone that's a companion to her and someone that really understands her unlike anybody else.

November 15, 2001 - Wrote an essay on why I think Giles' leaving is part of the "Oh, grow up!" theme this year. Read it here. Send me feedback if you agree, disagree, want to throw tomatoes *g*.

For anyone feeling worried about the S/B ship, I posted SMG's response to the Big Question here.

I put together a new desktop theme on 1 Nov 2001. Thought it was appropriate enough on All Soul's Day! It has the OWmF promo pic with RedShirt!Spike and LeatherJacket!Buffy staring at each other. I made some fun icons & pointers to go with and pulled some of Spike's snarkier sound clips for the sound files. It's in .zip format, so not too long to download. Enjoy!

Love's Bitch Theme