I know, I find the Buffybot utterly adorable, and that’s been bugging me. The Buffybot’s was fashioned after April from “I Was Made to Love You” (S5x15), and the moral there is pretty straight-forward. Human attachment and affection cannot be replaced by a robot programmed for that purpose. A relationship that does not require emotional investment or active participation from both partners is not going to be ultimately emotionally fulfilling.
So since the Buffybot is supposedly built by Warren exactly to Spike’s specs, the differences between Buffybot and April are telling.
Most notably, April shows absolutely no interest in anyone else but Warren. Her world does not appear to include knowledge or awareness of anyone else; she knows Warren and Warren alone. She displays absolute singlemindedness while searching for him at the party, moving on immediately to the next person when one person proves unable to help her locate Warren.
Contrast this with the Buffybot, for whom Spike has built (and interestingly enough, duplicated) a support network of friends and family. From Spike’s shock of running into the Scoobies with Buffybot, one can assume Spike never anticipated interactions between the Bot and Buffy’s real-world friends and family. Which means that the world-building Spike took the time and effort to bother getting right was meant for Buffybot and Spike alone. Was one of Spike’s use cases for the both a conversation companion? Was he planning on talking to the Bot about the Scoobies? Did he care for the robot (programmed to not realize she’s a robot) to feel loved?
I don’t know what having friends and family does to a robot’s psyche, but judging from how well the Buffybot’s integrated into Dawn’s family life and the Scooby gang in “Bargaining, Part 1/2″, compared with the utter despair and devastation of April at Warren’s abandonment, it’s almost like having friends in real life. They offer support and encouragement, care and purpose (Willow’s repairs, attending school function for Dawn). The programming is quite thoughtful for a sexbot, isn’t it?
But then again, Spike has always seen Buffy’s friends and family, her “ties to the world” as a unique and unusual strength among Slayers. So perhaps it’s not surprising that he sought to duplicate that advantage in the Buffybot. It would’ve been only too easy to apply a bit of manipulation here, fabricate or twist Buffy’s personal history in the programming, and present her friends as foes, to isolate her, to force her to turn to Spike. Instead, Spike created a Slayer with loving family and friends, who in turn loved them back.
(It’s also interesting that among all the details Spike got right–how Anya loves money and Willow is gay–Spike neglected to program in the correct pronunciation for “Giles”, possibly intentionally. The Watcher is a stand-in for authority, the one responsible for brainwashing a Slayer with Council indoctrination for control and compliance–not exactly vampire-friendly.)
I didn’t intend to write so much about the Buffybot, but I wanted to make sure I get the following out before I forget:
I don’t know if you can program an approximation for “personality” in a robot, but the Buffybot is a breath of fresh air in the tension-filled, desperate, and increasingly dark end of Season 5. She’s polite and pleasant (with great manners!), upbeat and sociable, funny and brave. She knows her duty and fully embraces it, enjoys it:
Spike, exhausted, has fallen asleep on his bier. WE PAN across to find Buffybot as she finishes getting dressed. She picks up a stake.
BUFFYBOT: Time to Slay. Â Â Â Â Â Â
SPIKE: Yeah, mmmppphm. Â Â Â Â Â Â
BUFFYBOT: Okay! Vampires beware! Â Â Â Â Â Â
Buffybot heads for the door.
Followed by (italics mine):
BUFFYBOT: Dressed now as before, walks jauntily through the cemetery, humming and twirling her stake in her fingers. She sees Xander and Anya. She trots over to join them, her little flouncy skirt flouncing.
It’s heartbreaking that when we finally see SMG in a smile, it’s on the face of the Buffybot. Buffy is, in Spike’s fantasy and fantasy only, happy, content, and glad to be the Slayer.
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