Looking up for heaven @starlight-fires - Tumblr Blog

how can you look at your rival with so much fondness..

i feel like the fight scene between angel and spike in ats season 5 episode 8 isn’t talked about enough. specifically this dialogue:

SPIKE: Come on, hero. Tell me more. And I'll tell you why you can't stand the bloody sight of me.

Cause every time you look at me... you see all the dirty little things I've done, all the lives I've taken... because of you! Drusilla sired me, but you… you made me a monster!

ANGEL: I didn't make you, Spike. I just opened up the door and let the real you out.

SPIKE: You never knew the real me. Too busy trying to see your own reflection... praying there was someone as disgusting as you in the world, so you could stand to live with yourself. Take a long look, hero. I'm nothing like you

its soooo good. i’ll tell you why you can’t stand the sight of me??? all the lives i’ve taken because of you??? you made me a monster??? i wish the other characters in both shows knew more of the darla/angel/dru/spike lore and we got to see them deconstruct their preconceived ideas of william the bloody and angelus in real time. i wish they’d shown more lore in general. i assume the scoobies might have asked sometime, but spike would for sure lie to look cooler than he was. the fact that angel was the reason spike became a vampire. everything evil soulless spike did only ever happened because angel sired drusilla. not to mention the weird hazing/teaching spike his ways. the audacity of angel with a soul to say he only let the real william out, as if he ever knew anything about william pre being turned?? oh my god. you never knew the real me, too busy trying to see your own reflection??? bar after bar. if i was angel id have staked myself right there and then. not only does spike win the fight, he reads him to filth. insane. peak dialogue. i wish we got more of this from them

deadpowol

tahthetrickster

spiikesummers

i would've given anything for a serious friendship to have developed between spike and tara in the show

my bestie and I always talk about this, and we've developed such a big hc that it's become so ingrained in our minds that even acknowledging that it's not canonically real at that level in the show is really hard for us lol

the concept of the two of them being the only characters in the entire show who always supported buffy without judging her in the slightest, uniting for that very reason at first and discovering that despite their differences in personality and points of view about certain situations, they have so many more things in common than they thought, and above all, they enjoy each other's company without needing to always talk, sometimes silence is just as comfortable for both of them

spike would tell her stories about the things he'd seen throughout his unlife and ask for advice on what gifts or sweet treats he could get buffy for a special occasion

tara would be so sweet to spike, as well as teasing him with tenderness and sarcasm, adding him to the club of people around whom she doesn't feel the nervous anxiety that makes her stutter

sometimes the two of them would simply sit in a room lit with candles and incense in silence, spike reading and writing nonsensical and cheesy drafts of poems about buffy that he would probably never allow anyone but tara to read while she cleaned her crystals or learned new spells, they would understand each other in a very special way because of how different they both are, being the typical example of opposites attracting, and that doesn't have to be in a romantic way, but rather in a beautiful friendship

they would love to play-fight about who buffy's favorite is and who she should go out with first, whether to have coffee with tara or to patrol with spike

she was always the only one to support their relationship, and that support would only grow stronger as she got to know him better, she would defend spuffy and spike with all her heart, remaining always loyal, so so so loyal, she would NEVER judge anything he did, she wouldn't agree with everything, obviously, but that would never be a justification for judging him

there isn't a single day that goes by that i don't regret the beautiful friendship we could have had between them, even giving tara the possibility of interacting with more characters and in deeper ways

annyankers

for all the amicability in the whirlwind later on i think it's really important to never lose sight of why dru was turned and then why she in turn sired spike. she was tortured and turned for angelus' enjoyment, her continued suffering brings him pleasure. he owns her, she is a Thing to him and she has no way to escape this. she makes spike to be "her brave knight" a position that, especially in fairytales, means a very romantic man physically protects and serves a woman who is usually gonna end up being some kind of damsel in distress.

while yes dru is evil and a vampire she's still obviously very upset about what happened to her and those moments seem to be her times of lucidity, not delusion. not to mention that she's already been beaten out of the notion that she can escape angelus, she tried to as a human and it didn't work, it likely won't work now either, especially if darla sides with him. but with spike around there's someone who basically always takes her side and fights to keep angelus away from her. who is, at least, a buffer between her and her tormentor. he also takes care of her and validates her, something neither darla or angelus seem to be interested in doing at all.

i feel like people tend to intellectually remember what happened to her but forget that it you know, has long lasting consequences when say, they evaluate her behavior in late s2 when angelus comes back. like... yeah ofc she goes back to appeasing him and shit. spike's a wheelchair and she was beaten into shape to be "daddy's little girl" (gag) YEARS before she even MET spike. her abuser is back and her defender is out of commission not to mention her whole view of reality has been actively warped by the most narcissistic sleezoid around.

and all the reasons why people love spike or point to as why he's better with buffy or whatever.... dru was the one who saw those first and picked him because of those. like... it's wild to see people act like they spent a loveless century together and spike was just used the whole time when we SEE them literally in love, he states MULTIPLE times she means so much to him and we get an OUTSIDE SOURCE CONFIRM THEY HAVE "AFFECTION AND JEALOUSY FOR EACH OTHER". we have the spike we know of today because drusilla saw the hero in him and wanted him to rescue her. and ya know, he kinda did. multiple times. over a century of deep, mutual horrifying love. you only even GET spike and buffy in the same ROOM because he loved dru so much he saved her from a mob, traveled with her across a continent (maybe 2 depending on direction) and over an ocean for even a SHOT at a cure. like... cMON.

this got a little off topic into some of my pet peeves but also kinda not because just-- i don't think people always remember that dru is still a victim and a victim who was intentionally frozen the moment of maximum despair and internal destruction. then spent about 20 years being groomed by her tormentor before she ever had anyone care about her as a priority. i think people tend to forget that it was angelus who wanted to turn spike into a monster and drusilla who wanted him to be a hero. it's dru who gives him his swagger, his confidence, his love for life, who encouraged his romanticism and adored his poetics. it's not that she groomed or built him, but just that she saw all that potential already in there and facilitated it and nurtured it. sure in a fucked up vampire way but still.

becauseitswrong

the way many people say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer should have ended after season 5, with Buffy fulfilling her pre-assigned destiny as the chosen one by dying as the sacrificial lamb / 'The Pink Opaque' series in I Saw the TV Glow getting cancelled after 5 seasons, ending with the two main heroines being buried alive by the Big Bad that was always coming for them, trapped in the ground forever with their hearts ripped out / Buffy crawling out of her grave at the start of season 6 and her behaviour deviating from what her family and audience have always expected from her as a girl, to the point where a lot of fans would have rathered her show to have never came back at all than see her "come back wrong" / Jack Haven's character in I Saw the TV Glow running away from their hometown and transitioning, getting buried and digging themselves out of the life they couldn't bear and into the world of the Pink Opaque "and I was me. I was finally me again. And it was the season 6 premiere" / Buffy eventually breaking the doomed cycle of Slayerhood in Chosen that had always stopped her from living her life as a woman in control and changing everything for herself and other slayers like her / "THERE IS STILL TIME"

frenchublog

flowerlygirls

do you ever sit back and get so emotional over the women who came before us. they fought so hard just so i could wear comfy pants and buy nice things with my very own debit card and if i dont want to i will never be forced to cohabit with a man much less marry one. thank you so much i will never forget that you gave me the right to vote and be heard instead of just seen and because of you i can live this life i am eternally grateful for all you have done. may we never forget them and honor our foremothers by living this life that is only ours to decide to the fullest and use it to achieve the same freedoms for all women that dont have them yet <3