#buffyverse

[maurisescapism]

We’re told more than once that Spike is one of the worst vampires ever recorded, second only to Angel.

But aside from killing two slayers, why exactly is Spike so notorious for being one of the worst?

His vampire family? We see a lot of evidence to Angel’s depravity - his proclivity for torture and destroying his victims slowly, Dru being a harrowing example. He revels in causing maximum pain and fear.

What we mostly see of Spike, including pre-Sunnydale, is that he loves a good brawl. He throws caution to the wind and gets into fights he’s not guaranteed to win.

Giles’ books tells us about him using railroad spikes for torture, but we never actually see any evidence of that, so that's not his MO for long. One of the bullies in Fool For Love says he’d rather have a railroad spike through his head than listen to William’s poetry, so could be that that was exactly what happened - William sought this guy/these people out after he was vamped and did just that? And then he took the name Spike to reclaim it and become someone feared rather than ridiculed, just as he reclaimed "William the Bloody" as a fearsome vampire rather than a bloody awful poet.

I actually don’t think we ever see him torture anyone. Even when he went after Angel for the Gem of Amara he OUTSOURCED the torture to another vampire. Even though it was extremely risky and did indeed backfire. It seems like torture isn’t actually Spike’s thing at all if he would risk the holy grail of vampires to avoid it.

So I’m curious as to what exactly is supposed to make him so much more vicious than other vampires? Perhaps it isn’t really that he has done more or worse evil than others, but simply that he is known as a fearless fighter, someone who seeks out slayers? Maybe he has tried so hard to distance himself from the ridiculed poet and prove himself "monster enough" that he has exaggerated his deeds - and the Council has been known to be wrong before ... I dunno, I have been wondering about this and especially his conflicting history with torture.

[sidelinesss]

what if i say i think wesley and angel's dynamic is one of the buffyverse's most complex and fascinating dynamics. what if i say they are the buffyverse's most compelling friendship.

[cyb3r]

About to start watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I'm so excited. 😊

What should I expect?

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

at last im actually posting about the last episode i watched, one i call "once more with feeling"

it defo lived up to my expectations. not sure id listen to the songs out of context (and the"walk through the fire" was a bit cheesy, although that's to be expected both with musicals and buffy) but they were all fun and only the anya/xander number started to drag, i very much enjoyed the theme mashups later on

you can tell who they trusted to sing (amber benson and anthony head taking the harmonies and the more complex melodies) and who they didn't (poor alyson hannigan). smg probably had more to do than she was entirely comfortable doing (i think i detected some post hoc doctoring) but she carried it well enough

its fascinating to me that buffys experiments are always pivotal to the arcs (thinking of "the gentlemen" outing buffy and riley to each other and introducing tara), as opposed to being relatively minor plots that focus on the gimmick like a lot of shows do. we got spike/buffy hooking up, her admitting what she's going through, giles and tara deciding to leave and the weird dawn kleptomania thing being significant

i am not a spuffy shipper, and the show knows why (remember taras hunchback of notre dame speech about how love couldn't redeem spike). i am, however, much more willing to accept it after her death, with him as her only confidant due to their disconnect. shes looking for comfort and to feel something, i suppose she's using him. which is at least a pleasingly fucked up dynamic, and there's a poetry to it being down to a dead man to convince her to live

her whole arc this season is breaking my heart

her return is also overshadowing whatever dawns going through. does she feel weird now she has no function as the key? has she just been through unbelievable trauma? it's a neat quiet parallel to her sister, at any rate

willow is in the absolute doghouse with everyone isn't she? her best friend resents her for dragging her out of heaven, her surrogate dad has lost faith in her, her girlfriend is (rightly tbh) leaving her. im gonna talk about willow/tara in a separate post but suffice to say my poor little meow meow is in a nightmare of her own making

"im under your spell" is a slightly eyeroll-worthy double entendre but it was fun how much the lyrics rolled with that uncomfortable ambiguity, as opposed to just the single pun, and the dark reprise played it out well

given angel was broadcast second it always takes me aback how horny buffy can get. "you make me come...plete" as willow goes down on tara and what i think might be the shows first "penis" from anya

xandar got a bunch of people burned alive bc he didn't read the small print. what a guy

"guy makes a deal with the devil out of a misunderstanding, explains that and the devil is like 'yeah fair enough' and lets it go" is not a story that happens often

[chloe-vampire-slayer]

Surprisingly, there hasn't been a BtVS episode that's really focused on the Sunnydale forest. They went there a few times, but the woods were never explicitly used. You know... no proper "horror in the forest" just "demons that happened to be in the forest."

The only episode that came somewhat close to that was 3x05 during the "Slayer fest."

I'm definitely writing an episode in my fanfic using that theme.

[peepawsonic]

I want to crack everyone in Buffy 😍 especially Giles 🤤

In all seriousness though

Rest in peace Anthony Head ❤

[pushingdaisies1]

Im on episode 17 and ohmygod. the happiness and like pure joy on giles's face before he finds jenny. MY HEART!! The scene was done so beautifully oh he was so inlove with her....