Should one ever, for whatever reason, wish to inspire me to giggle with insane glee, one need only utter the phrase, "If you want me to leave you'll have to put your hands on my hot, tight little body and make me."
Of course, it would also help if one said this in a British accent while exuding major attitude and pure hotness.
Buffy replay, , review, ranting, raving, and righteous indignation ahoy. And, if you haven't seen it yet, spoilers. This is going to be pretty long.
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<SPOILERS>
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Episode 5.14 - "Crush"We open at the Bronze, newly reopened after repairing the troll damage from "Triangle." Xander & Anya and Willow & Tara are dancing, and Buffy's watching from their table. Spike plops himself down next to her and starts complaining about the club's price hikes and their changes to the menu (they dropped the onion blossom, Spike's new favorite non-human food item). Before coming to the Bronze, Spike apparantly fell into Riley's wardrobe. You thought I was going to finish that with "the GAP," didn't you? I was, originally, but that joke was too easy, and has already been used umpteen times on the boards I frequent. At any rate, he was wearing normal guy clothes, which, while I can see the thinking behind it, bothered me just a bit, considering Spike's previous speech to Riley about how Buffy likes a bit of monster in her man. That's not to say that Spike didn't look good, because he did.
Buffy cuts Spike off and goes out of her way to put him down, which was completely uncalled for. He explains that he thought they were on good terms after he helped her out with Glory, but she tells him he wasn't much help at all. The Scoobies come back to the table and Xander insults Spike some more. Spike is so upset that he accidentally knocks over his beer before getting up to leave, except not really, he just thought it would be a good way to grab the cash Xander left lying on the table, and it works. Xander figures out what Spike did and follows him to the bar to get his money back. Meanwhile, Buffy spots Ben across the way, and goes to talk to him, and I shudder. Not in a good way, but in an ick-poo-nasty kind of way. While she's thanking him for helping Dawn, Spike notices, and is obviously not pleased.
Cut to the train station. The train pulls up, but nobody gets off. The conductor boards the train to see why. Screaming ensues. The conductor tries to get off the train but is jerked back violently. More screaming. This scene is actually pretty scary, which has become somewhat of a rarity on this show.
Opening credits, followed by Levi's commercial which permanently sticks "Karma Chameleon" in my head.
Buffy arrives home and relieves Giles, who was apparantly supposed to afford some kind of protection for the Summers girls should Glory show up. I didn't really buy that, and, Joyce confesses, neither did she. Buffy sees Giles out, and asks his advice on how they should treat Dawn. He tells her that they should give her no special treatment. Buffy thanks him, then spins around and starts hollering at Dawn, accusing her of stealing her blue cashmere sweater.
You know which sweater.
The sweater that Spike is currently fondling forelornly in his crypt. He hears Harmony coming and hides it. Harmony wants some nookie, and attmepts to seduce Spike, but he's just not in the mood. This scene is extremely reminiscent of that scene in
Mad Love where Harley Quinn comes onto the Joker, and I suddenly realize why I'm so attached to Harm, and I begin to harbor hopes that we'll someday see a Harley & Ivey style paring between Harmony and Dru. Harmony suggests to Spike that they could play a game, and suddenly looks interested.
Cut to Harmony, wearing the sweater, holding a stake, and doing a very comical imitation of Buffy stalking Spike. Suddenly Spike jumps out of his hiding place and jumps Harmony's bones, and I'm pleasantly surprised but then upset by an all-too-fleeting glimpse of Spike without his shirt on, which is truly something to behold. I wonder why they didn't flaunt that more. Maybe James' tan lines were too obvious when they shot that scene or something.
The next day, David Fury drops his biggest and most blatant anvil of anti-shipper sentiment on our heads as Willow, Buffy, and Tara exit a class discussing
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Willow, as the voice of the 'shippers, whines that she doesn't understand why Quasimodo couldn't have ended up with Esmerelda, and Tara, as the rational voice of anti-shipdom, explains that "it can't end like that, 'cause all of Quasimodo's actions were selfishly motivated. He had no moreal compass, no understanding of right. Everything he did he did out of love for a woman who'd never be able to love him back. Also, you can tell it's not gonna have a happy ending when the main guy's all bumpy." Yeah. Great analogy for Spike and Buffy, except for the part where it's not. At. All. Cheeze whiz! You'd think that if a writer is going to use a literary reference to so heavily underscore his point, he would at least be familiar with the source material. I read that book. Quasimodo didn't have an evil bone in his entire misshapen body. The villain in that book was the evil bishop Frollo, and Quasimodo was as much a victim as, if not moreso than, Esmerelda. It's entirely obvious that David Fury never read this book, or else he was just hoping that nobody in the audience ever read it. At any rate, he'd have been better off using
The Phantom of the Opera to make his point, which is a much closer analogy, and would have set my Phantom fan's heart all a-flutter.
Anyway, Buffy didn't read the book either, so instead of being the voice of the viewers who actually know what a boneheaded discussion Willow & Tara just had, she takes on the voice of the viewers who are still undecided on the whole Spike & Buffy equation by saying she won't have an opinion until she takes the test. Which the 'shippers in the audience decide to interpret to mean that she, herself is undecided on the whole Spike & Buffy thing, which is good for us. It means there's still hope. As she jokes about attempting to take the test off of the Disney version, she notices someone reading a paper with the headline, "6 Found Murdered On Train At Sunnydale Station." She steals the paper, skims the article, and concludes that it's the work of vampires.
At Spike's crypt, he's coming out of a trapdoor in the floor that we've never, ever seen before now. Interesting. He's startled by Dawn, who wants to know what's under the trap door. Hmm. What, indeed. Could that be where he keeps the Buffy shrine that you just know he's been erecting ever since that whole sweater sniffing incident? He won't show her what's under there, and tries to get her to leave. He's got things to do. "Bad, evil things... that aren't for a child's eyes." Dawn pouts that she's not a child, not even originally human. "Yeah, well," Spike says, "originally, I was. I got over it. Doesn't seem to me it matters very much how you start out." Dawn appreciates that Spike doesn't treat him like a child, and proceeds to tell him so, concluding by saying that she feels safe with him. In his surprise he inhales his cigarette the wrong way and starts coughing, and demands that she take back that sentiment. Dawn tries to ease the blow by telling him it's just because he's as tough as Buffy, maybe tougher, and Buffy thinks so, too. Spike is intrigued as he hops up on the sarcophagus and asks, "What else does Buffy say about me?"
I feel compelled to mention here that Spike is now wearing a tight gray sweater which I shall hereby dub the Form Fitting Gray Sweater of Pure Hotness. I also vaguely notice that he's wearing cargo pants, which is kind of a shocker, but really, I can't take my eyes off of the sweater, or rather, the outline of his chest which is plainly visible through the sweater. Suddenly I'm forgiving of the little shirtless-Spike teaser from before.
Buffy gets home from college, and Joyce is alarmed because Dawn hasn't come home from school. Buffy sets out to find her.
Back at the crypt, Spike is telling Dawn an incredibly disturbing story about one of his killing sprees back in the day. Because, you know, Spike is an evil killer. Just in case we forgot. At a particularly suspenseful part, when he's about to tell her about finding the little girl of the couple he'd just killed hiding in a coal bin, Buffy bursts in, and Spike and Dawn both jump.
Note to the creative staff: Spike and Dawn are incredibly fun to watch together. Even moreso at this point than Spike and Buffy. Please continue to put them together as much as possible. Thank you.
Buffy has come to ask Spike to help her find Dawn--because when you're little sister doesn't come home from school, the only logical thing to do is run straight to the guy who's supposed to be your mortal enemy for help--but is both surprised and perturbed to find that Dawn is there. Dawn refuses to leave until she hears the rest of the story--and I must say that she's a little too into this story, which is a bit bothersome, especially in light of Glory's ambiguous answer as to whether or not the Key is evil--and Buffy is indeed curious to hear just what kind of story Spike was telling her baby sister. Spike straightens up and finishes the story. "So, uh, I knew the girl was in the coal bin. And I rip it open, very violently, and haul her out of there. And then I gave her to a good family in a nice home where they're never, ever mean to her, and didn't lock her in a coal bin." Heh.
Dawn pronounces his story to be lame, and Spike insists to Buffy that he was about to send Dawn home because he knew she'd be fretting. At this point, if it wasn't clear before, it is now painfully obvious that Spike is completely and utterly whipped. It's really a sad sight to see, Gray Sweater of Pure Hotness notwithstanding.
Buffy takes Dawn home, and on the way, as Dawn talks about Spike, it's clear that she has a crush on him. Buffy lectures her about the Pure Evilness that is Spike, and says, "You cannot have a crush on soemthing that is dead and evil and a vampire." "Right," Dawn says, "that's why you were never with Angel for three years." Touche. "Angel's different. He has a soul." Yawn. "Spike has a chip," Dawn says. "Same diff." Yeah! Buffy exclaims that she can't listen to this, and continues to explain to Dawn that Spike is a monster. Dawn tells her not to worry, because even if she did have a crush on him, he wouldn't notice, because, "Spike's completely in love with you."
"Huh?"
Commercial. You know, I'm pissed off at Dawson for asking Joey if she slept with Pacey, and I don't even watch that show. It's none of his business, and besides, Pacey's way cuter.
At the train station, Buffy & Xander duck under the police tape and board the train to look for clues. As they search, Buffy tells Xander what Dawn said about Spike. Xander--remember him? The guy who dates demons?--laughs uncontrollably, and really rather creepily. Buffy slumps in a seat with a chalk outline and unconsciously assumes the same position as said outline, and declares Spike's crush to be creepy. Heh. Xander tells Buffy she needn't get creeped out by one of Spike's delusional daydreams. Buffy then tells Xander she thinks Dawn has a crush on Spike, and Xander is upset, because Dawn us supposed to crush on him, and it just increases the creep factor. And, Xander? That greasy pedophile hairdo really isn't helping matters, buddy. Geez. Cut the hair. Please?
Buffy goes home and heads toward the kitchen where Joyce is talking animatedly about her day at the gallery. As she approaches the kitchen, Buffy sees that Joyce is talking to Dawn... and Spike, who is actually doing a pretty convincing and utterly charming job of feigning interest in Joyce's story. I guess all that time William put in at all those high society parties didn't go completely to waist. He's changed out of the Gray Sweater of Pure Hotness into another GAP ensemble, by the way. Still lookin' good.
Joyce starts to repeat the story for Buffy's benefit, but Spike politely cuts her off and says he needs to speak to Buffy. He's got a bead on the vamp that killed the train passengers, and he wants to show her. And he'll do it for free. Naturally, Buffy is suspicious, but she goes with him anyway.
They're sitting in Spike's car, which was kind of surprising, because we haven't actually seen the DeSoto since season 3, and I'd figured he must have gotten rid of it after his last jaunt to South America, and I wonder where he's been keeping it all this time. Anyway, they're staking out a warehouse. Spike reaches for Buffy's knee, she practically screams, but really, he's just reaching for the glove box, from which he takes a flask. He takes a sip from it, then offers it to Buffy. "Eww," she says. "It's not blood," he tells her, "it's bourbon." "Eewwww!" They sit in silence for a moment, then Spike starts rocking out and singing a Ramones classic, then turns to Buffy. "Do you like the Ramones?" Hey! I do! Buffy just looks at him, then starts to ask him what he's after if not money. He shushes her, and they enter the warehouse.
This is already way too long, so I'm going to try to cut to the chase.
Inside the warehouse, a couple of vamps run away, shaming Spike on behalf of his kind. Buffy looks around and realizes those vamps have lived there awhile, and would not have been on board an inbound train. Smelling a red herring, she demands to know what Spike is up to. She asks him if she thinks they're on a date. Spike acts indignant at the suggestion, then asks, "do you want it to be?" Buffy freaks out, but Spike is undeterred as he begins to lay it all on the line. He has feelings for her. He's changed. He can be good. David Fury drops another really big anti-shipper anvil as Buffy interrupts Spike to explain why this can't happen, resulting in this exchange: "What, that chip in your head? That's not change, that's just holding you back. You're like a serial killer in prison!" "But women marry 'em all the time!" Sheesh. The quality of subtlety is not David Fury. Spike goes on to tell Buffy that he can't stop thinking about her, and that he's willing to turn his back on the whole evil thing. Buffy insists that he doesn't even know what feelings are. Spike begins to say that he loves her, but she cuts him off and won't let him finish. "We need to talk," he says. "We don't need to do anything, okay? There is no we." She storms out.
Back at his crypt, Spike looks defeated and sad, when who should emerge from the shadows but Drusilla, "who's come to make everything right again."
Commercial.
In the crypt, Spike fills in everybody who hasn't been keeping up wiht
Angel by repeating the story that Dru's just told him about Darla's return. Spike resents that she's there because hooking up with Darla made her nostalgic for the old days. She wants him to go back to L.A. with her, but he tells her he's perfectly happy in Sunnydale. She accuses him of lying, and tells him she had a vision of the chip. She then says, "I don't believe in science. All those bits and molecules no one's ever seen. I trust eyes and heart alone." Coming from someone who constantly sees and hears things that aren't really there, that's quite a statement. It seems to work for Spike, though, as she does one of her mindbends on him and convinces him that the chip can't hurt him, and that he's as bad as he's ever been.
Harmony comes in, and assumes that Spike brought home a Drusilla look-alike in the hopes of a threesome. To which she responds, "no threesomes unless it's boy, boy, girl. Or Charleze Theron." Heh. Spike tells her that it really is Drusilla, and Harmony begins to lay the smack down on her. But when she insults Dru, Spike grabs her by the throat, throws her across the room, and tells her to hit the road, and I am again reminded of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Harmony is near tears. "Why?" she asks Spike, and I really feel sorry for her. "Because she's back?"
"No," Spike says. "Because I am."
Oh, shit.
Drusilla looks pleased as punch, and she and Spike begin to make out.
Cut to Chez Summers, where Willow and Joyce are freaking out over the news that Spike professed his love to Buffy. Joyce does a complete 180 in her attitude towards Spike and worries that he could become dangerous. But Buffy's not worried about that. Joyce asks if she somehow led him on unintentionally in any way. The audience says, "Let's see... there was the time he showed up in her back yard with a shotgun, and she not only didn't kick his ass, but she let him hang out with her; then there was that time she dropped her family off at his crypt and gave him puppy dog eyes until he agreed to protect them; then there was the other day when she picked him to be on her team to go look for her missing sister, and they shared an intense little eye contacty moment in the park... oh, and let's not forget that she never revoked the invitation into her house that she gave him way back in season two, despite the fact that she's caught him breaking into her house at least twice, once to steal pictures of her and once to enter her bedroom while she slept. Anything else? Oh, yeah... how about the fact that the only plausible explanation for why she hasn't staked his ass a hundred times over by now is that she must feel something for him? But other than that, nah, Buffy hasn't led him on at all." Buffy simply says that she beats him up a lot, and to Spike, that's like third base. The audience says, "oh, yeah, there's also the fact that you haven't really laid a finger on him ever since that night you guys hung out after the shotgun incident." Anyway, Willow and Joyce are worried, but Buffy's sure it will blow over, and despite all of her talk from earlier in the episode about him being a monster and a serial killer and whatnot, she's completely not worried. Still, just to be sure, she decides to go confront him and make it clear that nothing will ever happen between them. Before she leaves, though, she asks Willow to do her a favor.
Cut to the Bronze, where Spike, looking very much like Big Bad Spike in his usual black ensemble and leather duster, which is really kind of a relief, walks in with Drusilla. They share a slow dance, and Dru spies a couple making out on the second level, and leads Spike upstairs. As they move towards the couple, they are both every bit the jungle cat stalking its prey. They move together, gracefully, like cats, and they look completely and utterly cool. Drusilla grabs the girl from behind, snaps her neck, and casually tosses her to Spike, who actually looks slightly horrified, as Dru moves on to the boyfriend. As she sinks her teeth into the boy's neck, Spike holds the dead girl in his arms, staring at her neck, and seems to struggle a moment with the decision before giving in and feeding from the girl.
I haven't read the shooting script for this episode yet, but I have a feeling that the trouble Spike seemed to have deciding whether or not to bite the girl was entirely James Marsters' doing, and maybe also the director's. But I seriously doubt it was written that way. Kudos to James for treating Spike's feelings seriously, even when the writers don't.
Buffy goes to Spike's crypt, but he's not there. She finds the trap door leading below, and goes to see what's down there.
I love Buffy for the same reason I love Scully. They are both brave enough to venture into the dark and creepy places, knowing there are probably monsters in there, and when either of them does it, it's not a moronic thing to do. Of course, with Scully, it's usually 'cause she's got a gun. But I digress.
The trap door is the entrance to Spike's lair. That's right, he has a lair. Apparantly the crypt only serves as his living room. It's big and roomy and creepy, everything a proper vampire lair should be. Buffy snoops around, and sees a sheet draped over something in the corner. She pulls it away to reveal the infamous mannequin, wearing the infamous sweater, and again I'm thinking,
Phantom of the Opera would have been a much better analogy. Next to the mannequin is a collage made out of the stolen photos and sketches of her, and though my first thought should probably be that that's creepy, really, it's that Spike's not a bad artist. He writes poetry AND he draws. My kind of guy. Anyway, I didn't get a good look, but I imagine that the skivvies he stole from her room are also tacked up there somewhere. Buffy is bothered, but she still doesn't strike me as being as creeped out as you'd expect as she climbs up out of the lair, and right into Spike, who has blood caking in the corner of his mouth. Even so, Buffy doesn't seem too terribly upset, as she asks Spike what happened.
"Me," Dru replies from behind, and shocks Buffy with a cattle prod. Buffy realizes that perhaps she should have been a bit more worried about the situation as Spike stands by and snarks while Dru shocks her unconscious. Dru wants to tie her up and play with her before they kill her, but Spike says he's through playing. He then uses the cattle prod on Dru until she passes out, and says, "Bloody well through playing." And I say, HEE!
Buffy comes to, and Spike is standing by, waiting for her. Drusilla's tied up behind him, and Spike wants Buffy to watch while he stakes her, to prove his love. Buffy's not impressed with the offer. Oh, did I mention that Buffy's chained up? Because she is. Though, I'm really not sure this can be held against Spike, because likely otherwise when she came to she'd have been quick to stake him. Spike forces Buffy to look at him as he tells her that he loves her. "You're all I bloody think about... dream about... You're in my gut, my throat. I'm drowning in you, Summers. I'm drowning in you." SIGH. Dru laughs, and declares that she knew he loved the slayer before he did. Spike practically begs Buffy to throw him some kind of bone, the least little hint of affection, but Buffy doesn't believe that vampires are capable of love. Dru says that they are. "We can love quite well, if not wisely." Buffy's not convinced, so Spike offers again to stake Dru, going so far as to pierce the skin over her heart with the stake as he explains to Buffy how much Dru means to him and what a big sacrifice he's about to make for her. Buffy tells him to go ahead, it won't make any difference. Spike then threatens that if Buffy doesn't admit that there's something between them, he'll turn Dru loose and let her kill Buffy instead. I'm thinking Spike just lost some of his footing in this argument, even though he is so obviously bluffing. He begs her to at least tell him that maybe, someday, there's a chance for them.
Buffy looks up at Spike with come-hither eyes, and Spike looks hopeful as she says, "Spike... the only chance you had with me was when I was unconscious." Ouch. Spike is fed up and tells Dru and Buffy both off. He tells Dru it's all her fault, that if she hadn't left him for the chaos demon he never would have come back to Sunnydale to get chipped. And then Buffy wouldn't be able to touch him. "Because this--" he points back and forth between himself and Buffy--"with you-- is wrong. I know it. I'm not a complete idiot. Do you think I like having you in here? Destroying everything that was me until all that's left is you in a dead shell. You say you hate it, but you won't leave." It occurs to me here that that last part could have been spoken by William to Spike, which is really very tragic if you think about it.
Just as Spike gets himself worked up into a real fury of righteous anger, he's struck by an arrow from behind. Harmony's back, and she's pissed. As she prepares another arrow, Spike gets up and attacks her. As they struggle, Dru manages to free herself and attacks Buffy, who holds her own pretty well despite the fact that she's chained. Spike dispatches Harmony and rushes to save Buffy from Dru, shoving his ex away so he can unshackle Buffy. Dru just looks at him in shock. "Poor Spike... so lost. Even I can't help you now." She leaves. And Buffy, that is, Buffy the
Vampire Slayer, just watches her go. Then it's Harmony's turn. She tells Spike goodbye for the last time in her own ridiculous fasion, and leaves. And again, the vampire slayer just stands there and watches her go. Yeah. Credibility's slipping there, Buff. She turns to Spike. Vampire number three. He looks like he's about to apologize when she slugs him in the face, sending him flying into the Buffy shrine, and once again ignoring her job description, she leaves.
She's walking home, and Spike comes running after her. He's not ready to give up. He seems to be under the impression that their little ordeal back at the lair was just a lover's quarrel. Buffy is fed up. She wants him out. "I want you out of this town, I want you off of this planet! You don't come near me, my friends, or my family again, ever! Understand?"
He doesn't understand. He follows her all the way up to her house, insisting that they have something. "It's not pretty, but it's real. And there's nothing either one of us can do about it. Like it or not, I'm in your life. You can't just shut me out." He tries to follow her inside, but you remember that favor she asked Willow to do before she left? It was an uninvite spell. Spike's priveledges to Chez Summers are revoked, and he can't get past the front door. He stands there, looking surprised, hurt, and confused, as Buffy slams the door in his face.
Grr. Arrg. Followed by a Maybelline commercial, featuring none other than a much happier Sarah Michelle Gellar, and one suspects that if Buffy would simply wear that shade of lipstick the next time she encounters Spike, he'll run screaming and never look back, and that will be that.
Next week on
Buffy: If you thought Spike got the message, well, you thought wrong.
<RANT>
This episode was written by
Angel regular David Fury, who made it clear in a recent
interview that while Angel, who despite having a soul and supposedly being good recently locked fifteen human beings in a room with two hungry vampires and left them for dead, is his pet hero, he thinks of Spike as nothing more than your average serial killer, evil to the core and incapable of any kind of redemption--a message which he made several blatant, unsubtle attempts to drive home throughout this episode. He also recently paid a visit to
the Bronze, where he said, and I quote, "In the meanwhile, S/B shippers, you can go back to writing your penpals, Richard Ramirez and the Hillside Strangler, and I hope they finally accept your marriage proposals."
David Fury, you are on my list.
All of the B&S 'shippers I know, myself included, apparantly have a much better grasp than does Mr. Fury on the concept that Buffy and Spike are fictional characters who exist within a fantasy world where it is possible for a vampire to become a good guy. Of course, if they were real people, and this were real life, and Spike was a human being displaying the creepy stalker behavior of late, I would advise Buffy to install really good locks on her doors, get caller ID, take out a restraining order, and do her best to run like hell from the guy. However, this is not real life. This is a show about a girl with superpowers who constantly goes up against much scarier things than Spike. And Spike is not a psychotic human. He's a perfectly sane vampire. I would no more compare a vampire to a serial killer than I would a lion who attacks a wounded gazelle. Your average vamp is really nothing more sinister than a predatory animal looking for dinner. You don't fault the lion for eating the gazelle, and you can't really fault the vampire for feeding off of his prey. Both are simply doing what it is in their nature to do.
The question is, is Spike capable of rising above his nature? Fury says no. Fury also says that were that to happen, it would diminish Angel's uniqueness, which I think is really what his attitude towards Spike is all about, and therefore we should take his comments with a grain of salt and thank Joss that he's not the one in charge of these things.
Angel has a soul, sure. But before that he was, to quote Detective Kate, a particularly brutal bastard. And now, even with his soul, he's walking a very fine line between good and evil. He has proven capable of rising above his vampire nature, but he is far from achieving redemption. In fact, his quest for redemption is what his spin-off series is all about. Yet he was good enough for Buffy, simply because of the soul.
To quote Dawn, Spike has a chip. Same diff. Only, not really. For over a year now, Spike has had a chip in his brain, beating his demon into submission every time it tries to strike, and leaving plenty of room for whatever remained of William's personality to take hold and develop. Being forced to spend time with Buffy in a capacity other than trying to kill her or keep from being killed by her led him to realize that his obsession with her wasn't really about wanting her dead at all. He was in love with her. And now that love is causing him to make a concerted effort to be one of the good guys. Sure, his actions are inspired by love for the girl and not by any kind of altruistic notions of redemption or of good versus evil, but who's to say, now that he's started down that path, that his desire to make himself good enough for Buffy won't eventually lead him to true redemption? Well, Joss Whedon is to say, that's who.
At any rate, Spike is an entirely different creature from Angel, and from any other vamp. There is room for Spike to continue his hero's journey without taking anything away from Angel's place in the Buffy-verse; but whatever direction they choose to take Spike, and at this point there are so many possibilities, I have complete faith in James Marsters to portray it beautifully and continue to make Spike arguably the single most compelling character on the show.
</RANT>
</SPOILERS>
