Drowning in footwear

[Skanky Vamp]

I just happened to stumble across this old post but I never made, nor heard the connection before and thought it was interesting:

In the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ‘End of Days/Chosen’, Spike wakes up in a fit and exclaims, “I’m drowning in footwear.” Passing it off as a weird dream, I chose to believe him, that it was just a final little quirk from the magnificent brain of Joss Whedon. But a whole lot of Spuffyers chose to take it as a hint that Spike would one day be the benefactor of the Shanshu Prophecy, because footwear=shoe=sole/soul=Shanshu.

However, all this means nothing, as I have now discovered, as Joss clearly planned a clever tie-in with this wonderful season one exchange from ‘Witch’: (emphasis added by me)

Xander: This is the invisible man syndrome. A blessing in Cordelia’s case. A curse in Buffy’s.

Willow: You’re not invisible to Buffy.

Xander: It’s worse! I’m just like a part of the scenery, like an old shoe. Or a rug that you walk on every day but don’t even really see it.

Willow: Like a pen that’s all chewed up, and you kow you should throw it away, but you don’t, not ’cause you like it so much, more ’cause you’re just used to–

Xander: Will, yeah, that is the point, you don’t have to drive it through my head like a railroad spike.

The presence of “old shoe” and “railroad spike” in the same exhchange is definitely not coincidental. Ergo “railroad spike”= Spike, when “drowning in footwear”, is really drowning in a pile of old shoes, ie he is just part of the scenery. And that’s all he is to Buffy.

In ‘Touched’, she sleeps in his arms to regain strength for the Final Fight. In ‘Chosen’, he becomes her armory, and she uses him to wear the amulet. Sure, he becomes a hero by sacrificing himself, but Buffy doesn’t let Angel risk it, and relies on him to continue his fight against evil in the second frontier. Maybe she loves Spike for a moment because he sacrifices himself, but this may only be because he is helping her to win. Just part of the battle scenery. When Buffy says, towards the end of ‘Chosen’, that she wants to go shopping because she’s having “a wicked shoe craving”, it means she needs a new man.
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So what do you think? Does 'drowning in footwear' have any deeper meaning or was it just something funny to say upon waking?

I vote for something funny only because I would say 'I am drowning in footwear' in the office.. though in retrospect I guess I was inconsequential and just part of the scenery too.

 

[Taake]

Lol, mostly this reminds me of A Passion for oranges Joyce and her oranges... and how maybe, just maybe, us fans sometimes overthink things. Just a little. 😉

 

[GwenRaiden]

I thought it was Just A Funny Line. Much like "All Geminis to the raspberry hats" was.

So Whedon knew/purposefully foreshadowed Spike and that he would turn up, in s1 dialogue? Before he even knew how big a part he would come to have?

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Lol, mostly this reminds me of A Passion for oranges Joyce and her oranges... and how maybe, just maybe, us fans sometimes overthink things. Just a little. 😉

So your official position is it means nothing? That is what I thought as well. But some people claim everything spoken means something.
 

I thought it was Just A Funny Line. Much like "All Geminis to the raspberry hats" was.
So Whedon knew/purposefully foreshadowed Spike and that he would turn up, in s1 dialogue? Before he even knew how big a part he would come to have?

Other people claim wacky foreshadowing of things.. who knows. Maybe it wasn't that he knew, maybe he added that line in just for anyone that wanted to specifically think about it. They do that often in movies nowadays- for massive fans/geeks. It is plausible.

 

[thetopher]

In ‘Touched’, she sleeps in his arms to regain strength for the Final Fight.

I do think there's an element of 'I'm using you emotionally' to a lot of Buffy's season 7 actions towards Spike (and Season 9 actions, and it seems also s10..).
She might as well be wearing a t-shirt with those exact words on it.

 

[Taake]

So Whedon knew/purposefully foreshadowed Spike and that he would turn up, in s1 dialogue? Before he even knew how big a part he would come to have?

Or did Spike become a big part because of that line? 😛

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Or did Spike become a big part because of that line? 😛

Just odd the same phrase. A railroad spike driven through the head. That has to be significant. The writers cannot be that lazy can they?

 

[GwenRaiden]

I guess it's plausible but my initial reaction is that it is just some random, funny dialogue. I don't think the blog post convinced me otherwise.

If anything, on rewatching and knowing what happens in the end, it could be seen more as a reference to his forthcoming death. Sunnydale, and everyone's once loved belongings, even footwear, all falling in on him.

 

[GoSpuffy]

I thought it was a premonition of his death in the sense that they refer to the mall being lost in the crater so james is at the bottom of the crater, drowning in footwear. If anything the "wicked shoe craving" would mean to me that she wants Spike who is now buried in the crater with mall/shoes.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I think this theroy is genius and very plausible.

 

[Taake]

If anything, on rewatching and knowing what happens in the end, it could be seen more as a reference to his forthcoming death. Sunnydale, and everyone's once loved belongings, even footwear, all falling in on him.

...drowning in used footwear... now that's an unpleasant way to go.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I thought it was a premonition of his death in the sense that they refer to the mall being lost in the crater so james is at the bottom of the crater, drowning in footwear. If anything the "wicked shoe craving" would mean to me that she wants Spike who is now buried in the crater with mall/shoes.

Oooh, I like this too!

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Oooh, I like this too!

Yeah! I do too. Interesting!

Holy cow.. maybe that line really DID have meaning.

 

[GoSpuffy]

I think this theroy is genius and very plausible.

thank you, not all theories are bunnies 🙂

 

[Taake]

thank you, not all theories are bunnies 🙂

But are all bunnies theories? Who knows 😉 (sorry, just had to)

 

[Skanky Vamp]

But are all bunnies theories?

There were alot of bunnies on the island in Lost. There were many theories as to the nature of the bunnies, so I would say yes, they all very well could be theories.

 

[Silverspike]

I just saw the 'drowning in foot ware' line to maybe be indirect reference to Spike demise due to the amulet harnessing his soul in the Hellmouth.

He's ends up being consumed/drowning in it.

 

[Athena]

I think the theory is great, but to be honest @Mr. Pole i think you are just a lot smarter that the writers were. I don't think they set this up from S1, but it'd be damn good if they had!

 

[bespangeled]

thank you, not all theories are bunnies 🙂

Maybe midgets?
 

So Whedon knew/purposefully foreshadowed Spike and that he would turn up, in s1 dialogue? Before he even knew how big a part he would come to have?

Hey, Dru knew back after season 2 that Spike would burn up closing the hellmouth! I mean, he tasted of ashes, and it was all because of Buffy!😀

 

[cryptwarmer]

I thought it was a nod back to my all time most hated Spike line "I'm drowning in you Summers, I'm drowning in you."

Maybe he was having one of those dreams where they ended up getting married and a few years down the line things go sour, and once he was drowning in her and now he feels like he's just another thing in the house that she thought she once needed and wanted and is now just taking up space in the closet....so now he's just drowning in her footwear.