Drowning Spike

BuffyElevated

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Sineya
Ok so why in "Bring On The Night" does The First "torture" Spike by using the Ubervamp hold him under water? Vampires don't breathe so how would this affect him unless it was holy water?
 
It was never actually established, but I always assumed (when I finally noticed it after watching that episode for the fifth or sixth time) that there was some sort of irritant particular to vampires in the water, but if it had been holy water, it would have burned, not strangled. That only leaves garlic, since sunlight, which, again, would have burned, not strangled, would have been impossible to contain in a pool of water. We know from "Wrecked," at the end of the episode, when Buffy strings garlic at her bedroom window and around the room, that garlic does, in fact, affect vampires in the Buffyverse, so that would be my guess. Garlic or some sort of garlic derivative. Either that, or the writers just plain screwed up.

Then again, maybe James actually got choked, and it looked so cool that they just decided to leave it in.
 
It is possible it is a screw up but I do love the Garlic-water/irritant idea. I had never thought of that before. Smart.
But this issue reminds me of Graduation p2 when Spike "chokes" Drusilla and she passes out. She shouldn't have passed out. Sorry, guess that is a tangent
 
It is possible it is a screw up but I do love the Garlic-water/irritant idea. I had never thought of that before. Smart.
But this issue reminds me of Graduation p2 when Spike "chokes" Drusilla and she passes out. She shouldn't have passed out. Sorry, guess that is a tangent

We know that vampires have blood flow, even if they have no heartbeat. Restricting blood flow to their brains (assuming that Dru has one, of course) might render them unconscious just as readily as a normal person.

Or, as we've seen on at least a few occasions, the writers just screwed up, and the director, actors, and editor missed the detail.
 
So about the bubbles?

They held Spikes head underwater, not to see who could do it for the longest. But to see which time he blew the most bubbles.

They had put blood oranges in the water, but they had sunk to he bottom. They got Spike to blow the oranges up to the surface.

There was a button on the bottom of the well. Spike couldn't reach it so he blew bubbles to try and reach it.. ... .. Maybe the button was put there by Willow, as in a later episode Spike said, 'Button, button, who's got the button? my money is on the witch! Red is a naughty girl.

It wasn't that he was blowing the bubbles as a result of drowning, the nasty First had put a chemical in the water that would turn Spikes hair pink. Spike blew bubbles to try and stop his hair changing colour.

( Vampires do not need to breathe to stay alive but they can breathe. )

How would the garlic water irritant affect the vampires that held Spikes head underwater?
 
white avenger
white avenger
Maybe the ubervamp wasn't affected by garlic like his more modern descendants are.
I think it was a screw up. Vampires don't breathe. I remember an Angel episode where Dru wanted Darla to hold her under water....
 
Garlic Water....that explains everything.

Maybe being underwater is unpleasant for vampire. Maybe that's why Dru liked it.
 
I remember reading a thread where someone suggested Spike was drowning in a giant martini...
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
Maybe Spike had picked up on Drusilla's ability to see the future, because in season 7 he said (dreamt) he was drowning in footwear.
Umm, my simply guess is, he's hurt from being beaten up and his face has cuts and bruise. It just hurt when those wounds touch water.
 
i dunno, THAT big of a screw up that NO ONE picked it up, not Joss not the writers not James not the editors? More likely, someone did, but someone else said "eh...go with it anyway".
 
(in fake baseball announcers voice) And now folks, another round of Kick The Spike! Currently, Flannen is in the lead...but wait!...It looks like Joan is coming in for the kill!


Just kidding. 😉

Reminds me of that line in S7 where Spike wakes up from a dream where he's "drowning in footwear."

That never made any sense to me.
 
Flannen
Flannen
lol, it was too good to pass up!
While I think this was in all likelihood a screw up that went unnoticed until it was too late, I always liked to believe that the Turok-Han was simultaneously doing something else to Spike to hurt him with its other hand and had his head in the water so he couldn't scream/couldn't see what the Turok-Han was doing to him.

Either that, or maybe it was the pool that the bringers used to wash off after a hard day of worshipping the First. Bringer sweat is probably extra gross and unpleasant to be submerged in :looking:
 
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