If Buffy hadn't said the magic words...

[LovesBitca]

My God, what a lame thread title...

(Disclaimer, this thread only applies to people who believe that Buffy loved Spike. The sane people, you know?)

So I don't know about you guys, but love Spike and Buffy's final scene in Chosen. It's so gorgeous, so beautifully played... I actually teared up a little the first time I watched it. And of course, it's very important to me as an B/S fan, as it's the first (and only 😛) time Buffy tells Spike she loves him.

But I got to wondering the other day... what if she didn't say it at all? What if she just stood there, wordless, letting it all be said through her actions, as she had countless times before?

So a question I want to hear some other replies to... if Buffy hadn't said it at all, would that change your opinion on her feelings for him?

I think, for me anyway, that it wouldn't change very much. Yes, hearing it for the first time did give me and odd sense of "Knew it. F*cking knew it", I still believed that she loved him, before her coming out and saying it, so I think it wouldn't change much.

Buffy and Spike are the same in how much passion they have in them, and the amount of love that they feel (Intervention is all about that, Spike discovers what love really is and isn't with the Buffybot and undergoing Glory's torture, Buffy learns that she is filled with love, just when she fears she's losing it) but they are very different, in terms of how they show their emotions and express love. Spike is a poetic, heart-on-the-sleeve kinda guy, who's not ashamed to love or to tell someone he loves them, while Buffy is much more careful. She fears abandonment, and has been hurt by love time and time again. Just loving Angel caused a major tragedy and heartbreak, not only to her, but the people around her. No wonder it frightens her. So, she shows her love not through her words but through her actions. Being with Giles after Jenny was killed, sacrificing herself for Dawn, for her friends, for the world she's spent so many years protecting, and, taking Spike in, forgiving and helping him after everything they did to each other, all acts of love.

Spike, being the poet that he is, expresses love via words (not diminishing some of the amazing things he did for Buffy, of course) while Buffy does the exact opposite. And this is actually really ironic, as Spike and Buffy have exchanged some of the best dialog in the show. 😀

So, because of that, I wasn't really expecting Buffy to ever come right out and tell Spike how she felt. While I was certain that she did love him, I didn't think she would ever really say it. So when she did, I was pleasantly surprised.

So now that I think about it, if Buffy had never told Spike that she loved him, to his face or to anyone else, I would've been fine. She already did say it thousands of times before Chosen. You just didn't hear her. 😀 I don't know why, she's yelling it right in my ear in the final Showtime scene. Good gray, that sounded lame.

Wowsies. That was long. 😱 So, what do you think?

 

[xaphania]

Firstly:

(Disclaimer, this thread only applies to people who believe that Buffy loved Spike. The sane people, you know?)

This? Shows that you're awesome. 😀

But I got to wondering the other day... what if she didn't say it at all? What if she just stood there, wordless, letting it all be said through her actions, as she had countless times before?

So a question I want to hear some other replies to... if Buffy hadn't said it at all, would that change your opinion on her feelings for him?

It wouldn't change all that much for me, I don't think. You can see it in her eyes, even before she tells him. That moment when the flames erupt in their hands and she's just looking at him... you can see the love there.

Even going back to Showtime, there's no doubt from the look in her eyes that she loves him (even if at that point in the show, she's not ready to admit it to herself.)

 

[KellGreen]

I didn't need to hear her say it to know it was true, but I really liked that she gave that to Spike. He knew it for a long time (way before she did), but for her to finally say it was great.

Yes - their interaction and the looks they give each other in Showtime is so intense - definitely one of my favorite Spuffy moments.

 

[zobothehobo]

I was convinced she loved him long before Chosen. I think she loved him in season 6. I think she fell in love with him when it really sunk in with her he got his soul back... for her. But she wasn't ready to admit it until Chosen. If she hadn't said it, I'd be disapointed in her, but I would still believe to my core she loved him. As Amy pointed out in the screencaps she posted, it's obvious by the look in her eyes she loved him.

I didn't need to hear her say it to know it was true

Exactly. I didn't need to hear her say it to know it was true. That's what I love most about Spuffy. I don't need to hear them tell each other they love each other to know it, I just feel it. They don't need words, they just need looks and actions. *sigh* I love Spuffy.

 

[xfivebyfive]

I love that she said it mostly because its like yes proof haha but it wouldn't have changed anything for me I know she loved him. There is not doubt in my mind.

 

[Gum Gnome33]

As others have said, I was convinced and the look in her eyes might have been plenty.
But, oh....when she says it it's just so wonderful, you know? She might have been feeling it and showing it in her own way for a while, but since he was in the process of literally dying for her and those she loved, he deserved to actually hear it. She knew that.

 

[xaphania]

Did everybody tear up so much that they missed Spike's reply?

Buffy's words were the verbal equivalent of a sympathy shag. Buffy wanted to show her gratitude to Spike before he died. She was very much aware that he loved her completely and so she figured that if she told him she loved him, she would be giving him a great gift.

Whilst she undoubtedly had much affection for Spike, she did not LOVE him. Spike knew this and was okay with it.

There are two parts to this brief scene: Buffy looks at Spike, realizes he is about to die, thinks about what to say and tells Spike what she thinks he wants to hear (lies). And Spike's response, accepted and confirmed in Buffy's face (truth).

I did indeed hear Spike's reply. It doesn't negate the fact that Buffy loved him, and told him so in this scene. Why should you take Spike's words as the truth, and not Buffy's?

But... this shouldn't turn into a "Did Buffy love Spike?" thread, because that's not what the OP has asked - and this is the Spuffy forum.

 

[KellGreen]

I did indeed hear Spike's reply. It doesn't negate the fact that Buffy loved him, and told him so in this scene. Why should you take Spike's words as the truth, and not Buffy's?

But... this shouldn't turn into a "Did Buffy love Spike?" thread, because that's not what the OP has asked - and this is the Spuffy forum.

I don't believe him when he says that. I mean, what do you say in return when you know are dying and you want the person you love to get out of there so they don't die too. To me it was just Spike being himself; I mean, who would really believe that after how many times he told her she did before...?

 

[prophecygrrl]

I believe Buffy completely. She knows her own feelings about this better than he does, and it's obviously something she's thought about throughout the season. It's something she's struggled with over and over. Lying to him would be lying to herself, and that's something she's tried very hard to stop doing all through Season 7. While I didn't need Buffy to say the words to make their love 'real', I think Buffy needed to say the words, and I'm really proud of her for it.

 

[sisterofmercy]

I think she showed that she loved him a long time before she said it. All the looks and smiles and even the arguments throughout the last season show that much. However, I think she needed to say it to him- partly before it was too late and partly because she wanted to be able to say it (and saying those 3 words seemed difficult for her since Angel). For her it was a really big thing, she wouldn't say it if she didn't mean it.

 

[Tillow4ever]

My God, what a lame thread title...

(Disclaimer, this thread only applies to people who believe that Buffy loved Spike. The sane people, you know?)

So I don't know about you guys, but love Spike and Buffy's final scene in Chosen. It's so gorgeous, so beautifully played... I actually teared up a little the first time I watched it. And of course, it's very important to me as an B/S fan, as it's the first (and only 😛) time Buffy tells Spike she loves him.

But I got to wondering the other day... what if she didn't say it at all? What if she just stood there, wordless, letting it all be said through her actions, as she had countless times before?

So a question I want to hear some other replies to... if Buffy hadn't said it at all, would that change your opinion on her feelings for him?

I think, for me anyway, that it wouldn't change very much. Yes, hearing it for the first time did give me and odd sense of "Knew it. F*cking knew it", I still believed that she loved him, before her coming out and saying it, so I think it wouldn't change much.

Buffy and Spike are the same in how much passion they have in them, and the amount of love that they feel (Intervention is all about that, Spike discovers what love really is and isn't with the Buffybot and undergoing Glory's torture, Buffy learns that she is filled with love, just when she fears she's losing it) but they are very different, in terms of how they show their emotions and express love. Spike is a poetic, heart-on-the-sleeve kinda guy, who's not ashamed to love or to tell someone he loves them, while Buffy is much more careful. She fears abandonment, and has been hurt by love time and time again. Just loving Angel caused a major tragedy and heartbreak, not only to her, but the people around her. No wonder it frightens her. So, she shows her love not through her words but through her actions. Being with Giles after Jenny was killed, sacrificing herself for Dawn, for her friends, for the world she's spent so many years protecting, and, taking Spike in, forgiving and helping him after everything they did to each other, all acts of love.

Spike, being the poet that he is, expresses love via words (not diminishing some of the amazing things he did for Buffy, of course) while Buffy does the exact opposite. And this is actually really ironic, as Spike and Buffy have exchanged some of the best dialog in the show. 😀

So, because of that, I wasn't really expecting Buffy to ever come right out and tell Spike how she felt. While I was certain that she did love him, I didn't think she would ever really say it. So when she did, I was pleasantly surprised.

So now that I think about it, if Buffy had never told Spike that she loved him, to his face or to anyone else, I would've been fine. She already did say it thousands of times before Chosen. You just didn't hear her. 😀 I don't know why, she's yelling it right in my ear in the final Showtime scene. Good gray, that sounded lame.

Wowsies. That was long. 😱 So, what do you think?

ARGH! I pressed enter before I could say what I needed to in your rep box. I was going to say: "I :heart: this post."

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

But I got to wondering the other day... what if she didn't say it at all? What if she just stood there, wordless, letting it all be said through her actions, as she had countless times before?

So a question I want to hear some other replies to... if Buffy hadn't said it at all, would that change your opinion on her feelings for him?

As crazy as this sounds, sometimes I wish she hadn't said it.

As you say, she'd "said" it to him time and time again without words. Her actions proved her loved him. She didn't need to say it.

His response is so maddening, too. Of she hadn't said it, then he wouldn't have had to say that.

On the other hands, those words hold weight for her, so it meant alot that she did say them.

Would it change my feelings for him? No, of course not.

 

[Tranquillity]

If she didn't say it, it wouldn't have changed my feelings, actually maybe if she didn't say it (and he didn't reply with what he said) it would have eliminated any of the periodic doubts I've suffered about this topic at times. I agree that there are plenty of moments of wordless love between Buffy and Spike during season seven - i'm a big believer that actions speak louder than words and if you can't see love when you look at this:

Then you must be blind 🙂

 

[PrettyLilGirl]

to me it didnt matter that she said it in the sense of making me go 'oh so she loves him?' cos any ninny can see that 🙂 but i had to have her say it because it ment something that she was comfortable and had excepted it..she loved Spike..and Spike probably needed to hear it. He was so sure by this point that she didnt as he kept asking for reassurence from her. I think they booth knew it but it meant alot to him that she finally said it out loud 🙂

 

[Konoe]

(Disclaimer, this thread only applies to people who believe that Buffy loved Spike. The sane people, you know?)

I find that part quite comical. I just laughed and rolled my eyes since...well better not post it here.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

Saying "I love you" to him was just the admission to herself. I think in a way when she was telling him that, she was actually also telling herself that. She finally admitted her true feelings and wasn't scared or ashamed of that anymore. She didn't need to tell him that, but she needed to hear herself saying that. Because she already knew she loved him, he knew he loved her. But hearing that is another thing. It's an admission. So no, if she didn't say that, that wouldn't change much. It would just mean she still couldn't admit her feelings to herself.

 

[moopop]

Which time, the Freudian Slip or in the Hellmouth?