Question If Spike and Harmony could smoke why couldn't Angel give Buffy CPR?

[HannahRose]

Spike is seen smoking frequently, and Harmony also smokes once or twice. If they are able to blow air out of their mouths, why couldn't Angel give Buffy CRP? Was this something the creators had an explanation for or am I just overthinking it?

 

[TheMaster666]

I don't think they thought too much further than, "Smoking cool. Let's give the baddies some cigarettes."

You're right, come to think of it, Vamps shouldn't be able to blow out smoke. Hey...wait a minute...there's no such thing as vampires. Show busted, you nearly got me Joss, but you forgot the dead don't live again. That was my big clue.

 

[Stake fodder]

And if they don't breathe, why was Spike able to be almost drowned in S7?

It's not so much that you're overthinking it, it's that the writers underthought it.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Well, in the Book of Genesis, God is described as having breathed life into Adam, so Angel, probably assumes something similar happens during CPR. Remember, 300 year old vampire.

 

[thrasherpix]

If I were to make some headcanon about this (other than "magic" like so much else about vampires), I'd say they're "just slightly out of phase" which is why they can't cast reflections...just as they don't give reflections, they can't give the proper air (so it would be like "dead air"). It's a stretch. (And to be more consistent, they shouldn't cast shadows either.)

It might also somehow be related strangely to not being able to enter a human's home without an invite. Can't breathe in without a formal invite to give you CPR (and kissing doesn't count as an invite--actually, thinking of kissing vampires is both gross and hilarious to me, and if for some reason I DID make out with a vampire, I'd be so tempted to eat a lot of garlic just to see if it has an effect, in addition to numbing the taste of dried blood, tiny bits of raw flesh from skin that got ripped off, and whatever else in my own mouth from kissing a vampire).

The simplest could be that since giving CPR isn't something vampires did, it's possible Angel didn't know if he might accidentally turn Buffy into a vampire. This is also a stretch as if their making out didn't do that...but vampire rules in the Buffyverse are oddly very specific in ways that have to be put into the magic category rather than scientific.



EDITED: if I were asked how to explain that scene, I'd explain that away that only a vampire that has recently drank fresh blood could give CPR since they can't generate their own blood (with blood necessary to process the air). They need the blood to smoke, get drunk, and also breathe into the mouth of another. So Angel could say "I haven't had fresh blood recently enough." (He'd be self-conscious enough about it that I could see him dancing around that to say what he did to Xander. )

 

[Sinmerina]

And we have to also see Angel’s heavy breathing while saying those lines too. I think they writers just didn’t think too deep on that or that far ahead when writing season 1. Season 1 on its own was like a “test” anyway. They didn’t know if the show will be picked up or not. We then would also have to consider other things like Spike being able to make Drusilla pass out so he can kidnap her. Or when Spike drowned in S7. I also questioned how they can speak too then? Because I can’t talk when I’m out of breath or lose air. That’s another thing to think about. But we always should consider that real actors played these characters, so obviously we would have to see breathing and even taking deep breathes in scenes. It would be hard to make the actor try to not move their chest when they have to do fighting scenes. That would be extremely hard to do.

 

[epimetrius]

The almighty, all powerful cosmo shattering being that is the bringer of law and chaos known only as "plot-device."

 

[Kendar]

......if I were asked how to explain that scene, I'd explain that away that only a vampire that has recently drank fresh blood could give CPR since they can't generate their own blood (with blood necessary to process the air).

Except when blood processes air, it does so by taking oxygen OUT of it. Arguably CPR from a vampire should be BETTER than CPR from a living human since no oxygen is taken out of the blood.

It's one of those things that it is best not to think too much about. We've seen Angel out of breath and he certainly talks, so his lungs are capable of breathing in and out.

 

[thetopher]

I headcanon that vampires can, with some practice, master some abilities that would let themselves 'pass' for human (like its detailed in Vampire: The Masquerade) so as not to come to the attention of cunning vampire hunters, religious zealots and the like. So vampires can 're-learn' to eat food that they cannot otherwise digest, smoke cigars and pipes- i.e have the appearance of breath and maybe even influence their blood-flow with enough control to make themselves seem less pale and corpse-like.

Angel, being basically a dirty hermit for the past few decades, has lost anything like these abilities if he ever had them. Hence, he cannot breath. Wheras the more 'savvier' social vampires like Spike master things like smoking to fit in with the herd. And then he got a taste for it.

But metaphysically vampires are unable to 'give life breath', only take life/vitality away, which is why Xander is needed; besides it was all his idea to go there in the first place.

 

[Killjoy]

Spike is seen smoking frequently, and Harmony also smokes once or twice. If they are able to blow air out of their mouths, why couldn't Angel give Buffy CRP? Was this something the creators had an explanation for or am I just overthinking it?

How I always looked at it is the fact yes Angel, Spike and Harmony can blow air out of their mouths.....but due to the fact they have no need to do so there is no oxygen in what they blow out. Just a thought.

 

[famicommander]

The real answer is nobody thought it through before they put in on screen.

Same reason vampires can use their muscles, get erections, become intoxicated, etc despite no heartbeat and therefore no blood flow.

 

[Miss Muffet]

My headcanon (courtesy of this) is that Angel just has no idea how the repository system and CPR work

 

[November]

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Well, in the Book of Genesis, God is described as having breathed life into Adam, so Angel, probably assumes something similar happens during CPR. Remember, 300 year old vampire.

But metaphysically vampires are unable to 'give life breath', only take life/vitality away, which is why Xander is needed; besides it was all his idea to go there in the first place.

My head canon is along these lines too.

Vampires are not life giving creatures. They cant breathe life into someone, just as they cant sex life into someone. The cant walk in the light crucial for life to exist.

Vamps go through the motions but are dead things reanimated to take life, not capable of healing, helping or creating life.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I was interested to read all the things vampires can and cannot do. Are the things listed here only available in this series or are they available things that vampire can/cannot do outside of this series?

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

I'm on Team "Angel doesn't really know how CPR works." I mean, people once thought lion cubs were stillborn until the third day, when their mother breathed life into them. Or how cats were once sucked the breath out of infants. Just superstition. But, this is a world of magic, and science is a lie humanity created to protect his mental state from the chaos. It's entirely possible CPR does work by transferring life from one individual to another in the Buffyverse, and Angel is right!?

 

[Tome]

If you asked the writers this question, they probably would respond with "it's a supernatural show about vampires, demons, and gods... you're expecting realism?". 🤣

But, with that said, I totally get you. Fictional or not, a story and universe should always respect their own rules and limitations.