Question In HIM, why is it BUFFY'S responsibility to find SPIKE housing?

[NoShip]

In HIM, Buffy forces XANDER to take in SPIKE. Why? BUFFY and SPIKE'S interactions between LESSONS and SELFLESS have been very cold, at best. I don't see that anything changed.

Plot Convience? Or, did i miss somerhing?

 

[Bop]

I'm not remotely a fan of anything to do with Spike in season 7 but I remember Buffy saying she didn't want Spike living under the school anymore and after all the scoobies had Spike live with Xander and Giles in season 4 when he was soulless and newly chipped so if they were okay doing that then I guess why not in season 7.

 

[Taake]

It isn’t her responsibility, but she takes it upon herself because that’s what Buffy does. He can’t really take care of himself, or well, he can survive on his own still, but being in a deranged state of mind he makes her feel like she needs to take charge of the situation.

But yeah, it is kind of a plot convenience to keep him around, but also, once she found him… I can’t imagine Buffy just leaving him there? I guess she could’ve taken him to his old crypt, though.

 

[famicommander]

Living in the basement was obviously making him crazy so that had to change, and Buffy wanted him somewhere he could be watched. You don't just turn an insane vampire loose on the town.

 

[NoShip]

I'm not remotely a fan of anything to do with Spike in season 7 but I remember Buffy saying she didn't want Spike living under the school anymore and after all the scoobies had Spike live with Xander and Giles in season 4 when he was soulless and newly chipped so if they were okay doing that then I guess why not in season 7.

I agree.

I dont get the sudden and unexplained change from 'help yourself out' to 'let me take care of you'.

S7 is just full of bad writing i guess.

Post automatically merged: Oct 22, 2023

Living in the basement was obviously making him crazy so that had to change, and Buffy wanted him somewhere he could be watched. You don't just turn an insane vampire loose on the town.

True.

I just dont get the total lack of any explanation.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I think Buffy didn't want Spike to be alone after going crazy in the basement. Plus since Anya wasn't living there anymore since they broke up, she knew he would have that extra room available.

I also don't see it so much as forcing him, but rather as Xander knowing it's the right thing to do all things considered - giving Spike a chance on the account of him having a soul now.

 

[NoShip]

I think Buffy didn't want Spike to be alone after going crazy in the basement. Plus since Anya wasn't living there anymore since they broke up, she knew he would have that extra room available.

I also don't see it so much as forcing him, but rather as Xander knowing it's the right thing to do all things considered - giving Spike a chance on the account of him having a soul now.

Thats true.

I just didnt get the impression that Xander, or anyone other than Buffy, gave a damn about Spike. And then they did.

 

[thrasherpix]

Season 7, so go with plot contrivance.

That said, Xander may speak his mind bluntly and with hostility, but in the end he follows her lead. That's consistent with his character.

That said, I wouldn't have done it in his place, even if I didn't see it as his fault (for the same reason I wouldn't let a werewolf in who might change at any moment unexpectedly, doesn't mean the human soul is bad, it's just stupid, and Spike himself should've been against it). And if I were Anya, I'd move out until Spike was gone and unable to reenter. (As someone else pointed out, Spike was a killer now, chip or no chip, so it's different from season 4...and I personally can think of many ways around the chip, from loopholes to what should theoretically work.)

 

[Ethan Reigns]

What was wrong with Spike going back to his crypt? He would be out of the influence of the hellmouth so he wouldn't stay crazy. This is typical 7th Season Buffy, make other people do things they don't want to do without inconveniencing herself.

 

[garfan]

What was wrong with Spike going back to his crypt? He would be out of the influence of the hellmouth so he wouldn't stay crazy. This is typical 7th Season Buffy, make other people do things they don't want to do without inconveniencing herself.

best to keep him at least slightly watched

as to OP's question by the later seasons Buffy's job has grown from just destroying supernatural threats to being responsible for any and all supernatural issues

 

[NotASlayer]

Given what was known about Spike at the time, Giles had the right idea; stake him. Sadly, he picked that incompetent Wood to do it.

"Oh, but Spike has a soul now!"

Sure, that does make him different...

Wait, didn't the Mayor have a soul?

And Maggie Walsh.

And Gwendolyn Post.

And the Zookeeper.

And the nurse and coach in "Go Fish".

And the dinner lady in "Earshot".

And so on.

Buffy knows from her own experience that a soul doesn't make you good. But she's a hypocritical idiot when it comes to her treatment of Spike. When Angel got a soul, his conscience troubled him for decades. Spike merely felt poorly for a few weeks. The conclusion you can draw from that is that Spike didn't care about what he'd done in the past. In fact, one of the first things he did when getting a body again was decide to have sex with Harmony. Without, you know, really bothering asking her. Not exactly a change in behaviour.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Comparing Angel and Spike like that is kinda a crazee thing to do as Angel had a soul forced into him WHEREAS Spike went out of his way to get one.
Maybe if Angel had a heavily bleached head of hair? But then again I'm not sure how bleach would react on a block of wood, that is if Spike was factually correct when he called him Mr Blockhead !

 

[hoponlilmama]

What was wrong with Spike going back to his crypt? He would be out of the influence of the hellmouth so he wouldn't stay crazy. This is typical 7th Season Buffy, make other people do things they don't want to do without inconveniencing herself.

Wasn't his crypt destroyed in the previous season?

Nevertheless, they could find him another one I'm sure..

 

[NotASlayer]

Wasn't his crypt destroyed in the previous season?

Nevertheless, they could find him another one I'm sure..

It's Sunnydale; they have dozens of graveyards! Probably hundreds of crypts!

 

[NoShip]

@Bop: I think they did that whole plot, including Spike getting a soul, to walk back the AR.

Realistically, that is the only explanation for the multiple radical changes / radical retcons to Spike & Buffy's charcters & storylines between s6 and s7.

Gee.....If one were just a tiny bit cynical [or Machiavellian].....one might think Joss & Co. rewrote their, soon to be former, lead actress' character to remove the rape-stench from Spike, so his popularity would return to its pre-Seeing Red levels and he could co-lead a spin-off.....

 

[Cohen]

What was wrong with Spike going back to his crypt? He would be out of the influence of the hellmouth so he wouldn't stay crazy. This is typical 7th Season Buffy, make other people do things they don't want to do without inconveniencing herself.

They dismantled that set for the basement set. I think.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Given what was known about Spike at the time, Giles had the right idea; stake him. Sadly, he picked that incompetent Wood to do it.

"Oh, but Spike has a soul now!"

Sure, that does make him different...

Wait, didn't the Mayor have a soul?

And Maggie Walsh.

And Gwendolyn Post.

And the Zookeeper.

And the nurse and coach in "Go Fish".

And the dinner lady in "Earshot".

And so on.

Buffy knows from her own experience that a soul doesn't make you good. But she's a hypocritical idiot when it comes to her treatment of Spike. When Angel got a soul, his conscience troubled him for decades. Spike merely felt poorly for a few weeks. The conclusion you can draw from that is that Spike didn't care about what he'd done in the past. In fact, one of the first things he did when getting a body again was decide to have sex with Harmony. Without, you know, really bothering asking her. Not exactly a change in behaviour.

I thought the difference between Spike and Angel was that Spike got his soul voluntarily, while Angel was cursed with it. I'm thinking it's part of the curse that he was suffering so much from it. With Spike seeking out his soul basically for growth and becoming a better man, the situation was different.

Of course not everyone who has a soul is good and doesn't do evil things, but I feel it was more about giving Spike a chance. He was also not some random stranger, but someone she already cared for before on some level, intentionally seeking his soul to become better. That justifies at least a shot to prove yourself without getting staked!

And by the way, i think the Mayor mentioned selling his soul, implying he didn't have one anymore.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

@Dora,
so Spike had a soul forced unto him by a demon and Angel had his forced unto him by the Gypsy magic, that makes Spike umpteen times better than Angel.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Spike never went for his soul he said make me the man I was, Spike was never a souled vampire he went to get the chip out and the Demon tricked him

Yes. You are partly correct. Just because I am pedantic he never said make me the man I was, he said make me what I was. Now, that's basically what you said. However you neglect(ed) to finish the quote where he says: "Make me what I was, so Buffy can get what she deserves."

The "so Buffy can get what she deserves" is the real part that is up for debate and any double meanings that can be taken from it.

 

[thrasherpix]

It's mentioned that Anya didn't live with Xander anymore and I do remember her having her own place. I know at some point she had to leave because of assassins after her, but she was in Buffy's home. Maybe Xander's before that?

(I also can't remember why Xander moved out, if there was a reason given for that or not--and I've learned if no reason was given then no reason exists other than contrivance, because I used to assume things that made sense out of the situation which the writers, including Joss, kept saying never occurred to them.)

So why do I have memories of Anya with Xander arguing over Spike being there? And of Anya spying on a sleeping Spike (even sneaking into his room)? What was Anya doing there at all?

I'd like to know, but not willing to watch it again.