"No, you don't; but thanks for sayin' it."

[ItMustBeBunnies]

Ive got a few theories on this topic, but they all kinda run together!. I think buffy really meant it when she said I love you, and when spike said no you dont, I think it was because he was so use to her telling him she never would that he couldn't accept it. Ive got a few problems with him sticking around in Angel season 5, I get why he did, but I think he would be more inclined to go off and look for Buffy rather than hang around with angel, it was just the writters tring to justify him being there. Still, im glad he did stay coz Spike and Angel together is awsome!.

 

[white avenger]

Ive got a few problems with him sticking around in Angel season 5, I get why he did, but I think he would be more inclined to go off and look for Buffy rather than hang around with angel, it was just the writters tring to justify him being there. Still, im glad he did stay coz Spike and Angel together is awsome!.

Yeah, undoubtedly, Spike's reasons for staying with Angel, not even trying to get in touch with Buffy, and then even forbidding Andrew to tell her were totally out of character and poorly thought/written out by the writers and Joss. The real reason, of course, was that James was signed on as a regular on "Angel," at least for Season 5, and he had to stay there. I just wish that they could have come up with a more believable reason in keeping with Spike's personality.

 

[Buffanator]

Would have been cool if Spike went to find/be with Buffy, and Buffy ASKED HIM to stay in L.A. & "keep an eye on Angel" because she/Giles believed that Angel was fighting on the side of evil, now.... and of course, Spike would have done what Buffy asked him to do... THAT would have made more sense than Spike not even TRYING to contact Buffy. Doncha think?

At any rate, my take on the "line" is that Buffy DID ABSOLUTELY mean it when she told Spike she loved him - she knew he was about to die "for the cause" & she didn't want him to die without knowing how she felt.

In turn, Spike said "no you don't, but thanks for saying it" because he knew she would try to talk him out of completing that death-task if he said "I love you too". Even as it was, he had to tell her to "GO!" because she was just standing there with tears in her eyes, & she only had a minute to get out of there.

HOWEVER, I think the perfect line for Spike at that time would have been "NOW you tell me!" or maybe even "took you long enough, Slayer" or something more *Spike-like*, ya know? I was never thrilled with that line. Buffy FINALLY told him, & it was like, the most IMPORTANT MOMENT EVER (well, at least for us Spuffy shippers!) & whad'we get? "no you don't, but thanks for sayin' it." 🙄

And yet, I still love that scene. :love:

 

[raine4rose]

I do agree...
If Spike didnt tell No, you dont then it would not remain on our heads and no topic for it...
Wish they could meet... sooner

 

[Ulrikke]

I always thought that the 'No you don't, but thanks for saying it' line was Spike's way of letting Buffy off the hook, so to speak. Thinking that he was going to die and never come back, he didn't want her to pine after him and never see other people once he was gone.

Anyway, that's what I think. More to the point, it's what I WANT to think. Otherwise it's just rude and so not the time to argue. And there was no doubt in MY mind that Buffy meant what she said.

 

[Perny]

My own theory is that she had spent so much time telling him that she could never love him or ever be his girl that he was completely shocked by her statement, so shocked that at that moment he couldn't bring himself to believe what she said. It was only moments later, when he had sent Buffy to safety that her words finally sunk in, causing him to burst out laughing in joy even as he was being burned to ashes. That's why his first thought was of Buffy when he re-materialized in Angel's office.

I have the same theory. 🙂

I was totally weeping when Spike died! She finally told him she loved him(cos she totally did!) and then he dies... What a bummer!

 

[white avenger]

She got this look in her eyes that we hadn't sen since pre- Surprise.

Speaking of "looks in her eyes," let's not forget the end of "Showtime," and the "I don't know what I would have done if you had gone up those stairs" and "I love you" scenes in Chosen.

And let's not forget that, in all of their time together, Buffy and Angel were never so hot together that their hands burst into flame just at the touch (and no, before anyone says it, that happened BEFORE Spike started burning, and also it was the mystical "no pain, no blistering" sort of flame.)

 

[EveryNiteISaveU]

Yeah, undoubtedly, Spike's reasons for staying with Angel, not even trying to get in touch with Buffy, and then even forbidding Andrew to tell her were totally out of character and poorly thought/written out by the writers and Joss. The real reason, of course, was that James was signed on as a regular on "Angel," at least for Season 5, and he had to stay there. I just wish that they could have come up with a more believable reason in keeping with Spike's personality.

Yea, i agree. They could have totally had her try to coorespond with Buffy w/o having her on the show. I mean, they faked it during that dream sequence in season 5 when Angel's hallucinating and Spike is having sex w/ "buffy"...they could have easily written it in better...

 

[hannahfngrl26]

I am going to weigh in and say that he decided to say these words because he knows in his heart that Buffy can only ever truly love one man and that man is not him. Or maybe he said it because he just has always had a self-defeating attitude and is a pessimist?