His expression, which is to me one of the most emotionally powerful images of the entire series. Everyone will have their own response and interpretation but for me it is an expression of great sorrow and resignation - a moment of truth for Spike as he saw his last moments with this woman whom he gave his his heart and soul and mind to.
I never would think of this as a scene where the actors or the writer would think of in anyway as a joke in as humor. To me its every bit as emotionally significant to the character as the parting scene in IWRY - the same tragic and extremely painful sense of loss for Spike as it was for Buffy. Where Buffy rails against the injustice of her life and love, Spike accepts life as he sees it.
Wow, this post is really something.
For me, it means that in the end Buffy is a fighter and Spike is a lover. I think we underestimate the strength it took for both of them to let each other go. Sometimes when I watch that last scene I doubt if Buffy would have left if Spike hadn't told her too. Sometimes I think they would have remained in their trance forever if the world hadn't been crumbling around them and if Faith hadn't been yelling at Buffy to leave.
I don't think his "No, you don't" was a joke in anyway, and I'm confused as to why anyone would interpret it as such. It was clearly an instruction.
Plus as a metaphor of the spiritual transcendence, it is Spike reaching a level of understanding and acceptance as in the state of Nirvana and the spiritual ecstasy which ends his life in Sunnydale.
Well said. That's why he laughed. Because Spike is known for finding glee in all the wrong things, and even as he burned he delighted in the destruction of it all, and his part in it. Because that's just who Spike is; a lover of chaos. He figured that hey, if he was going down he might as well enjoy it, lol. Remember his last words were "I wanna see how it ends."
To me the kissing scene, while played as both light comedy and drama, when he sees Buffy go on automatic mode kissing Angel is very much connected to his response. When you love someone and you have lived through the last days that he lived with Buffy - that would have been the time that for her to say those words.
Agreed.
So - this scene never suggested any sense other than Spike in great sorrow.
It's plausible that Spike actually
didn't believe her - but I like to believe he did, but didn't want her to think he did. Does that make sense? Saying "I love you" back would have been too much. It would finally sealed what both of them had known for a while; they were
in love. But the world was ending, and there was no time for the two of them. Once again, Spike and Buffy had to put their own intentions on hold for their duties, and that's what makes them true heroes. If he had told he he loved her too, she would have burned with him down there. I truly believe that.
This was, IMO, foreshadow long before by Cassie/Cassandra when she speaks to Spike:
CASSIE: She'll tell you. Someday she'll tell you.
Exactly. I think many misinterpret that quote. Buffy
did end up telling Spike what he wanted to hear in the end - but it was too late. This is the tragedy of Spike and Buffy. They simply didn't have enough time to reach their potential together. They had only just begun to realize how much they loved eachother, when they were wrenched away from eachother.
We know that Joss Whedon's intent was that these two people do love each other - but the seer Cassandra tells truths which are never believed.
Yep, and this is the delicious irony of
Buffy.
---------- Post added at 08:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:25 PM ----------
Spuffy is for the adults, a love of shared experience, trust, pain, passion and an acceptance of faults.
I agree with this absolutely, but I'm uncomfortable referring to Bangel as "childish." I think it's anything but. I see Bangel as very dark, dysfunctional, and demented, really. It never ceases to amaze me when fans argue that Spuffy was the darker of the two 'ships when Angel was the one who fell in love with her when she was 15, stalked her, tried to kill her friends, left her alone, erased her memory, killed her slayers, and had no qualms with allowing the world to end and everyone to die so he could have her selfishly to himself.
