I've been watching season 6 of Buffy recently for a marathon and I will retract my opinion of Spike being a "GOOD GUY".... He was stalking her, stealing her clothes, and taking advantage of her vulnerability.
He even had Harmony act like a slayer for sex.
That's Season 5, before he begins to consciously make a change. When he first acknowledges his feelings, he goes about dealing with them like any other sick vampire would. But as Buffy reacts to each thing, (kidnapping her to "prove his love," wanting credit for not sampling victims, the 'bot,), he learns from her reaction what is NOT ok in the world of the soulful, and if you notice, ceases to participate in each of them in order. And he tells her, "a man can change," which indicates to me that he truly wants to change, and that any evidence of a different Spike is quite intentional, not purely coincidental.
He never loved Buffy and what I would categorize Spike in regards to his feelings for Buffy was a unhealthy lust obsession.
Or was he perhaps a
vampire in love with a human? I imagine a vampire's love would look a whole lot more like obsession. Actually I'm sure it would...the show portrays it to be so.
🙂
Then every time Buffy tries to talk to him and have a conversation, he tries to get into her pants.
And I would say that the episodes "Smashed" and "Gone," prove that they are
equally guilty of that, throughout season 6.
🙂 In fact, isn't it in fact Spike who declares that he doesn't want physical intimacy with Buffy if the terms are only that he can have it at the expense of a conversation, or the knowledge of their mutual acquaintances?
He only protected Dawn's secret from Glory for Buffy.
Right--he risked his life because he couldn't bear the thought of what would happen to Buffy if Glory found out about Dawn. It was, indeed,
for Buffy. How is that not a "good" thing to do? PS, I"d argue that that's further proof of that love which you say doesn't exist.
He only protected Dawn after her death for Buffy.
And again, he protected Dawn after he thought there was no hope in the 'verse that he could ever "get into Buffy's pants." Yet somehow this is still an example of a selfish thing he did that was simply a means to an end? I'm lost, here. If you ask me, it's one of the most selfless things any of the characters did on the show.
Truly I don't mean to pick on anyone here but I just don't understand the notion that in order for a deed to be "good," it has to have been done for the greater good of the world, and not merely out of love for a person. How many other characters in the show--how many people in the world--regularly do good that is not motivated by otherwise selfish desires? People do things for loved ones because they want to keep them happy and safe, which is ultimately boiled to the selfish desire of keeping them around, and having them love them back. That's the reality of humanity. And so, when a soulless vampire does things for a woman he loves--whether it's so that she'll love him back--perhaps to "prove himself to her" or simply because he loves her and wants to honor her, (Bargaining through AfterLife), it is a very "human" thing to do, and I find that to be impressive and substantial.
Do I think Spike is a "good guy" in season 6, or the latter half of season 5? No! I think he's a soulless vampire who is making a conscious effort to do better things for the sake of pleasing the woman he--at first, lusts after,and then grows to love as a vampire loves. I think he's capable of doing good
things which doesn't automatically make him good; he's not yet making those choices because he's compelled to do the right thing but rather because he's driven by love. That doesn't mean the things themselves aren't good, nor does the selfish nature of his motivation detract from the praise he deserves for doing them, especially considering that he is a demon who is otherwise compelled to do evil, by nature.
