Kelsey, your whole post was fantastic, but in interest of time (I have 'Moonlight' playing in the background, so I'm slightly distracted) I choose to comment on your section regarding Spike only:
Spike's good actions this season were consistently dismissed as meaningless by both the other characters and the writers because they were 'selfishly motivated,' i.e. spurred by love for Buffy rather than by a commitment to good for good's sake. While there are legitimate points to this view--the most obvious being that if Spike only does good for love of Buffy, what happens if he stops loving Buffy?--whether Spike refrains from eating someone out of love or principle, I doubt the potential Happy Meal gives a damn. And in many cases one has to split the ethical hairs pretty fine to make all of Spike's actions out to be selfish, particularly his actions over the summer when Buffy was dead, so far as he knew, for good.
Firstly, it's nice to see someone on here who delves as much into Spike's character as I do. He is a fascinating one, isn't he?
My respect and admiration for Spike has never been diminished based on the fact that he is and has
always been motivated by love. In fact, that very trait is one of the things I love most about him. Great things have been inspired by love. Some fans think he didn't have the capacity to love Buffy pre-soul, and that might very well be the case, but despite that, it was his feelings for her that inspired him to improve, to become a better man, and to put others (like Dawn) before himself. Loving her
changed his very wiring.
Buffy has this amazing quality of affecting the men around her. She changes them and inspires them to be better people. In the case of Angel, it was her that brought him out of the gutter and into the light. Figuratively and literally. Without her, he wouldn't be a Champion, or a hero of the people; he'd still be sucking on rats blood and feeling sorry for himself. With Spike, she has a hand in releasing the Monster from the Man. Because of her, we now have two vampires with souls. Because of her, the world was saved, and Spike redeemed.
But this question raises a far more serious one, not about Spike, but about the rest of the Scooby gang. The Scoobs insist Spike is a monster, and fundamentally untrustworthy. Yet they are willing to exploit his love for Buffy and Dawn, and no less his unadmitted but deep-seated desire for companionship in general, in order to use him for muscle and (in Buffy's case) for sex. They then cut him off when they no longer needed him. It never seems to occur to them that this is less than admirable behavior on their part, and furthermore, is calculated to produce ever-worse behavior on Spike's part.
Great points. For them, or at least for Giles and Xander (Willow seemed to be indifferent or even affectionate to Spike at most points) Spike never ascended from the position he held in Season 1 upon his introduction; as a villain. For them, Spike was always a threat and a bother. Giles was clear in his disregard for how Buffy felt about Spike when he tried to get him killed. Xander has made it clear that he has no respect for Spike. Unfortunately, when it comes to these two, Spike can never win. He'll never be more to them then a monster.
Regardless, Spike doesn't need their acceptance, IMO. He's earned his redemption and hero status.
The highest measure of a hero is not in how she treats her friends, but in how she treats her fallen enemies. Buffy has an extremely poor track record in this regard. The greatest of heroes are those who have the vision to try and make a fallen enemy into an ally. Failing that, granting them a quick clean death, or keeping an eye on them and refraining from poking them with a stick is good. In Spike's case, the Scoobs have been all with the stick-poking, and they are just damned lucky that even as a monster, Spike's proven to be a better man than they are...
I'm not sure this is all a hero entitles. Buffy is a hero, no doubt. Spike is a fighter. I call him my little Vampire Chameleon. He can adapt to any situation. He can handle insult, hurt, pain, torture...and he still comes back swingin'. I think, deep down, Spike knows he's special. That's how he won the fight with Angel in "Destiny." Spike has made his mistakes, he's jumped the gun, gotten "bored" and executed the plan early. He's acted with his heart and not his head, and forgotten the "rules" at times. Yet, he's always been able to see the big picture. What's at stake. Perhaps Spike's insistence on acceptance from the gang never was that important to him. In the long run, what does it even matter, anyway?
This season Spike was subjected to emotional stress that would have caused many an ordinary human to snap and take an Uzi to the nearest McDonalds. He was used by the Scoobs, and used, abused, and discarded by Buffy. Spike's supposed to be torn by his inability to be either a monster or a man, but given the way things have played out this season, the writers failed to convince me that Spike can't be a man without a soul--only that he wasn't allowed to be. Instead of "It's impossible to be good without a soul," the lesson comes off more like "If you're trying to be good without a soul, and no one around you helps you and the woman you're madly in love with insists you're an evil worthless thing, then you will probably break like a twig."
The quality that made Spike special, as I think you pointed out somewhere in another thread, was his ability to be good without a soul. That's what made him special, an anomaly, an exception.
Self-improvement is a difficult path. Everyone needs support, I agree. Buffy told Spike time and time again that she "couldn't" love him because he wasn't a "man" he was a "monster." Yet, she wanted him still. For Buffy, a soul = humanity, and in her opinion, something worth loving.
Buffy was
wrong. She refused to see the humanity that was inherent in Spike, left over from when he was sired. The humanity that Angelus taught him to repress and reject in favor of a morally void life that was free of all rules and responsibility. A vampire's life.
Buffy refused to admit she loved Spike because if she did, she would be admitting the humanity that existed in him. With that admittance, she'd have to allow herself to believe he could be good without a soul. She wasn't ready to do that.
Also, regarding the whole Willow Addiction storyline; I've always felt the analogy was heavy-handed. This isn't necessarily a terrible thing, it's definitely forgivable. I know Joss had intended for Willow to go Bad from the start.
Season 6 is my favorite season. I know I'm in the minority. Somewhere on here there's a whole essay on why this is, but to be honest, I'm too tired right now to elaborate.
Great post, Kelsey.
