There is a double standard in S7 about how Spike and Buffy are treated about their different behaviours and nobody seems to be able to give me an explanation as to why- so fine, in that instance Spike is given a get out clause, nobody brings up what he did to Buffy after that one episode. She is made to feel bad and his behaviour is forgotton- that's vile in and of itself seeing as we're talking about attempted rape but lets move on.
Spike goes from 'crazy, hurting himself' in a basement guy to 'swaggering former big bad' in a matter of
months, which tells me he has an incredibly shallow understanding of all the evils he remembers commiting.
He also has a hazy understanding of what being reformed actually means- since that he straight facedly tells Faith in their first meeting that he 'reformed' way before she did. Refering to all his actions since mid-season S4 soulled Spike obviously doesn't care about all the evil things that 'he' did, even thouse from just one year ealier- such as trying to murder somebody when he thought his chip was no longer working, or the demon egg trafficking, or the rape attempt- all part of his reformation, according to soulled Spike.
By those standards he holds himself to then yes, I'd say that he's worse than Angel- he's not a 'work in progress, he's simply, to put it politely, a piece of work.
He's skipped a hundred years of self-analysis in a matter of months. Not really a deep thinker indeed.
And yet, even though he has the memories of murdering for well over a hundred years, and he has the memories of loving Buffy for two years, what informs his character more? What mattes to Spike most of all?
All that blood on his hands? Not likely, he's not like that dull-ass Angel, brooding and feeling the weight of his victims- what a poof!
Spike is a
romantic. it's all about Buffy. He fought for his soul so that means he doesn't HAVE to care at all for what he has done.
(Except to Buffy herself of course, in the comics he seems genuinely upset about the way he did treat her during their realtionship. Everybody else? Not so much- this man's morality is so deeply cofused its almost pitiful)
This is why Spuffy does a disservice to Spike's character. Always has and always will, it greatly acclerates his characters 'coping process' so that 1) We don't have to trastically change Spike's 'cool' character in any meaningful way.
2) we can all get to the 'important' Spike/Buffy shipping.
So the way I see it the Spike/Angel comparison does come back to Buffy an awful lot, because away from Buffy Angel becomes more interesting and because of Spuffy Spike is (inadvenrtantly) portrayed as horribly unpleasent, petty, shallow, uncaring, sociopathic jerk.
For the record I used to like Spike, I liked seeing his development, his snarking and brawling, his journey, I wondered what he would become. Unfortunately I did not ike what he turned into- at the end of the day that the difference in the comparison between Angel and Spike.
I look at Angel and see a man who struggles daily with his demon, who falls but always gets up. I see a man perhaps doomed by his own flaws. (Yes, Angel has plenty of flaws)
I look at Spike and really just see a mass of flaws trying to find a character, a purpose. That purpose still seems to be hanging around Buffy without any clue as to a purpose beyond her.
This is the double standard that drives me insane. Once again, Angel bases his whole life in Sunnydale on Buffy, and that is love. Spike gets his soul and dies because of Buffy, and that is Spike being selfish again. Huh?
You know what drives me insane? Being accused of saying things I have never actually said.
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I have never, ever said that Spike sacrificing himself for ALL OF SUNNYDALE (it intensely demeaning to say he just did it for Buffy- part of his growth is that he's giving his life, using his soul to save the world.) was selfish. That's a stupid thing to say, untrue and in this case inaccurate because I've never said it.
I may have said that, in a pinch, somebody else COULD have taken Spike's place with the amulet, but the sacrifice itself still would have been a noble, important one.
Btw- It amazes me how people who claim to be Spike fans boil it down to 'he did it for his girl'. Rubbish. He got his soul for her but he sacrificed himself for something more- otherwise he would've gone running back to Buffy as soon as he was recorporealised. He didn't, he had grown beyond the 'I'll be everything for the girl' fantasy that led him to put on the coat of somebody he'd murdered (he still wore it though, and complained bitterly when it was destroyed. But he got a replacement so, presumably, he could still attempt to relive those fond New York memories).
Just FYI - karma is not about punishment - it's about learning. Life presents challenges. When you master them you get a whole new challenge. When you don't master them - you get the same challenge in a new and harsher form.
I have no idea why this is directed at me, since my point in general was about the shows using the dramatic story-telling tool of people being seen to pay for their bad decisions. Sometimes it isn't used and that bothers me- especially when there are direct coralations with how different characters are treated.
I look at Faith, Wesley, Angel, hell even Buffy. And then I look at Anya, Willow, Andrew and Spike and sadly I don't see any parity there.
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