Why was Spike prepared to kill Wood?

dexeded

Scooby
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Jul 24, 2011
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Black Thorn
In Lies My Parents Told Me, Spike only spares Wood because he killed Nikki. I understand Buffy's argument about not having time for vendettas, but clearly that isn't Spike's purpose. Shouldn't he have more compunctions with a soul? I always found that decision disconcerting.
 
Oh I didn't understand this too. In my eyes Spike know that Wood is a very usefull warrior for the right thing. And he was very loyal to Buffy. He wouldn't kill a man in his own row. Instead he tried to open Woods eyes. With violence, fear, relief and past he tried to convince Wood that he fights with him, not against him. On the other side he had to make clear that if Wood doesn't want to see, doesn't want to understand, he(Spike) will kill him. That's why he said that he will kill him but in the end didn't do it. Ohh and I guess his soul has something to do with it too! May his soul stopped him. Just as a silent voice in the background..."Don't do it, he's a good man...."
 
Spike was prepared to kill Wood out of anger, blood lust, and as a simple act of self preservation. The simple fact hat he didn't actually do it had, I believe, far more to do with Buffy than with Wood or what happened to his mother. He wanted to show her that the faith she had in him wasn't misplaced, and that the mistrust that Giles, Wood, and the others felt for him WAS. A monster, even a tame one, would have acted on its primal instincts and killed Wood in self defense with not a second thought or a single regret. A good man wouldn't. Spike was no longer the monster.
 
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Mr Giles
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Gum Gnome33
Gum Gnome33
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EvilWillow
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Cheese Slices
Cheese Slices
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Spike was prepared to kill Wood out of anger, blood lust, and as a simple act of self preservation. The simple fact hat he didn't actually do it had, I believe, far more to do with Buffy than with Wood or what happened to his mother. He wanted to show her that the faith she had in him wasn't misplaced, and that the mistrust that Giles, Wood, and the others felt for him WAS. A monster, even a tame one, would have acted on its primal instincts and killed Wood in self defense with not a second thought or a single regret. A good man wouldn't. Spike was no longer the monster.

I don't think I phrased my original post right... What I meant was that I didn't understand why he would want to kill Wood, not that I didn't understand why he spared him. He was definitely far from a monster with his soul, but a whole truckload of guilt comes with the soul, and surely guilt for killing Wood's mother as well. Unless that scene was to show that Spike absolves himself of his past crimes, based on the fact that he was a soulless killer and she was the Slayer back then, which gives him the right to kill Wood for trying to avenge his mother.
 
Wood definitely had it coming. To paraphrase another Jossverse character, "someone tries to kill you, you try and kill them right back"... especially when they lead you into a fraking planned-out ambush. It was pretty noble of Spike to just give Wood a severe beating instead of snapping his neck then and there.

Besides, it gave Buffy the chance to shine with that moment of pure awesome that was "what's more, I'll let him". Go, girl! :cheering:
 
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david4wt
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