Summary
In this episode, we discuss the Bronze revamp (no pun intended), Ben’s motives, and the return of Miss Edith!!!
Thanks for listening to our discussion of Season 5, Episode 14: Crush.
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Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast 
I hope you feel better soon Laine!
I appreciated your discussion in this episode of how Spike is being written here, because I do get the idea that the writers were never really clear or in total agreement regarding how Spike should be written at this point. And I think it comes down to the idea of a soul and its nature. In season 4 Spike was all ‘I’m evil! I hate you people!” Chip or no chip, Spike was evil because he didn’t have a soul. But something is changing now, and I think everyone writing Spike is a little unclear on WHAT is changing. Angel was given a soul, and even after Angelus came back, there was a clear demarcation between souled Angel & unsouled Angelus. But Spike doesn’t have a soul, just a chip, so how much can he change without a soul, and what does that look like? What are the limitations? ARE there limitations? Does a soul ultimately mean anything in the BtVS universe? Is vampire rehabilitation really a thing?
Based on the show overall, I would say their working definition is based off the idea that a soul enables a character to feel empathy and have an intuitive understanding or morality, and that’s what I think they’re trying to show with Spike. He’s thinking about his feelings for Buffy, not that Buffy is her own person independent of him who has her own thoughts, feelings, and autonomy. He steals her clothes and sneaks around her house with no thought to how that might make her feel. He doesn’t want to get caught because he doesn’t want to fall out of her good graces, not because he doesn’t want to make her feel violated. It’s not that he wants to make her feel violated either – he’s just not considering it.
I agree with Laine that Joyce and Willow’s reactions, while not technically overreactions (for all they know Spike could be capable of anything) do miss the mark. Spike does go for violence, but I couldn’t picture him doing something like seriously threatening Dawn of Joyce. He genuinely has deep feelings for Buffy and wants her to love him – he doesn’t want her afraid of him. And we also know that he had a (very) long-term loving relationship with Dru. Yes, he tried to put a love spell on her and wanted to force her to be back with him post-Lover’s Walk, but he didn’t. He didn’t force her to do anything. Spike doesn’t have a soul, but he’s also a far cry from someone like Warren (who does, in fact, have a soul).
I think a key thing with Spike through seasons 5 and 6 is that at the end of season 5 he tells Buffy she treats him like a man, and he steps up to that. But in season 6 she treats him differently, and he treats her differently as well. And that’s where I think the no-soul limitation is for Spike – he’s capable of being ‘better’ and showing more humanity, but it’s too centered on Buffy (it’s not entirely centered on Buffy because we know he genuinely cares for Dawn and Joyce, but he still makes his behavior too much of Buffy’s responsibility). Without a soul, his love for her supersedes any goodness in him, ultimately including his care for her wellbeing. It’s more complicated than that, obviously, and their relationship in season 6 is very dark, but I do think there’s some consistency there (though I very much agree that episode-to-episode it feels jarring).
Okay that was very long and I think I’m possibly more confused than when I started. Thanks for another great episode!
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