Re: FIC; Bitter Business (4/4)

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Hmm, nicely written, but, as you may have guessed, I've gotta diverge on
a few things:

First, the only way Spike's 6'2" is if he's wearing 4-inch heels.
Official heights given in actor bios on the 'Net:

J. August Richards: 6' 4"
Marc Blucas: 6'2"/6'3"
David Boreanaz: 6'1"/6'2"
Nick Brendon: 6'0"
James Marsters: 5'10"/5'11"

And most of the " 5'11" " claims are from sites that also list his
birthdate as 1969, rather than the 1962 JM apparently tried to conceal.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if JM was even shorter than that and
"cheated up" a little.

(Conversely, I think MB may have underreported his height in press
materials, so as not to be locked into a "tall guy" stereotype.  Riley
sure looks more than an inch taller than Angel in "The Yoko Factor".
And in "Buffy vs. Dracula" the Spike/Riley height difference is so
apparent that if the scene suddenly turned into a slashfic, it doesn't
look like Spike would even have to bend much to "service" the
serviceman.)

Oh, okay, character stuff&

" I like very much your concept of the demon feeding on fear and thus
possibly starving to death and leaving Spike "hollow".  I could see a
non-killing Spike being pitied by Buffy, perhaps even accepted, although
I think most likely ignored and "let be".   

(If something like this had happened in S4 then the non-staking of Spike
wouldn't have seemed like a pathetic contrivance to keep Marsters on the
show.  As it was, relying on the chip was assinine, given that the
Scoobs had no guarantee, nor even an idea. how long it could
lastwhich turned out to be just three years.  During which, he caused
it to fire less than a dozen timesif Spike had been more intelligent,
more persistent, he probably could have burnt it out in a week.

(S5, where Spike can kill people even if the chip if he wants ["Fool For
Love"], where Buffy lets him roam free to live/screw/conspire with
murdering vampires like Harmony [Spike doesn't blink an eye when she
talks about killing the shop clerk in "Family", he's practically proud]
and Drusilla [Spike feeds on her kills in "Crush"] and he is thus
equally guilty of the murders they commit [they're vampires, he could
stop thembut he doesn't], can only be taken with enormous doses of
disbelief/alcohol, IMO.  Or, possibly, a lobotomy, given that Buffy
and/or Joss seems to have had one.)

" "Kindred spirit" seems to be pushing it, though.  Should Buffy
really be empathetic to someone just because they can't brutally destroy
people's lives any more?  Does the sight of Charles Manson in jail make
you want to go "oh, poor baby"?  (Charlie is, allegedly, a pretty good
musician, btw.)  

" Spike's respect for Nikki and return of her coat is contrary to all
depictions of him in S7, obviously.  He killed her, stole her stuff, and
never gave it another thoughtnot even with his apparently-defective
"soul".

" And here's where we seriously diverge, because what I absolutely
can't countenance is claiming that Spike resisted Glory's torture for
Dawn.  That's Spuffer-puffery, Spike-pimping of the worst kind, IMO.

Spike has two reasons not to tell Glory anything.  First is the obvious
one:  once he talks, he's dead.  It's the same reason he "can't
remember" about the Initiative when Buffy and Giles quiz him in
"Something Blue".  Talk and you're dead.  (The subsequent brain-removal
of the gang and Spike's being let free notwithstanding.)

Beyond that, there's the reasoning that **Spike himself** gives.  (To
"Buffybot", so he's not lying.)

"Because Buffy&the other, not-so-pleasant Buffy&anything happened to
Dawn, it'd destroy her.  I couldn't live, her being in that much pain."

He's not doing it for Dawn, he's doing it for Buffy.  Whether out of the
"noble" motives he ascribes to himself, or simply to impress her and get
in her pants.

His "heroism" in "The Gift" isn't heroic, either.  When Doc asks him why
he's helping the slayer, how does Spike describe his motives?

Heroically?  "I won't let you hurt an innocent girl"?  No, that's what
Ben (the "evil" character) said.

Loyally?  "I like Dawn, and I won't let you hurt her"?  Nuh-uh, not at
all.

It's "I made a promise to a lady."  He's doing what (he thinks) Buffy
wants him to do, either out of "love" or lust.  There's no objective
moral choice, no decent impulse there.  If Buffy had taken him up on his
"joking" offer to kill Dawn in "Flooded", he'd have snapped her neck
without blinking.

Once Buffy returned from the dead, Spike went THIRTEEN episodes without
saying a single word to Dawn, "jokingly" offered to kill her, wished
sincerely for her flaming death, complained about constantly having to
rescue her, twice ("Gone", "As You Were") went deliberately out of his
way to **not** see her, and said he'd bite her if he could ("Entropy").
All Spike cares about is Buffy (and I'd dispute how much he "cares"it
seems more like an obsession to prove he's not "limp" because of the
chip to me).  I don't see any evidence he gives a crap about Dawn at
all.   Heck, even **Dawn** knows he only hangs around her to get to
Buffy ("Crush"). 

I know that Spuffers try to twist everything Spike does into something
better than it is. I've gotten sick at the times people actually claim
he's nice because of the "I want to save the world/'Happy Meals on Legs'
" speech in "Becoming, Part 2" and conveniently ignore that IT'S A LIE
and Buffy **knows it's a lie** and **doesn't** team up with him until
Spike gives the real reason (he wants Dru back) and later on Spike
PROVES HE WAS LYING when he abandons Buffy and is willing to let the
world go to hell because he has Dru and that's all he cares about.
(Indeed, I usually fast-forward Spike's speech now, because I can't
enjoy it, not even the little laugh he gives because even Spike knows
how ridiculous he sounds.)  To my mind, "Spike, noble protector of his
good friend the Little Bit" is more of the same.  Ugh.

" The dusting scene was nice, though.

" But completely undone by the epilogue.  Ooh, Spike's fighting for
good now, is he?  No, Tara's fighting for goodSpike's selfishly
pursuing a reward.  If someone gives him a soul for tearing out Willow's
esophagus, he'll do that too.  Why Tara, who knew and explained in
"Crush" that selfish acts aren't moral at all, is now acting like he's a
Fellow Champion, I can't say.

And, OT, I really can't see Faith remembering the "warm champagne"
cocktease word-for-word like she does here.  It's nothing she hasn't
done with hundreds of other guys.  Get some, get gone.  Sure, I can see
Spike remembering the start of his Buffy-obsession and putting up the
quote in his psycho-stalker shrine, but Faith probably forgot the
incident before she got to Riley's.

(I refused to watch the "ooh, Faith wants Spike too!  'Cuz all wimmen
want Spike!  He's sooooo kewwwwwwl!!" scene in "Dirty Girls", but I
understand that even there it was Spike, not Faith, who brought it up
and did the quoting.)

Dan

as vexed as I suspect you expected, Tex  (except that you're from
Spokane, but I'm just a slave to the rhythm&)

PSDid ME make any attempt to explain *why* Faith is shoving her tits
in Spike's face in "Dirty Girls"?  Considering that in **the very scene
they're remembering here** she treated him like a joke and ignored him
as soon as possible, where's all this interest supposed to becoming
from?  Aside from Joss's daily jerk-off sessions over JM, I mean?
[/bitter slander]



"It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
"I kinda love you."
Buffy & Willow, 'Choices'

Community email addresses:
       Post message: buffyloveswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
       Subscribe:    buffyloveswillow-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
       Unsubscribe:  buffyloveswillow-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
       List owner:   buffyloveswillow-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shortcut URL to this page:
       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buffyloveswillow

Offical archive for the list:
       http://www.ikoly.com/fanfic 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buffyloveswillow/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    buffyloveswillow-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/