Re: SPOILERS for 7x08 Sleeper

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Replying to a post I didn't get to before heading out of town for
Thanksgiving:

On the question of Spike's guilt for the 12 murders he is revealed to
have committed in "Sleeper" (the 10 missing people, plus the girl he
kills in the episode, plus Holden Webster [who made physical contact
with Buffy multiple times in "CwDP" and thus was most likely a real
vampire, and not the First Evil]), I find him to be quite guilty.  

As I said in my review, it's important to note what happens in the alley
when Spike kills the girl (Linda) in "Sleeper". Spike has his trigger
activated by the harmonica player, true, but *even after that* he still
doesn't bite Linda until the First appears as Buffy and persuades him.

He had enough willpower left to resist the First's commands, but
ultimately did not. Also note that the First/Buffy does *not* use the
trigger on him in the alley scene, merely telling him that "you know you
want to". Yup, Spike wants to kill, Spike kills, and that's all for
Linda.

But later, in the basement of 634 Hoffman Terrace, Spike **doesn't**
kill Buffy, even though the First is right there, having given him his
trigger and cheering him on. He's got the strength of will to resist
the First when it comes to Buffy, but he still killed Linda and Holden
and all the others, and he must be held accountable for his decision to
give into his passions. The cheerleading Evil aside, it was ultimately
Spike's decision to kill those twelve people.  

Contrast this with Angel in "Amends", who when confronted with the
**exact same villain** egging him on, doesn't kill anyone and tries to
kill himself because he thinks he can't be trusted and doesn't deserve
to live. (Yeah, sure, Spike told Buffy to kill him, but given that
she's passed up 9,235,436,122 chances to stake him over the past three
years, that's hardly noble. If he really wants to die, he knows where
to find the sun.)

Also please note that there's absolutely zero evidence that the First
was anywhere around when Spike killed the blonde in "Conversations with
Dead People". Yes, the First can be invisible to some people while
others see it, but the general in situations like this is that the
**audience** gets to see what's really going on.  
?In "Amends", we saw Not!Jenny when Angel did, even though first Giles
and then Buffy didn't see her.  

?In "Conversations with Dead People", we saw Not!Warren when Andrew
did even though Jonathan didn't. (Yes, there were some shots of
Jonathan's unseeing p.o.v., but those were included merely for contrast;
they weren't meant to carry the audience's understanding of the
narrative.)

?And in "Sleeper" the audience saw Not!Buffy even though Linda didn't
(cut dialogue makes it clear she's not seeing anyone but Spike there)
and we saw Not!Spike when Buffy didn't.

Claiming the First was present when Spike killed the blonde bimbo in
"CwDP", but was invisible to the audience, would be a cheap stunt
unworthy of this show. (Well, unworthy of the show this show used to
be, anyway...)

Anyway: Spike. Guilty as hell. Dust, please.

JMO,

Dan

PS--In reading the shooting script for 
"Sleeper", I noticed that when Spike is begging Buffy to kill him, he's
supposed to be cowering in the corner, broken and pathetic. Of course,
James Marsters, never missing an opportunity to make himself look good
at the expense of the show, went for the melodramatic "let me puff out
my chest for the blow" pose instead, and any sense I might of gotten of
Spike's torment and regret went right out the window. Someday "Spike,
Heroic Rapist" (or whatever this show is called) might actually hire a
director who makes JM perform his lines as the writer intended, but
clearly Allan J. Levi (a first-timer on the show) wasn't that man.