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Why the soulquest *couldn't* have been a ret-con.
Look! A fandom post! I've been meaning to write this down for ages, and suddenly remembered today. And then thought - why not? It is after all why I'm here.
Also, if I remember correctly, I have![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stormwreath to thank for this flawless proof.
So, let's look at some dates. 'Seeing Red' aired on 7th of May 2002 and tried to make us think Spike blamed the chip for everything:
SPIKE: It's the chip! Steel and wires and silicon. It won't let me be a monster. And I can't be a man. I'm nothing.
'Villains' aired on the 14th of May and it was this episode that more than any other tried to make people believe that Spike wanted the chip out:
SPIKE: Thinks she's better than me. Ever since I got this bleeding chip in my head, things ain't been right. Everything's gone to hell.
DEMON: And you want to return to your former self.
SPIKE: Yeah.
So, did they change the outcome at the last minute? Or is it just that the execution of their mislead was rather clumsy? Well, lets look at the script for 'Grave', dated 27th March 2002 - that is MORE THAN A MONTH before SR aired:
SPIKE (cont'd)
So, give me what I want. Make me
what I was... so Buffy can get what
she deserves.
VOICE
Very well.
A GNARLY DEMON HAND reaches out to Spike's bare chest
VOICE (cont'd)
Your soul is returned to you.
As the hand touches him, Spike throws his head back and SCREAMS in agony...
QED (Unless of course Joss can travel in time...)
Also, if I remember correctly, I have
stormwreath to thank for this flawless proof. So, let's look at some dates. 'Seeing Red' aired on 7th of May 2002 and tried to make us think Spike blamed the chip for everything:
SPIKE: It's the chip! Steel and wires and silicon. It won't let me be a monster. And I can't be a man. I'm nothing.
'Villains' aired on the 14th of May and it was this episode that more than any other tried to make people believe that Spike wanted the chip out:
SPIKE: Thinks she's better than me. Ever since I got this bleeding chip in my head, things ain't been right. Everything's gone to hell.
DEMON: And you want to return to your former self.
SPIKE: Yeah.
So, did they change the outcome at the last minute? Or is it just that the execution of their mislead was rather clumsy? Well, lets look at the script for 'Grave', dated 27th March 2002 - that is MORE THAN A MONTH before SR aired:
So, give me what I want. Make me
what I was... so Buffy can get what
she deserves.
VOICE
Very well.
A GNARLY DEMON HAND reaches out to Spike's bare chest
VOICE (cont'd)
Your soul is returned to you.
As the hand touches him, Spike throws his head back and SCREAMS in agony...
QED (Unless of course Joss can travel in time...)
no subject
So, proving that Joss always intended Spike to get his soul back doesn't prove that getting his soul back was what Spike had intended.
Or, am I missing something. I haven't read any of the Comments to your post and I'm probably missing something which makes my post moot. But whatthehell, I'll post it anyway.
no subject
But Spike says he went to get his soul in S7...Spike the character can't change his intentions, right? So unless Spike's supposed to be a big fat liar throughout S7, you have to assume that the soul is what he wanted all along. This is confusing, lol
no subject
But Spike says he went to get his soul in S7...
Sure he did. And therein lies the possible retcon.
Spike the character can't change his intentions, right? So unless Spike's supposed to be a big fat liar throughout S7, you have to assume that the soul is what he wanted all along.
Clearly, that's what we were meant to think (and I went along willingly). I believe that the purpose of Spike's repeated assertions in S7, not to mention throughout AtS S5 - was to make that point very clear, and to settle the issue once and for all (not that it ever did). Because the S6 mis-direct was so successful that thousands believed (and many never will be convinced otherwise) that Spike's carelessly imprecise language gave Lurky the scope to restore his soul when that wasn't what Spike had in mind at all (at least not consciously).
You're right, in that unless we decide Spike lied about it, there can be no question that he'd gone after his soul. But that doesn't mean that that Joss couldn't have retconned Spike's intentions after fan reaction to the re-souling, or to the way it was played out on the show. Since S6 ended without ever spelling out in so many words what his specific intentions had been, but showed Spike apparently taken by surprise, there's nothing to say that Joss intended to go another way but later changed his mind. Personally, I have no problem believing Joss and believing Spike about the soul being Spike's goal all along. But the way Joss left it at the end of S6, it could have gone either way.
no subject
Sure he did. And therein lies the possible retcon.
The thing is, they worked it all out backwards. JM had a filmrole coming up and said he'd not be around much towards the end of the season. So they thought - maybe we could send Spike off somewhere? Oh - maybe he could go get a soul? But why? What could motivate him to do that? And so the AR was born...
(Also if he'd wanted the chip out he could just have gone to W&H. He knew they were there and what they were capable of!)
no subject
I've actually written some meta about Spike's soulquest, the misdirect and his true motivations here, if you're interested?
no subject
See my responses to
no subject