What a lovely essay! I wish half of my thoughts were as coherent.
One point especially struck me - the bit about Buffy finally seeing Spike as 'real' in As You Were, and the subsequent niceties in Hell's Bells.
The niceness is also there at the beginning of Normal Again. Even though they aren't really getting along, they do have a (relatively) civil conversation. That is, of course, until the others turn up, and Buffy says:
Hey, guys. I, uh ... I found Spike and was, uh, trying to figure out what kind of dangerous contraband he had.
And it's that line, I think, that sent everything spiralling downwards. Although Buffy is viewing him as 'real', she's forgotten everything that, as you said, she learnt at the end of Season 5.
I hope you don't mind if I memorise this (ie. add it to my memories ;) )
no subject
What a lovely essay! I wish half of my thoughts were as coherent.
One point especially struck me - the bit about Buffy finally seeing Spike as 'real' in As You Were, and the subsequent niceties in Hell's Bells.
The niceness is also there at the beginning of Normal Again. Even though they aren't really getting along, they do have a (relatively) civil conversation. That is, of course, until the others turn up, and Buffy says:
Hey, guys. I, uh ... I found Spike and was, uh, trying to figure out what kind of dangerous contraband he had.
And it's that line, I think, that sent everything spiralling downwards. Although Buffy is viewing him as 'real', she's forgotten everything that, as you said, she learnt at the end of Season 5.
I hope you don't mind if I memorise this (ie. add it to my memories ;) )