Wow, what an essay! You really did a great job tying the themes of love in the episode in to season 6. And you brought up some good points that I had never really thought about before. Like:
So I think one of the main reasons she keeps it so very quiet in s6, is that if her friends find out, they will stop her from doing it again. In Intervention they are very understanding and gentle, but they want to help her STOP! And s6 Buffy for a long time doesn’t want to stop - at least not yet! Since Spike is her only outlet, she wants to keep him there - just in case.
That does make a lot of sense. Although I also think that maybe there was a part of her that was hoping that her friends would stop her. There are times when it seems that she wants to be caught, like the balcony sex at the Bronze, or when she's teasing Spike while he's talking to Xander in 'Gone', or even when she goes to sleep with him in AYW instead of looking for the eggs. Like you said, Buffy doesn't really want to stop because being with him is her only escape from all the problems in her life and she just doesn't have the strength to give that up. But at the same time, she knows that it's wrong to use him like that and I think a part of her was secretly hoping that someone would step in and make the decision for her.
And of course it’s both! (Clever show - who could have foreseen that at the end of s5?) It’s her gift to Dawn (and the world) and Spike’s gift to her (and the world)! I’m sorry if I’m being obvious, but for some reason I had never thought about ‘Chosen’ in the light of this before. It just made me happy.
I had this same thought several months ago, and it makes me happy too! I think it's a wonderful parallel and it makes me love both episodes even more than I already did.
Sorry I don't have too much in depth to say, but I'm too brain-dead for work. I'll have to save this to my memories, though, so I can read it again and again. :)
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So I think one of the main reasons she keeps it so very quiet in s6, is that if her friends find out, they will stop her from doing it again. In Intervention they are very understanding and gentle, but they want to help her STOP! And s6 Buffy for a long time doesn’t want to stop - at least not yet! Since Spike is her only outlet, she wants to keep him there - just in case.
That does make a lot of sense. Although I also think that maybe there was a part of her that was hoping that her friends would stop her. There are times when it seems that she wants to be caught, like the balcony sex at the Bronze, or when she's teasing Spike while he's talking to Xander in 'Gone', or even when she goes to sleep with him in AYW instead of looking for the eggs. Like you said, Buffy doesn't really want to stop because being with him is her only escape from all the problems in her life and she just doesn't have the strength to give that up. But at the same time, she knows that it's wrong to use him like that and I think a part of her was secretly hoping that someone would step in and make the decision for her.
And of course it’s both! (Clever show - who could have foreseen that at the end of s5?) It’s her gift to Dawn (and the world) and Spike’s gift to her (and the world)! I’m sorry if I’m being obvious, but for some reason I had never thought about ‘Chosen’ in the light of this before. It just made me happy.
I had this same thought several months ago, and it makes me happy too! I think it's a wonderful parallel and it makes me love both episodes even more than I already did.
Sorry I don't have too much in depth to say, but I'm too brain-dead for work. I'll have to save this to my memories, though, so I can read it again and again. :)