A few stray thoughts...

[elisi]

Watching VM last night ('Hot Dog'? The one with dogs anyway) I was reminded of one of the most fundamental laws of TV-shows: Anything bad you ever did (or secret you kept, lie you told, etc) will come back and bite you on the @$$ sooner or later, usually at the worst time possible!

And I've been idly wondering - do the names on VM have any significance? Logan = Logan's Run?, Kane = Citizen Kane? Planets: Mars, Netune. Anything? Or is my brain just overthinking again?


For the Buffy fans:
So, why doesn't anyone go 'Oooh' and 'Aaaah' over Spike's soul in S7? Why doesn't Giles sit him down for long indepth interviews before starting to write a thesis? Why do the Scoobies not fall over themselves to be Spike's new BFF? Pardon the sarcasm, but having given it some thought...

1. I'm not sure how much they knew. Until 'Never Leave Me' not even Buffy knew anything except "I got back my soul for you". And it's not clear that she told the Scoobies even that much. In 'Him' she says: 'He has a soul now!' - and since we didn't see the scene when she told them in the first place, they were quite likely in the dark as to how he came by the soul.

2. They never really liked Angel much. In 'What's My Line' Xander says Angel is his friend, only he doesn't like him. Later, when Buffy wants to try the soul curse, Xander points out that she just want to forget about Miss Calender's murder and get her boyfriend back. They don't warm to Angel in S3, either. So enter Souled!Spike in S7, they say 'OK so he's a good guy, we'll be nice to him." But underneath it all I think they're all wondering what'll happen - Buffy already slept with him *without* a soul, so it's very likely that Buffy might gravitate towards him again. ("Why does everyone think I'm still in love with Spike?", "Buffy - I want more for you...")

3. As for Giles, he mostly sees Spike as a threat. Because of the trigger, because of Spike's attatchment to Buffy, because of Buffy's feelings 'clouding her judgment'. The world nearly ended because of Angelus and Jenny was murdered because Buffy couldn't kill him. I think that any admiration Giles might have had for Spike's feat (presuming he knew about it) would be completely overshadowed by all the potential disasters he could envisage!

Comments

[deborahc.livejournal.com]

3. Again, why do fans think he'd care? I mean, Angel came back from Hell and he didn't care until Buffy asked, so why would he give a damn if Spike got a soul, whatever the means?

Because Spike got it by choice - conceived a desire for it and went through a hell of a lot of trouble to get it back. According to Giles' Watcher *expertise,* such a thing would not be possible - would be entirely unprecedented. He knows Angel's soul was force upon him and that without it he reverts to form. The idea of a souless vampire actually wanting his soul back should have been a stunning revelation to him - one that would have shaken his very foundations.

His total lack of interest is inexplicable to me, unless I wank it as him not knowing the circumstances and being too preoccupied with events and exasperated with Buffy's connection with Spike to care.

But really, I think that the reason why we never got to see any reactions other than Buffy's to the news that Spike had his soul back, was because ME just did not want to let the lid off that big ol' can of worms. They did not want to go there.

[mikeygs.livejournal.com]

Because Spike got it by choice - conceived a desire for it and went through a hell of a lot of trouble to get it back. According to Giles' Watcher *expertise,* such a thing would not be possible - would be entirely unprecedented. He knows Angel's soul was force upon him and that without it he reverts to form. The idea of a souless vampire actually wanting his soul back should have been a stunning revelation to him - one that would have shaken his very foundations.

I don't know, I think that's awfully wanky. His rather non-reaction first to Angel's curse itself, then to his sudden reappearance seems to imply that unless it pertained to impending doom, he didn't take much interest in such things. I can't recall an instance where he was just researching for the fun of it. I agree with aycheb below that it would've been out of character for him to take a special interest in Spike's soul unless the apocolypse was tied to it.

What his reaction to that should have been isn't for us to decide, IMO.

I thought we did get reactions--they just didn't care.

[elisi]

I think if the timing had been different, Giles' response might have been different too. But he arrived shortly after Spike had been kidnapped, and all they knew was that The First had managed to put a trigger in him, that bypassed the chip *and* the soul. Also Buffy was so focussed on getting him back, that I'm sure he saw it as very much the same situation as in 'What's My Line' ("No one messes with *my* boyfriend!"). Not that Buffy was dating Spike of course, but that's very much the vibe she was giving out.