I see Spike's behaviour to the woman in the alley as a combination of fighting against whatever Angel/Lindsey/TPTB/Wolfram & Hart/Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all are pushing on Spike ... or whatever he thinks they're pushing on him ... and the textual need to distinguish between Angel and Spike in a way that makes sense for both characters.
Having two souled, save-the-world type vampires on AtS and having to give them both meaningful characters arcs really pushes the writers up against the wall. Even if they're inclined to treat Spike sympathetically - and I'm not convinced they are, but what the hell ... benefit of the doubt and all - there are only so many places they can go. And one of the most obvious paths is to have one souled vampire desire the Champion status (*puke* I know, but they started it), and the other one to hate it and rebel against it.
Unfortunately, the place I think they're going to end up does not look good for Spike. I'm worried they're headed to good old Fundamental Duality Land where Angel is Good but occasionally has impulses to be Bad, whereas Spike is occasionally, accidentally Good despite being essentially Bad at heart. Or soul. Or whatever other bit ME decides is the home of the metaphysical this week. Although I'm quite sure I know which body parts Fury associates most with Spike ... the arse and the dick.
So I'm pretty much in the same boat with you, Laura ... excited about the possibility of exploring intriguing grey areas, but fairly certain that ME will drop the ball again.
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Having two souled, save-the-world type vampires on AtS and having to give them both meaningful characters arcs really pushes the writers up against the wall. Even if they're inclined to treat Spike sympathetically - and I'm not convinced they are, but what the hell ... benefit of the doubt and all - there are only so many places they can go. And one of the most obvious paths is to have one souled vampire desire the Champion status (*puke* I know, but they started it), and the other one to hate it and rebel against it.
Unfortunately, the place I think they're going to end up does not look good for Spike. I'm worried they're headed to good old Fundamental Duality Land where Angel is Good but occasionally has impulses to be Bad, whereas Spike is occasionally, accidentally Good despite being essentially Bad at heart. Or soul. Or whatever other bit ME decides is the home of the metaphysical this week. Although I'm quite sure I know which body parts Fury associates most with Spike ... the arse and the dick.
So I'm pretty much in the same boat with you, Laura ... excited about the possibility of exploring intriguing grey areas, but fairly certain that ME will drop the ball again.