Soul Purpose

[rusty_halo]

Yes, Mr. Fury, I get it. I give in now. Spike is a nasty sexist pig who objectifies women, and I'm just a delusional hormone-driven fool for ever liking him in the first place. I'll go burn my Spike memorabilia in effigy now. Thank you so much for enlightening me.

*sigh*

*misses Jane Espenson*

*is completely over this show and this character*

Well, except the Spike/Lindsey hoyay was nice.

Back before Spike was with Buffy, the writers didn't feel the need to insert some little "Look! Spike objectifies women! Spike's a bad boy! Spike's a creep!" thing into every single episode. Now? His relationship with Buffy is *over*, but it's like Fury's still trying to hammer it into every single Spike fan's head that they were *wrong*, that Spuffy was *wrong*, that Spike is *wrong*.

Whatever. My Spike died in "Grave," and Fury's retcons are not going to ruin my love for that character. This Spike? Isn't the same guy--he's been completely ruined by poor writing, inconsistent characterization, conflicting writers' agendas, poor acting ... the list goes on. I really couldn't care less about him at this point.

This episode had some nice hints that they might explore the complexity of reality, the grey areas of life, the idea that everything doesn't always come down to black and white in the end. Except I saw BtVS season six, so I already know they'll botch it. I'm not going to waste my time and effort investing in a story that I've already seen ME ruin once.

Comments

[rahirah]

I agree they're trying to distinuguish the two characters, but so far I've seen it as being a duality of surface and substance.

Spike is rude, crude, and occasionally lewd, but faced with a moral choice, Spike has unvaryingly done the right thing this season, from the big stuff like refusing to betray Angel or Fred to save his own skin, to the little stuff like being nice (or as nice as Spike gets) to Harmony once he actually gets it through his thick skull that he's hurt her--and he doesn't even like Harmony.

Angel is polite and cultured and respectful, but he's running an evil law firm and wracked by doubt and apathy. Angel has done many morally questionable things this season, killing humans, arranging for the eternal torture of an enemy, etc. And he has not, on the whole, done them in the pursuit of a greater good, as Wes and Gunn are doing' Angel does them because hurting an enemy makes him feel better for a moment.

Angel's dreams in 5.10 reveal, I think, that he knows darn well that whatever he may accuse Spike of, Spike is NOT just out for himself, and hasn't been for quite some time. Angel wants a destiny. Spike wants a purpose.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Angel wants a destiny. Spike wants a purpose.

I like your interpretation. Really.

But I am *never* on the same page as the ME writers, so it's a pretty sure bet that whatever I think represents something positive about Spike, ME thinks it's proof that he's inferior. So I'm hesitant to invest in any positive interpretation of his behavior, knowing that ME will use it later to prove how supposedly wrong Spike is.

[zyrya]

I so want to believe you, because not only is this a fabbo interpretation of season 5 so far, but it's a subtle, complex, meaningful arc that could develop between Spike and Angel over many seasons and draw a lot of the loose threads of the BtVS/AtS mythos together. (ie: WTF is a soul anyway?)

I just don't have any faith in ME. Yes, Spike has done a lot of good things (wrapped up in the mad, bad and dangerous to know Spike package), and Angel has done a lot of bad things (wrapped up in the noble Champion package), but ME trod the same path with Xander in BtVS ... Xander did a lot of really horrible things to a lot of people over 7 years, but he was still the hero, still the good guy, and the worst consequence he ever had to face was a bit of self-pity. In the final analysis it won't matter what Spike does because, unless something drastic happens, ME has to cast Spike as a villain in some form or another because he's there as a contrast to characters like Angel, Xander and Buffy ... and they are the heroes by default. This is the ultimate price we pay for having Spike as a secondary character.

It all has an eerie parallel to long-standing debates about Christian salvation ... the profession of faith vs. good deeds aspect. Some say salvation (redemption, belonging, acceptance, ticket to Buffyland) is gained entirely through accepting JC as personal saviour (having The Soul, regardless of what you do with it), while others think this isn't enough and salvation depends on what you do with The Soul (loyalty, suffering, sacrifice, working with the Scoobies all summer even when Buffyland is permanently shut down). ME seems firmly in the first camp, and I try not to get my hopes up that they will change.