Buffy The Vampire Slayer - S07x17|♡Uncut Reaction &Review♡

I think in Spike's head there is also a difference between the slayers he killed and all his other victims. Yes all were innocent lives he took but the slayers were not your basic innocent run of the mill person, they were literally called to fight vampires to the death and have powers so in a way like he said it's the way the game is played. He probably sees the two slayers he killed as the least guilt inducing of his victims.

I’m Team Wood. However I am realistic. There is absolutely no way Wood would have been allowed to beat up the fandom’s favorite imaginary pale male boyfriend.

It's not that Spike does not feel guilt.. we have seen what getting the soul made him feel like .. we literally saw this guilt.. he just does not like to brood and dwell in it.. he did so many horrible things and there is nothing he can do about it now .. does he feel bad for what he did? Yes . Can he fix it? bring back the people he killed? Nop.. what can he do then? Fight on the good side and help the good people, so he does, and moves on ... he also acknowledged a fact there, Nikki was a slayer and he is a Vampire like what do people honestly expect?!! For them to be bffs? For him NOT to kill her if he got the chance just like she would have killed him if she got the chance??.. or was Nikki going to show him mercy and spare his life?!! .. people tend to neglect the nature of vampres and what their existence requires and what their instinct tells them to do .. they just expect a predator to spare the pray's life for no reason other than the fact that THEY see this as what should happen.. let me know when a hungry lion in the wild sees a deer pass by and just let it go on its merry way because it's "the right thing to do" .. LOL

I like how you mentioned Giles and him killing Ben, which was actually in the script (him telling Buffy he killed Ben when they are in the cemetery) but was cut for time constraints. I hate that it was as it definitely made Giles decision to go behind Buffy's back make more sense.

Spike with a soul really said to wood who had tears in this eyes "unlike yours, my mum really loved me". Soulles Spike killed Woods mother and Spike with a soul really says to wood "your mum didn't love u". Now that is truly evil and shows he hasn't redeemed himself, he went crazy for a short while, but he hasn't really struggled with what he had done, and he remembers it all! Truly evil.

Fred did meet willow, when willow appeared in the season 2 finale of angel to tell angel buffy died fred was their

I don't know how it eluded me, but on this watch I noticed how much Spike's mum looks and even sounds like Joyce. One of those obvious things that whooshed over my head.

I love this episode, but something has ALWAYS bothered me about it: What the F reason did Robin have to think he could beat Spike? Especially when he triggered Spike with the song??? Why didn't he just take on Buffy too? He was going to lose no matter what. So now he lost AND got psyched :)

I think one of the most understated things about Spike which is clear in an episode like this is that his hard cool guy exterior and swagger is a smokescreen for him still being William. James Marsters once said something to the effect of once William as a vampire figured out that he was indestructible that he created the Spike persona for himself, which I think allowed him to be all the things he wanted to be as well as the things that he was told he could never be, and also gave him some protection from how highly emotional and sensitive he is both as a human and vampire. A lot of what his mother as a vampire said to him in this episode likely influenced him in the total reboot of who he is. Nicknames and reputations are usually given *to* people, but one thing that's interesting about him is that he told people to start calling him Spike and likely went out of his way to be seen as this rather than as that. He's basically a sentimental dork who's been cosplaying a cool guy for centuries and has had enough experience doing it for it to be highly believable. Also he has superpowers and was "evil" for most of his existence, so not many people are going to challenge him on it. I also think that that's at least part of why Spike seems more Spike with or without a soul than Angel/Angelus, because "Spike" is sort of a made up character anyway. It's subtle but you also sort of see this in "Storyteller" when he goes off on Andrew but then is cooperative and starts all over again when told he wasn't standing in the right place. The only character on this show now who really knows *him* outside of how he carries himself is Buffy

I think the Angel episode should be watched before this one even if not in chronological order. It's no different from when episodes start out with a result and then we see how it lead there.

This is why there can never be a Buffy remake or revival. The original writing and directing team, and Sarah Michelle Gellar's talent can never be replicated. Look at some of the absolutely cutting lines Buffy said in this episode: telling Wood she'll let him be murdered or telling Giles she doesn't need him anymore and closing the door in his face. But she delivers them with such empathy and measured wisdom that they don't even come across harsh, just a part of Buffy's assessment after some mature reflection.

Spike's my favorite character, too. Watching "School Hard" is what drew me into the Buffyverse. He's come so far since then and this episode shows it. Plus we get more flashbacks, more insight into his past, a cameo with Drusilla. Fantastic episode indeed.

Yep, great episode. The fact that this late on in the show, it is still churning out complex character-centric eps that draw upon all we know about our heroes from 7 seasons' growth, and organically leading to tense conflict where no one is entirely right or wrong, is what makes it so beloved. On first watch, I was actually wondering - as we are so close to the end - if they would kill Spike in this episode. But the treble thread of 'lies my parents told me' or apparent parental betrayals - Spike's mother to Spike, Giles to Buffy, and Nikki to Robin - is great writing. The momentum built towards the end of the episode, intercutting between Wood and Spike's fight, Spike's final altercation with his mother, and Buffy/Giles in the graveyard, also showcases some great editing. Many throwbacks to Fool for Love in this one, especially that in both episodes the key phrase comes back at the end - not 'you're beneath me' any more, but 'the mission is what matters'. That's what this season has been about: Buffy's final growth into adult responsibility and her full embrace of her mission, learning to wield power (or choose to turn it down, as in Get It Done) - to be an effective, compassionate, pragmatic, even ruthless leader at times, who has to make the tough decisions. With her hardest battle before her, will she make the right calls and lead effectively? Or maybe even if she can do all that, as the first slayer says in Get It Done, 'it's not enough'.