next_to_normal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
next_to_normal) wrote2009-07-24 01:58 pm
next_to_normal) wrote2009-07-24 01:58 pm
Entry tags:
S7 Spuffy pondering
Yesterday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snickfic made a post on the things she doesn't like about Spike in S7. I'll just copy the relevant point here:
The non-discussion of the AR. It is the huge purple elephant in the room in S7, rarely referred to but entirely overshadowing Spike and Buffy's relationship. I wish they'd actually talked it out sometime, even if we didn't see much of the discussion on screen. Just a hint that this was something that they were working through and moving on from would have been helpful.
In the comments,angearia asked a very good question, which is: "What discussion of the AR would be satisfying? What needs to be said to make it work?"
And so I'm curious. I've seen plenty of people express displeasure with the way the AR (or even the entire S6 Spuffy relationship in general) was brushed aside in S7, but I don't know that I've ever seen anyone answer Emmie's question of what would make it better. (This may or may not be relevant to a fic idea I'm working on, but I ask more out of curiosity than anything else, as one who doesn't have a problem with what we were given.)
It seems like a difficult question to answer, since there's no real life equivalent to going and getting a soul, but are there expectations that Spike - or Buffy, for that matter - need to meet to make it "okay" for them to pursue a relationship again? Are verbal apologies and forgiveness necessary, or do actions speak louder than words? What is it that people find lacking about the way it was addressed on the show?
snickfic made a post on the things she doesn't like about Spike in S7. I'll just copy the relevant point here:The non-discussion of the AR. It is the huge purple elephant in the room in S7, rarely referred to but entirely overshadowing Spike and Buffy's relationship. I wish they'd actually talked it out sometime, even if we didn't see much of the discussion on screen. Just a hint that this was something that they were working through and moving on from would have been helpful.
In the comments,
angearia asked a very good question, which is: "What discussion of the AR would be satisfying? What needs to be said to make it work?"And so I'm curious. I've seen plenty of people express displeasure with the way the AR (or even the entire S6 Spuffy relationship in general) was brushed aside in S7, but I don't know that I've ever seen anyone answer Emmie's question of what would make it better. (This may or may not be relevant to a fic idea I'm working on, but I ask more out of curiosity than anything else, as one who doesn't have a problem with what we were given.)
It seems like a difficult question to answer, since there's no real life equivalent to going and getting a soul, but are there expectations that Spike - or Buffy, for that matter - need to meet to make it "okay" for them to pursue a relationship again? Are verbal apologies and forgiveness necessary, or do actions speak louder than words? What is it that people find lacking about the way it was addressed on the show?
no subject
Ah. I've never really visited that forum, being only a part time Spuffy 'shipper.
'Character assassination' is probably not quite the right description of what I felt was done to Spike. I knew quite well before this happened that the character was capable of quite appalling things. We all knew it, as we knew it about Angel - in theory. But seeing it on screen is something different, and ME weren't careful with Spike the way they were with Angel. In season 2, they were careful to show Angel killing Jenny in vamp face, and yes, the murder is a horrible thing, but ultimately it's quick and clinical and it's not one of the characters close to the audience. With Spike, they weren't that careful. I felt like they thought him expendable in a way that they didn't consider Angel, because to show the AR on screen in this graphic way was just so damaging.
Ah well. As you say, it's hard to see what else would have galvanised Spike into doing what he did. I just wish they hadn't messed up showing his motivation for his actions.