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Beneath You

Buffy tracks a subterranean monster following her first day as a guidance counsellor at Sunnydale High School, and Willow says goodbye to Giles and departs from England.

Link to the reaction:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7lb7749tc3z1myn/Buffy%207x02.mp4?dl=0

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Comments

KiwiJello

The acting in the last scene. OMG. I am sobbing and I have seen this 20 times at least. SMG is so subtle, and JM, OMG!!! You know what he did, all the horrible things, and you can feel it weighing on his soul. The spark. And he took that all on to be loved. Tragic.

Rio de Tanana

It really didn’t take y’all to go “attempted rape? What attempted rape? Spike is too dreamy for that!” SMH

Anonymous

This Spike storyline is easily the worst storyline in the entire Buffyverse. I cannot stand how the writer's used what Spike did to Buffy at the end of Season 6 as essentially a landmark in a/catalyst for a Spike redemption arc. The whole incident is framed through the prism of Spike's self-loathing and how he's such a martyr blah blah blah, but comparatively almost zero time is spent on the trauma inflicted on the *actual* victim of his repellent actions. The writer's shift right past it and instead focus on what it means for poor, wittle Spike, and I'm like...who freaking cares! Why is *he* the story here after what he did to her!!! I genuinely resent that the writer's want me to feel sorry for *him* of all people. That's what grosses me out the most about the storyline: that disturbing scene in Seeing Red turned out to be basically a give them a narrative excuse to give Spike his soul. The writer's didn't really care for what that scene meant for Buffy, because Buffy's suffering was actually just a narrative means to an end.

Tjbosslyfe

Angel did terrible thing and people for gave him . Same concept . The writers should have never wrote that scene season 6 . Just to make people hate spike . Now they have to fix it. With the great scene in this episode. Great acting .

Enas Bassiony

This is going to be a bit long, but bare with me here as I try to explain where other people who forgave Spike and still shipped him with Buffy (like myself) come from ... I am in no way denying you your feelings here, nor am I making excuses But there seems to be A TON of factors that you are over looking here The most important one is that this is a fictional supernatural world, the rules of our world and our reality doesn't literally apply here In reality if the most handsome guy approached you and said he killed thousands of people before he met you, you would never love him or think he is attractive..you will scream and run the other way If a normal guy hits a normal girl he is definately a jerk who should be in jail, but no one says Spike (or Angel) are jerks for hitting girls (Buffy/Faith) Although stregnth level is supernatural for both parties here So yes, murder and assault in supernatural worlds are not treated the same as our world Second, Buffy is not just a victim in the overall bigger picture. Not talking about the bathroom scene here because in this particular moment in the bathroom, YES she was the victim .. but in the course of their relationship and everything that led up to this point she was also at fault, she says how many times that she would never want or touch him and end up not just responding but initiating things with him again (ep. Gone) .. she literally abused him for months . She knew he loved her and she used him physically and emotionally to get through her depression, and she admits that herself and feels guilty for it. And Buffy is a good person WITH a soul Third, people tend to like living in denial, Spike is over a centry old evil creature with no morals who feels no remorse whatsover for EATING people, you think he never did that? Assaulted a girl? and Angel, and Dru and all the characters we call our favourites?!! It may have happened off camera and there is a specific moment I would refer to regarding another vamp but it's in Angel tv and I'm not sure which season so I won't in case it's a spoiler (I pretty sure it isn't but still) but of course they all did Angelus ate babies before, he ENJOYS torturing his victims before killing them, you think he NEVER did that?? We didn't see it, but we know it by default Lastley and most importantly, In that bathroom scene Buffy finally stood up for herself and kicked Spike out .. He pushed before and she let him because she wanted to, he pushed too far this time and she FINALLY stopped him and put him in his place Every person's reaction to a situation like this could be different based on their personality and their ability to handle violence ..etc But Buffy is a worrier, and this (while painful of course) was a moment of victory for her .. also Buffy saw her fair share of violence and literally dies twice .. her adaption would not be the same as a normal girl being assaulted I feel like the way they delt with this on her side was very realistic to HER situation, she was more disappointed and upset that she let things get this far with him.. she also was proven correct that she can't trust him enough to love him if has no soul So yes, in this specific situation Spike's side of the story was the more interesting storyline from a writer/dramatic prespective .. loathing himself, having this existential crises and not knowing whether he is evil or not anymore, cause if he wasn't then how could he do this? And if he was why didn't he finish the dirty work? "What have I done? Why didn't I do it?" Were his first words after Season 6 was all about everyone becoming their wrost, and then everyone finding a way back to themselves And if we look at how low our HEROS got .. we Buffy becoming violent and abusive Willow manipulating Tara and controlling her mind Xander leaving Anya at the alter And Spike being the soulles creature with evil nature of course had to go even lower And we got to forgive everyone for their f*ckups and feel sorry for them.. we all cried with Buffy when she was telling Tara about how she is using Spike to feel, she was the abusive one here but we all felt her conflict and pain... Also, since what Spike did is addressed as it is and not sugar coated and he gets to pay for what he did, then I say the story is actually pretty well written

Rey Gallogo

The problem with Spike is that his storylines are fan driven. Defies the mythos of the show on what it means to be soulless. The whole Drusilla telling Spike that he always loved “her” (Buffy) always felt like a retcon to try to convince people that Spike always had a soft spot for Buffy to try to explain his developing feelings for her written because Spike was a fan favorite and noticed that fans shipped him and Buffy. I hate when writers do that and why James said Joss was once mad at him for.

Lindsay

It isn't about if we or Buffy should forgive Spike or not. Or shipping and who's better or belongs with Buffy. Spike didn't have a soul so he wasn't himself, yes. This is a supernatural show and not all the rules apply. That fact allows us to forgive both Spike and Angel. It also isn't about whether or not this is good character growth for Spike. This is about how we sexually traumatize Buffy to progress Spike's character growth and not focus on her trauma. We’re focusing on the Spike's pain. Buffy sets aside her trauma to help Spike go through what happened to him. Buffy is always setting aside her trauma to make the people around her feel better and when it's done in the case of attempted rape, it's gross. The worst part is that this is not the first time we sexually traumatize Buffy and not deal with her trauma as a victim. Xander attempts to rape Buffy in The Pack in season 1 and Faith rapes Buffy and Riley in the body swap episode in season 4. Both were never addressed. We play off the Faith episode like it's cheating and Buffy and Willow laugh it off at the end of The Pack. Giles and Xander even share a little joke about how they both know he remembers. Buffy is not a perfect character but we often punish her severely for any mistakes or wrong steps she makes. But I am not interested in a "she asked for it" storyline. We have enough of those in media and it perpetuates the wrong message. I disagree we had to have Spike attempt to rape Buffy to make him want to go off and get a soul. The writers could have come up with something else. I get it I do. When I first watched this I had Sofie's reaction. Hell on many rewatches I've had her reaction. But on recent rewatches I've realized just how gross this all is. But even saying that I do still enjoy this season and some of Spike’s story here. This is still my favorite show and I have shipped Spuffy in the past and still do enjoy parts of the Spuffy relationship. I just think we should point out our media when it missteps and the attempted rape storyline was a big misstep here.

Judson

"Thinking of you, holding myself, and spilling buckets of salt over your ending" has 2 meanings per Joss Whedon's usual writing. While this episode was written by someone else, Joss rewrote and directed that final scene. On the one hand, if could be about Spike crying and holding himself after Buffy's death in The Gift. On the other, it could be in mid to late season 6 with Spike touching himself and spilling other fluids thinking of their time together and Buffy's finishing.

x_Rhi_x

That ending sceeennnneeee. *chefs kiss* beautiful, shakespearean, and it's criminal neither James or SMG won Emmys for the show

Enas Bassiony

I don't see the sexual reference at all in this sentence tbh .. the whole context of the dialogue points ina whole other direction .. it starts with "I dreamed of killing you, i think they were dreams" I feel that was referring to him dreaming that someone WILL kill/hurt Buffy .. "so weak, and you make me weak" probably in his dream he was too weak to help or protect her .. "thinking of you, holding myself and spilling useless buckets of salt OVER YOUR ENDING" so all he did was hold himself and cry useless tears over her death...he can not mean he was doing that sexual thing over her ending.. it makes no sense to me

Enas Bassiony

I actually tried to write a reply for that without using spoilers but it just wasn't good enough .. so hope we can continue discussing when Sofie is done with this season 🙂

Judson

The whole monologue is non sequitur. Like right after that line, he talks about how Angel should have told him about having a soul. Anyway, Spike dreaming of killing Buffy has always been portrayed to be arousing for him. He did dream of trying to kill Buffy in Out Of My Mind and the dream turned sexual, causing him to realise he had feelings for Buffy. Also, in Family (another Whedon script), Spike was fantasising about trying to kill Buffy while in bed with Harmony ("I'm coming, I'm coming right now").

Eric C. Johnson

@Enas Bassiony "Ending" means orgasm. There is a term in French named "la petite mort," the little death, meaning that the bliss and loss of awareness of the world around you while orgasming is like a tiny kind of death. Whedon would certainly be aware of this term and I feel like he even referenced it in another movie or show or commentary track, but I may be wrong. "Holding myself and spilling buckets of salt over your ending." Crying over her death or masturbating while thinking Buffy orgasming.

Enas Bassiony

hasty rewrite, one more thing with no details to avoid spoilers .. story wise it would have been a horrible idea to spend an entire season getting Buffy over her depression for being pulled out of heaven and then her next storyline would be her getting over SA trauma .. and for me, Spike was NEVER portryaed as a martyr.. I actually think it is far more interesting to go agsinst the default in which every TV show and movie that has this kind of incident included focuses on the trauma of the victim... this time we focused on the trauma of the other party .. yes it is actually interesting to see .. someone commiting something horrible and then realizing what he has done and going through hell to try and make things right and rid of the guilt is a far more interesting story and it does involve character growth and development .. it also helps that he didn't really go through with the action itself, yes Buffy stopped him but he also stopped himself, she was injured and weak and his first line afterwards was "why didn't I do it?!" So it is canon that he could have gone through with it but he snapped out of it when she kicked him away .. The "Villain" having an existential crises over almost committing a horrendous action and atoning for it is far more interesting, specially in Buffy's case cause honestly I don't think Buffy is traumatized by this .. she's seen death twice, killed the man she loved more than this world with her own hands, she was pulled out of heaven and her sexual relationship with Spike was always twisted and violent as they said kore than once .. plus she did stop him, she did protect herself .. I see her being angry and disappointed and even hate to touch him .. But I don't see her trauma level for her

Janel Davis

I love how they use Spike getting a soul as a way to explore the complexities of forgiveness. Sometimes, people really do change for the better after being someone that did horrible things. Does that mean that anyone owes them forgiveness for things they did in their past? If they do want to forgive, how much atonement is enough? Is it ever enough? Anyway, great reaction as always! Thanks for sharing with us!

Tamara

This show is my favorite show of all time, and there are so many great episodes, so much amazing dialog; but this scene for me is the greatest scene, not only in this show, but in all of television. I have watched this scene a million times and it still brings tears to my eyes.

Rio de Tanana

She looked so bored at the beginning. And ended up in tears. 😂

Daniel Vezina

Spike character arc is the best one in TV history!!! you should check J. Whedon other series, Firefly. I'm pretty sure you will fall in love with the characters.

Purple

Fun fact about that last scene that was so good ~ even though the episode was written by another writer, Joss didn't like how that scene went so he did a complete rewrite of that last church scene only & they reshot it completely different! Chillingly good right? Imagine if they had kept whatever it was before?