I like Buffy Summers - I have a lot in common with her. The only part where I had trouble was in Season Seven, when she had faith in Spike, which I couldn't understand. I'm starting to, now, but I'm not a Buffy or a Fred or an Andrew. When it comes to Spike, I'm much more an Angel. Season Seven was the first time that Buffy ever did anything that I couldn't understand right away. It broke my heart - she broke my heart. Which, in one sense, is silly - she's just a character on a television show. But in another sense, she's me
Did you find yourself understanding why she might have done so?
Because I didn't see her really forgiving Spike on it's face.
To me, Buffy's need to see Spike be the good guy and hero in S7 - wasn't really about Spike. It was in large part about duty and obligation and atonement - not solely for using Spike in S6 - but for being the person she was during her depression. It felt to me like she was working through a lot of things - and helping Spike be a better person was a big part of her effort to see herself as being a better person as well.
Some of it was akin to Angel helping Faith in AtS-1.
IMHO, some of it is the mentorship/support she feels somebody should have offered him in S5-6. I think Buffy also needs to see him be strong and good and okay to make up for the guilt she feels when she sees him insane and miserable in the basement - particularly when he invokes Angel's name. Some of it, is Buffy getting a second chance at helping out Angel - as Buffy defends S7 Spike in front of her friends in a way she feels she never defended Angel. And Buffy needs him to be a good guy and a hero, because it justifies her not staking him like she believes she probably should have a long time ago. And Buffy standing up for Spike, accepting responsibility for his condition, allows her to not feel like she was his victim.
IMHO, that's how messed up she still was over S6.
But before Season Seven, it didn't really hit home, because the show's central character had never done anything that I'd found it hard to forgive.
Me too. My real problem with Buffy in S7, wasn't her treatment of Spike - which made me pity her rather than be upset at her. That was just a symptom of her greater problem. What I had problems with, was her atrocious performance of her duties - her terrible leadership - her inability to recognize what her enemy was, what her resources and strengths were, and her inability to interact with her friends in a way that achieved her goals - as a slayer or as a person.
But even then, she never struck me as a bad person - but a fundamentally lost person - and someone in desperate need of a sabbatical.
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Did you find yourself understanding why she might have done so?
Because I didn't see her really forgiving Spike on it's face.
To me, Buffy's need to see Spike be the good guy and hero in S7 - wasn't really about Spike. It was in large part about duty and obligation and atonement - not solely for using Spike in S6 - but for being the person she was during her depression. It felt to me like she was working through a lot of things - and helping Spike be a better person was a big part of her effort to see herself as being a better person as well.
Some of it was akin to Angel helping Faith in AtS-1.
IMHO, some of it is the mentorship/support she feels somebody should have offered him in S5-6. I think Buffy also needs to see him be strong and good and okay to make up for the guilt she feels when she sees him insane and miserable in the basement - particularly when he invokes Angel's name. Some of it, is Buffy getting a second chance at helping out Angel - as Buffy defends S7 Spike in front of her friends in a way she feels she never defended Angel. And Buffy needs him to be a good guy and a hero, because it justifies her not staking him like she believes she probably should have a long time ago. And Buffy standing up for Spike, accepting responsibility for his condition, allows her to not feel like she was his victim.
IMHO, that's how messed up she still was over S6.
But before Season Seven, it didn't really hit home, because the show's central character had never done anything that I'd found it hard to forgive.
Me too. My real problem with Buffy in S7, wasn't her treatment of Spike - which made me pity her rather than be upset at her. That was just a symptom of her greater problem. What I had problems with, was her atrocious performance of her duties - her terrible leadership - her inability to recognize what her enemy was, what her resources and strengths were, and her inability to interact with her friends in a way that achieved her goals - as a slayer or as a person.
But even then, she never struck me as a bad person - but a fundamentally lost person - and someone in desperate need of a sabbatical.