Many Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fans Completely Missed Spike’s Most Important Episode (& It’s required Viewing)

⚡QUICK LINKS

• Spike Finally Acknowledged the Pain He Had Caused On Angel
• Spike Never Faced Real Consequences On Buffy
• Spike Became a More Complicated Character On Angel

During the successful run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on two networks, former villain Spike was one of the surprises brought to the screen. Introduced as a villain in Season 2, the original intention was to kill him off by mid-season. James Marsters’ chemistry with the rest of the cast and the humanity he brought to Spike, however, ensured he would remain on the series for the rest of its life.

Throughout the show, Spike had a well-developed character arc, starting as a senseless monster who grew to care about those around him before finally earning his soul. His final moments on Buffy resulted in the culmination of his arc as he sacrificed himself to close the Hellmouth. Viewers who only watched Buffy would have been satisfied with this ending, but that was not necessarily the conclusion of the character. Spike was quickly revived on the Buffy spin-off Angel, and he continued his fight against the forces of darkness. While he only appeared in the final season of the show, Angel was the site of one of his most important episodes.

Spike Finally Acknowledged the Pain He Had Caused On Angel

For better or worse, Angel was always a thematically dark show. Away from the sunshine of Sunnydale, Los Angeles was a city full of more reprehensible characters and morally complex choices. Buffy did not have the real estate for Spike to deal with the ramifications of his actions, but on Angel, he finally got his comeuppance.

Spike had wreaked bloody havoc all across Europe for a better part of a century alongside the strongest vampires who made him. Angel, Darla, Drusilla, and himself made up a terrifying foursome who had no conscience. His arrival in Sunnydale marked his change as a force for good, though he never verbally accepted responsibility for his crimes until Season 5, Episode 11 of Angel, entitled “Damage”.

Damage was, in face, the sole purpose of the episode, as Spike had to admit the terrible things he had done, notably killing two vampire slayers. During his life as a vampire, Spike developed a somewhat obsessive fascination with slayers, which may have contributed to his later fixation with Buffy during their relationship. However, it also culminated in Spike killing Nikki Wood in New York and the slayer Xin Rong during the Boxer Rebellion.

Spike’s Slayer Kills	Time Period	Location	Episodes Featured
Xin Rong	1900	China	Season 5, Episode 7, “Fool for Love”
Nikki Wood	1970s	New York	Season 5, Episode 7, “Fool for Love”, Season 7, Episode 17, “Lies My Parents Told Me”

In the episode, another slayer came into her power, forcing Spike to be honest about his victims of the past. After Buffy awakened all the potential slayers at the end of the series, one unstable girl gained the strength and visions that were hallmarks of the superpowered forces for good. Played by Navi Rawat in the episode, Dana had been traumatized at a young age, landing her in a mental health facility.

When Dana was awakened as a slayer, memories of the serial killer who murdered her family merged with the slayers Spike had killed. When she met the vampire in battle, she confused the two, landing Spike in questionable territory. He had to convince Dana that he was not the person who had tortured her for weeks, as he tried to subdue her without killing her. The main driving force of the episode, however, was Spike’s understanding that though he may not have killed Dana’s family, he similarly tortured many others. While innocent of these crimes, he was not innocent in the grand scheme of things, even if he may have regained his soul. Spike finally admitted he was a monstrous figure, aligning him more with Angel’s perspective.

Angel has spent all his time on both series brooding because of all the lives he took. His alter ego, Angelus, savored each kills, trying to find new and interesting ways to traumatize people. In this case, he and Spike were built differently. Spike never thought much about the victims themselves; he just had no remorse for the bad things he did. This made it easier for him to skate by without admitting any real responsibility in the flagship series.

Spike Never Faced Real Consequences On Buffy

As opposed to Angel, Buffy was more lighthearted and full of camp. While it dealt with heavy themes, notably in the divisive Season 6 of the series, Spike’s character arc was largely for comedic relief in the beginning. Even in his first appearance, he was a lighter version of the evils around him.

When he turned evil, Angel was determined to end the world by raising the demon Acathla. Spike was much more logical about the whole thing, liking the world that provided freedom and sustenance in the form of people. This was a running character trait with the vampire, as he always seemed on the edge of redemption.

Note
Cursed with a soul, Angel lost it in Buffy Season 2 when achieving a moment of true happiness.

Even without a soul, Spike showed concern for other people, including Dawn and Buffy. This allowed Spike to get a reprieve from the constant brooding that Angel had to endure when he finally got his soul back. Buffy tossed him an episode that addressed his many crimes, but he was still not painted as a villain in the encounter.

The closest Buffy came to addressing this issues was in Season 7, Episode 17, “Lies My Parents Told Me.” By Spike’s own admission, he was never one for self-reflection, even with a soul. This conversation transpired during the anticipated showdown between Spike and Nikki Wood’s son, Robin. He was introduced in the seventh season as a force against The First, but also had vengeance in mind for the vampire who killed his mother in New York.

This quest for blood was natural since Spike took away Robin’s mother and faced very little consequences for the crime. The fight ended up going forward, but Spike remained the victor, which painted Robin as the villain in the situation. He was featured as an underdog and used as a pawn for The First.

During the episode, the show further victimized Spike as the audience learned about his complicated relationship with his own mother. When he was a new vampire, he tried to turn his sick mother into one, only for her to reject him when she lost her soul. Spike was portrayed as special even when he didn’t have a soul, while Robin senselessly put his hope for justice above the fight against evil. Spike even twisted the knife, proclaiming that Robin’s mother didn’t love him because she only cared about the mission against evil.

Spike got away with not having remorse for killing Nikki which may have worked for the season, but less so for his personal arc. This was rectified in a show that was darker, not always for its benefit. In this case, however, Angel worked to progress Spike’s character.

Spike Became a More Complicated Character on Angel

In Season 5 of Angel, the series was on its last legs. Buffy had finished the year before, and the vampire’s decision to run the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart was divisive. Angel Investigations had the intention of fighting evil from the inside, but was ultimately corrupted by it.

This led to the grueling deaths of its female characters, but was also a space for Spike to become more than he was. He offered a refreshing change of dynamic as a contrast to Angel and was given room to grow. Once he became a somewhat accepted part of the team, Spike became more complicated than just another vampire with a soul. His encounter with Dana changed his perspective on self-reflection.

Note
Both Cordelia and Fred were officially killed off in Season 5 of Angel.

Dana’s memories of former slayers flooded her mind, and as she confused them for her own, she thought she was other slayers such as Xin Rong and Nikki. Finally, Spike came face to face with his past and was made to understand the pain he had caused. When Dana spoke to Spike as Nikki, she wanted Spike to spare her so she could go home to Robin. This effectively disproved Spike’s hypothesis that Nikki didn’t love her son. While the mission against evil was important, she was still a mother who wanted to protect her child.

At the end of the episode, Spike made a connection between himself and Dana. Though they were both innocent once, they couldn’t avoid their past and the things that had been done to them. They had created real damage that they would have to spend a long time overcoming. This didn’t make him a carbon copy of Angel, either, who had a lot of experience with acknowledging the things he had done.

Spike had changed as a person, separating himself from his triumphs in Sunnydale. Even though he could leave Los Angeles, a city he hated, to go in search of Buffy, he made the decision not to. Not even telling her that he was back in the land of the somewhat living, he wanted to continue the good fight and allow her to remember him as a hero who went out in a blaze of glory at the of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This decision was an easy way to explain why Spike was on the series, to begin with, and why Sarah Michelle Gellar never reprised her role as Buffy, but it also gave more substance to Spike as a character. As much as he and Angel would never truly like each other, they grew to respect each other and even depend on each other in life-or-death situations. Spike was a great addition to a series that could have gone on several more seasons with this new dynamic.

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Original article at CBR

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