Ditto. While their relationship was undeniably destructive, I also think it's wrong to simplify it down to Buffy making ~shameful decisions / tainting herself / whatever, because in a season where she spent every day putting on a brave face, Spike was sometimes the only person she actually felt she could be herself with. For better or worse. Judgment isn't helpful.
Oh my, YES to this. Their relationship, however destructive it seems, is part of her journey, part of who she becomes. And what they share in each other in S7 is just wonderful (I LOVE the shot of her face in Showtime when she's rescuing him; how anyone could say the look in her face is not "love" is beyond me.) I'm not sure I've ever seen such a complex, brave and deep depiction of a relationship on television. That they actually went the places they went to, and dared to make them both "unsympathetic" at times, staggers me.
(and it really was NOT more destructive than her relationship w/Angel IMO. But gabrielleabelle has written some great meta on that whole subject, so I won't replay all that.)
That's part of the reason why I love Tara so much in Dead Things/OAFA, because she's the one person in that period who doesn't judge Buffy or want something from her. (Tara in S6 is just awesome, full stop. I think if she'd lived for S7 she would have been the one voice speaking up for Buffy in Empty Places.)
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2012-08-06 10:50 pm (UTC)Oh my, YES to this. Their relationship, however destructive it seems, is part of her journey, part of who she becomes. And what they share in each other in S7 is just wonderful (I LOVE the shot of her face in Showtime when she's rescuing him; how anyone could say the look in her face is not "love" is beyond me.) I'm not sure I've ever seen such a complex, brave and deep depiction of a relationship on television. That they actually went the places they went to, and dared to make them both "unsympathetic" at times, staggers me.
(and it really was NOT more destructive than her relationship w/Angel IMO. But gabrielleabelle has written some great meta on that whole subject, so I won't replay all that.)
That's part of the reason why I love Tara so much in Dead Things/OAFA, because she's the one person in that period who doesn't judge Buffy or want something from her. (Tara in S6 is just awesome, full stop. I think if she'd lived for S7 she would have been the one voice speaking up for Buffy in Empty Places.)