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55 days of BtVS: Day 10
Between work, jumping through hoops for a broken-leg kid and delightfully spending hours in clinic waiting rooms again I finally found a little time to write the next of 55 days of BtVS. Took me long enough.
Day 10: Favorite male character
Spike. Always was, always will be.
My whole life I’ve been a sucker for bad boys with a soft side, and Spike fits this description perfectly from his first moments on the show. But it’s so much more than that.
Until he shows up, vampires are either evil and dumb or evil and annoying. Or soul-having and boring. Spike is different from the beginning, and it’s no coincidence that the show’s quality picks up notably from the moment he appears. He adds a dynamic to it that hasn’t been there before; he’s unpredictable – fun at one moment, threatening the next,
delightfully evil first, soft and tender immediately after.
It takes all of two scenes on screen for him to show that he’s not the stereotype vampire we knew until then, but a wonderfully layered character and a captivating new Big Bad at that.
But it doesn’t stop there. His character, already so much more interesting from the get go than most of the others, experiences the most changes and growth that I have seen in any show to date. It’s not only marked by a beautiful and impressing redemption arc, but it turns out that this is only the last part of his many transformations.
As we see in Fool for Love, after 3 years of knowing him, he started out completely different than we always thought - as a shy and bullied-by-his-peers Victorian gentleman who cares deeply for his mother.
He then becomes a vampire that still cares and is capable of deep emotions such as love and devotion, reinvents himself to the evil Spike we get to know in all his bad-ass-ness,
only to fall victim to the one trait neither turning nor self-modeling could take away – his ability to love.
It’s what makes his redemption arc so special and the most beautiful I know of on screen – he again changes fundamentally, and this time knowingly, willingly, for love. It’s not the chip setting him on this path (though it certainly helps with the awareness); with the chip he’s still absolutely enjoying his work of destroying the bond of friendship surrounding the Slayer, and his evilness altogether. It’s the moment when realization hits him that he has fallen in love with her that changes everything. The moment he wakes up and knows it, he’s shocked to the core, because he knows instantly he will act on it, which means life as he knew it for the last century is over.
Watching him trying his hardest, making himself vulnerable, letting him being tortured rather than betraying his love’s sister, becoming a trusted ally, breaking down at Buffy’s death, then trying and failing to help her, and ultimately failing her and himself – that’s just incredibly heartbreaking or heartwarming and always utterly fascinating. Seeing him doing the unthinkable as the immediate consequence, getting his soul back and thus going the final, the crowning step of his redemption all by himself and as willingly as all the other steps is indescribable satisfying to me.
And he’s still not finished. He suffers from his past deeds, but instead of sinking into depression changes himself again, this time to the useful fighter he needs to be to support his love, finally finding a healthy balance in the end.
Well, before he dies, sacrificing his life for the world and thus fully redeeming himself.
I love that he not simply reverts to his old Victorian self with the soul, this guy that the vampire always hated and wanted to get rid of, but picks the best of each persona he ever presented.
Soulful Spike could’ve turned out as lame as Joan predicts, but he’s still so interesting.
James Marsters has a huge part in the fascination that is Spike. Without his incredible ability to act the hell out of his character from the start, I doubt he would have become a regular. He brings out each of the layers within with just a look, a tilt of his head, a smile so small that it can almost not be seen.
But it’s not only his good looks or even the acting; it’s the perfect symbiosis – I don’t even find JM that attractive, except when he plays Spike. Then he’s gorgeous. It’s both – the character and the one who brings him to life.
BtVS is a fantastic show with many fantastic characters played by brilliant actors, but apart from the core four, most of them are replaceable, more or less, without losing much. But there’s no doubt for me: Without James Marsters’ Spike, Buffy wouldn’t be the same.
(Well, duh!)
Day 10: Favorite male character
Spike. Always was, always will be.
My whole life I’ve been a sucker for bad boys with a soft side, and Spike fits this description perfectly from his first moments on the show. But it’s so much more than that.
Until he shows up, vampires are either evil and dumb or evil and annoying. Or soul-having and boring. Spike is different from the beginning, and it’s no coincidence that the show’s quality picks up notably from the moment he appears. He adds a dynamic to it that hasn’t been there before; he’s unpredictable – fun at one moment, threatening the next,
delightfully evil first, soft and tender immediately after.
It takes all of two scenes on screen for him to show that he’s not the stereotype vampire we knew until then, but a wonderfully layered character and a captivating new Big Bad at that.
But it doesn’t stop there. His character, already so much more interesting from the get go than most of the others, experiences the most changes and growth that I have seen in any show to date. It’s not only marked by a beautiful and impressing redemption arc, but it turns out that this is only the last part of his many transformations.
As we see in Fool for Love, after 3 years of knowing him, he started out completely different than we always thought - as a shy and bullied-by-his-peers Victorian gentleman who cares deeply for his mother.
He then becomes a vampire that still cares and is capable of deep emotions such as love and devotion, reinvents himself to the evil Spike we get to know in all his bad-ass-ness,
only to fall victim to the one trait neither turning nor self-modeling could take away – his ability to love.
It’s what makes his redemption arc so special and the most beautiful I know of on screen – he again changes fundamentally, and this time knowingly, willingly, for love. It’s not the chip setting him on this path (though it certainly helps with the awareness); with the chip he’s still absolutely enjoying his work of destroying the bond of friendship surrounding the Slayer, and his evilness altogether. It’s the moment when realization hits him that he has fallen in love with her that changes everything. The moment he wakes up and knows it, he’s shocked to the core, because he knows instantly he will act on it, which means life as he knew it for the last century is over.
Watching him trying his hardest, making himself vulnerable, letting him being tortured rather than betraying his love’s sister, becoming a trusted ally, breaking down at Buffy’s death, then trying and failing to help her, and ultimately failing her and himself – that’s just incredibly heartbreaking or heartwarming and always utterly fascinating. Seeing him doing the unthinkable as the immediate consequence, getting his soul back and thus going the final, the crowning step of his redemption all by himself and as willingly as all the other steps is indescribable satisfying to me.
And he’s still not finished. He suffers from his past deeds, but instead of sinking into depression changes himself again, this time to the useful fighter he needs to be to support his love, finally finding a healthy balance in the end.
Well, before he dies, sacrificing his life for the world and thus fully redeeming himself.
I love that he not simply reverts to his old Victorian self with the soul, this guy that the vampire always hated and wanted to get rid of, but picks the best of each persona he ever presented.
Soulful Spike could’ve turned out as lame as Joan predicts, but he’s still so interesting.
James Marsters has a huge part in the fascination that is Spike. Without his incredible ability to act the hell out of his character from the start, I doubt he would have become a regular. He brings out each of the layers within with just a look, a tilt of his head, a smile so small that it can almost not be seen.
But it’s not only his good looks or even the acting; it’s the perfect symbiosis – I don’t even find JM that attractive, except when he plays Spike. Then he’s gorgeous. It’s both – the character and the one who brings him to life.
BtVS is a fantastic show with many fantastic characters played by brilliant actors, but apart from the core four, most of them are replaceable, more or less, without losing much. But there’s no doubt for me: Without James Marsters’ Spike, Buffy wouldn’t be the same.
(Well, duh!)
no subject
Completely agree - but I would add Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy - both of these actors made the characters so real - Spike and Buffy, literally came alive every week.
I think all the core Scoobs were great but even with these I do think they could have been substituted but I have never felt that way about Spike and James Marsters or Buffy and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The great coming together of these two actors and the writers with Joss Whedon as the head of the Buffyverse - That was one hell of a grand combination.
Spike, for me is the Best character and greatest story of the entire Whedonverse.
no subject
And of course you're completely right about SMG, too! She is Buffy. I sometimes tried to imagine Charisma Carpenter as the slayer, who auditioned for the role of Buffy, but I can't. Good thing Joss couldn't either.
I have a hard time to imagine Giles played by anyone but ASH, though.
Thank you for the pimpage over at EF, I saw it just now! (I haven't commented there for way too long; it seems I can't do both, LJ and EF, though I hope it's only a momentary thing ...)
no subject
no subject
His never giving up is a great motivation to me when it's getting hard in RL (as is Buffy's).
And I wanted to state above (but sadly forgot) that I think it's entirely to JM's credit that we can love Spike even at his most evil. He was walking a fine line there, and he did it light-footed.
He's simply awesome. And damn beautiful.
The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Thursday, Wednesday, May 4 - Thursday, May 5
no subject
Specially when you say that "without James Marsters’ Spike, Buffy wouldn’t be the same".
Great show, but only half as interesting, or fun...if we weren't so health conscious now, I would say he was the salt to their food : )
no subject
And the pepper. And the chili. And all the other spices. Healthy and unhealthy.
I think I speak for many of us when I say - I wouldn't have watched it ten times through (or more) if he weren't there, as great as it is.
He's just amazing.
no subject
I hope your life gets less hectic.
no subject
Thanks for the good wishes. Today it's calmer, my two 'little' ones are at their dad's, so at least no jumping through hoops today... :)