Poor Spike.
I see now when his obsession with the blonde Slayer came to a head.
"Buffy The Vampire Slayer" comes on too late for me to watch these days.
That's because the first of its nightly trio of episodes doesn't begin until midnight.
Fortunately, I've discovered the joy of 'taping' TV shows for later viewing, so that's what I've done the past two days.
That gave me "Crush", "I Was Made To Love You", and "Intervention".
Those were s5e14, s5e15, and s5e18.
There were a couple of others that I deigned not to 'record'; I just wanted Spike's tale.
By focusing on only his story, I could see how his feelings changed from general "casual guy response to a good-looking chick in the room" to "interested guy's reactions to his love interest before he realizes that's what she is".
I credit Dawn with helping to lead him to that.
She's the 14-year-old sister of the Slayer, but here's the important thing: she's a 14-year-old girl.
She sees the romance between Zander and Anya, she sees the romance between Willow and Tara, and she wants to see a romance for her big sister... and Spike is the available guy.
She knows no one will let her have a boyfriend yet, as she is too young, but surely no one will object if she helps her sister's romance come along, right?
So, that's what she does.
Now, kindly remember that when Spike was human, he was known as sweet William and he was quite a romantic poet with a soft heart.
Add in that Dawn speaks to him as if he's part of the Buffy gang, as it he's just another older big-brotherly type of guy, and so he talks with her about Buffy.
Nothing romantic, right, just questions about how she's doing since the mom died.
And, BOOM!
Next thing you know, Spike is at The Bronze, chatting up Buffy when she comes in, getting her all riled up because he's just trying to have to type of conversation with her that he's been having with her little sister.
Of course, it doesn't help that Spike's new girlfriend - Harmony - happens to look a lot like Buffy, but isn't nearly as challenging or smart.
It also doesn't help when Drusilla comes back to town and tries to lure him to Los Angeles to be the third with her and Angel.
Spike runs both of them off, but Buffy still isn't having him.
That's when the second episode of this love story steps in.
Enter the love robot, April, made by Warren, the nerd, when no real girl would have him.
The thing is, here's the thing: his interactions with April actually made him more comfortable around women, leading to him eventually getting a real girlfriend.
Oops.
So, Warren abandons the one he made to love him, leading her to eventually miss him and come in search of him.
Naturally, The Bronze is one of the places she checks, and that's where she runs into Spike, who, having been rebuffed by Buffy, decides to pick up April... who picks him up and hurls him through the bar's front window!
Definitely a funny moment in what turns out to be an otherwise sweet story.
Plus, Spike engages Warren to build a robot for him... and three guesses who Warren is tasked to use as the model for the robot's features and behavior.
That task takes a while, of course, leading to a couple of episodes not in this arc.
Then, at last, it's delivery day for Spike to get his girl... and she's perfect!
She's even programmed to physically fight with him, to banter with him vocally, and to go out at night and stake other vampires, just as her namesake does.
So very perfect!
In fact, the robot even recognizes the people who are part of Buffy's group, knowing that they are her "friends", knowing enough to hold conversations with them and include relevant points so they won't suspect anything.
Sure, the speech is a little off to those familiar with her, but they pass it off as stress from the recent death of her mom.
That is, until Zander and Anya, while out on vampire patrol, spot her having sex out there in the cemetery with Spike.
Say what?!?!
There are allowances made for grief, but that was a bit too much, so they stage an intervention... and that's when the real Buffy comes home from her vision in the desert.
That's also when Spike really gets in trouble, but not with Buffy.
The demi-god Glory takes him prisoner and tortures him, trying to find out who the Key is.
She nearly kills him, but his resolve is strong, just as his love of Buffy is strong.
He knows it would kill Buffy to lose her sister to Glory, so he withstands the torture, knowing he would rather Glory kill him than his surrender lead to pain for Buffy.
That leads to a very tender moment between him and Buffy.
Yes, quite satisfying... even if he did lose his new toy.
(smile!)
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