Post by PreachCaleb on Sept 25, 2017 14:21:43 GMT
This is it. This is what I was looking forward to on my rewatch. This is without a doubt my favorite 2-hour block of Buffy and Angel when they were airing together. Both episodes are highlights of their respective seasons, which says a lot considering both seasons had some spectacular episodes. The story telling, the character work, the action, the direction, everything works wonderfully.
First, the side story. Riley continues to segregate himself from the scoobies. While he did patrol with them (at Buffy's insistence), he returns alone to hunt the vampire that nearly killed Buffy. How shocking not only for Buffy, but for the audience, that the creature that nearly did our heroine in was nothing more than some lackey vampire Buffy wouldn't have had any trouble dusting in season 1. Not some big bad demon. Not some all powerful entity. Just a vampire. And can I just say, how badass did Riley look walking into that crypt on his own, dusting a vampire with ease, and then just leaving behind a hand grenade as a good bye gift?
Now for the true meat of the episode. In Fool For Love, we not only get Spike's very first flashbacks, but an entire episode devoted to them. We learn the origins of both his names. Spike's rise and fall as the big bad is quite a tale, and James Marsters plays every incarnation wonderfully different. William the poet is low key, soft spoken, meek, and even speaks with a different accent. A wonderful contrast with the careless, braggart Spike we see in the mine shaft who gets under Angelus' skin (a nice twist from season 2 when it was Angelus getting under Spike's skin). This takes us to the violent animal who kills his first slayer in the Boxer Rebellion, and then, we get the punk-rocker Spike in New York. Less animalistic, yet much more confident in his abilities to kill a slayer. He didn't even need his "weapon" to kill Nikki. And finally, we see the beaten and defeated Spike in Brazil who can't even keep Drusilla happy anymore. He's a shell of what he once was to her. While he is no longer soft-spoken, he is once again meek in the face of a woman who no longer wants him. A full circle journey for William the Bloody.
The cross-cutting between the present and past, particularly the scene on the subway, just adds a wonderful layer to its themes. We're watching the flashbacks, yet at the same time, Spike is telling his story to Buffy. We see what Buffy sees: a grizzly image of a monster killing a young woman and stealing the coat right off her body, just as Spike snaps her back into reality, reminding her (and the audience by proxy) that while he may have a chip in his head (and while we may know he's in love with her), he is still a monster inside. He, no doubt, would love to have that one "real good day."
Of course, all that is belied by the final scene of the episode. As Buffy has to again deal with her mother's illness, which is now more serious than either could've foreseen, she has her first, but certainly not last, emotional breakdown. Spike wanders in, shotgun in hand, murder in his heart, yet the sight of Buffy absolutely emotionally vulnerable completely takes him aback. This is a side of her he only heard about from Angel but never witnessed first hand. He chooses to let go of the anger, and in one of the series' more surprising scenes, he decides to comfort her. Even more shocking, Buffy allows him to. She doesn't shove him away. Doesn't curse him out. They just sit in silence. The episode closes out as two mortal enemies share a tender moment.
First, the side story. Riley continues to segregate himself from the scoobies. While he did patrol with them (at Buffy's insistence), he returns alone to hunt the vampire that nearly killed Buffy. How shocking not only for Buffy, but for the audience, that the creature that nearly did our heroine in was nothing more than some lackey vampire Buffy wouldn't have had any trouble dusting in season 1. Not some big bad demon. Not some all powerful entity. Just a vampire. And can I just say, how badass did Riley look walking into that crypt on his own, dusting a vampire with ease, and then just leaving behind a hand grenade as a good bye gift?
Now for the true meat of the episode. In Fool For Love, we not only get Spike's very first flashbacks, but an entire episode devoted to them. We learn the origins of both his names. Spike's rise and fall as the big bad is quite a tale, and James Marsters plays every incarnation wonderfully different. William the poet is low key, soft spoken, meek, and even speaks with a different accent. A wonderful contrast with the careless, braggart Spike we see in the mine shaft who gets under Angelus' skin (a nice twist from season 2 when it was Angelus getting under Spike's skin). This takes us to the violent animal who kills his first slayer in the Boxer Rebellion, and then, we get the punk-rocker Spike in New York. Less animalistic, yet much more confident in his abilities to kill a slayer. He didn't even need his "weapon" to kill Nikki. And finally, we see the beaten and defeated Spike in Brazil who can't even keep Drusilla happy anymore. He's a shell of what he once was to her. While he is no longer soft-spoken, he is once again meek in the face of a woman who no longer wants him. A full circle journey for William the Bloody.
The cross-cutting between the present and past, particularly the scene on the subway, just adds a wonderful layer to its themes. We're watching the flashbacks, yet at the same time, Spike is telling his story to Buffy. We see what Buffy sees: a grizzly image of a monster killing a young woman and stealing the coat right off her body, just as Spike snaps her back into reality, reminding her (and the audience by proxy) that while he may have a chip in his head (and while we may know he's in love with her), he is still a monster inside. He, no doubt, would love to have that one "real good day."
Of course, all that is belied by the final scene of the episode. As Buffy has to again deal with her mother's illness, which is now more serious than either could've foreseen, she has her first, but certainly not last, emotional breakdown. Spike wanders in, shotgun in hand, murder in his heart, yet the sight of Buffy absolutely emotionally vulnerable completely takes him aback. This is a side of her he only heard about from Angel but never witnessed first hand. He chooses to let go of the anger, and in one of the series' more surprising scenes, he decides to comfort her. Even more shocking, Buffy allows him to. She doesn't shove him away. Doesn't curse him out. They just sit in silence. The episode closes out as two mortal enemies share a tender moment.
