"She begged for her life" *warning for discussion of the attempted rape in Seeing Red*

[itsnotmymind]

Before their first battle in School Hard, Spike tells Buffy, "The last Slayer I killed... she begged for her life." As plenty of others have pointed out, this is a lie: Neither Nikki Wood nor the Boxer Rebellion slayer begged for anything.

But Buffy would.

There's been a lot of argument about whether Buffy's reaction to Spike's assault in Seeing Red, to beg and plead, was in character. I tend to see that it is within the realm of plausible characterization for Buffy. Which is to say, I bought it, because despite what she said she clearly did trust him - but I would also have bought it if she stayed calm and kicked him off more quickly. It comes down to a storytelling choice. And while Buffy begging and pleading worked better for Spike's story (I'm not sure he would have gotten that he'd done some truly wrong if she had been calmer), I'm less convinced it was the best choice overall.

I'm sure there was no intended connection between Seeing Red and School Hard Spike tell Buffy she doesn't seem like "the begging kind". But it interests me, anyway.

Comments

[stolenglimpse.livejournal.com]

Pretty late on this but Buffy wasn't feeling too well at that time either. She wouldn't have been strong enough to fight off anything at all basically. So Spike coming on to her and then "assaulting" her like he did, Buffy was simply an ordinary, defenseless girl in that situation even though she was able to push him off at the end but still.

Also, let's not forget that Spike loves to brag, he said so himself, so anything to make him look better or worse or whatever but puts him in the light, so to speak, he would do so that "she begged for her life" is just him boosting his own ego, really.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

Late comments are always welcome!

True to both - boosting his own ego, and intimidating Buffy.

That said, I do think even though she was injured, I would have bought it if she had stayed calm and kicked him off more quickly. As I said, I did buy her reaction at it played out on the screen, but I would have bought other reactions, too.

[stolenglimpse.livejournal.com]

He did come on pretty strong, too. For him, her no always ended up being yes so, it was just another one of them for him or something but this time, Buffy did really mean it.

No matter who you are and how strong you are, you will get a moment like this where you feel less than yourself and have to basically beg to be left alone. So, I did believe buffy in this here, too. I mean, I'm not surprised. Had she acted more like herself, the strong girl and all, I would have believed it too. Not that she wasn,t herself really but... you know what I mean.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[stolenglimpse.livejournal.com]

:)