I Know You'll Never Love Me

[itsnotmymind]

Whenever I see someone complaining that BtVS S6 "ruined Spuffy", I think: "What was there to ruin?" Season 5 was the season of Spike the stalker with a one-sided obsession, and a Buffy who found the idea of being involved with Spike disgusting. That is, once a third party pointed out to her that Spike had feelings for her, something that previously had not even crossed her mind as a possibility despite some hints so obvious that during my first watch I kept thinking that she must have figured it out and was just ignoring it. And when at the end of Intervention Buffy does start to see a different side to Spike, she's far too caught up in her mother's death and protecting Dawn to pay Spike much in the way of attention or thought.

I shipped Buffy/Spike long before S6, but After Life is the first episode where I can actually see them as a couple, no matter how dysfunctional. After Life is the first episode where I can see Buffy having a real investment in the relationship. Where they establish a deep connection that is not just in Spike's mind. For me, After Life is where Spuffy begins.