On Growing to Love Buffy Summers

[itsnotmymind]

Buffy Summers was not a character with whom I fell in love at first sight.



Spike was--or if not first sight, at the moment he started mocking another vampire's claim to be at the crucification. Faith I don't recall for sure--I know I counted her as a favorite by the time I finished season 3, but I can't pinpoint the moment I decided I liked her.

But for several seasons, Buffy was just part of the backdrop for me. I always liked her--I had actually decided before I saw a single episode that I had to like her. Somewhere online, I had encountered a group of Spike fans quite viciously ripping into her. I was determined that this character, no matter how terrible she might be, was not deserving of that level of hostility. Furthermore, the whole idea of hating the most prominent female character in a show that you liked just didn't sound very fun to me, so I decided if I ever were to become a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I would at least like Buffy.

(Oddly, none of this Buffy-bashing put me off Spike. I figured if he was so popular, he had to have something going for him.)

When I finally started watching BtVS, I saw from the first couple of episodes that Buffy had a sense of humor and an attitude I could like, and so I concluded that I liked her enough and didn't think much more about her character than that. She worked as a protagonist, and she was likeable enough when she wasn't in the same room as her boyfriend (sorry, Bangel fans), but she didn't interest me a lot.

So for most of the first couple of season, I focused on other characters (Cordy, Willow, Oz, Spike). Still, there were a few moments where Buffy stood out for me. The first was in "Lie To Me", when Buffy confronted Ford and found out he was dying of cancer. She told him she felt sorry for him, and then threatened to kill him. The moment filled me with Buffy-love for the first time. The other moment was in "I Only Have Eyes for You". Buffy identifies: not with the (older) female victim of violence but with the (young) male perpetrator. Identifies, and is completely unforgiving. I was immediately intrigued by Buffy in a way that I hadn't been before. Both these moments have something in common: Buffy sympathizing/identifying with a violent young man, and still being ruthless and unforgiving towards him, not despite the identification and sympathy, but because of it. That's about the opposite of the usual assumption in fandom--usually, if you sympathize and/or identify with a character, the expectation is that you will be more forgiving of that character than of other characters.

I absolutely loved "Anne"--still my favorite season opener--but I ended up losing a lot of emotional investment not just in Buffy the character, but in the show as a whole during season three. Maybe I was getting tired of the high school setting. Maybe I had lost all patience with Buffy and Angel's romance. I liked Faith, but didn't really enjoy her storyline the first time I watched it. The show just seemed very static at this point. While I started enjoying it again in Season 4 (perhaps the least static season of them all), I wasn't particularly interested in Buffy as a character. I remember watching Angel season 1 and having a brief moment in "Sanctuary" where I thought that perhaps I didn't like even like Buffy at all--I think it was when she brought up her relationship with Riley when arguing with Angel. It seemed an immature move to me, and I was irritated. On the other hand, my sympathies with Faith were quite high at that point, and I was moved by Buffy coming to her aid on the rooftop despite Buffy's anger at Faith.

Season five of Buffy changed everything for me, because I am Spike fan and a Buffy/Spike shipper, and, like just about every Spuffy fan ever, I became a hardcore fan of his character, Buffy/Spike, and the show after watching "Fool for Love". I actually shipped them before that--I knew enough about the show to know that this was the season where Spike falls in love with Buffy. I had been trying to tell myself that I was merely curious about this relationship, but I had to admit that I already shipped them, and had since that moment in "Halloween" when Buffy is freed from the spell, declares "Hi, honey, I'm home!" and punches Spike in the face.

Now, Spike is another example of Buffy being unforgiving towards someone because she identifies with them. In "Becoming, Part 2" Buffy learns that Spike's reason for allying with her is that he wants his girlfriend Drusilla back. Her reaction is to call him pathetic, and tell him she hates him. "I lost a friend tonight!" she shouts, referring to Kendra, killed by Dru, and echoing Xander's earlier accusation that Buffy wanted to forget all about Jenny Calendar's death so that she could get Angel back (As a sidenote: poor Kendra. Her death is always overshadowed by other deaths). Buffy sees herself in Spike--in this case, the passion she has to suppress and the self-absorption she can't afford to give into if she wants to do her job as the slayer--and hates him for it.

Watching Season Five, I became quite taken with Spike as a character, and with the entire Buffy/Spike dynamic. I was definitely rooting for them to get together, which I felt a bit bad about because Buffy was so obviously opposed to the idea. But you ship what you ship. Adoring Spike also affected my view of Buffy--I could see the things he saw in her, her honor and her suppressed passion. (Not her kindness--I think souled Spike appreciated Buffy's kindness, but I do not think it was her kindness that soulless Spike originally fell for). I also really enjoyed the portrayal of her relationship with Dawn. For the first time, seeing her through Spike's eyes, she became one of my favorite characters.

I remember "The Weight of the World" being one episode where I connected with Buffy as a character in ways that were not Spike-related (I had no doubts, at this point, that I favored Spike). A Buffy who gave up for one moment and endlessly replayed that moment in her head was a Buffy I was interested in, a Buffy who saw giving up for one moment as killing her sister was a Buffy I cared about.

I was spoiled for a lot of things about season six. Quite a lot. The early seasons of Buffy were able to surprise me (I didn't know about Angel losing his soul, for example), but not season six. I was spoiled, really, for just about everything. This did not stop it from becoming one of my two favorite seasons (along with season 5--although I think I like season six better, because even though it has more flaws, it also gives me more to think about). I knew going into it that this was the season that turned a lot of Spike fans against Buffy. I knew that she beat him up in an alley, and fandom criticized Mutant Enemy for having gender double standards in their portrayal of domestic violence. I knew he tried to rape her later in the season, and then went and got a soul--possibly on purpose, possibly by accident.

I was even more determined than I had been before to like Buffy. In the first half of the season, this was a problem. I sympathized with depressed Buffy, but I didn't like her. I tried to like her, but I just couldn't see anything in her that I could connect with. I hit my low point with Buffy in "Gone"--I had a difficulty even sympathizing with her when she tried to make a social worker who was just doing her job think she was crazy. Worse, Buffy seemed to see the whole thing as nothing more than a joke. The thing I had always liked about Buffy was that even at her lowest, she was always focused on doing the right thing and being a good person. In this episode, she didn't even seem to care.

Fortunately, "Dead Things" is only two episodes after "Gone". In "Dead Things", I fell in love again--this time permanently, and more in love than I had ever been before. A Buffy who tried to turn herself into the police for accidentally killing someone, determined to do the right thing "for once", was a Buffy I could recognize. Buffy beating Spike up so brutally that he still had bruises in the next episode was horrifying, but still recognisably Buffy--the girl who was least forgiving towards those she identified with. Sometimes, if a character hurts one of my favorite characters, I will resent them on my favorite character's behalf, but other times, it has the opposite affect, and my appreciation of the character hurting my favorite goes up (see also: Angel smothering Wesley with a pillow). This time, my appreciation of Buffy went up. The key moment was, of course, the ending: Buffy bursting into tears upon finding out that it really is her doing all these things, expressing her guilt and horror at her attraction to the unrepentant Spike, and begging Tara not to forgive her. For the first time ever, I walked away from an episode with more positive feelings towards Buffy than Spike. I had lost a lot of sympathy for Spike after the balcony scene--probably it didn't help that that scene was one thing I had been unspoiled for, and if anything , I had been led to believe that Spike was entirely in the role of the victim at this time. I had been prepping myself for both the alley beating and the attempted rape, but Spike thoughtfully and deliberating trying to exacerbate Buffy's guilt and unhappiness so that she would be with him was not something I had been preparing myself to forgive.

From then on, Buffy remained one of my consistent favorites. When I went back and re-watched the first half of season six, I was able to appreciate her as a character instead of simply feeling sympathy and annoyance. I could see how her experiences had changed her from the person she was in season five, and appreciate the person she was the process of becoming, but also see the ways in which she was still the Buffy of the early seasons. In season seven, I found her one of the most enjoyable characters because I usually had to think about it for awhile in order to figure out what was going on inside of her head, but once I had done that thinking, she made perfect sense to me. When I later got a chance to read some of the original scripts online, I was pleased to see that some of my guesses of how she was thinking, particularly her thoughts and feelings about Spike, were more explicitly confirmed by deleted lines. By the end, I was definitely rooting for her, possibly above every other character on the show.

So that's the convoluted story of how I came to root for Buffy Summers.

Comments

[kikimay]

Lovely post!
Actually, for me was almost the same: I didn't love or appreciate Buffy at first time, I didn't felt really much for First Seasons' Buffy and her romance with Angel helped in making her more annoying, for some reasons. (She was always sad about this impossible love and so on...) But, season by season, episode after episode, I've started to feel something very strong for the character and I realized to loving her reading all the bashing about her: I understood for the first time that I loved the character and that, no matter what, she didn't deserve all the hatred.
I love with all my heart later seasons' Buffy (S5, S6 and S7)

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

The first time I encountered Buffy-hate I was quite aware of the possibility that she might really be a terrible person, because I hadn't seen the show and the things she was described as doing to Spike were quite terrible (it was, of course, a somewhat one-sided depiction of their season 6 relationship), but I just thought that the bashing was wrong.

Later seasons Buffy is definitely my favorite, too.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I fell in love with Buffy gradually, too, though I watched almost in real time. (almost meaning two seasons after original broadcast, which was the time it took until they showed the show in Germany, until after s3 which was when I was hooked enough to ahem the original versions of the episodes.) This meant I was a bit spoiled, though not much, for the first two seasons (I knew Angel would lose his soul and that vampires named Spike and Dru would show up, but that was it), not at all for seasons 3 - 5, spoiled again for s6 because that was the one season where I succumed to seeking out spoilers, and unspoiled again for s7 (lessons BTVS s6 taught me: always stay unspoiled).

Anyway - Buffy. Like you, I at first liked but not loved; my early seasons favourite was Cordelia, and I also loved Giles. S5 was when I knew it was now Buffy, and that I loved her, but my moment of realisation - not of falling in love, just being aware that I had - was early in "Tough Love", the scene where Buffy goes to her literature professor and tells him she quits college and makes that little joke about haikus.

Re: Lie To Me, and Buffy's reaction to identifying with and understanding people - you're so right, that's where it shows for the first time, and it's an enduring trait of hers. I might have further thoughts tomorrow, but it's getting late in my part of the world, and my brain refuses useful service right now!

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

Cordelia was my favorite in Season one, and stayed on my list of favorites until she left the show. I continued liking her on Angel, but at some point--by season three at the latest--she dropped off my list of favorites. I liked Giles, but he was never a favorite. Willow was probably my second favorite in season one, but I didn't like her quite as much in season two. I'm not sure why. Season two gave me Spike and Oz, though, so it's all good.

If you have any further thoughts, I would love to hear them. I am in England right now, so my part of the world is not so far away from your part of the world.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Re: Cordelia, I think she stopped being my favourite in later s2, which was partly because I had fallen for Darla so hard but also in retrospect because that was when the writing for her started to decline. At least that's my story.:)

Willow: first of all, it's a silly thing, but her voice annoys me (the dubbed German voice, too, btw), which can't be helped. Then I also had a reverse snobbery thing going on which I'm trying to fight but know I still have, which is that if a character is overwhelmingly popular in fandom I tend to back off, and Willow from s1 -4 was THE identification character for such a lot of fans. It was as if it there was big pressure of the "this is your geeky female, just like you - LOVE HER" type going on. Not true, of course, but that was my emotional reaction at the time. There was something similar going on with Spike, though I had always liked him, but he got so overwhelmingly popular in fandom that again, I backed off. Yes, he was also fiercely hated by other parts of fandom, but the love and devotion outweighed that by far, and you couldn't open a genre magazine without reading articles declaring Spike to be the best thing about BTVS, either, so without any fault of Spike's I began to think "oh really?" and, well, back off.

Before that, I don't know why I never fell in love with Spike, really. As I said, I liked him. Thought he was an interesting, well-played character, was glad he was brought back in s3 and we hadn't seen the last of him (oh the days when a watcher had no idea whether or not Spike would ever be back after Becoming II!), thought the chip was an ingenious solution for keeping him around without having to explain why he keeps failing at killing Buffy and vice versa, was on board with the Spike-falls-in-love-with-Buffy storyline in its messed upness and thought it more interesting than some pre-s5 S/B fic - all this, and yet I never made that step from like to love, whereas with Darla one single scene (at the end of Dear Boy) was enough for that step to happen and she remained the blonde vampire of choice for me in the Jossverse.

Further thoughts on Buffy: Dead Things is also a favourite ep of mine for all those reasons - I have meta on it somewhere where I compare and parallel it with Life Serial earlier the same season - and it's another case in point where Buffy identifies with the male guilty character, not with the female victim, and projects Warren and Katrina on to her and Spike. BUT I think that's an episode where you really have to be aware of the backstory because obv. Buffy is also thinking FAITH FAITH FAITH FAITH from the moment she thinks she killed Katrina (one reason why she reacts as badly when Spike inadvertendly repeats Faith's words from "Consequences"), is identifying with her as well, in a determined-not-to-do-the-same way even while doing a different "same" (i.e. Buffy beating up Spike = Faith-in-Buffy beating up Buffy-in-Faith when meaning herself).

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

People having reverse snobbery leads to more diverse fannish opinions.

Buffy was definitely thinking of Faith in Dead Things--and Faith is a character who at least by season seven, Buffy hasn't fully forgiven (whereas Spike has been forgiven by that point--but then he committed his crimes while soulless and then got a soul, which matters to Buffy).

I was actually thinking about Buffy and Faith's relationship in season 3, and Buffy's inability to forgive Faith: in Faith, Hope, and Trick, Faith feels terrible about leaving her watcher to die, and Buffy offers her forgiveness, which she accepts, and they end the episode closer than they were before. At the end of Revelations, Faith feels bad about having been tricked by Gwen Post, and again Buffy offers forgiveness, but this time Faith won't accept it from her, and Faith ends the episode alone. And at the end of Bad Girls, Faith is feeling bad about killing Finch, but this time Buffy does not have any forgiveness to offer her. And maybe the key difference here is that Faith actually killed someone (albeit accidentally), and Buffy sees that as different than the other situations, or maybe the difference is that this time, Buffy was complicit in Faith's mistake. She was the one who tossed Finch to Faith to be staked, assuming he was a vampire, and realizing just too late her mistake. Maybe Buffy can't offer Faith any forgiveness because she doesn't want to forgive herself for her role in Finch's death.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Hm, it's been years since I rewatched s3 so I might misrenember, but doesn't Bad Girls end with Buffy saying to Faith "I know how you feel" (because of the Ted precedent) and Faith going for bravado and the declaration that she doesn't care? So I didn't read it as Buffy offering or withholding forgiveness but as Buffy attempting to comiserate but expecting Faith to voice her regret and horror, and then Faith rejecting that which Buffy would have seen through for the bravado it was IF she had not been, as you say, complicit in Finch's death and thus is panicking and horrified instead of taking a step back. And then of course in Consequences things get worse when Faith starts by trying to frame Buffy, almost strangles Xander and fhe Angel intervention atttempt is inadvertendly ruined by newly arrived Wesley.

I'd say Buffy is ready to jump on the Redeem Faith bandwagon as late as This Year's Girl, as evidenced in the conversation she has with the Scoobies about her: whereas everyone else is seeing a woken up Faith as a threat Buffy goes for the Charles Dickens scenario and imagines Faith alone, confused and repentant out there. That the bodyswitch is the straw that breaks the camels back just when Faith is ready to turn her life around is unfortunate, but there it is. Of course, there's the side issue that Buffy says her most positive, Faith defending things when Faith is not around to hear them (as when she tells Willow in later s3 that "it could have been me") whereas any actual encounter between them post Bad Girls quickly degenerates into an argument. And then there's Buffy's non-verbal thing vs verbal acknowledgment of emotion: I mean, the kiss on Faith's head after waking up from her coma is pretty much Buffy expressing her feelings about Faith at that point in a way she can't verbally. You can read it as forgiveness or a counterpart of Faith kissing Buffy on the head at the end of Enemies after her demasking or as a goodbye or acknowlegment of their shared Slayer sisterhood or... Well, there are as many possibilities as there are for Buffy kissing Spike at the end of "Intervention", aren't there?

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

At the end of Bad Girls, Buffy offers Faith help and makes it clear that she considers herself complicit in Finch's death, and that she's not holding Faith solely responsibly. Interestingly, prior to Faith lying to Giles, Buffy always talks in terms of "what we did", not differentiating her degree of responsibility to Faith. It's only after Faith betrays her that it seems to become important to Buffy that Faith was the one who killed the guy (and Faith, in betraying her, makes it clear that she solely blamed Buffy in the story she gave to Giles). And even after Faith betrays her she still wants to help Faith--she just no longer seems to be trying to share responsibility for Finch's death.

Buffy does not mention the Ted incident--and if she refers to it obliquely it was too subtle for me to pick up. Which is something I've seen her criticized for, but in addition to the Doylist explanation of "the writers probably thought it was too much continuity", there's also a Watsonian explanation that maybe Buffy thought it wouldn't matter since Ted turned out to not be a human being after all.

But what I mostly meant in terms of not offering forgiveness--maybe "forgiveness" is the wrong word--but in both "Faith, Hope, and Trick" and "Revelations" Buffy is very quick to provide Faith with reassurances that she did nothing wrong--and at the end of "Bad Girls", she has a very different attitude. Although she may be right to have a different attitude--it may have been an accident, but Faith still killed a human being, which was quite different from anything she had done before. And Faith's attitude might also different in Bad Girls, and her refusal to discuss any way of handling the situation aside from her immoral and impractical plan of dumping the body and forgetting about it doesn't help Buffy's attitude.

But I think from Faith's point of view, I think she interpreted that fact that Buffy saw this as a thing Faith needed to feel terribly and didn't seem to care that it was an accident as sign that she, Faith, had already crossed the line into being a bad person. Which probably led Faith to suspect that Buffy, despite reassurances to the contrary, was going to turn on her.

Yes, the kiss on the head in Graduation Day is a great moment and quite open to interpretation--Buffy is so quiet and said. And it occurs to me that she could be forgiving herself as well as Faith--because from the moment of stabbing Faith until the moment of that kiss Buffy seems to be stunned and freaked out, but after seeing Faith alive she seems to go back to normal.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, prior to Faith lying to Giles, Buffy always talks in terms of "what we did", not differentiating her degree of responsibility to Faith. It's only after Faith betrays her that it seems to become important to Buffy that Faith was the one who killed the guy

Oh, well spotted! I never noticed and you're absolutely right.

re: Ted - as I said, it's been years, but that's how I interpreted Buffy's "I know how you feel", but of course she may only mean she knows because she, too, was involved in Finch's death.

re: kiss on Graduation Day: I think it's also significant that it takes place after their shared dream. I do love those few shares Slayer dreams of Buffy's and Faith's! Mind you, I also think that Faith's at the start of "This Year's Girl" where the symmetrical bed making turns into Buffy stabbing her, and this keeps happening in all scenarios offer the speculation that the dreamer has subconscious partial control of the dream world. So in Buffy's coma dream she and Faith are reconciled again and able to talk as they haven't been since Bad Girls (and there is no reference to either of their violent attempts to end each other), while in Faith's dream there might be some attempts at harmony but it keeps changing into Buffy as the merciless killer hunting down Faith who is not doing anything wrong. I.e. Buffy blocks out she just tried to kill Faith and that Faith before was busy being the Big Bad's first Lieutenant, Faith blocks out anything could have been her fault altogether, a rationale that's going to break down during Who Are You?.

[norwie2010.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's very thoughtful!

"Dead Things" is one of those very special episodes you'll see once or twice in your lifetime (apart from re-watches, obviously!). It is the episode in which i fell in love with Buffy'n'Spike.

Buffy herself? Gah! Way too much identification going on from early on... ;-)

[norwie2010.livejournal.com]

Also: See icon how much i LOVE "Anne"! "Anne" is the mostest most wonderful episode of BtVS.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

"Anne" is awesome! I don't think its my favorite episode (that might be "Dead Things"), but it is definitely up there.

I didn't identify with Buffy at all at first, but then, I was never a girly-girl. I liked her, though.

[norwie2010.livejournal.com]

Well, i wasn't a girly-girl, either (especially the girl part ;) ).

But the way she stood up for others, while still being caught up in herself and her own drama - i can relate to that like whoa!

And yes, "Dead Things" is one of my favorites, too! Maybe number two, even. :)

But "Anne" has so many good things going for it, the most political episode Whedon ever wrote and thus resonating deeply while still retaining the personal struggle of Buffy Summers - that's just great!

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

...I totally knew that you are not a girl! I'm pretty sure I knew that.

Buffy reclaiming her identity by cheerfully stating, "I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer. And you are?" is quite possibly the most iconic moment of the series.

[local-max.livejournal.com]

Yes yes. My path is fairly similar, though not identical, when it came to Buffy. She's not my favourite character atm -- right now, it's Willow -- but she was a few years ago, and I'm due for a rewatch of the later seasons :D.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

Willow was about my second favorite character (after Cordelia) in the first season, but I didn't like her quite as much in the second season. I have a hard time with Willow because some of her flaws are sort of extreme versions of my own, but I think she's a great character. I have been trying to appreciate/understand her more lately.

[local-max.livejournal.com]

Despite my favouritism, I have the same issues with her sometimes, especially in seasons five and six -- but that is part of the source of my obsession. (I'm self-involved, I guess! :) )

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I had been led to believe that Spike was entirely in the role of the victim at this time. I had been prepping myself for both the alley beating and the attempted rape, but Spike thoughtfully and deliberating trying to exacerbate Buffy's guilt and unhappiness so that she would be with him was not something I had been preparing myself to forgive.

I think this is a point that can't be made often enough - if only because I see the opposite (that Spike is the only victim) assumed so often. the verbal abuse from Spike - in this scene but also in Smashed "You Came Back Wrong" - are as damaging if not more so than a punch in the nose.

I adore DT on so many levels, so its always nice to see other fans who appreciate it.

And I just did some meta on Anne (shameless plug) if you're interested.

As far as loving Buffy - I was intrigued from the first interactions she had with Giles in WTTH, how she could be flip or silly or snarky or angry at the flip of a switch. The part where she dares him to "teach her", challenges him to tell something she doesn't already know (that being the Chosen One has isolated her) is the moment I knew she was someone I wanted to watch. But it wasn't until S5 onward that I loved Buffy, that I felt with her rather than for her. Those last three seasons fascinate me to no end and NOT just because of Spike. I love their relationship arc, but I'm for Buffy first.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed this post.

if only because I see the opposite (that Spike is the only victim) assumed so often.

I've also seen people try to argue that Buffy was the only victim at this point, which is also just wrong.

I read your meta on Anne, and found it quite intriguing.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I've also seen people try to argue that Buffy was the only victim at this point, which is also just wrong.

Very true! That seems to be the reaction especially among some "feminists" (many of whom were watching the show back in the day, I think), and some Bangels, who see one event - the AR - as THE reason why the whole relationship is just terribly wrong and Angel really is her true love. (Because a soulless vampire who murders, tortures and plans the destruction of the world and then broods about it later, is completely forgivable, while another soulless vampire who nearly commits rape in the heat of anger and passion - which does NOT make his actions forgiveable, and he knows that and seeks to amend that - is not? IDK)

I think in so many instances on the show, everybody is right and everybody is wrong simultaneously. Characters do the right things for the wrong reasons and vice versa, or they have the right idea but go about it the wrong way, etc etc. Apportioning blame seems useless to me after a while when I look at the entire scope of the show; any one incident or event has to be taken in context.

that doesn't mean that anyone (fans) is wrong in how they emotionally respond to the show. And there are things I cannot stand so I'm pointing the finger at myself as well; I'm trying to be more understanding of Xander's jackassery, even if I find it unpleasant, it also makes him a complex human being.

I love Anya's comment in S7: I blame you, you blame me and we're back on the merry-go-round of revolving knives. I know I'm flubbing that, but I prefer it to Giles' S2 "Forgiveness isn't given because it's deserved, it's because it's needed." Am I getting that wrong too? To me Anya's comment is more "real", less a bumper-sticker quote, and more nuanced: forgiveness is a process IMO, not an event.

I read your meta on Anne, and found it quite intriguing.

Thank you! I always feel like I ramble too much, I lack clarity, I miss important points (so I love it when people bring up other things I missed in the convos.)

[akshita goyal (from livejournal.com)]

i hate her because of the way she treats people and her thinking that shes better than everyone. Spike is the best character on any show and why he would fall for buffy is ridiculous she is nothing like him.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

Buffy is a complicated character, feeling both superior and inferior. I can definitely see why Spike fell for her - they are both very passionate. There was always chemistry between them.