intertext

I've been re-viewing all of Buffy over the last few months. I was trying to integrate Angel, too, but I think my brain is too linear - one series at a time :) This past week has been the section of Season Five with "The Body," "Forever," "Intervention," and last night was "Tough Love." Over and over again I am just gob-smacked (for want of a better word) by how good they are. "The Body" was a little less painful to watch than the first time around, which was, after all, only a few months after my own mother died. That last line of Dawn's, though - "Where has she gone?"- still resonates. This time, I am able to pick up how subtly the writers are weaving ideas and foreshadowing events. The way Willow helps Dawn in "Forever" shows us that she is capable of doing what she will do at the beginning of Season Six, and why. The events of "Tough Love" of course foreshadow the terrible events towards the end of S6. And omg, how much do I love Spike at this stage of the series. His heroism in "Intervention," and the way Buffy responds. His line in "Tough Love": "I'm not good, and I'm okay" which seems to somehow sum up his character. His tender relationship with Dawn.

So for those of us who love Spike (and who doesn't?), a linky treat: an interview with James Marsters. Part 3 is at the top; you can scroll down for parts 1 and 2.

And a meme, which seems to be going round again. Of course:

So Spike and Buffy beat eachother up then have passionate sex while a building collapses on top of them. Kinky. What's interesting is this thing that now Spike can hurt Buffy even though his chip is working "perfectly." He says "you've come back wrong." Can this be true? Is it perhaps that she's gone against nature in coming back from whereever it was she was that she thought was heaven...? I love this show.