In-Depth Interview with James Marsters (Spike)

A.V. Club has a wonderful in-depth interview with James Marsters talking about his Buffy days with great thoughts on fandom and his days filming the show.

Here he talks about his favorite episodes which are also fan favorites: "The Body," "Tabula Rasa," and "Beneath You." I especially enjoyed this insight into "Beneath You," the scene of Spike on the cross in the church and how hard it was to get the right amount of "shame" into that scene because Spike had earned back his soul:

What is your personal favorite—and least favorite—Buffy episode?

JM: Oh, I’ve got so many favorites. One of them is “The Body,” because: Wow. So different than other episodes. Really proving that the show can be just a very serious drama occasionally. And I had a week off, which, when you’re doing 12 to 20 hours of 22 episodes—I’m not joking—having the week off is life-saving. “Tabula Rasa.” That’s just an awesome show. Loved that one. I have very fond memories of the first one I was in. That was just such an intense experience. I think the director committed career suicide. He got so excited by what was happening in the episode, and birthing this character with me, that he started adding shots. And he was blowing budget, and Gareth Davies came down and told him, “If you don’t rein it in, you are never coming back on this show.” And he came to me and he said, “Look, they just told me I’m never going to be on this show if I don’t rein it in. I’m not reining it in. I don’t care. This episode is going to be amazing. And I’m going to get so much work off it in other places. But I’m going to make this really cool.” And he really did. I think part of the reason the character broke out quickly is because that first episode was so tight, as far as how many shots he got.

The Buffy vs. Twilight Meme

The message of female empowerment and spirituality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is diametrically opposite to the Twilight Series by Joyce Meyer. While Buffy and Bella both have love affairs with vampires the similarity ends there - Buffy never lets herself be dominated by Angel or Spike - on the contrary, she gives the orders.

Buffy falls in love with Angel and Spike in spite of her loathing for vampires, and hates it when those attractions upset her family and friends. And both vampires have to earn Buffy's trust and respect over time. On the other hand, Bella trusts the "sparkly" Edward and is ready to throw away all ties with her parents five minutes after meeting him. Won over by sex and expensive gifts from the Cullen Clan, Bella is besotted with romantic ideas of becoming a vampire herself - soul be damned!

Conversely, Buffy is willing to sacrifice Angel and Spike in order to save the world - choosing the greater good instead of selfish desire.

Besides all that, the writing in the Buffy series is so much more clever, irreverent, self-effacing and just plain entertaining. Twilight is a cloned romance novel that got lucky.

I could go on, but I'll let these pictures speak for themselves . . .

Slayer Soundtrack Sunday - Sarah McLachlan

Popular artist Sarah McLachlan provided two songs to the Buffy series, and both seem appropriate for Easter Sunday.

"Full of Grace" is about being strong in difficult situations, and was played in "Becoming, Part Two," in Season Two when Buffy has kill her lover Angel in order to save the world. The song plays as Buffy leaves town. The song is found on McLachlan's 1997 album Surfacing






"Prayer of St. Francis" is from Season 6, "The Grave." It's included on Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Radio Sunnydale



This song seems even more significant now, since the new Pope just took the name of St. Francis of Assisi who wrote the prayer.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen




Three big things happen while this song is playing at the end of the show. Xander is able to stop Willow from destroying the world, Buffy and Dawn emerge from graveyard hole - appearing resurrected into a scene that looks like the Garden of Eden, and Spike the Vampire painfully gets his soul back, which Buffy doesn't find out about until Season 7, "Beneath You" when Spike explains it in the church and throws himself of the cross. While smoke rises around him from the cross, he isn't destroyed like other vampires because his soul protects him.





From Buffy Wikia "The Grave"

Buffy comments to Giles that she feels that when she crawled out of her grave, she left part of herself behind. At the end of this episode, she must once again crawl out of a grave, this time with Dawn. The first time, she was disoriented, it was night, and Sunnydale had been overrun by demons. This time, it is morning and she is with Dawn, and they look out over a beautiful forest. It is a chance for her to start over, and really live for the first time since she was brought back to life at the beginning of the season - thus completing the circle begun with her resurrection the previous fall.

From tabularasa.net

As Buffy and Dawn emerge from the grave-like hole in the ground, Sarah MacLachlan chimes in, singing the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi ("make me an instrument of your peace..."). It seems, largely, that everyone is where they are supposed to be. Buffy is back on good terms with Dawn (the best part of herself, as she described her last year). Xander is consoling Willow, who is most likely finally allowing herself to grieve for Tara, not to mention regretting her actions. Anya is helping Giles out of the ruins of the Magic Box. Jonathan and Andrew are nervously sharing a ride with a too-friendly trucker. As the song reaches it's conclusion, Buffy and Dawn walk in a graveyard far more scenic (and Garden of Eden-like) than we have seen before.
"And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.", the song concludes, as we see a badly beaten Spike lying in the cave. The demon informs him that he has endured the trials. Spike demands what he wants - "make me what I was - so Buffy can get what she deserves". The demon agrees, grasping his chest - "we will return your soul".

Spike or Angel? Who is more Heroic?

Here's an excerpt from a great essay comparing the characters of Spike (William the Bloody) and Angel (Angelus).

Spike Versus Angel by Eleanor Kuhns

Transformed to a vampire, (Spike) becomes part of Angel’s coven, and for the first time, he becomes part of something. He has his own little family and is too scary to be mocked. Recalling his experiences with Angel and Drusilla during the Russian Revolution, Spike tells Buffy that it was the best time of his life. His wistful regret for a happy time that has passed really resonated with me. He is never really happy again.

Angel, on the other hand, never worries about fitting in. Why should he? He is always the leader. As a vampire, he has a rep as the baddest of the bad, with no pity or remorse. But when he reforms, he reforms all the way, becoming, to my way of thinking, a little self-righteous. He strides through the episodes like Cotton Mather in a leather coat. Yet, when he loses his soul, he becomes über evil. There are no gray areas with Angel.



Spike is a mosaic of gray. He certainly never achieves Angel’s almost arrogant level of self-confidence. In fact Spike remains always insecure, a feeling he covers with a flippant swagger. He wants someone to love him, first Drusilla and then Buffy, but never succeeds in attaining the relationship he wants. He wants to fit in but he just can’t manage it. Not and stay who he is. He wants to be good but only sometimes and not yet. Totally understandable.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a multi-layered show with many strands that explain its popularity and its following even now. And Spike is certainly a big part of it. He is villain, hero, and antihero all at once. In the final episode, Angel expects to save the world by sacrificing his life. After all, he is the hero and the good vampire. But it is Spike, the very flawed character whose journey we have shared, who is chosen. And that feels right.

My own feeling is that Spike becomes a true hero - the "champion" at the end of the series - not just because he is more complex, but because he makes a conscious choice to "be a better man" and get back his soul. Angel, of course, has a soul at the beginning of the series, but only through the gypsy curse - he never sought it out. Both characters suffer terribly and struggle with right and wrong - with backsliding, and even murder - but I agree with the essayist that Whedon got it exactly right in the end ~ Spike's journey is more noble for it being more unlikely.