Spoiler Slayer

Nothing new in the way of spoilage, except I did get a tidbit from a source that is confirming that 'Gone' will be the title of the next episode. No airdate, and I would credit the source, but I'm not sure the person wants to make that public.

Article up at Zap2It, which I think lots of people are completely reading the wrong way. It features comments from Marti Noxon about the sex scene and the Buffy/Spike relationship. First, for those who are worried that she's dropping a major spoiler, I think one should consider how she really doesn't spoil (even when the info is already out there). Just a month ago, she was very careful not to mention the fact that Jonathan and Amy both return in Season Six.

Aside from that, I don't know how anyone can read into this that it nixes a Buffy/Spike relationship. First off, she says that it's not going to be a flash-in-the-pan relationship, so Spike and Buffy are going to be a couple for a while. Of course Spike won't be Buffy's final relationship (which she also says), but I really think that we would never see anything like that in a TV series. How many actually end with the heroine and her beau riding off into the sunset? Not many.

The point is that this is a TV show and not reality, so we shouldn't assume it's going to follow certain paths. There is the fact that sometimes you have to take paths that will make the show popular to fans, but might not match what would happen in real life. I've noticed a lot of speculation that Spike is going to turn into this Season's Big Bad, and that he'll be staked at Season's end. Which is just ridiculous, James Marsters isn't going anywhere. You aren't going to pull the male lead out of a show like Buffy, even for a ratings stunt. While Buffy might like a break from relationships (ala 'I Was Made To Love You') the reality of the show is that it's not going to happen. The fans and the shippers can come up with excuses and pipedreams, but the facts are that this is a TV show and it's going to follow a pretty set model (which is why, sorry to tell all you B/X fans, it's not going to happen while the show is still running). Angel left, and they brought in Riley and had Spike return. It wouldn't make much sense for Buffy to dive into a relationship with Spike, so Riley was transition guy (which is another reason why he won't be back for more than a one or two episode deal).

The other thing to remember is that relationships don't last, I think the longest running one for the entire show right now is Xander and Anya. That's not exactly good news for the wedding. I think a lot of people picked up on what I said yesterday, the natural progression of the show will have the Buffy/Spike relationship being revealed in some way. Xander is going to protest (probably even louder than he did about Angel), while Anya is going to take her usual 'Tell it like it is' stance and tell both Xander and Buffy off. Such as; There is no real reason why Buffy shouldn't get involved with Spike, the Scoobies have been pretty unfair to him, and that people can change. Xander's going to say something like 'Once evil, always evil', which is going to send Anya storming off. I don't think it will result in a permanent end to their relationship, but it'll certainly throw a monkey wrench into the works.

While the Scoobie's are going to be fighting their inner demons for most of this season, I do not see that as being the real 'Big Bad'. Again, TV show reality intrudes, and you do need something physical that you can slay, stake, or pound into dust at the end of the season. I'm still feeling that we haven't seen the real 'Big Bad' yet, I highly doubt that it will be Rack. Likewise, I'm beginning to feel that it isn't Willow or Amy either. Amy's just too unstable, and Willow (while she still is going to follow that dark road for a while) won't be it either. Which brings me back to the Troika, and their strange absence from the last episode. ME likes to hint, but rarely reveals all the cards about the 'Big Bad' until right before all the plans are laid out. I'm still thinking that it could be one of them, who's merely along for the ride right now. Which brings back all the rumors that one of them is more evil than the other, and while Warren seems to be stepping up to the plate, I would go with the least obvious choice (Andrew).

Just a couple other comments. In terms of last night's episode, the cast perfomances were fantastic. It's nice to see that even after finally getting what he's been yearning for, that Spike will still be Spike. Spike loves to aggravate, annoy, tease, and in general drive people up the wall. He certainly knows how to push Buffy's buttons, but he's also keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Buffy would love him to go away and forget the entire thing, but Spike has a point when he says that she's changed. Lot of people in denial this season, good to see that Spike isn't one of them. I also should say that I didn't hate this episode, I just think that some of it was a bit heavy-handed. I don't watch Buffy to see the same storylines you would find on Melrose Place, 90210, Dawson's Creek, or Felicity. Is Amy going to burst in on the Scoobie's Xmas party and start shooting up the place? Drug stories are old hat, they've been done to death, I would have liked the writers to have taken it in a different direction. Besides, no matter who good an actress Alyson is, I don't think she'll ever be able to top Helen Hunt (hopped up on home-brewed angel dust) screaming that she can fly and jumping through a second-story plate glass window. ;D