- Spike and Riley – Ethics – Objectification of women – Alliances
– Conclusion – Spicy extras for
James Marsters fans -
The
Initiative, among other things, sets us up to begin
making comparisons between Spike and Riley. Deliberate parallels are drawn in the
similarities of their scenes with Willow:
They both, at different times and for different reasons, sit on her
bed. They both also are consoled in a
very similar way by Willow. She
consoles Riley when he fails to flirt successfully with Buffy, and she comforts
Spike when he has to deal with an even more mortifying “performance” failure
(and he’s only 126!). There are also
two scenes where we expect to see Spike, but we see Riley instead:
Spike and Riley
both say something like “Gotta go see a girl,” and we think they mean Buffy,
but they don’t. Riley goes to see
Willow, to try to win her support and to gather some information from her - to
figuratively arm himself, before heading out to impress The Slayer. In the very next scene, we see that Spike’s
first stop is Harmony. He seems to be
trying to re-establish a home base with Harmony, and to literally arm himself
before heading out to kill The Slayer.
So
why are we being led into comparing Spike and Riley? Because we are meant to look below the
surface of the obvious characterizations of Riley as The Good Guy, and Spike as
The Bad Guy – or The Initiative as The Good Guys and The Demon World as The Bad
Guys. We are meant to take a look at ethics. (Here’s one clue: Giles says to Xander, about Xander’s suggestion to summon some
evil, just so they can feel more useful to Buffy: “Wee bit unethical.”)
Spike, when he
learns that “they” will be experimenting on him, asks his vampire informant and
fellow prisoner: “And they
are? The government? Nazis?
A major cosmetics company?”
Right the first time, Spike. And
look at the company the government is keeping on Spike’s list of guesses! Yes, we know that vampires are evil, and
kill people. But they aren’t being
locked up or killed by The Initiative in order to protect the innocent citizens
of Sunnydale. They are being caged and
subjected to cruel experimentation in the pursuit of what? We aren’t sure, as yet, but it makes us
uncomfortable. The prisoners are held
in small rooms and starved so they will consume drugged food. All privacy and all freedoms have been
stripped away; their bodies are grossly violated and they are given no choice
in the matter.
The importance of
the freedom of choice is emphasized by frequent (nearly continuous) reference
to preferences (e.g., the word “like” is used over and over – Walsh “likes”
Buffy, Riley wants to know what Buffy “likes”, etc). Spike’s preferences count for nothing however, and he is so completely
objectified that he is given a number:
“Hostile 17 broke
restraints at exactly 2:47 PM . . . It was bagged and tagged locally, so assume
it knows the area,” says Professor Walsh to Riley as she sends him out to
recapture Spike.
Riley has no qualms
about following her lead. Listen to his
instructions to his three teams of men, all of whom are out to recapture a
creature they know is now harmless:
“Make sure it can’t leave. Stake
it if you gotta, but only as a last resort.”
Contrast this with Buffy’s words about her plan to confront Spike
one-on-one: “What is wrong with
him? Doesn’t Spike get that this is my
town? If Spike wants me, I go alone . .
. if I find Spike, I’m staking him . . .”
Buffy, though she
abhors his evil ways, acknowledges Spike’s sentience and individuality. She calls Spike by name (as Willow tells
Riley, Buffy has a stuffed pig named Mr Gordo – i.e., even her stuffed animals
get more respect from her than Spike is getting from Walsh and her
followers). She plans to kill Spike
quickly, in a fair fight, in order to protect herself and others from his
murderous nature. Go, Buffy, go. But Riley is leading a large group that
intends to capture a creature, that they know can’t fight back, so that he can
be tormented further. Riley may have no
qualms, but we do - about The Initiative, and about Riley. Because no matter what we think of Spike –
murderer, beast, in desperate need of dusting – we do not think of him as
“Hostile 17,” and we do not think of him as “it.”
When the commandos
almost capture Spike at the end of the episode, we root for Spike. Note that our hero, Buffy, though she is
unaware of Spike’s presence, is fighting on the same side he is, and her
actions help him escape. Walsh will
refer to Buffy later as Hostile 17’s unknown “accomplice.” And for the first time since his brief
alliance with Buffy in Becoming Part 2, Spike is fighting with The Good
Guys. Let’s see, that would make Riley
and The Initiative . . . The Bad Guys?
Well, when it comes to Riley, his character – like Spike’s - will not be
so simple to qualify as the Season moves forward. But, underneath all the customary heroic trappings, neither Riley
nor The Initiative is being presented in a particularly good light.
It’s
not just about their treatment of demons. Women are
objectified by our commandos in a very similar manner. The episode opens with Riley’s friend
Forrest talking about “hotties.” When
he spies Buffy in the cafeteria line he has this exchange with Riley:
Forrest: “Check her out. Is she hot, or is she hot?”
Riley: “She’s Buffy.”
Forrest:
“Buffy? I like that. That girl’s so hot, she’s buffy.”
Riley: “It’s her name, Forrest.”
Like Spike, Buffy
is nameless to Forrest - she’s simply "a hottie” (Hottie #17?). Later, Forrest encourages Parker to talk
about his sexual encounter with Buffy, while Graham and Riley listen with
smiles on their faces. Riley gets
progressively more uncomfortable though, as Parker gets more and more
out-of-line. He finally punches Parker
out. Yay, Riley! Then we see that Forrest is surprised by
Riley’s behavior, saying that Riley has heard Forrest say much grosser things
than Parker did. So Riley realizes he
was upset because Parker was talking about Buffy in particular, and he must
have a crush on Buffy. Hmmm. Maybe Riley is not so enlightened after all,
just jealous. At this point, I’m not
sure what to make of Riley.
When it comes to
the objectification of women, the commandos aren’t alone, however. It’s not about being a commando; it’s about
being a male. Sex is compared to
eating, and women are compared to food:
It’s also worth
noting that the guys – Xander, Giles, Spike, and Riley – seem to have an
overwhelming need to be needed, and to be seen as strong protectors. Xander and Giles are clearly disappointed
because Buffy doesn’t need them. Spike
tells Harmony that her “man is back” and calls himself “Big Daddy.” Riley insists that Buffy can’t take care of
herself, and tries to walk her safely back to her dorm room. During the fight in which Buffy is besting
Riley, he yells, “Abort!” as soon as he begins to notice the small, vaguely
female shape of his opponent. And he
lets Professor Walsh and the others believe the opponent was “a guy” who was “big”
and “strong too.”
So are these macho
men successfully running the world’s oldest protection racket? You know – you need us to protect
you, and what do you need us to protect you from? Us!! Au contraire
(pardon my Italian). For all their
machismo, Riley and his men are led by Big-Mamma Maggie Walsh, and Xander and
Giles are babied by Mrs Harris (who interrupts their manly activities with an
offer of fruit punch). Harmony slaps
Spike, calls him a bastard, and tells him he doesn’t need The Slayer because she
can slap him around just as easily.
Then she proceeds to jump his bones despite his protests. She gets angry when he doesn’t stick around,
so she burns his stuff and decides not to take him back. Xander fights Harmony in a hilarious,
hair-pulling, sissy fight extraordinaire, and Riley is completely unnerved by
Buffy in a comparably lame encounter when he tries to flirt with her and
impress her.
Men
and women are in two different camps, but
they aren’t the only two groups that are singled out in this episode. The frequent mention of national identities
(Canadian, French, Italian, Swiss, Teutonic) emphasizes the importance of
alliances and allegiance –as well as their dynamic nature. We see many two-person pairings, and various
degrees of allegiance within them –for example:
We also hear
mention of sports teams (Buffy is a “major league” hottie, Riley mentions The
Broncos), we hear Willow mention that Oz’s name was left off roll call, and we
see Spike find Buffy’s name and dorm assignment on a list of student names. We all belong to a variety of groups that
criss and cross, and sometimes conflict.
But we as individuals, our characters and our values, are identified and
judged by our associatons - by the groups and the persons with which we
ultimately, firmly align ourselves.
As
Season 4 rolls forward, both Spike and Riley will have some big
decisions to make about allegiance.
Both have demonstrated considerable duality in this episode – Riley is a
leader in The Initiative, a group whose ethics are, at best, seriously problematic. And he seems frighteningly pre-disposed to
blind, unquestioning loyalty. But he
also demonstrates a genuine affection for Buffy, and a disarming, boyish
shyness.
Spike tries to
kill Willow in a vicious attack – not good!!
But it is interesting to note that, in another nod to the importance of
the freedom of choice, he wants her to choose to become a vampire. Having failed to connect with Harmony, the
“gotta have a woman in my life” Spike is surely thinking that Willow would make
a nice partner, and he therefore wants her to be a willing one. Of course, our admiration of his generosity
and sensitivity is severely limited by the fact that he won’t let her choose
whether or not to die. But even Willow
seems willing to see this as a part of his vampiric nature, and to see beyond
that to his personality – which is one that includes a charming willingness to
comfort and reassure Willow when she expresses her self-doubts.
Also worth noting
is that Spike is seen using a computer with ease – he’s an intelligent being,
and a modern one, more like Buffy & The Scoobies than Giles is. And unlike Forrest, who calls Buffy a
hottie, or Parker, who compares her to a toilet seat, or even Riley, who calls
her "peculiar", Spike calls Buffy “brilliant” and “gorgeous.” Even in his angry words - “I always worried what would happen when
that bitch got some funding!” – he is crediting her with quite an
accomplishment. Just as Buffy does for
him, Spike acknowledges Buffy as a full individual in her own right, as a
person, not at thing.
His fight on The
Slayer’s side at the end of the episode is a beginning, if unconscious, step
toward the direction of the light. His
inability to perform with Willow isn’t about being nervous, trying too hard, or
the need to wait a half hour before he tries again. He’s back in Sunnydale permanently now, and he’s got a chip in
his head that has already started, irrevocably, to do its part.