Spike arrives - Parallels between Spike & Buffy – The sexy vibe between Spike & Buffy – Sheila meets Spike - The Angel connection – Lyrics while Buffy dances- Conclusion – Spicy extras for James Marsters fans

"Well", says Xander, hugging his school bag defensively and innocently uttering some of the most prophetic words we’ll ever hear on BtVS, "you guys don't know. Maybe this time it'll be different."

Enter Spike. Different? Xander, can you say that again? Here’s a bleached blonde vampire like none we’ve ever seen. He’s cool, he’s confident, he’s modern, he lives large in the world. In this episode, he talks about Woodstock, Anne Rice, Yoda, and Uncle Tom. He watches TV. He’s a non-conformist and he’s a rebel. And he’s also Buffy.

He’s Buffy? Yes, and Buffy is he – strong and fast connections are made immediately between the fair pair in this episode. Right off the bat, they’re marked by Fate. Spike ends his first scene with the Anointed One with a big red smear of blood on his left cheek, where Dru has scratched and licked his face. Two scenes later, Buffy appears with an almost identical red streak of poster paint on her left cheek, as she paints a sign for Parent-Teacher night.

The war paint symbolizes very real parallels between the two:

SPIKE is asked by the Anointed One: "Who are you?" He introduces himself as Spike, and quickly proceeds to tell the little guy that he’s the one who can take over the task of killing The Slayer for him. At the end of the episode, Spike completely takes over by killing the "Annoying One". BUFFY is asked by Principal Snyder, as vampires invade the school: "Who do you think you are?" Buffy replies, "I'm the one that knows how to stop them." And Buffy takes charge.

Like Dru’s naughty little dolly Miss Edith, Buffy & Spike are suspect and troublemakers. They comply reluctantly with the wishes of others to participate in rituals – Parent-Teacher night for BUFFY, at Snyder’s command and Joyce’s urging; "Getting chanty" for SPIKE, to please the Anointed One at Dru’s urging. But Buffy forgets the sugar in the lemonade, and she tries to sabotage the whole intent of the evening by using Willow to keep her mom from meeting teachers or Snyder. And Spike’s no better at following any liturgy: He can’t wait for Saturday, St Vigeous Day, when vampire power will be at its peak. He comes crashing in after The Slayer on Thursday.

BUFFY’S not your Watcher’s Slayer. We see it right from the beginning, Episode 1, Season 1. We will learn later in Season 2 that Giles doesn’t even try to use the Slayer Handbook with Buffy. She follows no handbook, and she keeps strong ties to friends and family. And SPIKE, of course, is one unusual vampire – he follows no rules, and he also defies convention by unreservedly and overtly loving Dru with human intensity.

Top dogs for their respective sides, they recognize each other immediately for what they are when they meet for combat. BUFFY suggests they don’t need their weapons, and though SPIKE claims the weapon he carries makes him feel all manly, he drops it immediately after he says this. Both are filled with supreme confidence in their own abilities, as well as respect for each other’s abilities. They’re going to do battle as it should be done - all fists and fangs.

But when Spike first sees Buffy she isn’t fighting, she’s dancing. Dancing is a metaphor we will see again for these two and their sizzling relationship. And right here, right now, it’s seduction at first sight. It is an unconscious one on Buffy’s part, as she lifts her arms and sways her hips without knowing she’s being watched. And for Spike, we see the depth of his desire before he does; in his darkened face and cat-like movements there is a lust that goes beyond a simple blood lust.

The sexually charged imagery continues when Spike encounters Buffy for the second time. Spike hears her crawling around in the ceiling over his head. Positioning herself above him is very effective for Buffy. She gets where she’s going and he can’t really touch her - all he can do is poke uselessly at her with a pole from below. He’s beneath her, literally (the first time, but far from the last time, we will see this image or hear it referenced).

When Buffy comes down from on high, they finally meet up close and personal. Spike’s first words refer to her sexuality: "I smell the blood of a nice, ripe girl." I suddenly remember Xander, fiddling around in Buffy’s purse at The Bronze, looking for a stake and making me giggle when he finds and fumbles with a tampon instead. The mind reels.

Buffy and Spike begin to fight - he gives up his "manliness" (his weapon), and they fight on equal terms. Like Andy Kaufman, Spike is fighting for the Intergender Championship of the World. Only unlike Andy, he doesn’t win. Joyce enters the picture and hits him over the head with a hatchet. He surrenders to their greater numbers, but he is back to asserting his manhood, referring again to Buffy’s sex: "Women!!"

Ahhh, Spike and women. In this episode, we begin to see, in his solicitous behavior toward Dru, the extent to which Spike is controlled and frustrated by women. When he encounters Buffy’s rebellious schoolmate Sheila in the alley, she is talking to two men, telling them: "You guys weren't lyin' about havin' a Cadillac, were you? 'Cause I'm crazy about a Cad. Just the feel of the leather makes me wanna..." And suddenly she runs into Spike:

"Who are you?" asks Sheila. It’s the second time Spike’s been asked that question, but for Sheila the answer is much different than it was for the Anointed One.

"Who do you want me to be?" he replies. And with those seven words, though we don’t know it yet, Spike gives us a stunningly complete and solid idea of the way he defines himself around women, and the method he uses to ensnare them.

You see, Spike – Spike is no Angel. When Spike and Angel have their seemingly happy reunion in the school hallway, they have this exchange:

Spike: "I haven't seen you in the killing fields for an age."

Angel: "I'm not much for company."

Spike: "No, you never were."

Angel is a loner compared to Spike. He loves Buffy but he doesn’t need people, the world or women the way Spike does. He doesn’t need anyone else in order to know who he is, in order to define himself. And though Spike will accuse Angel later in this conversation of being "housebroken" by Buffy, it really isn’t true, not about Angel. It is Spike who defines himself according to Dru’s needs, and it is Spike who will eventually be housebroken by Buffy. Spike’s sensitivity and immaturity, his need for others that is also a lack of self, make him vulnerable in a way that the more self-assured and self-contained Angel can never be.

Not that the strutting macho version of Spike we see in the scene, or in this episode, has the vaguest idea who he is, or what’s to come. Listen to the exchange that takes place as Angel admits to having switched sides in the fight of good against evil:

Angel: "Things change."

Spike: "Not us! Not demons! Man, I can't believe this. You Uncle Tom!"

But Angel is not an Uncle Tom. He has changed sides because he himself has changed. It is not Angel who could ever, while still purely a demon, find a traitor there beneath his breast.

And it is certainly not Angelus who will be collaborating with the enemy by the end of Season 2. Listen to the lyrics in the song that plays when Spike sees Buffy dancing:

And Spike starts spilling his guts right away. A minute after these lyrics play, out in the alley, he gives up any possible advantage of surprise for the simple joys of bragging and striking fear in a young girl’s heart: He leaks the news to Buffy that he plans to kill her on Saturday.

The spilling never stops for Spike – he runs at the mouth like one of those cherubs in a fancy fountain. At the end of Season 2, he meets The Slayer on the sly to tell her Angel’s plans. In Season 3, he returns to tell anyone and everyone who will listen, or can be made to listen, about Dru’s abandonment and his misery. In Season 4, he acts as an informant for the Scoobies, albeit an often-reluctant one who tries to play both sides of the fence. In Season 5, his feelings for Buffy come rushing and gushing out; he’s a regular fire-hose. In Season 6, it is Buffy’s turn to spill her guts. Spike becomes her main – her only – confidant. And they both finally come crashing, smashing you might say, violently to their knees.

And it all starts right here, in School Hard, a tightly constructed, intricate introductory episode. Kudos to ME, for planting so many hearty seeds before anyone really knew which, if any, would come to fruition.

Spicy extras – for James Marsters fans

• Isn’t it a lovely surprise when we see Spike’s human face for the first time? They way he goes from a swaggering braggart in game-face to concerned lover with a face like an angel? I liked it.
• Near the start of his fight with Buffy, watch for Spike (JM, not a stuntman) to execute a remarkable, graceful leap into the air to avoid a blow. The man’s physicality and dexterity are impressive.
• James has said in interviews that he didn’t often wear underwear in Season 2. Watch closely in this episode, and I think you will believe him. If you have a Season 2 DVD, don’t be shy about using your DVD player’s slow motion, pause and zoom features for close study! Suggestion: Watch Spike stride toward the Anointed One when he first meets him.