Comment on AtS 5x13

[estepheia]

Read selenak's analysis of Why we Fight here - very observant.

While I agree that the episode was clever in places I also thought it was kinda dull. The episode also failed the magic couch test. Hubby usually falls asleep as soon as his butt touches our comfortable living room sofa, unless he watches somthing truly entertaining. Well, he fell asleep during the epi.

Comments

[shapinglight]

I still haven't seen it, so can't really comment, although totally spoiled for it. I'm actually rather annoyed with them for spoiling all my illusions about Evil Spike. I mean, from what I hear, no one would've been afraid of him, he was such an idiot. And yet we're supposed to believe that he was the second worst vampire ever.

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[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Have to admit that I always believed Dru to be the more evil of the couple. He was evil for her, when she instigated it. She was his black muse. :-D

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[shapinglight]

Well, I've always believed that Dru was the dominant one of the pair, but not that she was the 'brains' of the outfit. I'd imagined that she'd have these whims that Spike would hurry to fulfill, but that he'd need a certain amount of cunning and street smarts at least to do that. From what I understand, he seems like a retarded 14 year old in this episode.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

I like to try and put it down to the fact he acts 'more childlike' when Angelus is around him. But then thats just me......: D

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[auroramama]

Hey, guys, it was Angel's flashback. Of course he remembers Spike as a retarded fourteen-year-old. And of course no one would be afraid of Angel's remembered Spike. If Angel had been thinking of Spike as a serious threat, he would have had to seriously consider staking him. It seemed clear to me that Angel didn't want to do that. There was a lot of unwilling affection under all that derision.

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[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yes, thanks for reminding me of the unreliable 'narrator' here. And yeah, if Spike had been more evil then Angel would have had to kill him. As it is Spike comes across as want, take, have - which is completely in character.
What really bugged me was Spike's lack of language skill. He should have been able to speak German. Actually, *my* Spike does. Although it may be a bit rusty.

German

[auroramama]

I agree that anyone who's trying to escort Drusilla through Europe had better have a basic knowledge of the major languages. You certainly wouldn't want to rely on her translations.

When and where did your Spike learn German? Mmmm, more stories to read?

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[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I can see Spike in "Why We Fight" being exactly that annoying and obstreperous.

If we assume that the vampiric prisoners originally made their jailbreak attempt in some sort of seize-the-moment burst of ultraviolence (possibly taking advantage of the confusion when the sub itself was captured), then once things settled down Spike would have been looking at a very dicey situation. He was stuck in a tin box with a non-infinite food supply, with the only people who could get him and the other vampires out of the situation locked away behind a water-tight and presumably vampire-tight door and not at all disposed to view the escaped prisoners kindly -- and it wouldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes with Nosferatu and the Scourge of Siberia for Spike to realize that he was, unfortunately, the current brains of the operation.

Under those circumstances, having Angel show up -- with, apparently, a plan of his own already in mind -- probably seemed to Spike like a gift from the universe to an undeserving vampire. And the absolute last thing Spike would want would be for Angel to know exactly how relieved Spike was not to be responsible for everything any longer. Annoying him would be much, much safer.

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[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yes, that makes sense.
And of course Spike is phyically incapable of showing that relief.

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[auroramama]

Oooh. I like that.

[onetwomany.livejournal.com]

That's exactly how I felt. I thought the episode was good in the sense that it was clever, highly thoughful, and had lots of juicy parallels. But it also dragged in parts and had none of that spark that SdK and Ultimate Drew usually have in spades. I'll watch it again for the fanish content, but I'm not in the least surprised your hubby fell asleep.