#Lovers Walk

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[bangelgifs]

[Underrated] Bangel Moments Requested by Anonymous

[enigmatist17]

Once again watching Lover's Walk because I love this dumbass :)

[herinsectreflection]

The Big Bad Is Back (Lovers Walk)

It’s April 2004; the sunset days of Web 1.0. A new website has just been created: a cross-media wiki known as TVTropes. It’s a site for fans of all manner to identify and record common storytelling conventions as they recur throughout different pieces of media, and it will grow to become a dominant knowledge-base for fandom over the next decade.

A little-known about TVTropes is that it was originally created to focus on one show in particular, and that that show was, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The site was born from the petri dish of Buffy fan debates. For better or worse, both this site and the works of Joss Whedon were an incredible influence on this era of nerd culture, and even two decades later, we can see their impact. The post-Avengers hegemony of superhero blockbusters and cinematic universes, as well as the increase in spoiler-phobia and efforts to subvert expectations among creatives, can all be traced back in part to this site, and this show. There may be no more succinct demonstration of what 2000s nerd culture was like than this particular intersection of media history, and if we zoom in a little further, there is one trope that is of particular interest to this episode. The page for Badass Decay has existed for over a decade, and has three separate pages of examples, but older readers may recognise it by its original title - Spikeification.

The concept of Spikeification presupposes two things. Firstly, that from the point he is introduced in the show until the point he leaves, Spike becomes less “badass”; secondly, that this is a bad thing. I am introducing TVTropes into this conversation because I think it’s demonstrative of how dominant this line of thinking was in fan culture of the time. This was a presumed fact about Spike’s character, and the only debate was whether his “badass decay” began with his chip, his soul, his love for Buffy, or some other point in the show. It became such a piece of received wisdom that it gave the trope its name, and still today, he is referenced in the page’s headline quote. This received wisdom escaped the confines of Buffy fandom to influence nerd spaces far beyond the show itself.

It’s also, of course, a load of bollocks.

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[disco-tea]

Okay so obviously in Lover’s Walk, the point of Spike’s dislike and commentary on Buffy and Angel and saying it “makes him want to heave” is because in that episode he’s playing the somewhat cynical but brutally honest voice of reason. The voice of the narrative. BUT because Fool for Love recontextualizes literally everything after Becoming ii it means that from a Watsonian point of view Spike gets told he’s deep down in love with Buffy, digs his heels in and says “NOPE. Absolutely not. I’m so not in love with Buffy that im gonna go back to Sunnydale. Because im angry! Obviously. Not because its suddenly like the center of the whole world and thats where Buffy is. That would be stupid!” And then he gets there only to find Angel is very much still around and ensouled and Buffy still likes him and he’s like everything is Awful. I’m going to BARF. I hate it here. I’m going to kill myself.

[desicat-writer]

Dawn: so you're missing Drusilla.

Spike: what makes you say that?

Joyce: We found you in the park throwing rocks at couples.

Spike: WHY SHOULD THEY BE HAPPY

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Beauty and the Beasts: Oz becomes the prime suspect when a series of animal-like attacks occur in Sunnydale. Lovers Walk: Spike returns to Sunnydale and kidnaps Willow in hopes of creating a magic spell that will make Drusilla love him again.

[girl4music]

“I think their thing is that they want something that they can’t have and that’s what the attraction is.”

Yeah, so really all it was about was what they thought they were missing out on. When they were able to have their moment, they figured out that it wasn’t meant to be. It was a waste of time. And it hurt people they did actually care for so it wasn’t worth it either.

I suppose curiosity was the draw. They just needed to get it out of their system. What could have been.

The attraction was entirely based in the mystery. Once it was no longer a mystery, it was pointless. I think Willow needed it more than Xander. That closure. The confirmation that he wasn’t it for her. That she did not actually feel romantically for him. It was her deep longtime friendship with him that made her think that she did plus the fact that she thought nobody had any interest in her as a lover until Oz. She really just needed that validation that he wasn’t it.

Validation and Willow go hand in hand. Once she has it, she drops the subject and moves on to something new. Always curious and adventurous, she never settles with the learning. It’s just constant knowledge that she wants. Because knowledge is power.

The Willow and Xander romantic storyline in Season 3 is so out of sorts with the rest of the season. It’s like no one even cares anymore when they have established significant others. Should have let that ship sail and then drown in late Season 1/early Season 2. Nobody is here for it late Season 2/early Season 3. It’s just gross and unnecessary when both are in a relationship. I would have been on-board with it a lot earlier. Before Willow got with Oz and Xander got with Cordelia. It just feels so… “bleagh”… as Willow put it.

Please tell me that I’m not the only one that finds that storyline extremely uncomfortable to watch.

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[wanderlandjournal]

Wild garlic season

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Follow @natureaestheticdreams for more🌳🌿🍏

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“I'm walking here! I'm walking here!” – Ratso Rizzo

(Source)

[goryhorroor]

horror sub-genres: vampire

[herinsectreflection]

@trowelaway-blog It's definitely something to keep in mind and discuss more as we go through the show. There's definitely plenty of examples of "dark" love, or love that is twisted in some way. The Mayor and Faith as you say, and Angelus towards Buffy in S2. With Spike specifically, love can drive him to do dark things (even in this episode he's murdering, kidnapping, and torturing to get Dru back) but ultimately, it is something that brings out the goodness in him. When his arc reaches its climax, it is love that ultimately brings the light.

Quite literally.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Who put these kids here?

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