Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Latest ‘Buffy’ DVD set will leave Spike fans feeling cheated

October 14, 2005 - “Spike: Love is Hell,” the latest character-themed DVD collection of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episodes from Fox Home Entertainment, offers fans of the show and those uninitiated into the “Buffyverse” four solid hours of cutting social commentary, cheeky humor, pointed drama and well-executed action. But, the set fails to do what its glossy cover box promises: deliver the best “Buffy” episodes featuring the ever-evolving British punk vampire character called Spike (James Marsters).

Creator Joss Whedon’s underrated, genre-blending show took many dark and unexpected turns throughout its seven-season run (five years on The WB and two on UPN).

Whedon wrote season-long arcs that allowed his characters to grow and change and even die. Every “Buffy” regular, from bookish Willow (Alyson Hannigan) to everyman Xander (Nicholas Brendon) to the titular character herself (Sarah Michelle Gellar), evolved throughout the series in unexpected, sometimes hard-to-watch, but indisputably satisfying ways. Nifty beheading scenes and zeitgeist-capturing dialogue aside, “Buffy’s” true merit rested in its unflinchingly honest and entertaining examination of how a band of outsiders keeps its integrity intact when faced with its demons, figurative and literal.

Arguably, platinum blonde, leather coat-wearing Spike is the character that faced the most demons on “Buffy.”

After having it easy as a wise cracking harbinger of death for hundreds of years, he becomes impotent, depressed and nearly insane throughout the series when faced with a newfound humanity, analytical glimpses into his destructive past and dismissal from the love of his life. But, you wouldn’t really get all that with this set of episodes.

”Spike: Love is Hell” features the character’s introductory episode “School Hard” written by David Greenwalt. In this second season episode, Spike roars into the town of Sunnydale, Calif., and quickly establishes himself as the new big bad by feasting on parent-teacher night attendees at the local high school. In tow is evil gal pal Drusilla (Juliet Landau) - the Nancy to his Sid. The episode sets Spike’s reputation as the evilest of the evildoers and cleverly apes “Die Hard” and “Three O’Clock High” while referencing Woodstock, “Star Wars” and the Boxer Rebellion.

Next up is an inexplicable entry from season two titled “Lie to Me,” written by Whedon. The episode has a lot to say about friendship, subculture and young people’s need to belong, but it says nothing new about Spike. The character is given little to do but act menacing and feast on an “all-you-can-eat moron bar” of vampire wannabes.

“Lovers Walk” from season three finally displays how three-dimensional Spike can be. Episode scribe Dan Vebber starts to unravel the character’s bad guy exterior by giving him a broken heart, a softer veneer and the best jokes in the episode (“I may be love’s bitch, but at least I’m man enough to admit it.”).

The episode also paints Spike as a sensitive character who relates his mind-altering insight into other characters’ relationships. It’s one of the funniest Spike episodes ever written, and Marsters plays the comedy like a pro, but it still should have been shelved in favor of any of a number of later episodes from seasons five, six or seven that have to do with Spike’s struggle for redemption.

Season five’s “Fool for Love” is the gem of the pack. Not only does Douglas Petrie’s script reveal more about the character than ever before, the episode is expertly shot, directed, plotted and acted, cleverly balancing dark drama, humor and intense action. The flashback scenes (which recall many Merchant-Ivory and ‘70s “blaxploitation” filcks) reveal new dimensions of Spike’s character and set the stage for his transformation from evildoer to reluctant champion.

With its long arcs and emphasis on character development, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is a natural for this kind of collector’s set. “Spike: Love is Hell” serves as a nice primer for those new to the series, but “Buffy” fans would be better served by purchasing any of the seven complete seasons on DVD.