Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Recap/S5/E14 Crush

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Spike's crush on Buffy is exposed. Drusilla comes back to town

Harmony: What about me, Spike? You forget about me again? The actual girlfriend? I gave you the best ... bunch of months of my life! I thought I could change you, Spike. I thought maybe if I gave and I gave and gave, maybe you'd come around. Maybe be a little nicer. Stop treating me like your dog. But now I see it's you. You're the dog. Who needs to be put down.

Buffy: You don't know what feelings are!
Spike: I damn well do! I lie awake every night--
Buffy: You sleep during the day!
Spike: Yeah, but-- (through his teeth) You are missing the point.

Buffy: What ... is this? The late-night stakeout, the bogus suspects, the flask [of booze]? Is this a date?
Spike: (loudly) A d- Please! (pretending to be amused) A date? You are completely off your bird! I mean... (quietly) Do you want it to be?

Tara: Quasimodo's actions were selfishly motivated. He had no moral compass, no understanding of right. Everything he did, he did out of love for a woman who would never be able to love him back.

Anya: Xander, I think you may have hurt his feelings.
Xander: And you should never hurt the feelings of a brutal killer. (ponders) You know, that's, uh, that's actually some pretty good advice.

Harmony: I told you: I don't do threesomes unless they're boy-boy-girl. Or Charlize Theron.

Spike: It's just, we took on that Glory chippie together, I was right there with you, fightin' the fight.
Buffy: Actually, you were sleeping the sleep of the knocked unconscious.

  • Fool for Love: Spike, of course.
  • Foreshadowing: Buffy sitting watching her friends dance, in contrast to her eagerness for such fun in previous years -- this happens more often as Buffy becomes weighed down by her responsibilies and isolated from her friends.
    • The episode is not only another step towards the Spuffy relationship in Season 6, but also hints at its sadomasochistic aspects.
    • And for this season...

Tara: Let's just call She Who Cannot Be Named another name. Let's call her__
Buffy: (seeing a familiar face) Ben!

  • Freudian Slip: Buffy has been tipped off that Spike is in love with her.

Spike: I got a bit of info you might be keen on knowing.
Buffy: Sorry, all out of cash. Why don't you hit on Giles...hit up Giles!

Spike: Don't mock this.
Buffy: Go mock yourself!

  • Ghost Story: the ultimate version of this trope -- scary stories told by the monster himself! Buffy comes across Dawn in Spike's lamp-lit crypt, eagerly listening to the vampire tell the story of how he murdered a whole family, and then heard the faint sound a child's gasp in a pitch-dark coal bin so he-- (Death Glare from Buffy) had her adopted out to a nice family that didn't put their children in coal bins. Dawn is not impressed by the lame ending.
  • Grand Romantic Gesture: Well, for a vampire it is.
  • Heel Face Turn: Spike offers to "turn his back on the whole evil thing" if that's what Buffy wants.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: Spike dresses in the Brown Leather Jacket of Normality when trying to engage Buffy in casual conversation. When that doesn't work he goes back to black.
  • He's Back: Spike violently rejects Harmony for Drusilla.

Harmony: Why? Because she's back?
Spike: No. Because I am.

  • History Repeats: Spike's offer to kill his sire/paramour out of love for Buffy is not without precedent, as Angel did exactly that with Darla in the first season. This won't be the last parallel between the Bangel and Spuffy relationships that Buffy will refuse to see or admit to.
  • Hollywood Healing: Drusilla still has some scars from when Angel set her on fire, though not enough to mar her looks.
  • Ice Queen: Buffy, from Spike's perspective.
  • If I Can't Have You: If Buffy refuses to give Spike even the faintest chance that there's hope for him, Spike will release Drusilla to feed on her.
  • Laughing Mad: Spike's Love Confession is interrupted by Dru's "laugh track".

Drusilla: "I knew it. I knew before you did that you loved the Slayer. The pixies in my head told it to me."

Joyce: Honey, did you somehow, unintentionally, lead him on in any way? Send him signals?
Buffy: Well, I do beat him up a lot. For Spike, that's like third base.

Xander: Listen, bleach boy, I don't have a chip in my head. I can do far more damage to you than you can ever do to me.
Spike: (distracted watching Buffy chat up Ben) Yeah? Like you could ever hurt me.

  • Male Gaze: Lampshaded by Harmony when she says that the only thing Spike will see of her is her ass walking away -- unwilling to give him even that pleasant sight, she decides to back away instead.
  • Manly Tears: Spike returns to his crypt teary-eyed after Buffy rejects his first Anguished Declaration of Love.
  • Neck Snap: Drusilla killing the couple at the Bronze, so Spike can feed without his chip firing.
  • Not a Date: Spike invites Buffy on a stakeout of a vampire nest, offers her a Quick Nip and tries to make conversation about her taste in music. When the vampires turn out to be less than aggressive, Buffy goes to storm out only to find Spike holding the door open for her, and so she suddenly asks Spike "Is this a date?"

Spike: A d—? Please! A date? You are completely off your bird! I mean... do you want it to be?

Spike: GNAARGHHH! WHAT...THE BLEEDING HELL...IS WRONG...WITH YOU...BLOODY WOMEN?! WHAT THE HELL...DOES IT TAKE? WHY...DO YOU BITCHES TORTURE ME?"

Buffy: Which question do you want me to answer first?

  • Put on a Bus: Last appearance of Harmony, though she does become a secondary character in Angel.
    • The last appearance of Drusilla outside of flashbacks.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Spike and Buffy bust into a vampire lair. The vamps get up ready to fight, and say "Slayer!" Then they run away.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Spike, from Buffy's perspective.
  • Tempting Fate: Xander laughs over the idea of Spike being in love with Buffy.

Xander: I mean, how upset can you really get over one of Spike's fevered daydreams that's not gonna happen?

Dawn: Spike's totally into you! Oh, come on. You didn't notice? Buffy, Spike is completely in love with you.

Buffy: Huh?

Harmony: Well, you've got some nerve showing up here like this. After all this time. After breaking my sweet boo-boo's heart. (Drusilla looks at Spike and mouths 'boo-boo?') Do you have any idea how hard it's been to break down the walls he put up after you left? I mean, serious trust issues.

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer/Recap/S5/E14_Crush?oldid=1206008"