I've been watching Season 6 of Buffy over the last few days. I know a lot of people don't like the 6th and 7th seasons but I do. They took the show on a much darker path and for me that just made it more real. The whole: massive danger until righteous Buffy saves the day in just 42 minutes thing just lost its lustre after the first few years. And I love that in Season 6 everything just keeps getting worse. Virtually every episode gives you this false hope that things are getting better, Giles says it in Once More With Feeling, "the battles done and we kinda won, so we sound our victory cheer." There are no true victories in this season. Every time the Scoobies win a battle they've lost something too. Even at the end of the season, when Willow doesn't end the world, it's still a bitter ending to swallow considering who the "big bad" turned out to be. And what a wonderful twist on the whole cliché, the season's continual forces of darkness were a trio of nerds who ended up being the ones in need of saving in the end.

So yeah, I really like season six. I liked the Spike/Buffy relationship, I liked seeing how hard it was for Buffy when she came back, I liked that they made her deal with things like money and forgetting to take out the garbage. Because it was real, and the writers finally showed us that Buffy is a lot more than a self-righteous superhero. I hate a lot of things about this season also, I hate that the Spike rape scene felt so out of character for both of them. I hate that Buffy screamed for help when I think her true instincts would been to get mad and fight back. Someone once compared Spike to Lex and the writer's dilemma on Smallville. They've made Lex a very sympathetic character when he's really supposed to be evil, or at least on the path. Spike's path is a bit of the opposite, he's a very conflicted character. I don't know if the writers felt like they needed to remind Buffy fans that Spike was still bad, that his lack of soul really makes a difference. Or if they felt like plot-wise Spike needed an extra push to drive him towards getting his soul. But whatever the reason, the rape felt wrong to me. Buffy and Spike's entire relationship was founded on violence, their first time having sex they leveled a house for foreplay. Buffy beat the shit out of him at the end of Dead Things taking all of her anger at herself (and her weakness in sleeping with him) out on Spike's face. Did she cross a line there? Are there even any lines they could cross with the two of them being who they are? I certainly don't want to justify Spike's actions because dude, he was manipulating Buffy throughout the season, playing on her self-doubt and her unhappiness. And rape is disgusting, and definitely not the way to prove your "love" to someone. But as it was written I don't think it followed their characterizations at all.

Also, Buffy was pissed about Spike sleeping with Anya even though she was the one who told him to get over her. She'd been telling him to leave him alone since before As You Were (when they officially "broke up"). Xander and Buffy's self-righteous pissed-offness at Anya and Spike's actions really pissed me off. But it does fit with Buffy's characterization. She's always been a best0of-both-worlds person, and she hates not having things go her way. So I do get why she would be hurt, I just don't think she was the wronged party there.

On a non-Buffy related note? I HATE my roommate right now. I cannot possibly win with him. He's pissed at me for not having time to ride my bike, he's pissed at me for not passing along a phone message the "right way". I am *so tired* of having to deal with his immature bullshit. The only time he deigns to speak to me anymore is when he's asking me for bill money or telling me what new way I've fucked up. *steams* I have less than a month left, I can ignore it for that much longer. Because I know the second I bring it up it'll turn into an even bigger thing and I just don't want to deal with it. It does suck though, not being able to be in the same room as him because of all this.