Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "Crush" Review (5x14)

Brief Synopsis: “Buffy notices that Dawn is spending a lot of time around Spike and assumes that Dawn has a crush on him. When she confronts Dawn on this, Dawn surprises her by revealing to her that Spike is too in love with her to notice Dawn at all. Meanwhile, a train pulls into Sunnydale station with every passenger slaughtered by a particularly savage vampire, and Buffy is finding it hard to concentrate on the investigation while simultaneously fending off Spike’s advances.”


"Blood Ties" (5x13) quick link here                                                                                                  "I Was Made To Love You" (5x15) quick link here

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With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a very special review. Why, you ask? Because I’m officially halfway through my analysis of the Buffyverse. This is my 127th Buffyverse review (oh my God!), which leaves 127 left to go. The first half has taken 9 months, 384,000 words, and almost 400 hours...why did I voluntarily decide to undertake this project while doing a degree and working three jobs? Just to give you guys some perspective, 384,000 words thus far means that my reviews are already twice the length of “Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire”. They’re 1.5 times more words than the largest Harry Potter book, “The Order Of The Phoenix”! It’s almost the same amount of words as A Song Of Ice And Fire (“Game Of Thrones”)’s two-part epic, “A Storm Of Swords”! By the time I finish this series, it will be roughly 800,000-850,000 words! That’s almost as many words as the “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, COMBINED, TWICE! IN EIGHTEEN MONTHS (I’m nine months in)!...I should turn these into two books at some point...

Since Spike’s game-changing dream sequence at the conclusion of “Out Of My Mind”, I knew it was only a matter of time before Spike’s feelings for Buffy were addressed openly and revealed to Buffy herself and the rest of the Scooby Gang. The issue then became, how was this information going to be conveyed to Buffy? Was it going to lead to romance? Was it going to cause friction and isolate Spike from the Scoobies? “Crush” was chosen as the episode where these dramatic questions were going to be answered. Spike’s actions in this episode are, frankly, creepy and disturbing for the most part. Everything he does in this episode is to further his own selfish agendas. From going to The Bronze, to visiting the Summers’ house, to bonding with Dawn...it’s all to try to win Buffy’s affections. Make no mistake here, Spike isn’t doing these things to try to be nice for the sake of it, he’s doing them to try to get to Buffy. By the conclusion of this season, Spike’s actions become far more selfless. He protects Dawn after Buffy dies because he feels as though he owes Buffy due to promising her that he’ll protect Dawn no matter what, and because he knows that Buffy would have wanted him to protect Dawn. There’s nothing in it for him to look after Dawn or go patrolling with the Scoobies, but he does it anyway. That is character growth. “Crush”, however, takes place at a time before that character evolution has transpired. That in itself is part of the problem. He’s being a ‘good’ person (certainly more so than he has been in previous seasons) because of selfish reasons, which by extension doesn’t make him a good person at all, as we discover in this episode. Before diving into the episode itself, I think it’s worth remembering that Spike is soulless here. Sure, he’s always been an anomaly amongst vampires and in future does genuinely wonderful, selfless things without a soul, but he is still technically soulless at the moment. His anomaly status means that this doesn’t mean as much for Spike as it would for someone like Angel, but it does mean that his moral compass is questionable at times. He doesn’t have a soul to backup his conscience or code of ethics, he simply has traces of his personality from before he was sired by Drusilla. This shouldn’t be used as an excuse for Spike’s behaviour in this episode, though. Spike proves later in this season and at the beginning of the next one that he doesn’t need a soul to be a good man and make selfless choices. His absence of a soul just means that it’s harder for him to do those things than it would be for a human with a soul.

The episode opens with dancing at The Bronze...just like when Spike first saw Buffy in “School Hard”. The only difference is that while the rest of the Scoobies are dancing, Buffy is sat by herself watching them dance. I like to think that this is emphasising how being the Slayer has slowly stripped away Buffy’s ability to relax and just have fun. Buffy has the weight of the world on her shoulders and the days of her just dancing or socialising are pretty much over by this point. When you compare seasons 5-7 with 1-3, Buffy is significantly less carefree and spends a lot less time at The Bronze. In the three and a half years since Spike first saw Buffy in The Bronze, a lot has changed. Buffy feels like being the Slayer has stripped away her ability to love. In a few episodes, Buffy goes to seek out the First Slayer to see if her suspicions are true. This is an important part of Buffy’s journey this season, as her entire character arc throughout it revolves around the question “what is a Slayer”? Is she nothing more than a warrior? Can she be a person as well as the Slayer? Does she love less than regular humans? Did Riley leave because of her Slayer side? Was Dracula right, is Buffy drawn to darkness? Does her Slayer essence mean that she’ll never be happy? These are fundamental questions at the root of Buffy’s struggles in this season, which makes for her greatest one-season journey, in my opinion. We learn so much more about her history and her powers than we ever have before. Thus far, season five has been nothing but doom, gloom, and darkness for Buffy (which is a great parallel to Angel’s journey at the same time), and it’s clearly starting to take its toll. First, Dracula told Buffy that her power is rooted in darkness, then in “Fool For Love”, Buffy realised that she’s genuinely attracted to death and danger, then Riley left her, and at the same time as all of this she’s had to battle with Joyce’s brain tumour woes. Buffy is miserable for the most part right now, but she’s not yet at the point of giving up. When she returns from the dead in season six, Buffy is battling severe depression and has given up on trying to find happiness, but luckily this hasn’t happened quite yet. Buffy tries to make a connection with Ben at The Bronze, and I feel this is because Buffy is still searching for that normal, human, healthy relationship to try to prove to herself that she doesn’t need darkness in her life. She’s trying to rebel against her Slayer essence.

Spike tries to make casual conversation with Buffy and has even dressed up for the occasion (out of black clothes) to try to impress her. For the second time this season, he starts talking about his love of blossoming onions...the perfect way to get into a girl’s pants, Spike, talking about onion breath. After Buffy brushes him off, Spike gets the hurt puppy look and skulks away into the night. Spike has realised that he has zero chance with Buffy and it’s driving him slowly mental. Remember, Spike has a shrine to her in the basement of his crypt. He’s obsessed with her. He’s desperate to try to prove to himself that he has some chance of making it work with her. The first half of this episode (The Bronze, bonding with Dawn) is Spike trying to win Buffy’s affections by being kind and showing her that he’s a good man and worthy of her love (which makes no sense, as Spike knows all too well that Buffy is drawn to darkness, not ‘good guys’). After that fails, he turns back to his vampire nature and tries to use violence and threats.

Anya: “Xander, I think you may have hurt his feelings.”
Xander: “And you should never hurt the feelings of a brutal killer...you know, that’s actually some pretty good advice.”

Spike responded to Xander’s rudeness by stealing his money. Kudos...

Xander: “The point is, I work hard for that money!”
Spike: “And you’re saying I didn’t?”
Xander: “You stole it!”
Spike: “And you’re making it into very hard work!”

So...why is Harmony still with Spike? He treats her like shit and barely notices her existence. Does she have that little self-esteem? Is she really that lonely? It’s beyond sad that the only way she can get her “boyfriend’s” attention is by dressing and acting like Buffy. I guess Harmony and Spike’s relationship highlights the fact that Spike is awful to women since he and Drusilla broke up...again. It’s important for this episode to highlight this fact because it’s one of Spike’s biggest personality changes over the next 2.5 seasons of the show. Slowly, he steers away from the ‘fool for love’ and turns into a genuinely good ‘boyfriend’ for Buffy in the final season.

Tara: “It can’t end like that because all of 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. Also, you can tell it’s not gonna have a happy ending when the main guy’s all bumpy.”

I see what you did there, David Fury! You tricky, tricky man! Can anyone else see similarities in everything said here by Tara between Quasimodo and Spike? All of Spike’s actions in this episode are selfishly motivated, as I’ve said. Spike has no moral compass here because of his lack of a soul (or certainly a strained view of one). Spike’s actions in this episode are to try to win Buffy’s love, but she tells him that she’ll never love him back and the only chance he had with her was when she was unconscious. Plus, vampires in the Buffyverse are often referred to as having ‘bumpy foreheads’. Basically, this speech from Tara is subtly highlighting to the audience what’s to come in the rest of the episode.

Dawn: “I’m not a child. I’m not even human, not originally.”
Spike: “Yeah, well, originally I was. I got over it. Doesn’t seem to me it matters very much how you start out.”

While it seems to have come out of nowhere, I’m not at all surprised by Dawn’s newfound love of hanging out with Spike. Spike was with her when she discovered the Earth-shattering news that she wasn’t real, but rather a glowing ball of mystical green energy that was turned human six months ago. Furthermore, Spike treats Dawn like a grownup. He gives her adult advice and doesn’t minimise her sufferings or try to coddle her. TEENAGERS NEED THIS! ESPECIALLY TEENAGERS GOING THROUGH AS MUCH CRAP AS DAWN IS! Plus, you know, Spike’s a hot adult male, so that certainly doesn’t hurt. Spike’s reasoning for hanging out with Dawn is so transparent that I can practically see the inside of his brain. After being rejected by Buffy at The Bronze, Spike feels the way to Buffy’s heart is through her family. He’s bonding with both Joyce and Dawn in this episode to try to encourage Buffy to realise that he’s not a bad guy and that he’s dating material. Yet again, this fails. Oh, also, Spike changing his story to Dawn midway through because Buffy entered the room is absolutely hilarious...

Buffy: “Let’s hear the story that Spike is telling my little sister.”
Spike: “Right, yeah. So, uh, I knew the girl was in the coal bin. So, I rip it open, very violent, haul her out of there and then give her to a good family, in a nice home (*Buffy rolls her eyes*), where they’re never mean to her and didn’t lock her in the coal bin.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Dawn, while grouchy with Buffy for discovering her crush, tells Buffy that Spike is in love with her. Buffy’s reaction is arguably the most amusing part of the episode. The look of shock and confusion on Buffy’s face is perfection. She looks as though she’s got a concussion and is trying to solve a complicated maths problem. This leads us swiftly into a stakeout situation that’s mostly a fabrication (oh yeah, rhymey goodness!) so that Spike can spend some one-on-one time with Buffy, involving bourbon and The Ramones. Buffy calls Spike out on this behaviour and Spike responds by confirming Buffy’s fears...Spike is in love with her.

Buffy: “Spike, you’re a vampire!”
Spike: “Angel was a vampire!”
Buffy: “Angel was good!”
Spike: “And I can be too. I’ve changed, Buffy.”
Buffy: “What, that chip in your head? That’s not change, that’s just holding you back. You’re like a serial killer in prison!”
Spike: “Women marry ‘em all the time!”

...That’s not going to be the winning argument here, Spike. Buffy is absolutely right when she says that Spike hasn’t changed. Spike is still acting completely out of selfish lust and desire. Just before Buffy’s death in “The Gift”, Spike does legitimately change as a character, but at this point it’s all a charade to try and win Buffy’s affections. Spike falls in love fast and he falls in love hard. How long has he had a crush on Buffy now, four months? Already, he’s lingering outside her house, stalking her, and has a shrine to her in his basement crypt. These aren’t the actions of someone who ‘can be good too’. I almost feel as though Buffy shutting Spike out of her life at the end of “Crush” is a wake-up call for him. In just a few episodes, Spike is keeping Dawn’s identity secret under torture from Glory. Would he have done this three or four episodes ago? Absolutely not.

Buffy: “Well, I do beat him up a lot. For Spike that’s like third base.”

Thus defining their relationship for the next season of the show.

Now that Spike’s secret is out in the open and Buffy has rejected him, it’s the perfect time for Drusilla to step out from the shadows and back into his life.  Drusilla has returned to lure Spike back to the character he was when he first arrived in Sunnydale. The ‘Big Bad’ that intended to make Sunnydale his bitch and kill the Slayer. Has he evolved? Is he still that same character? Can he be a killer again if he chooses to ignore the intense pain of the chip? Drusilla has been spending her time in Los Angeles recently. She re-sired Darla and has been working on removing Angel’s soul. Spike is the only missing piece of the puzzle in getting the ‘Fanged Four’ back together again. So, Drusilla travelled to Sunnydale via train and murdered everyone on it except the driver in her attempts to lure Spike back into the darkness with her and Darla. How sweet. 

Drusilla being back for the first time since “Becoming Part Two”, and for the last time outside of flashbacks and non-corporeal First Evil appearances, is amazing! Juliet Landau improves the quality of every scene she’s in. Seriously, tell me a bad episode of the show where Drusilla is heavily featured? Drusilla offers Spike a ‘get out of jail free’ clause. He doesn’t need Buffy anymore, he can go back to the killer he once was and savage the land again with Drusilla by his side. Spike goes to The Bronze with Dru and battles through the pain of his chip to feast on fresh human blood once again. The sexiness of this scene, while being overplayed by “Key” by Devics, is visually stunning and absolutely beautiful. Spike has wanted this moment for eighteen months. Since discovering he had a government chip in his head, Spike has been desperate to remove it. Now, he finds out that he can actually work through the pain in his head! He has everything he’s wanted right at his fingertips...Drusilla back, the ability to drink humans against their will, and the ability to hurt humans. However, this moment is key for Spike’s character development. Spike realises that he has changed since “Becoming Part Two” and “Lovers Walk”. He doesn’t want Drusilla after all these years, he wants Buffy. He doesn’t want to feast on humans, he wants to at least try to be a better man for Buffy. The ‘for Buffy’ part is the problem. He’s not changing to be a better man, he’s changing for desire. What if he did get Buffy and they broke up? Would he go back to trying to drink humans?

It’s at this point in the episode where Buffy goes to put Spike in his place once and for all and discovers Spike’s shrine to her in his basement crypt. Naturally, Buffy reacts with a major case of the wiggins, and she escapes to the ground floor of Spike’s crypt...and walks straight into Spike and Drusilla. Oops. Spike tasers Buffy, but then surprisingly tasers Drusilla as well. I need to take a moment to talk about how bloody creepy that shrine is! I mean, can you think of stumbling across anything more disturbing? At least Angelus only snuck into her bedroom and drew a picture of her. That could be considered downright romantic compared to this. Sadly, Spike’s actions towards Buffy here ruined any interest I had in seeing a Spuffy relationship and it took me a long time to warm up to the idea again. Some of the scenes in “The Gift”, “Bargaining Part Two”, and “Afterlife” really made me warm up to the idea again, but then it was re-ruined by their mostly volatile and unhealthy relationship throughout season six. By the conclusion of season six, Spike, the fool for love, has finally figured out what love actually is. He goes in search of his soul because he genuinely loves Buffy and wants to prove to her that he can be a better man than the one who tried to rape her. The only Spuffy I truly like and appreciate is the Spuffy of season seven.

What was Spike thinking? How did he ever think that staking Drusilla was going to win Buffy’s heart? It shows us just how creepy and unhealthy Spike’s obsession has become. It’s sick. Completely sick. I can understand Spike’s frustrations over being in love with someone who doesn’t have any feelings for him in return, but to try to torture this love out of her or prove it to her by killing someone is ridiculous. Also, the first time Spike ever told Buffy he loved her, she was tied up in his basement. Not in a kinky, funny way, but in a serial killer way. There’s something to tell the grandkids.

However, even after all of Spike’s selfish actions in this episode, my heart still breaks for him when I see the look on his face after he realises that Buffy has de-invited him from her house. He just looks...broken. More so than Buffy telling him that the only chance he had with her was when she was unconscious, more so than when Buffy blew him off at The Bronze...Buffy shutting him out of her house (and by extension her life) has broken Spike in a way that we haven’t seen before. It’s really impressive writing and acting by James to make this character empathetic in the same episode that he was disturbing, creepy, and dislikeable. Great work by everyone in this episode. James was great, Sarah was great, Juliet was great, the writing was great, the directing was great, the music was great...to sum up, it was great.


Quote Of The Episode

Buffy: “She thinks that...she said that...Spike’s in love with me.”

*Xander bursts into hysterical, uncontrollable laughter*

Buffy: “I’m not joking.”

Xander: “Oh, I hope not! It’s funnier if it’s true!”

Buffy: “I’m serious! Xander, this is serious!”

*Xander tries to regain his composure before bursting into hysterical laughter again.*

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

What are your thoughts on "Crush"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!

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