I actually really like Anya's death because I think it is the moment at which she finally becomes truly human, and therefore it is on some level what she wanted and the logical endpoint of her journey. Also, Emma Caulfield asked to be killed off, so I don't blame Joss for that one specifically.
With Spike I just take issue with giving him a soul, which I view as a cop-out after three years of really interesting natural progression. Suddenly he's a different person entirely, on some level, and I think that does his character development a disservice.
Spike's magical amulet time is annoying to me mostly because on some level he is played as the great hero of "Chosen" which is one of many things that severely undercut the supposed 'feminist' message of that episode. (The other major issue is the way Willow -- a rapist -- mystically violating thousands of girls around the world is played as a feminist act, but that's a whole nother conversation.)
Dawn was supposed to jump and save the world in "The Gift". On some level she knows that. Buffy did it for her, and so Dawn has been kind of left without a purpose; she's a Key without a lock. I think that having her take the amulet would have been a good way to restore that agency to her, while also letting a woman be the main heroic agent of the episode. Dawn's nature at the Key could mean that it wouldn't have necessarily killed her, anyway.
I just think Spike's arc would have been more redemptive if he had gone out fighting like Anya instead of bursting into magical gouts of soul-flame. Because Spike's arc, imo, was never about his soul. S7: problems I have.
no subject
With Spike I just take issue with giving him a soul, which I view as a cop-out after three years of really interesting natural progression. Suddenly he's a different person entirely, on some level, and I think that does his character development a disservice.
Spike's magical amulet time is annoying to me mostly because on some level he is played as the great hero of "Chosen" which is one of many things that severely undercut the supposed 'feminist' message of that episode. (The other major issue is the way Willow -- a rapist -- mystically violating thousands of girls around the world is played as a feminist act, but that's a whole nother conversation.)
Dawn was supposed to jump and save the world in "The Gift". On some level she knows that. Buffy did it for her, and so Dawn has been kind of left without a purpose; she's a Key without a lock. I think that having her take the amulet would have been a good way to restore that agency to her, while also letting a woman be the main heroic agent of the episode. Dawn's nature at the Key could mean that it wouldn't have necessarily killed her, anyway.
I just think Spike's arc would have been more redemptive if he had gone out fighting like Anya instead of bursting into magical gouts of soul-flame. Because Spike's arc, imo, was never about his soul. S7: problems I have.