Normal Again! Normal Again!!! *flails*

You know, S6 is an odd mix. It has some of the most brilliant episodes in the series (After Life, OMWF, Dead Things, Normal Again, Villains) and then it has some absolute duds (Wrecked, AYW).

At least the high points are really high.

I'll refrain from my Buffy-gushing because I'll get into what's going on with her whenever I do the BCBW on NA. But I actually wanna talk about Spike. Cause...wow...

We have one of my favorite Spuffy scenes in Hells Bells. Buffy and Spike are just sweet and genuine and thoughtful and pretty together there. And NA starts well, but then Spike takes a turn for the douchebag when he pulls an ultimatum on Buffy: Tell the Scoobies about them or he will.

Where did this come from? No, really. Why is it suddenly important to Spike that everybody knows about the past Buffy/Spike affair?

As I said, NA starts well. Buffy and Spike meet in the cemetery, and they have an actual conversation. It actually seems reminiscent of the "confidant" relationship Spike had with her pre-OMWF.

But things take a turn for the bad. Because Xander and Willow show up, and Buffy immediately, and blatantly, disavows any friendly overtures. In fact, suddenly she's on mid-S5 terms with him. What's more, Xander follows Buffy's lead and dismisses Spike.

That's when Spike lashes out against Xander, and then he's grumpy for the rest of the episode, culminating in his ultimatum to Buffy.

I suddenly feel the need to point you guys towards jen_nsync_landl's seasonal_spuffy contribution, In the Living Season.

Let me present my theory. Feel free to share yours. We see in Bargaining that when Buffy was dead, Spike had become a pretty fully-fledged member of the Scooby gang. He'd integrated.

However, things shifted when Buffy returned. Spike isolated himself from the rest of the group because of them pulling Buffy out of heaven. He focused his attentions on Buffy. All his reiterations that she's alone in the dark with him means that he's also alone in the dark with her.

But that all ends. Buffy breaks up with him, and Spike's adrift again. Much like he was in early to mid-S5, just he doesn't even have Harmony. His connection to his former social group is now broken. In NA, Buffy's denial of him in front of her friends ostracizes him fully. It makes him an outcast from his former comrades.

A lot of Spike's development deals with his wanting to belong. To be accepted. And he's losing all the acceptance he had had with the Scoobies. So he lashes out. He wants Buffy to acknowledge to her friends that there had been something between them. He thinks this will reform the ties. He thinks that this will, at least, recognize him as being something other than an outsider.

This is illustrated in NA in the scene in Buffy's room. Spike tries to approach her but is impeded by a sunbeam. He's isolated. There's obstacles between him and Buffy. In reality, those obstacles are due to his nature: a soulless vampire (hence the sunbeam). However, Spike doesn't realize this. He attributes it to Buffy's stubbornness. Her addiction to being miserable. Admitting to her pals that she had an affair with him will solve things, in Spike's mind.

Oh, Spike...