B/S is so dysfunctional that I end up normalizing violence between them. I'm not sure I want to know what would be a deal breaker. But I think S6 B/S was less dysfunctional than previous seasons B/S; it was just more miserable, more life-sized and less fantastical, and disturbing in RL terms. For instance, S6 showed B/S as a life-sized angsty melodrama, while S5 was a larger-than-life violent romantic comedy. What I mean by rom com is that S5 B/S played as a boy who tries to woo a girl with funny results and misunderstandings--but since it's B/S the results are punches, insults, shotguns, B&E, cattleprods, stalking, shrines, sexbots, torture, stolen underwear, death threats, and attempted murder.

S6 Spike's seduction turned attempted rape is an improvement over what may be his M.O. of kidnapping, chains, death threats and/or torture (S/D in BII and LW; S/B in Crush). If Buffy can overlook or forgive S5 Spike, then it's within the bounds of her previous behavior to forgive attempted rape. Acquaintance rape is just a more controversial subject than mass murder, and is a RL crime that affects 1 in 4 women in the USA. So it hits closer to home than Spike's previous crimes which were also presented fantastically.

Buffy's alley beating was done with: a)permission, and b)someone who can hit her back and is capable of stopping her. IMO, S6 Buffy's less violent with Spike since she hits him as foreplay, in response to him restraining her or his use of force, or disapproval of dangerous contraband. S5 Buffy comes across as a bully since Spike can't hit her back, she hits him for stuff like lurking outside her house, and uses more than necessary force when trying to get info out of him. Spike was having sexual fantasies about her at the same time she started bullying him, so I think he'd find the beating forgivable. But in RL terms, Buffy beating up someone she's involved with is just more disturbing than beating up her ex-mortal enemy informant. The DV and battery interpretation is totally understandable.

I can't believe I wrote an S6 B/S apologia, since the sensationalistic yo-yo relationship drama grated on my nerves. During my S6 rewatch I tried to figure out what the B/S storyline was for, hence the tl;dr of me processing it.

Huh. That's an interesting way of viewing it. I'm actually inclined to agree.

I'm surprised that you keep agreeing with me. I'm always sure I have minority of one opinions that need tl;dr explanations because I watched a different show from most of fandom.

That's an odd question. What's any relationship on the show for?

When I first watched S6, I felt like Buffy and Spike's character arcs were abruptly dropped and sidelined for B/S relationship drama. I also thought B/S scenes were designed to maximize the shock value, and that was why we didn't get many transitional scenes. The relationship was similar to the jarring shift of Willow's powerlust arc into magic!crack addiction. I was frustrated by what I saw as a shift into soapy drama* storytelling, and wanted the show to get back to its epic/mundane adventure roots and to address the (what I thought were dropped) consequences of Buffy's resurrection, and do something about Spike's haphazardly growing maybe morality.

I lurked in your LJ and already read your meta. It was what helped me change my mind about S6 B/S. :)

*It's not that I dislike the drama aspects of the show, it's just that I wanted it in proportion to the adventure, action, comedy, horror, fantasy, epic/mundane, etc.

I originally thought either TR or Wrecked derailed Willow, Buffy, and Spike's character arcs. I had less of a problem with Spike's character arc "derail" because it made sense that Spike would get distracted by love. I had more problems with how Buffy's post-resurrection arc seemed to disappear into relationship drama, and thought the "molecular sunburn" explanation was a way to sidestep the issue.

The rewatch and reading meta gave me a new angle on S6.

The lost Dark Willow arc is a waste of potential and could have made Willow my favorite if done right. I can squint and almost see the traces of Dark Willow in the magic!crack addiction arc, but it's not the same.

I think S6 does work better when marathoned although by the end it got exhausting, and it was cathartic when they got back to Dark Willow and everything went kaboom. (I liked BtVS' genre mashup, so the straightforward drama of S6 started to get monotonous.)

My own personal fanwank with the Willow derail is that the whole 'magic addiction' BS was an intentional red herring. Something simple that Willow could latch onto and say, "Look! I'm fixing it!" Which, of course, doesn't go to the root of the magic problem (which lies in Willow's control issues).

That was what I tried to do, too. I know the Dark Willow arc got picked back up in SR, and got treated that way in S7. But I wanted the meaty middle, because I was sure that it would be a critique of the wish fulfillment aspects of magic in the fantasy genre--reaching for the easy fix to solutions, the desire for easily acquired power without the work or responsibility, the external fixes to internal problems. The last, the external fix that only address the external symptoms without solving what's actually rooted in internal problems, would have worked brilliantly with S6's themes. It would have been a great critique of the previous seasons' uses of magic and fantasy.

Also, I love conflicted heroines with dark sides, and trust the show to redeem Willow instead of punishing her like what usually happens to other power-hungry anti-heroines. S6 Dark Willow could have been epic, and Tara could have been her foil to show the responsible use of magic, and Dark Willow could have been a contrast to Came Back Wrong Buffy doing things the hard way because her superpowers are useless to fixing the problems in her life, and and and....It was all wasted. :(

I said: Also, I love conflicted heroines with dark sides, and trust the show to redeem Willow instead of punishing* her like what usually happens to other power-hungry anti-heroines.

Reading my comment back, I meant I trusted the show not to depower her like what happens to other anti-heroines. I think the show is fond of karmic punishment.

Thanks. :)

My own personal fanwank with the Willow derail is that the whole 'magic addiction' BS was an intentional red herring.

I agree.

With a couple of qualifications:

1) I do think Willow was addicted to Rack's particular variety of magic. I don't have any particular problem with this, there was previous precedent for some kinds of magic being used as a recreational drug, which suggests the possibility of addiction.

2) I suspect that the "addiction" frame was useful for Willow in the short term. She probably really did need the complete break from using magic for a while, until she was ready to face the deeper issues.