Spike’s “Buffy” Quote Still Ranks Among TV’s Best Lines 23 Years Later

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has plenty of great characters. Buffy, Willow, Anya and the rest of the Scoobies give every kind of viewer something to love, whether you come for the jokes, the crushes or a character arc that unfolds over several seasons. Spike (James Marsters) stands apart. Fans love him as both a villain and a love interest, and over the course of the series he becomes one of its most complicated characters.

The writers gave Spike some of the show’s sharpest one-liners. Who could forget “Out. For. A. Walk. Bitch.”? His best line comes in the series finale, “Chosen.” It caps a character who spent most of his life pulled between heroism and selfishness, and it captures the complicated truth of his relationship with Buffy.

Spike’s redemption

Buffy and her allies fight the demons pouring out of the Hellmouth, and the cavern begins to collapse. The others run, trying to escape Sunnydale before the earth swallows the town. Spike stays behind and uses a magical amulet to keep the demons from getting out. Buffy asks him to leave with her, but he has already made his choice. She reaches for his hand and tells him, “I love you.”

Spike has hoped to hear those words for the past two seasons, maybe longer. But he understands what Buffy means and what she doesn’t. “No, you don’t. But thanks for saying it,” he replies. His sacrifice closes the Hellmouth and saves the world. It is the finale’s most emotional and consequential moment.

No, you don’t. But thanks for saying it.

The sacrifice is the end of a long road toward redemption. Spike first appeared in season 2 as a fun, punkish villain caught in a doomed romance with the vampire Drusilla. He later became a series regular and a reluctant ally to Buffy. Even as the Scoobies and the audience grew familiar with him, he never lost his unpredictability.

For much of the series he has no soul, unlike Buffy’s other vampire boyfriend, Angel. That helps make him an unusual romantic lead. He isn’t a brooding, tortured hero so much as a vampire who is usually having a good time.

His redemption begins in season 7. In season 6 he hits rock bottom when he tries to assault Buffy, pushing their relationship somewhere that seems almost impossible to come back from. He leaves Sunnydale, then returns with his soul restored. Buffy is the only Scooby who offers him protection. She chooses to trust him even when he hasn’t earned it.

Watching Spike grow from a soulless vampire into a hero with real complexity is one of the show’s most rewarding arcs. By making his final act of redemption his last scene in the series, the writers leave him at his best. He later appears as a ghost in the spinoff Angel, but you don’t need to watch it to appreciate his ending.

His reply to Buffy shows how much he has changed. An earlier Spike would have seized on any affection she offered, having already manipulated and coerced his way into her life. Now he can accept her words without pretending they mean something they don’t.

After all the pain and turmoil he caused, Spike dies with Buffy’s recognition and respect. His last scene ranks among TV’s great character send-offs. Their relationship finally rests on an honest understanding of who they are to each other, and Spike chooses the truth of their bond over the fantasy he once wanted.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is streaming on Hulu.

Source: Polygon