Buffy and Spike's Crucial Episodes

This page does not, of course, list every single episode in which Buffy and Spike interact. I chose instead to make a page describing the episodes which I, personally, thought were most crucial to the growth of their relationship ... in both good and bad ways. Also, rather than giving a general description of each episode, I will simply describe the important Spike/Buffy developments.

Episode #2.03	School Hard	Aired: 29 Sept. 1997
Description: Spike arrives in Sunnydale, determined to kill his third Slayer. He and his vamp-gang wreak havoc at the high school's Parent's Night, and he nearly succeeds in killing Buffy ... only to have Joyce bash him over the head with a fire axe.
Quotes: "You get the hell away from my daughter!" (Joyce) "A Slayer with family and friends ... that sure as hell wasn't in the brochure." (Spike)
Episode #2.10	What's My Line, Part 2	Aired: 24 Nov. 1997
Description: Spike kidnaps Angel and uses him in a ritual to attempt to return Drusilla to full health. This pisses Buffy off, of course, and so she comes in with guns (and Scoobies) blazing, and dumps a giant church organ on top of Spike while rescuing Angel. (This will end up leaving Spike paralyzed for months ... and lead directly to his helplessness and jealousy while watching Dru cavort with Angelus.)
Quote: "Spike is going down. You can attack me, you can send assassins after me, that's fine. But nobody messes with my boyfriend!" (Buffy)
Episode #2.22	Becoming, Part 2	Aired: 19 May 1998
Description: Spike (driven by jealousy) unexpectedly offers Buffy a sort of pact: he'll help her in her attempt to kill Angelus, if she'll allow him and Dru to leave town. Buffy and Spike develop an uneasy alliance and work together to kill a vampire at Buffy's house -- their first cooperative effort, I believe -- before heading off to enact their plan. Spike keeps his end of the bargain and helps Buffy with a surprise attack, then Spike takes Dru and leaves Sunnydale.
Quote: "We like to talk big, vampires do. 'I'm going to destroy the world.' That's just tough-guy talk ... strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You've got ... dog racing ... Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real ... passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Picadilly. Farewell, Leicester bloody Square. You know what I'm saying?" (Spike)
Episode #4.08	Pangs	Aired: 23 Nov. 1999
Description: Spike shows up at Buffy's Thanksgiving celebration -- chipped, pathetic, and begging for their help. He offers to give them information about the Initiative, and so they tie him to a chair and let him stay. This is the very beginning of Spike's tentative status as a fringe member of the Scoobies.
Quote: "A bear! You made a bear! ... (frantically scooting his chair away) Undo it! Undo it!" (Spike)
Episode #4.09	Something Blue	Aired: 30 Nov. 1999
Description: Spike and Buffy fall prey to a spell gone wrong ... and believe themselves madly in love, and joyfully engaged to be married. They kiss a lot and talk very cutesy to each other, sickening everyone around them. When the spell is lifted, they are both aghast at what they have done.
Quotes: "But I can't help thinking ... isn't [pain] where the fire comes from? Can a nice, safe relationship be that intense? I know it's nuts, but ... part of me believes that real love and passion have to go hand in hand with pain and fighting. (a vampire jumps out from behind a bush and Buffy casually stakes him) I wonder where I get that from." (Buffy) "Spike lips! Lips of Spike!" (Buffy, wiping her mouth after the spell has lifted)
Episode #5.04	Out of My Mind	Aired: 17 Oct. 2000
Description: After being unable to get his chip removed, a frustrated Spike dreams about passionately kissing Buffy and confessing his love for her.
Quotes: "Oh, Pacey! You blind idiot. Can't you see she doesn't love you?" (Spike, watching "Dawson's Creek") "She follows me, you know. Tracks me down. I'm the pet project. Drive Spike around the bend. Makes every day a fresh bout of torture. You don't understand. I can't get rid of her. She's everywhere. She's haunting me, Harmony! This has got to end." (Spike) "Oh, god, no. ... Please, no." (Spike, waking from his dream about Buffy)
Episode #5.07	Fool for Love	Aired: 14 Nov. 2000
Description: Buffy asks Spike to tell her how he killed two Slayers, and we get a bit of a tour of Spike's past. Afterward, Spike tries to kiss Buffy, but she pulls away and tells him that he is "beneath" her ... unknowingly echoing the very words which drove a heart-broken human Spike to become a vampire. Furious, Spike arrives at Buffy's house determined to kill her, but finds her crying about her mother's failing health. In his concern for her, he forgets his own wounded pride. He drops his gun and comforts her, instead.
Quote: "Every day you wake up, it's the same bloody question that haunts you: Is today the day I die? Death is on your heels, baby, and sooner or later it's gonna catch you. And part of you wants it ... not only to stop the fear and uncertainty, but because you're just a little bit in love with it. Death is your art. You make it with your hands, day after day. That final gasp ... that look of peace. Part of you is desperate to know: What's it like? Where does it lead you? And now you see, that's the secret. Not the punch you didn't throw or the kicks you didn't land. Every Slayer ... has a death wish. Even you. The only reason you've lasted as long as you have is you've got ties to the world: your mum, your brat kid sister, the Scoobies. They all tie you here, but you're just putting off the inevitable. Sooner or later, you're gonna want it. And the second -- the second -- that happens ... (claps his hands together inches from Buffy's face) You know I'll be there. I'll slip in ... have myself a real good day." (Spike)
Episode #5.14	Crush	Aired: 13 Feb. 2001
Description: Spike is tempted by Drusilla's attempts to lure him back to his old evil ways, but -- instead -- he chooses to try to prove the sincerity of his newly-declared love for Buffy ... who is aghast. He chains up both Buffy and Dru in his crypt, and offers to dust Dru, but Buffy is utterly unimpressed. In the end, Spike saves Buffy from Dru and is left alone.
Quotes: "I ... love you. You're all I bloody think about. Dream about. You're in my gut ... my throat ... I'm drowning in you, Summers, I'm drowning in you." (Spike) Spike (shouting): "Aaaarrrggghh! Gaaagggghhhhhh! What the bleeding hell is wrong with you bloody women? What the hell does it take? Why do you bitches torture me?" Buffy: "Which question do you want me to answer first?"
Episode #5.18	Intervention	Aired: 24 April 2001
Description: Spike cavorts with his very own Buffybot, until the Scoobies take her away and deactivate her. Spike withstands hours of incredible torture by Glory to avoid betraying and hurting Buffy. Buffy pretends to be the Buffybot in order to learn for certain whether Spike has given any information to Glory ... and when she realizes that he hasn't, she kisses him.
Quotes: "Weird love's better than no love." (Buffy) "Love is pain, and the Slayer forges strength from pain. Love ... give ... forgive. Risk the pain ... it is your nature. Love will bring you to your gift." (Buffy's Spirit Guide) "Mark my words, the Slayer is going to kick your skanky, lopsided ass (concerned, Glory tries to look at her butt) back to whatever place would take a cheap, whorish, fashion-victim ex-God like you." (Spike) "Buffy -- the other, not-so-pleasant Buffy -- anything happened to Dawn, it'd destroy her, and I couldn't live with her being in that much pain. I'd let Glory kill me first. Nearly bloody did." (Spike)
Episode #5.22	The Gift	Aired: 22 May 2001
Description: As they prepare for battle with Glory, Buffy reinvites a humbled, awed Spike into her house and they have a very tender friendship moment alone together. Later, Buffy dies to save Dawn, and Spike breaks down sobbing at the sight of her body.
Quote: Buffy: We're not all gonna make it. You know that. Spike: Yeah. Hey, I always knew I'd go down fighting. Buffy: I'm counting on you. To protect her. Spike: 'Til the end of the world -- even if that happens to be tonight. Buffy (going up the stairs): I'll be a minute. Spike (looking up at her): I know you'll never love me. I know that I'm a monster. But you treat me like a man, and that's... (pause) Get your stuff. I'll be here.
Episode #6.03	After Life	Aired: 9 Oct. 2001
Description: Spike is amazed and awed to see Buffy alive again. Buffy finds herself turning to Spike for support, because he is the only person who is not putting pressure on her to "act normal," the only person who seems to even try to understand what she's going through. She even confides to Spike (and only Spike) that she was not in hell ... she was in heaven.
Quotes: "Uh ... I do remember what I said. The promise. To protect her. ... If I'd'a done that ... even if I didn't make it ... you wouldn't've had to jump. But I want you to know ... I did save you. Not when it counted, of course, but ... after that. Every night after that. I'd see it all again ... do something different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways ... (softly) Every night I save you." (Spike) "I was happy. Wherever I ... was ... I was happy. At peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time ... didn't mean anything ... nothing had form ... but I was still me, you know? And I was warm ... and I was loved ... and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand about theology or dimensions or ... any of it, really ... but I think I was in heaven. (pause) And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out ... by my friends. Everything here is ... hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch ... this is Hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that ... (softly) knowing what I've lost... (she gets up, walks towards the sunlight, pauses, not looking back) They can never know. Never." (Buffy)
Episode #6.05	Life Serial	Aired: 23 Oct. 2001
Description: As their friendship grows even closer, Buffy seeks comfort by drinking and hanging out with Spike after a phenomenally bad day (even for her).
Quote: Spike: What's wrong, luv? Buffy (very drunkenly struggling with her jacket): What's wrong?! You were gonna help me! You, you were gonna ... beat heads and, and ... and fix my life! But you're completely lame! Tonight sucks! And, and look at me! Look at, look at stupid Buffy! Too dumb for college, and, and, and freak Buffy, too strong for construction work. And, and my job at the magic shop? I was bored to tears even before the hour that wouldn't end! And the only person I can even stand to be around is a ... neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker! Spike (embarrassed): Oh, you saw the cheating, did you? Buffy: Also? I think you're drunk.
Episode #6.07	Once More, With Feeling	Aired: 6 Nov. 2001
Description: When a musical demon visits Sunnydale, Spike sings to Buffy about the fact that she keeps stringing him along. Even after Buffy slights him in front of the rest of the Scoobies, Spike comes to her rescue and saves her life (while the rest of the Scoobies simply look on without even trying to help her). Without expecting any thanks, Spike leaves, but Buffy follows him to the alley ... and they kiss passionately. Finally!
Quotes: Spike: (disappointed) Oh. So that's all. You've just come to pump me for information. Buffy: What else would I wanna pump you for? (cringes) I really just said that, didn't I? (A section from Spike's song to Buffy) I know I should go ... But I follow you like a man possessed. There's a traitor here beneath my breast And it hurts me more than you've ever guessed. If my heart could beat, it would break my chest ... But I can see you're unimpressed, So leave me be ... And let me rest in peace ... Let me get some sleep ... Let me take my love and bury it In a hole six foot deep. I can lay my body down, But I can't find my sweet release ... So let me rest in peace. Why won't you Let me rest in peace? (Spike's song lyrics when he saves Buffy) Life's not a song. Life isn't bliss ... Life is just this ... It's living. You'll get along. The pain that you feel You only can heal By living. You have to go one living. (with a little smile) So one of us is living.
Episode #6.09	Smashed	Aired: 20 Nov. 2001
Description: Buffy continues to deny her attraction to Spike, despite the kissing sessions she has repeatedly initiated. Spike discovers his chip doesn't work against Buffy anymore, and so he expresses his frustration with her attitude by starting a fight. The fight goes a bit differently than ever before, however, as it ends with Buffy grabbing Spike and kissing him heatedly ... and they proceed to engage in sex so violently passionate that they destroy an entire house.
Quotes: Spike (to her back): You're a tease, you know that, Slayer? Get a fellow's motor revving, let the tension marinate a couple-a days, then bam! Crown yourself the ice queen. Buffy (still walking away): Need a few more metaphors for that little mix? Spike (yelling after her): It's only a matter of time before you realize I'm the only one here for you, pet. You got no one else! "You're not a man. You're a thing. ... An evil, disgusting, thing." (Buffy) Spike (grinning): Oh, poor little lost girl. She doesn't fit in anywhere. She's got no one to love. Buffy: Me? I'm lost? Look at you, you idiot! Poor Spikey. Can't be a human, can't be a vampire. Where the hell do you fit in? Your job is to kill the Slayer. But all you can do is follow me around making moon eyes. Spike: I'm in love with you. Buffy: You're in love with pain. Admit it. You like me ... because you enjoy getting beat down. So really, who's screwed up? Spike: Hello! Vampire! I'm supposed to be treading on the dark side. What's your excuse?
Episode #6.13	Dead Things	Aired: 5 Feb. 2002
Description: Spike and Buffy continue their secret sexual relationship, and he tries to persuade Buffy that she belongs with him in the shadows of the world ... that there is something in her that separates her from the "normal" world her friends inhabit. When he later tries to prevent her from turning herself in to the police for an accidental murder she mistakenly assumes she has committed, Buffy beats him brutally in an extremely disturbing, abusive scene.
Quote: Buffy: You can't understand why this is killing me, can you? Spike: Why don't you explain it? (she keeps hitting him) Spike: Come on, that's it, put it on me. Put it all on me. (she kicks him) That's my girl. Buffy (yelling): I am not your girl! (knocks him to the ground and keeps pounding him, while he simply lays there and takes it) You don't ... have a soul! There is nothing good or clean in you! You are dead inside! You can't feel anything real! I could never ... be your girl! Spike (face swollen, voice slurred): You always hurt ... the one you love, pet. Buffy? (she walks away toward the police station to turn herself in, while Spike tries to roll over to stop her but can't) Buffy ...
Episode #6.15	As You Were	Aired: 26 Feb. 2002
Description: When Riley comes back to town (happily married), Buffy becomes even more ashamed of her pathetic life and her twisted relationship with Spike. Nonetheless, she goes to Spike's crypt and seeks comfort from him, using him as she has been all along. When Riley finds them together, Buffy is clearly humiliated. Later that same day, she breaks up with Spike -- for real this time -- leaving Spike devastated.
Quotes: Buffy (quietly): Tell me you love me. Spike (surprised, firm): I love you. You know I do. Buffy: Tell me you want me. Spike: I always want you. In point of fact ... Buffy: Shut up. (she pulls him down, unbuttoning his shirt) Buffy: It's over. Spike (smiling, moving closer to her): I've memorized this tune, luv. Think I have the sheet music. Doesn't change what you want. Buffy: I know that. (pauses) I do want you. (Spike looks surprised) Being with you ... makes things ... simpler. For a little while. Spike: I don't call five hours straight a little while. Buffy (interrupting abruptly): I'm using you. (He stares at her.) Buffy: I can't love you. I'm just ... being weak, and selfish ... Spike (moving even closer, interrupting rather desperately): Really not complaining here. Buffy: ... and it's killing me. (Spike stops, frowns) I have to be strong about this. (He continues staring at her) I'm sorry ... William.
Episode #6.19	Seeing Red	Aired: 7 May 2002
Description: Spike feels bad for hurting Buffy by sleeping with Anya. When he goes to Buffy's house with the intention of apologizing, things go horribly wrong, and he nearly rapes her. Afterward, he is tortured by memories of her face and voice as she fought him ... he is horrified at what he almost did. In the end, he leaves Sunnydale on a mission to regain his soul. (Yes, there's some debate about Spike's intention in going to Africa and undergoing the trials, but Joss Whedon has very explicitly and publicly stated that Spike was trying to get back his soul ... and that the writers only tricked viewers into thinking differently. Those sneaks!)
Quotes: Spike (soft, sincere): I'm sorry. Not that it matters anymore. But I needed you to know that. Buffy: Why? Spike: 'Cause I care about you. Buffy (sarcastic, hurt): Then you might want to try the not sleeping with my friends. Spike: I didn't go to Anya for that. I was looking for a spell. Buffy: You were going to use a spell on me? Spike (offended, hurt): It wasn't for you! (touching his chest) I wanted something -- anything to make this feeling stop. I just wanted it to stop! (pause, then softly) You should have let him [Xander] kill me. Buffy: I couldn't do that. Spike: Why? Buffy: You know why. Spike: Because you love me. Buffy: No! I don't. Spike: Why do you keep lying to yourself? Buffy (frustrated): How many times ... (pause as Buffy calms down) I have feelings for you. I do. (firmly) But it's not love. I could never trust you enough for it to be love. Spike: What have I done? (slight pause) Why didn't I do it? What has she done to me? Clem: She-done who? Oh. The Slayer, huh? Gosh. (sympathetic) She break up with you again? Spike: We were never together. Not really. She'd never lower herself that far. ... (anguished) Why do I feel this way? Clem (shrugging): Love's a funny thing. Spike: Is that what this is? I can feel it. Squirming in my head. Clem: Love? Spike: The chip. Gnawing bits and chunks. Clem (gesturing toward Spike's head): Maybe a wet cloth...? Spike: You know, everything always used to be so clear. Slayer. Vampire. Vampire kills Slayer, sucks her dry, picks his teeth with her bones. It's always been that way. I've tasted the life of two Slayers. But with Buffy... It isn't supposed to be this way. It's the chip. Steel and wires and silicon. It won't let me be a monster. And I can't be a man. I'm nothing. Clem: Hey. Come on now, Mr. Negative. You never know what's just around the corner. Things change. Spike: They do. (pause, and then Spike turns with a determined expression) If you make them. "Get nice and comfy, Slayer. I'll be back. And when I do ... things are gonna change." (Spike, leaving Sunnydale on his motorcycle)
Episode #7.02	Beneath You	Aired: 1 Oct. 2002
Description: Spike reappears, apparently sane, and volunteers to help the Scoobies fight the coming evil. He assures Buffy that he has not returned to attempt to atone for his near rape of her, but only to offer his help if it is needed. A string of events — including Anya's recognition of his soul and Spike's accidental harming of a human — leads Spike to break down again into the insanity he exhibited when Buffy encountered him in the school basement. At Buffy's insistence, he tells her what happened to him ... that he has recovered his soul, and that he is tortured with guilt.
Quotes: Buffy: You got your soul back. How? Spike: It's what you wanted, right? (looks up, as if toward God) It's what You wanted, right? And ... and now everybody's in here (clutches his head) ... talking. Everything I did ... everyone I ... and Him ... and It ... the Other ... the Thing ... beneath ... beneath you ... it's here, too. Everybody. They all just tell me, "Go." Go. To Hell. Buffy: Why? Why would you do that? Spike (interrupting): Buffy, shame on you. (the rest of this speech is spoken trembling on the edge of tears) Why does a man do what he mustn't? For her. To be hers. To be the kind of man who would never ... To be a kind of man ... (looks at cross on altar, and begins slowly walking toward it) And she shall look on him with forgiveness. And everybody will forgive, and love ... (slight pause) And he will be loved.
Episode #7.09	Never Leave Me	Aired: 26 Nov. 2002
Description: The Scoobies discover that Spike is being "triggered" by The First Evil, causing him to commit violent acts against his will and without his conscious knowledge. Spike — in an agony of self-hatred — attempts to convince Buffy to kill him to prevent him from harming anyone else, but she refuses. She tells Spike that she has seen his penance and his change, and that she believes in him ... just before he is kidnapped and tortured by The First Evil's harbingers.
Quotes: Buffy: You faced the monster inside of you and you fought back. You risked everything to be a better man ... Spike (interrupting): Buffy ... Buffy (continuing firmly): ... and you can be. You are. You may not see it, but I do. I do. (pause as they stare at each other intently) I believe in you, Spike.
Episode #7.20	Touched	Aired: 6 May 2003
Description: Spike finds Buffy after she's been kicked out by Faith, the Scoobies, and the Slayers-in-Training. He comforts her and lends her strength, holding her through the night and giving her the peaceful rest that rejuvenates her and restores her belief in herself, helping her to go forward and defeat Caleb, the agent of The First Evil. For the first time, Spike and Buffy are truly gentle and loving with each other, holding each other and gazing into each other's eyes.
Quotes: "A hundred plus years and there’s only one thing I’ve ever been sure of. You. Hey, look at me. I’m not asking you for anything. When I say I love you, it’s not because I want you, or because I can’t have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I’ve seen your kindness and your strength. I’ve seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You are a hell of a woman. You’re the one, Buffy." (Spike)
Episode #7.21	End of Days	Aired: 13 May 2003
Description: Spike and Buffy encounter each other again for the first time after their night of holding each other. After some attempt to pretend that it meant nothing, Spike admits that it was the best night of his life. Buffy explains that it meant as much to her. They dance around putting their feelings into words, then say it can wait. There's evil to conquer, after all.
Quotes: Buffy (gesturing to scythe): You see this? This may actually help me fight my war. It may be the key to everything and the reason I'm holding it is 'cause of you. Because of last night, the strength you gave me. I'm tired of defensiveness and weird mixed signals -- I've got Faith for that. Let's just get to the truth. I don't know how you feel about last night, but I'm not gonna -- Spike: Terrified. Buffy: Of what? Spike: Last night was... God, I'm such a jerk. I can't do this. Buffy: Spike... Spike (not looking at her): It was the best night of my life. Spike (continues, gesturing tearfully and yet defiantly at scythe): If you poke fun at me you bloody well better use that 'cause I couldn't bear it. It may not mean that much to you -- Buffy (softly, looking into his eyes): I just told you it did. Spike: I know, I hear you say it, but... I've lived for sodding ever, Buffy, I've done everything -- I've done things with you I can't spell, but I've never... been close. To anyone, least of all you... Until last night. All I did was hold you, and watch you sleep, and it was the best night of my life. So I'm, yeah. Terrified. Buffy: You don't have to be. Spike (stops, looks at her searchingly): Were you there with me? Buffy (softly, firmly): I was. Spike: What does that mean? Buffy: I don't know. Does it have to mean something? Spike (shaking his head suddenly, as if remembering the situation they're in): No. Not right now. Buffy: Maybe, when -- Spike: No. Let's just leave it. Buffy: 'kay. Spike: We'll go be heroes.
Episode #7.22	Chosen	Aired: 20 May 2003
Description: Spike sacrifices himself to become a weapon against the Hellmouth, becoming a sort of prism directing sunlight at the bad guys. Before leaving, Buffy begs him to come with her so that he'll survive, but he insists on staying to finish the job. She tells him that she loves him, but Spike does not believe her. After she leaves, Spike's directed sunlight destroys the Hellmouth, burning his own body up in the process.
Quotes: Buffy: I love you. Spike: No you don't. But thanks for saying it.