Buffy The Vampire Slayer S06E09 - Smashed FULL REACTION

However mixed, Buffy the Show does deal with consent, and the fact that it ignored Willow's violations demonstrates the problem of hero centric morality. Willow gets a pass because Willow is part of the Scooby gang.

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What really gets me about Willow is that it was premeditated and planned. No amount of "Not thinking clearly" or having her perspective skewed by magic can really work around that. Every person can deal with addiction in a destructive way, but its a special few who start to violate their friends and family in this way. As for Spike and Willow: Willow has a soul, the soul in the Buffyverse is the seat of the conscious, human empathy and understanding, and she has not once considered personal autonomy, consent to be important. This is isn't the magic overrunning her mind. That is just her. (The Bronze magic scene was particularly gross, especially when Amy mind controlled a girl towards Willow, Willow protested because she wasn't ready after Tara, not because the girl in question might not like having her mind screwed over like that...) Spike... doesn't. As a vampire in the Buffyverse, he doesn't make much sense to me- he is something of a plothole. He doesn't have a soul, so the human understanding, empathy, and morality is lost AND the demon inside creates and enhances evil. I don't know why he had to talk himself up, your mileage may vary, but I don't think it was for moral reasons, that would be impossible.

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It's implied since everything was shot above the waist at that moment, but first you hear Buffy unzip Spike's pants, then you see her arm swish across and the sound of her skirt moving, because she's flinging open the skirt at the long slit to provide, um, access. When they later cut to a wide shot with Buffy against the wall, you can pretty clearly see her skirt is open.

Jarrod Wild

I love how Dawn manipulated Tara to stay with her when they got back to the house so that she could hopefully see and talk to Willow. " Or you can stay and wait for them, then you can get a chance to catch up with......everyone." Easily my favorite Dawn moment.

Ryan Wilson

UPN had been around for a while at this point, as Star Trek: Voyager began airing in 1995 on UPN. I do think that being in direct competition with the other netlet (The WB) made UPN work extra hard to give Joss, Marti, & Co the leeway to take their stories as far as possible in an adult direction.

mrvlgrl

For reals. When Buffy and Willow say they should never not talk to each other again in end of S4, I was thinking of S6 like 🤦🏻‍♀️

Pate

Me shouting at Willow and frankly everyone the whole season: y'all need Giles and you need to L I S T E N to Giles!

Pate

That skirt is ridiculous and stupid but so much easier to pull up, yah know? Than like having to remove pants and then climb on ( sorry! But it's true ) for the show to get that immediacy they shouldn't have to navigate clothing... (it's hot tho)

Melazond

Buffy is still going through the motions of living. Maybe more now than when she sang that truth 2 episodes ago. At this point Buffy realizes that she SHOULD be able to feel more for Willow and that she is being a bad friend, but that just makes her feel worse. She can't even connect with her best friend.

Bruce Trogdon

I always see it as spike tries very hard to be good during s5 and start of s6, he goes against his nature as a vamp because he cares for Buffy but she is quite abusive towards him, hits him and calls him a thing and evil a lot so when he thinks his chip isn’t working he thinks well she’s saying that’s what I am so why shouldn’t I just be that? That’s my interpretation anyway.

Nichole Hutchison

When UPN was first up and running, their standards and practices department hadn’t yet established standards for what sexually explicit/implicit scenes could be allowed on tv, so btvs got away with quite a bit that season.

Alexis Cardarella

Okay, so, as much as I love this episode, in regards to Willow’s arc.. It infuriates me.. “Little things added up..” ..that would be the gang’s cue to interject and say.. “erasing Tara’s memory.. not a little thing, Will..” They all knew what she attempted in lieu of the last episode.. so.. why are they not addressing her shitty behavior when she’s clearly not taking accountability.. i get part of this season is touching on adulthood’s: we all have issues and become self involved and neglect our friendship duties, but this is so far out of character for them not to address it with her... 😩 ...Rant over.

Alexis Cardarella

Wow this bunch of episodes is very sexy, I love it "Spuffy Forever" you can tell they are pushing the boundaries with what was allowed in the new tv network.

Amarantax

Amy seemed sincere when she said she was sorry about Buffy's mom which I find interesting since it was Joyce Summers and Sheila Rosenberg who were about to burn her alive in “Gingerbread.” BTW, in the US, "Smashed" generated an indecency complaint to the Federal Communications Commission but the FCC voted 5-0 that the fight/sex scene did not violate indecency regulations.

Bruce Trogdon

I think that the girl that Amy did the spell on might have been gay too; the other girl she was with seemed pretty intimate with her (she was touching her arms in a seductive manner right before). Not that it makes it any less bad, but at least she chose someone who may have had the same sexual preference. Also Joss Whedon said the original script was to make the two homophobic guys kiss each other but he changed it to them dancing because he didn't want to portray sexual orientation changing instantly or as a punishment.

TerryT356

The only note from the network on that sex scene was that final shot of Buffy and Spike needed to be shrouded in more smoke/dust to obscure the "pumping" for a few extra seconds. So they took care of it in post-production.

Jarrod Wild

when buffy moved to a new network (UPN) in season 6, they were able to start showing much more graphic/adult scenes.

cil

Spuffy sex took down a building. That is all

rudy

lol at the trio stealing the jewel... "why does he get all the cool stuff?!" "because im allergic to methane, and you're still afraid of hot things... besides, the tank kept making both of us tip over, remember?" haha

Holi117

i always see it as thats because he thinks that is what he is supposed to be... so why is he talking himself into it? if he was super excited, and couldn't wait cos he is so bad, why did he hesitate. He never would have before.

Holi117

As for Willow, it’s interesting to watch all this again and try to figure out how much the idea of violating peoples’ consent was an intentional part of the story. At times it feels like we are supposed to see Willow’s main sins as “using too much magic” in general, and lying, in a literal verbal sense, to Tara. I think the story contains the issue of violating people, but doesn’t underscore it that clearly or consistently. As a late ‘90s / early ‘00s show, the messages about the full implications of consent, and what constitutes sound, honest relationships are kind of mixed on Buffy.

Andrew Pulrang

Amy’s first reactions after being de-ratted where amazing.

Andrew Pulrang

I'm pretty sure at the beginning of the next episode when Buffy is getting dressed, there's a quick shot of her zipping her skirt up in the front.

Jarrod Wild

Team Willow forever <3 I think Buffy's skirt may have a slit. The question then becomes, did Spike just force himself through the tights or whatever she was wearing underneath?

Tara and Dawn are adorable. Season 6 really does a good job showing how Tara and Willow acted as surrogate parents season 5. Around this time is when I truly started to hate Willow. I still enjoy her character, but she starts to become a truly bad person in season 6. In the last 2 episodes, we have seen her essentially magically roofie Tara twice, and then try to argue to her friends that "Small things were blown out of proportion." And then in this episode, we see Amy magically roofie a random girl, and Willow resists, not because she sees it as wrong, but because it is too soon after her breakup with Tara. As for Spike, I think it is important to remember that Spike still isn't really one of the good guys. He has done good things, but for entirely selfish reasons. Whether he has to talk himself up or not, you still see him stalk and assault a girl immediately after realizing his chip doesn't work.

Second_Strike

Your reaction at the end lol!

Destructo Nookie!

Claire Eyles

When she was at the bank her skirt stopped her from kicking as it was solid around her legs. So she ripped a slit down it. This skirt already had a slit allowing her to fight and do other things....

Sheriff Uchiha

Just so you know, the regularly scheduled posts will come out at this time every week. Sometimes early or late depending, but this is the scheduled time.

Zoot!

I've been refreshing for the last hour, cause you usually upload around dinner time here, super psyched so your reaction!

s jaco

I am pretty sure how this reaction is going to end. :) Going to watch now!

Jarrod Wild

Haven’t even watched this yet but I can already predict what your spuffy reaction is going to be like ;)

Kelly Marie