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Maybe I'm just moving in the wrong circles. A lot of people, apparently, seem baffled by the First's claims about Spike in Season Seven of Buffy. They want to know what the big deal was. What was it the First had planned? Just what was it that it wasn't time for yet?
I suppose I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I figured it out a long time ago. What's the First got in mind for Spike? Well, here's a question: why is it dropping hints? For that matter, why in the same episode does it tell Wood who killed his mother? Is that clear enough for you? Okay, I'll say it right out--the First wants Spike dead. Duh!
Spike is necessary to closing the Hellmouth. Oh, Angel might have done it, but that would have been disastrous in its own right. The First isn't being sloppy with information when it claims to have a plan for Spike later; it's trying to get him killed. And it comes dangerously close to succeeding when Wood takes matters into his own hands. But almost anyone could have done it with the right circumstances--Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow. About the only character who couldn't possibly have done it would be Andrew, who's ineffectual at just about everything.
And in case you were wondering--that's why the First programmed Spike, too. Did all those extra vamps do anything useful? Not really. The whole point of the exercise was to get the Scoobies to off him. But they didn't--they treated him like a person. They chained him up to protect others, but went to the trouble of trying to cure him instead. Thus, the hints, and thus, the revelation to Wood. After that went sour, the First focused on other things, like trying to get the gathered Potentials killed--note it's the very next episode that Caleb arrives in town.
But why not just kill Spike directly, instead of going to all that trouble with the trigger? Well, the main difference is in what the Scoobies think. If the First is seen to want Spike dead, that immediately opens the question of why? The Scoobies don't know for sure Spike is of any importance until Angel shows up with the amulet; presumably the First, on the other hand, knew all along. Tipping its hand opens the possibility that the Scoobies will find another way. At best, Angel would probably volunteer--the amulet would allow him to be restored as Spike was; some matters involving Wolfram and Hart would be more complicated, but not totally unworkable. In theory, if they knew it was absolutely necessary, the Scoobies could also find another vampire to ensoul. By fooling the Scoobies into doing the work, the First leaves them totally in the dark.
No Spike--no closing of the Hellmouth. He's an important guy.
I suppose I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I figured it out a long time ago. What's the First got in mind for Spike? Well, here's a question: why is it dropping hints? For that matter, why in the same episode does it tell Wood who killed his mother? Is that clear enough for you? Okay, I'll say it right out--the First wants Spike dead. Duh!
Spike is necessary to closing the Hellmouth. Oh, Angel might have done it, but that would have been disastrous in its own right. The First isn't being sloppy with information when it claims to have a plan for Spike later; it's trying to get him killed. And it comes dangerously close to succeeding when Wood takes matters into his own hands. But almost anyone could have done it with the right circumstances--Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow. About the only character who couldn't possibly have done it would be Andrew, who's ineffectual at just about everything.
And in case you were wondering--that's why the First programmed Spike, too. Did all those extra vamps do anything useful? Not really. The whole point of the exercise was to get the Scoobies to off him. But they didn't--they treated him like a person. They chained him up to protect others, but went to the trouble of trying to cure him instead. Thus, the hints, and thus, the revelation to Wood. After that went sour, the First focused on other things, like trying to get the gathered Potentials killed--note it's the very next episode that Caleb arrives in town.
But why not just kill Spike directly, instead of going to all that trouble with the trigger? Well, the main difference is in what the Scoobies think. If the First is seen to want Spike dead, that immediately opens the question of why? The Scoobies don't know for sure Spike is of any importance until Angel shows up with the amulet; presumably the First, on the other hand, knew all along. Tipping its hand opens the possibility that the Scoobies will find another way. At best, Angel would probably volunteer--the amulet would allow him to be restored as Spike was; some matters involving Wolfram and Hart would be more complicated, but not totally unworkable. In theory, if they knew it was absolutely necessary, the Scoobies could also find another vampire to ensoul. By fooling the Scoobies into doing the work, the First leaves them totally in the dark.
No Spike--no closing of the Hellmouth. He's an important guy.
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