Season 5, Episode 7 | Aired: 14 November 2000 | Written by: Douglas Petrie | Directed by: Nick Marck
The Spike origin story. Buffy asks Spike how the two previous Slayers he killed died — she’s been hurt on patrol and wants to understand how Slayers lose. What he tells her is the story of his own history: William the Bloody, poet and then vampire; Drusilla’s siring of him in a London alley in 1880; the Boxer Rebellion, 1900, the first Slayer; New York 1977, the second. The episode cuts between Spike’s narration and the present day, and it is among the show’s finest hours.
What Happens
Buffy and Spike fight through his history. Both previous Slayers died, Spike explains, because every Slayer eventually develops a death wish — they carry so much, alone, that some part of them wants to stop. Buffy denies it. Spike says she does too, he can see it, and that the only thing keeping her alive is her connections. She rejects him. He goes back to his crypt with a shotgun. He finds her on her porch, crying — Joyce is ill. He sits with her, without speaking, and the gun is forgotten. The episode ends there.
Key Moments
Spike killing Nikki Wood (April Weeden-Washington), the New York Slayer, in a subway car in 1977 — the scene that gives him his signature duster. And the closing image: Spike sitting beside Buffy on the steps, no agenda, just present. It is the first moment the show asks the audience to genuinely like him.
Monster / Villain
Spike’s own history — and the death wish thesis, which the show takes seriously enough to return to in Season 7.
Notable Quote
“Death is your art. You make it with your hands, day after day… that final moment’s for them, for you.” — Spike. He’s not entirely wrong.
Where It Fits
Fool for Love is the best episode of Season 5 outside The Body and The Gift. It reframes Spike entirely, establishes the emotional stakes of his relationship with Buffy, and produces one of the show’s best final images. Essential.