I'm right with you on the whole "using'' argument too, Wenda, though perhaps the rules get a bit bent the night before an apocalypse

(Stifles knee, which won't quite quit jerking.)

t puts hand on Plei's knee.

It writes itself.

Must. Not. Slash. Jess. And. Plei.

I'm shocked, shocked at the very suggestion! You people, with your sick minds...(and your sales).

But what else could you expect from a bunch of low rent, no account hoodlums like us -- hoodlums! Yes. I mean us and our friends, our whole sexes, throw us all in the sea for all you care, throw us in and wait for the bubbles. Buffistas, with our groping and spitting, all groin no brain three billion of us passin' around the same worn out urge. Buffistas. With our… sales.

an evil boy trying to be good

the argument can be made that a vampire without a soul would not care to try to be good, but another argument can be made that ChipNoSoul!Spike was doing just that. Watching someone restrain an impulse to do evil for the greater good is fascinating for me. CancerMan on X-Files was a compelling character to watch, because he was evil with tendencies to do good deeds--for a price, sure, but there were flashes of altruism that threw the whole character into a different level of complexity.

Aside from these gripes, finding BtVS has been a huge thing for me, and reading -- over the last few months -- years' worth of your fascinating, brilliant, absolutely spot-on, irritating, highly-educated, super-informed, totally wrongheaded and bizarre thoughts on this strange and wonderful TV show have been an enormous pleasure.

I'm so glad we can share it with you, Kassto. And hello, since I haven't been in UnAmericans in some time.

Watching someone restrain an impulse to do evil for the greater good is fascinating for me.

Absolutely. Sometimes being able to restrain, maybe sometimes not, and all for complicated reasons -- in chippedand unsouled!Spike's case, those reasons could include love, traces of William, sheer stubbornness and contrariness, and vague chippiness. Much more interesting.

And PMM. I'm too innocent for this place. What did I say? What did I say? To spark off that...thing.

Thankyou kindly Consuela.

I've been contemplating William's social status there in Victorian England. Not just among his "peers", but vis a vis his family. I was looking at some screen caps from "Lies My Parents Told Me" (I think that's the title, where we meet William's mum), and the room caught my eye. That's a full-length portrait there above the fireplace, and to have the space to properly display a full-length portrait, you need a tall room, and for that you need a good-sized house. And aside from that, full-length portraits aren't cheap, and it takes a bit of social wherewithal to require a full-length portrait.

From what I could see of the portrait, it's of a woman, and I think a relatively young one at that, due to the style of gown. Is it of a relative, or maybe of Mum herself? Mum's obviously a widow, given the dress she was wearing, but she could have sat for the portrait as a young wife or the daughter of a wealthy family. The money has stayed with the family, though, given they're in a house of sufficient size to display the portrait. And William obviously isn't too concerned about maintaining/improving the family fortune, given he's immersed himself in the languid poet thing. I don't think it's because he's poor that he wore the suit he did to that party, I think it's because he doesn't have much sense.