Thanks for the link, but I fear this guy's brain is somehow malfunctioning - he seems unable to understand such fundamental things as character development, motivation and storytelling. *shakes head*

Sure, it's from 'Passion' in S2, when Angelus confronts Jenny in the High School:

Angelus: It's a miracle to me. You, you put the secrets to restoring my
soul in here...

He shoves the computer off her of desk and onto the floor. It breaks,
and the monitor shatters and sparks and starts to burn. Angelus tears
the printout from the printer.

Angelus: It comes out here. (looks at the paper) 'The Ritual of
Restoration.' Wow. This, this brings back memories.

I'm feeling very chipper this morning! :)

My pleasure. :)

Pffft! This guy is so odd that he lost all respect for Buffy when she smiled at Spike's joke about killing her friends in 'Flooded'. I don't think he understands the concept of character development.

A great deal of people tried, but he's just too strange...

It's blindingly obvious in the make up of the story.
Of course it is, but these guys just go "Lalalalala - Spike said 'make me what I was' and he was never a souled vampire so therefore you're all delusional and the writers did a ret-con!"

But then I don't think they actually understand things like character development or storytelling or anything else really.

It's funny really, because Buffy was always about things being literal... I just wonder what show they think they were watching.

Good luck! :)

Ret-con, damage control, he lied.

It only matters if you're an unsouled Spike redemptionist
Well it matters to them (apparently) because they think that getting a soul 'fixes' everything and Spike's story is over. (Which is bizarre, but there you go - I don't claim to understand them! *g*)

IMO, it doesn't matter what Spike went to do.
I see your point, but they would have been switching direction mid-story, turning Spike into Unwilling Soul Victim #2. Which would have been bad, because Spike was always different to Angel, most particularly because he's pro-active where Angel is re-active. Angel sat around for 100 years doing *nothing* after he got his soul (nothing particularly positive anyway), whereas Spike turned his back on his evil ways with nothing but a human-violence chip to stop him, and in only 3 years! Spike's soulless status was remarked on over and over again in S6, so they were going somewhere with it. Also deciding to get the chip out wouldn't make sense story or character wise (at that point anyway - different time, different outcome). I think the soul needed to be Spike's choice, and he states so several times in S7. Also, it sets up the differences between him and Angel very sharply - read this post by the_royal_anna about why it matters.

And now I've just gone and waffled again. Sorry - I've been discussing this for about a week now and my head will soon explode! Thank you so much for commenting! :)

It works if he went to get his soul of his own accord and it works if he was tricked into his soul.
Well I don't really think so - because the end result isn't as important as the motivation. If his response to the AR really truly was 'I'm going to get this chip out of my head so I can destroy Buffy's life', then Spike is as awful as Angelus, if not worse. And it would be at odds with his growth over the last 3 years on the show, and at odds with his love for Buffy and his overriding need for her to love him.

It works in a "Ha, ha, another one of Spike's plans blows up in his face. Dumb Spike." and it works in a "He got the soul for her, so he could be complete. *swoon*"
Ah, but it does that anyway - it's the most wonderful catch-22: He knows that Buffy will not love him without the soul (he's beneath her), but once he has it he finally understands how awful he is (he's even further beneath her). He's complete - and it blows up in his face!

It's a matter of what you think about Spike. That's it.
Oh absolutely! :)

Getting the chip out would neither help to prevent the AR from happening again nor change the fact that when Buffy kicked him across the room, he didn't get back up and attack her again.
::nods a lot:: I love this line of Xander's:

"He doesn't have a soul, Buffy. Just some leash they jammed in his head. You think he'd still be all snuggles if that chip ever stopped working?"

Because Buffy knows the truth of it, which is that Spike *is* all snuggles without the chip (when she lets him). The chip is not a factor, really. Guess the writers were just too good at misdirecting for their own good.

(Also thanks for reading and commenting, all this time later!)

She thought it was one of ME's biggest goofs
I'm going to be quoting that! :)

I've skimmed a few of your posts, and they look wonderful. Sorry I haven't commented, but I always seem to be in a hurry.