Family...Spike hits Tara

[Wiccaness]

Ok so in this episode, we see tara's family basically telling the scoobies that she's a demon, Beth tells them that she hopes that they are all happy with a demon. Heres the scene.


BETH: Well. I hope you'll all be happy hanging out with a disgusting demon.
ANYA: E-excuse me. What kind?
BETH: What?
ANYA: What kind of demon is she? There's a lot of different kinds. Some are very, very evil. And some have been considered to be useful members of society.
BETH: Well, I-I ... what does it matter?
MR. MACLAY: Evil is evil.
ANYA: Well, let's just narrow it down.
SPIKE: Ohhh...Why don't I make this simple.

Then spike walks up to Tara and punches her in the nose.
It hurts him(and Tara) and the gang discovers that she really isnt a demon,


My question here is, if before spike punched her, they all thought she was part demon, and Anya was just trying to figure out what kind, why would Spike hit her then?
His chip wouldn't have told him what kind of demon she was, right? Being a demon would have just let him hit her with out being in pain. And they all ready thought she was a demon.

[Joyce Summers]

I think maybe it was because in response to Anya's question Beth looked kinda flummoxed and stumbled a little and then add that to r MaClay's 'evil is evil' comment and it sounded a lot like they didn't have a clue what they were talking about. So maybe that's what Spike tuned into so....he went and proved it by showing Tara was a demon. Albeit by almost breaking her nose...but still

[ILLYRIAN]

Yep, Spike showed them that Tara had no demon in her, good on yer Spike !!

[Tranquillity]

spike reads people well, he suspected that tara's father was lying so the smack in the nose was a quick, easy and (for tara) painful way to prove that it.

[wiccianslayer]

painful for spike as well

[palabravampiress]

spike reads people well, he suspected that tara's father was lying so the smack in the nose was a quick, easy and (for tara) painful way to prove that it.

Don't forget incontrovertible. I think that was Spike's motivation. They could go ten verbal rounds about it, or he could just prove it one way or the other. If she was demon, her family was never going to accept her, but the scoobies probably would, given the presence of Anya and Spike in the whole "we're family" thing.

[ILLYRIAN]

Showing that Tara wasn't negatively affected by a demon probably was Spike's driving motivational thought, but considering his thought processess towards Buffy at the time he was probably hoping for a certain female to say thanks or rub his head a bit, mind you Xander may have liked the idea of rubbing Spike's head with a house brick, thrown from ten paces !.

[Buffy obsessed fan]

Well, there was the whole 'They could see Tara' concept, when they couldn't see demons, kinda giving it away.

[benboy606]

Well, he did it to show that Tara wasn't a demon. If she was, he would not be hurt. And, everyone thought she was but Spike didn't think so. So he proved it.

[caitaintdead]

i think anya was being a good judge of character and knew straight up (by the look on her face) that her family were just a bunch of idiots!
i could tell from a mile off that her family were just a bunch of rednecks and in true buffy style they were using a lesbian/witch metaphor. or possibly even a metaphor for her breaking out and going to college as something bad. (women with an education... oooh evil!)
anya obviously saw through taras familys facade.
this is why she started asking trick questions... gosh i do the same thing when questioning my boyfriend about who he was out with!
spike thinks similar to anya. this has been commented on in many episodes. so to me it seemed clear that spike also thought that taras family were full of poo.
anya may not speak the same as everyone else or be the same kind of clever as willow... but she is definitely street smart.

[Buffy obsessed fan]

[QUOTE=caitaintdead;463026]
spike thinks similar to anya. this has been commented on in many episodes. QUOTE]

And is proven in Entropy ;)

[Alfie]

I thought it was one of the funniest moments in the Season.

It was just such a "Spike" thing to do.

[TabulaRasa]

Yes that's what I was going to say, let's not forget that it was a very funny moment. I don't care why he really hit her, I enjoyed it either way.
But we know why he hit her so I don't have to explain it. Woohoo, lol.

[Cordelia Chase*]

ummm no...his chip hurts him when harming humans...which proves that Tara was not a demon.

[Elithustra]

Wouldn't Spike have hit Tara just because he was Spike? I mean, to answer the original question, if I understand it correctly, Spike hit Tara because he's Spike. Also, he figured he'd be able to answer it once and for all by hitting her.

[girlunstrung]

I loved Tara's reaction, her 'He hurt my nose. :( ... He hurt my nose! :)!' XD It made me giggle quite a lot, actually. Ahh, Family. How I love thee.

[Xin Rong]

Yeah I always thought it was fairly obvious that spike figured out what was going on. The real question is why did spike care? Why did he prove she was human when seconds later he claimed not to care lol... gotta love the randomness

[palabravampiress]

^ The claim was a rather transparent attempt to preserve his self-respect and his image as the big bad. He wanted to assert the fact that even though he'd helped when he didn't have to, it didn't mean anything. It probably kind of shook him, actually, helping out the Scoobies like that.

He hit her because he really did have a soft spot for poor Glinda, who was always so much on the outs at that time (just like him)... but mostly because it was a fast way to get the truth out. The Scooby idiots would never have thought of something so direct; instead, he would have been stuck there waiting while they talked circles around the issue and argued for hours. Spike rolled his eyes and braced for the headache because he wanted to get home to his telly. Better a quick migraine now than one later (caused by the Scoobies' constant yapping).

[Vampmogs]

Well, there was the whole 'They could see Tara' concept, when they couldn't see demons, kinda giving it away.

But Tara did the spell so they couldn't see the demon part of her and only the human part of her. Tara was only 'part demon' and she wanted that part to keep hidden. So with the spell the Scoobies still could see Tara, just not both sides of her. That was Tara's intentions in doing the spell in the first place. :)

[Tranquillity]

Wouldn't Spike have hit Tara just because he was Spike? I mean, to answer the original question, if I understand it correctly, Spike hit Tara because he's Spike. Also, he figured he'd be able to answer it once and for all by hitting her.


I don't think Spike would hit Tara for no good reason. There was certainly a definite purpose behind the action, that is, to prove that Tara was not a demon.

[The Ferg]

I just watched this episode and I have to say... who cares? Seriously, why id this topic even up right now? I'm sorry, but I am really not seeing the point of this. The whole "what kind of demon is she" is just saying that Tara's family has no idea about what a real demon is.

[Wiccaness]

I just watched this episode and I have to say... who cares? Seriously, why id this topic even up right now? I'm sorry, but I am really not seeing the point of this. The whole "what kind of demon is she" is just saying that Tara's family has no idea about what a real demon is.

the point was, why would spike hit her if they all thought she was a demon all ready, he couldnt find out what type of demon she was by doing that.

Obviously taras family doesnt know what a demon is, her dad was all "what is that" when he saw the ones in the room with them the reason they just said the whole demon thing was to control the women in there family.

[The Ferg]

the point was, why would spike hit her if they all thought she was a demon all ready, he couldnt find out what type of demon she was by doing that.
Because he's just... Spike. And no one really cared what kind of demon she was except for Anya...

Obviously taras family doesnt know what a demon is, her dad was all "what is that" when he saw the ones in the room with them the reason they just said the whole demon thing was to control the women in there family.
I realize that.

[caitaintdead]

This really isn't all that complicated.

Spike isn't stupid. He has street smarts. Anya does to. Anya realised that the family weren't making sense so asked what kind of demon she was, trying to trip up her family. Spike cottoned on to what Anya was inferring and realised the best way to find out for sure if she was demon or not was to punch her.

[The Kinslayer]

But Tara did the spell so they couldn't see the demon part of her and only the human part of her. Tara was only 'part demon' and she wanted that part to keep hidden. So with the spell the Scoobies still could see Tara, just not both sides of her.
I was starting to think that everybody had forgotten that. Thanks.