Traipsing in Make Believe

thinking about this was keeping my up last night, i remember an interview where someone (i think it was james marsters?) talked about how spike from buffy the vampire slayer was supposed to be a minor character that got killed off/written out at the end of his season BUT fans took a such a strong liking to him that the writers said hey, you know, we could write him into a recurring character??? and they did! now this wasn't completely like the fans probably imagined, even though the writers wrote him in more they were very much of the mind set that spike is a bad character and you should not only know that but also not like him so freely. which eventually lead to THAT infamous scene between buffy and spike. it felt like they knew better and wanted everyone else to follow their thinking too.

now what does this have to do with billy? i think he had the same charm to him than spike, where, despite the dark theme of his character, the fans took an extreme liking to him and wanted more. except the writers weren't happy about that in this case. they wrote billy as a bad person and i think they tried their best to make everyone else think so too. i think their whole goal was to make another bully character that people would hate and move on when he died, but they weren't prepared for the love and affection people had for him. now i fully understand it is their show and they can do what they want with it but i loved how the buffy writers stood behind their fans and went "here, you want a pretty boy? we got a pretty boy for you!". it would have been delicious seeing a bully and an insecure kid have a lovingly crafted growth arc where he can heal and find the friendship and love along the way (that he very much deserves).

i'm still very bitter that we didn't get that. i know billy is a VERY controversial character and many people out there hate him (and they have the right to) but there is a reason why he resonated with so many people, why so many people could relate to him and sympathise with him. i just think it's absolutely sad he got the ending he had but i am very happy the fans are keeping him alive and giving him a happy ending and the character growth i wish we could have gotten.

also dacre pretty :D