Julia or Faye?

[Mellie]

I know there are many different views on the real love of Spike's life.

I believe that Spike really did love Julia. Just the relationships between the two and the past they endured. Plus how Spike couldn't give up on her.

Now, I am a huge fan of Faye and Spike. Mainly because Julia wasn't around as much for me to gain an affection for her. However, I entertain no real idea that Spike could love her while he was still pondering Julia. There was definately something between them, but to what extend. They cared about each other, but how much...?

The question I pose to you all, what do you think: Julia or Faye?

[Melina]

I wish Faye and Spike had more of a relationship in the series but he did seem as if he wasn't quite over Julia.

[Calla Lily]

Ah, this is [almost] as bad as the Inuyasha: Kikyo or Kagome debate. XD

Although I don't look down on the possibility of Spike/Faye, I don't really see their relationship going beyond what they had during the episodes of CB. Whether or not it's taken as sibling squabbling or suppressed sexual tension, I believe that Spike really did Julia and with his own words, said that she was his reason to live, the one that had made him complete again.

Even if Julia had a limited appearance on the show, in person or in reference, we as observers couldn't ignore the impact she had on Spike. Just the mention of her name and he'd go on a duck hunt searching for some sort of clue that she was there.

Julia even wondered why he fell in love with her and why he couldn't let her go.

The thing with Faye/Spike is that Faye's personality is starkly different from Julia's - and to forget the memory of a woman who made you so happy - to turn to another woman who's in a way her opposite - egads.

Even if the relationship between Faye and Spike were explored more I'm not entirely sure Spike would go for it. Initially, their connection held some potential but as the series went on, I just thought that it was more of a sibling thing and Spike was an adopted brother figure to her. Hence, when he declared he'd be leaving the ship to die, she didn't want him to leave because by then, he had become part of her family and she didn't want to lose that again.

[whoa, don't I ever shut up?]

Lastly, before I type myself into a comatose state, Spike was a man who was tied to his past and that past involved his Julia, Vicious, and everyone else back at the Syndicate. If Julia was his dream, he wanted to see if he had ever lived.

~Calla.

[Gundam Girl]

Amen, Calla, amen. I completely agree with what you said.

The Spike/Faye-ers (and there's a LOT of them), I think, go by how good of a couple Spike and Faye would make. Spike is your geeky guy but when he's cool, he's COOL. And Faye; when isn't she cool? Plus, if Bebop is interpreted this way, Spike and Faye can form a bond over their pasts, being equally haunting.

A note on Julia; though it's true that her placement in the series is no more than three episodes, throughout the entire series we see many images of her through Spike's mind. Her name is almost constantly mentioned, and every time Spike is standing by himself smoking or looking out to space, we know he's looking through his bad eye and seeing his past. His past is Vicious and Julia, the people he loved and who loved him at one time.

Spike's mind is on one of three things all the time; money, his stomach, and Julia. I think Julia usually overlaps the other two. He is undoubtedly a tortured soul and the fact that he cannot let go of the woman he loves makes him so. On Callisto, his mad search for his mysterious lover proves that there is something about his relationship with Julia that haunts him, and at the end of the series, we discover that he simply cannot get over her.

When she dies, he trembles. He cries. He tells a sad story about a cat and blows up a building. Then he kills his ex-best friend out of revenge for himself, Julia, and what seems like his whole past. And his past revolves about Julia and the memories of her that wouldn't leave him alone.

(I'll shut up soon.)

I think the proving moment in the tale of Spike and Julia is when Spike refuses to run away with her. Julia accepts that quickly even though she is scared out of her mind, and she tells Spike she will go with him...that she'll be with him to the end, whatever it may be. I believe that since Spike accepts her, the woman who refused him and ultimately was going to try to kill him, if she could, Spike understands that if he did not have Julia with him for as long as he is able, he would die much soon.

On a last, possibly harsh note: it isn't Faye Spike wants with him at his death. It's Julia.

[SqueezeMe]

Ouch, Gundam Girl, ouch. You and Calla Lilly have a great point. However, I must defend one of my favorite pairings.

I think the Spike and Faye pairing never happened because it never got the chance. During the entire series Spike is hung up over Julia, like a puppy left behind by its owner.

Yes, his and Julia's relationship was intense, and extreme. This is part of why, I think, Spike could never really get over her. It's much like a guy in current times being involved in a heavy relationship where the girl breaks it off for no reason. He's hurt in a way he is unused to, so the emotions are harder to forget.

Faye really never had a chance due to those wounded feelings. However, if the series had continued on, and Spike had had time, the wounds would fade. He and Faye would have been left in a position with only two options:

1. One of them leaves
2. They end up together

The second can be either in a relationship or a 'friends with benefits' type of situation. ((This is based on the fact that I could never see either of them forming a 'brotherly/sisterly' bond with ANYONE... other then Jet, who is more of a father figure))

I feel that Faye and Spike being together is just us CB junkies wishing and hopping for two of the most awesome characters ever made to be in a relationship.

Well, anyway, sorry for the long ramble. I hope I made at least some kind of point other then my own stupidity.
Squee
((I just realized the date on these posts. Wow, I'm an idiot!))