10 Smartest Moments In Buffy The Vampire Slayer
2. Making The Scooby Gang Hate Each Other – Spike (Season 4, Episode 20)
Spike teams up with Adam at the end of Season 4 and agrees to help take down the Slayer. After hanging around with the Scooby Gang for most of the season, Spike has picked up on a few things, so he decides to exploit the gang’s insecurities in order to break them apart, leaving Buffy isolated.
Giles is up first, and Spike drops a few lines about his lack of purpose and how Buffy doesn’t value his contributions anymore. Spike uses a similar tactic with Xander before turning his attention to Willow and making her believe Buffy doesn’t appreciate her skills as a witch.
Having planted his seeds, Spike swaggers off and leaves our heroes to spat it out between themselves. Whilst the Scooby Gang do manage to reconcile in the next episode, Spike’s plan was still ingenius. He recognised that isolating Buffy was the best way to defeat her, and with a few well-considered lines, he broke up the Scooby Gang all by himself.