15 Most Shocking Buffy The Vampire Slayer Moments
8. Spike Gets His Soul Back
Spike has one of the greatest arcs on television, and it is this moment which truly begins his redemptive storyline.
The thing which makes this moment so shocking is the fact that it comes at the back end of a violent ordeal which you’re led to believe is Spike’s attempt to remove his chip (the thing stopping him from hurting people) so he can return to his evil ways and deal with Buffy once and for all.
Travelling to Africa, where he contacts a shadowy demon, Spike is forced to part-take in a series of trials in order to get what he wants.
At the end of the final episode of season six, he succeeds in his trials and the demon returns his soul. Then the season ends, and by Season Seven he has returned to Sunnydale slightly mad, reeling from a century of unfelt guilt.
Him getting his soul back, shocking as it was, ends up being one of the last season’s very best plotlines, and gives way to Spike’s excellently delivered speech in the episode Beneath You, wherein he tells Buffy he has a soul for the first time.