In Entertainment Weekly, #505 (October 1, 1999 - Sarah Michelle Gellar on the cover) there is a big Buffy special. Yay! One part has a list of all the episodes with a critique of them, and some of them really praise Spike - double yay! They love his "devotion to Dru, whom he loves 'eyeballs to entrails'". For Episode 15, School Hard (EW rated A-) they say "He and the sluggishly wicked Dru are masterpieces of malevolence." For #22, What's My Line Part 2 (A): "Kendra returns home when Spike and Dru appear to have been vanquished (which, thankfully, they haven't!) Episode 34, Becoming Part 2 (A+): "Spike and Dru split Sunnydale (sniff!)" But their review for Lovers Walk says it all, so I am taking it straight from context but I am in no way associated with Entertainment Weekly. This is for personal and fun use only:

Critique: "It took Spike to get this show back on the A train, and no surprise there: Marsters is a marvel at balancing Spike's incongruous vulnerability (his mini-marshmallow moment with Joyce) with cold-blooded menace. And on a series with consistently clever closures, this ep's final scene is sublime: Spike outcaterwauling Sid Vicious on 'My Way' as he speeds out of town. A+"

Yay for Spike getting such recognition! And on the new season...

"Alas, no sign of Spike yet, who will return as a series regular (in addition to working on Angel ). 'I'm so glad he's coming back,' says Gellar of actor James Marsters. 'I'm president of his fan club.' No, we are."

Suuuure, yeeeah... but have they met THE SPIKE GIRLS? Or visited one of the other thousand of Spike pages on the 'net? So there! :)