Why didn the Scoobies kill Spike in Season 4?
He’s still unrepentantly evil, he’s done nothing to imply that he might stop being evil anytime soon, and he frequently said that he wants them all dead. Hell, as of Faith’s return, he (a) had never actually helped them fight demons that we see, despite his “let’s kill something!” speech, and (b) had declared his intention to sic Faith on the lot of them and then laugh. • Spike was literally helpless. The only thing he could actually kill were animals and demons (once he figured that out), so even though he threatened them, they weren’t going to kill him until he actual became a threat (which he never did until Season 7, when the First overrode the chip somehow). • Just because he couldn’t rip anybody apart didn’t make him harmless. He was a threat when he could help Faith find the good guys and kill them in their sleep, he was a threat when he helped Adam isolate Buffy inside the Initiative, he was a threat in Season 5 when he and Harmony held hostage the only person in the state who
