Okay, I might be a little premature in saying this right off the bat, but...
This was the best episode this season. Quite possibly the best episode ever.

Let's sum up.
Explanation (at least partial) of what happened to Giles? Check.
Buffy confronted with a moral dilemma regarding Spike? Check.
Willow coming closer to terms with the events of last season? Check.
Visiting the Bronze again instead of non-stop researching, like the Scoobies used to? Check.
Question as to parental knowledge and input? Check.
Overall excellence in writing, directorial choices, and technical aspects? Um, CHECK. And double check.

I was absolutely certain this would be one of my most hated episodes ever. I could not contemplate liking a Willow and Kennedy relationship. Ya gotta give a hand to the M.E. kids, they know how to redeem themselves.

Points in order...

--SMG: ouch, no voice! She sounded way sicky.
--"Clomping teenage girly feet" - *giggle*
--Buffy seemed uncomfortable when Spike attributed his calmness to her being with him. How's that for no flirting, people??
--Spike in pain: wow, convincing. His limbs were jerking, he was slamming his head on the wall, his eyes were rolling back...I was wincing all the way. The whole chip malfunctioning arc captivated me from the instant it started, with one exception (explained later). It startled me, even though I knew it was going to happen with spoilers; I expected him to be bad a la Sleeper, not be in pain a la bad computer parts.
--I'd just like to point out how Willow making tea and saying it was for Kennedy is an example of how easy it is for the writers to make up a story as to why a character can't appear. In this case it was because Kennedy was faking it, but still.

--And yet, no Chloe, and no mention of how Giles got back to Sunnydale.
--Buffy: "Remember when things used to be nice and boring?" Willow: "No." LOL!! Nice. Liked that a lot. Brings back the whole understanding that these people aren't normal, they don't live normal lives, so we have to expect the unexpected in EVERY episode. We can't try to predict things as they "should" happen.

--Again, love the use of the Bronze.
--Willow protesting Kennedy's flirting: "Why do you do that?" THANK YOU! That was the perfect way to play it. Willow didn't tumble into Kennedy's arms without a thought; she was coaxed, and backed off in a big way (turning into Warren) when her subconscious felt guilty for letting Tara go a little bit more.
--"How long have you enjoyed having sex with women?" "HEY!" Thank you, again! That was so rude and inappropriate of Kennedy, and I'm glad Willow called her on it. And oh, "lesbodar," BEST WORD EVER!
--"You really haven't been getting out there much, have you?" God, I was so about to cry. No, she hasn't been getting out, since TARA DIED.
--Kennedy describing the process of getting to know a girl...anyone else thinking ONLY of Tara while she was speaking? I was waiting for Willow to start crying. I was nearly crying myself.

--Spike's nosebleeds: Yikes!! And I *adored* the fact that he was identifying with Buffy feeling her own mortality, especially from back in S6. "Maybe I wasn't meant to last this long."

Sidenote: Okay anti-S/B-shippers, you want a good reason for the two of them to be together? There it is. Only vampires can identify with Buffy's issues, and souled vampires are especially good. Since Angel is out of the picture, that leaves us with Spike. Accept it! (Done with the soapbox, sorry.)

--"Behavior Modification Software Throughout the Ages" - LOL!
--"Who you gonna call? ... God, that phrase is never gonna be usable again, is it?" I was ROLLING.

--Willow's mom thinking her gayness was a political statement: seems to fit perfectly with Mrs. Rosenberg's character. But what happened to Mr. Rosenberg?

--Buffy and the flower shop cover: LOL!!

--Willow wondering why Kennedy likes her: didn't she ask Tara the same thing? Asking what Tara saw in her? I've done that with significant others, I know where Willow is. Her self-esteem is low, and she's looking for someone to explain an interest in her to provide concrete evidence of WHY she should feel better about herself. Excellent character work for Willow. This character could not be any more real or identifiable for me.
--Kennedy not being into magic: that's good. If Willow IS going to have a relationship with her, it's better that it's with someone who has a completely blank slate to work with.
--Willow and Kennedy kissing: I didn't care. Just. didn't. care. Kennedy gained a little more of my respect in this episode just because we got to see more of her, and she wasn't being a bossy brat in what we did see, but she still doesn't appeal to me that much. (And I mean appeal in that I can identify with her, or sympathize with her.)
--Willow/Warren flipping back and forth: good stuff. Loved the way they played that. It really made you identify with Willow's fear and confusion to see her struggle with it.
--Andrew: dancing schnauzers? And hugging Warren? Wow. Just a bit homoerotic.
--Spike's writhing on the floor in pain while Willow was trying to explain things in the living room: way distracting. This was the one place his chip malfunctioning didn't work.
--Adam Busch did such a great job imitating Willow. Wow! Haven't seen a performance like that since, well, Who Are You? with Buffy and Faith.
--Aquaman underroos!! YAAAAY! Loved the crayons reference, too.
--"I killed him. It's hard to see the chuckles." YAY! Thank you for making Willow be serious about it.

--"Nothing good on TV tonight." LOL!! Thanks, writers.
--Spike's drug-induced daffodils and teddy bears: *evil, derisive giggling*

--Robson's call: I almost wet myself. Thank you, god, thank you thank you thank you for wrapping up that confusion! At least partially! That still doesn't explain how Giles survived and why he isn't touching things. (I started yelling at the TV when he asked Dawn to take a book off the mantle, when he was closer to it. Granted, he wanted to stay and talk to Buffy, but still!) I fully expect him to explain it all when they all get back to the house in the next episode. If not, I'm gonna be unhappy.
--Anya called Xander by his last name just before they left the house to find Giles. Why? So out of character. This was almost as bad as her wearing glasses for an episode.

--Giles sitting in front of the fire, with a creepy shine on his glasses right where his eyes should've been. EEEEP! Humans with eyeshine freak me out. (Taye Diggs in House on Haunted Hill...)

Tangent: We know three things with ABSOLUTE certainty: the Bringer attempting to killer Robson and Giles was stopped, Giles is not being astral-projected, and he is not the First. The Bringer had to have been stopped because a) Giles is obviously in Sunnydale in person, and b) because Robson wouldn't be alive if the Bringer had not been stopped. (The Bringer would have, I presume, sacrificed his life before abandoning his duty of killing Robson.)
And thank god we know these things. I'm sure my parents are quite sick of hearing me yelling with joy from the basement.

--Bringing back the wannablessed-be's: yay! Having them way more powerful and less snobby: double yay! It's like Joss was listening to our Tara-related convos in the last couple of weeks.
--Amy in rehab: this was...awesome. Excellent plot point in two ways. One, I thought that Willow and Amy could now connect in a good way because they've *both* hit bottom, magic-wise. Better to have someone who's been there than Kennedy or Buffy, who haven't. Two, since Amy turned out to be bad, this was good because...well...yay for plot twists! What a shocker. One thing I'm not clear on: how could Amy have known Kennedy was a potential unless she was the First? I thought she was, but the scene progressed as if she wasn't. If she's the First, then Amy must have died recently. That would be a great thing to investigate. If she's not the First, then how did she know about Kennedy?
--Warren smacking Amy: wow, if we weren't sure that Warren is a total misogynist before, we are now!
--Willow said that she was "becoming" Warren. Just for those keeping track of what titles are getting mentioned. Additionally, she's becoming the big bad of Warren; Angelus wanted to become the big bad of the key to Acathla. Nice parallel.
--Willow said that Warren's capacity for evildoing was the reason she killed him. She's rationalizing it? That doesn't strike me as a GOOD thing. Yeah, it's true, but she's still rationalizing what was an extreme act of vengeance that was not only premeditated, but which she also took pride and joy in (being EvilWitchyWillow).
--"This little 'date' is over." Ha! Yay! Glad they didn't just keep going with the smoochy crap.

--Buffy and Spike in the Initiative: I'll bet I wasn't the only nearly wetting my pants at the lighting perfection of that scene. The flashlights, especially when Buffy and Spike were circling and trying to find their stalker, reminded me of Signs. ("You mean M. Night Shyamalan was wrong??")
--They shone their lights on a demon, but walked right by. Gee, seemed a little risky there.
--When Spike was knocked down by the demon and dropped his flashlight, it rolled so that it shone directly on his face. Nice touch.

--Okay...IF Amy is the First Evil, then the First Evil is slipping. Giving away that Amy knew that Kennedy was a potential? Sloppy, sloppy sloppy. I really hope Amy IS the First, because then this is going to start to get interesting.

--Anya said something to Giles about her being happy that he was a NON-corporeal evil. So he's a corporeal evil? LOL!!
--"You think I'm evil if I bring a group of girls on a camping trip and DON'T touch them?" ROTF!

--The soldier boys in the Initiative: did anyone else see both Graham and Forrest in that group? Right next to each other? Sure looked like them. That would've been a couple of nice cameos.
--Buffy and her government conspiracy: that's damn funny.
--Riley's nickname for Spike. ROTF!!
--Buffy's decision whether to remove the chip, or repair it. God, edge of my seat much? I read a lot of spoilers before I went on the wagon, but nothing about this. What a great plot point!!

--Amy: "I put a hex on her." Loved her delivery. Also loved that we had a different, but equally dangerous, villain for this episode.
--"It's always better than anything I can come up with." ALWAYS better? Do you often put hex spells on people, Amy? Yet another argument for why Amy IS the First Evil.
--Kennedy trying to fight Amy: anyone feel like they were watching early Buffy? She was all, I'm going to do the best I can to try and stop you, even if I can't succeed. Kennedy isn't all powerful S7 Buffy, but she's not a helpless human who does nothing in the face of people being naughty, either.
--Amy: "I'm not the bad guy here." Excellent. If Amy is JUST taking revenge on Willow...well, yeah, Amy's not nearly as bad as Willow was being. Plus, Willow's treading on the dark side had more implications than just among her friends.
--Willow and the gun: way, way awkward. I can understand Willow getting placed in the spot where Warren was when he killed Tara, and the whole symbolism of that (beating us over the head with it already!), but her just going to get the gun itself seemed off. Why was that the real Warren's mission?

Somebody explain what was going on with Willow at the end. The dialogue completely confused me. Sometimes it was Warren speaking as Willow, and sometimes it was Willow not speaking as herself but as Warren. Initially it sounded like she was completely breaking down over guilt at killing Warren, and I was all, YAY! Willow taking some responsibility for her actions! Willow feeling guilt and remorse! LW is gonna love this!

Then Drew Z. Greenberg/David Solomon turned it to Willow just being sad over letting Tara go a little bit more by kissing Kennedy. Oh c'mon, not nearly as important and powerful. Not to mention, what, Kennedy kissing her MORE is gonna fix things? (Explain to me HOW that worked, too, please.) Willow just completely stopped crying over Tara, too. "Kissing the boo boo" much? Geez, what an escape mechanism.

"Are you alright?" "I have no idea." Good line.

Basically...either the last scene needs to be explained more, or Drew and David backed away from a plot route that would've been WAY better, if just less emotional, than Willow just pining over Tara. Um, Drew and David? We know Willow misses her. We miss her too. But Willow still needs to take responsibility for KILLING someone.

As for the rest of the episode...awesome. That's the only word I can think of. I can only use that, and my happy dance. *Gets up and boogies*



||previous|| - ||next||