Perri's Review

Plot:
Previously on Buffy: The LoD went down, Spike assaulted Buffy then bailed, Warren showed up pissed and shot Tara and Buffy. Please don't ask me to relive any more of that damn episode.

Sirens wail as paramedics race towards the Summers house. Xander races around from the backyard, where he's been trying to staunch the bleeding. The paramedics set to work as Xander watches helplessly. Upstairs, Willow cradles Tara's limp body, begging life to return to it. The air begins to turn blue and swirl; Willow looks up into the clouds, her eyes black and red, and chants a summons -- to Osiris, to bring Tara back. As Buffy stares sightlessly at the sky. The Egyptian God of the Dead -- or his really impressive answering service -- appears, a giant, floating, truly pissed-off face. "You may not violate the laws of natural passing," Osiris informs the grieving witch. "You raised one killed by magical forces; this is not the same. She was taken by natural forces. It is done." Willow screams out a denial, magic blasting from her into the face, which howls in pain and falls away from her.

As the paramedics load Buffy into the ambulance, Willow appears from the house, covered in blood. She interrogates Xander just long enough to get Warren's name, then strides off into the street. Xander calls after her, then jumps in the ambulance. In Sunnydale prison, Jonathan is having a little "Oz"-inspired freakout, and Andrew gets to be the voice of sanity. Except for the whole thing where he's still convinced Warren is going to come get them. Jonathan knows better; still burning from the betrayal by the other two, he tells Andrew is no uncertain terms that Warren isn't coming. Andrew refuses to believe. Jonathan: "Sure. He's a nice murderer. He keeps his word."

Actually, he's riding a high of murderous glee, bouncing into a vampire bar and ordering a round for the house. Seems he thinks every vamp in the place should congratulate him for being the man who killed the Slayer, and begins to recruit a new gang. "The town is ours!" he cries." The vamp at the bar looks at him with amusement. "Ours, maybe," he says pointedly, "but you are screwed." The vamps would probably be more impressed, except that the news of the shooting has already gotten around. The vamps and demons at the bar take great and sadistic pleasure in informing Warren that not only is he not home free, but the Slayer survived. "Slayers heal fast," the bartender advises him.

Willow arrives at the magic box still distant and riding a wave of rage. Light bulbs pop from the sheer force of magic streaming off of her, and Anya keeps her distance. "Where do you keep the black arts books." Any tries to stop her, and gets frozen in place for her trouble, as books fly to Willow from all over the room. They pile on the center table, and Willow walks over to them, putting her hands directly in one of the books. As she goes rigid, the words themselves begin flowing from the book, up her arms into her head as her hair flies back and her eyes go deep black -- as black as her hair has turned. When she lifts her hands, the pages of the book are blank. "That's better," she says calmly, in a voice that isn't strictly Willow any more.

Dawn arrives home from her sleepover to find the front door open and the house empty. She calls out; when there's no answer, she heads upstairs. So it's Dawn who finds Tara's body, still sprawled in the bedroom that was once her mother's.

Somewhere else, a door opens, and the familiar (and loathed) form of Rack, the psychic vampire slug, emerges into his waiting room. "All right, who's next?" he sneers, and Warren jumps to his feet. "You're new," Rack observes. "I come bearing dead presidents, so you think we can just skip the small talk?" Warren demands. Rack gestures him in. Warren bribed someone for Rack's location; he tells Rack he wants protection from the pissed-off Slayer. Rack is severely unimpressed; he's never heard of the Trio (of course), and he knows that Warren's got bigger troubles than Buffy. "If I were you, I'd worry about the witch.... Willow. Slayer's pal. She's the new power, baby -- anybody with intuition can feel it. She's gonna blow this town apart -- starting with you." Rack tells him the Slayer is alive, but somebody else is dead, and that's why Willow wants him dead. And will find him. Rack, presented with a large roll, refuses to guarantee anything will protect Warren, but gives him what he's got.

The doctors operate frantically on Buffy in one of the more unbelievable operating rooms in the known universe, when the lights sudden dim and flicker. They whirl to find Willow standing in the doorway. "Leave," she orders, ignoring Xander's attempts to talk to her. The doctors leave, the heart monitor flatlines, and Willow walk over to Buffy. Slowly, carefully, the bullets removes itself from Buffy's chest, floating in the air. "so small," Willow says wonderingly, catching the lump of lead. As Xander watches, wide-eyed, Buffy comes around, her wound healed. He hugs her. "You gotta stop doing this. this dying thing's funny once, maybe twice." Willow's not up for any reunions or happiness. "I'll explain," she tells the other two, "but we've got to go. We have to find Warren. " And she strides out, oblivious to the stares of her friends.

Warren is in the process of taking the first bus out of town; Willow, Buffy and Xander follow right behind in Xander's car. "Faster," Willow tells Xander, and the gas pedal pushes itself to the floor. "look, I'm finding the whole getting shot very motivating," Buffy tells her freaky friend, "but you're using magic." Willow tells her flatly, "If I wasn't, you'd be dead." Buffy tries to reason with her, thinking it's still about her getting shot. "This isn't right. This isn't how I want it." Willow says absently, her attention on following Warren, "Sometimes, you don't have a choice." The other two continue trying to talk her down, noticing the hair, but she suddenly grabs Xander's arm and tells him to turn. When he doesn't comply fast enough, she does it for him. They race across the desert to intercept the highway, and Willow gets out of the car, striding to the middle of the road, and right in front of the oncoming bus.

Which isn't oncoming for long, since the brakes and steering lock up. The bus skids to a halt inches in front of the witch, and she tells Warren, seated in back, to get out. He complies, already begging, and her hand closes around his throat until... one of his eyes pop out. Ew. Circuits pop and fizz, and Willow stares in confusion at one of Warren's damn robot toys, infused with Warren's 'essence' by Rack. Willow heads back off in search of vengeance, and once again, Buffy tries to stop her. "He shot Tara," Willow cuts her off, and finally succeeds in silencing them. "When he shot you, he hit her too. Upstairs in my room. Guess the last shot was the charm. She's dead. Now he's dead, too." The other two reel in shock. "Christ, Will," Xander asks, "why didn't you say anything?" "Busy," she responds simply, and starts off again. "I can't understand anything," Buffy tells her. "Not what happened to Tara, and not what you must be going through. Will, if you go through with this, you let Warren destroy you, too." Willow isn't interested; she tears away from their hold. "No more talking. It's done." As she leaves, she flips a burst of magic behind her back, knocking them off their feet, before she simply vanishes in mid-step.

The sun is setting over Sunnydale before Buffy and Xander return home. They come in calling for Willow and Dawn, and find only silence. And, in Willow's room, they find Tar's body, still sprawled where she fell. "Oh, god," Buffy gasps. "I didn't want to leave her alone," Dawn says from behind her. She turns to find her sister huddled in a corner, as far away from Tara's body as she can be and still see her. Buffy goes instantly to the younger girl, trying to get her out of the room, but Dawn is way too far gone to hear anything. "I don't understand," she whimpers, as Buffy embraces her, and Xander watches in shock. The coroner takes Tara's body away, a still-shocky Xander dealing with the paperwork. He walks back to the living room and the Summers women sitting there. "We need to find Willow," Buffy says finally, as something to focus on. "Warren's a dead man if she finds him," Xander sighs. "Good," Dawn says bitterly. "Dawn, don't say that," Buffy reprimands her gently. Dawn: "Why? I'd do it myself if I could." A huge part of Buffy (and Xander's right there) obviously agrees, but the rest tries to remember that it's Wrong, and why. "Being a Slayer doesn't give me a license to kill. Warren's human. So, the human world has it's own rules for him... Sometimes [the rules] work. Sometimes they don't. We can't control the universe. If we were supposed to, then magic wouldn't change Willow the way it does. And we'd be able to bring Tara back. And..." She and Dawn share a glance that says 'Mom' more eloquently than words. "There are limits to what we can do. There should be. Willow doesn't want to believe that, and now she's messing with forces that want to hurt her. All of us." Xander knows she's right, but says, "I've had blood on my hands all day. Blood of people I love." Buffy promises that Warren will get what he deserves, but that she won't let Willow destroy herself doing it. The problem is where to look. Xander heads for the Magic Box for a locating spell, willing to face Anya. Buffy refuses to let Dawn come along on the search, wanting her someplace safe; "I want to go to Spike's," the girl shoots back. "All right," Buffy sighs, overriding Xander's objections; she's certain Spike won't hurt Dawn. "Right now, he's all we've got."

In Tara's dorm room, dark-haired Willow studies the blood on her shirt, then lays it on the carpet. "Blood of the slain," she intones, "guide me to Tara's killer." The blood shimmers and moves, forming a map of Sunnydale, with a single moving light. Willow studies it impassively.

The Summers sisters show up at Spike's crypt, but it's not Captain Peroxide who jumps up from in front of the telly to meet them, it's Clem. He tells them, a little embarrassed, that he's taken over Spike's digs to watch them while Spike is out of town. Dawn is dismayed, Buffy is mostly unreadable, but seems unhappy. She manages to ask Clem to act as babysitter; Clem cheerfully volunteers (Clem doesn't do anything un-cheerfully actually), and sets about making the girl at home. The sisters hug, then Buffy leaves for WillowHunt. But she stops to ask if Spike said when he'd be back. "No," Clem answers, "but he said that he could be gone a while."

Um, yeah, since Spike appears to be in Africa, striding along the desert sands like he owns the place and brushing past a native who tries to warn him. He enters a cave, flicking on his lighter to study the walls covered with crude hieroglyphics and paintings. Mostly of dead people, and people in the process of getting dead. "You seek me, vampire?" a gravely voice comes out of the darkness, and a large.. entity appears. Spike looks around uneasily. "Yeah, I seek you," he says, after commenting on the artwork like you knew he would. The entity snarks, "Something about a woman? The Slayer." Spike: "Bitch thinks she's better than me. Ever since I got this bleeding chip in my head, things ain't been right. Everything's gone to hell." Entity: "And you want to return to your former self?" The entity chuckles evilly. "What?" Spike demands. "Looks what she's reduced you to," the entity says. "You were a legendary dark warrior and you let yourself be castrated. And you have the audacity to crawl in here and demand restoration?" Spike: "I'm still a warrior." Entity: "You're a pathetic excuse for a demon." Spike, of course, takes this badly, and demands that the entity take it's bet shot. "You'd never endure the trials required to grant your request," the entity growls. "Do your worst," Spike dares. "But when I win, I want what I came here for. Bitch is gonna see a change."

Back in Sunnydale, Xander walks the still shaky Anya around the Magic Box, to help her recover from Willow's attack. She recovers enough to pull away and fill him in, and Xander returns to favor. He asks her for the locator spell, but Anya doesn't need one; she can sense Willow's rage, and need for vengeance. "It's not left-over," she tells him quietly when he asks; Xander takes a deep breath as he realizes what Anya's done; before they can discuss it, Buffy arrives. Another quick fill-in, then Anya tells them normally she'd have to go to Willow to do the vengeance demon thing, but Willow doesn't want her. "She wants to do it herself," Buffy guesses. Oh yeah. Anya chooses to help them find Willow, but emphasizes, "I'm helping Willow. She's close to him. He's in the woods."

And so is Willow, trees bending out of her way as she passes. "Run all night, Warren," she says out loud. "i'll still find--" Her voice is cut off as Warren appears from the bushes and slams an ax into her back. Blade down. He stands over her as she falls to the ground.

And gets back up, reaching around herself to pull out the ax. "That's not gonna cut it." Warren starts running again, pulling out a small silver box. It grows wings (looking not unlike the Golden Snitch) and flies back towards his pursuer. It explodes, of course, but Willow contains the blast with one word; it shatters around her. Warren falls back as she appears in front of him. "Cute trick. It was an accident, you know," he tries to say calmly. "Oh," Willow says, very calmly. "Instead of killing my best friend, you killed my girlfriend." Warren: "It wasn't personal, that's all." Willow informs him: "Well, this is." Running doesn't help; she shoots bolts of magic from her fingers, toppling him to the ground. He pulls one more trick out of his burning coat, sending a small orb towards Willow as he screams, "Capture!" It forms a shimmers band around her arms, moving up to cover her face, Her eyes glow and she disintegrates it, then bringing ropes from nowhere to bind Warren, spread-eagled, to a tree. If he had half a brain, Warren would either shut up, or start pleading for mercy right now. But no. He's just gotta keep running his mouth as Willow stalks towards him, telling Willow he'll get away and she'll beg to "join her little girlfriend". "she wasn't the first," Willow says, and April comes striding out the trees to confront her murderer. "How could you say you loved me, and do that to me!" Warren shouts back, "Because you deserved it, bitch!" -- but she's already gone. He continues on this misogynist vein, and Willow looks at him curiously. "You get off on it. that's why you had a mad-on for the Slayer. She was your big "O", wasn't she, Warren?"

The other three are getting closer, but not close enough to hear Warren scream for help. Willow raises her hand, and the bullet appears in it; with one flick of her wrist, Warren's shirt opens. Willow carefully places the bullet and inch or so in front of him, and it hangs suspended, in front of the place where Tara was shot. "Want to know what a bullet feels like, Warren? A real one? I think you need to. Feel it." The bullet lunges forward into his flesh, and continues to penetrate. Slowly. As Willow continues to describe what happens during a gunshot wound. He tries to scream, but Willow sews his mouth shut with one gesture. "The bullet usually travels faster than this of course, but the dying? Seems like it takes forever. One tiny piece of metal... destroys everything. It ripped her insides out, took her light away. From me. From the world. Now the one person who should be here is gone, and a waste like you gets to live. A tiny piece of metal.... Can you feel it now? I said, can you feel it?" As her friends get closer, Willow gestures and Warren is able to talk again. To scream, to plead, to threaten. It's not enough. "Bored now," Willow says, in a horribly familiar sing-song.

With one careless gesture, Warren's skin rips itself off as the others arrive. "Oh my god," Xander chokes out. "Willow, what did you do?" Buffy asks in horror. Willow looks at them, then back at what remains of Warren. In a second, he's consumed by flames, reduces to nothing. "One down," Willow says, mostly to herself. Her eyes flare, then she disappears in a burst of magic, leaving her friends to stare in silent shock.

Continuity:
Willow has killed a human, and shows no signs of stopping.

Anya's return to vengeance demon status is known.

Spike has gone to an unknown entity to try and get rid of the chip in his head. He's going to have to endure some nasty trials to get his wish.

Relationships:
Not a relationship episode, except that Xander and Anya seem to have reached detante to deal with the current crisis.

Characters:
This is where I get my massive 'told you so,' since I predicted Willow would be the Big Bad of the season more than six months ago. And wow, is she ever -- I'm not sure how much of this is actually Willow, and how much is side-effect from all that dark magic she sucked up, but at this point? So not a relevant point. She's kicking ass and taking names and reason is not allowed in the ballpark. And she's pretty damned efficient at it, too; single-minded and straightforward, and generally hell of wheels. Or feet. The one thing in her favor yet is that she hasn't hurt any of the Scoobies, really; Anya got knocked to the side, but with no physical harm, everyone else is still walking. The only damage she's doing seems to be to herself. And, of course, to Warren.

And sorry, I'm with Dawn and Xander. Mostly. I'm seriously anti-death penalty in human courts (with one or two glaring exceptions of the mass murderer/serial killer variety, but I'm not getting into that), much less when a vigilante witch is on the loose, but if he's dead, I'm not going to mourn him. Buffy keeps calling Warren human, but in my opinion, that's way debatable. We're back to second-season Angel, when all the lawyers died, back to the death penalty debate-- we care about their deaths not for their sakes, but for the sake of their killers/executioners. What effect is has on the government/our friends is much more important that the loss of the life to someone who has forfeited their right to be declared human. Since I have very little actual concern for Willow left, and haven't for ages, the best I can summon is a kind of stern, "No, that is *not* what we use magic for, Willow!" And not much else.

It's Dawn I feel for more than anyone in this episode. At fifteen, she's dealt with more than anyone should ever have to at any age. The sight of her huddled in the dark bedroom, utterly freaked but refusing to leave her friend's body alone, is going to stay with me much longer than Warren's death scene. And there are people who still accuse Dawn of being nothing more than a whiny brat. Whatever. The joy of adolescence for the people not experiencing it is to see whiny, self-centered brats growing up.

Which brings us to Buffy and Xander, who both spent this episode looking and acting a hell of a lot older than we've ever seen. I'll forgive Buffy her 'why this is wrong' speech because it was eloquent, and because she was right, and because that's the most mature I've ever seen her being. As was Xander, dealing with things he doesn't want to deal with because that's what he has to do. His line about "blood on my hands all day" is the other thing that's going to stick with me. And how about Anya, choosing to go with her human instincts instead of the demon one? You go girl!!!! Adulthood has been achieved, across the board. But the cost was too damn high.

Spike? What the hell is he doing? And why do I have the feeling the entire world is going to regret it?

Aside from the musical, I have to say that Clem is absolutely the best thing to come out of this season. He's such a joy of a recurring character, sweet and enthusiastic and funny and the perfect foil to all of the self-conscious angst floating around. The actor is fabulous, the writing is perfect, and I adore him unreservedly for being a sounding board for Spike last week, and taking Dawn on this week. He'd better stick around next year!

Best Moments:
Willow facing off again Osiris or his henchman, since it's never made clear. Both for the awesome effects, and for the knowledge of power that comes when she summons a god through force of will, then sends him sprawling.

Andrew and Jonathan in jail. < snicker > The "Oz" crack in particular was wonderful. More amusement at Andrew, more amusement and love for Jonathan. Can't help it.

Warren getting a wake-up call from the demons. Just for the satisfaction of it all.

Willow sucking the magic out of the books. Awesome, awesome effect!

As I mentioned, easily the best scene is Buffy finding Dawn and Willow's body; massive kudos to all of the actors for a quiet scene that said more about the horrors of death than all of Willow's pyrotechnic grief.

Willow's "Bored now." Perfect delivery of a line that resonates to everyone who lived through "The Wish"; Marti recycles her own stuff to chilling, terrifying effect. Two words that state so clearly that Willow is no longer home.

Questions and Comments:
About the only thing I regret about Warren's death is no longer getting to watch the actor (Adam Busche?) perform; his portrayal of the Evolution of a Sociopath over the last year has been really, truly outstanding. Awesome job, right up to the exit.

And yes, still pissed about Tara's death. And yes, still refusing to deal.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5, and it's only that low only because the final two episode blow the roof off the scale.

SunSpeak

"Warren's so sad. Pathetic."
"The way a worm is. I couldn't feel sorry for him, because every time he opened his mouth he got himself a little more dead."
"Though I feel bad for him even if he's a murderous sleaze, because no one deserves to go like that. "
"Hmmm. I'm not a nice person because, while I do agree with Buffy's only slightly pompous lecture, I wasn't feeling that bad for him."-- Tina and Lizbet

"Sorry, again with the shrug here. After all, she put him out of his misery shortly thereafter (although I took it he passed right out from shock almost immediately at that point, he certainly lolls forward and goes still instead of screaming... and I can't think that -- as traumatic as skin- ripped-off must be -- that it would actually *kill* you outright). I was pretty much squarely with Dawn, and trying to remember why I was supposed to be agreeing with Buffy. :-p Then again, I'm still *really* pissed about Tara myself (hmmm... overidentification anyone?), so I'm inclined to side with Willow in much too much of this, I'm sure." -- Dianne

"Well, I have to give [Warren] some credit. As much of a little tapeworm as he was, he had a pair; he managed to stand up to Willow, or at least put on a brave face, almost up to the end. That said, I wasn't sorry to see the little gnat skinned and fried."
"Gotta hand it to Warren.. There is stupid, and then there is him.. Obviously he thinks Will is still one of the good guys..Wrong! I spose he figured that she wouldn't kill him just hurt him so he could say whatever..that's what you get for reading to many comic books.. You think the good duys will always reform.. Or turn up in a cocoon in the bottom of the ocean..." -- Mike and Tom

"I kept marveling at him, going "are you really *that stupid*?" Then I'd remember Buffy or someone tied up and taunting the bad guy. But Warren has nothing to back up his bravado, except delusion. He's *not* connecting with reality until after Willow lets that bullet get half-way into his chest." -- Chris

"I was enjoying the chasing-Warren- through-the-woods quite a bit. But I was with Buffy all the way on not letting Will do this. It isn't necessary. It's wrong. It's gonna turn Willow into another person-- -because just as Faith couldn't come back from killing someone without a *lot* of hurt, I don't see Will coming back from this easily either. Warren may have got what he deserved in being killed, but it was wrong, wrong, wrong for Willow to enjoy hurting him that much. " -- Chris

"I think [Warren] was in perfectly happy denial about it, which loses him any sympathy points from me."
"He knew it was wrong, but I don't think he was in happy denial. I think he was in terrified denial. Which makes me pity him, in a contemptuous way. < sigh > The boy is slated to be a Pomeranian in his next life, if you ask me..."
"He knew damned well what he was doing was wrong -- and how bad it was -- he just decided that the rules didn't apply to him because he didn't want to follow them..."
"Which was why it was such an *awesome* and shocking wake-up call for him, to have the vamp in the bar mock him for stupidity, then have Rack tell him that Willow was after him. I *loved* those parts of the ep. Hello! Consequences! Even Evil Stupid Genius Morons have to deal with them! Welcome back to Reality, Warren!" -- Dianne and Chris

"Warren at the bar.. Oh man. I do not feel sorry for this guy at all.. But at the same item I can sympathize with him.. Being the geek who got ignored in HS is tough and there is always the thought in your head "if I just had superpowers that would show them.." I can see how he thought that as soon as he did something "cool" then everybody would just love him.. Like there was one small little piece missing in his puzzle that would make the world align to his way of thinking.. And killing the slayer was it..." -- Tom

"I did feel sorry for Warren, it just went on too long. I was happy when Willow made him scared, I was happy when she shut him *up*; and then she crossed the line, diving down into her her own selfish pain (because there is no *WAY* that Tara would want to be associated with this) and took it to the worst case ending. Because she could. Because she hurt. Because she's a control freak and being helpless and in pain brings out the absolute worst in her."
"The other thing is that when she stops with the vengance/power trip thing, she has to come back to earth and deal with the pain of Tara being gone, and at this point losing herself to the magic looks like the more enjoyable prospect." -- Chris and Mike

"I think Willow's "bored now" wigged me out even more than her ripping Warren's skin off. The combination was pretty much wigsome, but definitely "bored now" gets higher points. Forgot how good Aly was at playing a bad guy."
"Marti wrote "The Wish" right? Because it was the perfect way to convey to those of us who pay way too much attention to this show that Willow had completely flipped out. And if you hadn't seen or don't remember The Wish, it is wiggy hearing for the first time anyway." -- Tina and Lizbet

"Am I the only one who sees parallels between Warren and Willow? Both picked on in school, both starting with low self-esteem, both finding skills, groups of people, and purposes to make them feel better about themselves. And both now wanting to use their power to hurt the people who hurt them. Granted, Warren on a good day is still far more evil than Willow at her very worst (although I guess that remains to be seen, doesn't it?), but it's too bad Warren wasn't smart enough to be able to throw some of the similarities between the two of them." -- Mike

"I think it's interesting that Willow has had a vindictive streak from the very beginning, way before she had a glimmer of magic power. The trick she pulled to get back at Cordelia with the "deliver" key was rather ingenious in taking advantage of her technological superiority. Granted, it didn't physically harm anyone, but it's an early indication that Willow has the capacity to use resources at hand to strike back against those who hurt her emotionally." -- Amparo

"What I wonder now is what the hell do they do with her after this? Presuming she survives (Aly Hannigan may be eyeing that movie career unbeknownst to us), she's kind of right back where she was mid-season, only with incredible grief and guilt to boot. The thing I've liked about Willow is she's always been progressing, largely because she had so far to go, but every season she moved a little further along on her journey. Compare to Xander, who's maybe grown up a little but is still pretty much the loveable goof we knew, or Buffy, whose major leap of self-discovery--going from flighty high school student to Slayer with a capital "S"--largely took place off-screen. We've really gotten the opportunity to watch Willow mature, and it's been fun. I'm hoping they don't ignore the magic thing entirely after this. It's a really intriguing aspect of her character, and they'll be severely limiting her if they just spend next season going, "Boy, sure glad Will's sticking to her old G4 and not doing any magic, yup yup yup."" -- Mike

"I feel awfully bad for Jonathan and Andrew; they had nothing to do with killing anybody. Jonathan realized how badly he screwed up ages ago, and Andrew's just not a killer. But Willow's gonna try to kill them anyway because she's on her mad vengeance kick."
"Yeah. Andrew is... the eternal sidekick, pathologically incapable of having a personality of his own. But Jonathan knows better, knew that he knew better, and was trying to get himself out (glacially slow, but...)" -- Tina and Lizbet

"Spike's unheroic quest to Africa seems quite interesting. Is it me, or did some of those cave paintings look like the First Slayer? They all looked like they related to it. I still desperately hope for a return of Badass Spike and a re-pairing up of Spike and Dru, but I suspect that I will be once again disappointed. I usually am in these sorts of things. " -- Tina

"Okay, non-Spike droolers, hide your eyes -- was he not just the hottiest of the hot hotties when he was striding across the sand like that last night? Meoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow... puuuuuuuuuuuuuuurr.... Which wigs me on a certain level because, ick, attempted-rapist-dude. I get around it by mostly just drooling over James, who from what I've seen and read is a severely nice person who was probably wigged by Seeing Red himself." -- Lizbet

"It was a really, really good color on him. Oh yeah. :> Although I missed the duster. And that was no 'shaman', man--- that was either a demon or an Entity with a capital E. From the drawings on the wall, I'd say Spike is about to tap into some *old* magic, and there is no way something like that is going to be happy with just taking the chip out of his brain. It reminded me of Angel's ordeal in "Judgment", and the preparations Wolfram & Hart made to bring Darla back, when he spoke about the 'trials' Spike will have to go through. It's going to *mess* with him. Just because it can. " -- Chris

"Ok . I'm new.. And I've only listened to a little bit of the "James Marsters is soooo cute" stuff.. But I'm gonna throw in a male perspective here.. Anya looked HOT in a pony tail... Man ..being a demon really has made her look GOOD. But the talk between the two was nice.. I really hope they get back together.. Which would be great now that she is a demon...Remember Xander's reaction when he saw Halfrek's real face?" -- Tom

"Hair color seemingly closely related to ones place on the cosmic scale of good/bad in the Jossverse - the more saintly Cordelia gets - the lighter hers goes and the more evil Willow goes, the darker hers goes. Hmmm...being a dark, dark brunette myself, I'm not sure how I feel about it...amused certainly but perhaps also mildly proud :-)." -- Deb

"Does it bother anyone else that they made Willow so bad so quickly? I mean yeah.. Pain, death, loss..blah blah blah.. But man.. Talk about flipping a switch.. It seems kind of out of character..
"It did, and it didn't. Maybe because she's been walking the no-magic line for so many months, but what we saw before-hand--- her messing with Tara's mind, and defying anyone to tell her she couldn't use magic before her 'epiphany' --- was pretty disturbing. So I thought that yeah, she had that in her. But yes, it *was* awful fast. I can see her doing this, because she's done other impulsive (hello, My Will Be Done Spell) things when she's been hurting. That step over the line to *killing* someone, though... that was pretty much a shocker. Like I said, I keep thinking that her 16-year-old self would *never* have believed she had this in her."
"She was losing the "An it harm none" real fast (grant you, no one has ever mentioned that on Buffy, no matter how many times they've used/abused the term "Wiccan.")" -- Tom, Chris and Lizbet

"And then what.. Deos she get saved and go back to happy nerdy, Willow? There Darn well better be some consequenses for her actions last night even if she repents.. Like ..oh I don't' know. .. Jail time, or at the least community service.. Feeding shut in vampires or something.. If it turns out "It's ok, she was hurting" then the next time my wife and I argue I'm robbing a bank.. Or perhaps I'm losing my grip on reality here...." "...I totally agree. Consequences are required. More than just losing the magic; more than remorse. If Faith goes to jail after a homicidal spree that started with an accidental death, then Willow needs to do *something* to make up for a second-degree murder." -- Tom and Chris

"Also note that, to all appearances, she at least knocked [Osiris] cold... yipes..."
"Um, yeah, you picked up on that, hunh? < G > Also note that he flat out confirmed the 'mystical death' clause for Buffy's resurrection that we were never sure about 'til now. " -- Dianne and Chris

"this is in large part why I don't mind the sudden shift into Evil Willow. She had all this to hand, and suppressed it, largely for Tara's sake. And now that Tara's gone, Willow is mentally and emotionally unstable. But do note she didn't hurt anyone but Warren. She stunned Anya, who seemed to be weak but not necessarily in pain, she knocked down Buffy and Xander but not violently, she didn't hurt anyone on the bus...Until the very end, I wouldn't have claimed she was evil, just gone way vigilante. Which I could understand. It's wrong for the reasons Buffy said, but I can understand." -- Lizbet

"I ran across a thought I liked about curses in a Barbara Hambly book. To cast an effective curse, you have to completely hate someone. The immediate consequence of a curse to the caster is--that you have to be the kind of person who can hate that intensely and be that cruel. The question for me is less did Warren deserve it--because I think he deserved quite a bit of it, and deserved or not his serial killing days are done--than what this has done to Willow. Was it justice? I don't know. Was it healing for her? Absolutely not." -- Heather

"Although, as Lizbet pointed out last night, Clem makes a great substitute... only if Dawn _wants_ to be babysat. Tell me she couldn't slip away from him in 10 seconds flat if she'd a mind to, whereas Spike would be much more alert and on her like a shot if she pulled anything."
"On the other hand, do we _know_ that Clem is harmless? Sure, he seems like one of your more lovey-dovey demons, but how does Buffy know he doesn't have a predeliction for Taco Chips with a side of teenage girl? When hiring a new sitter, always ask for references, particularly on the Hellmouth." -- Dianne and Mike

"I'm sorry but [Clem]'s just the coolest guy.. I would really love it if it turns out he can really kick ass when motivated.. I get the impression that he's one of those guys that's just laid back and mellow and happy with the world until provoked..kind of like Master Li Mu Bai (crouching tiger hidden dragon) ok..maybe not THAT laid back.." -- Tom

"I'm actually missing Tara enough to think wistfully about a cheesy Kenobi-type One-Last-Visit-Before-the-Grave scene at this point."
"I was actually *expecting* it to a certain exent. Although it was far more chilling to just have Tara lying there for so very long." -- Mike and Lizbet

"I was thinking about how many people were pissed off by Tara's death and how many of _those_ were complaining about how "lame" using a gun to do it was. Dunno if this point has been made before, but Warren's method seemed to fit in with the "real world" theme of this season, where most people are murdered by scared little men with guns in their hand, and then everyone else has to spend the rest of their lives coping with it." -- Mike

"I think the thing that made me most angry in the whole ep was Dawn finding Tara's body. I mean, yeah, crazy chaos, ambulances, Buffy and Xander didn't know, Willow was nuts, but that just should not have happened." -- Mike

"Man you really got a feel sorry for dawn.. She always seems to end up staring at the bodies of people she loves.. On a side note.. Do you suppose the Coroners office offers a discount? Cause that's like the what.. Third time they have had to visit the Summers residence?"
"I think it would be more like the police would investigate why there seem to be so many deaths at that one house. And Children's Services might be paying another call. Either of those are the absolute last thing they need." -- Tom and Judy

"But I'm getting ahead of the season here. Besides, the real burning question is, will she get a new girlfriend? One who, y'know, survives?" -- Mike