I’m gonna do three boxes today. That’s so you, constant spoiler junkie, can pick what to be spoiled about:
Plot:
[spoiler] The episode starts right after Buffy left the house. General confusion and everyone is talking at the same time. Kennedy is being more annoying than ever and even Willow tells her she’s out of line. Faith finally takes controll.
Buffy, meanwhile, is tired of walking the streets and does some breaking and entering to find a place to crash. Andrew and Spike is stuck in that chappel. It’s to late for the drive back and Spike doesn’t want to risk sunlight. Even though I’ve found Andrew amusing at times, he’s plain grating in this scene.
Next day, Faith is more firmly in controll. A plan is made to kidnap a Bringer and try to get some info out of it. Why they think TFE wouldn’t know about this, is beyond me, seeing that all evil is connected.
‘The First as Buffy’ and Caleb are chatting away. They’re disappointed about something but I couldn’t make out what - either my copy sucked, cause it was hard to hear, or it was left unclear for a purpose. Maybe somebody can enlighten me?
Spike returns, is pissed about Buffy being kicked out and storms out to help her. He ends up comforting her.
Giles and the Scoobies get some information from the Bringer and Faith sets out with a search party to find the spot marked X.
Buffy wakes up after being comforted by Spike (not sex), and leaves. He later finds a note, but we. the viewers never find out what it says. Buffy goes to the vineyard where she confronts Caleb. Surpisingly, she shows some new moves, which I’ve never seen before. This is Matrix/Honkong type of running on the walls. It’s not clear if this came from resting in the arms of Spike, but I’ve never seen this on Buffy before.
One more thingh. The mayor shows up. Yey! The best villain ever. In any media. It’s of course The First and he visits Faith. We learn something new from this:
The spirit, soul or whatever, of the mayor, is now part of TFE. Presumably, all evil souls are part of It. How Wood’s mother fits into this, I don’t know. The mayor also has something to say to Faith about Buffy. Mainly that Buffy will always see Faith as a killer and given a chance, she’ll finsih the job from way back when.
Later, when Faith talks to Wood, they touch on something we regulars here talked about back when we had a thread on “Conversations with dead people”, namely that TFE was telling the truth. So Faith is left with the impression that what TFE said about Buffy might happen.
Pro:
Good action.
Seeing the mayor again. The screens sparkles around him and Faith.
Getting to know a little bit more about TFE.
Con:
Still a lot of loose ends which no one seems interested in tying up. What bothers me right now:
- Joyce. Still no explanation
- The eye/oracle thing
- How Spike could say “You were right about the vineyard.” How can he know? The first time around, they stumbled onto it (IIRC). When Buffy was adamant about going back, Spike was out of town.
- Some things about the characters. Actually - a lot of things. See next box.
[/spoiler]
Character:
So, I’m really, really, really annoyed. What could have been a six or seven for this episode, is dragged down by some events about two thirds through, which makes it a weak 3.
Everyone is having sex. Well almost.
It does nothing, whatsoever, for the plot or the arc. I get a feeling ME just threw it in to show how edgy and hip they are, now that the series is ending. It’s really annoying, and totally embarrasing, since there is no chemestry involved at all. I actually looked away and felt embarrased.
-
Faith decides she needs to get some. It’s been a while after all, and isn’t principal Wood just handy to have around. Hang on - didn’t he have a crush on Buffy. And wasn’t Faith a bit hot on Spike. Spaith had chemestry. Wood and Faith has none. I get a feeling it was just there to show black guy/white girl getting it on. And that kind of storytelling just rubs me the wrong way. Lousy.
-
And then Kennedy seduces Willow. So they haven’t done the dirty deed yet. There’s some talk about how Willow is afraid of letting go, that it might open up a door for magic. Kennedy then says that she’s there to take care of her… :rolleyes:
So they end up making love and I guess this is the first lesbian lovemaking ever on broadcast televison in the US, huh? But I really didn’t need to see Kennedy lick Willow’s neck with her pierced toungue :eek:. Again - it doesn’t belong in the story, it seems to be there just to show how edgy ME and BtVS are. And with Will recently telling Kennedy she was out of line… it just doesn’t work. They never had chemestry and the whole scene is so contrived it’s almost unbelievable. -
Of course, when Xander and Anya hear all the humping going on, they can’t constrain themselves, so they have to do it on the kitchen floor. In a house full of SIT’s. Yeah. Sure. Whatever.
The thing that surpised me, with all the boinking, was that Buffy and Spike wasn’t at it. Some kind of irony, I suppose.
And another thing. When done with the Bringer, Giles just slits his throat. Yes, Ripper’s done some bad things, but he did it mid-sentence. And in front of (IIRC) Dawn, Willow and Andrew. I get a feeling it was just there to get in a cheap joke from Andrew afterwards. But it surely didn’t work. The Ripper persona of Giles is never publicly shown.
Gee. I’m writing a lot this week, ain’t I.
Cliffhanger:
Buffy finds what she’s looking for. A wicked ax.
Faith has taken her troop to a trap. Episodes ends with timer on top of dynamite ticking down. Only seven seconds left. :yawn: We’ve seen it before.
If you’ve read in the boxes, you know I have very mixed feeling about this episode. The things I didn’t like, were so incredibly bad, they drag down the score a lot (YMMV of course).
3/10
