Great episode. Marsters in the back-to-back scenes was brilliant. The first time he talked to the apparently invisible Buffy, it didn’t quite click for me, but the second time, when he said, “You’re glowing. What’s a word that means glowing? It has to rhyme.” I fairly scremed **“effulgent. The word you are looking for is effulgent!” **.
I didn’t really mind Buffy using Spike as a bloodhound so much- he’s made it clear that he wants to help, and it gave an opportunity to show that Spike’s helping isn’t helping Spike. I did resent Buffy’s “Let’s tie ourselves to the crazy vampire” line though. I thought it was more than a little callous, considering that she knows 1) that he has a soul and 2) that he is in a great deal of psychic pain. I that somethime Buffy should have hogtied Spike, hauled his ass back to his crypt, and given Clem strict orders not to leave him alone, if for no other reason that an insane vampire left on his own in the basement of a building that is sitting on top of a freaking hellmouth might, just might, potentially become dangerous.
I’m jost wondering if ME isn’t gearing toward writing Buffy out- through most of S6, and in “Lessons” and “Same Time, Same Place”, Buffy is becoming an increasingly dislikeable character, and I know that SMG hasn’t signed on for an eighth season. Meanwhile, Spike is emerging as the strongest character on the show, with Dawn playing an increasingly important role. I’m just wondering if there’s a spinoff already being planned for, and the writers are trying to make Buffy a character who wouldn’t be so much missed in the new show.
I loved the interplay between Wilow and Anya. Yeah, Anya did seem to be coming on to Willow, after they did that demon-finding spell. But I couldn’t help but wonder, if Willow is so connected with, well, everything, how come she couldnl’t see Spike’s soul. Is it that only another demon would be able to see it? And I’m getting a bit tired of Insane Spike. James Marsters is doing some of the best acting I’ve ever seen, but being the rabid Spike-o-phile that I am, I want to see him start healing. I want to see the process of him piecing his mind back together, integrating his soul with the reast of his psyche. In S6, it was painful seeing him shut out of the Scoobie gang unless they needed him for something. Having him abandoned in the high school basement, only to be brought out when he can be useful is just too much. I think that it’s high time that Buffy, if nobody else, starts treating him like a freaking person, instead of a thing.
I really like what the writers at ME are doing with Dawn, though. She doesn’t seem to be turning into a badass fighter so much as she is doing research and holding down the home front. I loved her line in “Beneath You” when she said “I’m command central, so everybody has to check in with me. OK, I’ll be here doing my homework, but it sounded cooler the other way.”. And I’m getting a real kick out of the sense of humor she is developing toward some of the ickier aspects of her job. Oh, and she uses a Macintosh, which is beyond cool.
“I’m insane. What’s his excuse?” God, I almost fell off the couch laughing at that line.
