Maybe its common knowledge but how exactly is a vampire sired in the Buffy-verse?
I always assumed whenever a vamp drained a human they would be a vampire a few days later,so every kill became another vamp.
About Spike’s soul…we only have his word that he does in fact have one. It could all be a ploy by TETD, beginning in the basement of Sunnydale High.
Remember, what he wanted was something to “give that bitch what she deserves!”
That doesn’t sound like he wanted to have a nice round of rough sex with Buffy, it sounds more ominous.
On the other hand, Spike looked almost shy with his “date” before he bit her, which makes me think he is still crazy and vulnerable from whatever happened to him in (South America?).
Power Outage.
This is the second week in a row where I’ve diligently set up the VCR, and come home to find that something beyond my control has taken away my weekly viewing of Buffy.
And it’s sweeps. I’m missing sweeps episodes. So not fair.
We should set up a SDMB Buffy fan tape swap service. There is another VCR somewhere in my place. I could copy the tape I have of last weeks and this weeks episode. Perhaps someone could be a central taper and send out copies on request.
In the first episode, Buffy and Giles discuss this (how to sire a vamp). The vampire bites the human and drinks blood but doesn’t drain him/her. The potential vamp then feeds on the sire vamp (sharing blood). This is how all vamps came to be. A long time ago, humans managed to banish nearly all demons from Earth, and only one was left. It “shared blood” with a human, and so on down the line, with all vamps being descended from it.
I think TETD needed Johnathan specifically because he is A: basically good, and B: a powerful magic user (warlock? what exactly is a male magic user called in the Buffyverse?) The manifestations that visited the gang may not have occurred until this night because TETD needed a source of power to produce the visions, and Johnathan was the source of the power. When Johnathan arrived in town, he was close enough for TETD to feed on him. Apparently the blonde guy has been seeing Warren for some time now, and it was Warren’s manifestation that convinced him to come back to Sunnydale, which would further indicate that TETD fed off of Johnathan to produce the visions. By sacrificing Johnathan on the demonic altar, TETD should have all of his power now, meaning that it’s taken a big step towards–whatever it wants.
I believe that they use sorcerer and other such terms. Witch and warlock have somewhat religious conotations. IIRC Johnathan didn’t usually call upon gods when doing magic. Regardless it seems like for him it is more a tool than life style.
Makin’ big with the thinky analysis skills there, Thea! And as usual, I agree. The smokes are a dead giveaway.
Ahhhh. I don’t need the spoilerbox anymore.
So, did anyone miss Anya and Xander in this episode?
And did you guys notice that none of the characters met with any of the others?
And how smoothly it was like an episode of “24” staying with the action during that one hour.
If you’re refering to my statement that some interesting things are told in the conversation ‘tween Buffster and the shrink/vamp, at least I found it interesting to finally know how she feels about herself and the whole Spike thing. Buffy’s been mute since Once more with Feeling re: her own feelings. Now we know a lot more.
Well, as has been noted above, there’s speculation if TETD was really there with Spike, Buffy and perheps Dawn. We only actually know that TETD was with Willow and Warren didn’t really mindfuck Jonathan.
Yes, yes, yes. The anchovy song was hilarious and very endearing. And MT played Dawn as the home alone young teen perfectly.
And Scream, no?
That boy is our only hope…
There is another one… 
I vote we change its name to Morphy 
I dunno, The Evil That Dwells is nice and creepy.
I just had a crazy thought. What if TETD doesn’t shape shift but soul shifts. It literally is all those people. It is where you go when you die. It has only assumed the forms of those who have died, it knows everything they do and perfectly mimics their characteristics.
So the characters were talking to who it looked like they were talking to but they were also talking to the TETD because they are one and the same.
Wild speculation:
What if TETD is the the devil himself? Think about it… They are over the Hell Mouth. The seal in the basement, an upside-down pentagram with a goat’s head, is very representative of the devil of the Christian tradition. TETD talked about how it was tired of the balance. Maybe Lucifer is tired of his agreement with God (for them both to stay in their respective kingdoms, and let Man choose) and wants out of Hell so he can play on Earth. Obviously the season can’t end with Buffy killing the Devil, but what if they have to stop him from getting here? All the talk about temptation, the powers TETD has to manipulate, and that seal really got my mind going…
Ok, you can all tell me how crazy I am now. 
No i doubt you’ll get anything specific to christianity,they’ve been careful to never let the mythos get tied up in religion.
Luna, you may be on to something.
Remember, the shrink vamp asked if God was dead, and mentioned that he stood in oppoisition to Him and all His works.
Boilerplate evil rhetoric, right? Well, that’s the first time I can recall the Judeo-Christian God being so explicitly mentioned, even in passing, on this show. Assuming he was TETD (or connected to him), you may be on to something.
And yes, the seal on the ground was more classically Satanic than the vague demonology we’ve seen in the past.
So, to sum up: [ul][]Cassie was TETD. I wonder if they’ll be a deeper reason in the show why she didn’t just appear as Tara.[]Spike or his victim may have been TETD. I’m guessing the latter. That’s why no chip pain. OTOH, Spike’s failed his first major test as an ensouled human.[]Warren was almost definately TETD.[]Either Joyce or the force opposing her, or both was TETD. I vote both. It got a chance to make it sound like what Joyce was important, and kick Dawn’s ass a little.The shrink vamp was either TETD, or his real sire was. Even if he is evil, I don’t see why spike would sire someone, and then live him for Buffy.[/ul]
The Tim, maybe we should go with Dwelly then. I really hate seeing these acronyms everywhere in our Buffy threads.
And the real Devil thing occurred to me all the way back in Lessons but I don’t like to speculate as much as the others.
Oh, yes, and I also enjoyed some of the things they slipped in during the Buffy/Shramp chat from older episodes, such as, “That’s crazy Troll logic.”
There really was just so much going on …
And even the very beginning, where the header siad the actual date and time during … the actual date and time. That just started the creepiness for me somehow.
In the season 4 Faith/Buffy body switch ep, Adam sends three vampires to invade a church. The lead vampire rants a bit about “where’s the guy we’re supposed to meet, you know, the LORD? He’s supposed to be here, he gave us this address!”
In addition to all the other stuff mentioned that I liked, I also liked the throwaway reference to Scott’s coming out. The actor who played Scott joined the cast of Queer as Folk last season so is now playing gay. Cute reference to the actor via the character.
OTOH, sometimes knowing too much about the actors interferes with the show. Knowing Amber Benson couldn’t reach a contract with FOX made the “you killed people, you don’t get to see her” business amazingly clunky for me.
One big quibble: presumably this seal has been in place for some time? One wonders how it was missed during the “Eggs” episode when everyone was down in the basement excavating. One also wonders how two entire schools could be built on the site without this thing being uncovered, and what the building codes are like in Sunnydale that a major building has dirt floors in the basement.
Other than those two very minor points, outstanding ep. 9.7/10.
Ok, so my question: Is the Big Evil Confrontation that looked like it was coming next week tied into the Armageddon from Angel? How closely are they keeping the story lines? I know they’ve said there won’t be any crossover, but are they staying in line with the fact that the events on these two shows are taking place in the same “reality”. Also, I’ve noticed that on Buffy, she’ll talk about Angel…by name…but on Angel, they will only roundaboutly talk about Sunnydale…and I don’t recall Buffy being mentioned by name.
My cable company decided to do its monthly test at the moment when Cassie starts to try to convince Willow to commit suicide! We had to piece the conversation together when it came back on. Bastards!
Wild Speculation:
Spike has become a masochist over the guilt his soul has made him feel and he is punishing himself by killing people (Remember him burning himself on the cross?). No doubt the Thing that Eats Your Bottom was in on it, though.
I think you’re making it too complicated. What do you use to summon the Devil, if not a virgin sacrifice?
Daniel
Little to add here that you all haven’t already said.
I pretty much put it down as 2 parallel threads, one with the evil bottom eater, and the other with a hungry Spike. Conflate the 2? Hmmm.
On the God-issue, Buff said something like, “No definite word on that yet.”
Tho Jonathan sure looked dead - a whole bunch o red rolled outta him - I really hope he isn’t.
And Dawn was just whiny and stupid. Typical teen? Maybe typical thoughtless brainless irresponsible shithead. Sauce on the dress, arrow in the wall. And when trying to project strong and forceful, she squeaks. Nice hip action, tho.
I missed mom-on-the-couch at first, Had to rewind it.
Definitely the best ep in a long while.
Two points here: first, in Bad Eggs they were simply digging up another portion of the basement. One that was sealed off. Or this was just below the thing that was sitting there. Either explanation works for me.
Second, the seal is clearly right on the Hellmouth. Remember they were looking for the location of the principle’s office, the room in the new school that’s over the Hellmouth? A better question is why the Master didn’t notice this big seal sitting in the middle of his church.