Dawn was indeed more enjoyable, as a more rounded character only!! Come on-- she is like 14-15 right?
The junior slayer-ette thing is a bit heavy handed though.
I wonder if Buffy, Willow and Dawn will compare notes next week.
And I still do not understand why the chip wouldn’t work, unless the Big Bad of Many Shapes and Sizes took it out with some magically mumbo jumbo.
Wait and see I guess. I am staying spoiler free as it is a lot more enjoyable this way it turns out.
If Spike dies, and I don’t think he will, if for no other reason than because Joss enjoys torturing him so much, then I probably will not be watcing Season 8/spinoff show.
Spike is arguably the strongest character on the show, even stronger than Buffy Herself, though it doesn’t show as much because of the minimal screen time he’s been getting last season and this one. I’m not sure if the PTB at ME are intentionally weakening the character in anticipation of SMG’s departure, or if SMG’s heart just isn’t in it anymore after going into seven seasons, but Buffy was a much stronger character in the first five seasons than she is currently. In order to make a spinoff fly, Spike would either have to be the “title character”, or at least be as major of a character as Xander and Willow were in the first three seasons of BtVS. I really don’t think any of the other characters, with the possible exception of Giles, is really strong enough to carry whatever would be the continuation of the show after this season. What I envision is a Spike/Willow/Dawn triad, with Xander playing an important but more peripheral role, and Giles popping in from time to time when Watcher-type help is needed. There is even a part of me that is still entertaining the idea of the Council tapping Spike to be the next Slayer’s Watcher (I mean, really, who better to train a Slayer to kill vampires than a vampire who has killed two Slayers?)
Also, from what I’ve been hearing, Emma Caulfield is the only member of the cast who will definitely not be signing on for another season, Sarah Michelle Gellar may or may not, but more likely not. If James Marsters were not going to be on board for S8/spinoff, I think we’d have heard something by now. Spike is too popular a character for the spoiler and fan boards to be silent on this issue, and usually in these matters, no news is good news. Also, if Spike does go all dusty, well, hey, they resurrected Darla, didn’t they? With Joss, all things are possible.
What I mean,
I’m fifteen,
So this queen thing’s illegal.
(From Once More, With Feeling)
So she might be 16 now. And yeah, I’m liking her more lately as well.
Didn’t see the episode due to UPN 50 in Detroit playing the Red Wings game. Now I have to wait until Sunday.
I’ve noticed the Christian underlying theme this season as well. In TETD monologue he mentions going back to the true beginning not the Word. (obviously the Bang refers to the Big Bang) Which is directly from John 1:1 referring to Jesus. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Spike’s monologue talks about redemption and being made right where he refers to God (but I don’t remember the phrase) and then ends on the cross. I was thinking there was something else but I can’t remember it. So yeah, I’m kind of believing the Devil theory.
What was the bomb that Joyce dropped on Dawn? Everybody seems to be referring to it but not saying what it is and it’s driving me crazy.
Well she is a freshman who just started. Typically that would make her 14-15. So if she is 15, she just turned it. Well, technically she is 2-3 years old, but thats just being nit-picky.
Give me Anya anyday-- I like an older woman 
I’m sure someone will come in with it verbatim to correct me in a moment, but it was essentially, “Bad things are coming. When they do, Buffy will make a choice. She won’t choose you. She’ll be against you.”
All I can say is, my eldest daughter is a HS freshman who will be 15 in Jan. And if she moved like li’l Dawny did at the Bronze last week and in the kitchen this week, I’d lock her in her room until she went away to college!
If it was his soul she saw, then she would have been excited to see it because a vampire with a soul is still a mighty rare thing. I’ve heard of bears riding unicycles, but I’d still be surprised to see one ride through my living room.
On a side note, are you sure Anya has a soul?
IIRC, Dawn is a sophomore this year. It is her first year at Sunnydale high because it just opened, not because she’s a freshman.
Well, Anya certainly has something. Old D’Hoffryn said the cost would be the “life and soul of the vengence demon”. Maybe a demon soul is different than a human soul? Or maybe demons have souls and vampires don’t? Or maybe the demons in vamps are souls after a fashion.
Whatever, it was pretty heavily implied that as a VD, Anya had a soul.
Thea, we don’t even know yet if there will be a S8/spinoff. The ratings aren’t that stellar, UPN isn’t that happy with BTVS right now, FIrefly is floundering, so that may not make Joss look good. Marti Noxon said last week at a feminist panel thing that she’s pretty sure she won’t have a job next year. (Part of me hopes she’ll just be fired, but I’m pretty sure if MN doesn’t have ajob, it’s because the show is done.) And what would JW pitch for a spinoff? Dawn? She’s not popular or good enough to carry her own show. Faith? Eliza Dushku has a pretty good movie career right now, and probably won’t want to give it up. Willow? Possible, but AH may decide she’d rather do movies too. Spike? Well, we already have a vampire spin-off, don’t we? I can’t see there being 2 shows on TV about vampires seeking redemption, and I doubt we’d have a show centered around evil!Spike. That leaves Xander…
I’m not even being optimistic about a S8/spinoff. At this point I’m going to assume this is the last season until I’m told otherwise.
Just finished watching my copy of the ep. Hummina. Finally, she admits that her treatment of Spike was just as fucked up as the obsessive nature of his love for her. And I agree that he’ll get the stake sometime this season; frankly, I expected him to go at the end of Season 5. I want a happy ending, but we tread in the Jossverse, where any of Spike’s good deeds* are just setting him up for a righteous, dusty sacrifice.
*Having now seen all of the episode, my personal jury is still out on Analysis!Vamp’s parentage and Bloodthirsty!Spike. Like arisu, I think I’ll feel jerked around by whatever explanation the Mutant Enemies provide.
(Oh, and MrVisible? You are a bad man for making me laugh so hard. Achy sides!)
Oh, I forgot. Does anyone have the drop on the music from the precredit sequence and the very end of the show? I have decided to love that song.
Well, alternately, Spike could join the cast of Angel
[“School Hard” flashback] "You were my sire, man!!! You were my…Yoda! [/“School Hard” flashback]. Actually if Angel does lose his soul this season (by shagging Cordelia?)… well, I have this fantasy about Spike showing up, and once the less interesting of the re-ensouled vampires is re-re-re-ensouled, beating the snot out of him, while shrieking “What the bloody hell were you thinking?..”
Actually, a Spike/Angel reunion would be a wonderful thing at this point, or maybe a few episodes after this point. I really think the move from WB to UPN was a bad one. It seems like the show lost its bearings for a while after switching networks, and probably lost a lot of fans as a result. And with Angel on a separate network from the mother show, with probably its own fan base by now, they can’t use guest spots to lure fans of one show into watching the other.
And if this does turn out to be the final season, with no spinoff, at least we have the comfort of knowing that the series ended before it jumped the shark.
That is not even funny. Well a little. I am hoping for a well and evil Spike- like the one that tried to kill Willow, plotted to split up the scoobies for Adam, plotted with bad guys to spread evil eggs ect. This pouty vampire wanting love and redemtion plotline is getting a bit old and shopworn. Vampire with a Soul-- bah! I have that on the WB— Bring back bad Spike!
Spike’s character should die with BVTS. None of the characters would really fit-- especially with the more mature nature of Angel (the show).
But for all the talk of ending Buffy, when they can put out an episode like last night it is hard to see why they would not do one more season. Another Scooby Doo movie or American Pie 3-- the world can wait for those gems.
Actually the cast of Angel is big enough as it is.
I posted it in effac3d’s thread but here you go:
Angie Hart of Splendid, formerly of Frente! (you may recall their cover of New Order’s “Bizzare Love Triangle”) At the band’s website, it’s reported that Hart and Joss Whedon wrote the song together, specifically for “Conversations With Dead People.” There wasn’t any information at the time as to when or where you can get it, but I’m sure someone will dig that up in no time.
As for spinoffs? I think Buffy should end, as much as it pains me to say so, and Angel can have free rein on kick-ass guest stars when the time is right. Of course, this all depends on the life span of Angel. I too would like to see Spike and Angel together again.
I forgot to link to the band site, so you can keep tabs on the song, which is called “Blue”:
Oh, and personally I hate the term “Morphy.” I prefer TMO, for “The Manifestation Of.”
For whatever reason I thought that TMO Joyce was actually Joyce rather than TETD. Mostly because TMO Joyce didn’t fit the pattern of previous manifestations. Why go to the trouble of manufacturing the whole scenario of Joyce trapped by demon when Dawn would have been just as likely to believe her without it?
Although I suppose, seeing as how TETD has something of a flair for the dramatic (and a tendency to overplay its parts, i.e. TMO Cassie), that it could have been TETD with high school production values.
Count me in the “Spike’s killing people” camp, although why he would bother siring Shamp is a little beyond me. From a “we the writers need to let Buffy know that Spike’s killing people” perspective it of course works, but from an “in the Buffyverse Spike is killing people and Buffy needs to know” perspective it was contrived.
An eighth season is highly unlikely, and another spinoff is a hallucination in the minds of deluded fans who don’t want to admit that the show is on it’s last legs.
All I wanted from the show anymore was for Spike to get some acceptance, maybe a couple of friends. I didn’t want him to be broody angst-ridden Angel 2.0, I just wanted him to get some forgiveness. I still wanted him to be Spike, cranky and snarky, who only helped out because “he had nothing better to do” like he said in “Beneath You”.
So of course I get a Spike who is evil even with a soul. Peachy.
And Thea, I think the show jumped pretty much when Buffy did in “The Gift”.
Thanks muchly, JP.