Wait, was it just me, or did the Watcher’s Council HQ blow up?
No, it was a completely different building. ME can’t be that lame with the special effects.
We’ve already met old Vlad in the aptly titled Buffy vs Dracula.
He was a stupid ponce who owes Spike 11 pounds.
Also, he made Xander his butt-monkey…
pepperlandgirl Do you have a spoiler or something about the building. I just went back and looked at the tape a couple times. It is a different shot, but I am pretty sure it is the same building.
Amyways, I thought it was a good episode. I am kind of wondering what happened to Giles though.
Did we find out why Johnathon didn’t work. I know his apperation said he was anemic, but that seems a little weak to me. How did Andrew get ahold of Spikes Jacket?
I agree that is should have ended last week, but I’m always glad to get one more ep. in before a break.
Yes, I believe as well that the vamp at the end is the “Little Bad”.
The big bad is more likely to take another form, as it did in the third season(when it looked like Jenny Calendar).
So, what building was it? Why did it blow up? And why was I in the kitchen instead of glued to the tube? Cooking is for chumps.
Um, no. “Buffy vs. Dracula” was the Season Five opener. We’ve already done Dracula. And, Dracula has, um, done Xander. I think that this might be the Master- there is a resemblance, even though the “Real Vampire” was all messed up.
I think using Spike’s blood served a dual purpose. The first was, obviously, because blood was needed to complete the ritual and bring back the Uber Vamp. The second was to punish Spike. He had resisted The First’s influence, and had either broken its hold over him, or was on the verge of doing so. Spike did not and does not want to be an instruent of evil- The First basically grabbed a powerful being in an extremely vulnerable mental state and used him. So, the worst punishment TFE (mind if I call it that?) could come up with was to have a fully conscious Spike watch his own blood raise the Uber Vamp- if it couldnt’ control his mind anymore, it still could use his body to do its work.
I wonder why Anya was all of a sudden in the “Let’s stake Spike” camp- could it be she wants him impaled because she’s feeling a bit buned because in “Sleeper”, he wouldn’t, um, impale her? (yeah, I know the seduction was a ruse, she was caught searching his room, but if it had come down to it, I think she would have done him, and his refusal made her feel unattractive and undesirable.)
And Xander was great. I think I could get to like him, and I didn’t like him in the early seasons, independent of his hatred toward the Peroxided One. He figured out that TFE had brainwashed Spike was using that song to “trigger” his killing.
Apparently the Council has misplaced Giles. I think if he had been killed in last week’s cliffhanger, the CoW would know about it by now. And I don’t think they consciously decided not to tell Buffy about TFE. They seemed to have found out after she did. Of course, I wouldn’t put it past the CoW to withhold valuable information like that.
I have a theory about the CoW, BTW. I think they started out as sort of a backup outfit for the Slayer- a Watcher to train her in fighting tecniques and weapons use, a coupla guys to do research, a few guys in remote locations to find out where the trouble was so they could tell the Slayer where she was needed. Then, as it got bigger, and managed to lay its hands on a lot of cash, it became more powerful until finally it got the idea the the Council should be running the show, and the Slayer was the Council’s instrument, rather than the Council being the Slayer’s support system/team.
Just my WAG.
I think Clem is going to come charging in and rescue Spike.
Andrew didn’t steal Spikes jacket. He just bought one that looks like it.
Sorry, I don’t have any spoilers…well, I thought Quentin was going to be in ep 10, however, the spoilers have been really crappy and vague this year, and they might have just meant ep 9. So far the various sources have gotten other things wrong and confused, so right now I jsut dont know.
It is possible that Quentin will still be in episode ten isn’t? Now that he is dead TFE can become him and try to get Buffy to respond accordingly. That is one thing that I am enjoying about this season. Just because they are dead, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are gone.
I thought for sure the vampire at the end was The Master. Joss and Co. have been promising that we would go all the way back to the first season this year. What could be more first season than the Master?
It just occured to me that the First Evil’s masquerade as Giles will have to be from a distance. The first thing Buffy and company will do when they see Giles is going to be to give him a hug. TFE is incorporeal so they’ll be able to detect that it isn’t Giles fairly quickly. Of coures it would be very demoralizing for them to realize that Giles is dead so TFE may still use his shape.
I think the reason that Johnathen’s death didn’t open the seal was because there literally wasn’t enough blood. The First Evil miscalculated how much blood was needed to pop the thing open, it didn’t seem off by that much as it didn’t seem like a whole lot of Spike’s fell on the seal. Of course it could be that the entire ritual and ruin cutting was needed but from the taunting it seemed like that was just because The First Evil likes rituals and ruin cutting.
The First Evil! I knew it! (And I’m pretty sure I was the first person to suggest it 'round here, too.) Anyway, couple things:
I think that was indeed the Master at the end of the ep. I’m assuming that whatever process The First used to bring him back altered what he looked like slightly. I think bringing back the Master would be awesome, because he was so under-used in the first season. Plus, ties back into that whole “back to the beginning” thing Mutant Enemy has been talking about.
That certainly was the Watcher’s Council that went kablooie, or whoever edited that episode is a fricken moron. What other building could it possibly be? Why would they cut from The Council to some random exploding building with no further explanation? Plus, the joke is just too good for it not to have been the Council. I wonder if this means Ripper is officially defunct, or if this is part of the set-up for the eventual new series.
I don’t think Anya was so much in favor of killing Spike as she was miffed that when she killed a bunch of people, Buffy’s first reaction was to stick a sword through her. But when it’s Spike, they’ve got to stage an intervention.
My prediction for the Return of Giles: At some key point in an upcoming episode, he is going to show up with Faith and/or a squad of Slayers-in-training to save Buffy’s bacon.
My take on the origin of the Watcher’s Council: They were the original Scooby gang. When the Slayer they were friends with died, they somehow found out about a new one, and started helping her out. And when she died, they searched out the next one. And so on, down the centuries.
Was anyone else just slightly creeped out by Willow’s “I could kill Anya!” line? A year ago, it would have been fluffy, harmless Willow making a little joke. Now… she could actually do it. Really, really easily. Made it a little funnier for me, somehow.
I’m starting to really like Andrew. The poor guy is just so pathetic. Dangerously incompetent while still being totally useless. And Spike knew who his brother was! What was up with that?
Oh, one more thing: Why the First Evil used Jonathan, and later Spike, to open the seal, rather than popping open one of his own minions. It’s evil. Those demon monks would gladly volunteer to die for their master, and that’s just no fun. Better an innocent (or Spike) suffer in agony, at least a little. Other wise, what’s the point?
quote:
Could that vamp be the original demon that shared blood with humans to create vampires?
Beat me to it. That’s my guess, too. Morphy was still there talking after the creature crawled from the pit.
Mispost, here’s the full version.
My guess is that Wood is there as an agent for the council. Of course, they would want to keep an eye on Ms. Summers. Very convenient to give her a job on the Hellmouth. He didn’t buy Dawn’s reason for Buffy not being at work, which was a scene, thrown in to show us that there is more than what meets the eye.
He might now be under the influence.
Also – in season 1, Giles said they “are on a hellmouth”, but now it’s The Hellmouth. Hmmm……
I checked again – the building introduced as “Here is the council” is shot from an angle front-right, the explosion from front-left. It’s not possible to tell if it indeed is the same building, but they are equal in style and era.
Morphy is TFE. The vamp is not. In the episode Amends, the First evil is described as something beyond comprehension, that Buffy can’t fight, because it has no physical presence. The Vamp (which I don’t think is The Master re-incarnate) was brought forth because Morphy as Buffy said: “I think it’s about time we brought some authority to our presence”. This is the Little Bad, as JohnT pointed out.
More, later.
My theory is that that thing released from the seal is neither TFE or the master,but instead the demon that shared its blood with humans creating the first vampires.
I was kind of dissapointed actually,i was thinking that opening the seal would open up the hell mouth.
With all this foreshadowing i expected hell on earth to come to the show.
I’d say age - because vampires who are not smart end up dead. Vampires who are not strong end up dead. Vampires who cannot keep on being one or the other also end up dead.
It might be that age is the effect of being a powerful vampire, not the cause.
I just have to say that Andrew’s “That’ll do, pig!” had me convulsions on the floor. My humble contribution to the thread.
I’ll second that, amarinth. If Harmony were to take on the Slayer, Harmony would be dust. Vampires seem to have no compunctions about killing other vampires, the demons not killing other demons code aside. Also, Xander came pretty close to besting Harmony in hand to hand combat- if she didn’t have Spike around to protect her, she would be dust. I think the only reason she has lasted as long as she has, assuming we don’t learn this season that she became a pile of dust shortly after she left Spike, is that she’s maintaining a very low profile- probably hunting alone and only going after very easy prey, or looking for a more powerful vamp with whom she can exchange sex for protection.
Also, on why it took so little of Spike’s blood to raise the Uber Vamp- it’s the blood of a vampire, and a wicked powerful one at that- he’s killed two Slayers, and would have killed Buffy in “Out of My Mind” if that Initiative doctor had actually removed the chip- it kicked in just as he got his fangs to her throat. I think it would have taken a lot more human blood, and probably a whole lot more animal blood to raise him. If the Harbingers had gotten their mitts on Buffy, it probably would have taken more of her blood than of Spike’s, but less than a normal human.
In other words, it’s not just the quantity
of the blood, it’s the quality.
Principal Wood- I don’t think TFE has gotten its hooks into him. I’m starting to lean toward the Council plant theory. He knows he’s sitting on top of the Hellmouth, and that there are bad things going on. I didn’t think he looked posessed, I thought it was more of an “Oh, God, it got a sacrifice on” kind of a look. Also, there seemed to be no voices or manifestations talking to him. I think he just picked up a vibe from the basement, went down to have a look, found Jonathan’s corpse and decided to give the poor sod as close to a decent burial as he could without having the police involved and having to come up with a cover story. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Principal Wood ended up being the one to rescue Spike.
Oh, yeah, and I loved the way Anya and Xander did the good-cop/bad cop interrogation of Andrew. And Andrew doing the leather duster and slicked back hair was so… lame. It was beautiful, it was the essence of Andrew, adopting Spike (who I think he has a crush on) as his role model when he tries to master the art of killing.
Now, Hellmouths. I have a theory on those, too. I think they’re kind of like interdimensional volcanoes, which, when active, can spew forth all kinds of, well, Hell. However, not all Hellmouths are active at any given time. So, maybe the only currently active Hellmouth is the one under SHS, and, unless something comes along to actually open the thing, it just kind of emits bad juju, the way an active volcano would emit gasses and occasionally spit up a bit of ash between eruptions. Opening the Hellmouth would be something akin to triggering a volcanic eruption.
Thus, since any other Hellmouths are dormant, the only active one would be referred to as The Hellmouth rather than just A Hellmouth.
Exactly on both counts. The return of useful, intelligent Xander to boot. Yeah. Hopefully this episode is the end of “crazy Spike” as that shitck is so tired.
The first evil or whatever that was on the seal at the end was a bit, um, less the impressive.
The rational for draining Spike defied most logic too. If any blood would have done it-- while goto all the effort-- oh that’s right, to show Spike without his shirt on. 
Still a nice fast moving episode, although the destruction of the watcher’s council makes me think that this may indeed by thew last season.