Buffy 4/29/03 - Empty Places (spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

Finally - some good decisions. Both from writers and characters.
Caveat, considering the debate about previous threads about Buffy:
I’m totally unspoiled for the rest of the season. All info in the black box is about this week’s episode and contains nothing about the three that are left.

We take off a couple of days after the big fight with Caleb. Everybody’s trying to find information about him, which isn’t a surprise. There is a scene in the hospital with Xander, where Alyson Hannigan shows her remarkable acting talent, and sadly, Nick Brendon, while trying, really can’t make it.

The episode starts with Clem-age. Yay! And he drives a red VW Beetle. That and some lines from Spike is just about the only fun things in this episode. I guess a scene with Anya and Andrew explaining things to the SIT’s is supposed to be funny. I didn’t think it was. But at least, Anya did something and wasn’t just hanging around in the background.

For a while, I was afraid Kennedy was making a pass at Faith, but luckily that didn’t happen. Kennedy is actually almost OK in this episode, which is, of course, a step upwards for her and a giant climb up the Everest for us, the viewing audience.

Will tries to do a Jedi mind trick for her and Giles to be able to get some files from the police regarding Caleb. Among those are things that Spike and Andrew is sent to check out and there sure is some vital information there.

Faith takes the SIT’s to the Bronze to blow off some steam and Buffy blows her top. Earlier she’s traded blows with Caleb, briefly, and she’s now mightily pissed off. Caleb on the other hand is happy. After his brief encounter with Buffy, he talks to TFE!Buffy and they both agree that they are playing the Buffster just the way they want it.

So the episode plays out in a fairly normal, not too annoying way. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to expect too múch or I might get disappointed.

And then comes the end. Even if this is within spoilerbox, I’m not gonna give it away, because I know some of you spoiler junkies can’t stay away :stuck_out_tongue: and I don’t want to destroy it for ya. I’m totally unspoiled and it sure came as a surprise to me.

In many ways, the episode is a metaphor for the franchise ending. And I guess the cliffhanger emphasised that.

I’m a bit sad there won’t be a spin-off with Faith. Apart from her incredibly tight jeans this week, and her very bite-able shoulders, Dushku has charisma and a way of conveying thoughts and emotions by just raising an eyebrow or tilting her head, that shows me how accomplished an actress she is. She has most of the good lines this week.

All in all, it was enjoyable. The parts that have annoyed me, weren’t so annoying. On the other hand, there weren’t all that many peaks either. It’s still the 2nd best thing on television, though.

Buffy-Score 6/10

2

[spoiler]Well, at least it seems that Giles finds Andrew as annoying as I do. :slight_smile:
How is it, that in a city that’s supposed to be more or less empty, The Bronze is still doing a lot of business?

And am I the only one who got a mighty deus ex machina-vibe from whatever it is Spike and Andrew found? It smells of mighty troll-hammer to me.

The ending was very surprising, though (no, I won’t give it away either). It almost seem like the scoobies and the SITs have been thinking:eek:[/spoiler]
Overall Buffy-Score: 6/10

3

Tom P.

Considering the amount of SIT’s, the Bronze prolly was half empty, before they arrived. I agree with your deus-ex-machina take. But the ending was surprising. I liked it, But it opens a whole new can of worms, and should have happened maybe five or sevens episodes ago.

4

You’re probably right, there are a lot of SITs around. And I agree, the ending should have been done earlier, not in the 4th last episode

5

Damn you, Gaspode and Tom P., you spoiled it for me!! The non-spoiled smilry faces in your posts tell all! I shall hunt you down and make you pay for my spoilage!

From Gaspode I see that there is osmething that deserves making fun of, and Tom gives me not only a standard smiley, indicating something good, but a surpise smilry, indicating someithng shocking. I have deduced that the ep. goes like this:

Anya, Kennedy, and some other annoying peope e(possibly wood) get killed instantly (hence the regular smiley.)
Faith and Spike have sex, with gaspode commenting on how lucky both of them are, and wishing he was Spike (hence the tongue smiley.)
And from the shocking smiley, I deduce that Caleb reveals himself as one of two things:
God himself, now corrupted by TFE, or Buffy’s father.

6

:smack: And here we are, using spoiler tags to protect people who haven’t seen this episode yet. All this for nothing. We must remember that this is The Straight Dope Message Board, where only the most brilliant of people (and me) are allowed in. I am so sorry for ruining your episode. :frowning: I can only beg for your forgivness.

7

Is this board PG or R?

[daydreaming]
tongue and Faith
[/daydreamin]

Stop tempting me. I’m old enough to be her father (if I had started breeding early)

8

:smack: And if you could pretend that I spelt forgiveness right, I would feel even better. I even previewed. Oh well, I blame it on my Norwegian education

9

Man, I was hoping that the “surprise” ending was that Buffy finally bites it for good and leaves Faith to finish what she started.

But you other tidbits indicate otherwise.

Damn. Would’ve been a great way to end the series. What could make a more bittersweet goodbye than having the final handful of episodes not include the title character.

10

I liked it better than Dirty Girls, although I think things could have been done to make it better.

Minor nitpcik: Andrew asks Spike what the inscription said…doesn’t Andrew know many many demon languages, yet he doesn’t know Ancient Greek? One would think you’d start with the basics. Oh, and the bit with Spike and Andrew on the motorcyle was great, too bad the Andrew and Anya part was crappy.

11

Ancient Greek was only spoken by Ancient Greek demons.

12

Terrific episode!

Why is Sunnydale being evacuated for this apocalypse when it has weathered the previous end-of-season crises just fine? I don’t recall anything being said about an evacuation in the last episode.

Loved Clem in the opening scene, “I am cutting way down on eating cats. Cholesterol, I mean morals, morals!!” Too funny.

Willow needs to work on her Jedi mind powers.

I thoroughly disagree with The Gaspode about the Willow/Xander scene–Nick Brendon’s acting was in what his character was not saying. He was acting in the silences.

LOVED the dirty look Andrew shot Faith when he saw her eating his Hot Pocket.

Who knew Andre and Spike both ate at Outback?

Nobody who follows the show could be surprised by the ending. It was prophesied earlier in the season, and it was alluded to in the preview following last week’s episode.

13

I am spoiler-free (except for the TVGuide.com listing, as I wanted to check if it was a repeat), and for some reason I have high hopes for this episode. Call me crazy, but I do.

Sorry that I skipped your posts so far, but I will check them out after the air time, and will let you know if my good feeling was accurate. [crosses fingers. . . ]

14

I still have to watch it again. The kids were running me like a hamster in a wheel when it was on last night.

What I liked?

[spoiler]Clem. I mean, who doesn’t love Clem? And his “if you save the world… I mean WHEN!” speech.

Spike: “If you tell anyone we had this conversation…”

Foisting Andrew on Spike just like they used to foist Cordelia on people.[/spoiler]

What I’m still not sure on…

Kicking Buffy out. I would normally say that’s out of character for Willow at least. Xander - still a little pissed about the eye thing. Understandable. Giles? Probably still smarting from the after effects of letting Spike get attacked. I understand the viewpoint of the SiT. And even Faith was about as cool about it as she could be. But Willow? I dunno. She usually stands up for Buffy. Maybe it’s because of Xander. He doesn’t usually lose an eye.

And maybe I’ll have some more to say once I rewind the tape and watch it again.

15

gobear

[spoiler]Well, I think rendon has a limited range, so the script and directing was tailored to fit his range. The lines and acting was in character, as you say, but somehow, It wasn’t beleivable. The guy lost an eye.

I don’t think people evacuating has anything to do with the arc. I think it’s just ME playing silly-buggers. It’s a cute way of showing that they’re all leaving the lot and the fictional town that’s been there home for seven years. And showing Clem in a snassy car.

However, I’m curious to what you mean by saying that Buffy leaving was hinted at earlier in the season. Any specific thing?
[/spoiler]

16

Just finished here - I really liked this episode. I’m still having trouble keeping all the SiT separated though.

17

Just finished watching it.

Have to give it a great big “meh”.

It was an event that I was glad to see, but all the acting was so bland.

What’s up with all the random sex next week?

18

ARGHHHH dang it! We never get previews here!

19

One correction:

The inscription was in Latin, not Ancient Greek.

and one question:

I thought from last week’s preview that Buffy was supposed to get all white and sparkly this episode. She didn’t. Is it a foreshadowing of something else coming, or what???

I liked the episode, though!

20

The white and sparkly thing is something UPN and accuvue do: it’s an effect they add to the previews, not the actual footage. The preview for the ep in which Tara was shot was all blue and glowy.

I only caught the last half, but I agree with the meh. Buffy, as a character, has just been grating, and hearing her give Faith a big mommy lecture was just irritating.