Buffy 4-30-02 (Spoilers)

Cafe Society
#1

To start-I really liked this episode. It was great to see Dawn in non-psychowhinybitch mode, and I’m SOOO glad to see Willow and Tara on the mend (although the skeptic in me doubts it will last). The parallel of the loyalty shown to Xander by the scoobies, and the loyalty Buffy expected to receive upon being “outed” was nicely done. FINALLY the whole Spike/Buffy thing is out in the open. And, as much as I’ve been dreading this moment, I think it was done in the best possible way. I was literally on the edge of my seat from the point of Willow finding the feed into the Magic Box, right up to Spike’s “It’s good enough for Buffy”.
And watching Buffy stand there and listen to Xander spout his Anti-Spike venom all over Anya–and of course project it onto herself–I had to hope it will maybe make her think about the knee-jerk hostilities she’s been engaging in. Or not–but a girl can dream, can’t she? :slight_smile: Spike might just be reaching the end of his tether though. I can’t imagine that he enjoys hanging around with a bunch of frequently whiny, incessently self-absorbed humans 200 years his junior who seem to enjoy nothing more than heaping abuse upon him, despite the fact that he’s helped save their hides time and again.

I’m very curious to see where the whole Anya/Xander thing goes now. Will he forgive her? Will she care?
The trailers for next ep. had little miss Willow looking decidedly blackmagicky, and I have to wonder if rumors about a certain scoobie might be true after all…

#2

I. Want. Spike. Now.

Ohmigawd. I WANT THAT MAN.

Just once. Just once in my life, I want someone to look at me like that. That’s all I want. My life will then be totally complete.

::melting into a tiny little puddle::

I thought the W/T scene at the end was beautiful. So very well played by Amber Benson.

They played up the “you think you know what’s gonna happen…” thing during the promo for next week. So… what does Joss et al think we know? IOW, what rumors do they think we believe? I’ve heard a whole bunch of conflicting things out there… is there one or two rumors in particular that we should be focusing on?

-BK

#3

So let’s see… Spike has now had Drusilla, Buffy and Anya. Yep. He’s now my new hero. Sorry, Xander – Faith and Anya is a strong pair, but three of a kind beats it.

#4

I was glad to see the Spike/Buffy thing out in the open, but I have a feeling that next week is going to be the week to watch.

#5

Don’t forget that Xander has had Cordelia, so now they are tied again at 3. So it really comes down to this - who would you rather have: Drusilla or Cordelia? :cool: I’d choose Cordy myself, I prefer not to bleed after having sex, which is what I’d be scared of happening with Drusilla. :eek:

Oh, and lets not talk rumors of future eps in this thread, please. At least not without big, huge spoiler warnings in the front… setting your text to background grey mightn’t be a bad idea either. Anybody know the vB code for that?

Yes! W and T are back together again! :smiley: I like Tara and I’m glad to see that she is going to be back on as a regular Scooby w/o all the issues of the past 5 or so eps.

I really enjoyed the Anya - W&T/Buffy/Dawn montage where she is trying to get them to unwittingly curse Xander. One of the pleasant things about Buffy is how characters are referential to lessons learned in past episodes - it was nice to hear Dawn actually say “No, I’ve learned my lesson about saying ‘I wish.’”

Personally, if I were Dawn, I couldn’t ever reference anything that happened between me and Buffy as kids as it never happened. It is still kind of jarring to hear her say something like (I can’t remember the exact line) “Remember when I was 4 and you were 7…” knowing that she was never 4 when Buffy was really 7. There are still some metaphysically/philosophically creepy issues going on with that girl, with her just acting like a normal 15 year old all the while knowing that her entire life has been a lie and that she isn’t even human. Weaker souls would just collapse under the strain.

“He’s got the same look in his eye as he had before he told on me to my mom.” LOL!!

#6

I’m sorry. It just didn’t grab me. A season of watching the gang get more and more miserable, a two-month waiting period, and then… another dreary soap-opera episode?

The whole hour, I was waiting for something, anything to happen. Entire plot development: now everybody knows about Buffy and Spike, and now Willow is back with Tara. But man, talk about melodrama. I was in the Harlequin version of the Buffyverse.

I can’t wait for the Season 2 DVD to come out, to remember those halcyon days when the interpersonal relationships came second to the whole saving the world while making witty quips gig.

#7

What the fuck are the three stooges looking for? (sorry, just getting into this season now… oh, and I saw the birthday episode) Anyone know?

I’m glad to see Xander still hates his vamps… but as far as the three of a kind goes, I was all about Drusilla. ::drool::

Eris, TAKE ME TO HER! :smiley:

(don’t forget Xander also snuck some smooches from Willow, but no one can beet Dru in my book)

I, too, am happy to see that Willow might be a-spell-castin’. Though those black eyes are creepy, like Jacob’s Ladder. (shudder)

#8

Well, MrVisible, I’ve read a few very few general spoilers, and I can tell you, things aren’t going to get easier in the last several episodes. I’m actually kinda dreading the last several episodes.
And tonight settled it. I’m completely in love with Spike. I mean, I’ve really liked Spike since the episode we met him, way back in Season 2. His character has grown and changed so much, and I’m really upset that he keeps getting abused…especially by Xander. I’ve never, ever liked Xander…well, that’s not ocmpletely true. He made me laugh in the first 2 seasons, but when he didn’t tell Buffy about Willow trying to restore Angel’s soul…that was just too much.
I think one of the reasons that the writers made Xander such an ass is because he doesn’t look like an unpopular dork. He’s gotta be unpopular for a reason. I’m sure we’ve all had friends who were huge asses, but who we tolerated anyway…and even grew to like/love.

#9

It’s been a while since I saw the one where Xander and Faith hooked up, but that was post-Cordy, and didn’t he say at the time that she was his first? I mean, yeah, Xander macked it regularly with Cordy for quite a while there, and that’s quite admirable, but in my scoring system, you gotta make it all the way home.

#10

I hate that the writers make Xander an ass. He is much better as the guy from the Zeppo and the episode where Reily leaves. The guy who can actually function. In that interpretation of him he just lacks confidence. That is what made him stick with a group of dorky friends and kept him from being popular. Other Xander is a bastard, and fairly incompetent, who has amazingly managed to have some sort of job. I think if the show just ran with one Xander it would be far better.

My favorite thing from this episode was Xander realizing that communication may have helped the problem. Maybe that will catch on among the Scoobies. I wanted Spike to wish Anya’s directness upon the rest of the gang. That would have been real fun.

#11

To all those who think Xander is inconsistent – look at his family. From a purely sociological standpoint, it’s a wonder that he’s ever able to function as a human being. Then look at his life.
Didn’t go to college.
Has a career.
Engaged (to a former (at the time) demon, no less).
All of this at the age of, what, 21? While his friends are all goofing off in college or getting big wads of cash from Giles.
Oh, and let’s not forget “Participates in routine saving of the world.” And (with the exception of Joyce) he’s the only normal person in the bunch. Slayer, witch, Watcher, vampire, werewolf, super-soldier, Key… And yet, there he is, over and over again, the Zeppo.

And you’re upset that he occasionally goes a little assholish? Haven’t we all had a friend who was a good person but who, in certain circumstances, was an occasional asshole? If anything, his infrequent bursts of prickitude (many of which seem to involve him walking down the road alone) make him the most human member of the cast, lack of powers notwithstanding.

#12

Sigh. For the life of me, I will never understand why women put Spike on a pedestal, and lament about how he’s not being treated nicely. The man is EVIL! Not just bad, but consumately evil!

I know I’ll be stepping on some toes now, but… good grief, folks! And we wonder why women go for abusive men?

#13

Do you remember earlier in this season when Spike first saw Buffy returned from the dead? How the camera focused on his face in close-up, as he stared and stared and stared at her? I think that was one of the best moments I’ve ever seen on TV in my life.

#14

I hesitate to post any of this, but I can fill you in on what is suppossed to happen bobkitty. For the sake of those who don’t want to know, you’ll want to skip this post! I’m putting it in white color, so it will be hard to see unless you highlight it. Be warned, this will seriously ruin the rest of the season for you!
Major Spoiler Space

You’ve been warned! Warren uses the amulet to gain superhuman strength, the other geeks get arrested somehow. Warren plants some kind of booby trap that is meant to kill Buffy, but it accidently shoots Tera. Buffy is also shot, and Xander rushes her to the hospital. Willow is with Tera at the time she is shot, and can’t save her. She resorts to any magic she can to try to save her, but is unsuccessful. She then goes after Warren in blind rage, and loses it big time. Willow turns out to be the big bad of the season, and all the other Scoobies have to team up to try to stop her. Giles comes back from England to help out (rumors are he teleports back using some kind of spell). After Willow horribly tortures and kills Warren, she goes after the other two geeks, who have teamed up with Buffy and crew to try to stay alive. Willow can’t live with the pain, and suppossedly summons some kind of satanic temple and demoness and tries to destroy the world. Xander helps talk Willow out of it by telling her how much he loves her, no matter what she’s done. Spike goes to Africa to become “like he was before” (assuming he gets the chip out), and most likely won’t be in Sunnydale at the time all the Willow stuff goes on. No word yet if there is going to be a big reset at the end of the season, but it doesn’t look like it. Amber Benson is playing coy with whether or not she is on the show next season. I’m guessing she’ll be back though, an interview with her mother went something like “she’s not going anywhere”. For some newly released pics of vengeful goth Willow, go here. You’ll need to sign up for a free username, then login, and then click the link again.

End of Massive Spoilage
Did anybody else notice in the commercials tonight that there was a picture of what appeared to be Dawn breathing fire??? It wasn’t a regular Buffy commercial, but one that was highlighting the “exciting May line-up of shows on UPN”.

#15

So when Buffy said to Spike at the end, outside the Magic Box, “That didn’t take long.” My sister laughed, I really almost missed it at first.

IMO the best line of the night.

#16

I was very grateful that Buffy didn’t hit Spike after he outed their relationship.

#17

bobkitty:

Wait wait. You watched Buffy last night? You can do this?

Then why have I been taping it without fail, sometimes even foregoing a night out so I know the VCR works properly, for months?

#18

Good episode, but I thought the best moment was when Andrew (is that the name of the fhird geek?) nearly outed himself over Spike:

“Spike, he’s so cool!!!” (dreamy look on geek’s face) “Errr, and that BABE is hot too!!!”

#19

Yes, I think it was from an early episode this season, when the ghost-demon that Buffy brought back with her from the afterlife was possessing various scoobies.

#20

Really solid episode. I liked the fight at the begining. The Trio riding 4 wheelers? Hilarious!

It’s a good episode like this one that have helped balance out this season. (Makes up for “Older and Badly Dubbed”)

The Anya trying to convince Dawn/Buffy/Dykes to curse Xander scene was great. I was taking my potatoes out of the oven at the start of the scene when Spike came into the Magic Box. Did anything happen or was anything said about Halfrek/Cecily and Spike?

Spike is a great character because he is a multi-dimensional villain. He is EVIL. No one can say otherwise. But even Dr. Doom helped out the Fanrtastic Four and the Avengers every once in awhile. He loves Buffy in a very sick and unhealthy way. But he does Love her. Like a Bum likes his hooch and wife-beaters love their wives.