Thanks for the spoiler boxes, I appreciate them -
and after this I won’t be back in the thread until after I see the ep.
just a note to anyone in Seattle, the episode is supposedly playing at 8pm on Sunday.
He hurt Xander, he must die. Slowly. Horribly. Painfully.
Heartbreaking, especially after Xander’s wonderful speech.
Even though I don’t like the thought, I have to admit Spike and Faith really had the sparks going. And I loved the fact they finally revealed their “prior meeting”. I’ve been waiting for that one…
Overall, excellent ep.
Loved the episode - heard it was going to be dark but didn’t realize HOW dark.
And, dang it, after all that AND Xander getting ouchied - Kennedy lived.
Yeah the Xander bit was disturbing (that is when he was injured). I was like “What…no…”
I also liked the Xander speech, but I have to admit, I’m getting a bit sick of the pep talks.
Also, I thought that Andrews interpretation of the faith backstory could have been done better. I kept expecting more of a star wars underlying message (as in totally obvious, faith fighting with light sabers).
Quick question:
Was the man playing Caleb also the actor who played Mal on Firefly?
Uh, she was fighting a Vulcan. Star Trek, not wars, though.
And yes, it was Mal.
This may have been a case of coming across better on screen than it did on the script.
Anyway, I think Fake is awful. For lots of reasons. The only interaction I want to see between the two of them is fighting.
Since people have tossed spoiler boxes I’ll follow suit with a little bit of delay space just in case.
First the end of course needs to be talked about. Brutalizing a main character. Bold except for the fact that the series is ending. Yes, yes even so you generally don’t get main characters disfigured in such a horrific way and it was a powerful image that packed a wallop but it would have been even more potent if the series wasn’t ending. The primary problem with the UPN seasons of Buffy is they lack the “This could be the end of all Buffy” that the other seasons had. Season 6 it was known for a fact that it wouldn’t be and this season it is known for a fact that it isn’t. Still poor bastard. His speeches are far better than Buffy’s. She should put him in charge of motivation, Giles in charge of strategy and just lead the actual butt kicking.
This brings me to the second point. Buffy is a moron. A complete and utter idiot. Some random psycho spouts shit and she goes to tango with him. Additionally she allows him to rant and rave and goes in as if she were just clearing out a nest of fat lazy vamps she had found. If she was able to put her emotions in their place like Giles told her she would realize that it was stupid and that Giles still has stuff to teach her. Like how to effectively solve problems by thinking outside of the hero box. I was hoping that Buffy would recon the place and then have Xander or Willow blow it up (Xander with construction/army knowledge, Willow with the magics). Yes it was cool to see crazy preacher boy wail ass but come on someone has to have a brain.
Third the pacing was fairly bad. Faith backstory from Andrew a total waste and could have been replaced with actual Faith current story. As much as the SIT are hated it may have been interesting to have them interact with Faith.
Finally I have to join those who place Angel above Buffy. The reason is that in both shows they are playing with well worn story types and trying to get new life out of cliches. In Angel they play it straight from the book and do it well, with the twists hitting nightly and on beat. In Buffy it just isn’t comming together as it should be. Shifts that should occur in the space of a single episode are sprinkled among two and there is just the sense that no progress is being made. Now I have faith that the final four are going to blow my mind and restore Buffy to a place in TV history that it can never be dragged down from. Right now however I am more jazzed for Angel than I am for Buffy. I just care more about what happens on the show and don’t find myself as randomly annoyed with it.
Joss has never shied away from killing a regular.
Gouging a regular, though, is new.
I give this one 8.5 / 10. Powerful.
I guess what they say about going blind is true…Poor Xander. But hey, on the bright side, it opens the door to a host of pirate jokes.
I thought this episode was disappointing….
On the plus side, it had a few funny parts and it introduced an intriguing new villain, but so far his power (being really strong) is nothing we have not seen before.
On the negative side, most of this episode seemed like a refresher course in Faith’s history Yawn. The entire first half of this episode felt like a “previously on Buffy” segment. Then when things actually begin to happen, Buffy immediately walks into a blindingly obvious trap. Hell, it was not even a good trap.
Also, is it just me or does Angel tend to have better fight scenes than Buffy? I think the choreography is superior or something….
All in all, I give it an “eh”. Except for the Xander part, of course. Questions, why is Caleb so strong? Isn’t he just a “normal” human guy? Why has Faith reverted to her pre-prison persona? Are we to forget her appearance on Angel? There she was focused and down to earth. She gets back to Sunnydale and she is suddenly the renegade again. Not in action, but in attitude. Faith and Spike did have some major sparkage, and Spike seemed to be very comfortable in her presence. Could be all that “stretching” she was doing while they were in the basement. I can’t help but feel sorry for Giles, even though he did cross the line on the last episode. And can’t Buffy ever accept help graciously? And when was it decided that Willow can handle magic safely after all? I know she has done some major magic lately, but they kinda let that whole magic=bad shtick drop.
So, here we are one episode closer to the end and what has happened.
Faith arrives
Some SITs get killed
Xander is partially blinded
Nothing was resolved or forwarded.
End of rant.
Actually Lyllyan, this episode was a major set up for the big Final Arc. It isn’t meant ot resolve anything, it’s meantt to set everything up…
You know, the worst part about being spoiled isn’t missing the surprise of the episodes, it’s wanting to answer all the questions everybody has…
I know exactly what you mean pepper. I do read the spoilers, but I read them real fast then try to forget what I read before the episode. Makes for great “oh yeah…” moments. Then after the episode the spoilers gradually come back to the forefront, wherein there is another epiphany.
Selective memory is a great thing.
You don’t know how hard it is for me not to beg you to tell all right now.
When the first was giving Caleb his treat by letting him relive past murders…Caleb was touching the first.
Was that an oversite or is there a point to it?
I know exactly what you mean pepper. I do read the spoilers, but I read them real fast then try to forget what I read before the episode. Makes for great “oh yeah…” moments. Then after the episode the spoilers gradually come back to the forefront, wherein there is another epiphany.
Selective memory is a great thing.
You don’t know how hard it is for me not to beg you to tell all right now.
Since it’s pretty much played everywhere it will tonight, I’m going to skip the spoiler boxes, so be forewarned if you’re looking ahead.
Really, what’s the point of recognizing it’s a trap when you walk in anyway?!
I have to admit, it may be because I’m going weeks at a time between new episodes, but I really liked this one. First off, Buffy should pass any and all inspirational speech duty to Xander. He’s just better at it.
Second, do you think ME could’ve gotten away with having Xander say he had a “stiff muscle” he had to “work out” after getting woken up? 
As soon as the words “I’ve never been with a man” came out, I immediately looked over at the friends I was watching with and said “Dream sequence!” The pillow fight at the end was just icing on the cake.
And I’m probably going to have to admit myself for uber-geekiness treatment, but I found the vulcanologist/Vulcan bit hilarious.
A couple of questions: was the symbol on Caleb’s ring burn clear enough for anyone to make out? Or was that even a symbol at all, maybe just a normal stone instead?
And what ever happened to Faith’s knife from season 3? Buffy had it during the fight in Graduation Day, but I can’t remember whether she dropped it during her run from the Mayor, or if Faith retrieved it after coming out of her coma, or if it was just never mentioned again (like Xander’s season 1 skateboard).
I liked the scene with Faith and Spike smoking in the basement. Also liked the earlier bit where Spike tells Faith that the tension she’s percieving not all due to her arrival; part results from Giles having plotted to kill Spike “for Buffy’s own good”.
Re Caleb, I don’t think he’s just a sick, twisted, serial killer with more strength then the average mortal – I think he has some power to hypnotize people with his voice. That’s why, when he talks, his victims-to-be just stand there staring at him. His female victims, anyway. Spike seemed puzzled by Buffy’s reaction, implying that males are immune.
Re Faith, I think she returned to her Sunnydale persona because she was (a) back in Sunnydale, and (b) nervous about the whole situation, therefore needed to fall back into a familiar persona.
Not really. I thought they’d made a mistake when there was no blood on Caleb’s knife, but no. I don’t think he touched The First, or anyone except the first SIT, in the entire episode.
Self-defense after having to spend several hours in the car with Willow, I should imagine. Willow hated, hated Faith for taking Xander’s virginity.
Me too. I’d often wondered if Spike ever knew that the Buffy who initially came onto him was someone else.
Perverse was the word I thought of. Maybe even gross. I wonder if they read the script before they bought the spot.
Yep. I loved the scene of her being fired. She wants so desperately to be good at something, anything, other than being pretty and slaying, it’s pathetically funny.
Isn’t Caleb the name of an old testament prophet who exhorted the Israelites to go to the promised land?
Can anyone fill me in on what happened before the first commercial break? I tuned in late.
Overall, pretty “eh.” They should have been killing at least one SiT per episode for the entire season. The show only really came alive when Spike and Faith were interacting, or when Caleb was on screen. It was nice to see Mal again, even if he is all evil.