Buffy Lives! (spoilers of course)

Cafe Society
1

So what did we all think of the Buffy’s season premiere/return from the dead tonight?

[ul]
[li] Bringing her back had to seem very difficult. I think they pulled this off: Willow vomited a snake, for cryin’ out loud![/li][li] I liked Spike’s guilt over failing to protect Dawn in the past, and his current overprotectiveness of her now. At the same time, we saw that he is after all still a soulless vampire, and misses all the wanton destruction. I predict this will be the best year yet for Spike’s character.[/li][li] Tara and Willow kissed openly, and it was no big deal. As indeed it should not be. UPN’s Standards and Practices Department, I salute you![/li][li] Anya was pretty much a Johnny-One-Note tonight. I’m disappointed, because she’s capable of more, but I also forgive it, since there was so much ground to cover in this episode (these episodes).[/li][li] The recap of the series at the beginning was nicely done. All the essentials for new viewers, but not so long as to seem tedious to the rest of us.[/li][li] So long, Buffybot! Nice to know you.[/li][li] So long, Giles. I look forward to your next guest shot.[/li][li] Doesn’t Xander have a job? Seems like he has plenty of free time to hang with the other Scoobies.[/li][li] Are Willow and Tara living in the Summers home now? That’s what it looked like.[/li][li] Plot hole big enough to drive a truck through: Buffy had a coffin, in which was her presumably-embalmed corpse, and above that was a tombstone with her name on it. And Sunnydale is a small town. Despite this, Willow, Tara and Dawn still manage to convince the school that she’s still alive.[/li][li] Seeing Buffy’s decomposing remains was very unsettling, even though I saw them revivify before my eyes.[/li][/ul]

2

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Fiver *
[li] Are Willow and Tara living in the Summers home now? That’s what it looked like.[/li][/quote]

Looked like that to me, too. The spoilers that have been posted since the weekend said the same thing.

[quote]
**
[li] Plot hole big enough to drive a truck through: Buffy had a coffin, in which was her presumably-embalmed corpse, and above that was a tombstone with her name on it. And Sunnydale is a small town. Despite this, Willow, Tara and Dawn still manage to convince the school that she’s still alive.**[/li][/quote]

Not to mention that Spike is left to “babysit” Dawn while the gang is gone a’resurrectin’, but who was with Dawn while they were out a’patrollin’ the previous night? What, she only needs protecting six nights of the week?

I was so sad to see Giles go… I am going to miss him. It’s gonna be like “Lord of the Flies” in Sunnydale now, what with no Joyce and no Giles and no “I have a corn-fed conscience” Fishboy.
Willow’s gonna go off the deep end. And we thought she was a menace when she was a vampire.
[fixed da code-Czarcasm]

[Edited by Czarcasm on 10-04-2001 at 12:19 AM]

3

Argh, what happened? And I was so careful to double-check my code! Sorry about the bolding, folks.

::::hangs head in abject shame::::

4

Willow Tara smooching! WOO-HA!

<deep breath>

Okay. I’m good.

Excellent first episode- I loved it very much. But other than the aforementioned big plot hole re: the grave… um, why was the tower still standing? Sheesh.

Smooching!

5

Because the tower needed to serve the plot. It is up to the Trinity to decide when the tower will stand, and when the tower will fall. All hail Joss, David and Marti!

:::sycophantic prostration:::

6

andygirl:

This one I’ve already figured out.

At first I wondered about this too, because I’d always assumed this was just a conveniently-located construction crane Glory and her leprous hobbits borrowed for her purposes. But Dawn’s comment tonight that the tower “was built by crazy people” made the explanation dawn (heh heh) on me:

Glory’s minions simply bought the land they needed, working within the system because they didn’t want to attract unwanted attention. They may have even gotten a legal construction permit for the tower.

So, after the bad stuff went down, it was simply a legally-constructed tower on private property. And Glory and her minions were all dead, so who would have torn it down?

7

Well, from the looks of it, the grave wasn’t even in a cemetary, but rather in a secluded part of the woods. There’s no indication anybody else knew about it. As for the headstone and emblambing - the headstone could have been made out of town, and I don’t think the team would have a hard time finding an under-the-counter undertaker for the embalmbing (if, in fact, she was embalmbed). This *is[i/] Sunnydale, after all.

I know I’m reaching, but like any wise man, I put my faith in Joss.

P.S. Shriveled-up Buffy freaked me out, too.

8

My fave bit was Spike’s version of Giles’ life flashing before his eyes.

“Cup of tea, cup of tea, almost got shagged, cup of tea.”

9

The Good

Corpse Buffy. I did not expect that, and it was seriously creepy. Actually, I was expecting a more Pet Sematary-like Crazy Buffy to pop out of there. Peta Tzunami, OTOH, thought Buffy might think she was a vampire.

Willow and Tara smooching. I am probably second only to andygirl in my enthusiasm, for different reasons. :wink:

Spike’s guilt trip. Begs the question of how a soulless vampire can experience guilt, but I think we’ve established that Spike is on a complicated road.

Dawn’s reactions to the Buffybot. Her hesitancy at breakfast, her curling up with her in bed, her near-shock seeing her quartered and destroyed.

Tara showing Giles the little monster puppet and doing the “Grr! Argh!” from the Mutant Enemy vanity card.

When the vampire discovered the Buffybot, I flashed back to Glory’s, “She’s a robot! Hey, did everyone else know the Slayer was a robot?”

“That’ll put some marzipan in your pie plate, bingo!”

The Bad

I understand Willow was weakened from the ceremony, but I wanted to see her pull some of that super-cool black-eye witch stuff on the demons like she pulled on Glory!

It would’ve been kind of cool to see the Scoob’s hatch a plan to bust Faith out of the joint until they could come up with a plan to get Buffy back, but that’s why I don’t write for Joss and Marti.

Same thoughts about the gravestone. Way to keep a secret, guys.

They got Giles out of there way too quickly.

Even if she is the Slayer, Buffy was awfully strong awfully quick for someone whose muscles were decayed and atrophied just a little while before.

Overall, a pretty good opener. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

10

<not exact, but something like…>

“Who made you boss”

“You did. Remember, you said maybe Willow should be boss and we took a vote on it and it was unanimous and we made a little plaque that said “boss” with glitter on it.”

11

I thought it was pretty good. They had a lot to do, and managed to do it all. The fact that they pulled some of it off so well was really nice. My only real complaint was that Giles’ send-off scene lacked the emotional impact that I would expect.

Other Little Bits (pun intended)

Buffy Corpse was a nice shock. Creepy.

Tara and Willow kissing - My reaction was “Hey! It’s no big deal anymore. Thank goodness!” I look foreward to getting used to it.

Felt bad about the death of the BuffyBot.

And I honestly didn’t think about the tombstone problem. I’m willing to assume that the Sunnydale residents are giving their weirdness blind-spot a big old workout.

12

I’ll miss the Buffybot too, Trion, but I’m a little proud of myself for calling the timing of her destruction. Early on in the episode I said to myself that Joss wouldn’t blunt the impact of Buffy’s return by having her 'Bot up and functioning at the same time, so I knew the 'Bot’s destruction would be roughly simultaneous with Buffy’s return.

Finagle, I would’ve liked that joke better if it hadn’t already been spoiled in the promos leading up to the premiere. But another line I really did enjoy (despite its also being spoiled in the promos) was Xander’s “There’s something you don’t see every day…unless you’re US.”

13

Question: how long was Buffy dead? Is there a new slayer somewhere (or does captive Faith preclude this)?

14

Dinsdale, Buffy was dead all summer. Joss’s shows always leave a real-time gap between season finales and the next season premiere.

But there won’t be another Slayer called. Buffy died once before, and Faith was called, so now Faith has to die for another Slayer to be called. It’s logical that it should be that way, but more importantly, it’s what Joss says is the case.

15

Thanks, Fiver. That’s what I assumed on both counts. Wasn’t sure how quickly a body would decompose to that state.

Tho I’m a big fan, I was a little disappointed by last night. Maybe that was simply because I had been looking forward to it so much. And I think some of it was due to the perceived need to tie up various loose ends - it had many hallmarks of a “transition” episode. Now that they got that out of the way, I expect great things.

Couple of nitpicks. The demons looked really cool, but I was a little disappointed at the wimpy little dirtbikes they drove. Also, the scenes of “havoc” seemed to emphasize the limitations of a small set. I don’t know, but personally, after the second or third thing got tossed through a window, the terror kind of wore off.

I also thought the scene where they realized Buffy had clawed out of the coffin was kinda awkward. Admittedly, we already knew it cause we saw it, but I still thought the pacing was off.
“Her hands are all bloody.”
“She’s dirty too.”
Followed by, what I considered was poorly placed and delivered Xander lines about “…right were we left her [dramatic pause] in her casket!”

Finally, I’ll have to watch the tape again, but I thought it looked bad after Buff and Dawn leapt out of the way of the falling tower, and the next scene showed them sort of sneaking around the corner of a fence from the pretty fake looking tower collapsing in the background.

But, all things considered, minor nits to pick about my favorite show.

No one yet has metioned the “mega-wiches” or Xander’s “I’m a manwitch.” Both made me giggle.

16

Well, normally I wouldn’t get the episode until Saturday, but my friend has digital cable with stations from the US, and despite the fact that she will not watch Buffy, she did tape it for me. YAY!!! So, onwards with the discussion…

I thought the opening was great! From the opening sequence, the new credits, the “cuppa tea, cuppa tea…”. Loved it!

Willow’s mind communication was freaky, although I did expect a little more power from her. Sure, we saw her vomit a snake, but I thought she might use some kick-butt powers to defeat some of the demon bikers. I know, I know… tired from the resurrection spell. I wonder what we’ll see from her in the future.

I actually liked Spike’s reaction to the Buffy-bot. I thought it showed some real emotion. A painful reminder of why he had the bot made, and how the real thing is now gone. His emotional reaction to leaving Dawn alone was good too. Almost like “I didn’t protect Buffy - I’m not letting you die too”.

I thought Anya was a little too one-note. I thought she was showing some real emotional growth last season, especially around the time of Joyce’s death. I hope that Anya improves this season.

I wonder what Buffy will be like next week. It kind of reminds me of when Angel came back was a little non-verbal at first.

17

Shoot, someone else already mentioned my favorite bit, tara’s “grr, arrgh.” I wonder if that was scripted or if it’s something Amber came up with? Second favorite moment: Demon: “What are you gonna do, pull a rabbit out of a hat?” Anya: “She’s not gonna do that, why would she do that?” Love that bunny phobia.

Speaking of Amber, I’m not the least bit happy about her not making the opening credits. She’s not “permanent” yet and I have a bad feeling she’s going to meet a horrid fate sometime this season.

And speaking of opening credits, looks like Alyson hannigan renegotiated her contract. She got the “and Alyson Hannigan as Willow” credit and final bill (which is almost as good as first bill).

Did anyone not flash on WTC when the tower collapsed? Although I’m glad that the scene wasn’t changed, because where else in town would it have worked?

Forget about townspeople not knowing that Buffy had died. They had a funeral for her and didn’t invite her father?!? I know they aren’t close, but really.

I’m kind of glad that Willow didn’t go megawitch this episode. Being exhausted from previous majicks was a fine excuse for it, but I hope that in future we’ll not see her be super-witch all the time. Who needs a slayer when you have super-witch who can blow up demons and hurl a bazillion knives at a time? It was also nice to see Tara able to get off some good spells (knocking Anya off the bike, the locator spell that had previously stymied Willow, the fireburst). I felt last season the Willow got way powerful way quick and Tara was sort of left behind.

BTW, were Willow and Tara’s one-word spells Latin? What did Tara say to knock Anya off the bike?

18

Actually, Buffy “died” and the black woman with “Mister Pointy” was called. She died and then Faith was called.

19

While this could have been better dealt with, as pointed out previously, it did not appear Buffy was buried in a graveyard. Also, Xander said, “We buried her.” With a slight emphasis on the we. The Scoobies buried Buffy secretly so word did not get out (didn’t Willow say something about the need for secrecy when she was repairing the BuffyBot?). Where they got a coffin (and why?, other than the obvious creep-out plot device) I don’t know. If it was all unofficial, there would be no need to embalm her body. That Dawn’s father did not show up to reclaim her was just a bonus. The expected phone calls are a mystery, as Buffy could not find their father when Joyce died.

For that matter, why don’t any of the women have jobs? Is there an income amongst them other than Anya’s work at the magic shop? How are they supporting the Summer’s old house with no work? Are Willow and Tara still in school and living off student loans or something?

20

Otto - The woman you’re talking about was Kendra.

Call me crazy, but I liked Kendra, stupid accent and all. She must be the only dead character who we haven’t heard from since.