Buffy season premiere [MAJOR SPOILER ALERT]

Cafe Society
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You’ve been warned. Spoilers to come.
It seems to me that Joss Wheadon needs to have a setting in high school, or at least college, to be able to make Buffy work.

So, the very first episode of S.7 contains more humor in the teaser, than all av S.6. I’m all hyped from this episode, which shows that Buffy is back - and then some.

Wheadon manages to go from horror to comedy in a split second here. Not as it’s often been before - long stretches of horror, a whole scene with drama and then some goofball comedy scene.

It’s really classic Buffy and I don’t think any of the fans will be disappointed.

For those of you who truly want the experienced spoiled, the following contains more info:

[spoiler] Without giving away the plot, which is basically Monster of the Week, there are som really interesting things happening.

  1. They’ve finally got cell phones. And boy does it totally shift all dramatic premises for a horror show.
  2. Dawn is less whiney, thank God.
  3. Xander is very grown up. Wearing a suit and being in charge at the construction company.
  4. Anya has only one short scene but it builds up tension for things to come.
  5. Spike’s got a new hairdo, and it doesn’t do it for him. We really don’t get to know all that much more about what’s in store for him.
  6. The fabled return of all the ex Big Bads. It sets up the story arc for the season, without really telling anything. But oh, was it fun to see the Mayor again.
    [/spoiler]

Instead of being tired and boring, which I think many feared after last season, Buffy’s really back - in style.

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I’m like a little kid at Christmas. I can’t wait for tonight!

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Oh, you’re in for such a treat! :smiley:

Also - it’s the first episode since Once more with Feeling written by Joss Wheadon. Also, the first opener since season four, written by him. Maybe I shouldn’t say that Buffy’s back - JW is back at the helm, and it shows, too.

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Finally!

What the hell was up with Spike? I mean, I know he got his soul back and all, but why did that turn him into a schizo? What was it he said to Buffy when he was whimpering about “trying”? It sounded like “I put down the board, but it all ran off” or something equally senseless. Anyone catch that?

As for Dawn, well–thank god. Not a whine to be heard. Maybe they’ll actually let her develop a real-for-real personality this season.

And did anyone else have a WTF jaw drop when Glory showed up? Until it shifted, I was racking my brain trying to envision how she was suddenly not dead anymore. And it was great to see Dru, if only for a moment. ::sigh:: I miss Dru.

But, all around, great episode. I was not dissapointed.

bella

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Glory? I was wondering how the hell Warren got back until he/she/it shifted.

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It’s gotta be the original Evil from the Christmas episode where it masqueraded as Jenny Calander and Angel’s victims from his past.

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I haven’t seen the ep yet (damn west coast!) but I have read a lot of speculation, and I’m gonna go on record saying that it’s not the First Evil. I have absolutely no proof of this (no spoilers or anything to back me up), it’s purely speculation. But I think that Joss Whedon and ME wouldn’t rehash that–I think it could be something different and better.

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I know, but for some reason, when it shifted from Warren to Glory I figured that it was really her. Maybe because she was always shifting with drooly ol’ Ben so it just seemed natural. But then it just kept going and going. Pretty slick.

Am I remembering right that at the very end the Master-form became Buffy-form? (my baby was running around the coffee table for the last ten minutes, wears on the concentration a bit, eh?) Anyone have any thoughts on why she would be the next version of BigBad in a sequence like that?

ooohh gobear, I hadn’t thought of that, but that’d be interesting, wouldn’t it?

“I get it. You’re Evil.” :cool:

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I thought Buffy showed up in the progression because her power springs from the same place the Big Bads draw from. The Slayer and the things she fights are two sides of the same coin and all that. I hope this season’s arc is based around Buffy’s battle with the Slayer nature, ie being able to fight away her power and retire from the business. If that makes sense.

Further speculation: the shock from becoming ensouled has split Spike’s personality. We saw William tonight–Spike will be along later.

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Wow. I figured everyone would hate the episode. Ya see, I liked it a lot and nobody ever agrees with me.

I too thought that the creature in question was The First and I’ll be glad if it turns out to be. What better way to finally get into the origins of the Slayer and all that it entails. We can see how The First fits into the mythology which I didn’t feel was explained very well in “Amends”.

Plus we can add in all that talk about going back to the beginning.

My wife was the first to notice that the Big Bad Roll-Call was in reverse - Warren to Glory to Adam to the Mayor to Dru to the Master to … Buffy??

Wooo-ha. That was fun. I hope the rest of the season is as good. :slight_smile:

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The last sequence was very meta, it seems. It’s the writer speaking to the audience about what’s in store for `the next few months’ which I’m looking forward to seeing. Of course, this is the net, so somebody will have to pop up and whine that it’s the worst episode ever.

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Wow, that was great.

“Good luck with the dog tragedy” has got to be my favorite line.

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I think Spike’s seeming insanity is just the weight of his actions sinking in.

All those atrocities and murders he has commmited,i’m assuming the soul thing means he suddenly has a conscience and guilt.

Plus its pretty clear the amorphous being is using his new weakness to some end.

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Did you notice there was a kid with a hispanic accent? In Southern California, no less! Who’da thunk it?
But it was a very fun episode, and I am looking forward to this season.

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I liked the episode a lot.

My favorite bits:
-Xander put the principle over the hellmouth.
-The idea of a demon intervention.
-Spike and Drui would now be a truly perfect couple.
-The mayor form of the shape-shifting badness promising to undo creation “Soul’s are slippery as greased weasels. Why do you think I sold mine?”

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xander didn’t put the principal over the hellmouth, the architects did.

and the most glaringly unrealistic aspect of any buffy episode ever: the contractor wearing a suit. come on, a button-up short sleeve shirt, steel-toes and only slightly worn-out jeans is about as dressed up as they come. oh, and you can’t forget the cell phone clipped to the belt, that’s a must.

come on joss, get it right…

seeing (or hearing) james marsters with the goo-goo dolls teasers or whatever the hell they were was kind of strange. without his fake english accent he loses a bunch of coolness points.

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Ok, now having seen the episode I must say: Zombies bad, Spike pretty.

I do not think that the final shapeshifter was the First Evil–why would it come to Spike in the form of the Big Bads? The Master is linked to Spike other than his Big Bad status (head of Spike’s line, or his great-great-great-grandsire.) The Mayor is nothing to Spike. He was around for Glory and Adam. However, he had no idea that Warren was a BIg Bad. Buffy never told him (if she had, he could have led her right to their “lair”) Instead, she goes looking for them herself and gets stabbed by a demon! And of course, Drusilla (like the Master) has connections to Spike other than her “status” and Co-Big Bad.
So, if it’s the First Evil driving him mad or trying to make him switch teams, a la Amends, then why would it choose those 6? The Master and Dru makes sense–but Spike hates Adam (the whole "hostile 17 thing) and he really really hates Glory because she’s the bitch that caused Buffy’s death.
Buffy might drive him crazy, but the only thing she said was “it’s all about the power” as opposed to “your beneath me you disgusting dead thing and the soul means nothing because I’ll always hate your undead ass.” (Or words to that affect.)
So, based on this, I think whoever is responsible for the “golden oldies” is not the First Evil. I don’t know what it is at this point…can hardly wait to find out.

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Okay, first things first: I said in a thread somewhere 'round here that the Big Bad for this season should be the First Evil. I’m willing to apply red-hot pokers to the Hamsters (i.e. use the search engine) to prove this.

Also, is it just me, or was that a different actor playing Adam? Looked a little… off to me. And do you suppose that Drucilla showing up in that line up indicates that Dru’s gone and gotten herself dusted since her last cameo? Otherwise, why wouldn’t it have been Angel, as he was the real Big Bad from season 2?

Also, since no one else has said it, Willow still does magic! Yay! I have no idea how this fits into continuity with what was going on last season, but I don’t care. She’s still a pencil floater, that’s what counts.

Hmm… what else… I like that there’s a hispanic kid on the show. For any other thread I might grouse that the hispanic kid is, of course, a would-be juvenile delinquent who cuts class to smoke in the basement. But this is Joss Whedon we’re talking about, and I’m willing to cut him a near-infinite amount of slack.

I like the new principle, and I hope he’s not evil. He also seemed vaguely familiar. Anyone know what else he’s been in?

Also, downbylaw, my uncle is a contractor, he rarely wears his steel-toes and blue jeans when he goes to meet new clients. Or anywhere else, outside of the worksite, for that matter.

Okay, time for blatant speculation: I think Spike’s insane ramblings might have been him hearing Drucilla while talking to Buffy. When Buffy asks if he’s seen Dawn, he says “It’s just the three of us.” If the monster in question is the First Evil, than that follows: only Angel could see it’s manifestations the first time it showed up, so Drucilla might have been standing right there whispering in his ear during that scene. Also, Spike got his soul back from a major big mojo demon. I’m guessing Spike forgot to read the fine print.

Anyway, great episode. Can’t wait for next week. Actually, can’t wait until Angel starts up again, so I can have my Joss Whedon every other day.

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Oh! And! Spike looked really good with the roots. Yum, roots. Too bad their gone next week. :frowning:

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Oh, one more thing! Did Spike seem, well, human to anybody else? All of his bad-ass vampire swagger was gone, the only other time he seemed human was when he was human. I’m not saying he is, I’m just saying that I don’t like broken Spike. I hope this doesn’t last all season. (I’m thinking he’ll get all the way better by ep 9 or 10)