Bargaining, Part One

Two minutes of previouslys. Interesting omissions: Kendra, Faith, Drusilla, Riley. The fact that Angel is a vampire. Interesting juxtaposition: footage of Angel immediately followed by footage of Spike.

The episode opens with a portly vampire racing through a cemetery. Vampire being chased. A nice secure opening, like a warm fuzzy blanket. Can Jossverse vampires lose weight? They must be able to. Maybe this guy figures it doesn't really matter if he overeats, since, hey, immortal and all. It always bothered me in the Anne Rice universe (stop snickering, I read 'em a long time ago, okay?) that the vampires always woke up from a day in their coffins exactly as they appeared the moment they were vamped. I used to imagine new vampires following their sires around bitching that they were vamped with a bad haircut, or saying, "What? You couldn't have waited until I lost those last ten pounds?" Hey! Lost Boys is on F/X right now. Those vampires sleep hanging upside down from the ceiling. Uch. And spew lots of gore when you stake them. Messy, campy fun. Unlike Buffy last season, or apparently this one. Now I have totally lost track of where I was. Oh right, the episode had barely started yet. 'Kay, Hoss the vampire runs. Spike, Tara, and Giles are in pursuit. Tara looks cool haulin' ass in a long red duster. The gang reaches the edge of the cemetery with Hoss nowhere in sight. Spike complains that Tara and Giles are "holding [him] back," and calls Giles an "over-the-hill shopkeeper." Tara and Giles pant. Apparently, Tara blew some powder at the vampire, which made him "peppy." Amber delivers her lines with more zing and less stutter than last season, but she really, really sounds stoned. And her eyes are all unfocused. Suddenly, Willow telepaths, "Guys! Heads up!" We see her standing, legs planted wide, on top of a mausoleum. She warns Giles et al. that Hoss is circling back. I'm not liking telepathic Willow. Not one bit. It's too much. What can't she do? She slices! She dices! She crawls on her belly like a reptile! Is that a quote from somewhere? We used to say it in my family and I just now realized I don't know the origin. ["I believe it's from the ads for the Ronco Dial-O-Matic Food Slicer -- 'It slices! It dices! But wait, there's more!' Yes, I looked that shit up. No, I don't have a life. You're welcome." -- Sars] The vampire runs back by the gang and they run after him.

Hoss runs into a dead end, and someone punches him in the face. That someone, clad in leather pants, then stands over the vampire. It's Buffy! Or more precisely, the Buffybot. Were we supposed to think Buffy was already back? Because I knew it was the 'Bot before she delivered a line. Hoss knocks the 'Bot down, and Tara, Giles, and Spike run up. There's fighting, but no winning or vampire-staking. Not quite sure why none of the Scoobs has a stake. Maybe they lost them earlier in the chase? Very careless.

Elsewhere, we see Xander and Anya running. Willow tells them, "Stop!" telepathically; Xander and Anya bitch about Willow surprising them and invading the privacy of their brains. It's ironic for Anya to complain about the privacy of her brain, since we all know that everything she thinks automatically comes out of her mouth. I can't put my finger on why telepathic Willow bugs me so much, but she sure does. She tells Xander and Anya that there's a vampire near them.

Our other friends are still not winning against Hoss. Hoss tosses the 'Bot into a headstone, and she bounces and flops around in a way I find distressing. Giles grabs an ax, but Hoss uses it to pin Giles's neck against the cemetery fence. Spike jumps on Hoss's back and struggles with him, but then steps back for a breather. Willow and Giles are both like, "Uh? Some help here, Dead Boy?" Spike insists he is helping, and we see he's used his lighter to set Hoss's shirttail on fire. That's what he gets for being such a sloppy dresser, I guess. Hoss bursts into flames, and when he dusts, he just crumbles downwards rather than poofing. Spike takes a drag on his cigarette and gives Giles a hand up. When Giles complains about the throttling, Spike snarks, "Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea?" Willow then mentals for them to help Xander and Anya. A burly vamp has Xander in a headlock, and in a cool move I had to watch in slo-mo to catch, swings Xander around and uses his body to knock down Anya. The 'Bot arrives on the scene. Fighting. Spike arrives. More fighting. The 'Bot, who seems to be the only one carrying stakes, dusts the vampire and chirps, "That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, Bingo!" BWA! That's really funny. The rest of the gang looks perplexed. Willow explains that she's been trying to program the 'Bot with new puns but has ended up with "word salad" instead. The gang strides out of the cemetery as Giles expositions that Willow must keep the 'Bot running smoothly so that no one in Sunnydale, demon or human, figures out that Buffy is dead. "I got her off those knock-knock jokes," protests Willow. The 'Bot, smiling vacantly, pipes up, "Oh! Who's there?" I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I love the 'Bot; I really, really do. She's so cute and happy and chirpy and I just know reanimated Buffy is going to be an angst-y pained ball of angst just like she was all last season, and sometimes I wish we could just replace her with the robot permanently. Especially if she keeps making jokes about marzipan. As the gang strides towards the camera:

Xander: You know, if we want her to be exactly --
Spike: She'll never be exactly.
Xander: I know.
Tara: The only really real Buffy is really Buffy.
Giles: And she's gone.
The 'Bot (as if it's still a knock-knock joke): If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone who?

Credits. Same theme song. I can't tell if any of the shots of SMG are from the sixth season. There's one of Buffy smiling, and I hope that's from this season because honestly, this poor girl has already had such a hard year, and then the dying, and I really am ready to see a little happiness on this show. Nick Brendan looking cuter with shorter hair. Emma Caulfield. I like the shot in the bunny suit. Hee. Michelle Trachtenberg with her shiny, shiny hair. James Marsters looking straight into the camera and working those cheekbones. Oh! Subway Spike. I like that. And then, "And Alyson Hannigan as Willow." Neither Anthony Stewart Head nor Amber Benson is named in the credits.

Back from commercials, Willow and Tara are getting dressed in Joyce's room. Wait. That doesn't sound quite right. What I mean is, it appears that Willow and Tara have moved into the Summers's house and are staying in what used to be Joyce's room. Willow is looking for her clogs; Tara suggests that Dawn has them. As Willow looks for Dawn (hee, Dawn's room is a mess), she and Tara discuss that Willow is nervous about "today" for some unspecified reason. The witchlets share a loving kiss while discussing breakfast. Willow, wearing a T-shirt featuring the number eleven, finds Dawn brushing her teeth in the bathroom, but she's not the culprit who took Willow's clogs. Downstairs, the 'Bot is fiddling with a jar of jelly. Willow enters the kitchen. She wants to review the 'Bot's programming, but Tara opines, "She's either ready to face this thing or she's not." Dawn enters the kitchen and inquires, "What's up with the mega-wiches?" There's some confusion about whether she's talking -wiches or witches, but then we see that the 'Bot has created three huge stacks of PB&J sandwiches. Tara forgot to tell the 'Bot to "un-start" her helping. Xander enters from outside, declaring, "House of chicks, relax. I am a man and I have a tool." The "chicks" all stare. "Tools," corrects Xander, and takes possession of a huge stack of sandwiches. Xander is wearing a shirt with the number thirteen. What's going on here? The phone rings. The 'Bot wants to answer it, but everyone is worried; Dawn hopes it's her dad on the phone. I know everybody has their special Buffy pet peeve; for some, it's that Amy hasn't been de-ratted, and for others it's that they haven't addressed whether Buffy's death called yet another Slayer. For me, it's Mutant Enemy's decision not to bring Hank back for his ex-wife's death which left his two daughters motherless, but instead for a stupid fake-memory flashback of catatonia Buffy. What possible explanation is there for a dad this bad? Hey, I know! Hank's been replaced by a demon! The insidious Hank demon that's compelled to roam the Earth, killing and impersonating only men named Hank. What? It's as plausible as "he's in Spain with his secretary." The caller on the phone turns out to be Anya, who has found a "thing" for tonight. Dawn is interested, but Willow brushes her off, saying it's just for a Scooby meeting that Dawn's obviously not invited to. Instead, Spike will be staying with her. Willow instructs the 'Bot not to answer the phone because if she slips up with Hank, she could give away the fact that Buffy is dead. Dawn explains that that would be bad, because then Hank would take her away. The 'Bot wants Dawn to stay. "You're my sister," she chirps, and wraps Dawn in a big, spazzy hug. Sad music plays, so we know to be sad here, because apparently we're all emotional morons and couldn't figure that out for ourselves. Willow and Xander prepare to fix up the 'Bot, and Willow intones, "Buffybot is about to face her most dangerous challenge ever."

Cut to the front of a school, where a large banner hangs. "Welcome to Parent-Teacher Day." Ooooooh! Big exciting challenge. Not. There's a strange disconnect here. The humor of a robot trying to impersonate someone at Parent-Teacher Day is totally muted by the fact that the robot is impersonating the DEAD heroine of the show. Who's still dead. Not just regrettably detained elsewhere, but deady dead dead. It doesn't put me in a wacky-hijinks mood and leaves me wondering when we're going to get on with the substance of the show. Dawn and the 'Bot wander past some tables, and then the 'Bot stops at one. Dawn explains that the model was done by her class and represents a City of the Future. Dawn made the hover-cars out of orange juice cans. The 'Bot is confused, though, and asks which small breed of humans is going to live in the model city. Dawn fake-laughs and tries to pretend her sister just has a strange sense of humor. Dawn's teacher looks confused. Later, Dawn and the 'Bot sit in a classroom with other parents and children as a teacher gives a little speech about the school. I did a parent-teacher night once when I was doing my student teaching. Imagine my pleasant surprise when one of the students later told me his dad had really liked me. I blushed and thanked him and then the student continued, "Yeah. He said you had a nice rack." Reason number four hundred and thirty-seven I'm not teaching anymore. The attractive teacher (not saying anything about her rack though) stresses the importance of parental involvement, and the 'Bot's hand shoots up. "School is where you learn," parrots the 'Bot. Dawn freezes in horror, but the teacher interprets this kindly, saying that the 'Bot is exactly right; school is for learning, not socializing. The 'Bot then natters on about making Dawn's lunch, and again we're to think she's screwed up, but the other parents think she's complaining about the quality of the food in the cafeteria. They all chime in, and the 'Bot is oh so happy. Cheerful, uncomplicated 'Bot.

Sunnydale street. Exterior of the Magic Box. Wish I could skip this scene. Xander walks in with a box. Anya is cleaning knick-knacks when Giles bugs her about a register receipt from January. Anya's hair looks like chicken-fried crap. It's fine hair to begin with, and they have it long, thinned at the ends, bleached, and then feathered back on the sides. I am so very tired of the flat, damaged, ironed-hair look. Some people of the forums have compared Anya's hair to Farrah Fawcett's, but I remember Farrah's hair as being very big, curly and feathered, not all flat. Anyway, Anya and Giles bicker about Giles treating Anya so badly as he prepares to leave them. Then they get into a slapfight over some effigy he plans to take with him. Pathetic. Xander breaks it up and expositions that Giles is leaving the store to Anya when he goes. Giles corrects that he's not "leaving the store to anyone." He's going to England and will be a silent partner. Oh, man. How much would I pay Anya to be the silent partner? One million dollars if she'd shut her ingrate mouth. Xander follows Anya to the back of the store, where she explains her petty problem. Giles keeps saying he's going to leave, but he never does, and Anya lusts for the power of being in charge. Can I get a yawn? I am not at all interested in sitting through an "Anya in charge of the store" story arc this season. Oh yeah, and Anya's also frustrated because Xander won't let her tell anyone about their engagement. She wants to announce it, as it's "happy news," but he doesn't think the time is right. He asks her to wait until after the big events of tonight. Anya planning a wedding = Monica Geller planning a wedding = Ace not caring and weeping into her cat's fur.

Nighttime. The Summers home. Dawn tells babysitter Spike that the 'Bot was a smash at Parent-Teacher Day. He suggest that it was because the robot is predictable, and snarks a little about schools being "factories spewing out mindless little automatons." He then tries to blackmail Dawn into going to school by saying, "Buffy would want you to." I wonder if they've used that a lot on poor Dawn the past few months to keep her in line? I feel sorry for her. As a teenager, being guilted like that would have made me want to do the opposite of whatever was being suggested. Spike gets up to get cards for a game, but Dawn tries to get him to leave. She insists she's not in danger, because either she's not the Key or she doesn't open anything anymore if she is. Have they tested that out? How do they know that? Seems like a big assumption to make, and I'm betting they haven't done any rituals to make sure. Spike slams the cards down on the table, hard, and grimly insists that he's not leaving Dawn alone. Yeesh, Spike's babysitting science isn't so tight. He's still feeling guilty about not protecting Dawn on the Pylon of Perdition and is also still honoring his word to Buffy. "I'm not leaving you to get hurt. Not again." Dawn silently acquiesces and reaches for the cards. Wait. Who was watching Dawn during the opening scene of this episode? You know, the one where nobody in the gang, including Spike, was at home with her?

A random young woman walks down a dark Sunnydale street. She looks around suspiciously and hurries along. She's attacked by a vampire, but then the 'Bot comes to the rescue. Saving random people. Haven't seen that for a while on this show. The 'Bot and the wussy vampire fight; it looks like she's winning, but the vamp manages to hit her in the head with a bottle. Uh oh. The 'Bot is damaged. Blue electricity zaps across her forehead. Hee! The vampire is wearing a Hanson shirt. That's funny. Anyway, the vampire realizes that the Slayer is a machine and runs away as the 'Bot repeatedly bumps into a stack of barrels. Ha ha. Not. When are we going to deal with the emotional repercussions of Buffy's death? Why are we getting third-rate physical comedy in the place of real dramatic tension?

Aerial shot of Sunnydale. Night. Xander's apartment. Willow holds a small urn, which looks a lot like the props department picked it up in Tijuana. Apparently, though, it's the very last Urn of Osiris, which Anya purchased off eBay (along with a "limited edition Backstreet Boys lunchbox" for Xander. Hee.) Willow says it's time. Time for their plan that they're keeping from Giles. The witches have collected almost everything for whatever it is these wacky kids are preparing to do. Which is "raising the dead," according to Xander. Thank God they finally said it so I can stop pretending I didn't know. Willow wants to raise Buffy tomorrow night, but Xander is alarmed; he's worried about the big bad mojo they're planning to work.

Back from commercial, Xander and Willow are still discussing raising Buffy from the grave. Tara agrees with Xander that it's wrong. "It's against all the laws of nature," she says, but then, oddly, she adds that they agreed to do it. Tara is so under Willow's thumb. "It's wrong but we agreed to do it"? What kind of logic is that? ["Same logic that governs secret clubs and shoplifting nail polish, if memory serves." -- Sars] Willow says no one is changing their minds, and Xander wants to know who made her boss of the group. Oops, apparently he did: "You said Willow should be boss. You made her this little plaque that said 'Boss of Us' and you put the sparkles on it" Willow assures the group that nothing will go wrong and insists that they can't tell Giles, Spike, or Dawn what they're planning. Which is just covering territory that has already been stated, explicitly or otherwise, so far. This scene is filled with filler. I'm going into summary mode: Buffy won't be a zombie; Buffy was killed by mystical energy; Willow worries that Buffy's soul is trapped in a terrible place. Willow gets all teary, insisting, "I'm not going to leave her there." Xander finally agrees to the plan.

Willow arrives at the Summers place to find Spike and the damaged 'Bot. Dawn is asleep upstairs. Willow sits the 'Bot down, and the 'Bot expositions that she's programmed to find Willow when she's damaged. Hmm, do you think that will be important later in the episode? I wonder. As Willow fiddles with the 'Bot's wiring, the 'Bot apologizes to Spike for questioning his judgment in keeping her there until Willow showed up. "You know I admire your brain almost as much as your washboard abs," she smiles. Spike looks sick and growls at Willow that she was supposed to make the 'Bot "stop doing that." Ha. Serves him right. Damn straight he should be uncomfortable around the poor 'Bot. Willow agrees to work on it, and Spike slams out of the house in a huff. The 'Bot wonders if she made Spike mad, and deduces that he doesn't like her anymore. Willow tries to reassure her and then gets to work on programming.

Later that night, Dawn lies awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. She gets up and peeks into Tara and Willow's room. The witchlets are sound asleep. In bed, together, and both under the covers! Maybe this whole move to UPN won't be so bad after all. And it has already relieved me from having to worry about Buffy being pre-empted by baseball. Dawn goes into Buffy's room. The 'Bot is in bed, all hooked up to wires, with a red light in her stomach blinking. Dawn climbs in bed to the 'Bot and cuddles up to it as best she can.

Sunnydale, the day. The 'Bot and Giles are training in the back room of the Magic Box. Giles is worried about the fact that the 'Bot doesn't breathe convincingly and tells her, "Think of the breath as chi." Anya interrupts and basically says that the 'Bot is too stupid to understand Eastern philosophy, then flounces out of the room, muttering about the fact that Giles still hasn't left. Ingrate. The 'Bot assures Giles that she enjoys his teachings and says, "Every Slayer needs her Watcher." Poor Giles. He muses that Buffy might have been better off without him and then bitterly castigates himself, "I did what any good Watcher would do. Got my Slayer killed in the line of duty." Oh, Giles. He must be feeling so much guilt and remorse. He knew Buffy's death would come one day, but was still unprepared for the emotional blow. You know, I think exploring the pain of the people who loved Buffy would have made a much better first forty minutes of this episode. I mean, why are we going to Parent-Teacher Day when we could instead dig deep into exactly how this has affected Xander, Willow, Dawn, and Giles? Instead, we get a tiny scene with Dawn and this one with Giles, which is moving. "She's gone. I did my job." I want to give Giles a hug. He wonders why he's still in Sunnydale.

A roadhouse in the California countryside. A motorcycle gang roars up. Inside the roadhouse, demon bikers party hearty. The Hanson vamp from earlier is telling his story to one of the demons -- needless to say, he embellishes a little. Eventually he spills the fact that the Slayer has been replaced by a robot. The demon biker hauls the vamp over to the head biker and retells the story. Head Biker and his crew are excited about taking their party to the Hellmouth. They hop on their hogs and zoom down the road. If human bikers are Hell's Angels, what does that make a gang of demon bikers? Hell's Hellions? That's not very funny, but then, neither was this episode.

Funny, do you think Roswell is now on UPN? I keep seeing two or three commercials for it per break, but I'm still not sure. Maybe I need to see Lizbot in her chonies one more time to clear up any uncertainty.

A sunny glade. Beautiful, slow-moving stream and green, green grass. The camera pans over to Willow, dressed in white. She's kneeling on a blanket under a tree and reciting a spell. Quiet Flutes Of New Age Tranquility play. I think they use that tape in my yoga class actually. Willow calls for a "blessed one" to come forward. The yoga flutes turn to sparkly music as a fawn trots across the glade to Willow. Awww, cute little spotty fawn. It sniffs at her, and Willow gently pats its head. Oh no! She grabs a sharp blade, and the fawn struggles and flails and then drops to the ground. Damn, I guess now we know who killed Bambi. Willow's hands are covered in blood. She pants and looks around suspiciously as she continues the ritual. "In death, you give life. May you find wings to the kingdom."

The Magic Box. Tara, Anya, and Xander greet Willow as she hurries in. She's changed out of her white dress and carries a fabric sack. She explains she's late because she was fetching the vino de madre. Xander wants to know what that is, and I hope he means the mystical substance and not just the Spanish, because I would expect someone who grew up with the Harris family in California to know both "vino" and "madre." Willow dissembles about the source of said vino. The gang frets about their big, scary plans for that night. Then Anya comes over and hands Xander a note she just found. "I've gone. Not one for goodbyes. I thought it best to slip out quietly. Love to you all, Giles." I think that really does a disservice to Giles. He's a much more caring and responsible person than to leave a note like that and vanish. I guess we can either chalk it up to dramatic effect, Giles's misery over Buffy's death, or the fact that Anthony Stewart Head is trying to get the hell off this show and back home.

Giles is at the airport. He looks around sadly, then widens his eyes in surprise. Xander, Dawn, Willow, Anya, and Tara have found him at the airport to say goodbye. Willow carries a balloon-covered sign that reads, "Bon Voyage, Giles." Sniff. Anya steps forward to give him a Hostess fruit pie. Apple, to remind him of America; he grins, but then looks sad. He'll be happy he has that on the long-ass flight ahead of him, I betcha. Tara holds up a tiny monster finger puppet and growls, "Grrr! Aaargh!" Sniff, so cute. My eyes blurred up at this point, even as I chuckled at the in-joke. Giles accepts the tiny monster and stares at it gravely. Second watching and I'm crying again. I do so love Giles. I wish they'd done more with the adult characters on this show instead of jettisoning them. I like Dawn and all, butup is Xander, who wanted to get Giles a "can of Olde English 800," but "the guy living in the box in front of the store" wouldn't buy for them. Dawn sits to Giles and explains that the presents came from a gas station, as they were in a hurry to catch up to him. She then hands him a card they made in the car, and Giles reads it. I sniffle.

Giles's flight is boarding, and he stands to leave. Saying he wants to do this properly, he hugs Xander, Anya, Tara, Dawn, and Willow. He makes Dawn promise to call him if she needs anything, and it's really hard to type when you're sniffling and sobbing and getting tears on your keyboard. After hugging Willow, he tells them to be careful. Then he turns and boards the plane without looking back. Outside the airport, the gang watches Giles's plane take off. They agree they were right to not cry at his departure. Willow wonders if Giles will be lonely in England; Dawn, wearing a shirt with the number seven on it, gets assured by Tara that they'll call Giles tomorrow. What's up with the number shirts? Okay, I have to admit that I didn't even notice the number shirts at first. Sep brought it up to me and explained that they were all prime numbers to boot. I wouldn't know prime numbers from prime rib, myself. ["I was going to make some joke in my half about how a prime number is divisible only by itself and then speculate that it's foreshadowing for the Scoobs becoming insular, whiny little snots that don't play well with others. Except that it's two seasons too late for foreshadowing, and then I just didn't mention it. I think I was distracted by something shiny on the carpet." -- Sep] Xander, Willow, and Anya discuss whether they should have told Giles about their plans to raise Buffy. Willow suggests that he'll come back if they're successful. Willow: "Nothing can go wrong tonight." The Sunnydale airport is designed to look like a ship. Strange.

Sunset. The demon bikers ride into Sunnydale. At Buffy's grave in the woods, Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya stand holding candles. Well, actually, Willow is holding the Urn of Tijuana, but the rest have candles. They kneel around the grave, and Willow pours the poor fawn's blood -- oh excuse me, the vino de madre into the Urn. She begins an incantation to Osiris and paints her cheeks and forehead with blood. As she pours the blood onto the grave, there's a sudden crash of thunder. Willow's arms are pulled straight out by a mystical force; deep cuts appear on her inner arms. The gang is alarmed, but Tara stutters (nice return to the stutter under stress) that Willow is being tested. Willow demands, "Osiris, here lies the warrior of the people. Let her cross over!" I sniffled to hear Buffy referred to as "the warrior of the people." Willow grimaces in pain. Lumpy masses begin to travel under the skin of her arms, up towards her head. Like in The Mummy. You know. The lumps converge on her neck, and Tara tells Xander they can't interrupt. The gang hears a noise -- motorcycles engines revving.

The Hell's Hellions roll down the Sunnydale main drag. They do wheelies, a little ultra-violence, and menace the population of the town.

Back at Buffy's grave, the masses under Willow's skin begin crawling up her throat. She gasps and clutches her neck, then begins gagging and coughing. She leans over, opens her mouth and! And! Vomits up a big snake. Gross.

Ace: Ugh. Just watching that made me retch. I have a terrible gag reflex.
Sep: Really? Thanks to all those years of training as a circus freak, I don't have any gag reflex. "Beat." And yet I'm still single.
Ace: Dude, I had just decided not to make that joke, but since you did, can I use it in the recap?
Sep: Sure. I'll take one for the team.
Ace: Um, you may want to think about rephrasing that.
Sep: Snerk. When you put this in the recap you'd better give me a clever retort here.
Ace: Something about you always having to have the last word, perhaps?

That's it for me, folks. Sep will take the half with all the running, fighting, running, fighting, fighting, and running. I'm not sure whether to envy or feel sorry for her. Before I go, I just want to talk about the premiere, both hours. Basically, this episode depressed me. You're going to think I'm crazy, but this week I felt myself wishing I was recapping something like Special Unit 2. Sure, it's dumb, cheesy, and exploitative, but it knows it's dumb, cheesy, and exploitative. I have no investment in the main characters, and I know events that happen this week won't matter week. It's the kind of show where you can check your brain at the door and then climb into bed with no distinct memory of what you just watched. Buffy has become the kind of show that keeps me up at night. Tedium and filler aside, this episode was full of some truly disturbing comments and imagery. At this point, my heart is breaking for Buffy and the rest of the gang (except Spike; he needs more suffering). Last season put them through such misery with Buffy's strange alienated attitude, the illness of her mother, the distress of her sister, the death of her mother, the brain-sucking of Tara, and finally her own death. I just want some happiness and lightness for these characters I care about, and instead this episode was a walk through Hell barefoot. I had no desire to see Buffy's rotten corpse; it felt disrespectful. And when I saw how she came back, so damaged and confused, I wished they'd just left her dead. This is not entertainment anymore -- it's torture. Especially in comparison to the season-one episodes currently airing on F/X. What a different tone the show had then -- sure, the threats were scary and our gang encountered danger, but overall the mood was lighthearted and playful. I smiled more than I wept. I realize that their world is a tough one and it's unrealistic of me to hope they could face such dangers and stay unaffected, but I fail to see the entertainment value in putting beloved characters through years of unrelieved misery. And yet. And yet, I'm still excited for this week's episode. Check my head, please.