Mmmmmmm, great opener. I’d totally love to wreck a room like this.
The roller coaster begins. Sweet cute post-sex conversation followed by, denial denial denial! Embrace the rough sex, Buffy! (Love the sultry look she gives!) Embrace the fun, Spike! (Love the nekkid and the arms and the scars, mmmm!)
Trust, trust, trust. It falls apart over and over in this season.
Clueless and willfully clueless villains. Mind control is a bad thing, guys. And, yeah, Warren. We can see that you had a plan in mind all along.
Embrace the dedicated productive cooperation, Tara!
And now the confession/admission from Buffy. Only partial, of course. Because this is one of Buffy’s big fears / issues. Being not human. Being not “normal”. Embrace the non-normalness, Buffy!!!
(Lots of sex but not much embracing in this ep.)
It’s not just any woman, any sex, that Warren wants. He wants back what he thought he had, what he thought was “his”.
I’ve always loved the complexity of this ep. Comparing Warren to Buffy. Comparing Spike to Katrina. Comparing Warren to Spike. Comparing Katrina to Buffy. Buffy thinking she’s killed Katrina, Buffy taking out her issues on Spike. Spike offering himself up to take on Buffy’s pain and guilt. Comparing Spike to Faith, Faith to Buffy, Buffy to Spike. **shivers happily** And yet to come, the most wonderfully twisted bit of all, Buffy’s dream.
Slingin’ the double-meat and poundin’ the big evil. Heh. Heh heh heh.
Oh, Dawn. Oh, Buffy.
Anyone else wondering where they got the maid outfit from?
And now, with the continuation of the disturbing. She’s mine. You can play with her all you want, when I’m done with her.” Ick!! Warren’s issues, we see them. “You never should have left me. . . . Get on your knees.”
“She’s your ex? Dude, that is messed up.” Ya think?!
So deliberately is this scene done with not monsters, but just people. Ok, using magical means, yes, but still. They’re the ones who did this, no demonic excuses.
Damn, I forget each time just how damn good this scene is with the three guys. Each of their reactions.
“You knew her, so there’s a link.” Which is exactly what happens. **nod**
Oh, Buffy Buffy Buffy. Oh, Spike, Spike, Spike.
Willow was hoping you were checking on her, Tara.
Mmmmmmm, the door scene. The song! The visuals!! The lyrics!! So. Perfect. Perfect!! Perfect!!
“Should we try to get along?” “And the barriers are all self-made.” Um,
yeah!
The time-jumping distortion thing is nicely done. As is the fighting done in spite of it.
It is such a perfect parallel to the thing that sent Faith over the edge. Did the troika know of this history and use it deliberately?
It just struck me how uber-creepy it is that Jonathon is wearing Katrina’s face and body.
Ohhh! The dream!!!! Love love love the twistyness of the dream!! Plus? Spike in cuffs, and you
know that’s never a bad thing.
Oh, Dawn. Poor poor fucked up Dawn. And poor poor poor fucked up Buffy. “You didn’t want to come back. Go, you’re not really here anyway.”
God, I’m so sick. Because I love love love the scene in the alley. Love it to little bitty baby bits. Every punchy moment of it. ;D
“You can’t feel anything real.” Oh, Buffy. You might as well be punching a mirror. I’ve always taken that to be the real meaning of “you always hurt the one you love”.
And now the link. Jonathan was soooo right that Buffy would figure it out.
Everyone keeps going away on Dawn.
“We’re gonna get away with it.” And again, the reactions of each of them. Run, Jonathan.
Such a perfect ending. Love Tara’s reaction, so sensible, so Tara. Don’t hate yourself, it’s OK to love him, it’s OK to not, OK to feel whatever you feel. And most of all, the thing Buffy really really needs to hear. That it is
not that simple.
Man! I love this ep so much!! **hugs episode, kisses it and calls it George**