So I decided to start my own episode recap postings by playing a fun little game. You randomly pick a season from your Chosen Collection box set and then randomly select a disc and watch the first episode on it. What's that you don't have the Chosen Collection box set?
Witch please.
Anyway, here we go.
Ugh, Dawn has the first line. Boo.
This episode is really great because it revisits the tension that arcs throughout the series about the parameters of good and evil. This tension is particularly strong because Buffy seems to always be the deciding factor. It can be assumed that Anya feels upset because of the events of the earlier episode "Selfless" in which Buffy views Anya as "bad" because of her causing a spider demon to rip the hearts out of an entire fraternity. To which I say, who hasn't been there?
Buffy's reluctance to confront Spike physically is especially interesting considering she has been willing to do so in the past (with Angel in Season 2 and Willow in Season 6). Poor Buffy is continually having to weigh her personal relationships, romantic and otherwise, against the loss of human life.
But goody! Andrew's dressed like Spike. But yuck Warren as the First is so grating.
"I'm like Obi-Wan."
- "Or Patrick Swayze."
(One of many exchanges between Andrew and WarrenTheFirst which is revelatory of Andrew's homoerotic feelings for Warren. And also very funny.)
To reference Yates' post - Spike is great. Especially in Season 7 once he has his soul. I also agree that his acquisition of such is much more tortured than brooding. As evidenced by this little exchange between Buffy and him:
Buffy (tying Spike down): We're gonna get to the bottom of this. We just can take any chances.
Spike: Don't. Make it tighter. If I get free someone's gonna die.
(KNOWING EXCHANGE OF WORRIED LOOKS.)
And then we have the credits.
Principal Wood going all Stand and Deliver on some students. And also kind of Law & Order: SVU. Oh yeah, those kids are gonna repaint that wall.
Ugh, Dawn again.
Principal Wood's facial hair is impeccable. So neatly trimmed and contained.
Quentin Travers, and his lack of facial hair, are completely worthless.
Spike experiences a withdraw from drinking human blood which fits in nicely with the continuing theme of withdrawal from blood and/or magic as a metaphor for withdrawal from drugs and/or alcohol.
Andrew makes not one but TWO references to the Babe franchise in his attempts to slaughter a pig. This attempt is of course unsuccessful leading to Andrew's trip to the butcher. Here he asks for toothpaste and as he is still dressed in a black duster and combat boots is met with this witty and surprisingly pop-culture savvy retort from the aging butcher:
"This is a butcher shop, Neo, we don't sell toothpaste."
Andrew retrieves his items only to turn around and bump into Willow. Whom he hasn't seen since she was trying to kill him during "Grave" in Season 6. They exchange words outside the butcher shop in which Andrew oscillates between declaring his goodness to threatening Willow "little girl." He also attempts to assuage any anger Willow feels towards Warren's killing of Willow by saying he as aiming for Buffy. This does not assuage said anger. She threatens all kinds of magical vengeance and ass-whooping before hauling him back to 1630 Revello Drive.
Unfortunately Andrew realizes too late that Willow's threats of doom are somewhat baseless:
"Hey your hair's not even black anymore."
Anya and Xander are interrogating Andrew ruthlessly interrogating Andrew. It's pretty compelling police work. They both mutually encourage each other afterwards and then Xander has a little freudian slip! Something about "pumping him in no time" or other.
Buffy is not so ruthlessly interrogating Spike in the next room. He doesn't remember the times that he's killed people. He says that things have been murky ever since he got his soul back and he just figured this is what "it" (referring to having soul) is like. Buffy then inquires where he got said soul to which he replies, cryptically but sort of cutely, "saw a man about a girl." And then he tells her the real story.
During this exchange Spike also tells Buffy that he's "come to redefine the terms pain and suffering since I fell in love with you." This remark obviously wounds Buffy and she incredulously asks "how can you even say that?" At the risk of over-analyzation this remark is somewhat indicative of the dichotomy present in most of Buffy's relationships. Buffy would do anything to save the ones she loves - but it is often their association with her which endangers them. The remark is more directly a dig at Buffy for her behavior during Season 6 in which she used Spike repeatedly.
Anya and Xander are now attempting to employ the good cop/bad cop routine. Xander is trying to strike fear into Andrew's heart by recounting stories of Anya's evilness. This actually turns into Xander's accidental illustration about how the loss of Anya makes him feel. It involves the removal of a heart and replacing it with darkness.
Buffy leaves to check on the activities next door and when she does the First appears to Spike as Spike. Buffy makes to come back into the room and hears Spike murmuring and singing to someone. She asks him about this to which he dazedly denies. He asks her to bring him some blood and when she goes for it HE COMPLETELY HULKS OUT. Ropes ripped, chair broken, growling. He then snatches Andrew through the wall and feeds from him.
Buffy knocks Spike to the floor while Xander and Anya tend to the wounded Andrew. Spike comes to his senses and looks up to see a smug version of the First (still in the form of Spike) shaking his head. Buffy, quite unimpressed, then kicks Spike in the face knocking him unconscious.
Anya, Xander, Buffy, Willow and (ugh) Dawn regroup downstairs to muse over the events. Buffy recounts Spike apparent personality shift before going psychotic. She mentions the singing and Anya wonders aloud if perhaps "it's another musical, a much crappier one" referring to the vents of "Once More, With Feeling." Xander, using knowledge from army movies, explains that the song is a trigger used in brainwashing procedure. The military films are somewhat unsatisfactory in providing a means of disabling said trigger as Xander points out that the two alternatives are blowing off your head or stealing a submarine.
The group begins to piece together the hauntings and other strange happenings in an attempt to figure out what they're dealing with. It's a good use of dramatic irony on the writer's part that the audience is aware of Season 7's big bad before the Scoobies are.
meanwhile Principal Wood is wandering around Sunnydale High School while ominous music plays in the background. He inexplicably decides to head down to the basement. This decision is rewarded with his discovery of Jonatha's dead body sprawled out on the seal.
Spike is now chained up in the basement. Buffy approaches him to begin tending to his wounds. spike comes to and asks if he hurt anybody. Buffy then explains to Spike their suspicions of brainwashing. Spike then pleads with Buffy to kill him on the grounds that she doesn't know what he's capable of. Buffy says she does. And then Spike provides a bunch of anecdotes which effectively prove that NO SHE DOES NOT. Buffy does not rise to the occasion of his goading and this causes Spike to ask why she keeps him around. She tries to offer an explanation of loyalty brought about by Spike's camaraderie in previous battles. Spike rejects this and accuses Buffy of "liking men who hurt her" (more on this in a future post).
Actually the entire dialogue between Buffy and Spike in the basement is an exploration of several themes throughout the series. And I just cannot type that fast.
Just when things are getting really tender between Buffy and Spike the Bringers bust through a window and knock Buffy up side the head.
The next shot is then of Principal Wood burying Jonathan's body out by an eerily light oil rig in the dead of night.
Cut back to the Bringers brining the pain on Revello Drive. Willow is knock unconscious almost immediately. This is a device which the creators of the show apparently adapted to deal with the onset of Willow's great power. She can't destroy all the Bringers in one swoop if she's lying motionless on the carpet. Clever.
Battles ensue in which everyone remains relatively unscathed. Minus the all powerful witch on the floor. They realize too late that the Bringers came for Spike. Fortunately Buffy now realizes that the Bringers are indeed the Bringers which leads her to a broader conclusion:
Buffy: I know these guys. I've fought them before. We aren't being haunted. This isn't some demon. It's all the same thing. Spike's ghosts. The people that you guys saw. From beneath us. It's all the same thing. I know what we're up against. The First.
This revelation is followed by one of the best scenes in the episode, if not the season. Quentin Travers and his advisors are huddled in their quarters. Travers confirms Buffy's revelation. The First has declared all out war. He waxes philosophical about being the masters of our destinies, quotes from Proverbs and calls for preliminary tactical analysis. He announces that they're going to Sunnydale to strike back.
And then the entire Watcher's Council headquarters gets blown up.
Which is sad, ok whatever, but also really awesome because it's just a blatant reaffirmation of the fact that Buffy and the Scoobies are the key players in opposing the First.
Cut to Spike being mounted to some kind of crucifix structure above the seal in the basement of the school. He's surrounded by various ornate knives and other gilded weaponry. The First, still in the form of Spike, watches on as a Bringer begins slicing Spike. The First chastises Spike saying he brought this on himself. The First then morphs into Buffy and remarks that he was going to kill Andrew but Spike looks a lot better with his shirt off. HEARD THAT.
The First: Now Spike, do you wanna see what a real vampire looks like?
Spikes blood does what Jonathan's blood could not, which is open the seal and release said "real vampire." The Turok Han. It growls menacingly.
And then the credits roll.
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