That Good Old Kamikaze Spirit

Episode 4.21: Primeval. Original Airdate 5.16.00

"Having gained control of Riley's mind, Adam sets in motion his plot to create an army of unstoppable soldiers and destroy the Initiative."

Daniel's Thoughts:

• Riley! No! Stop being all controlled and stuff! I…really had nothing to say about that scene.
• Adam’s make up is so good. That’d make an excellent Halloween costume.
• Poor hungover Giles.
• Anya is so sweet. The way she tries to make Xander feel better. First she tries her Anyaness, all blunt and stuff but then she sees he’s really hurting and her words are wonderful. And Xander so doesn’t appreciate it. Stupid Xander.
• Zombie Maggie Walsh! I’m surprised the Lindsay Crouse agreed to come back to be a glorified extra.
• Look at all those wired phones!
• Forrest looks awful, but at least he’s not wearing a turtle-neck. Upside.
• Mayor call-back!
• I’m glad Buffy brought the original four back together through realizing that Spike is dick. Why haven’t they killed him again?
• Hey! Xander figured out what to do!
• Shenanigans! The door…to the top secret initiative frat house was just…open?
• “I think we all sort of drifted apart this year…” Yeah…it’s the point of this season, but I still hate that about this season.
• Aww, this reconciliation is amazing.

• “Must See TV” – 90s thing….if we were still doing 90s things.
• Come on Spike. You can’t be killed by Forrest.
• “Including the secret lab?” “ INCLUDING EVERYTHING…What secret lab?”
• “I’m the slayer. You’re playing on my turf.” FUCK YEAH
• This is like that scene in Cabin in the Woods when all the monsters are released!
• I wonder if Xander called Anya, & Willow called Tara before all this to say goodbye or I love you or something.
• Fight Choreographer must have had fun with this scene.
• Riley’s got huge meaty fingers....ladies.
• Neat effects, turning Adam’s arm into a machine gun.
• Scary eyes, Buffy!
• Hahah, Forrest got all blowed up.
• Buffy turned a bullet into doves! So cool!

• Dead Adam!
• Yay! The big bad is dead! Season over? Nope, just one more episode.

Zelda's Thoughts:

• Adam and Riley. Such wooden acting.
• Adam's shoulder things freak me right out.

Most people's neck-to-shoulder line isn't ... triangular right?
That's just the makeup right? REASSURE ME.

• heh, Spike's realization that his Yokoing didn't quite work out properly. "Hang on. I think I might've detected a small flaw."
• Aw formerly Drunk Giles is now Hangover Giles
• But see Willow showing up at Giles's place for the laptop and discs? That's why our Scoobies are still the best - even when they're fighting, they know there's work to be done.
• That's a really stupid place for your TV, Buffy

• Forrest looks cool as a demon, but it hasn't improved his acting any.
• I'm gonna go ahead and guess that the zombie makeup they put on Professor Walsh is revenge for her leaving the show early and forcing them to change the arc of the season.
• "Well, Spike can be very convincing when ... I'm very stupid." Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiles
• "Spike's working for Adam? After all we've done. .. nah, I can't even act surprised."
• You know, much as I hate on Adam and the confusion of S4's arc, his plan of mass carnage and building an army of demon/human/cyber soldiers is still better crafted than anything The First came up with in S7. [Amen. -D]
• "Does anybody else miss the Mayor?"

• Aw this is the scene with all the hugs! Yay. They're acknowledging how they've grown apart, and why, but reaffirm their commitment to their friendship.
• Man, Spike just sucks at being a minion. He separated the Scoobies, but then they couldn't get into the Initiative. He got them back together, so they could get in, but there Buffy is, not isolated from her friends. No raise for you, Spike.
• "Including the secret lab?" // "Including EVERYTHING! [very long pause] What secret lab?'
• Heh, I love that the Scoobies are united in sassing Col Whatsit.
• Oh man are we going to fail at getting an accurate kill count for this episode.
• You know, for a low budget show, the mass fighting in the Initiative is pretty well done. There's a lot going on, and it's kind of awesome.
• I was about to say what a cool season finale this is turning out to be, but ... IT'S NOT THE FINALE.
• The Scoobies' run across the giant space, full of fighting, so exciting.
• "Buffy, I still don't like you going in alone." // "I won't be." FEELS
• "I've never really been one to toe the line." // "(pause) Oh. Kill her." Okay, I laughed.
• Yeah, calling a big shenanigan on Riley, paralyzed by a chip attached to his central nervous system, is still able to 1, remove the damn thing, and 2, not die in the process. I don't know from science, but I know a shenanigan when I see it.
• Yeah Buffy! Kill that Forrest! Do it!
• You know, it's not discussed, but it must kind of suck for Riley, that he has to kill his best friend, even if it's his best friend in demon cyber psycho form.
• Oh dayum Buffy broke the skewer arm.
• Oh double dayum he has a machine gun arm.
• I really love this spell. I love the UberBuffy. I love that it's a combination of the strengths of all the Scoobies, that it's a metaphor for them reuniting after a year of distance, for the connection that cannot be severed. I love the metaphor of it. But also she's super BAMF and I love that too.

• Forrest go boom.
• She turned a rocket into doves.
• I'm renaming her from UberBuffy to ScooberBuffy. Patent pending.
• ADAM'S DEAD YAY
• The level to which Spike is just not important to the Scoobies ... like he betrayed them all with the end goal of their deaths, and they just let him leave.
• "Well, then, everything's all right and we all get to be not staked through the heart. Good work, team."
• This weird epilogue scene of the Initiative bureaucrats is weird. But I guess it allows us to montage the rest of the fighting.
• So Riley and Graham are the only two named Initiativers who survived, yes?

Crossfire!

(this discussion happened via Instant Messenger, on some of the weak guest actors on the show)

Daniel: (re: actor playing Dracula) Eh, I don't hate him. I mean...he's going for the classic dracula-ness. No emotion and

yeah he's bad

See

that's tough

I mean, I think that's the choice the actor playing Adam is making.

He's a being with no emotion

Unfortunately, it just makes for a bad villain

Zelda: ugh adam

so baaaaaaaaaad

I would argue that he's not interesting enough to make interesting choices within those confines

I do see your point

Daniel: well again - I mean - it's mostly the character, I think. I never had a problem with Adam until you pointed him out - but I did find him completely forgettable.

Zelda: But he's still a weak actor. If he had done something remotely interesting when he was fully human in Restless, I might be more forgiving. But also he's a stupid stupid villain with a stupid face.

Favorite Lines:

Daniel: "Including the secret lab?" // "Including EVERYTHING! ... What secret lab?" - Willow/Col McNamara

Zelda: I tried and tried and couldn't find one that I liked. Can I just choose ScooberBuffy destroying Adam?

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

• Recurring: Sunnydale High (man, this cgi burned out school is getting a lot of play), Adam, Tara, Anya, ZombieWalsh, ZombieAngleman, DemonForrest, Col McNamara, Graham
• That photo of Buffy and Willow and Xander from season one is back! 
• Buffy refers to Riley telling her that Adam's power center is a uranium core near his spine - something we learned from Jonathan in Superstar.
• Giles speaks Sumerian
• Xander refers to when Buffy took French
• Bureaucrat says the Initiative will be filled with concrete. S7 will reveal that they never got around to it.

Stats:

Anya's Hair - short, straight, honey colored

Xander's Job - Unemployed

Dead Humans - 7

Dead Undeads - 7

Dead Flashbacks -

Giles Unconscious - 0

Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0

Buffy Breaks a Door - 0

Buffy Breaks a Mirror - 1

Evil Reveal - 0

Unevil Reveal -  0

Shenanigans Called - 2

Apocalypse Called - 0