Dance of Capitalist Superiority

Episode 6.6: All the Way. Original Airdate 10.30.01  

"Dawn lies to Buffy and goes out with a boy on Halloween, but when the boy turns out to be a vampire ignoring the Halloween-no-killing rule, Buffy and the guys must save her...again."

Zelda's Thoughts:

• I keep forgetting this episode exists.
• "This is a special kind of Angel called a Charlie."
• TINY BABY WITCH. Daniel thinks she looks like me. I don't know how to feel about that.

Baby Zelda!

• Seriously, though, the little curls in Spike's hair have been great this season. Shut up, stop judging me.
• Buffy's brain going all dirty with Spike innuendosssssssss ... foreshadowing too?
• "So much easier to talk to when he wanted to kill me."
• Giles is dressed as a wizard. But I miss his wizard hat.

Buffy hid it.  

• "If anything calamitous should happen, history suggests it'll happen to one of us." Now THAT is the kind of meta I can get behind. I love it so hard.
• No wonder this guy tricks us into thinking he's evil. He's whistling "Pop Goes the Weasel" over and over. That's right up there with ironing your jeans.
• "Store go boom." 
• "All I can say is, I hope we make as much tomorrow." 
• Anya with the money, doing a happy dance. So cute. I want to be friends with her and dance with the money.

• Why are they not reacting happily to the engagement? What kind of shitty friends are they? Anya's awesome. 

• Giles and Tara are both worried about how easily Willow resorts to magic when she doesn't have to. See, this - the arc of Willow and her magic addiction, which is about control/power - this is well constructed, building slowly. The arc makes sense (even if the metaphor is wonky) and doesn't have weird back and forth jumps, like Buffy's depression does.
• Because for the past two episodes Buffy seems like she's doing better. She doesn't seem numb. And then she spirals back down once she reveals she was in Heaven, and it's all with the self-loathing and punishment and Spike sex and ... I don't know, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, linear-arc-wise.
• It's Amber Tamblyn! Daughter of Russ Tamblyn, aka this guy!

This is for you, Harley!

• Parking lot! Do a shot!
• This is actually pretty realistic, in terms of how stupid-boy the guys are being with their pranks. HAR HAR HAR WE LET THE AIR OUT ON THE TIRES OF YOUR MINIVAN.
• Why would Xander and Anya want a house? He has a magical apartment that invents rooms at a moment's notice.
• Hey, remember The Unusuals? Starring Amber Tamblyn and Harold Perrineau and my ex-boyfriend Jeremy Renner? I liked that show. [Me too, -D]
• That's a weird-ass pumpkin tho
• "Don't make me go kung fu on you, man." YOU ARE SO WHITE.
• Oh see, Creepy Old Man invited them in. Vampires welcome.
• "Who wants to help Daddy in the kitchen? How about you, Sally?" Seriously, he may not be a vampire or a pedo, but he's still unnerving as hell.
• Gasp Justin's a vampire.
• "So I was thinking maybe a June wedding, and then I remembered the season's usually over in May." That's ... what she said, right?
• "Rupert is an exceptionally strong name." Anya's reaction is the best.

• Dawn looks really pretty this episode. Too bad I'm pretty bored by this ep
• Um Justin. That's not where your heart is. You're a bad vampire.
• These kids are out late. I remember getting my trick or treating done relatively early.
• Aw Giles is getting the parent call about Dawn's whereabouts.
• Aw Tara's not joining in the dancing. Because she's still feeling awkward about the magics? Or because of Willow's heinous fashion choice?
• Behold our UPN-ness! Another Willow/Tara kiss.
• Oh, Tara's stuttering returns, as she tries to talk Willow out of abusing magic.
• Wow, Willow really does get mean when her use of magic is challenged. First when she threatened Giles, and then when she tells Tara coldly to keep her mouth shut.
• Heh, I'm gonna take Justin's vamping while kissing Dawn as a callback to Angel vamping after making out with Buffy. [It seems like the vamp equivalent of a har- err...never mind. - D]
• "Mist, cemetery, Halloween, should end well. *trips and falls over*" Yep, Giles and I are basically the same.
• "Like you weren't asking for it." // "I feel certain she wasn't." Go Giles you're the best PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US AGAIN.
• I'm not ready for the end of Tabula Rasa.
• "You're not like other girls. You're different." Man, these are such cliche lines.
• SuperGiles to the rescue of teenage girls everywhere.
• WTF is this circle the gathering place of random vampires who decided not to take the night off after all.
• "I didn't know he was dead." // "Living dead." // "Shut up."
• "We're rebels" // "No, I'm the rebel. You're an idiot"
• Buffy says goodbye to Spike with a "Good fight" - they're friendly now, which I guess is a good lead in to where we're going, even if the sexual relationship is based in self-degradation maaaaaaaaaaaan why is my Spuffy doomed to be so fucked up.
• Willow, know your audience. Don't joke about fixing her fight with a spell.
• ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU IMMEDIATELY FIX YOUR FIGHT WITH A SPELL.
• Seriously, this is so messed up. Tara's had her brain turned to mush only a few months ago, and Willow thinks she has the right to do this. To just wipe Tara's memory of the fight, so that Willow can have it easier. So that she's not being called out on what she's doing. BY DOING EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS BEING CALLED OUT FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE.
• It's just all kinds of messed up. It's awful. Bad Willow, Bad. You deserve what's coming to you in Tabula Rasa. Poor Tara.

Daniel's Thoughts:

Thanks Lucas for the gif!

• Halloween!
• Anya has the  best hair in this episode.  Also, she’s a great roller skater!
• Kid wearing a plastic fireman outfit:  “You’re not a real pirate” /irony
• TINY KID WITCH IS SO CUTE AND I AM IMAGING THAT IS HOW LITTLE ZELDA LOOKED.
• Looping reference from last episode.
• Ugh, the gratuitous flirting.
• Lots of continuity in this episode.  References to the last two Halloween episodes.
• Creepy old man’s house looks like the Summers’ house but only on the outside.
• Anya is so excited about being successful!
• The Dance of capitalist superiority! 

• Yay!  Xander finally has balls and tells everyone about getting married.
• Shut up, Willow.  Be happy, for them.
• Wow, impromptu engagement party!
• “Can I try it on?” “Absolutely not”
• Eh, I don’t really understand why Tara’s so up in arms about Willow using magic for lame things.
• Dawn walks weird. 
• Amber Tamblyn!!!  I first knew Amber as Emily Quartermaine on General Hospital.  Also, daughter of Russ Tamblyn of West Side Story and Twin Peaks fame.
• HS Jock is pretty hot.  And I can say that because he’s like 30.
• I know it’s lame and obvious, but I kinda like the “All the way” metaphor.
• It’s nice that Giles is being supportive about Xander/Anya marriage.  But also giving him things to think about.
• I also like the unevil reveal/evil reveal of this episode.
• I mean this guy is painted as a really crazy and possibly evil but really…just a sad old crazy man.  And who knows? He might have been eventually dangerous.  But we’ll never know.
• Ugh. I’d hate to be a teenager for the rest of my life.
• “So, I'm thinking maybe a June wedding, but then I remembered that they always have the highest percentage of calls for vengeance..."
• And oh god…Xander’s face is just the worst.
• Anya’s reaction to Giles' suggestion to Rupert as a child's name:

• “How often does the universe allow that to happen?” Foreshadowing, Anya. ;(
• Xander is being the worst.  Stop thinking about the bad.  This is a good thing.  You love her, Xander.  Stop being a man.  At least Buffy is encouraging.
• Dude.  Justin. She’s 15.
• The “We’re staying at someone else’s house”.  Xander and Willow did that in a season 1 or 2 episode.  Essentially, when they were Dawn’s age.
• Aww, Dawn.  I remember my first time sitting in a parked car….  Err…  I was a little older than Dawn, though.
• I mean how do you even consider turning someone after one date?  So he’s a creepy vamp, but at least this guy is better at commitment than Xander.
• Hey the bronze!  I feel like we haven’t been here in a while.
• “I’m just gonna shift everyone who isn’t a 15 year old girl into an alternate dimension.”  Ok, now I see why Tara is worried.
• Why is Giles patrolling without a weapon??
• Go Giles! He  doesn’t need a weapon.  He’s got his fists!  And…a convenient tree branch.
• “Were you parking with a vamp?” “I didn’t know he was dead.”
• “How could you not know?” Umm, Buffy… really?  Angel much?
• Giles will take care of the girl vamps.
• Wow, this one guy is tougher than usual vamps.  I’m loving this extended vamp fight scene.
• “Where do I order obscenely muscular male strippers?”
• A great thing about this episode is how amazingly it sets up Once More with Feeling.
• I just…Dawn.  She’s acting like a teenager.  Which is what she is.  And everyone keeps being surprised when she does.  And she’s a teenager that lives in Sunnydale.  She needs to be prepared for more than just potential date rapists.  And that’s enough for any teenage girl to be worried about but she also has to worry about vampires draining her blood and demons tearing her apart.  Buffy may not want her to be a Scooby, but just by being there, Dawn faces the same dangers as all of them.

Crossfire!

Justin: Be still, my heart. 

Zelda: That's not where your heart is.

Daniel: He's forgiven because he has really high cheekbones.

Zelda: Really? I think he looks like a weird rubber alien. Benedict Cumberface meets Matt Smith.

Favorite Lines:

Zelda: 

Daniel: "Where do I order extremely muscular male strippers?" - Anya

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

Recurring: Giles, Tara, Dawn's kleptomania, Giles wearing a wizard costume, Willow over-using magic, Anya's adoration of money 

Foreshadowing: Xander's eyepatch

Xander and Anya finally reveal their engagement.

Dawn's and Janice's subterfuge about the sleepover is a callback to what Willow, Xander, and Buffy used to do on late research nights.

Willow wipes Tara's memory of the fight with lethe's bramble

Stats:

Anya's Hair -

Dead Humans - 1

Dead Undeads - 7

Dead Flashbacks - 0

Giles Unconscious - 0

Giles Cleans His Glasses - 1

Buffy Breaks a Door - 0

Evil Reveal - 2

Unevil Reveal - 1

Shenanigans Called - 0

Apocalypse Called - 0