"After Dawn talks to a guidance counselor about her feeling lonely, she accidentally puts a spell on Buffy and her friends, trapping them inside the Summer's house with a sword-wielding demon."
Zelda's Thoughts:
- It's happy birthday Buffy!
- Why does Dawn have an anteroom to her bedroom? Like, seriously, WHY.
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| And why is there a table there? |
- Oh Dawn. Why are you stealing all the things.
- TAWIST. Halfrek's pretending to be a guidance counselor.
- It's actually pretty clever - since we saw her only in veiny demon form in her first episode, she might not be immediately recognized by everyone.
- So, I remember when this episode aired, everyone on the message boards got all excited about Buffy's new friend Sophie. And then she never showed up again. But that didn't stop fans from shipping her with Clem. And possibly writing fic about it. I can kind of see it? They're both very sweet.
- Aw I bet Sarah missed these opportunities to be funny. (Willow appears, making Tara feel awkward. Buffy: "I have to, wit the thing that I, uh ... Coming!")
- Clem is back! And he's been sufficiently rewritten to be sweet and adorable and one of my favorite recurrings.
- So ... how'd Dawn get the jacket out of the store with the security tag still on it? [There are ways. -Not D]
- Dude the weapons chest Xander made is gorgeous. I want one!
- gasp Halfrek's a demon gasp
- SEE SOPHIE IS DANCING WITH CLEM THEY ARE A TOTAL COUPLE TRUE LOVE FOREVER YOU GUYS
- Gotta feel bad for Richard. Got invited to a stranger's birthday party as an obvious fix up.
- Tara shutting Spike down is the best though.
- "We do not joke about eating people in this house!"
- Dawn, darling, please stop taking people's desire to not be stuck in a house for the rest of their lives personally. This stuff is why Dawn gets a bad rap.
- Oh, look, it's another GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT. This is also why Dawn gets a bad rap.
- Richard's kinda dumb. And judgmental. "I don't think that's a skin condition."
- How stupid are they to carry him upstairs when he has a cut like that? Put him on the couch maybe, but why risk exacerbating the injury with stairs?
- So like ... why don't they just call some EMT guys and have them get stuck in the house too? We know (from the future) that the Summers house can hold a lot of people. Just ... they should get actual medical help for poor boring stupid cute Richard.
- I really don't like how Anya goes after Willow. Emma's really great at it, but I don't like how she's treating her, out of fear.
- But then Tara is lovely. "Hey, you're gonna back off. She said no."
- I'd say Anya's being out of character, but we see this again, this cruel striking out when she feels cornered and terrified, when she accuses Buffy of being "lucky" in S7 and we all want to punch her.
- Emma Caulfield is amazing in this ep though, I gotta say.
- I find it kind of weird that they keep doing the fake out with not really killing vengeance demons - this comes back again next season - for anyone paying attention, we're not tricked for a minute.
- I've read some fanfic that tracks how Cecily became a vengeance demon. There's some cleverness tying her rejection of William to a controlling father, which is why she's the patron demon of unhappy children. Also Paul (one of our commentors) tell us that the non-canon comics also follow this narrative.
- And now they're walking Richard down the stairs upright. WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOUR BORING FRIEND.
- AW CLEM IS THE BEST.
Daniel's Thoughts:
- Buffy’s getting ready for that wintry night in southern California. You let it go.
- And what’s with this hat she borrowed from Willow’s collection. Or Blossom’s?
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| And in my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine! |
- It’s nice that Buffy’s close enough with Tara that she wants her at her party.
- Dawn said ‘hey’ that reminded me of Buffy. Weird thing. But I wasn’t looking at the screen and thought it was Buffy.
- Why doesn’t Dawn have friends? Where’s Janice? It’s weird that she’s always relying on her sister’s friends.
- I’m not sure if we’re supposed to know that’s Hallie yet. BUT I KNOW.
- Sophie!
- Anya: “We invited someone for you. *whispers* A guy…” Hehehe.
- Willow’s all worried about what she looks like. And Z and I agree that she should change that dumb shirt.
- Oh, the awkwardness. I love it. They’re actually really good at it.
- CLEM!
- Also, Richard. Such a 90s style soap dreamboat.
- Man, Anya. With the treating Dawn like she’s 10.
- All the fun awkwardness in this episode is really well written and acted.
- “I offered helpful suggestions from a safe distance.”
- Hey Sophie!
- It’s alarming that Tara’s not more disturbed. She seems downright delighted at the Spike/Buffy thing. Especially when way back when they saw Buffybot boinking Spike, She called her insane or something.
- Tara’s playing poker!
- Hey. Hey, look at all that natural light hitting Spike. And hey. Hey, look at him not exploding. You let it go.
- OMWF reference.
- Tara’s the only one who seems to get what it’s like to be a teenager.
- Why is Spike by the door? He. Will. Burn. Up. If the spell works.
- The visual effects with the demon falling through the door are kinda cool.
- Richard!
- Has anyone tried calling someone?
- Wow. Anya has some major claustrophobia issues.
- Aww, Spike’s trying to save Xander.
- Buffy: “Are you ok?” Dawn, “Do you care?” Me: *eyeroll*
- Eh, while I like Tara’s sudden valiance, it’s a little bit contrived. [I dunno, she's grown a lot this season. I think leaving Willow has been great for her gumption. - Z]
- Lots of Anya this episode and a lot of the problems she has with people are coming out. Too bad it never gets resolved.
- Oops, Halfrek. But Anya should know a sword can't kill a vengeance demon. Nice seeing her kick some ass anyway.
- And Hallie calls her on it, which is nice.
- Love this moment where Spike/Hallie seem to know each other. BUT ARE CECILY AND HALLIE THE SAME PERSON? ...this was discussed in the comments section of our last blog post.
- Sort of a Deus Ex Machina ending….but pretty clever as well.
Favorite Lines:
Zelda: "I don't know. He seemed ... cute. Was he cute? I mean, I'm not a very good judge, but I think he seemed cute." // "I think he seemed cute, yeah." - Tara and Clem, ruining Spike's evening
Daniel: “We invited someone for you. *whispers* A guy…” ~Anya
Arc/Continuity Stuff:
- Recurring: slug candles, Dawn's kleptomania, Tara, Clem, Halfrek
- Shoutout to that time Xander summoned Sweet to Sunnydale
- Gentle reminder that impaling a vengeance demon with a sword will not kill the vengeance demon. Remember this next season.
- Nod at the double casting of Kali Rocha with Halfrek and Spike recognizing each other.
Stats:
Anya's Hair - blonde, straight, twist clipped
Dead Humans - 0
Dead Undeads - 1
Dead Flashbacks - 0
Buffy Breaks a Door - 0
Evil Reveal - 0
Unevil Reveal - 0
Shenanigans Called - 0
Apocalypse Called - 0
OMG YOU GUYS I GOT A SHOUT OUT IN THE POST
ReplyDeleteTotally makes up for my embarrassment of, "Oh cool, someone else named Paul agrees with me! Oh. Wait."
hahahahaha!
DeleteApparently there's confirmation of the Cecily == Halfrek in the Selfless commentary, which I just may watch tonight.
ReplyDeleteI hate this episode for the scene where Anya goes after Willow; thank you for mentioning it. Although my problem isn't so much with Anya as Xander: Willow is supposedly his best friend, but he tries to needle her into using magic even though he's fully aware of her "addiction". That's being a shitty friend.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know that Anya's his fiancee, but still, way way way low moment for Xander. I had a problem with him since the first season, but this sort of sealed the deal for me. Good on Tara for sticking up for Willow.
Agreed, none of the Scoobies (well maybe except Giles and obviously except Tara) are particularly good at being supportive of recovering from addiction. They need to go read up on tumblr to learn how to be a good support system.
DeleteThey couldn't call out for emergency services. The phones were dead. I think it was Tara who checked them?
ReplyDelete