I'm Bored. Episode One Bored.

Episode 7.11: Showtime. Original Airdate 1.7.03

"Buffy teaches the Potential Slayers a valuable lesson as she faces a final fight with the Uber-vampire. Meanwhile, Giles and Anya enter another dimension to find a demon which holds the answer [to] defeating The First. What they find out is very disturbing."

Daniel's Thoughts:

• Ugh, it’s Rona.
• Hey, remember phonebooks?
• Hey Rona’s not too insufferable…yet. "Welcome to the Hellmouth!" Ooh, Buffy quoted the pilot episode’s title!
• Can I just say, I love that they show of Anya in the credits where she’s holding the baseball in the center of it? I kinda want to see her play baseball now.
• “It’s starting to get a little crowded.” How are we feeding them again?
• Here’s three more potentials: Vi, Eve & Chloe. Hey, it’s nerd-celeb Felicia Day!
• So I guess everyone’s staying there, now…for protection, I guess.
• Ugh, there’s that insufferable Rona. “I thought hungry was English for hungry.” Ugh, shut up Rona.
• Aww, I missed the Anya/Giles banter.
• “We just happened to be invited to the same massacre.”
• Ugh, why is Anya trying to trade sex for help? It’s so beneath her. I don't believe for a minute that she would do that.

• Anya, you’re beautiful. Stop, it.
• It’s interesting how their backgrounds are different: some have watchers; some don’t.
• One thing that I’ll agree with Andrew: Timothy Dalton was an underrated Bond.

Never forget.

• But the thing is about Andrew. They’re trying to make him all funny and stuff except he killed his friend. He’s a cold-ass murderer.  And it just happened.
• I love sassy demons. The eye: “What am I talking to myself here?”
• Omg, shut up Rona. (I should keep a running tally of how many times I yell 'shut up [random potential]'
• Ugh, also shut up, “Eve”
• See, I do like Kennedy at this point. Because she keeps the potentials in check.
• See, this is why Willow needs Giles.
• Run! Everybody run!
• Did Buffy just stake a bringer? I guess a stab through the heart will kill anyone.
• Ok, so holy water works somewhat on an Uber vamp.
• Ugh, shut up Chloe. The Potentials are such whiners. Omg.
• Willow namechecks the title.
• It’s a good plan to bring the potentials together to show that Buffy can kill this thing – but….how exactly does Buffy know she can kill this thing? Especially since it kicked her ass so hard-core-ly last time.
• Oh…is that a construction site that Xander’s been "working" at?
• This plan has so many holes. It’s just as likely to fail miserably. It’s not so much a plan as “let’s take a chance.”
• So an Uber Vamp basically needs to be beheaded.
• No, Spike! That’s actually Buffy!

Never forget 2: the Never Forgettening

Zelda's Thoughts: 

• Okay, so here we are in January. The show's timeline took a hiatus to catch up with the airing, one presumes. Buffy's injuries are all healed. Rona's arrived, and there are other new Potentials at the house. Yes? So they've been hiding from the Ubervamp, NOT taking the fight to him, and also leaving Spike to his fun torture sessions? Is that the long and short of it? Gosh a lot happened over the holidays. Buffy's even got her snappy quippy self back with her "picking on someone my own size" bit.
• If Kennedy were a better actor, if she had any kind of chemistry with Willow, if if if. If Kennedy weren't just annoying.
• Aw it is nice to see Felicia Day.
• "Maybe we can save the maybes for a more dayish part of the day, girls."
• Giles took off his glasses but he's not cleaning them. You know why? BECAUSE HE'S EVIL AND HE HAS NO HEAD.
• Oh right the random stupid useless eye thing that Anya and Giles randomly and uselessly visit and why are we wasting time on this.
• One thing I will say for Spike getting held captive so long and trusting that Buffy will come for him - it's a good reversal on the trope of the princess in the tower 
• "It's the hair, right? Not attractive?" Guys, I think I only JUST made the connection that her hair color and style changes so much is because of her intense insecurity about her appearance
• "I heard there's more than one." // "More than one what?" // "Slayer. There's another one - somewhere." // "That doesn't make any sense."
• Kennedy: "I'm starting to think it might be too late for me." She's past 18, so ... yep. At least by the old rules.
• "I'm so alone." // "Then maybe you shouldn't have killed your only friend." Tom Lenk is very funny but Andrew you are being twitchy and annoying and I do enjoy Dawn shutting you down. Especially when - as Daniel pointed out - she's right and HE JUST KILLED SOMEONE. And he doesn't have the "I didn't have a soul" excuse that certain peroxided vampires do.
• WHY IS THE GIANT EYEBALL MADE OF EYES A THING.
• Okay I'm not quite going to call this c plot a shenanigan, but I will call a shenanigan on how it's interpreted. The eyeball made of eyes says the First is striking because the line of succession got messed with. ("The mystical forces surrounding the chosen line have become irrevocably altered, become unstable, vulnerable.") Anya interprets that as being the fault of the Scoobies, for bringing Buffy back last season. And timeline-wise, I can see why she reaches that conclusion, BUT. You know, and I know, and the American people know that the line of succession got its divergence the moment Kendra was called. The line of succession switched over to Kendra, then Faith. A third Slayer wasn't called when Buffy died the second time. We had two Slayers running around for a few years there, and we had only a few months of Only One Slayer to Rule Them All again. Buffy's return to life shouldn't be relevant.
• Also since this is like the last time this will be brought up, I guess we can forget all about the weirdass eye thing.
• Anyway. It's time for the scene where the Scoobies are secretly having a psychic conference.
• "It's because she lives again." See nooooooooooooooooo no no that changed nothing. There were two Slayers before. There were just a few months there where there was only one Slayer in play again, that's all. This is bullshit.
• Dramatically, it is a fun stunt, the Scoobies crafting an arena display for the Potentials of how good Buffy is at what she does. "I'm the thing that monsters have nightmares about, and right now you and me are gonna show them why."

• Joss at least has acknowledged (not that it fixes this hole in the plot) that there's a massive inconsistency being set up in how difficult it is for Buffy to slay just one Turok-Han, and the comparative ease with which the Potentials - first un-activated, then mid-fight activated - take on a whole army of them in the finale. I guess we'll deal with that later.
• Ooooh time for my weekly Spuffy scene. Time for some excellent JM face acting. Buffy rescued Spike! They're staring meaningfully at each other! Shut up, I love it.

Favorite Lines:

Daniel:  The eye sees not the future, only the truth of the now and before.

Yes, we've all got that - it's called memory. - Beljoxa's Eye/Anya

Zelda: "I'm the thing that monsters have nightmares about."  Buffy

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

• First appearance: Rona, Vi, Eve, Chloe
• Recurring: Bringers, Kennedy, Molly, Andrew, The First (as Eve, Buffy), Turok-Han, kittens as currency, Andrew's love for Timothy Dalton, "Here endeth the lesson"
• Last appearance: Eve
• Shoutout to Andrew's days of summoning demons

Stats:

Anya's Hair - blonder, loose curls, chin length

Dead Humans - 1

Dead Undeads - 7

Dead Potentials - 1

Dead Flashbacks - 0

Giles Unconscious - 0

Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0

Buffy Breaks a Door - 1

Turok-Han Breaks a Door - 1

Buffy Makes a Rousing Speech - 1

Evil Reveal - 1 (Eve is the First!)

Unevil Reveal - 0

Shenanigans Called - 1

Apocalypse Called - 0