A Perfectly Reasonable and Not At All Insane Explanation

Episode 7.13: The Killer in Me. Original Airdate 2.4.03

"After Willow and Kennedy share their first kiss, Willow is transformed into Warren, the man she killed last year. When she sets out to find help, she bumps into an old friend. Meanwhile, Buffy searches for answers when Spike's chip causes him great pain, and the gang suspect that Giles may really be The First."

Daniel's Thoughts:

• And now, the metaphor episode
• Hey Giles!
• Oh man, all this awful set up of Giles not touching anything – like Xander opening the door for him and Dawn being instructed to take a book out to the car for him.
• Wait, why is Spike chained up now when he was loose the entire last episode?
• They’re trying to explain it away but really, it’s just all about Spike and they want to feature him as much as possible.  Fuck everyone else who has been there from the beginning.
• “I never realized how compact Mollie was.”
• Oh hey, something else is happening to Spike now.  BECAUSE HE DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH PLOTS.  What’s Anya up to?
• “Remember when things were nice and boring?”  You mean like now?
• Isn’t it nice that they made the only lesbian old enough to date Willow?
• To be fair, it’s nice having a lesbian who isn’t all weird and confused as Willow.   ....like a confident Tara.
• It’s also sad that “flirting in code” is how lesbians (and gay men) have to find each other out – in 2003.  Like, you can’t just be open about who you are.  You have to be careful and secretive because god forbid you offend the sensibilities of the poor straight people.
• Aww, Willow’s talking about her mom that we’ve met once.
• Oh hey, Spike’s now unchained.  What are the rules here?
• Willow doesn’t like Italian food?  What kind of monster
• The thing is – she just killed someone for killing the love of her life.  She nearly destroyed the world because Tara died….why does she need a love interest so soon?  What about Xander? What about Anya?
• And now: METAPHOR
• And I mean in a way they’re dealing with it in this episode….it’s all about Willow’s guilt, blah blah blah…but they solve it in this episode like some weird hour long sitcom
• Adam Busch does a pretty good Willow impression. It’s cute.

It's all in the upward inflection.

• Willow:  I’ll go, I'll handle it – you’ve got your hands full anyway [with Spike]– pretty much the mantra of season 7.  – We’re too busy with Spike to help anyone else.
• “When Robson came to, no Giles” – but also no blood I guess?  So….
• Tom Lenk is funny, Andrew is a pain.  It’s a fine line.
• I mean, in all that time – they’ve never seen Giles eat?  Cause that’s corporeal touching.
• Hey, the Wicca group on campus is actually doing magic.
• I do like the throw-back to the bake sales.
• Uh oh…..Willow’s turning into Warren…
• Eww, three years of decay is a lot (In the Initiative’s compound)
• I love Xander’s subtle offended face tick to Anya calling him a geek.  Rare nice work by Nick.
• Oooh, Big bad Amy
• “Same model as last time?”  Wow, the gun seller remembers a weapon he sold last year? [These things? Never useful. - Buffy]
• Buffy’s “I knew it!”  So cute.
• “Ass face”  Yes, that is what I call Spike, too.
• Repair the chip or remove the chip….big decision for Buffy….or is it?  I know which one I’d pick
• I really like Elizabeth Anne Allen – it’s a shame she hasn’t had much work since Buffy.
• 2003 – that transition between Warren and Willow while kissing Kennedy would be so much better today.  It was such a crappy cutaway shot.

Zelda's Thoughts: 

• Ugh can we just like skip this one? Please?
• Except for that one bit where they tackle Giles because his face is hilarious.
• Giles: "would you mind running it out to the car" LOOK THE WRITERS ARE TROLLING US AGAIN.
• uh oh SMG is losing her voice. I forgot it started this early. She stays sick for a while.
• "Apparently, someone told them that the vision quest consists of me driving them to the desert, doing the Hokey Pokey until a 'spooky rasta mama Slayer' arrives and speaks to them in riddles."
• Oh I forgot the chip stuff was this episode. Oops. Poor Spike's brain.
• "Remember when things used to be nice and boring?" "No."
• "Who you gonna call? ... god, that phrase is never gonna be useable again, is it?"
• Oh hey shoutout to Willow's neglectful mother.
• Oh Willow is me. She turns off Moulin Rouge early so it has a happy ending.
• lol I do love that Buffy sees Warren and immediately punches. Good instincts, B.
• "There are other stories from kindergarten, non-yellow-crayon stories in which you don't come out in such a good light." snort
• How come Warren-Willow is in a different outfit than Willow?
• I really don't like all the Spike-having-a-seizure as comedic background action to the other stuff. It's a cheap move, and a belittling of something potentially fatal. It's not comic relief. Calling him Ass-face is comic relief.
• So ... I guess they didn't fill The Initiative's compound with cement and salt the earth after all? I guess we can headcanon that that was a figure of speech and they were lazy. But seriously, this place is not well sealed.
• At least the show is finally dealing with Is Giles Dead Or Not question. But still, fuck the writers. This isn't like the misdirect of Spike going to "Africa" on his bike to get a soul. This is trolling.

• Sooooo if the comics are canon, that means Amy's got Skinless Warren stashed somewhere already, right? She magicked him away and kept him from dying (which ruins the Warren as The First bits this season oooooops. stupid comics)
• gasp! Warren's personality is taking over Willow! It's not just looking him anymore.
• Wow it's not just that they didn't cement the compound, they left corpses to rot. You'd think a covert government op would be ... tidier about its cover-up.
• "Oops." I guess Amy doesn't get to have character development after all. It just seems ... idk kind of lazy, to have Amy have set this trap for her. Why?

the only part of the episode I actively like is Giles's face
 as he's tackled. look at his cartoon eyes!

• "I assume there is a perfectly reasonable and not at all insane explanation for this."
• "We're to provide anything you need to help Ass-face here. Those were his exact words, ma'am."
• blah I think it's dumb to leave it as a cliffhanger of Buffy deciding whether or not to fix or remove Spike's chip. Where's the dilemma? The chip doesn't work when he's under The First's thrall, so it's not a prevention for that, and he has his soul now. She trusts Spike more than he trusts himself, not to be evil. That was the whole point of their scene in the basement earlier, when he's insisting on being chained while in the house, and she thinks it's unnecessary. It's stupid. It's mortal and it's stupid.
• Amy's twirling her evil mustache and it just doesn't feel real and organic.
• And her explanation is da-da-dumb. "She almost destroyed the world, and yet everyone keeps on loving her." This power and being-loved resentment line works way better in Faith's hands.
• Warren-Willow and Willow aren't holding the gun in the same way ... they also aren't in the same emotional place. Sometimes the actors are good at matching each other on delivery (and manner) and sometimes ... it falls apart.
• Alyson is doing good work though. "I let her go. I didn't mean to. ... I let her be dead."
• Wish I liked Kennedy more. Wish I liked Iyari Limon more. Wish I liked this episode more.

Favorite Lines:

D: Anya: Just a teenager, a powerful former demon and two big geeks.  *Xander looks mildy hurt*

Z: "Oh, is this actually a flower shop, or is this one of those things where I'm supposed to play along to show that I know it's really secret ops? Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that." - Buffy

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

• Recurring: Giles, Kennedy, The Bronze (because we miss it), Warren, Andrew, Amy, The Initiative (or what it's become)
• Shoutout to Buffy's vision quest in "Intervention"
• All the Shoutouts to "Seeing Red"
• The Sunnydale University Wicca group still participates in bake sales

Stats:

Anya's Hair - dark blonde, shoulder length, straight

Dead Humans - 0

Dead Undeads - 1

Dead Potentials - 0

Not Dead Giles - 1

Dead Flashbacks - 0

Giles Unconscious - 0

Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0

Buffy Breaks a Door - 0

Evil Reveal - 1 (Amy)

Unevil Reveal - 1 (Giles Isn't The First)

Shenanigans Called - 0

Apocalypse Called - 0