Mortally Wounded Easter Baskets

Episode 7.21: End of Days. Original Airdate 5.13.03

"Buffy has a powerful new weapon, but the gang cannot find any information about the origins of the mysterious scythe. Eventually the Slayer herself goes in search of knowledge, and finds a new ally, an old friend, and great danger."

Daniel's Thoughts:

• Caleb; “The question is, can you pry it from solid rock before I-“  *buffy grabs the sythe from solid rock.*
• She’s like King Arthur! Yes! I love how powerful Buffy is.
• This is the first time we see Caleb look scared and it’s amazing.
• Hey Andrew looted. Which makes him one of the only people doing his part to feed everyone.
• And Buffy’s back to save the day!
• OK, so all is forgiven.  I guess. 
• Why does skinny Minnie keep saying “we were punished.” Punished for what?  Kicking Buffy out?  But more importantly, punished by who?
• Willow gets her computer out to find out about the scythe.   What is she going to google….“ancient scythes”?
• “Trying to talk will just kill you sooner”
• Aww, Anya is so cute.
• I like Giles and Willow working together.  It’s not just the magic that made them close, but their thirst for knowledge.
• Miss Kitty Fantastico mention….except we find out that Dawn killed her…   aww.
• Ugh, it’s such a really crappy way to take Dawn out of the picture….I mean, chloroforming? Just the image of a man chloroforming a young girl…  we know it’s for a good reason but…  They could have thought of something else?
• “Good thing we’re hot chicks with Super Powers”  - Faith
• “You are the perfect woman.” “I’ve often thought so.” 
• They’re dressing Anya like an old woman again.
• This whole conversation between Andrew and Anya about possibly surviving is so troll-y. The writers KNOW.  They KNOW.
• Weird ghost lady who is not a ghost: I’ve been here the whoooole timmmme.
• Production meeting: “Where does she get the taser?”  “On her.”  “Works for me.”
• It’s Angel!  Dun dun dun!
• Look how thick his neck is!
• “God, I miss watching this.” Awww!  It's one of my favorite things about Buffy's suitors....and yes, I mean all of them, no matter how you feel about Angel, Riley, and/or Spike - they all look at her with awe when she does what she does best.
• But not Parker.  Fuck that guy.
• Yayyy, Caleb’s…..dead?

Zelda's Thoughts:

• Oh god I love so much when she just removes the scythe from rock like it was buttah. Very King Arthur.
• and then Nathan Fillion reminds me why he's delightful. "Darn."
• hey remember when Buffy was like hey I think Caleb's hiding a toy in the vineyard and not only was she right, but the toy helps them avert the apocalypse? remember?
• "Faith go boom." oops
• we can't tell if the unconscious and unnamed Potentials are corpsified or just unconscious. [update: our argument, which consisted of Daniel saying "those are corpses" and me saying "maybe they're sleeping" has been solved with a glance at the shooting script. Daniel wins]
• Oh shit son. More than one Uber-vamp
• SUPERHERO MUSIC BECAUSE IT'S BUFFY TO THE RESCUE WITH HER MAGIC SCYTHE
• "I think we got punished." See see see. Buffy doesn't let them do that. It was a trap. It wasn't punishment for betraying Buffy. Not once does Buffy hold any of them accountable for their shittiness for her. The mission is what matters.
• "The good guys are not traditionally known for their communication skills." I think that's the closest we get to any words of apology or forgiveness.
• "Trying to talk will just kill you sooner." Oh Anya.
• I do think it's adorable that the writers noticed Emma Caulfield's and Tom Lenk's adorable chemistry and wrote them wacky adventures.
• Buffy and Xander are wearing matching denim jackets. 

• (for the record, this picture came up earlier than an actual picture of our Scoobies when I did an image search)
• Buffy's return also brings the return of Buffy trusting and validating the rest of the Scoobies. "You're my strength, Xander."
• And also the return of cute banter. "Also, you can't shoot a bow and arrow anymore, and every time you pick up a sword, I worry that you're gonna break one of our good lamps." // "Hey!" // "Don't look at me, you're the one who said I'm gonna die." // "I never said you were gonna die. I implied that you were gonna die. It's totally different." // "Yeah, okay, sure." // "Besides, if you die, I'll just bring you back to life. That's what I do."
• Giles keeps taking off his glasses and putting them back on but not cleaning them and I feel personally taunted.
• It's lucky how this sudden pagan temple is local to the Hellmouth.
• "It's old. It's strong and it feels like - like it's mine ... I guess that means it's yours." Hoo boy poor Faith.
• "Everybody's looking to me, trusting me to lead them, and I've never felt so alone in my entire life ... and that's you every day, isn't it?" // "I love my friends. I'm very grateful for them. But that's the price. Being a Slayer."
• "You're a dope and a bonehead and you're shirty." // "Have you gone completely carrot top?" [What's with the dadaism, Red? - Spike]
• oooh more good Spuffy speeching for meeeeeeeee. "Were you there with me?" // "I was." // "What does that mean?"
• I'd like Andrew's arc of deciding to fight the good fight more it if weren't also intrinsically wrapped up in by-the-way-Anya-dies-ness
• oh look a tomb on unconsecrated grounds that Buffy - who's been patrolling the graveyards for seven years - has only just noticed. oh look
• Is Sunnydale secretly a Tardis?
• The sudden addendum to the mythology is random and weird and shoehorned in, BUT at the same time I do like that there's been another group watching over the Slayer line, a non-patriarchal group. "We forged it in secrecy and kept it hidden from the Shadow Men ... and they became the Watchers, and the Watchers watched the Slayers, but we were watching them ... Guardians."
• "And then there were men here, and then there were monks. And then there was a town. And now there was you."
• "We're the last surprise," says the woman about to get her neck snapped and then also Angel's gonna show up and then Spike's gonna spoiler even though it's already been announced that James Marsters is joining the cast of Angel oops.
• Buffy sending Dawn away under care of Xander is a nice reversal of what she told Giles earlier this season, that she'd be willing to let Dawn die this time, even when she wouldn't, two years ago. Perhaps the loss at the first fight at the vineyard reminded her what she's not actually willing to lose.
• Okay it's all delightful that Dawn tasers Xander and drives the car back but SHENANIGANS on how she's able to do that while he's still in the driver's seat.
• gasp it's Angel. hi Angel
• soooooooo we're going to ignore Angel's context on his own show, right? how he just killed his son in order to save him, while also losing his new True Love, Cordelia, to a coma, to say nothing of signing over to work for Wolfram & Hart? we're just gonna ... yeah we're just gonna ignore that. this Angel exists in a void, here only for the Bangel of it all.
• yeah cuz they're kissing. Cordelia who?
• I'm also a little irate that the ep ends with The First whispering "that bitch" to a watching Spike, as if we're supposed to believe this is how they get him to turn on Buffy. Just ... stop wasting our time with completely unbelievable red herrings, 'kay? We're almost done here.

Crossfire!

Z: What should we choose for our cover photo?

D: Angel and Buffy kissing, of course.

Z: ... don't make me insist we do Spike for our finale picture.

D: okay, okay ...

Favorite Lines:

Daniel: "And they have no purpose that unites them, so they just drift around, blundering through life until they die, which they-they know is coming, yet every single one of them is surprised when it happens to them. They're incapable of thinking about what they want beyond the moment. They kill each other, which is clearly insane... and yet here's the thing. When it's something that really matters, they fight. I mean, they're lame morons for fighting, but they do! They never... they never quit. So I guess I'll keep fighting too." - Anya

Zelda: "We'll go be heroes." - Spike (shut up, I read the whole Spuffy scene and loved it but couldn't pick a particular line, so I went with the conclusion)

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

• Recurring: fancy scythe, Caleb, The First (as Buffy), Potentials (Amanda, Caridad, Vi, Kennedy, et al), Faith, Turok-hans, Andrew, Angel
• we finally find out what happened to Miss Kitty Fantastico, and it ain't pretty. Rest in peace, Miss Kitty.
• Shoutout to when Anya skipped town for the "Graduation Day" apocalypse

Stats:

Anya's Hair - blonde, curly

Dead Humans - 4

Dead Undeads - 4 (we're not counting Caleb yet because we know the future)

Dead Flashbacks - 0

Dead Potentials - 4

Giles Unconscious - 0

Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0

Buffy Breaks a Door - 0

Caleb Breaks a Wine Cask - 1

Evil Reveal - 0

Unevil Reveal - 0

Shenanigans Called - 1

Apocalypse Called - 0