Reviewed by Sanguine

From the Greeks to Freud, philosophers have believed that dreams have the ability to reveal truth. This theory apparently holds true in the Buffyverse as well, as the Slayer has been gifted with prophetic dreams, dreams that have always come true. Early this season, Buffy dreamt about Lola the Slayer-in-Training's cruel death at the hand (or more precisely the knife) of an evil monk-looking thingy, a creature we now know is the Bringer--the Harbinger--of the First Evil. In Marti Noxon and Doug Petrie's "Bring on the Night" dreams also play a significant role. But the use of altered states in this episode raises two essential questions: 1) when is Buffy dreaming, and when is she awake? and 2) is Joyce telling the truth?

Buffy's mother appears to her when she is dreaming, something the First Evil has not previously done, perhaps suggesting that Joyce is a genuine ghost. In fact, Joyce gives Buffy good advice, telling her that "You can't win against this thing. Not if you don't rest." Later she also makes some very astute observations about the nature of evil: "Buffy, no matter what your friends expect of you, evil is a part of us. All of us. It's natural. And no one can stop that." Joyce is absolutely right. Of course, as Willow pointed out, Evil can tell the truth.

Joyce's interaction with her daughter also raises another intriguing question. Joyce tells Buffy that she needs to "wake up," which, at Xander's prompting, Buffy does. But even after Buffy wakes up, is she still actually asleep? Was the whole episode a dream? When Joyce appears, the transition into Buffy's dream state is seamless; Xander continues sweeping up glass in the background and nothing else cues the audience into the fact that Buffy has fallen asleep. Joyce simply appears. Likewise, when Joyce appears to Buffy at work, the transition into dreamtime is seamless. The theory that reality isn't reality, has already been suggested on BTVS (see last season's controversial "Normal Again"). Is it possible that Buffy fell asleep after Spike's kidnapping and is still asleep? Probably not, but it's an intriguing theory. As several of you have noted, it would appear that we have a bit of a temporal displacement. "Conversations with Dead People" clearly occurred in November. A time and date tag, kindly supplied by Mutant Enemy, made sure we knew that. The episodes that followed occurred within a few days of "Conversations with Dead People." Now, suddenly, without explanation, it's Christmas time in Sunnydale? Buffy even remarks to Giles that she didn't know it was December. Gee, neither did I, at least not in the Buffyverse.

Whether or not Buffy is dreaming, whether or not Joyce is real, Noxon and Petrie's episode was constructed in such a way to make us question the behaviour of various characters. From Dawn and Anya's distasteful desire to torture Andrew, from Principal Wood's continuing ambiguous behaviour (he likes mysteries--ha!), from Giles's sudden appearance with the Slayers-in-Training, from Annabel's sudden inexplicable desire to flee the Summers house: all of these characters seemed strange, suspicious, off-kilter. Was it because they too have been infected with evil? Or are we all infected, as Joyce suggests?

I'm particularly concerned about Giles. A serious cloud of suspicion surrounds this character, as last time we saw him, a Bringer's axe was headed directly for his . . . head. Somehow he escaped . . . or did he? The evidence is equivocal. Giles makes his appearance in a rather troubling fashion: Buffy has just stated about the First Evil, "It's out there. It's hurting my friends. I'll find it." She opens the front door, and Voila! Giles! Given Mutant Enemy's penchant for the significant juxtaposition, it doesn't look good for our favourite ex-Watcher. Giles then goes on to behave suspiciously: somehow he ended up with the Council's records, conveniently stolen before the Headquarters was blown up. I don't want to think Giles is actually Morphy!Giles, but his explanations during this scene seemed somewhat lacking. Then, there was the scene with Buffy. Giles accompanies Buffy to the site where she last saw the Bringers and she unexpectedly falls down into a pit. Buffy then meets the trusty neighbourhood Ubervamp. During this fight, Giles is suspiciously quiet and when Buffy finally manages to crawl out of the pit, Giles is suspiciously gone, only appearing after Buffy has wriggled onto terra firma. No helping hand from the Watcher, no nothin'. Of course, Morphy!Giles would be incorporeal and couldn't lend a helping hand, even if he wanted to (which he wouldn't!). Despite all this evidence and clue dropping, I still believe that Giles is Real and Alive. After all, the Beeb series, Ripper, couldn't have a dead man as a lead, now could it?

This episode was also interesting because of the parallels drawn between characters, notably Spike and Andrew and Spike and Buffy. Andrew, dressed all in black, is tied up to a chair recalling Season 4 Spike's days of bondage (not the pleasant ones) at the Casa Summers. Xander and the others view him in much the same way as Season 4 Spike: an overly chatty pest who should be gagged. The parallel (as silly and superficial as it may be) was cemented when Andrew began prattling on about his journey of redemption. Har har hardy har. Spike, former geek. Andrew, current geek. Spike, former evil. Andrew, non-active current evil. Spike, on a journey of redemption, but he talked the talked before he walked the walk. Andrew, not really on a journey of redemption, talking the talk because the ropes are "itchy."

The parallel between Spike and Buffy is more interesting. Both are tortured at the hands of the Ubervamp. Both must resist hopelessness in the face of incredible odds. And both are essentially alone in their fight: Spike is alone as he faces torture with the First, Buffy is alone as the Slayer, the Chosen One. Finally, both Spike and Buffy must come to terms with the darkness within. As Joyce said, all of us have evil within us. We must resist its lure; we must face the darker side of ourselves in order to conquer it. Spike did that when he got a soul to become a better man. He did it again when he confessed to his murdering spree and begged for Buffy to kill him to protect the innocent. The demon within Spike may have relished and craved the blood, but the man in him was repulsed. Ultimately, the man won and Evil lost. Spike faced his fears: the fear that he would never be good enough, the fear that he still wouldn't be his own man, that he still wouldn't have a choice, post Soul. As he's discovering now, it's all about choices and he is a free agent. No matter what the First does to him, he will not take the easy path. He will strive to become his better self. Why? Because Buffy believes in him. Yes, it has taken an external source to make Spike believe in his capacity for goodness, but hopefully one day soon he will internalize a sense of self-worth.

Buffy too has fears and inner demons that she must confront. Because Buffy always plays her cards so close to her chest, I'm not completely sure what these demons will be. Perhaps she will need to address her fear of emotional intimacy or her inferiority complex coupled with her superiority complex (as diagnosed by Holden).

Others may also have to confront their deepest fears: Willow and her fears about her own capacity for evil (and a parallel may be drawn between Spike and Willow in future episodes); Xander and his existential crisis, his fear that his life is without meaning. The exploration of the characters' pursuit to perfect themselves as yet another apocalypse approaches, to take offensive actions instead of always reacting defensively: this could make for tremendously effective television. I hope that Mutant Enemy will choose the difficult path, the more dramatically satisfying one. I hope that we see a thoughtful, complicated exploration of the nature of evil.

We shall see.