Things I LOVED about As You Were

by AurelioZen

There were so many great moments that I loved in this episode:

Buffy invited Spike in to have dinner with Dawn and her en famille.

Riley apologized to Buffy for leaving her bed to get suck jobs from the vamp hos.

Buffy defended Spike when Riley mocked him and hit him and reprimanded Riley for his harshness to Spike.

Buffy never flirted with Riley, and that she was able to look beyond herself and be happy for him and his perfect life.

Buffy told Spike that the relationship was bad for both of them and that she didn't want to hurt him any more. And the part where she apologized for beating him up in "Dead Things" was just heartbreaking. I love how this scene showcased Buffy's growing warmth and kindness toward Spike. It makes me long for the day when they will be together again.

The Stinger missile hit Riley's helicopter and it went down in flames.

My favorite part of all was how the demon eggs were the culmination of weeks of hints and clues that Spike had become a figure in the demon underworld again. They've built this up since we saw his debts in the kitten poker game, and made it extraordinarily clear that he'd sought an alternative source of income this way. I'm deeply satisfied that ME's writers have handled this with all the finesse and fine plotting that we've always expected from them - just as they've handled the brilliant story of Willow's descent into evil through her desire for power. Lesser writers might have tossed in those eggs out of the blue with nary a warning beforehand to justify Buffy's breakup with Spike because he's irredeemably evil and beneath her. Similarly, talentless hacks like the people who write for "Charmed" might have drawn a clumsy parallel with drug addiction for Willow's use of magic. Thank goodness ME is so very much better than that!

Oh ... wait! I seem to be discussing the episode that happened in my head. Let's try this again.

Things I really liked about this episode:

uh ... ummmm ... hmmmmm ... dum dum de dum dum ...

Boy, Subway Spike in the credits sure looks hot, doesn't he?

AZ,
who has worn down her molars from grinding her teeth with seismic force