Klytaimnestra's Review of "Villains" - Boba Fett's gone for good

by Klytaimnestra

ME has produced a fantastic episode, tight writing, excellent special effects, and man they do drama and suspense better than they do soap. But the point of the episode may have been that while the Scoobies - and we - were distracted by soap real evil grew unchecked.

Villain count so far:

Warren and Willow.

Pathetic excuses for villains:

Spike and Anya.

Isolation

So the Scoobies lose every friend they've got. Anya - vengeance demon. Spike - he's left town, didn't say how long he'd be, he didn't tell you? Willow - Tara's dead and Willow herself ain't no Scooby no more. Though she hasn't killed any Scoobies. Yet.

Warren's shed his stooges. Spike - all alone in what looks like Africa. Buffy and Xander - still operating as a team; I wonder for how long?

Nice dialogue:

The explanation of why they couldn't kill Warren was pretty impressive, to me, because Buffy seems to have figured out that being a control freak isn't in her cards. "We don't control the universe." And if we were supposed to, magic wouldn't change Willow the way it does - true, perceptive, and very creepy. And "Being the Slayer doesn't give me license to kill."

The fact that Warren IS worse than a vampire makes the debate a little more difficult. The one argument Buffy didn't use that I suppose I would have liked to hear was "I don't want to live in a world where the good guys think the law can be ignored." The argument Xander finally listened to was "I won't let Willow destroy herself."

Willow, on the other hand, has chosen the Dark Side of the Force. Knows what it's doing to her and doesn't intend to come back.

Dawn:

Dawn's keeping vigil by Tara's body was touching and adult, though phoning the police would have been good too. But as responses to shock go it had compassion and denial all at once - I can't leave her, this is TARA, it's not just a corpse. She feels safe with Spike and won't go anywhere else. Nice touch. I see it was her idea to go to Spike's, but Buffy accepts it immediately - unlike Xander, Buffy can finally tell that there are far worse things than Spike. I also like Buffy's knowledge that Spike can't hurt Dawn - because of the chip - "and anyway he wouldn't". Xander doubts this, but he just doesn't have Buffy's knowledge of Spike. Heh. (Let's hope she's not wrong...)

Willow

Here's where the fantastic special effects come in. I especially liked the script in the black arts books winding their way up Willow's arms, across her chest, and over her face.

So she saved Buffy's life - again - and through Black Arts - again. I hope she wiped the hospital records on the way out, because no way can Buffy afford those American medical bills. Memo to the Slayer: with your unusual medical needs, a move to Canada might be in order... I think we're supposed to think of Buffy's resurrection in this episode. I at least compared the situation now. Everything's gotten worse since she was resurrected. At least last time Tara was still alive, Spike was still working with the gang, Anya and Xander were on track, Willow was still Good ... perhaps Anya & Xander's breakup was a good thing. Perhaps Spike needs to face his true self. Perhaps it was Tara's time. (Sure it was: ME gets to say when it's time.) But things still seem to have degenerated in the last few months.

Willow's vengeance on Warren was, uh, spectacular, precisely because it was so perfectly suited to the crime. Feel what you did; but feel it for a much longer time. I assumed that when he began to slump it was when his spine was cut. The description of what was happening allowed us to imagine it just as Warren did; frightening and riveting at once. But flaying and then combusting him was over-the-top. Willow's "bored now" reminds us all of Vamp Willow, just as Angel's torture scene in Forgiveness makes it clear that he's capable of being just as bad as Angelus. Willow's last line, "one down," tells us she's about to go farther over the line, and reminded me of Jonathan's last line in the comic-relief jail scene, "face it, NO ONE cares enough to come for us." Though I hope I'm wrong, but who else could she mean?

Warren

His last day on earth was pretty pathetic. He tries to kill the Slayer and misses. He betrays his stooges, whom he doesn't even think about rotting in a jail cell. He sweeps into the demon bar and discovers a) that no one's heard of "the Trio" - maybe word travels in the underworld, but only for important things? b) that he's still just a Happy Meal; c) that even among demons, the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend, especially if he's a pathetic, cowardly little creep. He gets taken paying for directions to Rack. Rack takes all his money and gives him nothing much. His robot, his flying gadget, and his one spell all fail. So much for the Criminal Mastermind of Sunnydale: it's not just that he failed - he didn't even show up on radar.

Except Willow's, eventually, and entirely by accident. Sorry, Warren.

Anya

I was delighted to see that Anya hadn't done her hair. After changing it every single episode, she's just raked it back into a ponytail. Not trying to impress anyone anymore. Yes, I'm a vengeance demon. Yes, I'll help you; though really I'm helping Willow. What did she mean by that? That it would not be good for Willow to kill Warren. How does Anya know that taking vengeance isn't good for the perpetrator? I think it's something she's just learned. I like the Anya who isn't kowtowing to Xander anymore. Whatever happens there, he's going to have to deal with the real Anya, not Anya the desperate-to-please clingy girlfriend. Since Anya & Xander have paralleled but led Buffy and Spike all along, I can't help but wonder what this foreshadows for B/S.

Xander

He's still got it in for Spike, perhaps for more reason than usual. Anya doesn't waste time cutting Xander any slack. Prize stupid question from Xander: "When, uh - " I loved Anya's "When do you think?" and its implication, "deal with it." He has the emotional reaction about Warren (I'm with Dawn) but is swayed by Buffy's argument; eventually he can listen to reason. He deals with Anya like a reasonable person, recognizing that the size of this crisis sweeps any petty personal problems aside. As does

Buffy

Buffy the general comes back at last. Her priorities are clear and her thinking is quick and decisive. Glad to see you again, girl. She sets aside the personal to deal with the immediate crisis. Willow has to be found; of course Dawn is going to Spike's; we need a locator spell, I'll handle that if you don't want to go Xander; no, we can't kill Warren.

Buffy didn't knock on the crypt door, but she did open it fairly quietly and say "Spike - " which is more polite than anything she's done all year. Of course after their last meeting a gentle approach is necessary; and she's asking him for a favour; and she knows he is not going to be expecting her, or will be expecting her to show up with a stake. She doesn't crack until the very end of the visit. "Did he say when he's be back?" Hm. Not quite indifferent, are we.

Spike:

Here's my one complaint: there wasn't enough of him. He wants to be evil again, no question. The chip has made him soft and the Slayer's castrated him. He wants to go "back to his former self". Of course he's had a few... I see he travelled all the way to Africa (or maybe the West Indies?) in the same t-shirt and jeans he was wearing when he set out (motorcycle all the way?) but perhaps vampires don't sweat. Or get dusty, or fall off their bikes, or get mussed up when travelling in a cargo hold. Or however he got there. I would have liked a LITTLE explanation, please, folks, but maybe it's not important. For now: Spike wants to be evil again. The Big Bad Glowing Eyed Demon Thing thinks he doesn't have what it takes. I don't think the BBGEDT is a good guy. Interesting stuff!

Overall:

Finally tying things together. This was Marti Noxon at her best. I expect that next week Willow will go farther over the line, and that Dawn will continue to turn down Clem's offers of Bugles and liverwurst.

One question for film buffs:

what was Clem watching? "Stop where you are, Mr. Norton." "John!" I'm sure it's relevant, and I wish I knew ...

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Klytaimnestra