Two to Go (Small Review)

Two to Go picks up immediately where Villains left off. Villains, a strong episode that is offers the pay off to a grim season and while the characters are demonstrably played by extremely talented actors, there's something that seems vaguely lacking.

Key moments in the episode include Dawn's visitation to Rack's abode where Dark Willow rakes her over the coals for her abysmally whiny behavior. While tragic in circumstance, the scene itself seems more funny than sad. Anya's use of her teleportation ability and evident frustration at being able to offer anything else were both endearing and extremely true of the character. Unlike most of the other characters this season, Anya's basic chemistry and strengths have remained stable.

Scenes I questioned were Buffy's need to get to Willow tempered by her need to let Xander and Anya keep up. On her way towards finding Willow I might have understood, but by keeping her pace to Xander's she severely handicapped herself.

That Buffy is no match for Black Magic Willow is hardly worth questioning. Jonathon shows admittedly strong impulses, once again demonstrating that while weak of self-control, he does have a strong sense of moral right and wrong. Andrew is pathetic in his need to have someone take control and lead them out of the situation.

Overall, the episode's pacing was remarkably handled and in contrast to Villains, Spike's scenes were a compliment to it rather than a jarring extraction of the viewer from the overall pace of the rest of the episode.

The single best moment, of course, comes at the conclusion of the episode.

Willow - "No power on this earth can stop me now."

And Giles - "I'd like to test that theory."

Never has a face been more welcome to see return to the screen.

Grave

Picking up with the strong lead in from Two To Go, a confrontation ensues between Willow and Giles that has been a long time coming. From the moment that Giles called Willow a rank amateur, we have awaited the moment when these two would come face to face.

Giles demonstrates a power we haven't seen before, but that is soon explained. The rewards continued in his return to see the light return to Buffy's expression and the relief to Anya's. The desperate happiness they felt at the return of Giles was akin to the desperate relief we as fans felt in seeing his kind, wise face. What followed was an act I found questionable at best. Why on Earth Giles would leave Willow alone in the front room with Anya while he and Buffy played catch up in the back room seemed suspicious at best and in the worst tradition of needing actions to fit a plot, out of character.

However, the most charming moment came hot on the heels of Buffy's confession that she was sleeping with Spike (note present tense) to a Giles who appeared neither disgusted, disappointed nor upset. Instead, he laughed rather hysterically.

From this extremely poignant moment, where tears and relief tempered laughter, we were reminded of what a deep void has existed in this grim, stark year. Giles' loss was profound, how profound was illustrated in this simple scene.

Contrasting sharply against this was the brutal smarminess of Xander revealing Buffy's "near-rape" by Spike as he decided to defend his manliness against Dawn's accusation that he was running away. It was pathetic and frankly, Xander should have been smacked for that line alone. Too bad it was not alone.

The episode continued with Buffy's futile chase after the fireball and rescue of the nerd duo. Then she and Dawn end up in a hole.

The credibility of the episode wavers, as Buffy cannot figure out how to get them out. She can run faster than a car and can jump a six-foot fence, but she couldn't get out of the hole.

Once again, circumstances and characters are twisted to suit the plot instead of the plot being measured against the character's skills.

Anya's performance, however, remains powerful both in how she is used by Willow to be freed to her desperate care for Giles as he lay weakened and dying by Willow draining him. A shipper's delight perhaps, but so utterly raw and real in emotion that it reminded us once again of how much we have missed Giles' interaction with all of these people.

The trouble I found was when they twisted Willow's pain to be so profound she wanted to destroy the world. Color me silly, but huh? It seemed to take all that raw pain and anger and transform it into the cheese of restless. It subtracted from the dramatic impact and please don't get me started on the rising of a satanic temple, which was a slap in the face of most "dark" powers as they have been represented in the Buffyverse. Characters, once again, being twisted and manipulated to fit the plot.

At the end, we are treated to Xander's unconditional sacrifice and love saving the world and Willow from herself. That this scene, once again, screams manipulation doesn't change the fact that it stretches credibility. That Xander loves and adores Willow and Buffy is unquestionable, but that his love is unconditional is. His love has ever been selfish and self-centered where they are concerned, perhaps he found a moment of unconditional love in him for this or perhaps it was only that he did love her that was needed to get through combined with the love she absorbed from Giles.

Either way, it was a cheesy ending to an already incredulous situation.

We switch back to Buffy who is sobbing tears of profound relief that all is safe and Willow as well as the world are probably safe. She bonds with Dawn, apologizing for her distance and don't mind that Dawn doesn't apologize for her own selfish behavior. But the setup smacks of Buffy spending all of next year honing and shaping Dawn to inherit the Earth as it were.

Perhaps it was a payoff, but it felt cheap by comparison.

Anya's gratitude at Giles' being alive remained a strong counterpoint and poignant. We can only hope that Giles will be present for the season premiere next year to continue that particular thread.

The only cliffhanger was Spike, beaten, bloodied and exhausted as he completed the lurking demon's test. His exhaustion and resignation was tempered by a bitterness that culminated in the demon announcing he would return his soul and Spike's agonized scream before the screen went black.

Perhaps I am reading too much into it as the writers seem more interested in twisting characters to serve whatever plot they want to tell rather than the story the characters have been relating, but the cliffhanger didn't leave me hanging.

And there we have it; season six does not end with a bang, but a whimper.

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Heather Long