Musings from the Comfy Chair
back to episode 7.07 - Conversations With Dead People
Conversations With Dead People<Kris perches on the edge of her Comfy Chair, eagerly awaiting the newest sweeps-worthy installment of BTVS, as Furry!Spike curls up at her feet....> Oh, my... The Diet Coke nearly went flying a few times tonight before I finally gave up and put it out of my reach on the end table... Love it, hate it, or just be highly disturbed by it - this was one heckuva ep, ladies and gents... This is the kind of ep that makes you whimper because we have to wait a whole *7* days before we get the follow-up! And before I go any further: Thank YOU! to all of the wonderful people who e-mailed me, both on-list and off-list, to tell me that the music from last week's ep was from "The Summer Place." I never imagined that so many people would read my rantings, ravings, and musings to begin with... to get feedback is just incredible. You all made my week. So... let's get to the quick thoughts, shall we? Say WHAT? moment:Since when did Andrew become the planmaker? And Jonathan and Andrew making their reappearance in an El Camino was just too classic... A new fledgling is this strong and quick? What the frilly heck was going on in the graveyard? Okay, okay, we figured it out later on... but did we? More on that in a bit.
Dawn fooling around at being a slayer? This whole scene just had me rolling... and you just *knew* that it was a set up for bad things to come. Come on, this is the Joss-verse... people can't have fun and be happy for too long, right? I did have to laugh over the big chunk of plaster popping out of the wall when Dawn pulled the bolt out (and her attempts to hide the damage with the tree). I wonder if Buffy is going to notice, considering everything else that happened.
Cassie’s DEAD!!!!!!!! That says it all, folks.
The return of the Dawn scream… powerful enough to overcome any evil? Yikes, that girl can scream. As Dear Hubby says: she does it well. Ouch. I think my ears are still ringing. (And poor Furry!Spike - you just know that had to hurt...)
Was it just me, or did Warren direct Andrew to take Jonathan into the room where Buffy first found Spike? If he did, then *oh boy*... it may explain quite a bit about Spike's behavior... and if I was worried about our favorite Sex Pistols fan before, I'm even more worried now.
Dang - the whole episode could have been called "Say WHAT?" and it would have worked.
Let's see... who reappeared? Andrew is being guided by what he believes to be Warren (his apparent true love), Dawn sees Joyce (who she loves), Willow can't "see" Tara (because she's been a naughty girl, and those pesky contracts got in the way) - but she sees Cassie - who was presented as being slightly like Willow during Willow's high school days, and Buffy sees Holden - someone who she essentially treated as being beneath her in high school, but who can get her to talk to him now... and oh, by the way - did he mention that Spike is his sire?
Oy. It's enough to make your head spin.
And if that weren't enough, the only views we get of Spike are of him apparently seducing a blond and then killing her on her doorstep - in the light, no less - and enjoying every minute of it. I'll get back to that in a second.
There were so many things that we saw tonight... Morphy (was it Morphy?) revealed himself/herself/itself to Willow - and we learned that life as we know it is already over - the war is on. Is this the "Danzelthar" that Jonathan referred to with Andrew? Or is Danzelthar a thing, rather than a creature? Unfortunately, poor Jonathan is dead, killed by Andrew's hand, and apparently sacrificed to the symbol that the two of them unearthed in the basement of the high school. Why do I have a feeling that Xander's construction company is going to be getting some more business soon? And what the heck was that symbol, anyway?
I was glad to see them return... and when Warren reappeared, I honestly did just about fall out of my chair. Yipes! I didn't catch the name of the director of this episode, but it was just top-notch. The multiple shots of Warren standing just behind Jonathan's shoulder were beyond creepy - I'm still getting chills just thinking about it. Andrew flubbing up the entry into the school was just hilarious, and the insulting rapidly changing into geek-speak was just too funny for words. And the Star Wars references: Bwaha!
Dawn's episode in the house was just terrifying. I'm wondering if the beast we saw hovering over Joyce's body was a good being trying to keep "Joyce" from getting through to Dawn, if they were both evil... or worse yet, if Joyce was really telling the truth. Ouch. And, hello? The shots of Joyce on the couch with the whited-out eyes? Disturbing much? Thought so. And don't even get me started on the whole "Mother's Milk is Red Today" on the walls...
And then there's Buffy. Miss I-Don't-Have-Any-Issues Buffy. She's wearing the braids again this week... two of them, if I counted correctly. I liked that the storyline established from the get-go that this was no ordinary vampire - he was most definitely not your average fledgling (like we saw in "Lessons"). He got Buffy's respect... and then when he recognized her (or did he, really?), he got her to talking... and we learned all kinds of things about Miss Summers tonight, didn't we? Spike said it best in OMWF: "Whisper in a dead man's ear... doesn't make it real..." Buffy practically *shouted* this evening - and I almost fell out of the Comfy Chair when she admitted that she was a Bitca to Spike last year! Wow... I honestly never thought we'd hear that, gang... and while Buffy grumbled and pouted to herself about how she "let" Spike take her over, she also said that that was what she wanted. Talk about issues... The multitude of fanfic writers who specialize in B/S fic will tell you that half of the allure of seeing Buffy and Spike match up against and with each other is that they do have such strong personalities... and they need to work together to keep them in balance. And, perhaps, that's what we're working towards this season, against the backdrop of everything else that's going wrong. Buffy says that no one else understands what she's going through, because she's the only Slayer. It sure seems to me that Spike is going through more than his fair share of trials... and I'm anxious to see where this all goes. Wasn't it rather interesting that Buffy at one point announced that she felt that she was "beneath" her friends? Hmmmmm.....
In the end, we learn that Buffy has, as Holden puts it, an inferiority complex over her superiority complex. She knows that she's been becoming a person that she doesn't want to be, but she honestly doesn't seem to know how to stop her behavior. Perhaps Giles needs to make a timely return with his gourd... Love.... Give... and Forgive seem to be in order at this point, wouldn't you say? And for all the complaints I've heard over the past year over SMG's emotionless presentation of Buffy - the look of betrayal and disbelief on her face as she stood in Holden's dust tonight was just perfect.
Willow, in the meantime, is getting played for a fool by Morphy, who has her believing that she's talking to Tara through Cassie. Alyson Hannigan's acting was out of the ballpark tonight... and to see Morphy throw Willow's pain back in her face at the end was unbelievably painful (as I'm sure it was meant to be). I liked that Brainy!Willow was able to figure out that something just wasn't quite right with Morphy's attempts to get Willow to give up her magic - but now I'm wondering just *why* it was so important to Morphy that Willow be out of the picture. Big things are afoot... but you knew that already, didn't you? And the last lines Morphy said to Willow - eeeeeeeeeeeeee....
Was it a coincidence that we heard characters express desires to return to high school tonight? Jonathan misses all of his friends - and all of the people who didn't know him. Holden gets Buffy to reminisce a bit about her high school years, and makes some pointed comments along the way. We know that Willow wants to go back to when Tara was alive, because life was so much better in her eyes then... Dawn wants her Mom to come back - it was all adding up to *something,* but I wasn't sure of what. I also thought it was rather interesting that we had the flashbacks to "The Body" - the ep where we didn't see Spike at all - and in this ep, Spike didn't say a word. And were we supposed to think of "Hush" at all? Or how about "The Yoko Factor" - when Spike was the one to splinter the group apart? Was it significant that an episode that had Spike at its center was echoed tonight... when Spike's actions were highlighted at the end?
Youch. I think I need another Diet Coke just to keep my eyes from crossing after getting all of that out.
And then... there's Spike. What in the world is going on? You just know that there's more going on here than meets the eye. It wasn't a coincidence that Buffy only felt comfortable spilling to someone who was a preppy studious guy before his turning (hmmm... remind you of anyone we "know"?)... and was it an accident that we saw Buffy lying on a sarcophagus *on a book*, much like we used to see Spike the last couple of years? And how about the scene with Buffy and Holden crashing through the stained glass window into a set that was heavily reminiscent of Spike's crypt in the old days? Having all this happen in an episode where we suddenly see Spike "going bad," with Xander nowhere in sight, is just too easy... there's something going on that we just haven't seen yet. Remember: Spike was the first one to see Morphy in *all* of his guises - and Spike told Buffy in "Lessons" (as he stood in the infamous room from tonight) that there was no one there "... but the three of us." Is Spike being possessed by Morphy? Spike's the only one of the people we saw tonight who we know to have been affected by Morphy who isn't *alive* - could that mean that he's more susceptible to being possessed than they are? And why in the world would you want a souled vampire to be siring other vamps? Maybe it would be to torment that soul even more, so that the holder of the soul (aka: Spike) would be driven to insanity, and thus unable to fight the evil that's about to rise.
Enquiring minds wanna know, dang it. And I'm more than happy to share my rose-colored glasses with anyone who wants to use 'em.
"It eats you starting with your bottom." - Andrew, taking the infamous FBYID line, and murdering its translation from Spanish. Ole!
"I’m here to kill you, not to judge you." - Holden, using his charm to get Buffy to open up to him.
"I’m a Slayer… it’s kind of a thing." - Buffy, getting deeply philosophical about her calling.
"Major Freaky." - After the whole exploding-microwave-TV-won't-turn-off-there's-something-in-the-house scene with Dawn. <shiver> I agree.
7.5 out of 10. No real gore in this one, unless you count the shot of Spike, ah, savoring his moment in the spotlight... and the disappearance of Cassie/Morphy/whatever it was? Definitely shudder-worthy.
3 paws and a wag. This was an incredible episode... with lots of subtle (and not so subtle) reminders of episodes and days gone by... but without any spoken words from Spike, it was missing something. And why in the world didn't we see Xander and Anya? I'm sure that's important... but why?
Last week I said that I thought we were in for a bit of a roller coaster ride. I should point out that I *hate* roller coasters - I've been on one that just went up and down - no loops or twisty turns - and I almost passed out from sheer terror. This week's ep reminded me of that ride - just when I thought things were calming down, we went careening down another unexpected drop... and the station is nowhere in sight.
Hugs to all,
God, I love this show. And we get all kinds of Spike next week, from the looks of the promo.
Buckle up, kiddies. Uncle Joss is taking us for a ride - again.
Hugs to all...
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