Empty Places

*Kris settles into her comfy chair, pats Furry!Spike on the head, and gets ready to review this week's ep...*

It wasn't a sweeps-level episode, but this ep was definitely an improvement over our last outing.

<We interrupt this review to play musical beds with toddlers>

It's kind of appropriate that my boys are playing musical beds tonight... we just saw a game of musical chairs played out on-screen in this ep. More on that later.

Short stuff first:

Go Spike! Moment:

One of the things I'm going to miss the most about Buffy is the power of the Spike eye-roll. When he's not showing his exasperation with Andrew, he's letting Giles know just what he thinks of Giles and his machinations. And who knew that the name "Rupert" could have so much meaning?

Art-Imitating-Life-Moment:

Andrew and Anya's training session had me howling. The whole scene was just great (especially the girls scattering to the four winds in their rush to get off the Break-Up-Sex cot), but after spending most of my working day in a corporate brainstorming session that had me doodling on one of those post-it boards, I couldn't stop laughing. Maybe they've been killing time watching "Office Space."

Sniffle Inducing Moment:

Did we really need a Sniffle Inducing Moment two weeks in a row? Willow and Xander in the hospital were just heart-wrenching - especially when Xander begged Willow to not start crying. <sob>

Whoo-hoo Moment:

Clem's coming to visit me! If he's indeed going to a "7-11.. in Nebraska...", then I've got a parking spot waiting for him. Heck - he could even use our shed to play kitten poker.

Not that he'd swing any of the winnings, of course...

Seriously - it was really cool to see Clem. I was a bit bummed that we didn't get to see him interact with Spike, but more on that in a moment.

Big Stuff:

We've all seen Buffy close herself off little by little this season, which is kinda scary seeing as how she wasn't exactly Miss Open Door when we started. The strain of being responsible for all of the SITs has been taking its toll, the strain of not being able to simply defeat the First and its minions has done a number on her, and then there's the little matter of her feeling that she can't trust Giles any more.

Is it any wonder that she looks like she's on the verge of a nervous breakdown?

Tonight we saw issues that were touched on in earlier eps this season all come together in one messy confrontation. We had Buffy's black and white, "I'm the leader, and what I see goes" mentality questioned by the very woman who almost got killed as a result of Buffy's world view at the beginning of the season. We had numerous references to the damage in the relationship between Buffy and Giles that was caused by Giles and Wood's attempt to keep Buffy out of the way while Wood killed Spike. We had Buffy's superiority complex get brought out into the open. We even heard Buffy herself tell Faith that even if Faith *didn't* want the responsibility, the lives of the SITs were now in Faith's hands.

And really, when you think about it - did Buffy *want* the responsibility for taking care of the SITs? If I remember correctly, Giles simply showed up with some SITs in tow, without any warning. Before you knew it, Casa Summers was Casa Slayers in Training, and Buffy was suddenly the one everyone looked to to have someone run the show. Giles wasn't really helping with the leadership bit, and Buffy did the best she could with the resources she had... and apparently, that isn't enough.

What really got me about the whole confrontation tonight was the conspicuous absence of Spike. Buffy said it best to Giles: he's the one person she feels that she can unequivocally count on to guard her back right now. She trusts him implicitly, and he's the one person I could see who would possibly have a chance at this point of getting her to stop and fall back. We saw it happen last week, and I don't know how it would have played out tonight. In the end, Buffy is out on the streets alone, not knowing where her one ally (in her mind) is, and hoping to keep herself safe.

Here's something that bothered me, by the way: Buffy told the group that she was going to the school to get her things. Didn't anyone think it was a bit strange that she wasn't back by the time that they went Bronzing? Or is it just me? The SITs are so used to worrying about their own safety that they don't seem to worry about Buffy's well-being at all - and that's probably not such a good thing. Misguided leadership efforts or not, Buffy really is trying to protect them *and* do her duty at the same time - and with everything that has happened, I think a good number of the SITs have lost sight of that.

Back to Spike. He didn't have much of a storyline this week, but he sure did get the important find, didn't he? I loved the interaction with Andrew - and I even learned how a blooming onion is made. Education *and* entertainment - gotta love it.

And now for the musical chairs portion of our entertainment. Ready? Here we go. Andrew takes the "Bad Cop" seat from Anya. Anya takes the "Tell it like it is" seat back from Spike. Spike takes the "Translate the old and foreign inscription" seat from Dawn, who took it from Willow, who shared it with Giles. Giles takes the "British One or Two Word Multiple Meanings Interjection" seat from Spike with his "Windmills" comment. Dawn takes the "Riding on the Policeman's Back" seat from the rodeo riders on the Outdoor Living channel. Faith takes the "Slayer" seat from Buffy.

And Buffy takes the "Trying to do your best, but your best just isn't good enough" seat from Spike.

Last big thought of the night:

"It is meant for her alone to wield." Rather ironic, considering how Buffy is indeed alone at this point in the fight (especially with Spike not being in town). Is this foreshadowing for the end?

Quotes of the Night:

"Is this a mission from which you *expect* Spike to return?" Buffy, grumbling at Giles.

"Their lives are yours." Buffy, handing over the reins (and the strain?) of leadership to Faith.

"Tell anyone that we had this conversation, and I'll bite you." Spike, in what was one of the best one-liners of the night.

Dear Hubby Quote of the Night:

"Well, that took a strange turn." Hubby, as we cut to commercial at the end of the ep.

Ewwwwwwww score:

3 out of 10. There really wasn't any out of the ordinary gore this week. Kinda nice, actually.

Furry Spike score:

3 paws. There wasn't much Spike-time, but it was such quality...

Overall:

8 out of 10. An improvement over the last ep, but I'm still waiting for the big push (which, of course, will start next week with sweeps...). It will be interesting to see what happens...

Hugs to all...

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Kris