Kly's thoughts on "Touched"

Just briefly?

Damn, we called so much of it that I feel as if I was spoiled even though I wasn't.

Buffy needs to connect with people, and has Buffiphany # 247 in which she finally realises it? Check. (And will this matter? Duh.)

Dark Slayer and Dark Spike (aka Wood) get it on - in Buffy's bed - lots of chemistry btw? Check. Loved the "sit by your phone, I'll call you if I need you" line the next morning though. I'm guessing that Wood still hasn't resolved his Oedipal issues. And that he's now thinking "what the hell do I have to do to come BEFORE the Mission?"

Brief conversation between Dawn and Giles in which Dawn expresses remorse and Giles expresses none? Check. I mean, we had to see him doing SOMETHING - remorsing or not remorsing. He is not remorsing. And while I'm on the subject of Giles. A) he killed the Harbinger, who is, you know, human, and was, you know, chained up, harmless, and defenseless. And B) he did it before we could really be sure the Harbinger was finished spilling the goods.

I'm still not sure which side Giles is on. Or which side he thinks he's on, for that matter. But it is certain that he didn't get the "no killing humans except in self-defense" memo, or if he did, he threw it out awhile back. And this does not augur well.

While I'm on the subject of Dawn, look, I'm sorry to say this, but she isn't that bright. She did not just pick up Turkish last summer; or cuneiform a couple of months back. She is an ordinary 16-year-old, she is not a Willow 16-year-old. Hasn't anyone wondered what's going on with her?

The long-drawn-out Spike-and-Buffy courtship gets yanked up another notch or two in the anticipation sweepstakes, they cuddle, they sleep, he kisses her hair, she does not kiss him and says she wishes she wasn't The One (he loves) - oh, please, cut us some slack here. Though she obviously was in no mood, and I wouldn't have believed it if they'd jumped each other. At least it looks like he passed the before-we-have-sex-you-have-to-prove-you-respect-me-by-sleeping-with-me-for- a-night-without-jumping-my-bones test, which is more than any of my old boyfriends ever - but I digress -

Beginning to wonder if those who think that the almost-rape means they will never get to have sex again might be right though. I mean, this was very much a not-sex scene wasn't it. And then there was Buffy's awfully resonant line, "You really have trouble with that word (i.e. "No"), don't you?" Though; on the other hand; when Caleb calls her a "whore" the next morning, as Wood did, it doesn't phase her at all and she calls him on his language. (Is Buffy Caleb's Shadow? I mean, the Mayor objects to Faith's language, and he's her Shadow - okay, just a thought ...) So maybe a night of not jumping Spike's bones was necessary to restore Buffy's respect for herself, too.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of Buffy and Spike's night in the not-sack, that note didn't just say "gone to the Vineyard, back soon" - it was two pages long. I'm thinking she isn't expecting to come back, and said whatever she wanted to be sure she said before she died. Whatever that was. I'm betting Spike will never tell anyone what was in it, leaving fans with the Ultimate Fan Fiction Challenge II, "what did the note Buffy left Spike say?" (I think it said "thanks for everything and I'm sorry", so now you know my particular fantasies).

Buffy was right all along, the thing that belongs to Buffy is in the Vineyard - the one place that for some reason the SG and Potentials didn't even consider looking? Check check check, woo hoo, did I call it or did I call it, excuse me while I do a victory lap ...

Though, okay, the First WAS angling to get Buffy to bring them all (somewhere) where they could all be killed - and simply shifted focus to Faith when the gang wouldn't play along with Buffy. Which makes it look as if maybe leaders and armies is REALLY the wrong paradigm.

And if we have Giles telling Faith she's doing a good job, at this point that's a real clue that she's heading full-tilt in the wrong direction.

Now re: touch. There is good touching and bad touching. And then, for visuals I'm going to really try to forget, there is touching that involves Kennedy's tongue with a steel ball piercing, things I did NOT need to know - on the other hand, strangely intriguing - no. NOT going there - but then on the other hand there was that wonderful visual of Anya and Xander, Anya first thinking no one in the world should ever have sex again because she isn't, followed by the two of them frantically humping on the kitchen floor, displacement activity ice cream forgotten, both of them suddenly and powerfully reconnected to the life force - suddenly I like her again, okay, I'm fickle, because last week I was ready to throw her to the dogs - her besetting sin is envy, but I do like her immediacy -

But. Sorry, distracted. To continue. There is good touching and bad touching. Spike and Buffy last year were naughty and experienced (one gathers) pretty much every form there is of bad touching, that is, touching uninformed by mutual respect, trust or love. Now they have experienced good, if dull, touching, which we got to watch. We never, ever saw them cuddle or sleep together last year. So, this is good.

And what has Buffy learned from this? To avoid bad touching.

Specifically, never to let a woman-hating jerk with evil superpowers lay a finger on her. He may be strong, but she's not only strong - she's fast. And she's a whole lot faster on her feet when she's on her own, with no potential hostages to slow her down.

Not sure why she didn't bring Spike with her. Perhaps because he's not her partner. Perhaps because she still thinks a Slayer always has to be on her own.

Further examples of bad touching: Spike shouldn't have hit Faith a bunch of times, because now we really do have a Light Slayer & Partner vs. Dark Slayer & Partner fight brewing. Buffy, however, is taking the high road, and refuses Spike's offer to put her back in charge (and make Faith look like a messy accident) - so I'm hoping that's a storyline that fizzles. Faith, unfortunately, has been swayed. And her evil/not-evil radar isn't working too well or she wouldn't have been in Buffy's bed with Wood. (Another example of bad touching? Not sure.)

The one thing we can be sure of, from the Mayor's appearance to Faith, is that ultimately Buffy is the Slayer that matters.

Note on BtVS/AtS convergence - both shows have recently emphasized nonverbal communication. Touch, on Buffy; blood, on Angel. There is something that matters more than words.