Conversations with Dead People

by Mary

This is one weird episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We have no Xander and NO Anya **grumble grumble**, none of the lead characters even speak to each other, Spike does not talk at all, and no one really saves the day or anything. We also have more dead folks, or are they manifest spirits, chatting away about various things aka "Lessons." And, much like that episode, everyone falls for it. Some tricks always work, next thing you know they will create a diversion and everyone will go running over. Seriously though, I like but do not love this episode. The Willow and Dawn scenes are terribly engrossing. However, the Spike scenes are well I don't have the right four letter word for them right now, and Buffy's yammering with some vamp at the graveyard is unbearable. Did I mention yammering? On and on and on. And on I think they stole all of Spike's lines, that is why he has nothing to say at all. Evil Chatty Willow from last year would have told them to pipe down.

The episode starts with Spike looking good and introspective at the Bronze, Buffy waiting for a vampire to be reborn, Willow about to fall asleep at the library, and Dawn coming home to an empty house. Yep, that is all the action we get. There is only one line of dialog in this bit, the rest is played with no talking but cool song in the background about "where were you ". This song will stay in your head for hours so be warned. The next scene is more lively, with Jonathan and Andrew driving into town because well no one ever has enough sense to stay out of Sunnydale once they leave. This scene is funny and witty and enjoy it while you can. Not much fun happens afterwards. Maybe rewind, watch a few times to prepare yourself for what is to come.

Following, we have Buffy fighting a vamp in the graveyard , what a concept I know, and Dawn at home doing a Buffy impression that frankly worries me. No Dawn the Vampire Slayer ever! Then it starts hitting the fan. Dawn hears a suspiciously loud sound of someone falling at her house, and then Willow is startled by my dear sweet I am so in your fan listing Cassie who is looking pretty spiffy for a dead seer I must say. I am delighted, even though the fact that she is there because they could not sign Amber is pretty obvious but I will take Cassie anyway I can get her. These two talk and Cassie is trying to calm Willow down as she is rightfully upset. She is dead and all. When Cassie tells Willow that "she still sings to her," the look on Willow' s face when she realizes that "she" means Tara is absolutely heartbreaking. Wow, now that is acting folks.

Back to Dawn, who is watching TV and chatting with Kat on the phone when suddenly things start freaking out. Dawn freaks pretty hard too and starts smashing electrical appliances like mad. Good scenes really, although a scene where she cannot turn off the TV may be foreshadowing coming scenes with Buffy where I desperately wanted to turn my monitor off. Well, to make a long story short, Dawn comes to suspect the noises et cetera in her house are actually her mom after hearing her voice on a radio she just smashed. And Buffy and the vampire aka Holden start chatting after he says he knew her in school. She does not remember but they keep chatting on and on and on and on., distracting her from hearing Dawn's frantic call on the cell phone in which I reckon Dawn was going to tell her to knock it off, that she and Willow have interesting stuff to do. If only she had taken that call. At Casa Summers, poor Dawn is getting the deluxe back from the dead treatment from someone and it is pretty scary. Had the manifest spirits in "Lessons" done all this, they would have had better luck at whatever it was they were doing. What were they doing anyway?

I digress. Moving on, Jonathan and Andrew are breaking into the school library. Jonathan wants to get Buffy to help them but Andrew does not because he is a little weasel. Turns out, Jonathan wants to get a seal of something or another and save folks in Sunnydale and join the Scoobies. I am all for that but he has to get rid of Andrew first. Oops, I spoke too soon. They have to get rid of Andrew and Warren first as he shows up in this scene too to chat up Andrew. Turns out these two are working together and plotting against the Superstar, Jonathan. I am simply overjoyed to see Andrew and Warren together again, especially in an episode with poor heartbroken Willow grieving for Tara. And that is in fact sarcasm. Why can' t Glory or Dru or the Master or the Mayor come back instead?? Stupid Morphy picking lame Big Bads to imitate.

To make things worse, the next scene involves Willow and Cassie again, and it is so heartrending. I do not overstate things. ** Stupid Warren killing Tara.** After noting that Tara cannot be there because of the deaths Willow caused, Cassie starts speaking for Tara. Then Willow starts saying all the things you would say to a dead loved one and it is heartbreaking and both actresses should be very proud of their work here. Willow is especially effective and my heart breaks for her, you can really feel all of her emotions. Good stuff, I can't think of anything snaky to say and you know how rare that is. Sadly, Buffy and Holden quickly rectify this as they are still conversing about life and romance and blah blah blah blah. Buffy is admitting to almost every bitchy thing she has ever done and you can almost hear the folks at ME saying, "Please forgive her. We did not mean to make her look so bad to some of you last year. If you guys hold a grudge against her, this whole season is pretty much shot all to hell. Please, please, please take this token apology." **Yawn** Oh yeah, and somewhere in there a pretty blonde girl comes and sits down next to Spike at the bar because, even silent, he is very attractive. But you all knew that already.

More Buffy and Holden chatting follows, then a little sparing and blah blah blah. Dawn is still being haunted and sees her poor mom on the couch as well as some ominous dark form lurking over her. Dawn tells that thing to get off her mom and then BOOM the axe she was swinging at the electrical appliances comes out of nowhere and swings at her and she hears a spooky voice saying," Get out!" but thankfully not "Get out, get out, get out." She thinks it over and decides to stay and protect her mom and probably to take out more electrical appliances. Damn them!

Just when things are getting creepy, we go back to the Troika in Spike's old pad in the high school basement. They have a map but it is like a very detailed maze down there, what the hell was Xander Inc. thinking when they built this thing? Well, Andrew sees Warren but Jonathan does not (lucky bloke) and I am yelling at the screen," Run Jonathan run!" Things are looking bad for him but he does not listen to me and they start digging in the basement. Nothing good can come of this.

No, it can't be! More Holden and Buffy carryings on. No, make the horror stop, break the talisman, make your wishes, be my victim, do something! Ah nice, Spike and mystery girl and going for a walk. That's it for the Spike scene, but at least no one calls him stinky or anything. But the camera is kind of far away, no close-up. Onto the superior acting duo of Willow and Cassie discussing Willow's psychotic break and her use of magic. In yet another super scene, Cassie tells her her power is too much, that things are not going to be ok, she is going to kill everyone. If this is true, it is a shame we cannot get her in the next scene, where Andrew and Jonathan are digging and Andrew desperately needs some killing. Jonathan is remembering his high school days and Warren is behind him looking all Warren like and clearly needing killing part two. Jonathan says he cares about the folks he went to school with and wants to help them. He is so dead.

Dawn is starting to do a spell of some kind to do away with the noisy spook activity in her house so she can talk to her mom. This does not go well, and the evil creature starts kicking her ass and cutting her face and whoa they did a good job with the haunting of Dawn. And then Spike comes into save her. No not really, but that would have been way cool. Instead, we get more Buffy and Holden on and on and on, this time about her last boyfriend. Then we see Spike at the new girls house, looking all shy and coy. But still, not talking and shirt is still on. Are Spike fans being punished for something???

Dawn manages to kill the beast using the strength of all who love her. **Snicker snicker** And she is left alone with her mom, who is dressed like an angel, not at all low key about being dead like Cassie who is currently giving Willow all sorts of bad news and suggesting she die so she can avoid her horrible future and can see Tara again. Willow then suspects something is up and says," Who are you?" She knows Tara would never say such a thing. These scenes are first-rate, although Spike should have been involved somehow. Then they would have been perfect.

I slam my head into the wall as we get more Holden and Buffy. Someone needs to stake him fast! They could have had 25 more hauntings and much more Spike if they had just edited this chat. Well, she is still talking about her ex and once he hears that her ex is Spike, he tells her that Spike sired him. But he is lying, right? **Breaks into cold sweat** He is an evil soulless thing and cannot be trusted. That is the cannon, right?? To prove my point, Buffy then says, "Don't talk about my Spike that way" and starts pummeling him. Not really, she just looks really shocked, but in my head she pummeled him and that is what counts. Keeping denial alive, to prove no good lying chatty Holden wrong, Spike with his new psychic powers knows the new mystery blonde girl is dying from a rare disorder which causes her to make too much blood. He selflessly tries to help her by biting her in the neck to drain some of it but it is too late, she drops dead. But he did his best. ***Starts going into extreme denial seizures**

I am applauding Spike's bravery when we see Joyce, and we are never really sure if it is her or not, telling Dawn that when it hits the fan, Buffy will not be her ally because she will still be chatting with Holden. Well she did not really say the Holden part but you get the idea. It is a pretty nice scene, as it always nice to see Joyce. I hope it was her, I would love to see Buffy versus Dawn down the line. Much more than I want to see the next scene, where Andrew rams a sword through Jonathan with Warren looking on all cold and icky and Warren like. But it is not true, Jonathan cannot be dead. **More cold sweats** Maybe benevolent Spike or Cassie will come and save him. Yeah, that is what is going to happen. Jonathan cannot be dead. He has been there since the unaired pilot, they would never get rid of him. Right?? **More extreme denial seizures**

Speaking of Cassie, she has now revealed herself to be evil, and she is taunting the hell out of Willow, using her words to Tara against her, and Willow seems absolutely mortified. Did I mention these two should have all their scenes together? Cassie seems to be the Big Bad in disguise and it seems like she has some big plans to take out Sunnydale. Luckily, unlike most Big Bads, she does not spell them all out for Willow so there is a chance they may succeed. Then Willow makes with the line I am so tired of, "From beneath you, it devours" and before I can throw anything at the screen Cassie/BB says," Not it, me" and vanishes. Then the addictive some from the Bronze comes on and we see Dawn in the wreckage of Casa Summers, Jonathan dying (but we know better *wink*), Spike all bloody faced (but we know better *wink*), and Buffy finally staking Holden. So no chat part two. That is bloody good news.

Whew, I feel exhausted and drained. Dawn's haunting, Willow's torment, Jonathan's injury, Spike's bravery, and Buffy's never ending tête-à-tête really took it all out of me. I do not know how to finish this review up, I seem to be lacking wise cracks. It is a terrible episode for Spike fans and we all know things are about to get worse. It is a terrible episode for fans of Jonathan. It is a terrible episode for fans of brief conversations, and if you like Anya or Xander you are totally screwed But it is still worth watching because the Cassie - Willow scenes are so very powerful. I think that this is Alyson Hannigan's best work ever on the show by far. And Dawn's scenes were even good, mainly because she was really being haunted but still, good TV. So why don't we just forget the Spike and Jonathan scenes ever happened. Jonathan lives and Spike never ever.what was I talking about? I forgot. **More extreme denial seizures**

---

Mary