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5.4 Out of My Mind

Buffy: "Do you think that I spent the last year with you because you had superpowers? If that's what I wanted, then I'd be dating Spike."

This was the best episode so far this season. After five years, I love it that Whedon et al still manages to surprise and delight me.

Poor Riley! He's a duck out of water (okay, a fish out of water, but I like ducks), his career is gone, and he has no idea what the government did to his body. What's worse is that he loves Buffy, but he's threatened by being Mr. Buffy Summers and he believes she doesn't love him back -- and I think he's right. Buffy didn't like having Riley show up spontaneously to help her slay, but she loved tag-team slaying with Angel, didn't she? Buffy may believe that Joe Normal is what she really wants, but I think she's just fighting the part of herself -- perhaps the darker part -- that likes the bad boys.

And speaking of bad boys... was that dream sequence at the end wild or what? "End. My. Torment." Spike is such a perverse guy, and he loves powerful women; it makes sense that he'd eventually fall for Buffy. Why didn't I see it coming? I have noticed that Buffy loves to barge into Spike's crypt and slap him around; she does it in practically every episode lately. I'll bet Buffy wouldn't mind slaying with Spike. Not that I think Buffy will ever sleep with Spike, but didn't she end up sleeping with both Angel and Riley for the first time after an intense slaying session?

Harmony has finally found her niche in the Buffyverse! She was such a hoot in this episode, just like last week: "Didn't you hear? I'm totally her archnemesis!" "I am a villain, Spike. Hellloooo..." Loved the twenty questions scene with Spike. And her smoking and kibbitzing during the brain surgery scene was great.

So. Is Riley headed for corpsehood? It seems obvious that Buffy is about to lose another boyfriend and it is, of course, going to be super painful.

Bits and pieces:

-- Love the way the magic shop is starting to look; the round table, the training room. Really liked seeing Xander doing something competently, too.

-- I had a strong feeling Spike wasn't getting rid of that chip so soon. It's an invaluable plot device.

-- Good writing on that hospital scene with the stethoscope; it was a neat way to do several things at once (keep Dawn annoying, let us know what's up with Joyce without boring the audience, and find out what's up with Riley's heart).

Quotes:

Riley: "Not much for bench warming."
Buffy: "No, you made the squad. You threw that vampire like he was a teeny-weeny little vampire."
Riley: "Hey, wanna go again? Come on, I bet this place is just teeming with aerodynamic vampires."

Willow: "I feel like a witch in a magic shop. Ooh. Are these real newt eyes?"
Giles: "No, too rich for my blood, I'm afraid. No, these are salamander eyes. It's the cataracts that give them their newt-like appearance. They're really equally effective, though. It's just a matter of overcoming snobberies."
Xander: "I'm telling you, Giles, you gotta set up a blind taste test and prove once and for all that generic amphibian eyeballs are just as good."

Buffy: "Thank you guys so much. You're like my fairy godmother and Santa Claus and Q all wrapped up into one. (Riley looks confused.) Q from Bond, not Star Trek."

Spike: "Buffy's looking for you?"
Harmony: "Of course! That's why I'm on the lam. Didn't you hear? I'm totally her arch-nemesis!"
Spike: "Is that right? I must have missed the memo."

Dawn: "Every kid tries to make the substitute cry. It's like a rite of passage."

Spike: "Okay, is it bigger than a breadbox?"
Harmony: "No. Four left."
Spike: "So it's smaller than a breadbox."
Harmony: "No! Only three!"
Spike: "Harmony ... is it a sodding breadbox?"
Harmony: "Yes! Oh my god! Someone's blondie bear is a twenty-question genius!"

Tara: "This place kind of creeps me out."
Willow: "You should have been here when it was a school."

I have to give this one a four out of four. Loved it.

Billie





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