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5.8 Shadow

Spike: "Face it, white bread, Buffy's got a type and you're not it. She likes us dangerous, rough, occasionally bumpy in the forehead region."

Medical tests... cat scans ... now that's horror. I don't want Buffy's mother to die, so I'm going to pass right over the depressing Joyce subplot (hey, I'm entitled -- I lost my own mom last year) and focus on my favorite part of this episode: the developing love triangle of Buffy, Riley, and (gasp!) Spike.

Spike, being the perceptive supernatural creature that he is, went right for the jugular when he told Riley that Buffy likes her men dark and bumpy; after what happened last year with Angel, Riley has to believe it. Spike got him a second time, too, because how can Riley deal with the fact that Buffy told Spike about Joyce's illness and not him? And then Dawn came along with the crowning blow: "She doesn't get all worked up like that over you." Poor Riley!

So ... Riley goes off with Sandy and lets her bite him. !!! Why? Was he entertaining the thought of becoming a vamp himself in order to keep Buffy? Or did he just want to see what the attraction was? I think it was the latter... but I also think Riley is feeling self-destructive.

Moving on to the other major plot point... I like Glory. I like her impatience and her over-the-top amoral glee; in fact, I'm enjoying the whole Glory/Dawn/monks thing a lot more than last year's Initiative plot. Glory and her minion Dreg were a hoot ("I grovel like a bug, most tingly and wonderful Glorificus"). But the whole monster cobra thing was downright silly; in fact, I was giggling while Buffy and Giles in the red convertible were chasing it down the street. And let's not even discuss CGI Buffy fighting CGI Cobra in the park.

Bits and pieces:

-- Isn't anyone going to class any more? They are still in college, right?

-- Being a Babylon 5 fan, I have to point out that Joyce's doctor was played by Lord Refa (William Forward).

-- Were those Buffy's panties that Spike made off with?

-- Being the Buffy geek that I am, I had to write down the Magic Box yellow pages ad: "Crystals! Potions! Death charms! Lollipops for the kids! Your one-stop spot to shop for all your occult needs! THE MAGIC BOX, 5124 Maple Court, Downtown Sunnydale, 805-555-5966."

Quotes:

Xander: "When a person makes a "destroy all vampires" date, it's simple courtesy to wait for your co-destroyers. Am I right, Giles?"
Giles: "I'm almost certain you're not, but to be fair, I wasn't listening."

Xander: "Okay, we were supposed to hook up with Riley this morning to take on a nest o' vamps holed up in a tomb? So we get there, and guess what? Tell him, Will."
Willow: "Tomb go boom."
Xander: "Yep. Captain America blowed it up real good, all by his lone wolf lonesome."

Riley: "Were you ... were you just smelling her sweater?"
Spike: "No. Well, yeah, all right, I did. It's a predator thing, nothing wrong with it. Know your enemy's scent, whet the appetite for a hunt. Ah, that's the stuff! Slayer musk, it's bitter and aggravating!"

Anya: "Sobekites were reptile worshippers."
Xander: "Just once I would like to run into a cult of bunny worshippers."
Anya: "Great. Thank you very much for those nightmares."

Giles: "Aleister Crowley Sings? Um, sadly, no, I don't carry that, but I do have some very nice whale sounds."

Not a great episode, but not awful either. Two stakes out of four,

Billie





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