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7.18 Dirty Girls Faith: "Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?" In "Dead Man's Party," Buffy told Xander, "Didn't anyone ever warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." That's sort of how I feel about this episode. Fun and games first, and there was definitely fun to be had. How did I love Spike and Faith together? Let me count the ways. Instant attraction, sharing cigarettes, flirting, discussion of body swapping, double entendres. Are they cool together, or what? I think there were even some single entendres. I also did not hate Spike sprawled out in bed shirtless, with mussed hair. Spike sure does like his Slayers. Is it me, or was Buffy just a little jealous? If she's not careful, Faith will have Spike flat on his back in no time. The other Faith scenes were all good. The graveyard was fun. My second favorite after the basement was Andrew giving the Potentials a rundown of Faith's history; much better than the "previously on." I especially liked, "She wrapped evil around her like a large, evil, Mexican serape" and his translation of "vulcanologist" into Mr. Spock. Xander had some fine moments, after being underutilized this season: dreaming about virgin Potentials propositioning him, and that baby doll pajama pillow fight. And then there was his lecture to the Potentials about Buffy. Which leads me to the heavy stuff. Robin told Buffy that she needed to test the Potentials, but Giles suggested caution. Clearly, Giles was right. Buffy made a serious error in judgment, and now there are casualties. It's critical when you introduce a villain, especially at virtually the last moment, that you have him do something so frightening, so incredibly despicable, that you'll immediately buy in. That's certainly what they did here. Caleb, a misogynistic minister turned serial killer with a downhome accent, bangs, and turned-around collar, seems to have the strength of Glory. Where did he get it? He also said some fascinating things: he told Shannon that women have no souls. He said that "Satan is a little man." (Is the First supposed to be bigger?) He also mentioned that the Potentials would "take one more step" and follow the First. Maybe this has something to do with the references to the Last Supper (betraying Buffy?) and the whole wine/blood symbolism in that final scene? I expected the death of at least one Potential; they've had targets drawn on their backs from the beginning. But what happened to Xander was different. I was terribly upset by Caleb gouging out Xander's eye; I actually screamed, and scared my cats. I cried after the show was over. I've seen worse things in movies, but this was different; I have a seven-year relationship with Xander, after all. This particular development makes me wonder if my "Restless" theory about Xander being the final and most devastating Scooby martyr has merit. He's already been maimed, which is no small thing. And yes, there was foreshadowing; Xander is the one who sees, we've been told more than once. He wore an eyepatch in "All the Way." And in this episode, Xander told the Potentials, "Go for the center. Brain, heart, eyes. Everything's got eyes." Joss really, really hurt us this time. Caleb plans to purify Buffy. I almost don't want to know. If there is more like this in store for the final four, I'm going to have a hard time handling it. Bits and pieces: -- Nathan Fillion deserves major credit for some extremely creepy and effective acting. By the end of this episode, I was ready to kill him myself. -- Robin firing Buffy from her high school job was pretty much a non-event, with all that happened in this episode. -- Faith was right to complain that the Scoobies should have told her about the Bringers. -- Caleb blew up the Watcher's Council, and organized the Bringers. He's been a busy bee. -- Buffy and Faith spent about three seconds talking about Angel. Well, it was a busy episode. -- People are leaving Sunnydale in droves. I bet Sunnydale is going bye-bye at the end of the series, since Buffy, according to that Eye thing, is the last protector of the Hellmouth. -- There are too many people in the cast now; the Scooby Gang has become a Scooby Crowd. Way too much cannon fodder. It worries me. Quotes: Spike: "Nice punch you got there. Lemme guess. Leather pants, nice right cross, doe eyes, holier-than-thou glower... you must be Faith." Spike: "Angel's dull as a table lamp. And we have very different coloring." Spike: "Not all that tension was about you. Giles was a part of a plan to kill me, for Buffy's own good." Faith: "Well, that makes me feel better about me, worse about Giles. Kinda shaky about you." Andrew: "She wrapped evil around her like a large, evil Mexican serape." Faith: "No more Starbucks for the wannabes, man. They've been spazzing for, like, hours." Buffy: "Well, it's nice to see you two getting along so well." Faith: "Yeah. You just know all the cool vampires." Giles: "You don't even know what this man has of yours, if he, in fact, has anything." Buffy: "It could be a girl, a potential trying to get to us." Giles: "Could be a stapler." Kennedy: "I don't care if it's Godzilla. I want to get in this thing." Andrew: "Godzilla's mostly Tokyo-based, so he's probably a no-show." Amanda: "Besides, if Matthew Broderick can kill Godzilla, how tough is he?" Buffy: "Looks like an old vineyard." Kennedy: "An evil vineyard, huh?" Spike: "Like Falcon Crest." Three out of four stakes, Billie |
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