Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Entropy

Xander: "Clearly I'm not handling this well."
Anya: "Well, DUH!"

Is that massive thud I hear the sound of Buffy falling off Xander's pedestal?

This year's theme is supposed to be "grow up, already." Well, Buffy and Xander, grow up already! Or maybe it's the writers that are the problem. Joss Whedon has always made us miserable; it's part of the formula, along with the wit, soap opera, horror, and allegory, but this just doesn't feel right, and maybe Joss' absence is the cause. I feel a tirade coming on.

I've had it with the way Buffy treats Spike. Spike has clearly proven that he loves her and that he won't hurt her, that he has truly changed, and Buffy simply will not accept it. I could swear that she's even getting off on hurting him, and that's out of character. Buffy obviously wants him and has feelings of some kind for him; she was noticeably hurt by seeing him with Anya. Why? Didn't she tell him to move on? If she doesn't care for him, why wasn't she relieved?

Xander let his wedding issues drag out until the very last moment, when it would hurt Anya the most. And he actually tried to axe Spike, who can't defend himself. This from one of the good guys who has a soul, which supposedly makes him better than Spike?

Spike and Anya, both demons, behaved a heck of a lot better than their so-called human lovers. Spike went to the Magic Box in search of something to dull his own pain, not to get back at Buffy. He didn't even attempt to fight Xander off, which was almost Quaker-like. Anya made serious attempts to get the wish thing going (gruesome, but cute), but when she finally got Spike to do it, she couldn't go through with it. And how can anyone blame them for indulging in a little consolation sex? Buffy and Xander mistreated their demon lovers, and they're surprised by some petard-hoisting? I think Spike is right. Buffy and Xander will miss the water now that the well's run dry.

Misguided, foolish, I don't care — I really, really want Buffy and Spike to be together. How can the writers make this happen? The real issues seem to be (1) Spike's lack of a soul, and (2) Buffy's lack of maturity. Or maybe it's just Buffy's lack of maturity. Man, I'm bitter today.

Moving right along... on the Nerds of Doom front, Jonathan obviously wants out, but I don't think Warren and Andrew are going to make it easy for him. I liked the Indiana Jones parody of the disk and the map room thing, but we still don't know what it was for. Guess we find out next week?

Dawn was actually rather cool in this episode, not saying the W word and trying to make amends for her sticky fingers. She had an excellent point that Buffy has failed to protect her from monsters, since they always find Dawn anyway. Taking Dawn patrolling and teaching her to protect herself might be a good idea.

And now the best part of an upsetting episode: Willow and Tara! Major kissage! Color me happy. But I'd feel better about them getting back together if it had happened on the season finale, and not right before this year's final episodes. Especially after seeing next week's preview, which looked Massively Heavy. I'm almost dreading it.

Bits and pieces:

-- I wasn't sure what "entropy" meant so I looked it up. And now I'm still not sure what it means.

-- On top of major cuteness, Spike smells really good? Hmmm. One wouldn't think vamps would smell that good.

-- Spike and Halfrek (William and Cecily?) didn't even speak to each other this time. The mystery continues.

-- That Buffy/Dawn shopping scene was at the Promenade in Santa Monica.

Quotes:

Tara: "Disgusting. What did it look like?"
Willow: "Well, let's put it this way. If I wasn't gay before..."

Buffy: "There have only been four... three, three, three guys, that's barely plural."

Buffy: "I don't think he could feel any worse."
Anya: "Let's test that theory."
Buffy: "Anya, Xander's my friend. I know what he did was wrong, and if it had happened to me, I'd..."
Anya: (hopefully) "Wish his penis would explode?"

Buffy: "Look, I know what he did was wrong. God, if it happened to me, I... it must have been torture."
Anya: (excited) "Okay! Let's talk about torture!"

Anya: "Screw 'em."
Spike: "To the rafters."

Spike: "Drusilla was always completely straightforward. Didn't have a single buggering clue about what was going on in front of her, but she was straight about it."

Anya: (to Xander) "The mature solution is for you to spend your whole life telling stupid, pointless jokes so that no one will notice that you are just a scared, insecure little boy." Ouch.

This episode was funny, fascinating, soapy, disturbing, sexy, and depressing. And it pissed me off. How can I apply a stake number to that?

Billie
---
Billie Doux reviewed all of Buffy and Angel, so she knows the plural of apocalypse.

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