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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The I in Team

Willow: "I just think there's certain questions you should ask before you go off and enlist."

What an interesting episode. How 'bout that surprise ending?

I certainly wasn't expecting Maggie to bite the dust, but she surely deserves it – if not for the Buffy ambush in the sewer, then at the very least for peeping at Buffy and Riley doing the horizontal warp. That whole fighting/sex scene was really interesting and strange and had great music – I liked it.) Maggie is dead, isn't she? Sometimes characters who get arrows through the chest on this show don't die.

My opinion of Riley just went all over the place in this episode; he's like a big, floating question mark. I had always assumed that his involvement with the Initiative went pretty deep, but now he is starting to look like Maggie's dupe. Riley isn't Buffy's equal or opposite, like Angel was, and now it looks like he isn't even the enemy. That scene when he got beeped to remind him to take his vitamins... mind-controlling drugs? It'll be interesting to see which way he jumps in the next episode – Buffy's side, or the Initiative's?


The Spike scenes continued to be terrific; he keeps trying to go back to his evil ways, but winds up back with the gang. He should just give in and let it happen. Liked the scarred, pale, vein-y body makeup, too.

Why is Willow still keeping Tara a secret from Buffy? And did Willow and Tara spend the night together, too? Inquiring minds want to know!

Bits and pieces:

— I liked the fact that Anya has "ex-demon issues."

— "I spent the rest on blood and smokes." Was Spike taking a loaf of wheat bread home to his crypt?

— The evil doctor Engleman. Sounds like Mengele, doesn't it?

— The ionized hair was just hilarious.


Quotes:

Buffy: (watching Riley) "Tell me about your night."
Willow: "Well, spent most of it at Xander's teaching Anya to play poker."
Buffy: "That sounds like fun."
Willow: "Yeah. Except the Anya part and the poker part."
Buffy: "Will, I think you better get used to... a Twinkie? That's his lunch? Oh, he is so gonna be punished."
Willow: "Everyone's getting spanked but me."

Spike: "Hey. Wipe your feet when you enter a person's home."
Giles: "Oh, yes. Careless of me. Tracking mud all over your, uh, mud."
Spike: "I admit, it's a bit of a fixer-upper. Needs a woman's touch. Care to have a crack at it?"

Buffy: "Anya seems a bit on edge."
Willow: "She's a little angsty around commando-types. Ex-demon issues."
Buffy: "I know that. Like what?"
Willow: "Well, what's their ultimate agenda? I mean, okay, yeah, they neuter vampires and demons. But then what? Are they going to reintegrate them into society? Get them jobs as bagboys at Wal-Mart?"

Walsh: "They do have keen eyesight, however. You might want to be suited up for this."
Buffy: "Oh. You mean the camo and stuff? I thought about it but, I mean, it's gonna look all Private Benjamin. Don't worry. I've patrolled in this halter many times."

Spike: "I'm not going anywhere. Not until those bastards undo whatever they did to me. Put me back the way I was."
Xander: "Sure. Just explain to the nice scientist guys that you really miss killing and torturing innocent people."
Spike: "Do you think that would work?"

Two out of four stakes,

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

6 comments:

  1. This is an odd episode. I've always found the juxtaposition of the violence and the sex to be an interesting choice. Although, it does remind me of Faith telling the Scooby gang how slaying always made her horny.

    The Giles/Spike dynamic is a thing of beauty. Their exchanges last episode and this always leave me laughing. Here are two smart, verbal men who can always find a way to zing the other. I love it.

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  2. I had the exact same thought about the violence/sex thing, ChrisB. Is Buffy becoming more like Faith? Or would she have been the same with Angel if he didn't have the evil problem?

    The Tara/Willow thing is confusing me too. I still enjoy Anya and Xander, though lately they haven't had much to do except be quippy. Spike and Giles make me happy too.

    I continue to be frustrated by the pacing of the arc this season. It has been mostly just a long slow build and now in this episode everything started to move so fast that it felt like they were rushing through the beats. Did Lindsay Crouse get another job?

    I might jump on to the next one this weekend, though. I haven't felt like moving ahead of schedule yet this season - so I'm liking it more I guess.

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  3. The season starts to come together more in this episode. The sinister side of the initiative is becoming clearer while circumstances continue to push Spike towards the scoobies. It is very tempting to watch the next one now.

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  4. This was a really good episode, with a neat exploration of the evil side of The Initiative. Although it’s kind of disappointing that it all comes down to The Initiative having its own Frankenstein monster.

    I like Riley. He’s good looking, he’s charming, he has that good boy thing going for him, he cares about Buffy. And he’s about to have his beliefs broken, which is a typical college experience and I’m glad the writers are going there.

    How about that sex scene? Very hot, and my jaw dropped to the floor when the scene cut to Maggie watching them. I didn’t remember that. What a bitch! But why kill her off? This episode was a great set up for her being the Big Bad for the rest of the season.

    I’m kind of sick of Xander having dead-end jobs. Please give him better material, show.

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  5. Oh, I can’t believe I forgot it: that moment Buffy turns the com-cam thingy to herself and gives Walsh the ultimate threat is AWESOME! Go, Buffy! (It makes Maggie’s death even more anticlimactic, since Buffy promised to show her what a slayer really was and will never get the chance.)

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  6. Not a big fan of the Riley/Buffy love scene. I thought the music was odd and I didn't like the cutting between the fight scene. Her sex scene with Parker was more romantic. PARKER. But I liked that he was there when she woke up in the morning. It's a Buffy first.

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