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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Touched

Spike: "I follow my blood, which doesn't exactly rush in the direction of my brain."

Spike showed them all what loyalty is. He stood up for Buffy. He was the only one who did. And he gave her the strength to face Caleb, and outwit him.

I absolutely loved Spike walking to the street and sniffing the air, almost as much as I loved what he told her in the bedroom. (I'm such a Spike fan that I typed out exactly what he told her; it's at the bottom of this review.) Spike's love and support were clearly what Buffy needed at that moment. And her response to him was honest. She talked about how people all try to connect with her while she just slips away, and she finally acknowledged that she has kept the Potentials at a distance because she knows some of them will die.

Spike brings out the best and the worst in Buffy, and vice versa. If that isn't love, what is? But I must bitch about one thing. How many times does he have to tell her he loves her until she believes it? Well, maybe now she does.

So Buffy was right all along... or was she? She needed to go alone; if she had carried out her original plan, there would have been a vineyard-full of dead Potentials. Further consideration and Spike's support helped her figure out that since Caleb was stronger, Buffy needed instead to be faster and more agile. (That was a cool fight scene.)

Faith started well with the "capture a Bringer" plan using pain-in-the-ass Kennedy as bait. But in the end, Faith blew it -- literally. The arsenal was a set-up, and now we have a ticking bomb cliffhanger. The Potentials were just starting to get better with the fighting; it won't help them much if that bomb goes off.

I knew they would bring the Mayor back for Faith; it had to happen. He said exactly the right things to turn her, too. They may even be true; it's possible that Buffy will always see Faith as a killer, no matter what Faith does. But Faith really has changed. She was honest enough to admit that she really wanted Buffy back, while remaining stubborn enough not to give in. And obviously, horny enough to come on to Robin. Hey, tomorrow we die. Why not?

The Anya/Xander reunion was inevitable, since their relationship was always about the sex and they still care for each other. I'm a little more confused about Willow/Kennedy, though. I thought they were already hitting the sheets, although I can understand Willow's fear of taking that final step. All I could think of, though, was how much I miss Tara.

All this passionate sex (is this the most sex we've ever gotten in a single episode?), and the most romantic moments by far were Spike and Buffy just holding each other.

Okay. So Faith and Robin are getting it on in one room, Kennedy and Willow in another, Anya and Xander are boinking like bunnies on the kitchen floor... where were all the girls? Stacked up like cordwood in Dawn's room?

Buffy left Spike a note on her pillow. It had better say, "I love you deeply and truly, Spike, and I don't know what I ever saw in Angel."

Bits and pieces:

-- What were they going for with the documentary camera effect at the Summers house?

-- Xander looks very dashing in that eye patch. But is it healed enough?

-- The Spike/Andrew scenes have actually been much-needed comic relief. A breath of fresh air, indeed.

-- Spike referred to "that diabolical torture device, the comfy chair." I love Monty Python references.

-- The Mayor/The First said, "Well, gosh." Aren't those his last, snake-y words from season three? That "firecracker" line sounded familiar, too.

Quotes:

Anya: "We're all on death's door repeatedly ringing the doorbell, like maniacal Girl Scouts trying to make quota."

Spike: "He's a breath of fresh air, isn't he? Thank god I don't breathe."

Andrew: "I feel used and violated. And I need a lozenge."

Spike: "I didn't see a lot. I came, hit Faith a bunch of times and left."
Buffy: "Really? I mean, I'm not glad of that..."
Spike: "Say the word and she's a footnote in history. I'll make it look like a painful accident."

Faith: "Man, look at that. My hand's shaking. Demons, vampires, women in the penitentiary system, none of that freaks me out."
Wood: "That's exactly what The First does. Finds your Achilles heel."
Faith: "Nah, it just talked to me. What? It does a heel thing, too?"

Kennedy: "Come here, you. Our foreplay was threatening to turn into twelve-play."

Spike: "I love what you are. What you do. How you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're the one, Buffy."
Buffy: "I don't want to be the one."
Spike: "I don't want to be this good-looking and athletic. We all have crosses to bear."

Season seven hasn't been as wonderful as I had hoped, but this episode was full of emotion. It reminded me why I'm such a big fan. Only two more to go, and it's over. I can't stand it,

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

6 comments:

  1. Spike's speech to Buffy was possibly the best "I love you" speech I've ever heard on TV. JM is brilliant as always, but props to SMG for consistently being an awesome listener, you always know what she's feeling from her facial expressions.


    I also love the "You're insufferable." "Thanks, that really helped." And the "I'm an attainathon, can I please just go to sleep?" When Buffy rubs her face and says she's so tired, I have a feeling that's Sarah saying it, too. And I don't blame her. I remember you mentioning how thin and tired she looked in Selfless, and while the thin part worries me in the why-do-Hollywood-actresses-starve-themselves way, the visible exhaustion made the performance even more believable. She keeps soldiering through but, man, saying that Buffy's been through a lot is tremendous understatement.

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  2. That fight with Caleb was a lot more fun this time, I love seeing Buffy hopping around. But while it's gratifying to see Buffy catch a break with that super weapon discovery I didn't like how they made it look like Faith messed up when she landed the bomb as the juxtaposition. It really could've gone either way and Faith wasn't a bad leader at all even if she was nervous.

    While it's always great to see the Mayor I wasn't fond of the scene here, and Faith apparently worrying that Buffy might still decide to kill her. Eh... the way I understand Faith now is that while she doesn't have an active deathwish she would likely welcome Buffy's judgment and it's not an active fear of hers. I mean I don't know what better weakness The First could've exploited (maybe insisting that she was better needed in Angel Investigations and should've stayed there?), but it didn't do anything for me. But even if she might be a better fit there I love her presence back on Buffy much more. Don't leave again.

    Anya: "We're all on death's door repeatedly ringing the doorbell, like maniacal Girl Scouts trying to make quota."
    lol!

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  3. If I’m asked what is my favorite Buffy episode it’s impossible to pick just one. But these are my top three, in no particular order: Touched, Beneath You and Smashed. Followed closely by OMWF.

    Touched is amazing, thanks completely to Buffy & Spike. I can’t believe the whole lot of scoobies and potentials have turned against Buffy, and kicked her out. Even Giles abandoned his slayer, though his stupid proud attitude lately played right into it.

    Andrew and Spike were funny together on the mission, but the thing I liked best about it was Spike’s menacing growl at Andrew. Yep, I’m a sucker for Spike’s growls.

    During the opening scenes I kept waiting for Spike & Andrew to return and Spike did not disappoint. Traitors indeed. I can still hear Giles’ voice from a previous episode saying, “I’ll never want your opinion, Spike.” Rupert sure got a dose of it here.

    And Faith! “The time for speech-giving is over, bad boy.”
    Spike: “Huh, is that right?”
    Faith: “Yeah, that’s right. Save your lack of breath.”
    Spike: “All right.”
    Kerpow!
    Ha. Go Spike. Loved their fight, and Spike’s fast-motion flip to his feet. Very vampire-esque. Spike ends the fight by walking out when he realizes Faith doesn’t know where Buffy is. I wish he had decisively beaten Faith, his third slayer. I wouldn’t want him to kill her, but knocking her out with one more punch would’ve been cool.

    I love him searching for Buffy’s scent. Also very vampire-esque and also somehow very intimate.

    Back in the house, no one even cared what Spike’s lead may have been. Let’s trust the Bringer. Surely the First wouldn’t tell them what to say if they were captured. Giles was pretty cold blooded the way he executed that Bringer, eh?

    I’ll skip over all the other night before the battle lovebirds and move on to the ones I care most about.

    Spike’s words to Buffy were so perfect. She was so obviously moved by them, and responded by inviting him into her bed. Perfect trust. As he settled beside her, holding her, I love how she snuggled into him. I remember his words in “Smashed,” “It’s only a matter of time before you realize I’m the only one here for you, pet. You’ve got no one else.” These words came home in a way neither of them expected. Thank God for Spike.

    The song playing through the love montage was gorgeous. “Only Love.”

    “It’s only love, but love, should make us strong.” I loved how, when the camera centered back on Buffy & Spike, the lyrics sang, “And it’s all eternity, hoping to learn only love.” I will point out that the closed captioning has it wrong. It’s not, “And its alternative, hoping to learn…” It’s all eternity. Makes a difference.

    And it makes my shipper’s heart happy in the middle of the apocalypse.

    But the two divergent paths of Buffy and her army are interesting. They both get the info from the Mission mission that Caleb is hiding a weapon. Buffy’s intel comes from Spike, who thinks it’s hidden at the vineyard; the army’s intel comes from Andrew who believes a weapon would be in the Bringer’s arsenal. Didn’t take too long to find out who was right.

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  4. Måge, your original comment finally showed up. It was placed in the spam folder for no reason that I could see. That's why we now have two. So sorry about that. Blogger occasionally sucks.

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