Buffy Challenge Post 64: Season 7: Episodes 9 – 10

Never Leave Me

Welcome back to another instalment of the Buffy Challenge, we are nearing the finish line in this epic 7 season journey….

Previously, the nerds are back and Jonathon gets knifed for his trouble…. Dawn see’s a  premonition of Joyce and she warns her not to trust Buffy. Willow is giving Buffy an ominous warning about what is to come, and it’s not looking good. Spike is talking about the murders around the world and he is some how two people one evil, one wossie. Giles gets attacked right at the end of the last episode and the cliff hanger is where they leave us!

The gang is cleaning up the house, while Ghost Warren is ready to move to the next phase of the plan. Stabbing is a skill that takes years to learn.

Buffy ties up Spike for his own good, I’m not sure that it will help as even Spike is afraid of what might become….

Principal Wood is flexing his Muscles, however the bluff was called by the kids, I’m not sure the nice guy routine works too well with teenagers. Buffy is calling in a Sick day as she tries to find the whereabouts of Giles, however the council are not so helpful and it seems they know what is going on….

Evil Spike is back, good thing he is tied up, I’m not sure if Willow was kidding about killing Anya! Buffy is holding up strong.

The two nerds are about to kill a pig, Andrew had no problem knifing his friend but a little piglet….. a little too difficult. Second option, go to the butcher. Not the best time to drop the bag with blood when Willow is standing there.

Andrew is struggling to justify his existence and Willow has had enough and gives him the what for! Andrew has been captured and is being interrogated by the gang. This is going to be good! Anya makes an AWESOME bad cop! This is all a plan to get him to talk. Unfortunately not much is coming out of Spike in his evil state, but good Spike won’t SHUT UP!

Xander with the good cop routine…. I wouldn’t be bringing up the whole Spike  and Anya hooking up right now. Great build up to scare Andrew, Anya takes it a step further and gets a slap in on Xander for good measure.

Evil Spike returns to torment good Spike. The switch happens and Spike breaks free and bites Andrew. If only it was another musical. Good thing Xander is there to figure it out for me and explain it to me. A trigger you say….

Back to school and Principal Wood takes a trip to the basement to discover Jonathan’s body, he doesn’t seem so surprised to see it. Spike by the way thinks the best way to solve this issue he is having is for Buffy to kill him. Just what this episode needed, NINJA’S!

unfortunately they are just mad monks not ninjas….  Monks with Ninja skills. Dawn hesitated and it nearly cost her life, good thing Xander was there to help. With all the commotion happening, Spike is gone. Buffy has figured it out, but I’m still confused.

Melbourne ….. WOOO!!! The Council are working overtime and now we find out the villain of the piece is THE FIRST EVIL! We’re at WAR PEOPLE!

Spike’s fate is being revealed as he is being torched by his evil self. who morphs into Buffy. Spike’s blood opens up a portal of some sort and we have the return of…… The MASTER I think ….. CRAP!

5/10

Bring On The Night

Previously …. People are getting killed all over the place, Jonathan is murdered and found by the Principal who casually buries him. Andrew is captured, Spike gets kidnapped and his blood raises the Big Bad for the season…..

Xander’s lot in life is to fix the windows of the Summer’s house. Anya’s not so impressed about the stories of the First…. Nice hit Dawn, just having a little too much fun whacking Andrew around…

Buffy see’s her mother and doesn’t believe her eyes, it was all a dream. To Spike and we are witnessing a ritual of mass evil, we see the evil transform to Drusilla as she torments Spike even more. Nice fade to black into the title sequence. The girls are trying to wake up Andrew and no Dawn, hot water is not a good idea! Lex is an evil name! Andrew takes them back to the scene of Jonathan's murder. I am really confused by all of this. Wonder Woman issue #299!

The gang runs into the Principal who is acting mighty weird, “never trust a principal with a shovel” Whoa, Willow has gone CRAZY!!!! Magic won’t help. Good thing Giles has returned, but where has he been. So there was a reason for the girls around the world getting murdered, they were potential slayers. The Council was destroyed in the last episode and it was so quick even I missed it. ANYA IS AWESOME!!!!  Shut up Andrew! The first seems to be working in a way that is difficult to articulate. It can change forms and is hunting the Slayers line to take over the world.

Time to build up an army to fight the first evil! Back to Spike and  Drusilla is tormenting him. Andrew still doesn’t get this whole Slayer deal, Hey Willow it seems you have an admirer.

Buffy finds the entrance to the cave by falling into it. Which leads to a fist fight between the Slayer and the Super Vampire, who can’t be killed by a stake…..

one thing this show does really well is the fighting choreography. The next day and after escaping Giles gives us the lowdown on what she was fighting. It was a super vampire as I said working for the First.

Nice cover Buffy! Evil Movies indeed! I really don’t trust this Principal, teachers on this show have either been EVIL or get killed quickly.

Spike has a nice shiner as the Drusilla “evil” keeps up the torment and tries to recruit Spike to the dark side to no effect. Buffy is really banged up and now she is hallucinating again in the middle of a therapy session, poor Roger!

Xander is really handy with the woodwork. The newbie's are not ready if you ask me. No one asked your opinion Andrew! I love the Riddler! As this is happening the snobby new girls runs off and gets killed for her trouble by Super Vamp. Buffy is going to struggle here against this seemingly unstoppable force. Does crushing it work? Apparently not! This fight is awesome, unfortunately Buffy is on the wrong end of the brick wall.

This looks like it’s impossible for Buffy and the gang to win this fight, after everything she has gone through, they have really raised the stakes for the finale. The battle lines have been drawn and General Buffy is firing the first shot! 

Buffy Challenge Post 63: Season 7: Episodes 7 - 8

Conversations with Dead People

Previously….. We are seeing everyone who died Tara, Warren, and Cathy oh and Spike still crazy!

Interesting starting with the episode title November 2002, way to depress us early! everyone is looking sad….. Hey cheer up Buffy it’s time to go to work.

Finally we are catching up with our favourite nerds from season 6, why would they be coming back? I want to learn Mexicanian.

While the Cat’s away….. Dawn is running a muck in the house.

To the library and Willow runs into a ghost who has a message from Tara. Back to Dawn and she is watching an old (and public domain) movie. The storm is brewing and I hate it when you try to unplug the TV and it doesn’t turn off, um hacking it with an axe is going a little overboard.

Buffy is catching up with an old college who is a vampire right now. Should Buffy be giving tips to new Vampires?

Rumours of what Buffy was like at school…. just what we all need Buffy being analysed by a vampire….  Dawn is going crazy and this is skirting too close to a horror movie for my liking.

Gotta love the nerds doing their best (or worst) Tom Cruise impersonation. Great plan boys, just one issue, I’m not sure Buffy would want to be buddies. WARREN??? he was Skinned…. “THE MASTER PLAN!” So Warren is now OBI WAN KINOBI? LOVE THE STAR WARS REFERENCES! So because Willow killed, she can’t see Tara (it’s more the fact that the actress playing Tara couldn’t fit the episode in her schedule.)

Another Spinoff that didn’t work back then but with the whole Vampire craze right now might work, “Vampire Psycho-Annalist!” it’s kind of like a mixture of “True blood and Frasier”

“I was afraid to talk to you at high school, now we’re mortal enemies!” Does Buffy have a superiority complex? or is she really just suffering from clinical depression?

For a second there I thought Buffy was going to be bitten.

Back to Dawn and I’m not enjoying this story thread at all. I’m so having nightmares tonight! To the nerds…. and they are at the hell mouth?

This is a great battle between Buffy and a Vampire who is getting really into Buffy’s head. Some great moments. Back to Willow and her chat with “Not Tara” A warning from the beyond….

Back to the nerds and they are reminiscing old times. Poor Jonathon, but I love his attitude though. Dawn and magic, not a good mix. Who are you fooling Buffy, we all want to be loved.

An inferiority complex about her superiority complex, ok our time is up now it’s time to kill! Nope, this guy knows Spike so the story continues. Dawn’s little horror run is over and we see a returning Joyce.

Willow is dealing with some real issues, I don’t trust this girl, and it’s because she wants Willow to kill herself. Spike is back to his biting ways, and Joyce is planting a seed of doubt in Dawns head. Jonathan gets stabbed, and Willow has seen the face of evil as it seems we are setting up for the big bang to end this season…..

I enjoyed 3 out of the 4 story lines…… so many questions…..

6/10

Sleeper

Previously …. Something is coming…. Spike moves in with Xander….. murders around the world…… Dawn gets a warning…. So does Willow and Spike kills again…..

good to see Xander and it looks like this episode has began right where the last one left off as Buffy is looking for Spike. It seems that he is trying to bury the evidence of his last kill. It doesn’t make sense, what happen to the chip in his head? or the whole soul thing?

London England, and we see another international murder or two. Willow is first to find Dawn and the disaster that is the Summers house. Willow tries to let Dawn know that what she see’s is not all right.

Xander has never been Spike’s biggest fan, well this is awkward…. Spike comes it and is surprised to see Buffy there. It’s great to see Anya again, and that was a low blow Xander! Famous last words “your going to be fine!” Dawn is filling Buffy into what has been going on. The enemy is striking at their heart. Back to Anya and she is freaking out!!! I’m not sure snooping around Spike’s room while he is napping is the best of ideas.

Nice save Anya, is Spike a little shell shocked? Um Anya, your meant to be keeping Spike home? or not? Crowded place and Spike still has the moves!!! He is bad alright! Don’t you hate it when your Ex interrupts your feeding. Why would Buffy just stand there and let him kill her? Is there another Spike running around?

What is going on? Back to the library and the gang is trying to find evidence of Spike’s biting. Xander is the new Giles always getting punched, interesting though the chip kicked in. Spike is doing some back tracking, why am I not surprised that no one at the bar remembers. Spike is being picked up by a vampire which leads a great fight!

“Billy Idol wannabe!”

Buffy get’s a step closer to what is going on. “I hate playing vampire towns” how many vampire towns are there?

2 spikes? what’s up with that? We finally see who Spike has been talking to and it seems to be himself. This is a mystery that is getting weirder and weirder, as Spike turns and rises the army of the undead. Blood of the slayer has done something to jog his memory, which gives Buffy a fighting chance.

The Soul is playing havoc with Spike or is it the place? He wants to die, and sometimes living is a fate worse than death. There is a deeper mystery involved in this season and it’s not showing it’s hand yet.

Giles comes in to tie up the London murder. “BEHIND YOU!”

what bizarre 2 episodes it has be intrigued for what is about to come!

7/10

Well that end’s another challenge …. and remember kids, if your evil self tells you to do something, try to ignore it!

Buffy Challenge Post 62: Season 7: Episodes 5 – 6

Selfless

I hope this episode is better than the disaster that was last episode….

Previously The troll dated Anya… Anya explains everything that is happening….. this is an ANYA episode! AWESOME!!!

Dawn is giving life advice to Willow…… Right! That will help…… Xander is still hung up on Anya, giddy! New word….. I still don’t know why he left her at all! Dead bodies everywhere and Anya in the middle….. this can’t be good for her self esteem.

 

Back in the day, I love the effect of the sepia. Thankfully they gave me the translation for “ha ha ha” Hey Baltic women are hot!

Back to reality where the blood is being washed from Anya’s hands, while Spike explains his new found humanity to Buffy. Has Buffy fallen again for Spike? nope just his imagination. This Buffy is less sympathetic.

Willow is back at college and she runs into a dishevelled Anya coming out of the frat house where she went on a killing spree of some sort. Willow discovers the horrors that have been left in Anya’s wake. She discovers a poor girl hiding in the cupboard, GIANT COMPUTER BUG!!! good thing Willow still has the  magic thing happening.

Back to the old country and we see the origin of Olaf the troll, Anya is being recruited to the vengeance demon team……

Good to see Buffy is working really hard, Anya is not handling her old form as a vengeance demon.  Willow enters and is in no mood to argue, Anya needs help and fast.

Black goo is never a good sign. Xander and Buffy are hunting spiders, good thing that Buffy is the axe throwing champion in Sunnydale. Willow fills them in and now Anya has to be slayed!

The history of Anya continues with her and her gabby friend in St. Petersburg in 1905. The emotional weight of this episode is amazing! Xander once again puts his foot in his mouth and his feelings for Anya is clouding his judgment. We are watching friends disintegrate but Buffy shows that if she kills the love of her life then what she has to do is set in stone.

Why is Willow calling the head Vengeance demon who tries to recruit her! Xander tries to help the situation by warning Anya, it only puts him in the middle of a CAT FIGHT!!!

WHAT JUST HAPPEN???

back to 2001 and we see happier times between the two back to the singing happiness that  happen last season in “once more with feeling!” An amazing voice in a truly Disney moment! Awe I was enjoying that, till we go back to the Sword in the chest!

Round 2 is on with Anya and Buffy going at it again, Xander for the Save.  King Vengeance is here to bring some sense in this. “Miss. hacks away!” Classic!

The price for Vengeance is Justice, to undo the deaths of twelve Anya has to die….

Noooo wait, what a great way to save this sticky situation….. kill off an annoying character and bring some more emotional pain and add another layer to an already complex one in Anya…..

Great Ending to a Great episode!

9/10

 

Him

Previously….. everything that happen last episode….

Spike is moving in with Xander ……. COMIC GOLD COMING UP!!! It seems that Buffy is happy to have Spike back into the fold seeing he has a soul.  Dawn and Buffy having a heart to heart about the whole Spike thing. Dawn tries to talk to Buffy and like what everyone else she is not listening, which leads to the Dawn “love at sight” moment.

Anya is hiding while Buffy kills a demon who was attacking Anya. I love when Anya calls it how she sees it!

OK TEEN ROM-COM coming up….. This is going to be painful, in a funny way! Dawn trying out for cheer leading in Buffy’s old cheer leading uniform was cringe worthy funny! Dawn is now becoming a brooding nasty teen….

Dawn’s crush is going to lead to some serious trouble, like the pushing down of the stairs of RJ’s rival! You can’t hide the truth from Buffy Dawn. Although it get’s results as RJ now notices our girl.

The guys get back to the Bronze and we see DAWN DANCING in a way that is clearly not G rated! TEEN ANGST…. Welcome to HELL Buffy! If RJ is a Vampire, I’m not going to be happy! RJ’s Girlfriend is not happy and we have another CAT FIGHT!!!! where Buffy cops it!

It seems that RJ is a PLAYA!!! or he has some sort of magic love potion happening as Buffy falling for Lover Boy! I really hope this episode ends in a big fight!

Buffy pulls out RJ from class….

“DEAR PENTHOUSE………”

Where is RJ getting this from? Buffy kisses the kid which leads to the typical Dawn catches them. Willow and Anya to the rescue as the Girls are fighting over this clown.

The Brain trust are Xander, Anya and Willow….. Xander remembers the good times when he was chased by hordes of women!

RJ’s brother is not much help until Spike noticed the Jacket, it’s all in the Jacket! RJ rocks up to the house where ALL the ladies are fighting over RJ ….. what a brillant scene with too many cool moments to document! and the whole Charlies Angels montage is great (except the whole Dawn lying on the tracks thing!)

WILLOW trying to change RJ into RJ-ya….. Stopped by Xander.

BUFFY with a rocket launcher!!!! Stopped by Spike!

Dawn lying on the train tracks……. saved by Buffy.

Anya was going to rob the bank.

Xander and Spike steal the jacket and burnt it.

What a funny episode…… I really enjoyed it as I laughed my way through it!

8/10!

Well folks I’m off to find myself one of those magic jackets……

See you next time for another Challenge!

Buffy Challenge Post 62: Season 7: Episodes 3 – 4

Same Time, Same Place

Previously … Willow kills, Giles takes her on a magic detox camp ... Ayna is a vengeance demon….. spike has his soul….

We are at the Airport and they are keen to see Willow again….. Oh Xander, always knows what to say! Oh no she didn’t finish not being Evil??? Where is Willow? you would think she would get there…… De ja vu? another dimension perhaps?

Graphite? oh that kid is going to die!!! Told you so! Serves him right if you ask me!!! Willow comes home to an empty house and I’m already confused…… in a good way!

The old tug on your heart strings by looking at old photo’s trick! Willow is all alone, however the rest of the gang are there at the same time …. can anyone same say magic mail box??? everyone is blaming each other and I’ve gotta say Dawn is not as obnoxious as she was in previous seasons…..

Great fade away effect, Back to Willow and she is starting to freak out, BIG TIME!!! Anya is always great for classic lines! Did Willow kill the gang in this time line???? The life of a vengeance demon always traveling! Ok so they are not dead, well where are they? Willow arrives at the abandoned construction and we see another skinned person and Buffy and Xander are dreading the similarity to Willow’s crime!

Back to Willow and we see the AWESOME Spike, still crazy….. Willow aslo saw the skinned kid and Spike reminds her of her kill! What did Spike do? is he the intermediary between the two? Spike see’s both Willow in one sense and Xander and Buffy in the other.

That is so annoying to be in his position! I love how Anya calls it down the middle… Oh so many good lines not enough time to type them all! “Remember our talk about the carpet???” that is the line I’m going with! Teleporting is a privilege so that trip to brazil was more pleasure than work!

Even though Anya is a demon once again, it seems that she has retained her human feelings…… It did get a little Sexy Anya, it did!

Product placement time kids ….. can you see it? Yes the Apple Mac! Dawn hits the net and finds out who is doing the skinning! It’s up to Spike to track the blood, Slow down Dawn! “I’m insane, what’s his Excuse?” at the same time Willow is also in the cave in her own little world. “All alone……” Well DERRRR

That has to be a record for the quickest time 3 people can state the obvious! Dawn get’s cut badly, as Willow is faced with an evil laugh, not even an enchantment will help! So the villain is a demon with the maturity of a 6 year old! Willow gets cut and this creepy thing starts sucking blood! Dawn is totally paralised, as we switch back to the goblin type creature who is playing with his food!

Anya just let them know that she saw Willow, (BTW in Brazil, Brazilian nuts are just called nuts!) Back to the disturbing image of the goblin carving up a helpless Willow! Only Anya can see Willow. Buffy gets scratched however nothing seems to happen! Buffy with a knife in the foot and poking out the eyes….. which I can’t watch. This kills the demon and the spell, YAY Willow is back!

Now for the closing heart to heart between Buffy and Willow, So Willow has become a tree hugging hippy witch! The big reveal……… Willlow made herself invisible and it kinds of harps back to season 1 when she felt the same way! Back to meditation and re bonding as friends.

A really solid episode, with some cool laugh out loud moments!

7/10

Help

Previously Willow returns, Buffy gets a Job as a councilor , Spike lives at school and Xander is working at the school doing construction …… and GO!

I never understood open casket funerals, although a coffin is a good place to hide to kill a vampire! The kid’s coffin has a child lock on it! priceless! Buffy is worried about school and we get a quick kill and Buffy agrees with me.

Back to school and Buffy has a bigger office than I do! First day on the job, and we get the classic montage of insecure teens. Hey it’s one of the kids from home improvement??? Violent teen girls, rare back then, now not so much!

Willow and Xander are reconnecting, with Xander giving a pep talk about her magic issues by comparing it to working on a construction site! Willow pays her respects to the love of her life, Tara.

Back at school, the kid who had nothing to say is now opening up…. his brother is off to war and he is worried!

Nice try kid!

Dawn getting advice was a little wasted.

Next, chick with purple highlights is predicting her death and now the story starts! freaky future predictions….. Buffy does the right thing by reporting it to the principal, who grew up on the mean streets of Beverly Hills!

Her premonition comes true with the spilt coffee….. where is this episode going???? The old using your position to access personal records of a weird student. FIRST MENTION OF GOOGLE!!!! some one wake me when something happens……”posting Dougie Howser Fan Fic!” how are they accessing all these records?

It seems there is a slew of sleazy actors in Hollywood and Cassie’s Dad is right up there! this episode is like watching paint dry….. another teen clique “white stripes tee shirt!”

American teens and their druid obsessions….. (more apple products)  Even Spike can’t save this train wreck! his soul is messing him up big time! (here is my impression that happen at the Buffy brainstorming meeting for this season:

Joss: “Ok who has an Idea for the 4th episode?”

Writer 1: “Hey how about we do an episode where a girl predicts that she is going to die on a day, and get this …… we watch the group sit around trying to figure out why she thinks like this will happen!”

Writer 2: “BRILLIANT!”

Writer 2: “Can we have a voice over scene where she reads poetry, and we see them surfing the INTERNET!”

Writer 1: “YES! The kids will love this internet thing!”

Joss: “Fine, just make sure there are kids dressed like druids in it! and a big demon like creature at the end!”

Buffy is right, this is LAME!!!

Spike with fire…..

Dear Whedonverse,

can I somehow please get the last 40 minutes of my life back?

faithfully yours,

a new fan.

after ALL THAT, she drops dead…… of boredom! (and an apparent heart condition!)

Que forced emotional ending…….. ah man there is still 54 seconds to go! and I’m still annoyed that Buffy has a bigger office than I do and I’ve been teaching for 10 years!

0/10