Buffy Challenge Post 42: Season 5: Episodes 7 – 8

Fool for Love

Well after a long break were back with another challenge so lets get things started with an episode that is titled like a bad 80's rock ballad.

We get a quick history lesson about Spike to start with, William the Bloody and got the nickname from murdering  people with railroad spikes, nice. Oh and he has knocked off two slayers in his time and has a chip in his head that doesn't let him attack humans. Now this is a better way to recap things!

So we start the episode like so many before, Buffy fighting in a cemetery. Although it seems she is fighting someone who would listen to a bad 80's rock ballad. Nice flip by Buffy and the witty annoying remarks are coming fast another easy kill......... uh maybe NOT! The Vamp turns the tables on Buffy and she gets stabbed.... QUE OPENING CREDITS WHILE I PICK UP MY JAW FROM  THE FLOOR!!!!!

 

It's not even a dream, Buffy removes the stake from herself, (even though I thought the first rule of being impaled is to keep the object in to stop blood coming out.... and as all brave heroes who have been bested, she runs away only to be attacked by the vamp. Good thing Riley is there to save the day!

So Buffy has speeding up healing power, isn't that convenient. Riley administers some first aid and Dawn helps cover up the injury from Joyce. Buffy has been put on the shelf to heal after having her butt handed to her by a regular Vampire, which leaves Riley and the gang to go out on patrol. (really Riley is doing all the work while the rest of them are eating snacks and enjoying the show.)

Buffy is doing her Slayer history homework. However she wants to know how the previous slayers met their final destiny. Hey I have a shirt just like what Giles is wearing! Well Buffy remembers that our old buddy Spike killed two of them and wants to know how he did this. This means BEER AND BUFFELO WINGS!!!!

We move to a flashback without warning (I know this due to the classical music, corsets and long mustaches!) It's good to see that public humiliation was the same 100 years ago as it is today, and it so happens that the person on the receiving end is SPIKE THE POET. (a clever way to fill us in with the continuing gabs, William the bloody due to the bloody awful poetry indeed. I also have a feeling that Lord Snotnose will be granted his wish and receive that railroad spike in the head!)

Nothing is worse than having your heart broken. OH SNAP! Women can be heartless monsters when they want to be. I really feel for William right now as having your heart stomped on by the woman you "love" can be shattering. Hey I know know that voice, it can't be.... the return of  Drusilla, She turned Spike into the monster that we all know and love.

Back to the current time and Riley has spotted our rocker vampire, who is hanging out with his mates telling jokes about how he took down the slayer. We switch to the bar where Spike continues the tale over a game of pool. Finally were back to Yorkshire 1880, with Angel and his gang. William have become more boorish. Spike and Angel have a different outlook on life as a vampire. Spike became obsessed with killing the slayer. We move to China 1900 during the Boxer rebellion. Spike vs Slayer 1, from my perspective he got lucky with the win as an explosion from outside was enough to distract the slayer long enough for him to get his fangs into her.

After the victory Spike and Drue party like it was 1899! Now Exit with the required SLOW MO Victory walk! Buffy is disgusted, seeing that Spike really enjoyed it. He does have a point, A slayer has to constantly kill the vampires but the vampire only needs to kill once for evil to win. We see Riley take out the vampires with a grenade as Spike continues the history lesson. On to New York in 1977 and in keeping with the styles of the time Spike is dressed as a punk rocker fighting on the subway. (nice camera work by the way.) Spike gives a blow by blow playback of the fight.

The moral of the story according to Spike, Every slayer has a death wish  and we see the origin of the cool Spike leather Jacket. He acknowledges that Buffy's survival this long has been due to her ties with her family. Now Buffy that is cold even for you, using the words that broke the monsters heart will only build up his rage and reach for his shot gun. (Why do we need to see Harmony?)

We move to South America in 1988, I miss Drue. Ah what was the moose head guy about? It seems that spikes obsession has consumed him. Back in Buffy's apartment and Joyce is off to hospital to get a cat scan overnight?  Which I think only serves to get her out of the picture. Buffy is an emotional wreck when Spike arrives to kill her...... I mean have a chat to see what the problem is. (He really has it bad for her? The old school yard crush style, pick on the person you like.) They just sit there in silence and we end the episode in a fine way.

Now I really do like it when they focus on a character like Spike and it has really given the audience a real sense of his motivation and purpose to the story! A wonderfully executed episode as it hit some real important points. I hope know Buffy will lose her sense of invulnerability that  most teenagers have in their lives. As for Spike, his obsession of destroying the slayer maybe over but the character development was phenomenal and for that reason for the first time this season ........

10/10

Shadow

I guess we need to return to the season 5 arch as we open up with a recap of the crazy chick in red as her torches a monk into giving up the whereabouts of the key (who we discovered was Dawn, inserted into this reality and ret-conned into Buffy's history.) that would of been enough but we had to get the whole previously.... covering nothing new except the overnight observation for Joyce where we start this episode. Cat scans can be annoying from personal experience. Dawn is asking about the origin of the name Cat scan. (well CAT stands for computerized axial tomography)

Giles took out a half page add for the magic box (that must of cost a fair bit!) Captain America, another Marvel reference. We have a name for Red. Glory... we still have no real information on what she is, and her minion is really annoying, please kill him! Well it seems the half page add will pay for itself as Glory now knows where to stop for all her Occult needs.

How did Spike get into Buffy's bedroom? and why was he sniffing her sweater? Nice cover, Spike...... and did he just steal her panties? Spike gets on Riley's nerves so Riley decides to stick him out in the sunshine for a tan. Buffy is sweating over her mum's test and Riley arrives to comfort her. The Scan brings up a shadow (hey that's the name of the episode.)

The Gang are still lost about what they are facing and have come up with the convenient answer that Glory must be predating the written word. Right then to the chimes of the soundtrack she pops up in their midst to purchase some goods. She walked out without paying and no one said anything. (maybe it's one of her powers.)

There is nothing worse than fearing the unknown in a hospital the doctor comes out of the biopsy to break the news that Joyce has a brain tumor.

The look on Buffy's face is heart breaking.  Joyce's odds are  1 in 3 and here comes Ben the new "hunk" for this season, he comes and comforts Buffy and lets her know that there is nothing that can be done right now. Buffy thinks that magic is the way to help but I think it has disaster written all over it. Buffy decides to keep Dawn in the dark (Not what I would do.)

Anya had stumbled on the fact that Giles just handed over the things that will give their enemy to create some bad spell. Dawn and Riley are at the local fun park and Riley sells her some good old fashioned American false hope. Back in the Magic Box and Buffy gets a real reality check as Giles and Willow lets Buffy know that the medical and magical don't mix. Also Giles for the fist time in this show Giles looks foolish for selling the things needed to create a monster. Buffy didn't seem to listen to a thing that was taught to her in the last episode diving head first into attacking the demon.

Glory steals a cobra to create her monster as she is blind sided by Buffy. The advantage is short lived as Glory gets the upper hand and creates the snake monster "Sobak" The CGI and puppet work doesn't look too bad. (real improvement over the last few seasons.) Xander is giving Riley the 3rd degree over the last hunt.

Sobek the snake enters the local church looking for whatever he needs. Buffy lets Giles know the bad news and goes to be with her Mother when she wakes up. Riley falls into the old "I'm not man enough for my girlfriend" depression and gets drunk and picks up a vampire in the bar. He nearly becomes one when he puts a stake in her heart. (a useless scene in my opinion.) Riley needs to see that Buffy is with him and not Angel.

The snake comes crashing into the magic box and I think he has figured out who the key is and is going to let Glory know all about it. (Fair Scream from Dawn.)  Sobek is on the run to Glory who is throwing shoe boxes at her minion. (please kill him!) The CGI is looking really good in a cheesy kind of way, Buffy tries to kills Sobek the same way Princess Leia killed Jaba the Hut in Return of the Jedi, only to resort to her bare hands. (Buffy I think he is dead now.) Dawn's secret is safe for now.

Joyce tells Dawn the bad news, Riley shows up wearing a turtle neck sweater to hide the puncture marks from his little slip up. It seems the battle has just begun and Buffy is up against it physically and emotionally from this point on.

A good episode moving the story along, I'm not buying the whole Riley thing as it seems really forced.

6/10

Well there you have it until next time, stay away from bad poetry and giant snake monsters.