Bloody Hell!

Ah yes, my thoughts on this week's episode. I did mean to email you yesterday about it, but I was in one of my "get work done" moods, and I really can't afford to ignore those, they are so few and far between. I wanted to immediately call you after the "wha-HUH?" moment at the end of the episode (that's the noise both Matt and I made). But other than that, there was nothing really pressing that I had to get off my chest, so I figured that I'd wait till today to email you, cuz I figured after one day of working, I would be due for a break. Anyway, on to my thoughts....The episode was pretty good. Made me feel bad for Spike, which was a long time coming. Made me appreciate James Marsters some more. BUt it also frustrated and irked me a bit. I think I'll talk about Spike first:~ I can't help but think that Spike is a BIG player in the coming apocalypse or whatever is coming. Mr. (or Ms.) Biggest Baddest really has a hold on him, and I'm not quite convinced that bringing the Buffster to that house was done too early. This thing can control Spike, I think it knew what it was doing. I think everything is playing out the way it wants things to.~ Like I said, the episode made me feel bad for Spike. It seems like I can feel bad for Spike in ways that I never could with Angel. I don't know if that's testament to James Marsters as an actor or maybe the writers, but I care about Spike and wish Angel nothing but pain and suffering. I mean, Spike stands up for himself and is all "Fuck you, Buffy", while Angel is "I love you, Buffy, can't you tell by the years of pain and torment that you see in my eyes? However, you are too good for me, so I must brood and weep for my poor self."~ Proof that Spike has a soul: his denial of Anya sex. That was the best scene in the episode (outside of Giles' 2 minutes). Interesting how it kind of paralleled the scene with Willow when Spike was first chipped. He still can't "perform" because of this new addition.~ I'm going to start collecting my favorite lines from each episode (based on Andrew's last week). This week's honor goes to Anya: "Soulless Spike would have had me upside down and halfway to happyland by now." Second place goes to Aimee Mann, but I'll have more on her later.~ I also liked Anya saying that the stake was kinky. That's a total Harmony thing to say. Intentional?~ So in addition to Anya and Xander being absent from last week's ep, I'm being forced to conclude that their existence is of absolutely no consequence to the Big BAd Morphing Maniac. Why, if Spike is consistently alone with Xander and now Anya, hasn't BIggest Baddest turned either of them to vamps? If he really wants to get rid of Spike, have him kill Xander. And if either Xander or Anya were important, they would definitely at least have had been attacked by now.~ I liked Xander's interaction with Anya. He made me laugh and smile because he wasn't being stupid Xander, he was being coy, quippy, clever Xander. More Xander/Anya interaction is requested by me. And dammit, why the hell can't they give Xander something, anything to do? At least kill him and make him an example or something.~ The name of the song that Aimee Mann sang was "Pavlov's Bell." I thought that was pretty clever and quite appropriate. Do you know what song Morphy was singing and humming that set Spike off? I gotta do some research and find out.~ "I hate playing vampire towns." That was pretty funny too.~ "What was I, a one-bite stand?" Cringe-worthy quote of the week. It made me want to close my eyes and curl up into a ball and pretend it was never said. That must have been a David Fury line. Jane Espenson is rarely that corny. Almost as bad as Doug Petrie's "Get off super-bitch" from last year's "Two to Go"~ I have to say it again, Michelle Trachtenberg is really showing that she is a hell of an actress. Perfect look on her face when they were talking about Joyce. EVeryone knew how she felt and that she's not going to tell them what "Joyce" said. Betcha that will come and bite her in the ass.~ Will, Buffy and Dawn were all thinking and talking about what I have been thinking and talking about for the past week. It was cool that they all were at least talking about it (usually it's weeks, months and years before certain things come out between them), but it was also frustrating because I didn't want the questions, I wanted answers, dammit. (Hello? Call Giles, please!)~ Speaking of Rupert, holy crap, those bastards and that ending. From what I could see, it really didn't look like he'd have any chance of keeping his noggin, but I know he's not dying. Well, I don't know, but I KNOW. And why was he in the guest credits? That was really annoying, cuz the whole time I was like, "Where the fuck is Giles?" When they had that first scene in London it was before his name was on the screen, so I was like, "Oh, Giles is around?" Then I didn't see him, so I was kinda annoyed, but then his name appeared, but he didn't until the end of the episode. I think that's all I can think about right now for "Sleeper." I do want to remark on "Conversations..." and that poor bastard Jonathan. I think I'll miss him so much because he was so much like me in high school. Always the outsider, always wanting to fit in, never quite getting there. I identified more with him than anyone on the show (well, except maybe Willow, but they were very similar in high school). And through it all, Jonathan was always a good guy deep down. He might have gotten a bit confused last year, but he made up for it, and her certainly did not deserve to die, especially at the hands of that little whore Andrew. I would like somehow if Jonathan could come back, for him to be the savior of the season. For him to finally be appreciated and loved by the Scoobies. That would be really cool.