annathepiper | Well, THAT was fun (Reply)

'Bout time we got some heavier Spike mileage!

So this episode, we got the start of an answer for the question of "WTF is up with Spike?!" It had been fairly obvious that something was messing with him and now we see that for certain -- and I am not only glad that it's Spike being messed with rather than him just going crazy enough to start killing again, but also that Buffy and the others are willing to buy at least initially that he is in fact being messed with. And that this is, conveniently, advancing the "bring Spike closer into the gang" concept! Yay!

Random other things appreciated about this episode:

Buffy's braided hairdo. That looked really keen. I'd like to wear my hair like that.
Anya's doing Spike-watch at Xander's, not only for the sotto voce lines Xander kept muttering under his breath before he left but also for how she talked her way out of being caught searching Spike's room. Also liked Spike trying to turn her down gently.
Dawn not raising an obvious snitfit about what the "apparent" Joyce told her and getting accusatory at Buffy... but sneaking her what looked to me like the occasional doubtful, uncertain stare regardless. Nicely played.
Having the action of this episode kick right in on the morning following the action in the last episode. Well done!
Spike's "well this can't be good" entrance when he showed up at Xander's and found Buffy there. Snicker.
Giles at the ending, discovering the guy who must have been another Watcher, looks like more evidence that the Guys In Black With Big Crooked Knives are killing proto-Slayers. And, I might add, the cut to black RIGHT AS GILES IS BEING JUMPED. solarbird on that: "Josh is a bastard! Er Joss. Whatever. However you spell it, it sounds out BASTARD." I was also amused to note that spazzkat cried "THAT'S NOT FAIR" just as I came back to the Murk MUSH to find Yukita announcing the exact same thing, as the credits rolled.
And OH YES: James Marsters' singing voice! Nice little verse of whatever what was he whipped out. I am going to have to go find the lyrics to that. Smelled like a trad folk ditty to me!

Trailer for next week's episode looks fun, too. I'm pleased to see we've apparently got Buffy committing to believing that Spike has changed and is different now that he has a soul in him. Yay!