Janes (a True Stan) and Nerdy Spice (a New Fan) are watching all of Buffy together and comparing notes. Warning: May contain spoilers for later episodes.

Episode 13 “Dead Things”

The Trio, continuing their trend of basically being incels from the 2020s, are working on a “cerebral dampener”–a weapon to make women submissive and stupid. Warren finds his ex, Katrina, and full-on hypnotizes her and abducts her as his very own sex slave. Thank goodness (for the viewers and for Katrina), she comes to herself and kicks his ass. The Nerds try to hypnotize her again, but they’re out of juice, so Katrina runs—but Warren knocks her on the head and accidentally kills her. Unsurprisingly, this bothers Jonathan a lot more than it bothers Warren, who is the absolute worst.

Meanwhile, Spike and Buffy seem to have settled into an almost domestic ritual where they have wild sex and then don’t punch each other in the face. This time Buffy even stays around long enough to discuss interior decorating—but she promptly wigs when he compliments her as an “animal” in bed. (Or, rather, on floor.) Upset with herself for doing whatever it is that made Spike call her an animal (I’m sure the internet is full of fanfics that filled in those blanks), she asks Tara to help find out what went wrong in Willow’s spell that made Spike able to hurt her.

To soothe her troubled conscience, Buffy stays home to try to suck up to Dawn, who’s clearly been resentful that Buffy’s been so busy with her, um, vampire slaying. Dawn goes off to a sleepover at Janice’s, so Buffy hits up the Bronze with Willow, Xander, and Anya instead. But she wanders up to the top floor on her own, where she runs into Spike and, despite some murmured protest, ends up having some kind of sex with him right there in public against the railing while he whispers in her ear about how she belongs in the shadows. Whoa!

Buffy, trying to talk herself out of going to his lair later that night, hears screaming in the graveyard, and descends into a full-blown hallucination involving Katrina, Spike, some hooded demons, and time lapses just like the ones in a previous episode where Warren planted an inhibitor on her. In the end, she and Spike find Katrina’s dead body in a ditch and both become convinced that Buffy killed her by pushing her down a hill. Spike leaps into action to convince Buffy not to turn herself in because it was an accident. (“Trust me,” he tells her tenderly, even though in the opening act she said she didn’t trust him at all. Awwww.) That night, Buffy has flashbacks of killing Katrina and wakes up. She tells Willow she loves her and makes for the police station to turn herself in. 

Spike finds her before she can do so and tries to physically stop her, but she’s clear on the demands of her conscience. He, however, has hidden the body to stop her from turning herself in. It’s touching, and also of course it’s just more evidence that he and Buffy aren’t on the same moral plane, not really, even at the moment his feelings for her are at their most generous and intense. He says he loves her, and she freaks out and beats the shit out of him, only to become horrified at herself. However, just when she’s about to confess to the police, she hears the name of the victim and realizes it must be Warren’s doing. “You always hurt the ones you love,” she says—which is exactly what Spike said to her right after she finished beating him to a pulp. Warren thinks they’ve gotten away with it, but when Jonathan realizes he might kill Buffy too, he seems to have second thoughts.

Tara comes over to give Buffy the results of her investigation: nothing is wrong with Buffy except for molecular differences that confuse the sensors in Spike’s chip. She’s surprised when Buffy bursts into tears, and even more surprised when she figures out why, though Buffy won’t actually say the words out loud. “This can’t be me, it isn’t me,” Buffy says. “But the only time I ever feel anything is when…” She’s afraid of how people will look at her if they know. Tara promises to keep it a secret, and tells her it’s OK if she loves Spike—and OK if she doesn’t. Buffy thinks it’s not OK to just use him, and Tara says it’s more complicated than that, but Buffy can’t accept that. She sobs and begs Tara not to forgive her, because—I imagine—if she’s forgiven, that means it’s really her doing these things, her making these imperfect choices.

—Nerdy Spice

Notes from a New Fan:

• Spike hauls out a pair of handcuffs and asks Buffy if she trusts him. She says “never,” but jeez, I mean you can trust a guy a little, or even a lot, and still not think it’s a great idea to let an undead person, with a whole bunch of human and demonic enemies, lock you to a headboard deep underground in a crypt that straddles a Hellmouth. Come on, Spike. (Although on the other hand, couldn’t Buffy just break out of the handcuffs if she had to? Are they magic handcuffs? I’m never sure what the rules are with Buffy’s superstrength.)
• When Buffy talks to Tara and tells her Spike can hurt her, she grabs her wrist as if it’s sore. Did she end up agreeing to use the handcuffs after all?! Or is she just feeling super guilty?
• I don’t get how Tara can be sure that Willow did the spell right or wrong. It seems like half the time they only know Willow’s messed up when like, a giant troll comes lumbering down the street. 
• Jonathan and Andrew are at least connected enough to reality to tell Warren it’s sick to use his own ex as a sexbot, which is … sort of bizarre yet believable, that they would be OK using a hypnotized stranger as a sex slave but not doing it to someone they knew.
• Katrina calls Warren’s action what it is: rape. I actually was shocked that she said the word because I feel like similar things happened on TV all the time in this era and it would always be like, “Oh, well, he’s really sad about the breakup.”
• So what is the deal with the upstairs of the Bronze? Is it supposed to be creepy? Apparently Spike just lurks up there? Or have cell phones become a thing and Buffy texted him to meet her up there? I’m confused.
• This scene on the balcony is, obviously, hot. But what a switch for Spike — a minute ago he was basically begging Buffy to tell him she likes him a little, and now he’s giving her confident, slightly porny speeches about how she belongs in the dark while they have public sex a few yards from her friends.
• The speech he gives her is both rather silly and kind of shitty. Silly because, again, it’s not evidence of being a Dark Person to just want to have sex with an unsuitable guy when you’ve been through a huge trauma! Shitty because he’s trying to convince her she’s dark, not because he really thinks so (I imagine) but because he thinks it’ll keep her with him. I think he knows she thinks that there’s something horribly wrong about having sex with him. And the weird thing is that this affair does make her seem dark—not the sex part, but the parts in between where she’s willfully cruel to him. But she has this weird madonna-whore complex about herself, and she’s convinced that it’s the sex that makes her disgusting and evil.
• Tara and Willow have their first run-in post-breakup and it’s awkward and stammery, which means it’s basically like every other time they’ve talked to each other. (I’ve come to like Tara a lot, actually, but her and Willow’s way of flirting is to just stammer a lot and say very nice, polite things to each other, and I just don’t really vibe with it. So all their scenes are kind of awkward to me. I feel kind of guilty saying so because I know this relationship meant a lot to people!)
• Did Buffy not notice Katrina’s body was cold? Maybe they microwaved her with their ray gun.
• I laughed when Spike thought his plan to save Buffy was so brilliant (hiding the body in the river) and then the body immediately washed up on shore as soon as he said that.
• As I mentioned before, the way Buffy treats Spike is probably the darkest thing about her this season. She hits him every time he says he loves her. This episode, when she actually beats him to a pulp, is really tough to watch.
• Spike argues that Buffy doesn’t need to turn herself in because so many people are alive because of her, and this is just one dead girl. Buffy angrily says that it’s “just another body to him,” but I don’t think it’s exactly that—I think it’s that his moral sense hasn’t evolved past a kind of brute arithmetic, whereas Buffy’s conscience won’t let her get off with hurting even one human. (Again, kind of odd that she’s fine with being so mean to Spike, but oh well.)
• I also laughed for some reason when Buffy sobbed to Tara, “Why do I let Spike do those things to me?” I know she’s upset, but come on, Buffy. It’s just a little sex! (Also laughed when Tara realized what she meant and said, “Ohhhhh.” Heh.)
• But then she sobs that she’s just using him—it’s not clear to me if she really even thinks this, or if she thinks loving Spike would be even worse, or what. And I see that. I mean, like I said above, I do think the darkest thing about her this season has been that she’s actively cruel to him. She believes that he doesn’t have a soul so it’s OK—but we know she knows he has enough feelings to hurt, that’s why she’s taking pleasure in hurting him. Maybe it doesn’t count as a “soul” in this particular universe, maybe he doesn’t feel exactly the way a human would feel, but hurt is hurt and Buffy is hurting him on purpose and that feels very uncomfortable for this otherwise incredibly compassionate woman. (But he’s not an innocent victim or anything; the “shadows” speech he gives her at the Bronze for example is super manipulative and selfish.)

Notes from a True Stan:

• Both Buffy and Dawn are being annoying. Of course Dawn can’t cancel plans with her friend when her friend’s mom is honking outside. But on the other hand, why is Dawn being all resentful that Buffy’s “never home” when she’s working? It’s not like she’s partying and living it up, she’s flipping burgers at fake-McDonalds to support you!
• Katrina explicitly calling the Trio’s cerebral dampener “rape” is so progressive for the time. Having sex with someone who was mind-controlled was such a common trope in the sci-fi/fantasy genre–I love that this episode plays into that problematic fantasy only to subvert it.
• Katrina’s death is so dark and unexpectedly tragic. The Trio are the scariest villains, and I will die on this hill. 
• I love when Andrew and Jonathan say that since Katrina’s death was an “accident,” they should go to the police. How would that go, exactly? “We didn’t smash her head with a bottle because we wanted to kill her, we just wanted to rape her.”
• I think it’s worth noting that the consent in the Spike/Buffy club scene seems dubious. But like I’ve said before, this is a feature, not a bug, of the way their relationship is written–a toxic, violent dynamic that will inevitably end badly.
• This is awkward to say after my previous comment, but the scene where Buffy and Spike are caressing each other through a door is super hot and romantic. And also kind of hilarious? The emo early aughts song playing in the background, Spike tearing out of the crypt with his shirt open and rippling in the wind. Nerdy Spice tells me this is the moment that launched a thousand fan videos, but like, it already is a fan video!
• The scene where Buffy punches Spike and screams at him is so disturbing–in a good way. SMG really sells Buffy’s self-loathing–it reminds me of the scene where Faith (as Buffy) punches her own face screaming, “You’re nothing!”
• It’s so sad when Buffy begs Tara to tell her something is wrong with her. It feels very emotionally true–her shame is so intense that she would rather think she’s inhuman than accept that trauma and depression can make you behave in ways you never imagined. (Not that I think Buffy having sex with Spike is objectively “bad”–it just doesn’t align with her self-conception.)
• As a side note: I wish we’d gotten more of Buffy and Tara! Tara is a much more accepting and supportive friend than any of Buffy’s actual friends, and it’s honestly the only time Tara is interesting to me.

Episode 14 “Older and Far Away”

Everyone’s busy, and Dawn is feeling neglected. Buffy is patrolling and working at the Doublemeat Palace, Willow is doing magic AA, Tara’s gone, and Anya and Xander are busy wedding planning. There’s a scene where no one will go to the mall with Dawn, and it would be very sad, except–what kind of teenager wants their sister’s adult friends to go to the mall with them? Does this girl have any friends?

At school, Dawn meets a mysterious new guidance counselor who asks how she’s doing after her mom died. Dawn says that “people are always leaving” and she “wishes they would just stop.” Then, when Buffy has a birthday party, the counselor shows up outside the house just as everyone is arriving, turns all veiny, and says, “Wish granted.” She’s a vengeance demon!

At first, the party proceeds normally–Buffy opens her gifts, including a beautiful leather jacket from Dawn, and flirts with both Spike and a normie that Xander and Anya are trying to set her up with. Everyone’s having fun and dancing, so they decide to stay over. But then they’re still unmotivated to leave the next morning, even though they all have work and school. Even when they physically try to leave, they realize they can’t. They all start freaking out, understandably, and Dawn’s all like, “Oh, of course being with me is the worst thing in the world.” Um, they have work and class? And they’re afraid of being magically stuck in the house for all eternity? That’s all pretty reasonable. 

Buffy and her friends put two and two together and gently ask Dawn whether she did anything to stop them from leaving. She snarls says she didn’t, but she wishes she did, because “how else could I get anyone to spend any time with me?” Ugh, get a grip, seriously. And then she does her infamous “Get out get out get out!”, again. Which is iconic, but still–that’s two times too many!

Sidebar: a lot of fans are starting to reevaluate Dawn and defend her behavior, because she’s a teenager with a lot of trauma, so it makes sense that she’s rebellious and annoying. But she’s not even rebellious in a realistic, age-appropriate way! Buffy had moments in the first few seasons where she acted like an immature teenager, but it was endearing because she was acting her age–sneaking out, fighting with her mom, etc. I agree that Dawn has plenty to be angry about, but I wish she would act out her abandonment issues instead of whining about them all the time.

The Scoobies try to come up with a spell to get out of the house, but Tara didn’t bring any supplies, and they purged all magic paraphernalia for Willow’s recovery. Except it turns out Willow actually kept a few things “just in case”–which doesn’t look all that unreasonable at this point, honestly!

After giving Willow a few withering stares, Tara does a standard “release” spell. But Buffy accidentally took home a sword with a demon in it during one of her patrols, so the spell releases the demon, and now they’re all trapped inside with it. The demon itself is pretty anticlimactic, but what’s scarier is the sense of claustrophobia. Anya, especially, starts to have a panic attack, which makes her even meaner than usual. She starts to pressure Willow to do a spell, but Willow says she can’t. “Can’t or won’t?” Anya spits at her. When she starts screaming that Willow shouldn’t have gotten addicted in the first place, Tara defends her, telling Anya to back off. Aw. 

Meanwhile, Buffy is having a heart-to-heart with Dawn, and they’re just starting to piece together that the guidance counselor was a vengeance demon when Anya busts in. She continues her reign of terror by ransacking Dawn’s room, and accidentally finds a bunch of shoplifted stuff, including items from the Magic Box. Ugh, how boring! I guess it’s on me for asking for a more teenage type of rebellion, but this sucks! 

Anya quickly figures out the guidance counselor was Halfrek, her best friend, and summons her. There’s a scare where the demon stabs Halfrek, but luckily she doesn’t die. She gives a long speech about how she could “hear [Dawn’s] pain all over town,” but now all they have is time to spend with her. She dramatically tries to teleport away, but it doesn’t work. “It’s the spell, Hallie,” Anya says, rolling her eyes. Heh. Halfrek lifts the spell, and they can all finally leave, but Buffy chooses to stay with Dawn. Whatever.

—Janes

Notes from a New Fan:

• Buffy patrols in a big red bucket hat. It’s so fetch, but doesn’t it kind of interfere with her peripheral vision?
  
• Doesn’t Dawn have any friends her own age? It’s so sad that she’s asking all these grownups to go to the mall with her. It used to seem like she had friends, but I guess that was before her mom died and she figured out she was actually a Key in human form, so it stands to reason some things have changed. 
• Dawn has an insane amount of stuffed animals. That has to be the sign of some kind of grievous psychic wound. Although I guess the shoplifting is really the biggest sign.
• I love how Tara looks around nervously before asking if Spike is coming to Buffy’s party. Way to be stealth, Tara.
• Tara calling Richard “cute” in front of Spike is honestly pretty cold. I love it.
• The little exchange where Buffy and Spike tease each other about being jealous is, oddly, the moment when they seem to like each other the most. They obviously find each other funny while being obnoxious. It’s cute!
• I did not realize AT ALL that the guidance counselor was Anya’s friend. Did I totally miss that, or is this supposed to be a surprise?!
• They didn’t tell this blind-date guy that Buffy was a vampire slayer but they give her a weapons chest right in front of him. Again… way to be stealth!
• “A muscle cramp… in your pants?” says Tara when she catches Spike getting a little, erm, pelvic massage from Buffy. Ha! She IS funny!
• I’m a little disappointed in the gang that NO ONE seems to have snuck off to have illicit sex with an ill-advised partner during this entire involuntary sleepover. Buffy and Spike? Willow and Tara? Come on, people! What a waste of an enchanted slumber party!
• Another sad thing about Dawn is that her wish that no one would leave her takes place on someone else’s birthday. It could at least be somewhat relatable if it was her birthday.
• The door of Buffy’s house is such a charged place. Some of the most memorable scenes have been at that door. Buffy opening the door for her resurrected mom? Buffy inviting Spike in? (Don’t judge me, I am still not over how great that was.) I love that a whole episode revolves around it.
• Richard is red-shirted and he’s literally wearing a red shirt!
• Wait, why don’t they call a doctor to come into the house to help Richard? Or like, can they call the 90s version of Postmates to drop off a bunch of pharmacy supplies through the window? Not even fully joking.
• Talk about Buffy being cruel to Spike — making him stay with Dawn when she’s in this mood might be the meanest thing she’s done yet.
• I love that Anya’s the one who points out that Willow could possibly set them free. But I also love when Tara stands up for her, even if the dialogue’s a little cliched. Still, I’m kind of on Anya’s side. I feel like it’s OK for Willow to use magic when she’s really trapped?
• Janes and I were just talking about how Dawn’s shoplifting plot is sort of like the comic relief that the season needs—even though we don’t think it was intended to be comedic. It’s just that her storyline is so reminiscent of a Very Special Episode in a very different show.

Notes from a True Stan:

• I love that all of the characters have their darkest, weightiest arcs this season–Buffy is depressed and in a toxic relationship, Willow becomes an addict, Xander leaves Anya at the altar, and then Dawn… shoplifts. 
• They should really just have a blanket policy against ever saying the word “wish.” Also against ever celebrating Buffy’s birthday.
• I love when Tara calls Buffy’s blind date “cute” just to fuck with Spike. Tara’s fun when she’s feisty!
• Dawn didn’t even get the security tag off the jacket? Worst shoplifter ever.
• I think we’re supposed to hate Sophie because of her diet restrictions, but she seems nice?
• The way Buffy fights with Spike in this episode is very coupley! Especially when she says “I was insane to think you could ever just hang out with my friends,” as if they’re like, Hannah and Adam from Girls.
• When Halfrek sees Spike, she calls him William, because the actress also plays Cecily, Spike’s human love whom he called “effulgent”!
• I can’t believe that after all that, Halfrek was still invited to the wedding!

Episode 15 “As You Were”

Ewwww, Riley in the previouslies. And honestly these previouslies just remind me how much the Riley breakup annoyed me! Yes, I realize it’s been twenty years since this happened but for me it’s only been like six months.

Buffy is still working at Doublemeat Palace, catching shade from everyone for smelling like Doublemeat Palace. Ouch. She’s decided to be there for Dawn, and her way of doing that is to bring home a Doublemeat Burger but accidentally squish it on the way when she agrees to bang Spike up against a tree in the front lawn. Thought that counts? At least Dawn’s fatal case of teen angst seems to have gone into remission, because she actually thanks Buffy despite the squashedness. Dawn goes to the Bronze with Willow, but Buffy is too demoralized to go and instead stays home scrubbing the grass stains off her coat in a not so subtle metaphor for trying to scrub away her sins with Spike.

Adult life is, in general, not going so great for Buffy. She forgets garbage day, the dishes and bills are piling up… and now her ex is in town with a mysterious mission he needs help on, witnessing the humiliation of her crap job. She walks off her shift to help him, and he tells her he’s looking for something called a Suvolte demon, which is a “breeder”–it multiplies. They lose in their first skirmish with the demon, and wind up in a car chase with it. Riley promptly brags about all the big stories he has to tell Buffy. “Did you die?” she says pertly. When he says no, she says, “I’m gonna win.” (My real-time notes: “God, I LOVE this.”) Riley sucks so much that he doesn’t even pick up that thread. I think he honestly thinks his stories are still more interesting.

Buffy is getting visibly googly-eyed with Riley, and he’s honestly giving almost as good as he’s getting. They keep doing that thing I’ve already complained about at length, where she calls him “Mr. Finn” to be flirtatious. But then just as they share an undeniable Moment after an encounter with the Suvolte demon, his freaking wife shows up! Her name is Sam, she’s gorgeous, she’s a great fighter, and most insulting of all, she’s not threatened by Buffy. They’ve been married four months. Things get pretty awkward when Buffy easily kills the demon and only then finds out that Riley forgot to tell her the mission was to capture, not kill, the demon.

Buffy brings them back to her house because they need a safe place to camp out, and we learn that Riley and Sam were tracking the demon because it came to the Hellmouth to spawn, and they’re worried the eggs are going to be sold on the black market to foreign military powers by someone named “the Doctor.” Buffy and Sam go out on patrol, but Buffy splits off to go to Spike—either to get information or possibly to be reassured that someone still wants and loves her. Awkwardly, Riley finds the two of them there and Buffy is humiliated. It gets even worse: Spike is the Doctor!

While Buffy is embarrassed, Spike just sits up, takes off his blanket, and lets Riley get an eyeful of, um, Little Spike. What a power move. Unfortunately, Buffy can flatten him with a word or glance even when Riley can’t: first she argues he’s too incompetent to be the Doctor, and then when Riley finds the eggs in Spike’s lair, Spike nearly cries as he says, “You know what I am, and you come to me anyway.” He has a point there. He runs off, and the eggs promptly hatch these horrible little demon larvae that are sort of like large beetley spiders, did I mention they are HORRIBLE? Buffy and Riley just manage to escape and set off a grenade in Spike’s lair. Symbolism!

Riley says that he has completed his mission but could kill the Doctor. “How can you ask me that,” Buffy asks. “I’m sleeping with him.” I think that’s the first time she’s actually said it, which is impressive. They have a good talk, where Buffy references her pathetic-ness and Riley tells her that it doesn’t change the fact that she’s the strongest woman he’s ever known. That’s one point for Riley, after many seasons of being unmitigatedly insufferable. Buffy apologizes for how things ended between them, and Riley and Sam head off into the night in a chopper to resume their life together. Buffy changes into her most angelic-looking, ruffly, light lavender peasant top and breaks up with Spike because she doesn’t love him. 

Also, side plots of this episode, just to be thorough: Anya and Xander are planning their wedding and squabbling on their way to pick up relatives from the airport, and Xander is clearly extremely nervous, but he claims that it’s only about the wedding—not the marriage. Suuure. In contrast, Willow and Tara are talking again and Willow’s giddy about it. And finally, Dawn is, for some reason, on her best behavior. Maybe she’s planning an extra big heist at the Magic Box.

—Nerdy Spice

Notes from a New Fan:

• Nooooooo! Riley is in the previouslies! That means… he’s back! There are only like 30 episodes left of the entire show, do we really have to spend 3% of them revisiting this dude?
• OK, predictions for this episode having seen the teaser and the previouslies: Riley comes back, and Buffy says she loved him, and he maybe believes her. But when he sees her working at Doublemeat Palace, he offers to give her money just like Spike did, and she’s about to accept, when he runs into Spike, figures out what’s going on, becomes convinced of some incel shit about how Buffy can only be attracted to monsters, and withdraws his offer, leaving Buffy even more miserable than before. (The worst part of it is that Riley will ascribe all of this to some brokenness in Buffy where she only wants “monsters,” without ever acknowledging that maybe, just maybe, he is BORING AF.)
• In my IDEAL episode, however, he comes back, he wants Buffy back, then he judges her for working at Doublemeat Palace, and she jilts him so that we can all move on and agree that she did not in fact love Riley.
• OK, so one minute into Riley’s return and he’s already begged for Buffy’s help because he needs the best, and she has already laughed at his fancy army gadgetry and called it cute. This episode might actually go beyond my wildest fantasies.
• Oh, one more fantasy for this episode: Riley dies at the end. I don’t mean to be cruel, I’m just saying that it would really make me happy.
• When they find the demon, Riley shows his badge and tells everyone the demon is a wild bear and he’s from the Forestry Service. Hee!
• Riley: “You know there’s not a lot of people I’d ask to risk my life for me, Buffy. It’s good to see you.” I love how Riley is so self-centered that he thinks it’s some kind of honor that he asked for Buffy’s help, like she isn’t both the best fighter on the planet and also in the habit of risking her life for literally anyone. I am going to type this sentence in all caps for (hopefully) the last time: SHE IS THE F*@$ING SLAYER.
• “Better no guy than the wrong guy, that’s for sure,” says Sam. If only someone had told Buffy that before she wasted a year and a half on Riley!
• Spike calls Buffy and Riley’s search unconstitutional. Hee! (Also, he’s reading a book, which I kind of love… it’s very Jess from Gilmore Girls.)
• Oof, Riley smells the burger smell on Buffy too! Ouch.
• Riley says Buffy’s the strongest woman he’s ever known. Maybe he could just say strongest person, but OK, I’ll take it.
• Riley says the outward circumstances don’t change what Buffy is, “a hell of a woman.” Finally, something I can agree with.
• I forget, does Riley even know Dawn was the Key? And he doesn’t know that Buffy died because he was too self-involved to pick up on her hint. As usual, he doesn’t know anything!
• I really like that when Buffy dumps Spike and walks away, he doesn’t respond in a cliched way by like, sweeping a bunch of objects off of some desk somewhere. I was really expecting that. But he just stands there, gutted.

Notes from a True Stan:

• Buffy doesn’t want to traumatize Dawn by bringing Spike in the house, so she… has sex with Spike right outside the house, in plain view from the living room window?
• I was really hard on Dawn in the previous write-up, so I’ll say something nice about her here: it’s super cute how much she ships Willow and Tara. 
• Okay, if Riley has time to flirtatiously tell Buffy he loves her haircut, he definitely has time to tell her he’s married! Sheesh.
• Love that Spike calls Riley “crew cut.” I’m gonna call him that from now on.
• It’s funny to see tiny SMG try to shield Marc Blucas with her body during the explosion.
• Let’s do some math. Riley’s last episode aired on December 19, 2000. This episode aired fourteen months later, on February 26, 2002. Riley mentions that he’s been married for four months, so he met Sam, dated her, proposed to her, and married her within ten months. Fine, I guess, but then Sam mentions that it took about a year for Riley to get over Buffy? So it took until like, his wedding day? [I was also wondering that! Thanks for doing the math! –Nerdy Spice]