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.

Content warning: explicit discussion of SA, graphic violence.

We’re still posting! Just veeery slowly. Life has gotten in the way and probably will continue to do so. Thanks to those of you who have dropped by and read and/or commented so far!!

Episode 19 “Seeing Red”

Buffy and Spike are both catching shit in this episode. Buffy kicks Spike out of the Scoobs, so Dawn goes to visit him and implies that he couldn’t have really loved Buffy if he slept with Anya. Ah, the naivete of youth! Meanwhile, Xander has the temerity to scold Buffy for sleeping with Spike, despite what a shit he was to Anya.

But we have real villains to deal with too. The Three Nerds kill some demon and use its corpse as a “meat suit” (with Jonathan inside so Warren doesn’t have to risk his own life or the life of Andrew, his best lackey) to find a set of orbs that give Warren superpowers. Once he has them he makes the predictably terrible use of them: he just makes the other two stand by at a bar so he can flirt with a pretty woman and then beat up her boyfriend because he bullied him in high school.

Now here is the big, brutal scene. Spike shows up while Buffy is drawing herself a hot shower after a patrol in which she was thrown into a gravestone. He says he’s sorry, and he cares about her, and then he tries to insist that she loves him even though she says she doesn’t. She says that she has feelings for him, but it’s not love because she doesn’t trust him. He says, “Trust is for old marrieds, Buffy. Great love is wild and passionate and dangerous. It burns and consumes.” (It’s a seductive argument, right? Especially on TV, because on TV, it’s hard to make trust compelling to watch. Burning and consuming, on the other hand, is very compelling.) Anyway, Spike is so convinced of his own argument and so unwilling to listen to her that he begins trying to force himself on her, first to kiss her, and then worse. “I know you felt it when I was inside you,” he says, as he wrestles her to the ground while she screams. It is absolutely horrible to watch. Finally she manages to overcome her injury enough to kick him off and says, “Ask me again why I could never love you. Because I stopped you.”

Spike goes back to his lair, seeming both sick with guilt and curious why he didn’t actually go through with the rape. He decides that he can’t be a monster or a man without the chip — so he’s gonna make a change. He leaves town, but not before stopping on the highway, in his motorcycle, to smoke a cigarette and declare to an imaginary Buffy that he’ll come back.

Finally Buffy has a confrontation with the three nerds. And she’s even having a little trouble defeating Warren until Jonathan pretends to tackle her and whispers a tip in her ear: “Smash his orbs.” Luckily she doesn’t misinterpret and think it’s his testicles, despite a rather juvenile and homophobic joke that was made earlier about Andrew re: Warren’s orbs. Buffy smashes the orbs—but he flies away in a jet pack. Then, to Jonathan’s surprise, Andrew does the same (except he hits his head on the way back and falls down to earth, hee!) Turns out Jonathan’s the only one without a jet pack — but both Jonathan and Andrew are booked at the police station, where Andrew slowly realizes that maybe Warren doesn’t care about him as much as he cares about Warren.

Xander comes by to make up with Buffy, and even almost apologizes to her. Then Warren comes by and shoots up the place—and gets Tara right through the heart where she’s standing with Willow inside the house. I knew this was coming but jeez it’s so sudden!! Yeah, the gun also gets Buffy, but I think we all know who’s biting the big one here…

—Nerdy Spice

Notes from a New Fan: 

• I just looked up Amber Benson and it turns out she dated the actor who played Warren for years. WHAT?! So weird to picture!
• I love how Dawn and Willow are like, “It’s 10 o’clock!” [in the morning] like that’s so late to be in bed. Willow is a college student! Getting up before 10 is early!
• Dawn offers to go down to the basement to watch TV so she can’t hear Willow and Tara having sex. Heh. I love that she’s supportive, but awkward.
• Buffy finds a sexy Wonder Woman figurine amongst the Three Nerds’ possessions and makes a face. Yeah. That’s very on brand for them.
• The Nerds have booby-trapped their apartment with a bunch of swinging blade things, it’s exactly like a video game level. (One that I would 100% lose.) Also very on brand!
• I can’t decide if this scene between Dawn and Spike, where she acts all innocent and asks questions like “You won’t be coming around anymore, will you?”  is moving or annoying. Probably annoying, since it’s Dawn.
• Nice to hear that Janice is still alive, though! I love you, Amber Tamblyn.
• Dawn asks Spike if sleeping with Anya was worth it, now that everyone’s mad at him. Look, Spike’s done some bad stuff, but WHO CARES about him and Anya having sex? Xander doesn’t own her! He dumped her! Ugh. I’m on Spike’s side here. I mean maybe he’s evil in some weird metaphysical way (and also in a very concrete rapey way later this episode) but come on. Dude’s allowed to have an ill-advised rebound after the woman he loved used him for sex, spent months insulting him at every turn, and then dumped him because she would never love him back. That’s not an ambiguous situation. There’s no “we were on a break.”
• They need to get some orbs of Nezzla’khan using the skin of a Nezzla demon. I guess at this point in a series you get tired of making up multiple magic-sounding names per episode. Nezzla’s perfectly good! Let’s use it for both!
• Buffy comes to Xander’s house all sheepish, as if he has the right to judge her for sleeping with Spike. I know it’s just a projection of her judging herself, but…. Ugh! Makes me so mad at Xander!
• Everything Xander says I just write down, “Ugh.”
• Anya is doing two mysterious things: she’s dusting all the stuff in the store with a feather duster (maybe microfiber cloths aren’t compatible with ancient artifacts) and she’s wearing a shirt that has a single pointy tail down the back, as if it was a thong bodysuit that got cut in half. Did people actually wear these?!
• I love Willow “hacking” some “data CDs” (ah, the early internet age!) while lying in bed naked with Tara, both swaddled in silky sheets. Livin’ the life!
• Xander actually gets a beautiful, sexy-voiced woman to flirt with him at a bar and chases her off with a horrible, gross metaphor about a fish (i.e. Anya) spawning with another fish who’s spawning with his good friend (Buffy). I think the most offensive part of this is the idea that gorgeous women are just sitting around at bars waiting to hit on Xander. Although the thing where he says “flopping, and gasping” is also pretty obscene.
• This shower scene is even worse than I expected. I knew it was coming, it was one of the big spoilers I knew, but when you watch in real time it’s truly horrible. My entire gut twisted, watching it. I don’t entirely understand why Buffy was so injured by a simple vampire fight that she was in real danger from Spike, but given that, it was just—harrowing.
• Spike’s rationale for his attack—“you felt it when I was inside you”—oof. I don’t know, it feels out of character to me, but I think that’s the point of the scene: you buy into this notion that he loves her so much he could never hurt her, but—in the world of the show—the fact is he’s not a good guy and as soon as she triggers whatever sense of entitlement he has, he turns into this. Personally I feel like Riley exhibited way more signs of entitlement than Spike, who loved Buffy in an abject way where he didn’t seem to expect anything. But hey, I am biased, because that wild and passionate and burning and consuming love is much more fun to watch onscreen than the stable, boring-ass love represented by Riley.
• What I don’t get is why this beautiful woman is into Warren’s aggressive “flirting” (which seems to be just bragging about how rich he is). She has a boyfriend! Why would she sit around listening to Warren natter on? I feel like she’s just a prop in this scene; at some points the actress makes a face that almost seems like she just enjoys playing men off each other, but it just seems weird.
• Not gonna lie, I enjoyed watching Xander get beaten up by Warren. But I also enjoyed Xander trying to punch Warren and hurting his hand.
• Xander almost goes off and goes after Spike but Buffy asks him not to and he doesn’t. Listening to a woman’s “no” is a low bar, but hey, not everyone’s hitting it today. So good job, Xander. I guess.
• OK, I’ve changed my mind from my previous Measured, Intelligent Critic response. Can we all just agree that Joss had Issues (to put it lightly), that he identified way too strongly with Xander, and that he was using all of this to work through some sort of extinction burst he was having of resentment that his own character (Spike) sprang to life and made choices he himself, as a classic proto-incel nerd, didn’t approve of? So he made Spike into a rapist when that didn’t fit his character? No? Just me being a fanwanking fangirl at the expense of appreciating the actual greatness of this show? Yeah, that’s… very possible.
• Clem shows up with hot wings, hoping to have a nice bro hang with Spike, only to find Spike in the middle of an existential crisis. Poor Clem.
• This episode utilizes the cliched but potent horror of a darkened amusement park. I approve.
• Is there a single man in this episode who comes off as non-obnoxious? I guess Clem is pretty sweet.
• Xander complains about Buffy not trusting him enough to tell him about Spike, but like… he was a total ass about it. OK, he admits that thirty seconds later, but come on, Xander. SHUT UP.
• Ew, are Buffy and Xander gonna kiss? Oh, whew, they aren’t.
• After the shooting, both Willow and Xander start just holding their respective scene partners and yelling, instead of calling 911. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!!!
• Willow goes Evil Eyes immediately, so I guess we can conclude Tara’s already dead. (I knew she was going to die, and obviously I know Buffy’s not dead, so I’m not in a whole lot of suspense here.) I really see why people were angry about this! They couldn’t even let them have happiness for a few episodes first. It really must have been a slap in the face at a time when you basically never saw happy lesbian couples on TV.

Notes from a True Stan:

• The Trio’s great trap for Buffy was–giant buzzsaws? Why didn’t they just blow up the place?
• It’s painful to see how happy and glowy Willow and Tara are for just one episode. It’s so manipulative, and makes Tara’s death an even more egregious example of Bury Your Gays.
• I feel like I’ve run out of words to describe how gross Xander is. But here goes: his anger at Buffy for sleeping with Spike is so excessive, it’s actually creepy. And THEN, he tries to pull the “I’m your best friend, how could you not tell me” card. Like, this is why? Because she knew you’d be a judgmental prick about it?
• I understand why a large segment of the fandom hates the attempted rape scene–it’s very graphic and difficult to watch. I don’t begrudge anyone who feels it’s gratuitous. But personally, I think it’s a very well-done scene, because it really makes you feel how traumatic sexual assault is, where other shows gloss over it or minimize it. It’s a realistic portrayal of a trauma that happens to so many women. I’ve heard some survivors in the fandom say that this plot point was therapeutic, because it was one of the only examples of an unimpeachably strong, complex female character going through something like this and coming out the other side. I feel the same way. 
• The only thing I don’t like, actually, is how much the show focuses on Spike’s guilt. This will only get worse in season 7, but it starts here–I don’t want to see his trauma flashbacks of the rape! What about Buffy’s trauma flashbacks? 
• Tara’s death, on the other hand, is just painful. There’s nothing valuable to take from it–it’s just taking away queer joy. 
• The metaphor of Buffy “smashing [Warren’s] orbs” is a little on-the-nose, but I don’t care–I like it.

Episode 20 “Villains”

After Tara’s death, a grief-stricken Willow summons Osiris, the god of resurrection that she called upon to bring Buffy back. She didn’t have to kill a deer this time–she’s so powerful now, she can just call his name and he appears. But he won’t bring Tara back because, unlike Buffy, she wasn’t killed by mystical forces: it’s a “human death by human means.” Willow’s grief turns to rage, and she goes to the Magic Box and sucks the energy out of dark magic books. Her hair goes dark, her eyes are dark and semi-permanently dilated: it’s the Dark Willow makeover.

Xander rushes Buffy to the hospital after she was shot. She goes into surgery, but it isn’t looking good. Willow waltzes in and magically sends all the doctors and nurses away, which leads to Buffy nearly flatlining. But then Willow extracts the bullet and heals her magically, and she’s good as new. 

Meanwhile, Warren goes to a demon bar and brags to some unimpressed demons that he “killed” the slayer with a gun. They laugh in his face and break it to him that she’s still alive, so he’s “screwed.” Warren goes to Rack, the creepy warlock who magic-raped Willow, to get some magical firepower against Buffy. Rack tells him that Buffy is “the least of [his] problems,” and that Willow is coming after him. “The girl is running on pure fury,” Rack says. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

Willow is now so powerful she can feel Warren’s essence, so she forces Xander and Buffy to drive out to the desert to catch Warren, who’s fleeing town on a bus. She stops the bus magically and strangles him, but then it turns out it was one of Warren’s robots, with a magical essence disguise. She says they need to find him so she can kill him, and Buffy tries to reason with her that they don’t kill humans. They say they’re worried about her, especially since she’s using magic again, and they’re afraid she won’t be able to come back from it this time. Willow tells them that Tara is dead, and she’s “not coming back.”

When Xander and Buffy try to track down Willow, they discover that Anya is a vengeance demon again, and can sense Willow’s location because of her thirst for vengeance. They track Willow into the woods, where she’s chasing Warren–or, more accurately, doing the scary slow walk like a slasher movie villain. Warren throws all of Rack’s magic tricks at her, but they’re woefully inadequate, and she quickly ties him up between trees. 

What I love about Warren’s send-off is that he never gives up his narcissistic, toxic male persona. Even when facing torture and probable death, he makes pathetic attempts at aggression like “When I get free you’re going to beg to join your little girlfriend.” Then, when Willow makes him hallucinate Katrina berating him for killing her, he whines to “make it stop,” and screams at the hallucination, “you deserved it, bitch!” Willow pegs him perfectly: “You never felt like you had the power with her, until you killed her.” 

Needless to say, no one feels sorry for Warren at this moment, but the torture scene is still pretty brutal. Willow slowly punctures his chest and internal organs with the same bullet she extracted from Buffy and sews his mouth shut so he can’t scream. She describes the pain that Tara must have felt: “it ripped her insides out. A tiny piece of metal, destroys everything.” She briefly lets him beg for mercy, then says, “Bored now,” and removes all of his skin with a flick of her finger. It’s very gruesome!

Buffy, Xander, and Anya find them, but Warren is already a bloody mess. “Willow, what did you do?” Buffy says, aghast. Willow just looks off in the distance and says, impassively, “One down.”

—Janes

Notes from a New Fan:

• The ambulance that’s called to Buffy’s house is driven by a young man with a very creepy mustache. I actually thought he was going to turn out to be some kind of human lackey of the Monster of the Week. Then it turned out he was just a bit player with a creepy mustache.
• When this episode starts Willow is still holding Tara and yelling at her instead of doing anything useful. Come on, Willow! Get a grip!
• Willow casts a spell to command Osiris to bring Tara back … even though you would think she’d have learned a lesson about that particular thing? What if Tara just spent the last three minutes in heaven and didn’t want to come back? (It turns out later there are different rules for natural deaths anyway. The rules are very complicated on this show.)
• The tears on Willow’s face are so sad. But then she somehow electrocutes Osiris by yelling “Noooo!” and the special effects are so funny and… I laughed. I’m sorry, I’m a horrible person.
• Xander is like, “It went down too fast. I couldn’t stop it.” Like he’d ever be the one to stop Warren anyway!
• Willow just LEFT TARA’S CORPSE IN THE ROOM for Dawn to find. Wow, that might be the worst thing she’s done to Dawn yet! And she already made her wait in the magics equivalent of the lobby of an opium den while she had a binge!
• I love how Warren brags about using science against Buffy and he hasn’t even bothered to verify that he killed her.
• Did Willow dye her own hair… with magics?
• I cannot believe Warren decides to do his big getaway on a bus. That is the slowest possible getaway! (Update after Willow finds the bus: OK that makes more sense. He used his robot as a slow decoy! On the other hand, how come Willow can find his bus with her powers but can’t detect that he’s a robot?)
• My heart is pounding watching Willow freak out.
• I love that Dawn’s response is to not leave Tara’s body alone and Willow’s response is to do exactly that. It shows how Dawn retains a humanity that Willow hasn’t. Also, I can’t believe everyone just ran off and left without telling Dawn where they were! Poor thing really is an afterthought.
• Buffy argues that the human world has its own rules for dealing with bad people, and she only slays vampires. But I see how Dawn and Xander are confused: why is it OK to kill demons, when we’ve seen this season that some of them have goodness in them? Probably more so than Warren. Like, a lot of this season is about how the black-and-white view doesn’t work anymore, but Buffy is still living by the black-and-white rules.
• On that theme, Buffy’s wearing white eyeliner, as opposed to the dark black rim that she was sporting when she was being all Dark!Buffy and banging Spike.
• Buffy tells Dawn to be somewhere safe and Dawn names Spike’s crypt, since she doesn’t know about earlier. And Buffy actually agrees. I would be all in favor of this if it would lead to actual cuteness in the form of Spike being Dawn’s unofficial big brother, but since Spike is out of town, the illogic of it all is just ludicrous. Dawn is nearly grown up; yeah, she’s kind of a dummy sometimes, but she’s a teenager; she doesn’t need a babysitter! Why would you send her to the crypt of someone who just attacked you?
• Buffy finds some OTHER demon hanging out in Spike’s pad and just… uses him as a free babysitter for her nearly-grown sister? WHAT?
• I mean, let alone how crazy it is to think it’s safer for a fifteen-year-old girl to be in the care of ANY unknown male than to be in the care of herself alone, this is also why the rules of Buffy’s moral universe truly don’t make sense. If the rule is that monsters can be killed because they lack a soul, then how come Clem, who doesn’t even have a chip, is a trustworthy babysitter? Even if he’s the kind of endearing man who actually wants to see The Wedding Planner?
• I love how Willow strides through the woods parting the trees. She looks so powerful!
• As Willow tells Warren about Tara’s death in great detail, her eyes go back to normal. It emphasizes that her actions (torturing Warren with a bullet, even sewing his mouth together) are not a supernatural occurrence—it’s Willow herself doing evil.
• I guess setting Warren on fire is somewhat of a kindness after skinning him alive, like, put the guy out of his misery, ya know? But seriously, this is a little much for me; if I wanted to watch this kind of sadistic violence I’d watch a quote-unquote prestige drama starring a 45-year-old white man. In theory I like the whole idea of this essentially female power (witchcraft) completely overpowering Warren’s male-coded fascination with technological power. In practice, it is very unpleasant to watch.

Notes from a True Stan:

• After Osiris refuses to bring back Tara, Willow screams and he sort of yells and recoils. Did Willow… hurt Osiris? The god of resurrection? Is she more powerful than gods now?
• I love that the demons are automatically skeptical of Warren when he says he killed Buffy with a gun – it goes with the running theme of guns being useless in Buffy’s world.
• Dawn wants to go to Spike’s because she doesn’t know that Spike just tried to rape Buffy, and Buffy lets her? Chip or no chip, that’s batshit insane.
• I hate when Spike says, “Bitch is gonna see a change.” I know we’re supposed to think he’s trying to get his chip out, but this makes absolutely no sense if he’s actually getting his soul back because he feels guilty about trying to rape her. It’s a clumsy misdirect.
• Although Buffy can sometimes be a little black-and-white about the ethics of killing demons versus humans, I actually really like Buffy’s explanation here. Dawn says she’s fine with Willow killing Warren, and Xander agrees that he’s just as bad as any vampire. Buffy doesn’t disagree with this, or make an emotional argument about the sanctity of human life. Instead, she argues that she needs to wield her power judiciously, and that “being the Slayer doesn’t give [her] a license to kill.” (I’m sure she’s also thinking about Faith when she says this.) She says that we can’t control the universe–-“if we were supposed to, magic wouldn’t change willow the way it does, and we would be able to bring Tara back.”
• Warren is SO hairy.