right. the vamp lackey enticed the courier into the limo, jso that the courier could be killed by Faith. Faith then took the box in to the Mayor, who expected the courier, but realized that Faith had killed the courier/saved him a lot of money.

Almost. The vamp lackey was going to chauffer the courier in the limo, to the Mayor, it seems, but he had the payment with him, in a briefcase (or at least said he had it).

The courier was put off that the Mayor didn't meet him in person, and said the price just went up. The courier never got in the limo, though. Faith was atop a building, and shot the courier with an arrow. This seemed to surprise the lackey vamp. Then the lackey vamp chauffered Faith back to City Hall, where she brought the Box of Gavrok to the Mayor. Buffy was hiding in the bushes, and saw them return. After Faith went in, the lackey vamp drove off in the limo (it wasn't clear why). While Faith was still in there, the lackey vamp returned with the limo. Buffy busted the window, and asked him what was in the box. When she returns to the library, she tells the others she dusted him when he could no longer control his aggressive tendencies, but after she at least found out the name of the Box.

You know what I think would have been kind of fun? If in one of the scenes where Gunn was giving Angel papers to sign, they had a throw away line about pardoning the slayer who escaped from jail and her accomplice.

Which Buffy (and/or Angel) episodes get you through the dark times? Which ones inspire you, get you fighting again, or otherwise lift your spirits?

Checkpoint is always a winner with me, when I feel defeated but need to kick some real world ass. And although The Body is one of the most frank and stunning portrayals of death I'm likely to ever see, it's never any comfort for me. When my father died, and even before, when I was missing my Nana, I found the next episode, Forever, much more cathartic, when a loss is hitting me particularly hard.

Prophecy Girl is good for a lift, which has as much to do with a few good lines, and SMG's heartbreaking, "Tell me my fortune!" breakdown, as anything else, but it works.

The Gift broke my heart when I first saw it. I knew SMG would be back, and back as Buffy, and that the series would be back, but I still cried for about a week, and I needed to believe she was dead. I needed to believe this young woman died to save the world, because she couldn't allow her sister to die to save the world. I don't find it uplifting, but I find it satisfying (despite any monks-made-her-from-me jazz hands I might employ) in a calming and reassuring sort of way--that a hero would die for the world. I like messiahs, though. I always have.

Fear, Itself, which I've just recently re-watched, really hit me the first time I ever saw it. I know it's a little clunky maybe, but when it first aired, I really needed the reminder that our fears feed the beast, and the fear demon is this tiny, crushable thing, in the end. It still speaks to me.

Finally, of course, there is Becoming. It's chocked full of inspirational goodness. When everything else is gone--what do you have left? Yourself. The big moments are gonna come, it's what you do afterwards that counts.

That's probably it for episodes I watch for a specifically inspirational purpose, and more often than not, I usually fall back on Checkpoint. I'm asking about it tonight, because it's been a while since I watched it, and after this week in the real world, I think I need a dose of it. There are lots of inspirational moments in episodes though, that are just as key, the episode as a whole may even inspire me, just not in a way that I turn to it, like a key that fits a certain lock.

I also have certain make-me-laugh episodes. Pangs still leaves me chuckling. There's also The Replacement, A New Man, Superstar, and I'm sure there are others I am forgetting.

Which episodes do you turn to, under which circumstances?

Smile Time is oddly comforting for me. It's the first episode I played when my AtS S5 DVDs showed up. The "Self Esteem" song gets stuck in my head at the oddest time. The ep is funny and wacky and touching in places, and if you ignore everything that happens afterwards, it's hopeful. It makes me happy.

I was just thinking about "The Body" last night and how it reached in and touched me on levels that no other fiction has as an adult. I can't say that I like it... my initial viewing was so traumatic that I've never gone back for a second watch. But it's the most powerful hour of mass media entertainment that I've ever run across.

Actually, despite the fact that it's a little non-sensical, Buffy's speech to the First Slayer in Restless is very moving to me, and can get me a little misty just thinking.

"I walk. I talk. I shop. I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out. And I don't sleep on a bed of bones."

Yeah, I find Restless to be very moving and comforting.

I think I'm one of the few who've gone back for repeat viewings of The Body. I don't know, maybe I'm a masochist, but for those of you who've been wondering?

It's still just as much of a gut punch on the fourth viewing (which is, I think, as much as I've been able to stomach).

Actually, despite the fact that it's a little non-sensical, Buffy's speech to the First Slayer in Restless is very moving to me, and can get me a little misty just thinking.

"I walk. I talk. I shop. I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out. And I don't sleep on a bed of bones."

Oh, yeah. I don't even think it's particularly non-sensical. That's probably an episode I use for plain old escape. Where some episodes are inspirational for me, and some just lift my spirits because they're funny or sweet, Restless takes me away.

I've watched The Body at least 4 times, probably more, and Restless probably 10. I think that they're the two most perfectly crafted hours of television I've ever seen. I agree that The Body hurts just as much the nth viewing.

I'm still not familiar enough with the full body of Buffy to be able to name episodes I would use to lift me out of specific moods, generally, though i have found myself itching to watch Tabula Rasa on more than one occasion. Something about the sheer funny of it most of the way through followed by the total, if melodramatic, downer of the end really works for me, but I couldn't really put a finger on what moods inspire the desire.

I turned on the TV one morning to watch Buffy before work, and The Body was on. I LEPT for the remote. I just didn't want to go through that again.