In other news, my travels back to the US look like they're getting pushed back so I expect to be in town for the rest of the month.

Cap'n Cardboard was completely unbelievable as Willow and left me pining for the Baith/Fuffy switch.

FYI, Captain Cardboard is code for R*ley, who we saw in the Previouslies, not Warren.

FYI, Captain Cardboard is code for R*ley, who we saw in the Previouslies, not Warren.

Oh, my bad. Personally, I saw more capability for emotion and good acting in Riley than I did in Warren. While the Trio saga was playing out, I hoped it was just his character. But no, it would appear to be nothing more than poor acting skills on the part of the performer. Man, that guy almost makes Young Anakin Skywalker (either performer) look like he has depth and range.

I liked Warren as Willow. I thought he did a good job of slipping from one character to the other as "Willow" was slowly taken over by Warren's personality.

Just saw the episode. Before it, I thought that it was either going to suck, or be one of the all time classics. The result?

Well, it was decent. Fair ep. Not bad...

I did buy and liked the main switcheroo (Willow/Warren), which was the most worrisome part for me beforehand. The problem is that they didn't milk that insanely good/bad premise for what it was worth. I did want to see more Willow-angst, delving more into her story, her horror at being transformed into Warren, and there just wasn't enough of that IMO. Then again, I also liked the other two storylines, so I guess the only solution will be to move Buffy to PBS so that it can be commercial-free and we can have 15 more minutes each week to tell the story.

I did like the final scene... up to the point where Kennedy "cured" Willow by kissing her. The concept was fine; the execution, too run of the mill. Again, more angst, more Willow running away, Kennedy going after her, the two struggling... And the final line? "I'll make you some tea?" Lame.

(On edit: and besides, Kennedy didn't look nearly as scared/distraught as she should have been for that scene to really work. She looked in every moment "in control" of the situation, which might be part of her character but detracted from the scene. I don't know if it was the actress' fault or the direction, though).

Some other comments:

• Didn't really buy Adam Busch as Willow. He was... correct, but not great. You can see there how good Alyson is.

• Although it hasn't reached my irritation threshold yet, I hope that they don't repeat the "Spike's in trouble/we have to save him" storyline. Otherwise, Spike is going to become the new Dawn.

• I don't have particulary strong feelings on the subject, but I wonder if they couldn't have left the Giles-touching for the next week. This way, they could have had more time for Willow-angst. Mmmmm, Willow...

So, to summarize: Greenberg isn't off the hook in my book yet, but at least it's the first of his episodes that doesn't suck.

I thought the Giles resolution was a huge letdown. They set us up for weeks only to find out he just happened not to touch anything that anyone could remember? There better be more to the no-touching business than this.

Well, dunno if I should say this but...:

I mentioned weeks ago that I had been spoiled for the "Giles: dead or alive?" question. Well, to be specific, what I read was a location shoot report from an onlooker, and although what happened in it pointed in the same direction (Giles being alive), the scene they described was NOT the one we have seen in this ep.

hope that they don't repeat the "Spike's in trouble/we have to save him" storyline.

It seems to me that they just have to get rid of the chip for some future storyline purpose. I'd have been more pleased with it being non-functional without bringing the army guys back.

I enjoyed the Giles resolution, but actually thought it could have been played for more laughs. Tackling him wouldn't make much sense if he was the FE. Anya and Andrew trying to slying cop a feel to see if he was real could have been fun. More humor to balance what I found to be quite angsty drama in the Willow/Warren story. That really worked for me.

Another out of context line was Spike's reaction to having said "Who you gonna call?" First off, pretty American phrasing of the question, and was Spike really watching Ghostbusters? Better line in someone else's mouth.

Have to disagree there. I'm definitely not American and i use the phrase often - intentionally and unintentionally 'quoting' the film. Just watched the ep with two (non-american) friends and the three of us obviously yelled 'ghostbusters' in unison in reply to spike's question. so his comment really cracked us up.

I can't say I was disappointed by the Giles resolution, just because even before I was spoiled for it, I never thought for a moment that he was dead.