I was... I dunno. Confused? I'll have to watch it again. I will say that I jumped when the First Slayer jumped Buffy in the dream; and was freaked by Hanging!Chloe. The shadow puppets were cool.

But...

Did I miss them explain where Giles was? When did Dawn become research/translation girl? (yes, I know, the text deciphered itself at one point, but have we ever even seen her have enough knowledge to begin to translate Sumerian?) Anya not Buffy's friend? They why was she cleaning her shirt? How did the duster get to the school? Last we saw it it was at Buffy's. Or possibly under Xander's pillow.

My only question is why did they show Buffy the Pits at Isengard

Bwah! I said, now that's an army worthy of Mordor.

The big question around here is how they pay for all of these girls to live there on what Buffy makes. But then I remembered that bank Anya robbed in Him, I figure she's buying groceries for the crew or something.

Dawn has been eased into translation girl over the past episode and a half or so, so that wasn't too unbelievable. Spike's coat... I thought he last had it in the basement right at the start of the season. When he said he had to go get something, I knew what it was and thought that Principal McHottie was gonna freak upon seeing it. But McHottie is a cooler man than that and is just biding his time like a smart demon hunter.

Gile on the other hand was simply not mentioned at all, being the weak part of this episode in my opinion. And I'm damn glad that Kennedy got her lifeforce screwed with. Serves the wench right for pushing like that.

Oh, yeah, you knew Spike was going for the coat. It's all about the coat. But he should have gone to Xander's. I don't remember him having the coat during the first few episodes.

I do admit that I only knew it because of Buffy's speechifying, where I said that Spike was tougher back when he had his coat, and the scene where he takes it from McHottie's mother. Just can't ignore clues like that, atleast not when Joss is involved.

ETA: punctuation

But McHottie is a cooler man than that and is just biding his time like a smart demon hunter.

Plus, usty goodness between Spike and the BBOW.

And I'm damn glad that Kennedy got her lifeforce screwed with.

Oh so very much. All those "C'mon, Willow, make with the magic stuff!" lines.

What I really liked, though, was seeing Buffy stop with the St. Crispin's Day speeches, and start acting like most people I know do when they're under tremendous pressure: cranky.

I did wonder why Anya didn't mention whatever it was that the eyeball demon said when Buffy started ranking on her, though.... I guess they're saving that for when ASH is back in town.

Honestly, Anya has provided more than just sarcasm - same goes for Xander.

But one might think you defeat the army of the undead with, I dunno, Napalm or something. And it's not like Xander doesn't have access to all sorts of implements of destruction. They gotta be more forward thinking in their mayhem; sure, a sword is elegant - a timeless classic, really - but a flamethrower, that'll get the job done.

The episode was pretty good. But where the Fuck is ANGEL? Did I mention I did not tape it or watch it on Thursday? I am PISSED that freaking Joe Millionaire is on.

Oh, Sue. Oh, no. And I taped over my copy. Damn.

Ha! Pits of Isengard! I knew that scene looked familiar somehow....

It really is looking like Joss is building up to Frey with this season. I enjoyed this episode lots. I especially liked the way people didn't let Buffy's accusatory ranting stand, and actually challenged her on it. Btw, does anyone know where Angel went?

In other news, I heard some stuff about someone I kinda knew (in the lurking in a lot of small places where she posted sort of way) back in LoTR fandom. Apparently, since I left the fandom and she stopped posting, she moved to another state to live with a girlfriend she met on one of the lists, faked her suicide, and began posing as her girlfriend's new boyfriend. She's been posting under her new identity for... at least a few months. I think longer.

I guess my psycho-detection skills were on the fritz. I can usually pick out the nutcases, but I thought she was really nice. I felt sorry for her. Hell, I almost emailed her half a dozen times, which for me is about as close to corresponding with someone online as I get.

I fucking hate fandom sometimes.