She should have taken the damn power. All that "you're not doing anything!", and then she turns down a weapon, even though they have no idea what to do next.

Yeah, I thought that too. I also thought one of the potentials should have stepped up and called her on her bitchiness. These girls are just dealing with death, let alone having to step up and be warriors.

I also thought one of the potentials should have stepped up and called her on her bitchiness.

Kennedy did, but only when Buffy's comments were more geared toward Willow.

She should have taken the damn power. All that "you're not doing anything!", and then she turns down a weapon, even though they have no idea what to do next.

I think a key point to this comes from the line in "First Date" where Buffy says "you can't defeat evil by doing evil - I know that" or words to that effect. There is also still the rebellion against (male) authority that's being played out.

Yeah, I thought that too. I also thought one of the potentials should have stepped up and called her on her bitchiness. These girls are just dealing with death, let alone having to step up and be warriors.

I think the Giles' point last week really has hit home for Buffy, and Chloe's death just intensifies it. I think Buffy has decided that it's the sink or swim time now and she has no energy or time left to cushion the harsh reality of what's coming.

I'm glad Kennedy got stopped in her tracks. She was very much trying to bone herself into the inner circle, please to be excusing my egregious (wo)manhandling of metaphor.

She reminded me of the sort of chick that tried to sleep her way into improv groups. Pfft.

Spike! Spike's back! Go team headbangers!

So... what's the consensus? Did people like it?

Personally I found it... well, there were good ideas, but overall the execution was terribly sloppy (and even subpar) in a lot of places. Like... the emergency box that nobody had mentioned in seven years of slaying? Asspull. Spike suddenly getting his duster "just because", so that the Principal can see him? Anvilicious asspull. And I know that in "Buffy" the monsters are supposed to be the McGuffin for the plot, but this episode just took that to new levels.

Okay, now I'm remembering what I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how the nitpicking only kicks in if you aren't into an episode emotionally, so I'll try to analyze where did the episode lose me and left me pondering things like, say, how did the cantonese slayer learn English in just one week.

Hrm. I suppose that the first thing I had a problem with was the Spike/Principal confrontation. I had expected the Principal to act more subtly at this stage, and instead we see him getting aggresive with Spike for no apparent reason (to Buffy, at least). The problem I had with that scene was that it was predictable: it was exactly what the worst hack in Hollywood would make the Principal do after last week's revelation.

Then we have Buffy not telling anyone about the true nature of the Principal, just so that they can play two or three lame jokes with Willow & Co. covering up when seeing him (at least we got a good line there: "bring it on!!" Kirsten Dunst as special guest playing a potential, anyone?). And then there was the training scene. Was it supposed to be this lame? Because I understand that it's a TV show, that it's shot under severe time constraints... but really. I didn't buy a moment of it.

And then there are the shadow puppets. Good concept... but again, run-of-the-mill execution (at least for me; it felt too rushed). And then, yet another glowy portal thingie opening up in the very normal-looking Summers' living room. I think this is the key: I just can't swallow that mix (living room + any supernatural stuff), it just break completely the suspension of disbelief for me.

The scenes of Buffy in the past? I had in my mind "Restless" during all that time... and obviously, the comparison didn't favor this episode. I understand that not every episode can look so visually stunning, but for something like the origin of the First Slayer, perhaps they could have tried a bit harder? Oh, and the CGI black goo looked ugly.

One last peeve: as scary as the final shot was, wouldn't it have been cooler if they hadn't revealed us what did Buffy see? Imagine the board going nuts with speculation! Plus, it would have fed more into the concept of the FE as something metaphysical, that cannot be fought with weapons and is more terrifying than any vampire or demon, instead of just the same monster that we already saw two months ago, only photocopied ad-infinitum.

So, what did I like about it? Well, Chloe's death and the FE using against Buffy her own words earlier in the day, and Buffy's subsequent anger (I don't think it was just grumpiness; I think her harsh reaction is going to tie in with her evolution during the rest of the season, and even with the final smackdown). Also, Kennedy's fear at discovering that there's more in Willow than meets the eye, though I had expected that two episodes earlier, when she tried to shoot her. And there's also Buffy's discovery that the three Shadow men created the first slayer against her will. Overall, though, the episode had too many of these sloppy, run-of-the-mill, least common denominator solutions for me to like it.

Contentiously mearing Paul ...

Like... the emergency box that nobody had mentioned in seven years of slaying?

Who would mention it? Giles is the only one that might know, and it disappeared before Buffy was even born, so it'd be on the "wouldn't it be nice?" list, if anything.

Spike suddenly getting his duster "just because",

I don't think it was "just because" at all -- it's what he put aside when he went to get the soul, it's what he wore when he was bad, it's the most obvious sign of the times Buffy said she missed.

aggresive with Spike for no apparent reason (to Buffy, at least)

I thought it would look to Buffy (and Spike) that he was flexing his man muscles, and staking out (I know) territory. Which made me feel sad for Spike.

Buffy not telling anyone about the true nature of the Principal

Again, this made me sad. But not in an uncharacteristic way. Buffy just doesn't tell the scoobs things. She's awful that way.

I too *loved* Kennedy having reality shoved in her face, loved how Willow got all ballsy, how her hair went black, how we're reminded that it's dangerous, even without an addiction.

Hrm. Well, the emergency box "felt" like an asspull to me. I admit it was within the limits of plausible deniability, but I couldn't help thinking "hey! How convenient that it appears *right now*!"

As for Spike recovering his duster, it was perfunctory, and the best proof is in how quick that montage is. "Okay, he has to get it so that the Principal can see him in it; let's just go through it as fast as we can, look at all the pages we still have to shoot"...

The above, though, is actually just gravy (or in other words, YnitpickingMV). I've been thinking about it (yeah, in the 20 minutes since my last post [g]), and the main problem I have with this episode is that, in matters of terror, I tend to prefer the subtle to the heavyhanded, and in this episode they went for the heavyhanded every single time. I keep thinking about "Restless", which had no plot, but dude!!! It had *atmosphere*!! It was mesmerizing!! It creeped you out without showing latex monsters at all!! "Restless" was a pleasure for the senses, while this new incursion in Primitive territory only had CGI black goo to offer.

And another example of the heavyhanded triumphing (?) over the subtle? The final shot, again. I think that Joss said in that interview in "The onion" that the scariest thing in the world aren't monsters or vampires, but the people you love doing wrong things. Well, I was more creeped out by Buffy losing it and verbally abusing her friends than by all the Chaka-Kans in the world.

Okay, he has to get it so that the Principal can see him in it; let's just go through it as fast as we can, look at all the pages we still have to shoot

I dunno -- the actual putting on of the coat was such a power moment that we watched it 4 times, more than any other bit. It might vary with your attachment to bad Spike, but I thought the symbology huge, and got my biggest cheer of the show (second to him lighting up).

I thought Buffy yelling was creepy too, and the scary part of the Chaka Khans was that Buffy hadn't take the power she'd been offered, and that she knew it, and that it could eat at her.

For me, the missing part of the emergency box is how it dropped out of the loop. Did the kid just hide it under his bed? Why did the watcher who raised him let it happen? Did that watcher drop out of the CoW? Why wasn't McHottie even slightly perturbed that they'd been blown sky high?

I was with Buffy on both losing it and turning down the power.

We've seen what extrademonosity can do to a girl, and it ain't pretty. I like the whitefont Angel comments counterpoint to the Demon-Powered Cordy.

I'll have more on this later.

For me, the missing part of the emergency box is how it dropped out of the loop. Did the kid just hide it under his bed?

Specially because, the way Wood told it, it sounded as if he (a tender 4-year old) was the one who had made the decision to keep it.

I dunno -- the actual putting on of the coat was such a power moment that we watched it 4 times, more than any other bit.

YMMV, indeed. So, the soul was preventing him from smoking too? Reminds me of some spanish movie critics commenting on how, since the anti-tobacco campaigns went full speed in the U.S. around 10 years ago, the only ones who still smoked in Hollywood movies were the bad guys...

I didn't think too much of Buffy rejecting the power, because I didn't have a clear mental picture of what that power would mean, practically speaking. Even more strengh? Physical speed, endurance? Would she have turned into Godzilla!Buffy had she accepted?