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?

So, the soul was preventing him from smoking too?

No, the smoking was like the coat, a symbol of days past. In the end he'll need to integrate, but for now, he's on a nice vacation. Also, shorthand for not that nice a guy (cf Angelus smoking that chick in the alley in Innocence)

I think what Buffy asked of him was cruel, since she knows he thought he was getting the soul for her, and that she's asking him to return to a level of viciousness he didn't really now feel comfortable, and that he would do it all, for her.

On the other hand, Spike's back!

Spike's back-- with his better costumes and his accent. I knew that was why everyone thought JM sucked lately!

Also, where WAS the coat. That sort of bothered me. If they knew they were going to get Spike back, they knew that they had to fet the coat from the Summers house to somewhere else. Unless that WAS the summer's house, but I thought it was the school.

Ah, the accent! How could I forget?

I'd kinda wanted a vision quest for the coat, akin to the trials for the soul. It would have been best (slash aside) if he'd gone back to Xander's for it -- showing he was dragging it along with him, but not able to wear it. I *guess* he got it back before the season started and left it behind when he moved in with the Xan man.

Canonically, it is all about the coat.

No, the smoking was like the coat, a symbol of days past

Oh, I know. I was just being snarky :-).

I understand the symbolism of the coat, but like ita, I think it would have worked better if he had had to earn it. Or if it had been a result of something more... elaborated, not just "now I need to be bad, so I'll go and get the coat... just in time for the Principal to see it and confirm his suspicions (oh wait, I'm not supposed to know that! I'm a fictional character!)"

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?

I can see the CoW being outwitted by a 4-year-old.