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More From Aphrodite

Aphrodite has answered some more questions about the upcoming episodes at Television Without Pity.

(from multiple posts)

Thanks for tracking that down Kalbear -- and in answer to one of your questions, Wood does know it is the First talking to him as his mother. He ignores her most of the time but when she/it offers the info on Spike he listens. But he is definitely aware that it is the First and NOT his mother.

Giles explains how he escaped in the very beginning of episode 14 -- it begins with a flashback to the actual scene but it doesn't cut away like it did at the end of "Sleeper" or whatever episode that was that we first saw it. Xander's date seems to be a run of the mill monster/demon BUT she is definitely aware of some of what is going on with the FE -- which is why they all end up in the basement. She does not seem to be an actual agent of the FE however. Does that help??

At this point, I would say that it does seem be a done deal that Wood is Nikki's son (and for those who don't remember Nikki, she was the second Slayer that Spike killed). Which will raise a couple questions about the timeline, but television timekeeping has never been an exact science. It does however build on the "Everything's Connected" theme.

But this most recent twist certainly makes one wonder that if Season Six was about Buffy's journey back from death, is Season Seven all about Spike's journey? If so, where will this one end? As the season rolls on, and Spike continues to face his demons (both imaginary and real), it almost seems as if his 'Trials' did not end with last year's Season Finale. So while I feel pretty confident at this point that he's not going to turn evil (and let's be honest, if that was the plan, they would not continue to subject him to all this torture), that doesn't necessarily mean that he'll find redemption by season's end.