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More Spoilage

Wonald and Aphrodite posted additional information on 'First Date' at Television Without Pity, dealing with the Xander storyline.

Wonald first posted this information...

I like Xander so I didn't want to be the bearer of unhappy news but Xanderfans should know that he *does* play the Xamsel in Distress in #14 and needs to be rescued.

Also, the last scene of the episode does *not* end with Xander as had been speculated here.

and Aphrodite replied with the following...

Spike, Buffy & Principal Wood rescue poor Xander.

She also provided the additional tidbit on Principal Wood

Not saying much more but -- Principal Hottie was raised by a watcher. So he knows a bit about vampires.... and he knew Buffy was the Slayer when he hired her as a "guidance Counselor."

Never Leave Me Thoughts and Comments

Of all the episodes this season, this is the one that I seem to like the least. It's a good episode, and it does continue to advance the plot. But it also raised more questions than answers.

The main point of this episode seems to have been revealing the true nature of the threat to the Scoobies, as well as demonstrating that Buffy has not given up on Spike. While the episode seemed to begin with the Scoobies having an ulterior motive to keeping Spike alive, there were some very strong scenes between Spike and Buffy which shows that it's more than just information gathering.

Which was nice, since this is the first time this season that Spike and Buffy have been able to talk about what happened last year. There was a lot of honesty going around on both sides, and it's a welcome change. The downside is that we still are engaging in a rousing game of 'Kick The Spike'. Spike is rapidly becoming the Buffyverse's version of Job.

I know there was a lot of debate about Spike's speech in the basement, where he basically insuinated that some of the things he did last season were things that he did as 'William The Bloody'. I do question that, as it seemed to me that Spike seemed to be trying to convince Buffy that she needed to kill him. He was trying to anger her to the point that she would kill him, there may have been some truth to it, but I also feel that he embellished a bit as well. But there was a lot of truth in all of their exchanges. In the bedroom scene, Spike tells Buffy some truths about their relationship. In the basement, it's Buffy's turn to do the same for Spike. Both of them have their reasons for their feelings, and their demons to deal with as well.

The truth is, the Buffy/Spike dynamic is powerful, dramatic storytelling at it's best. I'm not trying to downplay the Buffy/Angel dynamic, but there's a big difference now. We are now dealing with characters that have gone through much more development and have more depth than we ever had a chance to see with Buffy/Angel. Time and again we have very powerful and touching scenes between these two. Whether it be Buffy's visit to Spike at the end of 'Intervention', Spike and Buffy's conversations in 'After Life', or this season in 'Beneath You', these two have a screen presence that is rare to see in television. I don't see their story ending anytime soon.

I enjoyed the Xander, Anya, Andrew exchanges, all the interrogation scenes were amusing (if not a bit telling in Andrew's case). It was also good to see that the Watcher's Council is inept as ever, which is surprising considering that they used to have a pretty good Black Ops unit. Not only did they seem to be somewhat in the dark about what was going on, but you would think that with their high-profile in the supernatural world, they would have security similar to that employed by Wolfram and Hart (though that's hardly infallible). Meanwhile, Principal Wood gets more interesting as time goes on. As was expected, he's obviously part of the equation and certainly more aware of the darker side of Sunnydale.

But while I liked the pieces, the whole didn't grab me as much. I would have liked to have seen more with the Council (and it seemed like so much Tom Clancy techno-babble at the end - a bit too dramatic for my tastes), and perhaps get an explanation about why all the SIT's would now be proceeding to Sunnydale. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, the Spike-abuse is getting a bit tiresome (and as we know it doesn't stop here).

The good news is that with the next episode, we seem to be finally getting past the prologue and to the real meat of this season's storyline. Tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on 'Bring On The Night'.