|  Episode 6:11 - Gone Airdate: 01-08-2002
Re-run hell is over kiddies. If that means sitting back and watching 
              some nice, wholesome family-type entertainment to you, run on over 
              to PAX-TV or hide your blushing eyes. It's time to talk sex, invisibility, 
              sex, addiction, sex, daily workouts, oh, and did I mention, sex? 
             Redemption!Anvils, Body by Spike, and Scoobie action of all types. 
              Despite all expectations, Gone hath come and gone, and I.Will.Fear.No.Fury! 
             ***  The Summers' residence is having a Blue Light Special on magic 
              items as Buffy and Dawn clean house while Willow sits with her Miserable!Face 
              and practices looking all fluffy puppy harmless. It's all about 
              Willow.Has.A.Problem and helping her stay clean, and as the Buffster 
              and everyone knows, candles are bongs to Wiccans. It's nice to see 
              that the subtle references to addiction are still part of the Willow 
              arc. Oh, and Dawn is whiney. Buffy finds Spike's lighter in the 
              couch and flashbacks to tearing down the house with him. She's floored 
              by the memories and goes into Denial!Buffy mode, defiantly tossing 
              it in the box with the other forbidden fruit. I'm gonna box that 
              man right outta my head, and send him on his way...  Cut to Geeks on Parade. Warren, cue Ominous Music of Potential 
              Evil, is putting the finishing touches on the Ronco Invis-O-Matic, 
              and proves again that he is Boss Hogg to Jonathan and Andrew's Roscoe 
              and Enos. Which rhymes with penis. Which *is* what Warren is. Cheer 
              up Frodo, you guys are un:::coughcough:::stoppable.  ***  Mr. Fury, I put those 'I want to have your baby' email printouts 
              on the top of the stack, you're American Drycleaners Association 
              meeting has been pushed back to 4:30, and Mr. Lucifer called back 
              - apparently the skates are working out quite nicely. TOP ***  Back to the Summers' house for a nice brekkie. Who knew Willow 
              could cook? This episode features Dawn!Lite - sounds more bitchy 
              and takes less screen time. Buffy's in Guilt!Mom mode for not being 
              there for her. She's starting to wake up and smell the domestic 
              crisis that is Dawn. "Will, I'm worried about the Dawnster."  Hey, it's BrownClothes!Spike with optional Jewelry Kit out in broad 
              daylight. Somebody tell that guy he's a vampire. Wait. Chest of 
              Spike. Breathe, in and out, you'll get the hang of it. Slam into 
              the house on fire, stomp out the blanket, smooth your hair back 
              - hey, it's kools. Curly hair, soft longing looks. Perfect!Boyfriend 
              meets LoveGod!Spike. Buffy and Willow aren't too surprised to see 
              him, in fact, Buffy looks happy until she remembers that Willow's 
              still there. Red proves she can understand nuance and clears the 
              field.  The looks, the walk, the shy-downcast eyes, love talk in the kitchen. 
              No, it's not a Taster's Choice commercial; it's the Post-Morning 
              After Talk. Buffy is, yes, flirting. Spike is chatting her up and 
              she's liking it. Across the country, SO's are having to revive swooned 
              S/B shippers in time to see Spike caress the Slayer's bouncy tresses. 
              "So, um...what should I call you, then? Pet? Sweetheart? My...little 
              Goldilocks? *Thud* "Honey, are you all right?"   The 
              bit with the spatula is a hoot, and Spike's comeback about not being 
              ready to be flipped is very sexy. Oddly enough, it also plays Redemptionistic 
              due to the fact that he's reacting to her angry petulance by gently 
              correcting her. Patience and understanding of her fears, with an 
              added dose of a nice caress to remind her of what she's missing. 
              Precious is the look when he finds that it's a lighter in her pocket 
              *and* she's glad to feel him. The vibes are strong between them; 
              these folks are drawn to each other. Spike and Buffy exude sensuality 
              and at the same time affection. It's a powerful scene, and just 
              as we think, wow, this is it...Xander gets the bad-timing of the 
              year award. Catch the Spike/Dru-type head turn to face Xander that 
              S&B do - shiver me timbers.
 See Xander. See Xander Interruptus. See Xander not see S/B having 
              a moment. See Xander make an arcane cinema references to an actor's 
              character whose external transformation triggers an internal one. 
              "Good Godfrey Cambridge, Spike." See Xander prove he's still young 
              and hip to the lingo. "You still trying to mack on Buffy?" See Xander 
              insult Spike's love life. See Buffy defend said love life. See Spike 
              not say a thing. Go, Spike, go. "You can let yourself out, right 
              Spike?" What's of more than passing interest is that Xander doesn't 
              seemed wigged by the idea of Spike hitting on Buffy, just convinced 
              that he hasn't got a snowball's chance of succeeding.  A short recess is declared. Ponder this: Eleven short months ago, 
              a little ep called Crush was penned by a guy name David Fury. We 
              ended the ep with the 'dis-invite', there was that nifty 'only chance/unconscious' 
              line, and the totally downtrodden, pathetic, lovesick mess of a 
              vampire that was our Spike. Now, he's able to let himself out, no 
              big whoop. Let us commence the Snoopy dance of joy at how far he 
              has journeyed in so short a time. We now return to our regularly 
              scheduled review.   Bitca!Dawn 
              is sniping at Buffy while she's trying to make nice with the mothering. 
              The doorbell rings, and you just *know* it's not something of the 
              good. The Social Worker has come to call, apparently keeping a previously 
              made appointment that Buffy has spaced. Note that Buffy is not wearing 
              appropriate Interview garb. (See **Pet's Theory 
              of Clothing Colors below.) Good folks in Social Services everywhere 
              are cringing as the points are pounded home: 1) Buffy never stood 
              a chance of being approved of by old Doris, 2) All social workers 
              are bitcas and shop at Wal-Mart for their outfits, and 3) Home inspections 
              take only five minutes and consist of looking at the living room 
              and quizzing the boy-, uh, whatever of the guardian. Magic weed, 
              indeed.
 Spike, who gets the traditional girlfriend role, wants to 'chat 
              things out', while Buffy's having a cow that he's still there. It's 
              fun to see that he's so comfortable with her that he tells her to 
              see to her 'company' and he'll wait. When she mentions it's the lady from Social Services, you actually 
              see a nice Sylvania Energy Efficient Compact Fluorescent bulb go 
              off over his head. Redemption!Anvil #1 to Spike for supporting Buffy 
              with the social worker, when he finally got what was going on. Wasn't 
              asked to and thought of it himself. Buffy was loving it, got a genuine 
              smile and everything out of her. I don't even think she really minded 
              him inserting his foot in his mouth, 'cause he *was* telling the 
              truth. The Big Bad can't fib worth beans. Grins for the boyfriend 
              reference and points for Spike keeping any remarks to himself re 
              Buffy's flustered response as she asks him to go, again. *Significant* 
              looks between those crazy kids, while Doris frowns. The Linus reference 
              started speeding up the descent down the slippery slope of Doris 
              Disapproval and the Gay thing, but she doesn't Gay, appears to seal 
              her fate. But, I agree that Spike has issues. I just happen to think 
              Buffy has more. Doris threatens Buffy with loss of Dawn's guardianship, 
              saying that she'll do what's best for Dawn. In drops an ominous 
              future Plot!Anvil of Dawn's Tuesday tendencies.  Out 
              the door with Doris, and there is Spike, looking all concerned perfect 
              boyfriendy. Buffy wants to know why he won't go, and we see Spike 
              try to tell her that he thought she'd want to *talk* about it, but 
              he never gets to finish his sentence, 'cause Buffy's had enough 
              and she blows up at the one person she *can* to and tells him to 
              get out. In a flash, he changes to Angry!Spike with Clenched Cheekbone 
              action, thumping the door next to her head. All he wanted was to 
              help and she's taking it out on him. His hand makes that swoop down, 
              but he only pulls out the lighter from her pocket, where he knows 
              it was. "Just getting what I came for, luv." and walks out saying, 
              "So long, Goldilocks." I give Redemption!Anvil #2 for him not taking 
              out *his* anger on her. He's tried three separate times to help; 
              now he leaves before doing anything he might regret. Alone at last, 
              a crying Buffy decides she's going to take out her frustration on 
              the thing that Spike likes so much, her long shining locks. This 
              has therapy written all over it. She wants to make herself different, 
              but won't admit why she wants it. The loss of control of her life 
              has her running yet again. She heads over to the local hair shop 
              for remedial trimming and afterwards get zapped by the Legion of 
              Dim. Oopsie. For those of you playing the Echoes of Episodes home 
              game, re The List from Flooded, the LoD have managed to cross off 
              Freeze Ray, Invisibility Ray, and attempted Girls, Girls, Girls.
 TOP  ***  To: Mutant Enemy c/o David Fury From: Warner Bros.
 Re: Your order invoice # 6ABB11
 Contents: (12) Acme Redemption!Anvils, (12) Acme PlotPoint!Anvils
 Backordered: (1) Xander!Anvil - Est. delivery date: Unknown
 That's all folks.  ***   Open 
              on Magic Box and Xander asking, "What happened to Buffy?" Anya replies 
              that she right here, pointing to the wedding dinner diagram. Scaldingly 
              funny, and of course, we all know that this is really a *begin air 
              quotes* Metaphor *end air quotes* for what's really happened to 
              Buffy. Subtlety; it's all about subtlety this week. Invisi!Buffy 
              enters and does some pretty cute stuff with the floating FX and 
              Xander accidentally cops a feel. Props to NB for getting that embarrassed 
              yet satisfied look. The Echoes of Episodes home game gets a hit 
              with references to Marcie in Invisible Girl. Invisibility is great, 
              but hey, how 'bout that haircut? Anya and Buffy break out the nail 
              polish and the Cosmo and gab on about 'do's while, wait for it, 
              Sensible!Xander brings them back on track about no-show Buffy. He 
              wants "Less with they why, more with the how". It's great to see 
              Xander switched to full-on Scoobie mode and wants to get the job 
              done. Buffy decides she needs a walk to clear her head and bails, 
              sure that Xander and Anya will find out what's happened. Buffy shirking 
              responsibility; who'd uh thunk it. Xander thinks Willow might have 
              fallen off the wagon and caused Invisi!Buffy, and he's very concerned, 
              also frightened. Plot!Anvil on Willow as Big Bad. Double helping 
              of Plot!Anvil at the mention of D'Hoffryn invited to the wedding.
 Cut to Willow and her water bottles. Apparently, fighting magic 
              addiction is thirsty work. Xand-man confronts her in his awkward, 
              yet sincere manner and she freaks. Truth is, she's just fought off 
              using magic seconds before he got there. Word of the day - "Blinvisible". 
              Usage - Willow thinks Invisi!Buffy is strange, but more important, 
              Buffy got her haircut! Xander replies, "Yeah! Adorable, apparently. 
              I personally couldn't tell since she's all blinvisible!" Also, Willow 
              gets to spout Techno babble like she has a guest role on Star Trek 
              re the properties of the stolen diamond. Then, she stomps out to 
              take a walk. Everyone is getting exercise today.  In their lair, the LoD whine about missing out on the naked chicks, 
              try to fix their ray gun, and worry about the Slayer being invisible. 
              Jonathan says that Invisi!Buffy is a whole world of trouble. He's 
              right.  Invisible wackiness ensues. Some fun stuff, some obvious stuff. 
              It's clear that SMG needed a filming break anyway. Invisi!Buffy 
              drops in for a nice haunting of Doris the Social Worker. Manages 
              to convince her co-workers and her boss that she's just one caseload 
              short of going all Shining on them, which doesn't solve her Dawn 
              problem, but gets the big red reset button on the home visit. Here's 
              a case of Bitca!Buffy coming out, as she's downright mean to Doris, 
              who is just trying to do her job. It's all about choices, and sometimes 
              Buffy makes bad ones. Bonus points for the Echo of Episodes Past 
              home game with a Plot!Anvil thrown in as she whistles the last line 
              of 'Going Through the Motions' from Once More With Feeling. "I can't 
              even see, if this is really me, and I just want to be aliiiiive." 
             Off to Xander and Willow making like classic Scoobies, gumshoeing 
              their way through the clues. They make up - awww. The question remains: 
              Where, oh, where has our little Buffy gone?  Cut to the Crypt, Spike in full sprawl mode. The sound you hear 
              is the endless rewinding of VCR tapes to get the perfect screen 
              cap for, uh, Redemptive purposes, yeah. Blood and screams on the 
              telly and Spike's so engrossed, his stomach has to rumble for him 
              to notice that he's hungry. The guy sure seems to forget he's Hello. 
              Vampire. He ambles to the fridge for a nip and the door to his crypt 
              slams open. Fanfic writers, start your Word programs. Some little 
              beastie has invaded his space, and he hurts beasties. However, he 
              sure sounds awfully fluffy puppy rather than BigBad. He dances a 
              bit with the beastie, and then gets slammed up against the wall. 
              Invisi!Buffy is looking for some Spike!Abs. Plot!Anvil for the arms 
              in the classic crucifixion pose - Spike gives all that he is for 
              love. He realizes it's Buffy and is shocked then surprised then...you 
              know. She rips open his shirt, causing shortness of breath all over 
              the world. That was just, well, neat. "I told you to stop trying 
              to see me!" Invisi!Buffy teases her guy.   Back 
              to the Magic Box for more wedding filler. Anya makes the discovery 
              of Death by a Surfeit of Pudding. Isn't a pylon a big ole marker 
              of danger? Now Xander and her have to find her Before.It's.To.Late. 
              *gasp*
 TOP ***  Mr. Fury, I found a copy of that Redemptionista to Evilista dictionary 
              you wanted on e-Bay, I re-scheduled your Real Men Don't Answer Questions 
              seminar for next month, and here's your roast beef hold the mustard. 
             ***  To the Batcave, uh, Geeklair! Let's talk not so superfriends. EvilLike!Warren 
              knows Buffy will bite it if she's not re-visibled, while Jonathan 
              and Andrew have a real problem with killing her. Comes the Lex Luthor/Superman 
              references, aka the Loyal Opposition never actually killing the 
              hero. Hey, it works for Krypton Kreek on that other network. Warren 
              is sure that they are Villains and can kill people. The dithering 
              duo don't want to kill her and Jonathan actually stands up to Warren 
              who, barely, backs down. Plot!Anvil of future problems between the 
              trio as Warren consolidates his head of the pack position.   Here 
              we see Xander entering Spike's crypt. Land sakes, he's actually 
              going to Spike for help! The place looks like a cyclone hit it. 
              Getting down with Invisi!Buffy takes a toll on a man's possessions, 
              it does. Xander wanders a bit, and then makes his way downstairs. 
              Here all S/B'ers rejoice in the lack of a Standards and Practices 
              department at UPN, as there is Nekkie!Spike in a very interesting 
              position on the bed making decidedly regular and undulating movements. 
              Nice to see that JM's recovered from his bout with the 'flu and 
              all those back muscles are in perfect working order. Xander decides 
              that he wants to be blind (more bonus points for the Echoes of Episodes 
              home game - Something Blue) and asks Spike what's he doing? Spike 
              responds that he exercising and does a few pushups to bring the 
              point, uh, home. His vampire hearing must be going, as he didn't 
              hear the LoD in Smashed when he was right next to them, and he sure 
              didn't hear Xander coming into his crypt. Spike in a sheet with 
              Xander looking on - the S/X ship just got a free two level upgrade. 
              Xander tells Spike about Invisi!Buffy, and old smoothy responds 
              very quickly that he hasn't seen her. The lad looks so guilty , 
              honorable mention Redemption!Anvil for not really wanting to lie 
              to Xander. Invisi!Buffy nibbles on Spike's ear as he offers to have 
              a look around when he has the chance and will let Buffy know Xander's 
              looking for her, while Xander thinks he's got an entry for the Wanking 
              Spike January challenge fic. Oh, to be on the set when they were 
              filming this one - bwahahaha. Xander seems genuinely concerned for 
              Spike, tells him he really needs to get a girlfriend, and leaves. 
              Plot!Anvil for Spike and Xander becoming semi-friends. The playful 
              interaction between Spike and Buffy is a delight to see, proving 
              even beyond the Cement Block theory that JM can have chemistry with 
              Air.
  Here 
              we come to ticks and tocks, sir. Spike tells Invisi!Buffy that she's 
              bloody stupid to mess with him while Xander's there, knowing that 
              she doesn't want to clue him in to their relationship. Invisi!Buffy 
              just thinks it's the perfect thing, no responsibilities, no repercussions, 
              no holding back doing what she really wants to do, which is be with 
              Spike, and not just for sex. They were having *fun*, and the last 
              time I checked, the words Spike and fun were not to be used together 
              in her vocabulary, even in pronoun form. Spike says, "Perfect for 
              you." and gets up  and pours himself a generous helping of 
              scotch. At this point, I have to say the first few times I viewed 
              this part of the scene, I had a hard time analyzing it. I was just 
              rooting for Invisi!Buffy to move her darn knee. Spike without clothes, 
              Spike sans vêtements, Spike ohne Kleidung, oh, geez, Nekkie!Spike! 
              Not only is he nekkie, he pissed off. Buffy wants the nookie without 
              the responsibility. It's Responsible!Spike speaking here. She says 
              she thought that this was what Spike wanted.
 This scene marks Spike reaching an all time Redemption high point 
              for me. He says, "The only reason you're here is that you're not 
              here." He knows she's hiding behind her invisibility as an excuse 
              to *misbehave* with him. But, he wants more, knows that this is 
              not what should be going on in a relationship. Buffy says that she 
              finally feels free, and that she's not felt that way since she got 
              back. "I'm free. Free of rules and reports. Free of this life." 
              Spike shoots back, "Free of life? Got another name for that - dead." 
              Buffy whines, "Why do you always have to -- I thought we were having 
              fun." Spike says, "Yeah, now. But sooner or later, your chums are 
              gonna work out a way to bring you back to living color.  You need to go. Get dressed, if you can find your clothes, and 
              push off, 'cause if I can't have all of you, I'd rather -- OK, that's 
              cheating." <head down, looking at Buffy, uh, you know, giving 
              him great pleasure... >   Funny 
              ending, yes, but very serious move for Spike. He's RocksBack!Spike, 
              and he's not gonna be her bitch any more. He wants all of her or 
              none of her. Echoes of Episodes past awards points for the Riley/Spike 
              talk of Into the Woods. It's risky, but he's grown stronger and 
              more sure of himself than he's ever been in his un/life. This whole 
              scene is worth Redemption!Anvil #3 for being true to himself and 
              having self-esteem, showing Buffy that she should respect herself, 
              and being actually quite the gentleman about it. He stays the course 
              and did what I thought was an impossible thing: he made hardcore 
              S/B shippers yell with joy at his kicking Buffy out of his crypt 
              for not treating him right. You go, girl! Plot!Anvil for the future 
              relationship crisis for the ship that is inevitable, but necessary 
              to sail into the long haul cruise.
 Cut to shot of a shirt back with a patch depicting "Espresso PUMP 
              Dealer". Triple entendre points for the Echoes of Episodes past, 
              Once More With Feeling crypt scene. "What else would I want to pump 
              you for?" At the coffeehouse Internet station, which no one monitors 
              for illegal activity, Willow is hacking the California DMV database. 
              She's almost there, but just can't wait those extra 12 seconds. 
              She reaches to give the processor a little boost, but, ta-da, she's 
              in. Saved by the hack. She's closer to the edge than she lets on 
              to anyone. More water bottles around. Geez, doesn't anybody drink 
              caffeinated beverages any more?  Focus on a can being invisi-kicked down the street and the voice-over 
              of Buffy fuming at Spike kicking her out of his crypt. Yes, gentle 
              readers, you read right, you viewed right. He kicked her out after 
              the, uh, great pleasuring. Again with the Superman reference as 
              Invisi!Buffy questions whether this is Bizarro world. Echoes of 
              Episodes rides again with the superhero reference from Tabula Rasa. 
              [Side note: I've been told that the Death of Superman back in '93 
              storyline parallels the Death of Buffy in '01. Maybe significant, 
              maybe ME's been smoking some nice red herring in their L'il Chief 
              Smoker.] Invisi!Buffy is incredulous, "And after he's always going 
              on and on about being the only one that understand me.  We're alike, you and me. Birds of a bloody 
              feather. Oh, he's just so---"  "Hey, 
              I'm walking here! Insensitive. That's what he is." The girl doesn't 
              even talk a good game. She *knows* he's very sensitive, and more 
              often than not, he's right, about her anyway. A lot of times, he's 
              on target for everyone else, too. She's gotten a taste of what RocksBack!Spike 
              is about and she's squirming 'cause she knows she's on the wrong 
              side of righteous here. Invisi!Buffy heads home, but no one's there. She's tooling around 
              when Dawn come in, looking like a model for Teenager Sneaking In 
              After Curfew. Buffy is back on her high of invisi-freedom, and doesn't 
              even clue into the fact that it's awfully late for Dawnie to be 
              rolling in, especially since she was supposed to be home right after 
              school. Buffy does the UFP spiel and gives Dawn the wiggins. Dawn 
              can see that being invisible is not good for Buffy and certainly 
              not good for the prospects of her sister *really* seeing her anytime 
              soon. Buffy states that Xander and Anya are 'Muldering' it out. 
              You know you watch too much genre television when a character's 
              use of the name/traits of another character on another show as a 
              verb makes perfect sense. Dawn freaks and wants to know why Buffy 
              isn't trying to come up with a solution to her invisibility, and 
              leaves, stating she can't talk to her if she can't see her. Then, 
              Buffy notices the flashing message on the answering machine. Death 
              by a Surfeit of Pudding looms unless they can find who zapped her. 
              Wow.  TOP ***  Dear Mr. Fury,  I am writing this to you and I hope that you will read it so you'll know
 My heart beats like a hammer
 and I stutter and I stammer
 every time I see your name on a Buffy t.v. show.
 I guess I'm just another fan of yours
 and I thought I'd write and tell you so.
 You made me love you I didn't wanna do it, I didn't wanna do it.
 You made me love you
 and all the time you knew it, I guess you always knew it.
 You made me happy, sometimes you made me glad.
 But there were times, sir, you made me feel so sad.
 You made me sigh 'cause
 I didn't wanna tell you, I didn't wanna tell you
 I think you're grand, that's true
 Yes I do, 'deed I do, you know I do.
 I must tell you what I'm feeling
 The very mention of your name
 sends my heart reeling.
 You know you made me love you!
 I don't care what happens, let the whole world stop.
 As far as I'm concerned, you'll always be the top,
 'cause you know you made me love you.
 Sincerely Yours, A Fan
 (Nods to Judy Garland and Clark Gable) ***  Willow is hunting for the address of the stalking van. She's on 
              foot 'cause none of the good guys ever drive any more. She locates 
              the Lair and steps down. Going over to the chalkboard with the rendering 
              of the Invisi-Ray, she gazes at it and the blueprints for, say, 
              all of 18 seconds (yes, I timed it!). She then looks at the raygun 
              itself, when she suddenly MacGuyver'd into ducktape. Warren congratulates 
              her on being their first hostage. Plot!Anvil here for future hostage 
              taking potential. Call to Buffy to bring the money in small, unmarked 
              bills to the arcade if she ever wants to see Willow alive again. 
              This part gets a little hard to follow, because not only is there 
              Invisi!Buffy, there's Invisi!Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan to not 
              see. Mostly, there's some nice shots of arcade games, the ball pit, 
              and Willow looking confuzzled. It's the low point of the invisible 
              plot, which is a hard one to maintain IMO. We find that Warren was 
              just laying low and really wants to kill Buffy, but StarTrek!Willow 
              looks at the invisi-gun and yells, "She's not set for reversing 
              the particle ionization, Captain. It'll accelerate her molecular 
              dissolution. I saw the plans. She'll blow, I tell ye. I canna hold 
              her tagether!" Pretty good for 18 seconds of analysis, but I digress 
              <g>.  Fight as follows: Buffy kicks butt. The Geeks are lame. Invisible 
              fights are boring. Willow zaps everyone back to visibility. At the 
              end, a comic book-type confrontation where Warren says that it's 
              not over, and that the three of them are her Arch Nemesises, or 
              is that Nemeses. They try to use the old disappear in the cloud 
              of smoke trick, but forget to check if the door is locked. Saved 
              by Rusty's brother Moldy the Security Guard, the Geeks break the 
              lock and are gone. "Oh, my God, Buffy." "I know. They're gone." 
              "No, your hair. It *is* adorable." Buffy and Willow can't summon 
              up the energy to chase them and make their way to the curb and sit 
              down.  Buffy gently questions Willow about how she found the LoD's van, 
              and Willow admits doing it the hard way is, well, hard, but she's 
              doing OK. Buffy admits she needs to do damage control for her 'giddy-fest' 
              of invisibility, especially with Dawn. Here's the part I found very 
              significant. She says that, "The whole 'taking a vacation from me' 
              thing didn't work out too well." On all fronts baby, and Willow 
              agrees. We have moved past the clunky addiction metaphor for both 
              of them and they are admitting, out loud no less, that it was them 
              running away from who they were, wanting to be something other that 
              who they were that was causing most of their problems. Big step 
              for our two Ladies of DeNile.  Buffy then talks about being afraid to die now, but that not too 
              long ago, she would have welcomed death. Spike has helped her to 
              be alive, to go on living, so one of them is living. They guess 
              that they've both made good first steps. Yay for them. TOP  ***  Re-cap: S/B lovin' - Good Godfrey Cambridge S/B fightin' - Mostly good
 S behavior - Good bordering on Great
 B behavior - Mostly Bad but Getting Better
 S Redemption - Soaring
 B fear factor - Improving
 S/B ship - Sailing in rougher waters, but with a good hull and some 
              nice sails
 S/B hope - Good
 ***  So, did you love it, hate it, wanted to wrap last week's fish in 
              it? Let me know. 
             Pet with her Reviewer's hat on  **Pet's Theory of Clothing Color: The color 
              of the clothing each character is wearing is very indicative to 
              their mood and development. Buffy wears a black see through tank 
              with black bra underneath. Sexy, unsubtle, and implacable - making 
              a statement our girl is. Spike has progressed from his all black 
              wardrobe to the purple shirt of Smashed/Wrecked and now the brown 
              pants and shirt. Redemption thy name is fashion. Honorable mention 
              Redemption!Anvil for taking this sartorial risk. Willow, who has 
              always had, uh, an interesting wardrobe, now sports browns and muddy 
              greens. She's going down, but I'd take the jammies against the Elmo 
              sweater any day. Dawn is wearing red over black, which tells me 
              that she's going to be getting some power soon. Xander sports a 
              nice grey shirt over a white t-shirt and a brown coat, which are 
              a step down from the yellows and blues he's been wearing. Hmmm, 
              could Xander be heading somewhere not so nice? Doris the social 
              worker sports a light brown sweater and dashing brown/yellow plaid 
              blouse - we all know she's not so good . Anya's sporting light 
              colors, so I think she's safe for now. Warren wears black and white, 
              striped and loud, mostly black - dum, du, dum, dum. Andrew has grey 
              over a black/purple plaid shirt, so I think there's more to him 
              than meets the eye. Jonathan wears a great shirt over a white t-shirt. 
              That makes me think he's the most redeemable of the three, in that 
              he's only got a layer of semi-badness over what's basically a good 
              guy.  TOP |