Him

<Kris collapses into her Comfy Chair with her Diet Coke, as Furry!Spike bounces into his daddy's arms over on the Sumptuous Sleeper Sofa, ready to watch this week's new episode...>

Hmmm... how to tell that it must be sweeps season. After a few intense shows, we get Happy!Buffy - under a spell, no less. While this episode certainly had its fun, there were some things that popped up here and there that made me go "hmmmm...."

So, while I'm musing over the heavy stuff, let's get to the funny, shall we?

I'm so glad my cheerleading tryout wasn't *that* bad Moment:

Ouch. And Ouch! again. Poor Dawn... I literally couldn't watch that part of the show, while my dear hubby was laughing himself silly over on the Sumptuous Sleeper Sofa (known from here on out as the S.S.S). And the cartwheel at the end...

Buffy channeling Britney Spears Moment:

Okay, was anyone else practically hearing "Baby, Hit Me One More Time" when Buffy was, as dear hubby put it, sashaying around in her little plaid skirt? <shudder> And this is right after...

Maternal Buffy?

Was the new do with the bangs and all supposed to make Buffy look more "grown-up?" Don't get me wrong - it looked pretty good - but Buffy almost looked Motherly in some scenes... right before Dawn accused her of trying to take over for Joyce. Hmmmm...

If Looks Could Stake Moment:

Just how many times did Buffy unleash the Lethal Skunk Eye tonight? I counted at least three occurrences... and I can't tell you how happy I was that the first was unleashed on Xander when he was making an a** out of himself over Spike sharing his apartment. Not to mention the skunk eye she leveled at RJ (before he put on the jacket)... and the skunk eye for Dawn at the Bronze took the cake. Youch.

Flashback to the 70's Moment:

The editing and presentation were just too good, especially during the timeframe when all four girls were affected by the spell. We were all just rolling.

Last, but not Least:

A Buffy/Spike moment! After all the comments about riding backs... look who's riding Spike's back! Youch! Okay, I was laughing so hard that I almost spilled my Diet Coke... and having Principal Wood not realize what was going on was just great.

Okay... let's get to the bigger musings.

Spike, of course, takes center stage for me... because he's BACK! Yay! He got more than one scene in this episode! I know, it wasn't nearly enough Spikey-ness for those of us who love this character, but it was more than we've been getting. Am I disappointed that they handled the disclosure of his soul off-screen? Heck, yes... but I'll just have to get over it. Besides, it's pretty obvious that people haven't just decided that he's a good guy now - and for that, I'm *not* happy. I wasn't expecting Xander to be the one leading Spike's bandwagon, but I'm still a bit peeved that he thinks Spike would try to hurt Buffy. Dawn, on the other hand... I'm trying to keep in mind that a) her view of what happened between Buffy and Spike has been heavily colored by Xander's presentation of what Xander saw as the truth (which, we all know, is *much* different than what B/S fans have seen), and b) Dawn is a bit protective of her sister, when she isn't acting like a typical grumpy adolescent. But I'll get to that a little later.

Spike's moving up in the world - literally. He's having some issues adjusting - I know that some people are probably going to be upset that Xander wasn't making very many efforts to get Spike to go places with the rest of the group - but my bet is that Spike is holding himself back from everyone else. As we heard, he had an "episode" of talking to voices no one else could hear in the car, so we know he isn't completely together yet. But... he's making progress, and that's of the good. I was glad to see him put aside his differences with Xander to help out the group, although I honestly can't figure out why he didn't go to save Dawn on the train tracks... oh, that's right - we needed Buffy to do that to have the big emot ional moment. <sigh>

Something else that struck me: Spike and Anya's stories are really paralleling each other in some ways, aren't they? We see Buffy, feeling a bit guilty, perhaps? First she finds Spike a new home with Xander, even resorting to guilting Xander into doing her will... and then she shows up at Anya's apartment, trying to make up for the whole hoo-hah that we saw in the last ep, and winds up killing a demon that was apparently sent by D'Hoffryn to do in Anya (apparently, D'Hoffryn just couldn't resist one more stab at vengeance). Anya tells Buffy that she doesn't want help - even if she needs it - and this is right after we saw Spike tell Buffy that he knew that it wasn't going to work out with Xander as a roomie, and that he didn't want any of Buffy's "...mollycoddling..." Yet, at the end, which character is the one who's broken into a bank *and* kept the money? Not the soul-having vamp, is it? Hmmmm...

It was good to see Happy!Buffy again, but was anyone else reminded of the BuffyBot? Complete with the moment of Xander walking in on Buffy straddling her man, with Buffy not comprehending just what was wrong with the situation (granted, the BuffyBot let us know her views on the situation at a different time)... but the attitude Buffy had, even the hair - it was all BuffyBot. Add in the comments about the power of the Jacket, and I got to thinking about the Duster-That-Shall-Not-Be-Seen... and then you get the comments about how RJ used to be a poet, *before the jacket*... Oh, my head is spinning. I think the writers do things like this just to get us over-analytical fans in a tizzy.

(But if that was why they did it, then why was there such an emphasis on Spike's reaction to finding out that RJ was a poet? Or... why did Buffy tell Dawn that she was crazy - that what she felt wasn't real? Didn't that echo what we heard her tell Spike in "Crush", and so many other times since then? Why was Anya able to look at RJ, and "... see his soul?")

Ouch. I think I need another Diet Coke.

And why did Willow make the comment about RJ's heart being pure?

ARGH!

Moving on, now...

Last, but not least:

Michelle Trachtenburg certainly showed her acting talents in this ep. She really made me feel for Dawn - complete with squirming as she tried to talk to the popular kids without making a complete fool out of herself (with little luck in doing so). MT was underused so much last year... and it's good to see her get a chance to do something this season. Dawn has some real issues with her older sister - but what teenager doesn't? I did like that Dawn continued to be the voice that calls it like she sees it - she's the one to point out that Xander's possession of a soul didn't keep him from being truly rotten to Anya. And Dawn is the one who finally gets Buffy to say out loud that she *doesn't* know how she feels about Spike - which is something that we've known all along, isn't it?

All in all, this was meant to be a light ep, and for the most part, it really was. Having Xander happily flash back to his being under a love spell (although Willow apparently spaced off her effect on Buffy and Spike in "Something Blue"), seeing Xander actually have to be nice to Spike, and then having Spike figure out why the girls were going nuts (yay Spike!)... it was all of the good. SMG also did a wonderful job showing the change of Buffy coming under the jacket's spell... and I just really did like this episode.

So....

Quotes of the Night:

“Anna Nicole Smith thinks you look tacky!” - Buffy, chewing out Look-At-Me-I'm-So-Grown-Up Dawn...

"I’m the pushy queen of slut town!" - Dawn, realizing (with a little bit of Conniving!Buffy assistance) that she may have gone a bit too far...

“Clearly I do, but I don’t want anyone’s help.” - Anya, talking to Buffy... and having echoes of Spike's situation, perhaps?

"Bitchslap, bitchslap, bitchslap!" - My dear hubby, after Dawn's ranting about Buffy being the Dysfunction Queen. I know - it's not part of the show - but it was just too good to ignore...

The music:

Wow. Loved the use of the '50's music (which I can't place to save my life...)

Ewwwwwww score:

6 out of 10. No icky monsters, but Buffy on the boy? That's enough to leave mental scars.

Furry Spike score:

Another 3 paws, no wag. Okay, a twitch of the tail... if only for the return of Action!Spike at the very end, and Spike being the one to figure out the great Jacket!Mystery (oh no, there I go - another jacket connection.... Stop me! Stop me now!).

Looking forward to next week, gang... Fluffy BTVS fun is good every once in a while, but I'm ready for some good drama... and from the looks of the promo, we're in for a roller-coaster ride. Grab your Tums or Rolaids - I have a feeling we're gonna need them.

Hugs to all,

Until next week...

---

Kris