Dirty Girls

*Kris collapses into her comfy chair, rubbing her eyes and trying not to think about work...*

Well, this was certainly an interesting little diversion from working insane hours...

This is going to be short this time out, gang. I stared at a computer screen for 11 hours already today, and I can't take much more.

(Then again, at least I've got two eyes to complain about being strained, so I suppose I don't have much to whine about, do I?)

Short stuff first:

Go Spike! Moment:

Spike trying to get Faith to leave him alone in the graveyard was one of the best parts of this episode. I especially loved Faith's grumbling about the people in town needing good guy/bad guy labels.

Is There Sparkage? Moment:

Faith and Spi-i-ke, sitting on a cot... Yes, we know that they're both bad. And they like to show skin (well, at least the writers like them to show skin). But the whole basement scene seemed a bit forced at times... <shrug> And what's with Spike smoking again? In the house, no less? Color me confused...

Sniffle Inducing Moment:

You just knew something bad was going to happen to Xander when he gave the little inspirational speech to the Potentials. The guy really is the heart of the Scoobs... and it was just so obvious... and when you think about what he said... <sigh> (Especially the part about always being able to go for the brains, the heart, and the eyes... <gulp>>).

Brrrrrrrrrr! Moment:

Is it just me, or were there icicles hanging in the entryway when Buffy and Giles were interacting? Just checking.

Big Stuff:

Things got cleared up in this ep, and other things got muddied even more. It could have been *so* good... but it just seemed so formulaic at times... not to mention incredibly unevenly paced.

Establishment of bad guy: Check.

Bring Faith back into picture: Check.

Induce jealousy in Buffy over Spike daring to interact with Faith: Check.

Get Potentials to finally rally behind Buffy, while giving Xander something to do besides fix the windows - again -: Check.

Give Andrew a storytelling moment: Check. (Although the whole Faith fighting the Vulcan bit was pretty funny).

Heartwrenching Something-Bad-Is-Happening-to-a-Scooby-Towards-The-End-of-the-Season Moment: Check.

ARGH!

There's not even a whole lot of analysis with this one, is there?

Things I liked:

Spike telling Buffy that they needed to leave *now* and dragging her away for her own good; Faith finally figuring out that things are different in a whole lot of ways; Faith and Buffy co-existing without cat fights every three minutes (or every commercial break); continuity of Buffy not being too happy with Giles; and seeing Kennedy getting the snot beaten out of her.

Things I really didn't like:

Buffy and Wood are suddenly kinda okay? Dawn's whining again; Dawn's being Miss StoneyFace again; and the whole The First playing games with Caleb; Xander losing his eye to Caleb. That's just so *not* cool.

Things I *REALLY* didn't like:

Caleb's accent. Yeesh!

Quotes of the Night:

"The mission is what matters." Wood, throwing Buffy and Nikki's words back in Buffy's face after he fires her.

"A place... to let your hair down. So to speak." Spike, sneaking in yet another jibe at Wood's expense. Hee!

"Stop. <smack> Hitting. <punch> Me! <punch> " Spike, giving Faith a taste of her own medecine.

Dear Hubby Quote of the Night:

There weren't any real quotes per se, aside from an "ewwww" when Xander got attacked...

Ewwwwwwww score:

9 out of 10. Much violence of the non-demony kind, not to mention the whole eye thing... <shudder>

Furry Spike score:

2 paws. I suppose we advanced the storyline a bit, but it really felt like a filler ep...

Overall:

Rather disappointing to see this after my first 10 out of 10 rating with the last ep. This one gets a 5 out of 10... and that's only because we got to see Spike do what he does best, and I did enjoy some of the Spike and Faith interaction.

Hugs to all...

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Kris