Way Beneath You, a review

by Mary

It made me mad, it made me cry, it made me feel like season 6 was back to suck us all back in. It made me change my plans to move into a basement over the hellmouth. It made me decide not to get my soul back.

So, for what it is worth (little) here is my take on Beneath You.

The episode starts with a punk looking chick with a cool shirt (Faith would have been impressed) getting killed after a pretty rad fight with the mystery men. Before she dies, she says, "From beneath, it devours." Buffy wakes up, and has dreamt it as well. She repeats the line. I am getting a feeling there is something from beneath that devours coming this season but don't quote me on that. It will be our little secret. Then Buffy gets ready for school and they show Sunnydale where the Tremors monsters seem to be loose. I look around for Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward but sadly they are not there.

Then we get Mr. Foxy with the wild hair. He looks really hot but is freaking out as things shake and rattle around. He is really upset and needs a hug. I will be right back.

OK, now that I took care of that, we got to Xander and Dawn and Buffy en route to school. Good time to go get snacks.

Then Buffy and the mysterious Principal Wood get her ready for her new job. Man, these pretzels are salty, I got to go get a soda.

Whoa, what happened while I was away??? Suddenly, we are out of school and hanging with Giles and Willow. Nice. Giles is giving her advice and she is sad and I want to hug them both, and not just for my own devices. Giles gives her the You can go back to Sunnydale where you tried to kill everyone speech, and she, like I, is worried she will go evil and chatty again. But she seems to fear something is coming. (Could it come from below and devour?? I bet it could!)

Then the scene is sadly over, and Giles does not come back although I clearly yelled,"Come back Giles, don't leave these folks to their own devices!" Oh yeah, back in Sunnydale, something from below eats a dog. What did I tell you? And everyone chats about it and Buffy wonders if this could be the thing from below that devours. Smart chick. And none of this gets Giles back to teleport in to test these theories.

But Spike does show up to help, much to Xander and Dawn's delight. They cheer and say,"Go Spike." Well not really, I just threw that in. He and Buffy leave to talk and he tells her something bad is coming, 'cause that was not clear. She also does not want him to apologize and so I guess that means all is forgiven. Cool. Buffy and Spike then come in and she starts barking orders and assigns herself to Spike. Xander decides to mention the AR because - well, not enough folks saw the ad in the paper, and Buffy still likes the assignment of labor. Then Dawn threatens to set Spike on fire if he hurts Buffy, and then he channels Bruce Campbell and says,"Yo, key bitch, let's go." Well, he did not say that, but he should have.

Then they all go to find the thing that may or may not be below them. Spike and Buffy work together, and he carries on about his new pad and is cutely crazy. Buffy touches his hand and flashbacks to season 6 and so do I and Eww! I guess apologies are in order but then Spike says nope, I can't, but I am different now. I am hotter and crazier and you must love me! Well, I added the last bit but you get the idea. Buffy thinks he is holding back on her. Again, smart girl.

Nancy and Xander do some flirting, and he figures out it was Anya who turned her beau into a tremors monster. Xander is kind of cute here but the need for more snacks overtakes me.

OK, I am back. They find Anya and everyone jumps her case for just doing her demon job. She is concerned about the dog but no, that is enough, she has to care about people too. **Rolls eyes** And she declares Spanyaka over so I guess that is the 1st ship death of the season. They all talk some more but then Anya discovers he has his soul and ...

---Ladies and gentleman, ME is breaking into this episode with a special announcement. Anya and Spike are bad. We repeat, they are bad bad bad. They should be beaten and scorned. They are not Scoobs and will never ever be. If you like them, take this!---

Suddenly, Spike is beating the tremors monster and doing a good job of it and sounding like the big bad. My eyes tear up with pride. But then he turns into Ronnie and sets off Spike's chip. :( Will this thing never die??? Grrrrr. Spike starts muttering crazy stuff and Buffy tells him if he is going to act nuts after beating on worm boy, to take it somewhere else, it is not good decorum. Before he leaves, he says something like from beneath you it devours. It is like a puzzle people, I tell you. And Anya seems to think something is coming too but I am unsure how that fits in. I think another bb from below might be coming.

But Buffy goes to find Spike, who is nutty and hot and in church. Real hot and showing some skin. Well, to make a long story short, they start beating each other up, and I am suddenly interested, wondering if they are going to bring the church down, aka Smashed. But no, Spike ruins the moment and tells her about the soul and even says the forbidden word "Angel." It is all sad and melodramatic and suddenly, after not liking the ep at all, I am crying and stuff as is she and probably the folks who watched this thinking it was a comedy from last week's preview. And then he hugs a cross and starts sizzling and asks if they can rest. I am unsure, but I think that might be a subtle metaphor for something besides he is a smoking hottie but maybe not. You have to decide these things for yourself.

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Mary