Buffy ep by ep; BARGAINING 1&2-bikers and Buffybots

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saturn5

Scooby
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BARGAINING 1&2

The Good;
SMG is just wonderful as the Buffybot, credit it to her that she can remember all the dialogue at the end of the teaser. Another nice Anya/Tara scene and Dawn and Buffy reunited is always a joy. Love the way that the Buffybot is such a hit at Dawn's parent/teacher day. Possibly the coolest Spike moment ever when he kicks the Hellion off the bike.

The Bad;
The Hellions are deeply stupid. There's only 15 of them and they appear to be killable by conventional methods (some are even human)so why don't the SDPD just shoot them? The fat vamp seems to burn awfully fast, Dru and Darla on Angel take far longer.

Best line;
Xander; "House o' chicks relax, I am a man, I have a tool!"

Women good/men bad;
Razor is nastily misogynist so Tara let's him have her axe. Good for her!

Jeez!;
Will kills Bambi! Even though she's a machine you feel so sorry for the Buffybot. The sight of Buffy's corpse is upsetting but not as much as her crawling out of her grave.

Kinky dinky;
The Hellions threaten to rape the Scoobies.

Captain Subtext;
Love the Willow/Tara house. In the comics Willow talks of the pair being tempted of just taking Dawn and the three moving out of Sunnydale, forming their own little family. Spike can't be with Buffy so he takes the closest thing he can get, babysitting Dawn. Xander appears to like the Backstreet Boys? Hmmmmm? Dawn and the Buffybot, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Xander and Giles hug at the airport. Xander says he needs more male friends.

Guantanamo Bay;

Scoobies to the ER;

Missing scenes;

Apocalypses; 6

Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1
Dawn; 3

Scoobies knocked out: Willow
Buffy: 16
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 8
Will: 6
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;1

Kills: 1 vamp for Spike and one for the Buffybot. One fawn and one demon for Will. A demon each for Xander and Anya. Tara's first kill plus 3 demons for Buffy
Buffy: 96 vamps, 35 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god.
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 6 vamps + 1 demon +1 fawn.
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, 1½ a demon,
Anya: 1 vamp and 1½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 3 vamps and 2 demon
Buffybot; 2 vamps
Tara; 1 demon

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 10
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce

Sunnydale deaths;
89;

Total number of scoobies: goodbye Giles and goodbye Buffybot so 6
Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Spike

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot: no although Razor has a gun he never uses it.
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4
Riley; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara
Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore

Spike; good or bad? (new column to handle one of the most pressing questions of the series)
Spike is fighting alongside the scoobs and taking care of Dawn but also pouring scorn on the schooling system and thinking the chaos and destruction looks fun.

Questions and observations;
Very long 'previously on Buffy', the series now very much rooted in it's own mythology. Love Tara the vamp hunter, note she feels the need to get a leather coat for her warrior princess phase. Note Giles and Spike actually share a joke together. The numbered shirts appear which I actually didn't notice first time around. Buffy looks to have put a little weight on whilst dead and it suits her. The Buffybot remarks 'I don't eat', deliberate joke? Dawn is back in touch with her dad. The Buffybot appears to be breaking her programming and almost becoming a real girl. Check out the scene where the Scoobies are saying goodbye to Giles at the airport, it looks like Spike is sitting behind Giles (JM's stand in?).
One good thing is that they kept Dawn. She wasn't that popular with the fans at this stage and it would have been very easy to write her out, she would have simply gone to live with her dad and she and Buffy could have had an offscreen reunion as Buffy and Angel do. But they kept her and the show is all the better for it. Dawn not only gives Buffy the will to live but she seems to just instinctively be able to sense that she's back and find her amidst the chaos. Once again it's implied that that there's a deeper connection between the 2 sisters.
Surely if Willow can fix a decpitated Buffybot she can fix a limbless one? So what happens to the bot? I remember reading an excellent fanfic where they repair it and leave it hooked up to an electricity supply in a remote cave, programmed to come to the rescue if anything ever happens to the Scoobs (very 'Demon with a glass hand' if you ever watched The Outer Limits). The Sentry, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net To judge by Buffy's appearance when she comes out of the grave she dyes her hair. You notice that the 'power shot' at the end of the opening titles isn't actually Buffy at all, it's actually the Buffybot.
I almost stopped watching Buffy at this point, I was so disappointed in these opening eps but I'm glad I kept with it.
Marks out of 10; 6/10
 
MinwaraYana
MinwaraYana
The end of S7 opening titles is not Buffy either.
U
ubi4soft
read my post
Not my favourite season opener. Season 6 is not my favourite season either. Its just not the same without Giles.

5/10.
 
This is actually my favorite season opener after Buffy v Drac. 8/10.
Now, about the vamp that burns very quick. I always assumed that Dru and Darla(like Spike in sunlight) were just able to handle fire/sun better as they are old formidable vamps and not fledgling nobodies.
 
ubi4soft said:
Really ? I thought he took care of Dawn because he promised Buffy.
Click to expand...

Yeah might be mixture of both. I don't find it creepy, he seems to have genuine affection for her and he can't hurt her
 
M
MistressPointy
I don't think he had a thing for Dawn, but I can kinda see what you're saying... like it's the only bit of Buffy he had left so he had to hold onto her.
My favourite season opener too, 🙂
I remember the first time i was watching it first air on tv, it was so intense!!!

'Lets fly pigeon' 😀
 
saturn5 said:
Dawn and the Buffybot, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
Click to expand...
I know that scene intends me to go "awww", but gets me to go "eeek!" instead. Lifeless, open-eyed recharging Buffybot scares me every time I see her, I can't relate to Dawn bearing to stay in the same room, let alone sleep cuddled up to her. (Now of course, I intellectually understand what's going on inside her, but my guts just go warp speed in the opposite direction.)
 
InsaneMystic said:
I know that scene intends me to go "awww", but gets me to go "eeek!" instead. Lifeless, open-eyed recharging Buffybot scares me every time I see her, I can't relate to Dawn bearing to stay in the same room, let alone sleep cuddled up to her. (Now of course, I intellectually understand what's going on inside her, but my guts just go warp speed in the opposite direction.)
Click to expand...

I take your point but the "awwww" factor does it for me and no mistake
 
Thinking back on it, this is actually my favorite season opener as well. The openers are never among the best episodes, but I felt this one was the strongest of them all. It confronts such complex issues, starting Season 6 off with a bang and foreshadowing the darkness that's to come.
 
My Thoughts on Bargaining Part 1

- Poor Spike, having to deal with slow, weak humans as "co-fighters" during patrols. He can't keep his attitude in check as he mocks Tara's spell and calls Giles an over-the-hill shopkeeper. Lol

- How adorable to see Giles and Spike laughing at Giles' joke... I'd pay so much to have us turn back in time, and then Joss would do a two hour movie on the summer between S5 and S6, would LOVE to see more Scoobies/Spike friendship scenes without Buffy's involvement.

- Willow is the leader now and she's doing a great job at it. She improved her telepathic abilities, and this is probably the only, or one of the very few, spells she'll re-use throughout the show.

- Notice how Tara doesn't stutter this season.

- Why would Anya be offended about the idea of Willow entering her mind? Whatever pops into her head, she says it out loud. It's not like she's into privacy.

- SPIKE: Oh, poor Watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea?

Heee! What's up with Spike insulting Giles this evening?

- When do you think the Scoobies decided that Buffy should be alive in the eyes of others? Probably before they had buried her, because otherwise, they'd have made a big funeral and everybody would be invited. I guess they had stolen a coffin and decided to bury Buffy in the middle of a forest. As I'm typing this, I realize how the writers didn't think this one through.

- I wonder who's babysitting Dawn, seeing as all the main characters are out patrolling. Maybe she's at Janice's.

- Nice of Willow and Tara to move into the Summers' home to take care of Dawn. I'm guessing they're using the money Joyce had left for her daughters to support Dawn.

- Why would Dawn lie about taking Willow's clogs when she had borrowed them from Tara? Unless she lost them.

- I love the family vibe that Willow, Tara and Dawn create in the Summers' home.
Foreshadows to Dawn calling Willow her mom in S8.

- TARA: Oh, I don't know if you can call us mega, Willow maybe-

I'm getting tired with Tara's worship of Willow, I get why she would worship her: Willow was the one who took her in and made her see how special she is, not to mention that they only fought once and Willow had taken care of her in her insane days and never gave up hope to bring her back and she did. It's understandable, but still, annoying.

- It seems that Hank has been calling to check on his daughters. Finally, some sense knocked into this man.

- I love Xander's nervous stare at Buffybot when Willow mentions that Anya found that "thing", he's the one who's most uncomfortable with their plan to bring Buffy back.

- It's touching that Dawn prefers living with the Scoobies than her father. But then they did not abandon her and they always do all they can to protect her.

- Giles decides to leave, but wants to make sure that everything is under control, does that mean he still doesn't trust Anya to run the Magic Box by herself?

- Anya is being impossible when she insists on preventing Giles from taking his Ramadan statue, even though it's his.

- Giles and Anya's fight over the statue is as funny as Xander and Harmony's fight in S4.

- Xander calls them on their immaturity before he chides Anya for acting selfish, reminding her that Giles is gonna leave the Magic Box for her and that he still owns the shop and if she keeps misbehaving, he can fire her.

- Anya is obviously over grieving Buffy and wants everybody to just move on "“I agree with her- her reasons for wanting everyone to move on: she wants control over the Magic Box and to tell everybody about the engagement.

- Xander is nervous when she brings that up "“funny seeing how confident he was about this in S5 and as Anya says, it is his idea that they get married in the first place. However, Xander thinks that they should break the news to the others when things as not so up in the air.

- Aw, Spike, why so cynical ever since Buffy died? It's like nothing satisfies him lately, no wonder he'll attack school. Lol

- It's so heartbreaking seeing Spike determined to protect Dawn, he had failed before after he had promised Buffy. He won't do it again. I felt shudders when he slammed the cards down on the table.

- Why did they leave the Buffybot to patrol alone? Someone should have been with her. Giles perhaps, since I'm not sure what's he's doing at this hour.

- Those vampires are such idiots, they couldn't tell that Buffybot was a robot before? They're after blood and she doesn't have any.

- Hee, Xander is a Backstreet Boys fan. I loved Tara's amused smile at his discomfort.

- XANDER: We were just talking then.

It seems that Xander was just going along with this plan so he wouldn't upset Willow, but it's obvious he doesn't agree with it. This is one of his flaws, his so unsure about things but doesn't confess until the last second when it becomes real.

- Anya and Tara are Xander and Willow's sheep. If Xander doesn't agree to do the spell, Anya doesn't agree as well. If Xander agrees to do the spell, Anya agrees as well. It's like she has no mind of her own. Same with Tara who knows that bringing people back from the dead is wrong, but because it's Willow who wants to do it, it's okay, because Willow does no wrong. This is probably why I enjoy Xander and Willow as characters more than Anya and Tara. While they're very flawed, at least they are independent and more interesting and challenging to write in fanfic than Anya and Tara IMO.

- Willow is in full mode when it comes to controlling "Nobody's changing their minds. Period." Yikes.

- Xander choosing Willow as their leader shows that he's not a women hating jackass who has a 'harem' attitude concerning the women in his life. Yep, I've heard this one a lot. Lol

- Why doesn't Willow want Giles, Spike and Dawn to know? I get why she doesn't want Giles to know, he knows what it takes for this spell to happen. As we'll see later there will be some details to the spell that Willow won't be telling the others about. If they knew about them, they won't be helping her. She doesn't want Dawn to know because it'll be too hard on her. She doesn't want Spike to know, probably because she thinks he'll stop her.

- Do you think if Buffy died a natural death like Joyce that Willow would insist on bringing her back? She had no problem helping Dawn find the book with the spells. I guess she'll have a harder time convincing the others to agree with her plan.

- "It's Buffy" Willow knows the exact magical words to move Xander into agreeing.

- Willow goes into the Summers' house alone? Where's Tara?

- The Spike/Willow scenes are so rare, which is a shame. They really needed one in S7, Willow could have talked about redemption with souled Spike. Sadly, there are too many missed opportunities in that season that you can't count.

- BUFFYBOT: Sorry I questioned you, Spike. (Spike looks surprised) You know I admire your brain almost as much as your washboard abs. (big smile)

Spike looks pained.

SPIKE: (quietly to Willow) I told you to make her stop doing that.

Aww, Spike"¦ but you did have it coming, you know. Lol. Come to think about it, Buffybot did come to their advantage in the end.

- It still amazes me how a robot can have emotions. So now the Buffybot feels left out because Spike doesn't like her anymore?

- That Dawn moment made me tear up, cuddling up against the bot that looks like her sister. Sniff.

- Anya whining about Giles leaving started to get old. It's a miracle how Giles is able to put up with it.

- BUFFYBOT: I like your teachings. Every Slayer needs her Watcher.
GILES: I'm not so sure about that.

Awww, Giles also feels a sense of failure, just like Spike.

- GILES: (looking away) I just can't help but wonder if ... she would have been better off without me. Buffy.

That's why you're gonna leave her this season?

- GILES: She's gone. I did my job.
BUFFYBOT: (frowns innocently) Well, then why are you still here?

- Probably because he's attached to the other Scoobies? Or because he can't leave the memories of Buffy too soon.

- Willow killing Bambie after she had demanded not to hurt the horseies last season. Notice her white dress that resembles purity, which is Willow, before it gets tainted with blood. Willow's soul is gonna get tainted this season in lots of ways.

- Tara was quite upset about the black market stuff, I thought she was going to reproach Willow, but all she did was be upset that Willow did it alone. Tara is so under Willow's thumb.

- Aw, Anya telling Tara to look at the money because it always calms Anya down. I especially love Xander's fond smile at Anya's innocent gesture.

- The airport scene with Giles is the best scene in this episode. It's full of tears and awws, so moving.

- Anya is taking being an American seriously what with her "American" gift. Tara's is so adorable, "Grr! Argh!" Xander didn't bring a gift, he wanted to buy a can of Old English 800, but I guess he has to be twenty-one to buy it. Dawn got him a card, which looked adorable.

- I love how Giles went for a handshake while Xander wanted to go for a hug. When Xander was about to change for a handshake, Giles pulled him into a hug. Adorable! Anya hugs Giles like she did in The Body. It was so nice to see Giles hugging Tara. Then he hugs Dawn and tells her that if she needed anything, she must call him. It's cute to see Dawn going to Xander after she finishes her goodbye moment with Giles and have him side hug her. Then Giles turns to his favorite Scooby after Buffy, they exchange a few words and then hug.

- Didn't it cross the Scoobies' mind that if Buffy woke up, she'll be in the coffin? Or did they think she'll magically appear before them?

- Spike babysitting Dawn can never stop being adorable.

- Again, the Buffybot is left to patrol alone. I suggest they should have let Spike go with her and Dawn should have been at Janice's house.

- Xander is the second in command after Willow's passed out.

- Poor Buffy waking up in her coffin. Unlike vampires who don't need to breathe, she must be thankful for her powers or else she'd have died suffocating.
 
I love this ep, it is at times heartbreaking & touching. But I must say I hated the biker demons. Ugh how they annoyed me. But the ritual Willow performs is amazing & of course seeing Buffy back alive for the first time since The Gift makes me want to jump out of my seat & scream with joy although I know she has a long, hard road ahead. Overall, I really enjoyed this episode though. I love Tara giving Giles the finger monster & saying Grrr Arrgghh!!!
 
I recently watched this, and I have to say I just wanted it to be over. 😛 Definitely not my favourite opener! The writing to me just seemed a little....blah, a little off. The jokes especially, I felt, were reeeeally painful. And like others have mentioned the demon baddies were lame and just go away!

I think the only things I enjoyed about these episodes were the Buffybot, which is of course always great, and when Buffy's breaking out of her coffin. Terrifying, and really well done.
 
I though it was a really good episode. Good opener for the new season. Spike was so sweet with Dawn. I don't think he did it to have the second best thing to Buffy; it think he did because he genuinely cares for Dawn and wants to keep his promise to Buffy even after she died. And I love the Tillow moment: "I will always find you." It's cool Tara finally got to kill something. She rarely does on screen.
 
I love BtVS enough to be happy with whatever the creators toss at me, but to be honest I would have preferred that Willow never went the black magic route. If Whedon & Co wanted to bring her back, I'd much rather have seen something à¡ la Angel coming back from his hell dimension.
 
It always struck me as odd that Tara is totally with this whole "resurrect Buffy" scheme, when not 10-15 episodes ago she's preaching about how you can't mess with life and death. I think she has some line about how it's crazy but it's what they agreed to do, and I just think why? Why did Tara agree to this? It also strikes me as odd that everybody just assumes that she's in hell. Looking at it logically, the key lowers the barriers between all dimensions, so it stands to reason she could've been in any dimension at all, and it seems to be like they make the characters deliberately stupid just to set up the rest of the season.

This is just nitpicking though, I actually love this opener, it's probably my favorite after Welcome to the Hellmouth.
 
I'am with you about Tara but i can understand why she also agreed to bringing her back. Sunnydale simply needed a slayer and with Faith in prison the only option was to bring Buffy back, so in that sense i see the process as believable.
 
For some reason, Bargaining feels like a cheap TV movie to me. Hmmm... Must be the length. It is, after all, an hour and a half.

I find it amusing that Anya has Buffy-hair in this episode. Then she has it again in the Villains-Grave episodes. Is her natural hair colour brown, like she had it in Season 3?

On the topic of hair, Spike's curly style is much better than the usual Draco Malfoy-style slicked back.

Oh, Xander... five months and he doesn't have the guts to tell anyone about his engagement to Anya. That should have been a huge warning sign for her RIGHT THERE.

Willow is really scary... No! Bambi!!!

The Buffybot is hilarious though, as is Dawn trying to deal with her at parent-teacher day. "Oh, God, she's always like this!"

Hank Summers continues to be presented in a negative light, oh dear...

Willow/Tara/Anya/Xander are pure idiots for not realizing that Buffy would wake up in her coffin, which, if you will remember Nightmares, was one of her worst fears.

I think that the price that had to be paid for Buffy's resurrection was much, MUCH too high. Buffy was suicidally depressed and was in a sexually abusive relationship with Spike for months, Tara of all people was horribly murdered, Willow went over the edge and very nearly destroyed the world, the First gained the opportunity to destroy the Slayer line and had its' minions kill dozens of innocent teenage girls, Xander lost an eye, Anya and more teenage girls were murdered and their bodies lost in the wreckage of the Hellmouth, Amy and Warren hooked up and killed more people, etc. Even the supposedly "good" action of activating all the Potentials resulted in them being hunted down by Twilight's followers and hundreds MORE of them murdered. The only good thing without a negative side that I can think of would be Spike getting a soul.

So, ultimately, the cost of Buffy's life was hundreds, possibly thousands of others. Was her resurrection really worth it?
 
This is my least favourite season opener, it just seemed to drag on and on its the only Buffy episode I found myself wishing it would end. It was way to long and there was a lot of stuff in there that just made it long and unnecessary
 
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