Buffy ep by ep; BRING ON THE NIGHT-Buffy bashing aplenty

[saturn5]

BRING ON THE NIGHT

The Good;
The epic fight between Buffy and the Turok-Han. Love her speech at the end!

The Bad;
See above. Also it seems weird that Spike can be tortured by drowning when he doesn't breathe but I guess the reflex is still there? And most obvious of all why doesn't the Turok-Han finish Buffy when it has the chance? Or at least take her prisoner? I know she likes her job but considering what's at stake (pardon the pun) surely Buffy should just continue taking some sick days and prepare for what's ahead? ASH's name in the title spoils the suprise of Giles showing up.

Best line;
Dawnl; "There's blood on this. The First must have made a sacrifice. Or a music video" (too much MTV for you my girl!)

Women good/men bad;
Buffy has pics of Dawn, Joyce, Willow and Xander on her desk but none of her dad?

Jeez!;
Watching Buffy getting the stuffing knocked out of her is HORRIBLE! Not to mention the gruesome murder of the terrified Potential and poor Spike getting waterboarded.

Kinky dinky;
According to Anya demons used to boast about their evilness in an attempt to make her 'horny'. Dru/First says Spike used to like it when they'd 'Giggle, wiggle, squeal' and says she'd be bad if Spike likes it (Dru's dance move reminds me of Kate Bush doing Wuthering Heights!)

Captain Subtext;
And here's Kennedy who can convey an awful lot with just a look, you can see how Willow's mind is already working when Dawn asks her 'Does she want to eat?". Andrew seems to think that a good leader should have shiny hair.

Guantanamo Bay;
The gang still not hesitating to torture Andrew, even little Dawnie in on the act.

Scoobies to the ER;
No which is weird?

Missing scenes;

Apocalypses; 7,

Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 4
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 2
Dawn; 4
Spike; 2

Scoobies knocked out: Anya by the First and Buffy by the Turok Han
Buffy: 20
Giles: 12
Cordy: 6
Xander: 15
Will: 9
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;7
Dawn; 4
Tara; 1
Spike; 1

Kills:
Buffy: 117 vamps, 60 demons, 6 monsters, 5 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human/1 god.
Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn+1 human.
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1½ a demon, 1 human
Anya: 1 vamp and 1½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 9 vamps and 6 demons
Buffybot; 2 vamps
Tara; 1 demon
Dawn; 1 vamp + 1 demon

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 4
Anya; 1
Dawn; 1
Buffy; 1
Spike; 1

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 1
Will: 5
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 4
Tara; 1
Dawn;1
Spike; 1
Anya; 2

Recurring characters killed: 13
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina, Tara, Quentin Travers.

Sunnydale deaths; the poor Potential Annabelle
102

Total number of scoobies: 9, Giles and now add the first of the Potentials
Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Spike, Giles, Kennedy and Molly

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

Scoobies shot:
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4
Riley; 1
Buffy; 1
Tara; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Buffy: 4 confirmed; Angel, Parker, Riley, Spike. 2 possible, Dracula+RJ(?)
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; 2 Buffy and Anya
Anya; 2 Spike and Xander

Dawn in peril; 14

Dawn the bashful virgin; 9

What the fanficcers thought;
Some good and bad on this one. Buffy captured by the First but rescued by Invisible Marcie from 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' is cute. In a similar style Buffy rescued by invisible Dawn because they never did think to give the Nerd's raygun back. One truly schizo story stands out where Buffy is captured by the Turok-Han and then gangraped by it and the other Sunnydale demons. Just when you think it can't get any darker in the follow up story Joyce's ghost appears to her and gives her the resolve to kill the Turok-Han (castrating it in the process!) rescue Spike and escape. It ends with the greatest line, something like "In our darkest hour we all cry out to our creator, whether god or mother. For some loves can bring us strength from far beyond the grave"
A Higher Being, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net (over 18s only!)
I guess it doesn't matter so much where a story begins as where it ends? If you like things a bit more weepy At last, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer fanfic - FanFiction.Net

Questions and observations;
Nice to see Dru back again. The last time we shall ever see Joyce/Kristine Sutherland on the show (sob!). I know we've been told that the vision Dawn has in CWDP is The First but is this the real Joyce here? It appears to Buffy in her dreams which we haven't seen it do before and seems very encouraging? Anya in glasses, have we seen that before? Why doesn't Buffy carry more weapons when she goes after Annabelle. Once again when faced with the Turok Han Buffy sensibly retreats whilst old Faith or Kendra might have fought to the death. I always thought the Turok-Han was huge but looking at it here it seems just normal human height. Does the First need Buffy and Spike to open the Hellmouth, is that why it keeps them alive? Shouldn't the scoobs take Buffy to hospital if they think she has internal bleeding?
Marks out of 10; 8/10

 

[thevikingsgirl]

Am I the only one who finds Buffy's speeches annoying? Only the couple she gives in season 7. I don't know why but they bug me. Anyway. I don't know why the water bothers Spike. Imagine how Angel felt when he was trapped in the box. Since they don't have to breathe at all, the struggling doesn't make much sense, but I guess it would be pretty boring if he just lay there in the water. It's like how he cuts off Dru's air in season 2 to make her pass out. If she doesn't need o2, that won't work. But the Buffyverse is full of holes; you just have to ignore them. I love Drusilla; it was great to see her again.

 

[saturn5]

Hey, considering what she's been through I think she deserves a little bombast, besides the rest of the gang need a boost at that moment

 

[sosa lola]

Giles comes home!! Yay or nay? He also brings back with him screen-time suckers.





Bring On The Night.

The episode starts with my Xander complaining about fixing the windows every single episode. Poor Xanny-tunes is not so happy about his role this season. Everyone is in full research mood. Anya thinks The First is lame, and I wholly agree, and Buffy thinks it's not coz she wants people to think that she's a big strong slayer who kills big strong demons and if the word about the First being lame comes out, she'll lose her rep as the greatest hero ever.

Xander wishes for Andrew to wake up so he'll give them some information that will lead them to his husband. (Ex.) Um"¦ right. Ex. *pouts* Anyway, Dawn, because Xander is her favorite, wants to grant her father/brother/uncle/best friend his wish and slaps Andrew the slap I longed to give him. Did I mention that Dawn is my S7 favorite? Then Buffy yells at Dawn and orders her to go back to research. Did I mention how much I hate Buffy?

Dawn mumbles that Anya gets to hit him. And that confirms that Anya is also another favorite S7 character.

Buffy sees Joyce. I miss Joyce. Joyce tells Buffy she can't win this fight. And Buffy is just dreaming. Funny thing, Willow is sitting right next to Buffy and didn't notice. Xander notices. Is that one of the examples about Xander being the one who sees? (Or the father of the house crap.) Hey, it's not crap! He *is* the father of the house, even though he doesn't own the house.

Poor tortured Spike. And the First pretends to be Dru to hurt Spike, but then I wanna remind the First that Spike wanted to *stake* Dru so Buffy will tell him she loves him, so using Dru to torment Spike is not gonna work. The First sucks.

My two favorite characters are playing with Andrew. These two make quite a fun pair. I luv 'em!! The mother of the house comes in and the children pull the innocent expression to fool mommy. Andrew wakes up and Anya is all "Silly Andrew, you drooled all over your face." Hehe I love Anya.

Buffy, Xander, Dawn and Andrew are in the school's basement. And things happen. (What things?) Can't tell. (And you call yourself a recapper.) Well, I'm disturbed with the idea of Dawnie taking time to curl her hair before the searching party. (Try *Buffy* waiting for her to curl her hair before getting out.) And she says she cares about Spike. I bet it's Xander who sat angrily in his car honking for them to hurry up, 'cause every wasted minute means another bruise on Spike's hot body. (For a reason I think it's Andrew who's honking.) Well, I think so too. But I'm more of a Spander than a Spandrew.

I wonder why Willow didn't come. I mean instead of waiting for Dawn to curl her hair, they could have taken Willow. Oh yeah, Willow is not one of the three anymore. Dawn had replaced her.

Xander yells at Andrew for killing his best friend and not feeling guilty about it. But Xander, hon, you dusted Jesse and forgot all about him. Please stop with the double standards. (At least his hit a trunk in frustration. Andrew didn't feel anything.) I'm not talking about Jesse being killed, I'm talking after Jesse was dusted. (Well, he was a vampire. Vamps are bad, remember? That's when all the vamp fuss started.) Still, I call it bad writing.

A Xandrew geeky moment. And Xander gives Andrew a shove and he gets to be my favorite character again. Sort of. Principle Wood makes an appearance and Dawn repeats the vomit and ooze from different ends story. Stuff happens"¦ (*roll eyes*)

Mommy Buffy and Daddy Xander have a secret talk away from the kids, while Willow gets ready for a spell, I presume. Xander asks Buffy to rest 'cause she hasn't slept for two days. Buffy says Xander didn't see the First, he would have, if the actor who played Jesse was available. Sadly he wasn't. And since the writers of BtVS are very silly and stupid, they could have used the First/Buffy on Xander, I mean, it's not like Dawn is more of a threat to Buffy than Xander, right Mr. the First? Lame villain you are.

A magical explosion happens. And the First enters Willow, focusing on Mommy Buffy, and because it's an idiot, it overlooks Daddy Carpenter who went and smashed the urn against the wall, bringing Willow back from the dark side again. Daddy goes to check on Anya while Mommy goes to check on Willow. Aw a Willow/Buffy moment. You know, we used to have many of those in the early seasons, right now we barely get a second of both women in the same shot.

Xander argues with Buffy to come with. Buffy is all "I'm going alone." Hey! I need my Xander on screen, let him tag along. Buffy opens the door and my heart jumps three miles away. My Giles is standing there, his chin up in the sky, and Buffy wants to hug him but sadly the Scoobies-Screen-Time-Stealing-Thieves cut between Buffy and Giles' hug.

Lots of boring talk, oh and Xander gags Andrew, and more boring talk.

GILES
I'm afraid it falls to you, Buffy. Sorry. I mean, we'll do what we can, but you're the only one who has the strength to protect these girls"”and the world"”against what's coming.
XANDER
But no pressure.

LOL! That's the first time Xander made me laugh in a long time. Dawn and Anya were the only ones that make me laugh these days. Giles' lines made me feel bad for Buffy. It's always on her shoulders. Then again, she's the only one who has the power, the others? Not so much. Except Willow, but The First can make use of her instability.

Kennedy laughs at Giles' stupidity and says that one slayer can't save the world. Kenedy, you're a hated character, but I love you for stating that. No one can work alone. Even Buffy who babbles about slayers always being alone would have *never* reached this day without the help of her friends.

Buffy says she needs Spike for more muscle. Um"¦ yeah, are you nuts? I understand you want Spike rescued 'cause Xander loves him. But using someone who's controlled by the enemy as a weapon is so not wise you idiot. Who let this girl in charge? (Giles) Well, we already established that Giles is an idiot.

Buffy and Giles walk in the streets and I realize this is another Christmas ep. Giles seemed off. The First off. And won't that lead to a very pointless and lame sub plot.

A Xandrew moment. "She's my best friend." Aww, so sweet Xander.

And now I wanna put forks in my eyes!! Kennedy's lesbian radar sensed that Willow is a lesbian, too. So hey, let's hit on the redhead even though I don't know her, or the fact that I think the slayer's sister is better looking than her, but she's a lesbian, right? That's the only reason that makes me fall in love with her. (You think Dawn is better looking than Willow.) I'm just saying that it's so convenient that Kennedy was attracted to *the lesbian* of the group, why not another female character? So convenient and unrealistic.

Now I noticed I babbled a lot. Stuff happens, and the Uber Vamp knocked Buffy out. Points for big strong Uber Vamp. Xander lefts part of the metal roof and then is all "Oh God." He's in the center and Willow at his right side while Giles at the left. (Is that a move to show that Xander is The Heart?) It's a move to make me love this show again, but I wanna tell these writers, gimme a Xander/Spike centric episode and *then* we'll talk.

Buffy, so beaten up, sits on a chair in her room and her eyes are so wide like she's seen the 'there's this one time' Spangel thing.

And then we get the first ever of Buffy's boring speeches. Cheer up, folks! Boring S7 has just begun.

6.5/9

 

[saturn5]

Kennedy was very convenient but Joss didn't want Willow 'running back to boystown'. Kennedy is the anti-Tara so she's sexually aggressive. I'm sure she has the hots for Dawn (and Buffy to judge by the comics) but Dawnie is underage and I'm sure Buffy wouldn't approve

 

[sosa lola]

I'm just saying, just because Willow is gay doesn't mean that Kennedy would find her attractive or appealing. I loved that Satsu fell for a straight girl in S8, it would have been amazing if Kennedy liked someone straight. Like Anya. Kennedy/Anya would have been fun.

 

[saturn5]

I'm just saying, just because Willow is gay doesn't mean that Kennedy would find her attractive or appealing. I loved that Satsu fell for a straight girl in S8, it would have been amazing if Kennedy liked someone straight. Like Anya. Kennedy/Anya would have been fun.

When Faith takes the girls dancing at the Bronze and Willow isn't there, who does Kennedy end up hooking up with? Here's a clue, rhymes with 'porn'?

 

[Eleftheria]

Her speech in the end is one of the most inspiring scenes I have ever heard in the show. I really love it!

 

[Kanazaka]

After rewatching this episode, it struck me that a major reason why Buffy was able to kill the Turok-han was because she wasn't afraid of it. I'm surprised that she didn't touch upon this in her speech, but I guess it might have been stating the obvious.

 

[white avenger]

Imagine how Angel felt when he was trapped in the box. Since they don't have to breathe at all, the struggling doesn't make much sense, but I guess it would be pretty boring if he just lay there in the water. It's like how he cuts off Dru's air in season 2 to make her pass out. If she doesn't need o2, that won't work.

Spike's reaction to having his head held under water while the same thing apparently doesn't seem to bother Angel would lend credence to the theory that what Spike was shoved into wasn't ordinary water. We know that holy water burns vampires, so maybe there was some holy water mixed in with the regular water, just enough for it to become a powerful irritant.

As for how Spike was able to choke Dru into unconsciousness, just because a vampire can't become unconscious from asphyxia doesn't mean that cutting off the blood flow to the brain by applying pressure to the carotid arteries wouldn't accomplish the same thing. Vampires bleed, therefore they do have some sort of blood circulation, whether the heart beats or not, and since blood is their nourishment, depriving the brain of that nourishment could possibly cause unconsciousness.

Those are, of course, only theories, but they might explain the things that you mentioned. More likely, though, the writers just either screwed up or intentionally went contrary to their own canon and hoped that no one would notice,

 

[TheVoid68]

I heard somewhere that it was holy water in the script, but when it came to shooting they just forgot to add steam. So it's stupidity that caused this plot-hole, but not continuity-related stupidity.

 

[CMF9]

I'm just saying, just because Willow is gay doesn't mean that Kennedy would find her attractive or appealing. I loved that Satsu fell for a straight girl in S8, it would have been amazing if Kennedy liked someone straight. Like Anya. Kennedy/Anya would have been fun.

I read that Kennedy was a last minute idea because they originally were thinking of having Willow hook up with Faith, but Eliza wasn't able to come back earlier in the season. So, Kennedy=Faith but not.

 

[TheVoid68]

Willow/Faith? Damn, that would've been epic.

 

[saturn5]

True! Plenty of slashfic where the pair hook up on the drive from LA back to Sunnydale. But would Fillow have spoiled the Buffy/Faith subtext?

 

[TheVoid68]

It would've furthered it I think, because we'd have canon confirmation that Faith was bi/gay.

 

[Taake]

I read that Kennedy was a last minute idea because they originally were thinking of having Willow hook up with Faith, but Eliza wasn't able to come back earlier in the season. So, Kennedy=Faith but not.

wow, never thought I'd be thankful for Kennedy but there ya go. faith/willow would have been weird.

 

[InsaneMystic]

wow, never thought I'd be thankful for Kennedy but there ya go. faith/willow would have been weird.

I do think that reformed, past AtS4 Faith and guilty, post BtVS6 Willow would have been an intriguing couple, though... Faith would most likely have been less "pushy" than Kennedy in the ship, I think that would have been interesting.

Still, S7 had too much stuff going on as it is, and Fillow (Waith?) would have taken a lot of screentime to make it work well, so it's probably good that it didn't happen.