Discussion of 7.03 "Same Time, Same Place" - Aired 10/8/02 (UPN-US)

[dolphineclipse]

Apart from Gnarl's skin-eating, which I find unnecessarily gross and graphic, I like this episode a lot, especially the meditation scene at the end with Buffy saying ''I've got so much strength, I'm giving it away'' or something like that - surely foreshadowing for the finale?

 

[PassionBecoming]

-That first girl they show on a pay phone at the airport is pretty creepy with her blank stare and just blinking.
-Aw, yellow crayong. <3 I love that they have a little welcoming group there for Willow. Gotta love some Scoobie love!
-"She didn't finish being not evil?!" Heehee. I kind of like Dawn's shirt in this first scene.
-Poor sad Willow. (I do not like her outfit at all.)
-Vandalism is so annoying. Grr.
-Ugh, this demon is so freaking creepy!!
-Did Buffy always have a name plate on her bedroom door? Also, that wallpaper and her bedspread clash in a very bad way.
-Aw, framed picture of Joyce in the LR. *tear*
-Buffy's hair and make-up are excellent in this scene.
-Now, shouldn't Anya be all "Whatever" about Willow going evil and killing people? Being as she's all demony herself these days. Obviously, she's feeling in a gray area about it.
-Side thought: After a flight from England and then sleeping on a couch, wouldn't you want to change your clothes and/or shower??
-Whoa, Spike just scared the wiggins out of me!! Hahahaha. Seriously, my toes tingled!
-Oo, I love Buffy's outfit in the basement!
-James plays crazy Spike so well.
-Haha. Love Anya and Willow: "Was it YOU? NO!"
-Quick like a bunny. Heehee.
-I've always found the whole "smellementary" dialogue quite amusing.
-Now, I know Willow isn't all up on using the magics all willy-nilly, but could she really not move those rocks?
-Ugh, Gnarl is so gross!!!
-Eeeewwww, eye goo!
-Ok, I got a little choked up during the whole reuniting scene...
-Oooh, Buffy moved into Joyce's old room. *lightbulb*
-I love this scene with Buffy and Willow on the bed.

And now I have lots of warm fuzzies.

 

[AbraxasP3]

I liked the episode for a few reasons, but I especially liked how they played it off on Spike in the basement of the high school -- Spike with his new soul is really all over the place, at the same time, he is able to see what no 1 else can in that situation.
Some would argue that spike is able to see a lot of the things that others can't and while that is true I especially enjoy it when Spike isn't necessarily all there mentally.

 

[Anya2012]

This episode is very underrated, I love it. Gnarl is so creepy and it makes me flinch everytime he starts eating Willow's skin.

One of my favorites of season 7.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

You gotta love Dawn being posable! And collapsing with a yelp when the spell is broken.

Fun fact: they used Gnarl's costume for the creature attacking Joyce in Conversations with Dead People but they do not identify him as Gnarl or show a head shot of the creature.

 

[SMG14Fan]

Gnarl was just funny to me :3

That and I'm a pretty big Camden Toy fan after meeting him in person

He even teased me in Gnarl's voice at one point X3

That's awesome! haha

 

[Charmander]

LOVED the dialogue with crazy Spike. Also when he got to the cave: "I'm insane, what's your excuse?" It was nice to see Dawnie out with the others. I can understand why she was frustrated when they babied her so much in the other seasons.

That demon was seriously creepy! Probably the creepiest one I can think of other than those things was season 4 that took people's hearts. Felt so bad for Willow when they shut her in the cave with that thing.
I do wish there'd been more creepy demons rather than just big or intimidating ones.

Loved when Anya was arranging Dawn into positions. Also "Where did you get those nuts from?" "Brazil".

 

[Cordynharm]

I couldn't believe the bit with the demon starting to eat Willows flesh so gruesome, but in the context of the episode it worked really well to add to the atomosphere and tension of just how difficult a position Willow was in, and allowed you to really appreciate and sympathise with her for having to struggle through it.

It was also clever to imply that Willow might think this was her punishment for skinning Warren. She was having the same thing done to her but in Ultra slow motion. Having Buffy and the scoobies save her was metaphor for them forgiving her (but maybe not forgetting just yet).

 

[AnthonyCordova]

Really good episode! 3 deep so far this season and they've all been good.

The dialogue was some of the best for a Buffy episode I've seen in awhile. It was sharp and funny and poignant from beginning to end. Anya in particular was extremely funny, but everyone had many moments of their own. Everyone shined in this episode too: the performances were great and the material they each had to work with was great too.

 

[thetopher]

Another strong ep, its nice to see Willow back in Sunnydale, and interacting with some of the characters (Anya especially.)
I actually like how Anya seems more mad about what happened to her shop than anything else that Willow did. Fits her character.

Scoobies at the airport, Dawn is so far winning the 'character most improved between Seasons' award, although Willow will try and steal it away this ep.
And I can just see Xander going on and on about how he saved the world with his mouth.
Argh, horribly, creepy demon.
Poor lonely Willow.
Mad Spike. Hilarious.

Overall nice, although another Willow does a spell that goes wrong would've gotten old, if not for the perfect execution of everything else, plus the wonderful end scene between Buffy and Willow.
Nice to see Buffy being honest about her thoughts but also still being a good friend.

Unfortunately say goodbye to any real character analysis about Willow's fall into evil. There's a little bit later on but really, this ep is some of her best characterisation this season.

 

[FuzzyHandcuffs]

I love Anya and Willow together.

Willow: The powder
Anya: Awww, I ate that.


LOL. Anya makes me laugh.

---------- Post added at 09:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 PM ----------

Also, Gnarl is so creepy. The way he eats Willow's flesh like french fries. *shutter*

 

[Charmander]

Haha, someone mentioned a girl at the pay phone at the beginning who just blankly stares into space and just blinks, I had to rewind to check that out.
Poor lonely Willow at the airport.
Agree that it's way too convenient for there to be a skinned victim on the day that Willow arrives back in Sunnydale, but since Gnarl was such a cool demon it makes up for it, though I wish he'd been around for longer.
Dawn's paralysis scenes were hilarious, and the scene where Spike is talking to both of them separately is really well done.

 

[Give Us A Kiss]

I didn't like watching Willow suffer or the others not being able to see or hear Willow until the near end (there are worse episodes thought)

 

[Scooby Corps]

I liked the episode. Centered on Willow and the Scoobies with emotions and some serious creepy elements.
What had made me wonder was the lacking rational thought of Buffy, Xander and Dawn. Why should Willow flay random people and leave their bodies for others to find? Even if she's gone berserk again? She did it once by flaying Warren out of revenge for the murder of Tara. Then she let his body vanish. It wasn't like a pattern of Dark!Willow to walk around and flay people. She didn't try it with Dawn, Buffy or Giles later.

However, that was a "Duh?" factor in an otherwise awesome episode.

 

[Scary and Veiny]

I remember having nightmares about Gnarl when this episode first aired. He's on my "top creepiest demons" list because of that.

My favorite thing about this episode was Poseable Dawn.

 

[Forever Spuffy]

I love the Dawn scenes. The posable part is fun but I really like it when she's find Gnarl on the computer and describes him to Buffy and Xander, "she knows about viscera, makes you proud" and the slimming ankle. And yes this is a very metaphorical and great episode. Gnarl is so creepy but that's what makes him such an awesome character. The scene in the basement with Spike is probably my fave of the episode. When he's tells Buffy that she's glowing his expressions tug at my heart. Definitely a top Spuffy moment. (JM does some really great acting in this episode, but doesn't he always ❤)

 

[DeadlyDuo]

I quite like that scene involving Spike where you first get it from Willow's pov then you get the same scene from Buffy's pov.

 

[Give Us A Kiss]

The Scoobies are waiting for Willow

Guys, Willow is in a disconnected reality

Sunnydale is spookier than ever...

Yes, everyone is blaming each other...

Poor Willow

Anya can see Willow

Whoever is playing this crazy trick on Willow and The Scoobies must stop

Spike

What's wrong with Spike ???

This is creepy...

There are demons everywhere

Anya's too fixated on the carpet, it's nothing.

They don't exist ???

Look at Dawn doing research, she knows what she's doing

Xander, she's talking about Spike...

They didn't know that they were trapping Willow in them

Gnarl is creepy and makes me cry

Please stop talking about vomit... I really don't want to vomit...

Dawn posing is hilarious

The skin eating monster is too skinny...

Willow's back

Willow is doing meditation now ???

Poor Willow

Buffy and Willow are reconnecting

Next time: A girl predicts her own death.

 

[Out for a walk]

Wow, this was a creepy episode and I honestly didn't remember this one. It was a really good episode and that demon is one that will give you nightmares. I just saw that he plays one of the demons in Hush too. He does a great job with creepy characters.

 

[Priceless]

Another good episode, though no particular stand out moments unlike the previous two, there is so much going on here.

This is an episode about not seeing what's really there. Willow returns and is afraid she won't be accepted so unintentionally does a spell in which the scoobies cannot see her. But strangely, the demons can. I don't know if Spike and Anya are immune like Gnarl, or if Willow simply doesn't care how they feel about her, so aren't covered under the spell?

There are several lines about not seeing, including Buffy commenting on not being able to see Xander's sign because it's too pale, Willow hears the audio of Tara's death but we do not see it, Xander comments on the skinless body 'tough to look at' and Buffy replies 'yet my eyes refuse to look away. Stupid eyes'. They don't see Willow at the dump site, but they hear the creak of the ladder. Spike, like Anya, can see everything, but also understands that they cannot see each other. Also in the basement Xander explains 'can't use the blueprints to move around down here. It's like the walls move . . . ', so 'seeing' the blueprints tells us nothing, and he comments about Spike that 'he must have seen the body', thought we know he hasn't, Spike also comments that he heard about Willow skinning Warren, not that he ever saw it. We don't see everything and what we do see could be a lie.

Gnarl is very creepy, especially when he's scampering about and only seen in shadow. He's also more threatening because Willow believes he's immune to magic, so she is powerless against him.

The scoobies are worried about Willow coming back, not sure she can be trusted. Willow is scared about coming back and she can't find her friends (if they are still her friends), Giles is unavailable (how very later-season-Giles), she goes to see Anya who rightly blames her for all the destruction she caused, but Willow does apologise and accepts responsibility. I think it's pretty cool of Anya to agree to help after Willow tried to kill her.

Willow and Anya work well together, Willow empathises with Anya's feeling about being unfulfilled as a demon and how comitting vengeance is upsetting, which is a nice little insight into where Anya is emotionally. It's clever that in an episode about not seeing, these two finally see each other clearly for the first time since perhaps Triangle.

Xander gets to be dumb and sweet, like Xander of old. He's gone back to being the character he was before all the wedding planning in season 6. It's nice to see Dawn and Buffy tease him and not being so serious and him having more to do in an episode and seem to be more present. Once again it fits with the back to the begining theme. There's also that sense of family unit again as Xander, Buffy and Dawn seen together.

Dawn is brilliant. She's matured so much, she does research and takes it seriously and sees it as her role within the group. She's funny and enthusiastic and who doesn't like 'posable Dawn'?

Spike is still crazy in the basement. I like that he sees everything while the scoobies can only see their own pov. I like that when being close to Buffy he puts his hands behind his back, like he's afraid he'll touch her. Once again Buffy 'uses' him, this time to track Gnarl back to his lair. He is useful to her and she will use him without guilt, even though in this mad state, I don't think he really understands what's going on. There is no mention of his soul, only that Buffy was scared of him in the church in the previous episode and she didn't know what to think.

The final scene between Buffy and Willow is esentially a statement of where the two characters are at the start of the season. Willow is healing, growing new skin (a new self), she's tired and hasn't yet mastered her powers but she'll keep trying because it hurts if she doesn't (meaning she hurts others if she loses control), and she needs and is thankful for the forgivenss she's received.

Buffy misses being close to her friend and just wants them to be ok. She wants to change, be a better person, but being the Slayer means she has to make judgements and take action, even if she doesn't see the whole picture, but above all else, she is the strongest person in any room and always will be, but is happy to share her power.