Were you convinced that Cassie was speaking for Tara in "Conversations with Dead People"?

[Joshua]

One of my favorite s7 episodes for a good while I was really convinced Willow was speaking to Cassie's ghost who was speaking for Tara on the other side. I really wanted it to be true so bad. When Cassie revealed who she really was and Willow figured it out I always get goosebumps
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[November]

It was a very creepy scene. I never liked Cassie or the episode she was in before, so when she popped up, I doubted it was with good intentions instantly.

 

[Tome]

No, it was weird. I had trouble believing Tara would be talking through Cassie. Combined with the creepy stuff happening in Buffy's home, I had my doubts. Then she went too far with Willow, and I was like "nice try". 🧐

I do agree that it gets ominous as Willow slowly realizes something is trying to get her to kill herself. Just a wonderfully chilling episode.

 

[thetopher]

First watching I remember thinking that maybe Cassie was trying to warn Willow about the persistently mention 'big evil' that was coming, and she was using Tara's name to get Willow's attention. She was psychic so maybe her ghost was as well?
But I admit that when the emotional manipulation came it was both effective and creepy; 'she still sings' and the way Willow reacted and was devastated by it.

Basically although I never believed Tara was 'there'/involved I could really see why Willow would want to believe that; and that it also played into her own fears about what she'd done, her shame and guilt and that being the reason as to why 'Tara' couldn't visit her.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

No. The First was pretty well telegraphed by that point. If they wanted it to be a surprise, they should have shown that the Powers are willing and able to permit the dead to commune with the living, and they should have established in earlier episodes that Wil was trying to commune with the dead, with some success, but couldn't get Tara to answer. Given that so much of the 2002-2003 season relies on conversations with dead people, (Lilah, Darla, Cordelia to an extent) you think they would nail this part of their mythos down. I mean, I still don't know what Joyce was supposed to be in that episode.

 

[Cohen]

On my first watch? I was in 6th grade, and I was watching for entertainment, so yeah I was probably fooled. The first part of their conversation, when she's mentioning things only Willow would know makes it super convincing that Tara might be communicating through Cassie. And since Cassie portrayed psychic abilities when she was alive, it didn't seem very farfetched.

No. The First was pretty well telegraphed by that point.

I.. disagree. Before this, The First was really only mentioned in the one-off Christmas episode 4 years prior. And during the first run, this episode was aired before the season 3 DVDs were made in America, so no one was going back and rewatching episodes. As a young viewer, I didn't remember who the First was until Giles came back to explain what was going on 3 episodes later in "Bring on the Night" and Buffy took him back to the Christmas tree farm. Not even the Scoobies really knew who was ultimately behind everything until Buffy recognized the Bringers in "Never Leave Me". So, upon first watching this episode, I thought Cassie was just a ghost at first, and then a ghost who had been turned evil by the time She/It started explaining itself when She/It was asking Willow to kill herself.

 

[VampireSlayer07]

Nope didn't believe it for a second.

 

[thrasherpix]

The others were bad, and the show often has a repeating theme in an ep, so I assumed this one was as well. It bothered me more because I couldn't see the dangerous or scary part so figured it was going to jump out suddenly (which I suppose it did).