Buffy: Chosen

Faith: "It looks like the Hellmouth is officially closed for business."Giles: "There's another one in Cleveland." Joss Whedon achieved the impossible; he gave us a huge, climactic, surprising, and ultimately satisfying end to Sunnydale and the series, while still leaving the door open for the characters and the Buffyverse to live on. I loved it, from the Buffy/Angel maturity discussion and

Buffy: End of Days

Willow: "So it's true. Scythe matters." I should probably feel all outraged and pissed off about that last minute liplock with Angel, but I don't; I always suspected that Buffy would break Spike's heart in the end. But how could she give him hope like that? Actually hint that they would make a try at a relationship when it was all over, and then throw herself at Angel just because she once

Buffy: Touched

Spike: "I follow my blood, which doesn't exactly rush in the direction of my brain." Spike showed them all what loyalty is. He stood up for Buffy. He was the only one who did. And he gave her the strength to face Caleb, and outwit him. I absolutely loved Spike walking to the street and sniffing the air, almost as much as I loved what he told her in the bedroom. (I'm such a Spike fan that I

Buffy: Empty Places

Xander: "I'm trying to see your point here, Buff, but I guess it must be a little to my left." It's the end of the world as we know it, at least as far as Sunnydale is concerned. Everyone is leaving town, the brand new high school is already abandoned, and Buffy is now alone, as advertised. Tonight, the role of Judas Iscariot will be played by Faith, the Vampire Slayer. No, wait, it was Dawn

Buffy: Dirty Girls

Faith: "Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?" In "Dead Man's Party," Buffy told Xander, "Didn't anyone ever warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye." That's sort of how I feel about this episode. Fun and games first, and there was definitely fun to be had. How did I love Spike and Faith together? Let me count the ways.

Buffy: Lies My Parents Told Me

Robin: "So he has a trigger, a soul, and a chip?" The basic plot was straight out of "The Vampire Lestat." Lestat adored his mother, Gabrielle; they were exceptionally close, she was near death from consumption, he made her a vampire so that they could be together forever... and she rejected him. What struck me throughout was how much Spike has changed. Despite the ugliness of what he was

Buffy: Storyteller

Anya: "Buffy seems to think that this apocalypse is going to actually be ... apocalyptic."Andrew finally won me over. I honestly didn't think that would happen.This episode was everything that "Superstar" wasn't. It showed us what was really going on with Andrew, addressed what he did to Jonathan and resolved it, and gave Tom Lenk a chance to show us what he can do, which was a lot. The

Buffy: Get It Done

Buffy: "The Hellmouth has begun its semi-annual percolation. Usually it blows around May."We had some major developments in the fight against the First. But what did it all mean?Robin's mother had a Slayer emergency kit (how come the other Slayers didn't have one? Was her Watcher supposed to send it back to the Council, maybe?) and Buffy went back in time, or something like that, to ask

Buffy: First Date

Chao-Ahn: "Why is everyone up? Are the flashcard monsters attacking?"This week's moral lessons are: redemption's a bitch, and never date during an Apocalypse.We finally found out what's going on with Principal Wood (and Wood is good with the wood! Slay, Robin, slay!). I'm relieved he's a good guy, but obviously, Spike has a problem, redemption being a bitch and all. The woman who played

Buffy: The Killer in Me

Spike: "Who you gonna call? God, that phrase is never gonna be usable again, is it?"To my everlasting relief, the constant pitter-patter of teenage girlie feet departed long enough to give us a really terrific episode, with cliffhangers even.I'll admit that I cried during that scene where they re-created the season six shooting in the back yard. It makes sense that Willow felt more guilt

Buffy: Potential

Anya: "Wow. It's like, one second you were this klutzy teenager with fake memories and a history of kleptomania, and then suddenly you're a hero with a much abbreviated life span."The First is "in remission," and this episode was, like, intermission. *yawn*Buffy starts a School for Slayers, which includes barhopping, breaking and entering crypts, and rolling around on the ground with Spike.

Buffy: Showtime

Willow: "I felt it, just surging through me, every fiber of my being. Pure, undiluted evil. I could taste it."Kennedy: "How does evil taste?"Willow: "A little chalky."Buffy rescued Spike! And the looks on their faces as they made eye contact? Be still my shippy little heart. As far as I'm concerned, Buffy and Spike are back -- at least, in an emotional sense. Spike has suffered enough; I

Buffy: Bring on the Night

Buffy: "I didn't even realize it was December. Maybe when we get home, we should decorate the rubble." Wow. Bummer. I'm not sure what upsets me more: that Spike is still being tortured, or that something is terribly wrong with Giles. Giles seemed... off. We never did see what happened with the axe. He didn't hug Buffy; he didn't touch anyone. It also seemed uncharacteristic for Giles to

Buffy: Never Leave Me

Spike: "I have come to redefine the terms pain and suffering since I fell in love with you." Good God. They weren't kidding about going back to their roots. Even the manacles are back. In one jam-packed episode, we saw: 1. The destruction of the Watcher's Council, with the death of Quentin Travers and the Watchers (some of whom were from the episode, "Checkpoint"); 2. Confirmation that the

Buffy: Sleeper

Anya: "You know, you were a lot more fun when you didn't have a soul." So the Big Bad this year is focusing directly on the Scooby Gang. It knows them intimately. How? The First Evil in "Amends" certainly knew Angel intimately; maybe that's just the way It operates. The romantic Spike fan in me is way happy. Spike isn't evil after all; he hasn't lost his soul or his chip. And he's moved out of

Buffy: Conversations With Dead People

Buffy: "Yeah. What I really need is emotional therapy from the evil dead." Sometimes this show just shocks the socks off of me. This was one of those times. I'm going to refer to the thing, the "from beneath you it devours," as the First Evil, because I still think that's what it might be. I'm also still wondering if it's the same evil that's about to come forth on "Angel," because there's a

Buffy: Him

Xander: "Welcome to the Hellmouth, where even outerwear isn't safe." Very funny, frothy, and well written. I laughed out loud a lot. In fact, I think the scene with Buffy, Spike, Principal Wood, and the bazooka was priceless; one of the funniest scenes they've ever done. But the episode as a whole was a bit too fluffy and silly for me. Part of me believes that my Buffy episodes must come with

Buffy: Selfless

Xander: "This isn't new ground for us. When our friends go all crazy and start killing people, we help them."Willow: "Sitting right here!" At the end, Anya said to Xander, "What if I'm really nobody?" That's what this episode was about. Anya has been three different and distinct beings, but she still doesn't have a self to call her own. We had three really terrific flashbacks (I love good

Buffy: Help

Xander: "Poems. Always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil." I was seriously discouraged after last week's episode, but wow, what a comeback. The preview made me think Dawn-at-high-school-hijinks, but instead, we got a story about high school pain that took me back to season three, with a powerful reminder that Buffy simply can't save everyone, no matter how hard she tries. I was moved to

Buffy: Same Time, Same Place

Willow: "I just got back."Anya: "Just got back as in, you're all better, or just got back to bring about a fiery apocalypse of death?" Well, that was terrible. I may have to rip this episode to shreds. Pun intended. Stephen King said once, and I'm paraphrasing, "If I can't terrify, I'll horrify; if I can't horrify, I'll go for the gross out." Grossing us out is occasionally excusable, but I