Buffy!

[brigdh]

Things I liked:

The Istanbul scene. I'm curious, and I've heard some cool theories, but I like not having everything explained right away.

Dawn not being a whiny little girl. If Willow and Xander could help Buffy when they were 16, Dawn should at least be able to protect herself.

"Mom hair"

Kit (yes, her and Dawn were *so* holding hands when they fell through the floor)

Willow. I like AH's portrayal. It's good. The whole "Everything's connected" thing gets old quick, but I liked the second scene, about the earth and magic not all being pure and good.

Monsters of the week were cool.

The principal seems neat. Is the actor the guy from those 7-UP commercials? I recognize him from somewhere.

Crazy!Spike. I was dreading Guilt!Spike, and thought Cutting!Spike to live solely in bad, bad, bad fic, but I liked this. I think I may just like seeing Spike with cuts and/or bruises. I have strange kinks. After watching it a second time, his ramblings do make a sort of sense, especially if you assume he's talking to the Shape-shifter rather than to Buffy. BTW, are there any sites still carrying shooting scripts? I couldn't understand some of his lines and want to look them up.

The Shape-shifter. Way, way cool. Is it the First Evil? Is it a God? Is it Dru playing mind games on him? Don't know, don't care. I just want more.
I like the First Evil theory, and the Master's line seems to reinforce it: "We're going back to the beginning. Before the bang, before the Word. All the way to the beginning" (from memory, probably not exactly right). Sounds like the First Evil to me. Although, why was he showing Spike Big Bads when he showed Angel people who Angelus had killed? Maybe the thing Spike still feels the most guilty over is not being bad *enough*. And why Buffy, at the end? Plus: did you not notice that the shot from the end of the credits is the shot from the Shape-shifter? This is two seasons now where it's been a not-really-Buffy at the end of the credits.


Things I didn't like:

Buffy could have been a bit more shocked a seeing Spike. She hasn't seen him in 3 or 4 months, and the last time she did seem him, he almost raped her. You forgive it that quickly. She seemed almost gentle towards him, almost reaching up to caress his face once.

Xander's comment when he saw the bathroom floor- "Contract-y goodness". If his company built the school, wouldn't they be in trouble for it falling apart the first day. Xander also seems young to be in charge of such a large project.

The boy (Carlos?) is rubbing me the wrong way. Since he only had about 5 lines, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, though. But only for a while.



Okay, that's it. Overall, I really liked this episode. It's not great, but, hey, premiers usually aren't.

<- spoilers.