6x16 Hell's Bells

Xander and Anya's lovely day has arrived. They have all their family around them, which in Xander's case is never a good thing. Xander's human family goes head to head with Anya's demon friends, who everyone thinks are just "circus folk". That would have to be some very odd circus.

Buffy and Willow are quite terrified at the bridesmaid/best wo-man dresses they will be wearing. They do look particularly hideous, even for bridesmaid dresses.

Willow: I'll say this for the Y chromosome: Looks good in a tux.
Xander: Your double Xs aren't doing so bad there either.

Spike shows up to the wedding with a weird goth looking chic as a date. Not all the cute IMO. He finally talks to Buffy and she admits to being a bit jealous, which really makes him feel good. Then he leaves cuz, yanno, mission accomplished there. Just as the wedding is about to start, an old man approaches Xander claiming he is future-Xander. He does some magick with a glowy ball and shows young Xander all that his life is going to be like with Anya. It looks really awful. One of their children even has demony features, so obviously Anya got it on with a demon at some point. They just fight all the time, and hate on each other. Right after he sees all this, and the fact he's been all wiggy with the idea of the wedding since they told everyone about it, he runs off and leaves Anya at the altar. Fights ensue between the demon folk and the drunk human folk, and Anya discovers the old man isn't a future Xander. He's a guy that's now a demon thanks to Anya's old vengeance demon ways, and all this was his payback for the things she did to him. Xander does finally return but only to tell Anya that he can't marry her. All that he saw might not have been real, but it could be, and that's reason enough for him to not go through with it. Can't really say this was all that shocking. Xander is always the weeny scared one of the group, and this is a weeny scared thing to do. In the end, Anya's old boss offers her her old job back.

6x17 Normal Again

After Buffy is poisoned by a demon, she starts to believe that she is actually in a mental hospital. In this alternate world of hers, her mother is alive, her parents are actually together, and that her entire existance as a Slayer has been a really long detailed hallucination.

Buffy: ...and that Sunnydale and all of this, none of it was real.
Xander: Aw, come on, that's ridiculous. What, you think this isn't real just because of all the vampires and demons and ex-vengeance demons and the sister that used to be a big ball of universe-destroying energy?

With the help of the Scoobies, she finds out what demon it is, and they go do their thing with capturing it. It also seems to have it's own antidote. Willow does the non-witch thing and makes an antidote with science. She leaves Buffy to drink it down, but Buffy decides she might like the other life better. If she does like the doctors say in her other world, getting rid of all that anchors her in Slayer-world, she can be normal again. Heh, name of episode. DING! So, she starts to gather up her friends and stuffs them into the basement where they have the poison demon tied up. It gets loose, almost kills her friends, Tara helps save them. With the help of Buffy's mother on the institutional side of things, she convinces Buffy that she needs to live her life finally. This clicks with her, and she decides to save her friends and finally gets the antidote. Oh, and this was all cuz of the nerd trio. Those buggers are getting quite dark themselves. I guess this episode is another way to get Buffy back into her more happy place. Another step out of her despair. Meh.

6x18 Entropy

Anya has taken on her old role as a vegeance demon and attempts to curse Xander for all the pain he has caused her. But she quickly realizes she can't do it herself. So, she tries to get some of her old friends, aka Xander's lifelong friends, to help her make the wish for her. But, she can't quite seem to squeeze the W-I-S-H word out of 'em. Buffy is trying to spend some quality time with Dawn after her violent actions in the previous poisoned/mental institute episode. But, Dawn's not digging on the big sister trying to tag along everywhere. Dawn would much rather just tag along with Buffy... like when she's out patrolling with the dangerous demons and such. Buffy doesn't really like that idea, it being dangerous and all.

Anya: I wish you felt the pain of a thousand searing pokers boiling your heart in its own juices!

The Gang discover that the nerd trio have been watching their every move with hidden cameras that are everywhere. With the camera they find in Buffy's front yard, Willow traces the signal to all the other cameras. They get quite a show when they find the camera at the Magic Box. They all witness Anya and Spike consoling each other on the table there. And by consoling, I mean getting it on all drunk like. Xander is beyond pissed, he's actually quite disgusted. Willow and Dawn witness Buffy's reaction to Spike's presence on the video feed, and everything starts to click with that. Xander finds out from Spike when he says something like "good enough for Buffy". He thought his world was rocked before, add that and it gets all bouldered. Willow and Tara are on the road to mending their relationship. They go out on a coffee date. Then Tara gets impatient with the journey to trusting again, and heads over to Willow and they start making out like the good ol' days.

6x19 Seeing Red

Willow and Tara are still up from the night before. They got busy and busy and busy apparently. Their love life is looking far better than anything Xander, Anya, Spike or Buffy have going on. The nerd trio, aka the Troika I think, are moving into something bigger than ever. They steal a couple mystical orbs which give the bearer crazy super strength and your basic invulnerability.  They attempt to rob an armored truck, but Buffy manages to stop them and destroys Super Warren's super balls. He manages to leave via jetpack, but the other two get taken away by the coppers. Spike feels pretty miserable about his thing with Anya. But only in so much as he still loves Buffy. He goes over to Buffy's house to apolgize to her and tries to convince her yet again that she does love him but she just can't admit it. He goes way too far this time, and almost rapes her. She manages to stop him, but not before she is completely disgusted and afraid of him. He looks pretty disgusted with himself too. He ends up leaving town, saying things will be different when he returns.

Buffy: (about Spike) Xander, you fought side by side with him when I was gone. You let him take care of Dawn.
Xander: But I never forgot what he really is.

Just as Xander and Buffy are making up from all the fighting about the Spike situations, Warren storms into her backyard and starts firing a gun to kill Buffy. He manages to hit her, and with one of his more wild shots, he hits Tara who is upstairs talking to Willow. I've noticed this before, but I noticed it again with this episode. There are a lot more daytime shots in this season. We have our Gang having conversations out in the bright beautiful sunny days or whatever. Maybe it was a way to balance the darkness of the stories themselves. Pretty wise actually. This is a pretty dark situation, and it all goes down during the day. Not the usual circumstances for our gang.

3x12 Provider

Angel is a daddy now. Angel's son has needs and a future to worry about, and all that costs money. So some of Angel's priorities have changed just a wee bit. He's now trying to advertise for Angel Investigations in every way possible. However, him and the gang don't seem quite prepared for the flood of business it all brings in, so they have to split up to cover more ground. Fred is offered major cashmoney to solve a seemingly harmless demonic puzzle. Angel takes a job from a high-paying businessman. Gunn and Wesley protect a woman who has a zombie ex-boyfriend stalking her.

Angel: (to baby Connor) How's my little magna cum laude, Notre Dame, class of 2020?

With the gang all spread thin like they are, some of the details get slipped by them. For instance, once Fred solves her puzzle, those demons are going to be removing her head from her body to place on their leader's body cuz his head is deteriorating. Angel's businessman isn't one. He needed help in getting rid of a vamp nest and posed as a guy that actually had money, when in fact, no money at all. Gunn and Wesley's woman client failed to mention the fact that she was the one who poisoned her ex-boyfriend in the first place.

Seeing Angel get all baby face, googoo gaga and all that, is just cute and yet utterly disturbing.

3x13 Waiting in the Wings

Since the Gang did get quite a bit of money from the wannabe head-stealing demons they slayed, Angel decides to give them all a treat. He takes them out for an evening at the ballet. Not everyone seems thrilled at this idea, but they all get dressed up and go. However, Angel becomes suspicious when the prima ballerina seems to be the one he saw dance more than a century ago. Just a bit of info here... the ballerina is Summer Glau from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Joss Whedon's Firefly.  She is actually a ballerina too.

Lorne: You're a man of many limitations, Angel. But you're a man. You got a heart. And Cordelia is a hell of a lady. I mean, if I thought she'd like to wear green, I'd be elbowing you out of the way. But she's out of my league. She's a champion, Angel, old school. And besides, we all know you got a thing for ex-cheerleaders.

When Angel and Cordelia sneak backstage to investigate, they find themselves consumed with an unnaturally sudden and strong passion for one another. Convenient, no? Angel starts to get a bit of an attraction for Cordy and then they both get taken over by a weird spell that involves the taking off of clothes and licking in naughty places. Oh, I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, but yes, very convenient.

Turns out it involves the ballerina and her ex-love. She chose ballet over him a very long time ago. Then the dude who runs the ballet company loved her so much he keeps her trapped in this performance for all time. Angel and Gang save the day, but she has to change up the performance a bit to be free. Angel talks her into trying, and she does it, and disappears after the show is over. All is well. Oh, and during the fight at some point, Gunn and Fred get a luscious kiss in. However, Wesley, who is also quite in lust with Fred, sees it and doesn't look too happy about it.

When they all arrive back at the hotel, Angel starts to talk to Cordelia about how he feels for her. But just as he is about to get his point across, the Groosalugg (from episodes at the end of Season 2) shows up and Cordy runs over to him and starts mackin' down. Ouch... that has to hurt.

3x14 Couplet

Angel feels isolated, obsolete and even a bit jealous when Groosalugg arrives in town from Pylea, immediately saves the gang in battle, and is welcomed into the loving arms of his former princess, Cordelia.

But it's not all suns and roses for Miss Cordy. While her and Groo are making out, she gets a vision of a big spiny demon thing. She also realizes that in Pylea, if her and Groosalugg were to have "mated", he would have taken her visions. So, now she's afraid to get with the bow-chica-bow-bow cuz she doesn't want to risk her link to The Powers That Be.

Cordelia: I couldn't go through with it.
Angel: You couldn't?
Cordelia: No. Not after seeing that disgusting, spiny thing!
Angel: Spiny?
Cordelia: Right up in my face!

However, she does find someone that has a "paranormal prophylactic" of sorts. It's a spell that will allow them to have sex without her risking her powers. Angel and Groo have to go to a demon brother to obtain said potion.

On the way back, they get a phone call from Fred and Gunn who are stuck in the roots of some tree plant demon thing. This may be the lamest monster ever, but I dunno, it could possibly get worse. This demon/plant thing pulls them down under a tree. Then they see that the roots are attached to a guy they are looking for and it's sucking the life out of him. Ok... with ya so far. Then, they see that the roots of the demony plant are typing on computers on online dating chat rooms and websites. No, lost me. It looked about 10 times worse than it sounds.

Angel and Groo go to save them, Groo gets sucked by the roots of the tree, and Angel saves the day. Back at the hotel, Angel gives Cordy a wad of cash and tells her to go. He wants her to take a couple weeks off and take Groo somewhere sunny and fun where they can spend time together. So selfless, our champion.

3x15 Loyalty

Wesley has discovered part of what the prophecy says and now he's miserable with stress about it. It says "The Father will kill The Son". That might stress me out too. But, of course, this is television, so it has to be melodramatic stress. He's not sleeping, he's trying to find out more specific details, and he has nightmares when he does manage to fall asleep about Angel eating his son Connor. He should know by now these prophecies are never literal. It wouldn't be any fun though if people actually learned lessons in tvland.

Fred: We should be getting back.
Gunn: Hang on! I'm getting a tingle!
Fred: Um, I thought we were gonna try to keep that out of the workplace.
Gunn: Not that kind of tingle.

A client comes in with some information about her son becoming a bumpy faced thing that burns up in the sunlight. She also has information about where he had been hanging out. So, Fred and Gunn go out to investigate said vampire nest, and everyone seems unaware that the lady who hired them is one of Holtz's new lackeys.

Later on, Wesley approaches Holtz on his own. He says he's willing to trade himself for Holtz justice. But of course that's not good enough for Holtz. He wants to make Angel suffer of course, and that is going to involve a wee baby coffin. So harsh.

While this does progress our main story, I just found it weak. Could be cuz Holtz just annoys me. Crazy awesome deep menacing voice though.

6x12 Doublemeat Palace

Desperate for the cash-money, Buffy gets a job at a fast food restaurant where the employees and manager are very odd folks. The high turnover rate of employees has her very suspicious. She's used to the weird, so her mind always goes to the weird. Turns out she's right though. She finds a finger in the meat grinder, and tries to figure out what's going on. Turns out to be an old lady regular customer of the place, and she eats the employees cuz they are all nice and greased up for her. It's a really gross demon thing that comes out of the old ladies head. Not the cutest or best done monster ever.

Willow is still working on staying away from the magick, but Amy makes things worse. She gives her a little gift of magick. That doesn't seem very friend-like. But, then again, Amy is quite the junkie herself.

Willow: Amy... if you're really my friend, you'd better stay away from me. And if you're really not... you'd better stay away from me.

In Anya's world, she has an old vengeance demon friend visit. Her friend keeps questioning her about Xander and their relationship which gets her all worried about their pending nuptials and future life together.

I hate seeing Buffy needing to do the whole real world thing. She's a Slayer, real life shouldn't be allowed to touch her. And, I mean, if you've worked at a fast food place, it's gross and definitely feels a bit on the degrading side. Well, you can get away with it as a teenager, but beyond that, it's just not so good.

6x13 Dead Things

The nerd trio latest scheme is a new device which will make women their mindless slaves. It all goes horribly wrong when Warren makes his ex-girlfriend Katrina the first victim. She is accidentally kissed, and the trio end up using magick to make Buffy think that she has killed the girl. And it works. The Troika's latest scheme, a new device which will make women their mindless slaves, goes horribly wrong when Warren's ex-girlfriend Katrina is accidentally killed. The trio use magick to make Buffy think that she has killed Katrina - and it works.

Buffy: We missed the bed again.
Spike: Lucky for the bed.

Buffy and Spike's relationship, or whatever you want to call it, is getting more interesting. At one point, they secretly go at it in the open at the Bronze on the club's balcony. That was just kinda weird. She looks miserable and turned on at the same time. I read somewhere that this was Sarah Michelle Gellar's least favorite episode and the balcony scene her least favorite scene. Something about it not being the Buffy they started with.

Buffy goes to turn herself in to the police for the girl she killed, but Spike tries to stop her. She manages to slip past him by beating the crap out of him. Which he kinda lets her do. While she's waiting for a policeman to talk to her, she overhears that the body found is Katrina, and that gets her wheels-a-spinning, and she leaves before anyone can talk to her. She figures out it's Warren.

This episode is odd. We start with it being kinda cute between Buffy and Spike. They actually have a bit of a conversation together. Ok, yah, Spike kinda ruins it with talk of handcuffs, but before that they almost seemed kinda coupley with the conversing. The next thing we have is Buffy all kinds of dark and brooding in the balcony scene, then the whole idea of her possibly killing a human puts her in a wicked tailspin. As odd as everything was with the episode, I still like it. Well, I like the individual sections it has. I just think all those pieces don't do so well at gelling together.

6x14 Older and Far Away

It's time to celebrate the Slayer's birthday. Which is never a good thing. This year, she's finally twenty-one, and she tries to have a low-key sort of thing. She has friends and friend of friends over. Anya and Xander bring a friend over that they are trying to set her up with. But Spike is around and he's finding the set-up quite amusing. Everything starts out peachy. But as the night turns into day, they realize that they can't leave the house. They want to, but they can't.

Spike: (to Buffy) So, you ever think about, maybe, not celebrating your birthday? Just try it, I mean.

Turns out that the neglect that Dawn has been feeling may have something to do with it. She seems to have made a wish to keep people from leaving her. The wish is answered by Anya's demon friend Halfrek, who binds the party's guests to the house. Tara tries a spell to free everyone, but she ends up making the situation much worse by accidentally releasing a demon trapped inside a sword that Buffy swiped from a demon she slayed. Anya helps get Halfrek to get make the curse go away.

Not awful episode, but nothing really memorable. Weird episode to have after the really dark nature of the previous episode. Very strange juxtoposition there. Things between Buffy and Spike actually seem to be light and cute in this one. Strange stuff.

6x15 As You Were

Riley is in Sunnydale, and it ain't for reminiscing. He's pursued a demon here, and he needs Buffy's help in killing it. He also has a bit of another surprise. He's married and he's brought her, Sam, with him. She's a fellow demon hunter and  and she gets along with the whole Scooby Gang. But Willow, being the BFF that she is, tells Buffy that she's "prepared to hate this woman any way you want." Now, girls, you know this is a sign of a deeply true friend. Makes me all misty-eyed. Now with the whole cheesy happy couple in town, this makes Buffy question her own odd relationship with Spike. Specifically, it highlights everything she doesn't have but certainly wants. Riley actually catches Spike and Buffy in the afterglow of their most recent romp, and she looks quite revolted at the situation and herself. After Riley and bride leave, Buffy breaks up with Spike. For real this time I think.

Buffy: I'm using you. I can't love you. I'm just being weak and selfish...
Spike: Really not complaining here.
Buffy: ...and it's killing me. I have to be strong about this. I'm sorry... William.

Ok... let me count the ways this episode annoys me. First, we have Riley coming in all gung-ho and with this lame-ass scar down one side of his face. Really? Was this necessary to show he's been through oh-so-much? His wife is so cheery and happy and buddy-buddy and understanding. It's quite revolting really. But I guess that fits out Riley. Next, we have the fact that our evil demon egg dealer villain person is Spike? Wuh? That just seemed kinda out of left field.

I understand the need for this particular episode and what it accomplishes. I would just it rather have been done better. I guess they wanted Buffy to be reminded that she's alive and she can have things she wants, and she can want better than what she's getting. Although, I really don't see much wrong with Spike. Ok, yah, vampire... soulless.. evil... but he's got a rockin' bod! Geeez. It's perfectly ok to be shallow, really.

3x09 Lullaby

With Darla's contractions getting closer together, the Angel Investigations gang is surprised when she flies into a frenzy and runs away from them. Now Angel must track her down in time to safely deliver their baby. However, their old nemesis -- the vampire hunter, Holtz -- is now in present day L.A., and after hundreds of years he is finally closing in on his quarry.

Darla: Angel, I don't have a soul. It does. And right now that soul is inside of me, but soon, it won't be and then.. I won't be able to love it. I won't even be able to remember that I loved it. (Starts to cry) I want to remember.

I remembered really being moved by this episode the first time around. Darla, who has been a mega monster bitch ever since we saw her in the first episode of Buffy, is so effected by the souled child she's carrying she stakes herself. After her dust settles, a wee baby is laying there. See, it should be all boohoo right about now. I know I cried the first time around. This time, not so much. I wonder why. Cuz I knew it was coming? I don't think that's it. Cuz I've been bawling like a baby with the Buffy stuff, and not only do I know what's coming, but I've watched Buffy's Season 6 twice. Probably cried harder the second time in some cases. So, dunno why... but that's that.

3x10 Dad

What do you have to do after you have a new baby? You gots to do lots of shopping. The pampers, and the food, and the blankies, and the teddy bears. So, they get all that done, and then a demon storms in to attack the baby, presumably. Gunn and Wesley take care of that lickety split. Cordelia finds three websites that are offering cash money for the baby. Angel wants 'em traced.

Elsewhere, our vamp-killer Holtz is getting the earful from Sahjhan, the demon that brought Holtz back. He's a bit pissed that he let Angel go after the whole non-birth birth of the baby. Holtz has bigger plans... make that Angel suffer.

Wesley: You nearly had sex on my desk so I shouldn't be surprised there's a baby on it.

Back at the hotel, which now has a mystical shield of protection, the Gang is gearing up for the attacks. See, a bunch of different groups are outside the hotel waiting to get their grubby hands on the baby. One of these groups is Wolfram & Hart, natch. They still have their cameras all up in the hotel spying on our peeps.

Angel takes the baby and flees. Leaving the crew all alone to take on all the factions that are about to attack the hotel. They do indeed attack, but the gang handle themselves okay. Some of the groups see Angel fleeing via auto and they go after him. They chase him to some old mine, where he tosses the baby at them and leaves quickly. Turns out he didn't have the baby after all. He had a bomb in a blanket.

The gang did a switcheroo cuz Lorne, who is now living in the hotel, was hearing the high pitch noise from all the cameras W&H have in the hotel.

3x11 Birthday

Go Cordelia, it's your berfday! No, seriously, it's her birthday. The Gang surprise her with a wee party and presents. While she's enjoying all the attention, she gets one of her visions. In the middle of her telling everyone what it's about, she collapses. She wakes up, but she wakes up being able to see herself on the floor with everyone surrounding her. She seems kinda ghostlike. She is then visited by a demon guide. It's Skip! Skip is fun. Skip was the guard that was responsible for Billy. Angel was able to kick his butt and free Billy.

Cordelia: The Powers That Be popped me out of my body and sent me to a mall?
Skip: Actually this is more a construct of a mall. You know, like in The Matrix.
Cordelia: You've seen The Matrix?
Skip: Loved that flick. When Trinity's all 'Dodge this!' and the agent goes and crumples to the...and I'm not really instilling any awe any more, am I?

This time around Skip is helping out Cordy. See, her visions have been slowly destroying her brain. She's been secretly taking all kinds of migraine meds and pain killers. Even has had some MRIs done. Skip is trying to tell her that she was never meant to have the visions Doyle gave her. She's human, and human's aren't quite equipped.  He says they can take them away from her, make her a huge acting star, and it would be like she never met Angel that fateful night.

After seeing Angel saying some stuff that was very out of context, she decides to take Skip up on the offer. She is suddenly on the set of her very own TV show. After filming, she suddenly has the urge to go to the Hyperion Hotel... FYI, that's where Angel Investigations were housed in her first alternate life. She goes there, finds a specific room, tears off the wallpaper, and finds a message she had written there. She goes to the address indicated, helps save a girl. After the saving, a one-armed Wesley and a scarred up Gunn show up. They then take her to see Angel. See, in this alternate timeline, Angel got the visions from Doyle. Which has to make you wonder. I mean, Doyle gave 'em to Cordy via the great sensual last kiss thing. I had a hard time not picturing the same thing, but with Angel in her place. Weird, and surprisingly not hot. Hey, it's not just guys that can envision the whole two girl thing, okay? Don't be sexist.

Angel has gone mad with the visions. They have him locked in a padded room basically. After hearing him ramble with the craziness, she kisses Angel... which was random... and she gets the visions transferred over to her again. Skip pops in at that moment and reprimands her. She made her choice, why isn't she sticking to it. Cordy demands they find a way to let her have the visions without suffering. The only way is to make her part demon. She agrees, she wakes up in her body, then suddenly has a vision. This time though, no splitting migraine. She tells them about it calm as can be... she just happens to be floating in the air while she does it. Love it.

6x09 Smashed

After breaking up with Tara, Willow successfully de-rats Amy and the two witches begin hanging out and having fun with magic, drawing Willow further into her growing addiction. Meanwhile, Spike notices that his chip doesn't kick in when he hits Buffy, at first he thinks the chip doesn't work anymore at all. Then he tries to get friendly with a human's neck and he gets his big old brain zap. He heads over to Warren, who built his Buffybot for him, to get his chip checked out. He declares it all systems go. This makes him realize that it's just Buffy that he can hit, leading him to believe that she may not be entirely human anymore.

Buffy: Your job is to kill the Slayer, but all you can do is follow me around making moon eyes!
Spike: I'm in love with you.
Buffy: You're in love with pain!

Of course, Warren and the rest of the nerd trio have their own thing going on. They steal a big diamond from a local museum we've never heard of before, and we don't find out why yet.

Spike meets up with Buffy to tell her she's come back wrong. Since he can now hit her, he decides he wants to take advantage of it. They fight and fight and fight and end up in an old dilapidated building. As the fight gets really heated, she kisses him. Then they progress to slamming each other into the building while making out, thus destroying the building even more.  That sexual tension builds so much that Buffy jumps on Spike, unzips his pants and she goes to town, while Spike is looking at her with his moon eyes in awe.

6x10 Wrecked

Tara and Amy fell asleep on the couch and woke up the next morning wondering where Willow and Buffy are. Neither came home from their nights out. When they do return home, Buffy is ashamed of having slept with Spike and Willow is exhausted from casting spells all night. Dawn is really starting to look like she's feeling super neglected. Everyone seems to have their own things going on, leaving her in the lurch.

Buffy: Oh you're bent.
Spike: Yeah, made you scream didn't it.

As an odd observation, Anya is now suddenly platinum blonde and she's also in full wedding planning mode.

Amy takes Willow to a sorcerer named Rack who is basically dealing in some major magicks. It seems like in one trip, Willow is suddenly a junkie for the stuff. Later, in a way to make up being out, Willow takes Drew to dinner and a movie. The only problem is they never make it to the movie. Willow makes a quick stop to Rack with Dawn in tow. She leaves Dawn waiting for hours and comes out high as a kite. Then proceeds to steal a car and drive it magically when a demon thingy comes after them. She's not even physically driving and yet she's driving like she's drunk. Major problem comes when she wrecks the car with Dawn in it, and breaking Dawn's arm.  Buffy and Spike roll up on them and Buffy is pissed. Rightfully so.

6x11 Gone

Buffy and Dawn clear the house of magick items and supplies to help Willow, and Buffy has a surprise visit from a social worker checking on Dawn's home life. The meeting doesn't go well and in a fit of rage afterwards, Buffy cuts off her hair. Meanwhile, the Geek Trio have built an invisibility ray with that diamond they stole and accidentally hit Buffy with it.

Spike: (to invisible Buffy) You should leave. Get dressed, if you can find your clothes, and bugger off. Because if I can't have all of you, I... (looks down) Hey, that's cheating.

She takes great joy in this ability. She goes to the social worker's office and make her think she's going mad. She also does a quick little edit of Dawn's file so she's not at risk of losing custody of her. She steals a parking cop's little golf-cart thingy, and she head's over to Spike's to have a little bit of nekkid & invisible sex. Seeing Spike having sex in a bed, with what looks like himself, is just beautifully classic. Especially since Xander catches him in this oddness.

However, the fun must end. The Gang find that other things that were turned invisible are disintegrating and so will Buffy if they don't get a cure for her. They track down the trio's black van, and find the guys and their invisibility ray. They get it reversed, and get Buffy back to normal. They also find out that the trio is claiming to be Buffy's new archnemesisises.

3x05 Fredless

Angel Investigations gets a surprise visit from Fred's parents. But Fred doesn't seem all that happy to see them though. So not happy in face when she sees them, she seems to get scared and she runs away.  Because of Fred's reaction, everyone doesn't seem terribly trusting of Mr. and Mrs. Burkle. They try to prepare to protect Fred from them, that is if they manage to find Fred. She's bolted over to Lorne's to see if he'll give her cash and an aura reading. The Gang manage to find Fred at the bus station, and she freaks when she sees her parents are with them. She isn't upset cuz these people are mean or demon-y or anything. She's upset cuz if they find out what's happen to her the past five years she's been missing, then it'll have all been real, and she doesn't want to face that.

Cordy: Fred can barely tie her shoes without Mr. Oh-You're-My-Big-Fat-Hero, around.
Angel: You think I'm fat?

As they are going about their tearful reunion, a strange insect-like demon attacks them. They eventually get it under control, mainly with the help of Fred's mom using a big bus to run it over. After all is said and done, Fred decides to go back home with her folks. She thinks maybe this is all too much for her, and she should go back to where it's more simple.

On their way out, she realizes some of the demon goo that got on her shirt matches some other demon thing they saw earlier. I dunno really. This episode was a bit on the dull side. Anyhoo, she figures something out, has to go back to the hotel to save the others. Which she does, then she figures out that maybe she can hang with the Gang after all, and so she stays. Well, I mean, she is in the opening credits right? So, it's not like she was gonna go anywhere. Big shocker, that.

3x06 Billy

A wave of unexplained and extreme violence against women is traced back to Billy, the young man that Angel was forced to free from a demonic prison a few weeks earlier. Billy's merest touch can cause an otherwise good man to become violently misogynistic, and the results can be deadly. The crew rushes to prevent another brutal attack, unaware that Wesley has already been infected -- and he's alone in the hotel with Fred.

Angel: Is Billy here?
Dylan: You a friend of his or something.
Angel: Actually I'm here to kill him.
Dylan: Oh come on in.

Cordelia is feeling uber responsible for the release of Billy, because it was the price they had to pay to get her crazy painful visions to stop. So, going off alone, she's determined to kill him to make things right again.

Wesley is hunting Fred in the hotel, and Gunn ends up coming to help her. But, he is a man after all and he gets infected too. But this is bad, cuz Gunn is hiding out in the same room with Fred. She finally has to knock him unconscious to keep herself safe from him.

Ok... having... hard... time... writing.... this... one... b.o.r.i.n.g.

Angel finds Cordy about to kill Billy, then Billy thinks he can infect Angel, but that doesn't work, and they go about fighting. Just as Billy is starting to recharge from the earth or something, a couple shots ring out and he's dead. Lilah has shot him. Guess she can have issues with some of the clients she has to work for sometimes too.

3x07 Offspring

Oh yay. We have more flashbacks. I always love flashbacks. Not.

The point of the flashbacks is to introduce us to an old adversary of Angel's and other vampires.. name of Holtz. In the past, he's hunted Angel and Darla, and all had a great dandy time of it.

Back in the non-annoying flashback time, Darla has arrived back in LA via bus, and everyone on the bus is dead and sucked dry. Well, except the driver of course cuz someone had to drive.

Angel is busy continuing to train Cordelia in some sword fighting skills. She's trying to brighten up his life, even if it is only with fake flowers sprinkled around his dreary hangouts. Wesley and Gunn are still messing with those pesky scrolls that talk about Angel's future and whatnot. Just as they figure out something big is coming, something big does come... Darla. Big as a house being all preggers. She's pissed and looking for daddy -- Angel.

Cordelia is very hurt that Angel didn't tell her about what happened with him and Darla, and takes Darla's side immediately. Everyone is very baffled at how this can even happen, so they all head over to Lorne to see if he can tell them anything.

Fred: Can I say something about destiny? Screw destiny. If this evil thing comes, we'll fight it and we'll keep fighting it till we whoop it. Because destiny is just another word for inevitable. And nothing is inevitable as long as you stand up, look it in the eye and say, "You're evitable." (pauses) Well, you catch my drift.

To try to make this shorter, cuz damn these are getting long or something... I seem to have a hard time writing reviews for episodes that don't sparkle for me. So they get wordy for no reason.

Anyway, Darla tries to snack on Cordelia, then escapes and goes to try to munch on some wee young folk, Angel stops her. Tries to explain to her that the reason nothing is sated her thirst is something to do with the baby being human and having a soul or something.

Elsewhere, someplace underground it looks like, a demon monk thing is changing and throwing dirt at a big stone statue and telling "it" to arise. Everything goes crumbly, and Holtz is revealed. His first question is where can he find him some Angelus.

3x08 Quickening

Again with the flashbacks. Why must they torture me so? Angel looks so awful in the past, with the nappy hair and the nappy accent. It's all about Holtz again. This time we see Angel and Darla eat Holtz's family and then he finds out cuz he's chased them somewhere that they aren't. They left him a note about not being able to protect his own.

Angel is trying really hard to protect Darla and the potential demon spawn from Wolfram & Hart. Then a weird vampire cult who believes the baby is The Miracle Child, starts being a bit of an issue too. So, they are just having to run and keep safe. They take Darla to a hospital and they do a sonogram thing or ultrasound or whatever that is. When she sees the baby, and it has a beating heart and it looks all normal, something seems to change in her.

Angel: How you feeling?
Darla: I haven't had blood in almost a day, and your devil's spawn is trying to rip it's way outta my body. How do you think I'm doing?

Angel leaves the Gang down the block from the hotel to grab the scroll they need. When he gets back to the hotel, he sees the lobby full of dead people. Holtz steps out from the shadows and tells Angel he's been looking for him. Over with the others waiting in the car, Darla's water breaks and she's gonna be in labor right about now.

I do believe this is leading up to something that doesn't suck too bad. But it just seems like it's taking a lot of quasi-sucking to get there. Yawn with me please.

6x05 Life Serial

Buffy decides that in order to take care of herself and Dawn she must get back to college and find herself a job. This all becomes much more difficult when the nerd Trio decide to present the Slayer with a series of challenges to determine the extent of her abilities. The nerd trio is Warren from the robot girl episode, Jonathan from the Superstar episode and others, and the 3rd guy is .. I dunno really. Another nerd.

Spike: (to Buffy) You're not a schoolgirl. You're not a shop girl. You're a creature of the darkness, like me. Try on my world. See how good it feels.

The first challenge the trio put towards her is this weird time warping thing. While she's auditing classes with Willow, they put something on her clothes and it causes time to move super fast around her. She finds the little device but they make it go kaflooey.

The second challenge happens when Xander takes her to work with him at his construction site. This is quite funny. All the guys Xander works with laugh at the idea of a girl helping them, until Buffy picks up a steel I-beam all by herself like it's a pillow. Then some of the guys get pissy cuz she's working too well, and making them all look bad. So, while she's working, the nerd trio launch a demon attack on her. She takes care of it, but with all the damage it causes on the work site, Xander has to fire her. She does notice a big black van outside that has the Star Wars theme as its horn.

Poor Buffy, trying to find her way in this.. her third life (remember she died in the first season too.. if only briefly). Her third test is while she's trying out a retail job at the Magic Box. The trio has it set that she will be in a loop until she satisfies a very difficult customer. After several attempts, she finally figures out a way to make the customer happy and her loop finally ends.

After her bad day, she heads over to Spike's crypt to get drunk apparently. I mean, if you're gonna get drunk, Spike is the guy to help you with that. She vents to Spike, and Spike says he thinks he can get more information his way, rather than Giles' way. So, he takes Buffy to a demon bar, where she proceeds to get way more drunk while he plays poker with some demons that may have information. They play for kittens! Poor little kitties. She sees that black van again too.

Giles gives her a big check to help with some of her expenses. She might be leaning on him a bit too much. She's not ever been on her own, so she doesn't know any better.

6x06 All The Way

It's Halloween again folks. They still think that Halloween is supposed to be a quiet night for the demonkind. When are they going to learn? After a super busy night at the Magic Box, Xander finally tells the whole Gang that he and Anya are engaged. Afterward, they decide to celebrate the engagement. Willow uses magic to decorate the house for the party and gets leers from Tara and Giles. They aren't liking her excessive use of magic lately. Especially since that dark stuff with bringing Buffy back. Tara and Willow start to argue about it, and they can't quite get to a point of agreement.

Buffy: Is that why you're always cleaning your glasses? So you don't have to see what we're doing?
Giles: Tell no one.

Dawn does the "i'm staying over at s0-and-so's house" and sneaks out to spend the rest of Halloween night with her friend and two hot guys.  When they are invited into the home of an eccentric old man, however, things take a turn for the weird.

During the engagement celebration, everyone's talk of perfect wedded bliss and kids, and all that, Xander starts to get quite overwhelmed by the idea of marriage.

Buffy heads out to go over to Spike's abode, but then Spike informs her of Dawn is out and missing. As all the Gang goes searching separately, Giles stumbles on to Dawn's friend getting neck sucked by one of the hot guys, who turns out to be a vampire. Dawn is busy getting her first kiss by the other guy, who's also a vampire. Giles finds her, then Buffy and Spike find him, and a big fight o' vampires ensues. It's really weird to see Giles take the vamps. It's kinda cute really.

The evening ends with Tara still quite mad at Willow for all her willy-nilly use of magic. So, Willow thinks she can fix it by using magic. She puts a spell on Tara to forget that they were arguing and what they were arguing about.

Also, Buffy expects Giles to reprimand Dawn for her Halloween pranks. Still relying on the Giles man a bit too much there Buffster.

As far as the monster of the week goes, it was weak. But, a lot seemed to happen as far as ongoing story with our main characters, so that made it all better.

6x07 Once More, With Feeling

Buffy, The Musical. No, not kidding. Okokok. I really love this episode. Just an FYI, all of the Buffy episodes are in 4:3 aspect ratio. That's non-widescreen for you non-video dorks. This episode is in wide screen, but the disk doesn't have it as anamorphic widescreen which really sucks. Why must they torture me so with the one episode that could be widescreen. Gah.

Anyhoo... as the episode starts, the credits look entirely different. Reminiscent of the old Bewitched show. Also, the show looks different. Like, the lighting or something. Softer focus, some vivid colors too.

As Buffy starts her patrol for the evening, she suddenly bursts into song. Say huh? Next morning, Buffy asks everyone if anyone noticed anything weird the night before. Everyone apparently experienced the sudden burst of song. As they talk about what it could be, the whole Gang burst into song. They check people outside and everyone is doing it. Meanwhile, Tara and Willow can't seem to keep their hands off each other. They then have a nice little duet themselves.

Spike: So that's all? Just come to pump me for information?
Buffy: What else would I want to pump you for? (pauses) I really just said that, didn't I?

The problem with these songs is that people seem to be revealing their innermost secrets while they do it. There's also another problem. Some people dance so much while they are singing, they simply burst into flame. Then it becomes very clear that everything isn't peachy.

Tara discovers what Willow has done with the forgetting spell, and runs off to find Willow. While Dawn is home alone, she is kidnapped by some weird wooden doll face meanies. There's this big dance number with Dawn cuz the little bit we hear her sing makes it clear that dancing is better for her. She's been kidnapped by this demon that's responsible for all the song and dance in the town. See, she's been stealing things everywhere she goes, especially the magic shop. She's stolen a particular necklace, and it seems to be responsible for the demon's presence.

Buffy and Giles are training, and while taking a break, Giles burst into song. He sings about how his presence is keeping Buffy from maturing and taking on life like she should be. Giles has sang on the show a couple times before and he has a pretty great voice. Him and Spike seem to have the best voices.

Spike finds one of those wooden pinocchio type men and they find out that Dawn's been kidnapped. Giles thinks Buffy should go alone. Once she arrives, she starts beating up on the bad guys while singing. Then the Gang shows up after all to help her, and they find out that they pulled her out of heaven and she's miserable, and she really does want something to sing about, but she can't seem to find it. She starts to dance out of control and smoke starts coming off her. As it gets worse, Spike shows up and stops her. Sings to her that she "has to go on living".

Turns out that after all is over, that Xander was responsible for all this. He was wanting to make sure that him and Anya were going to work out and thought it would just be a bunch of fun singing and dancing. Not so much there buddy.

While the rest of the Gang finish their last group number after defeating the demon, and saving dawn from evil queendom, Buffy follows Spike outside. She "tells" him she just wants to feel something, and then she kisses him as the old-school "The End" credits take us out. Oooooh. Buffy and Spike kiss :D NumNumNum

6x08 Tabula Rasa

Willow is devastated to learn that she pulled Buffy out of heaven, not hell, and she resolves to make things better by casting a spell to make Buffy forget her afterlife experience.  The spell is also meant for Tara because she has told Willow that she can't take Willow's excessive magic use. Especially after she messed with Tara's mind. Tara feels her mind was invaded and who is Willow to decide what is best for them as a couple.

Buffy: (about Spike) If I would just stop saving his life, it would simple things up so much.

The spell, however, backfires and causes the whole gang to wake up with no memories. The amnesiac Scoobies must piece together their lives and find a way to reverse the spell while dealing with the usual incursion of demons and vampires.

Coming from the MoW aspect, horrible. There's this loan shark type guy that Spike owes money, aka kittens, and he looks like an actual shark. A really bad rubber shark head on a dude acting like a gangster.

However, this still progresses the Buffyverse further, and that's never a bad thing. Once the spell is broken and Tara realizes what Willow has done... she realizes there's no hope for their relationship. When Buffy gets her memory back, she seems like she's remembering having been ripped out of heaven all over again. In the end, Buffy says she doesn't want anything to do with Spike, but her actions say otherwise. The episode ends with Tara packing her things to leave Willow, Giles flying back to England, and Buffy and Spike intensely snogging in the back of the Bronze.

3x01 Heartthrob

On a routine patrol, Angel stakes a female vampire. Just before she crumbles to dust she calls him Angelus and he recognizes her from his soulless past. Now, her grief-stricken lover, Angel's old hunting companion, is out for revenge for both the present killing and for a betrayal Angelus committed over 200 years ago.

Cordelia: (about Buffy) Angel, she was the love of your life and she died, and you weren't there when that happened, you couldn't help her fight, you couldn't save her, you couldn't die with her.

Really not loving this episode. Buffy just died, and this is the episode we get after the fact? Lame. I mean, I don't want him to be the uber-brooder. Cuz, gawd knows we get plenty of that on a daily basis. But, this just seemed like a lame response to her death. I get the whole story line where they tied in the fact that this other vampire is all mad cuz Angel killed the love of his life. That's not obvious at all, really. But, just so weak. I know that Buffy isn't really dead, cuz they resurrected over there on the other show, but still. Show some damn respect for the vamp Romeo & Juliet here yo.

3x02 That Vision Thing

When Cordelia's visions begin to manifest as painful physical wounds, Lorne tries to use telepathy to find out why this is happening to her, and how the visions can be stopped. Meanwhile lawyers from Wolfram & Hart make another visit to Angel's hotel.

The two are not necessarily unrelated. Turns out Lilah is using some swami type guy to get at Cordelia and her visions. The swami type guy is played by Kal Penn. His part is like this || big. So, he takes off his hat while he's in his weird trancy mode, and it turns out he is missing the top of his skull and his grey matter is all just out there, sitting there, for the world to see. Yech.

Lilah: You're a remarkable man, Angel.
Angel: And you're an evil bitch.

This other lawyer dude is going after Angel and the Gang through the hotel... building violations and such. Such a typical bureaucratic thing to do. But, they are lawyers afterall.

3x03 That Old Gang of Mine

Gunn finds himself stuck between old and new allegiances when he learns that a string of brutal and indiscriminate demon murders is the work of members of his former gang. Even Lorne's usually peaceful club isn't immune to the violence. Cordelia, meanwhile, attempts to help Fred readjust to the world.

Gunn: No matter what else, I think I proved that you can trust me when I could have killed you and I didn't.
Angel: No - you'll prove I can trust you when the day comes that you have to kill me - and you do.

First things first. Those are some seriously sexy leather pants Angel is sporting all of a sudden. Yumlicious. Very few people can pull the leather off, and he's doing it quite well. Ok, yah, that's really all that stuck with me on this episode.

3x04 Carpe Noctern

Our man Angel is trying to be so helpful with getting Fred out and about into the world, they end up going to a Charlton Heston double feature together, since none of the other Gang folk want to join. Fred may take this a bit more serious than she should.

Later, In the course of searching out one of Cordelia's vision, Angel stumbles on an old man playing peeping tom across the street from a gym. When he goes to see what the guy is up to, the old guy casts a body-switching spell with Angel. The old man, Marcus, enjoys the many pleasures of being eternally young, handsome, and bloodthirsty in Los Angeles while a dying Angel tries to get his body back.

Angel: You may not know this, Fred, but certain friends and coworkers have been known to accuse me of being the quiet, stay at home, sulky one.

With Marcus as Angel, he doesn't help matters with Fred when he gets all flirty with her and telling her she's so beautiful. Then it really doesn't help when he gets a little more than flirty with Lilah from Wolfram & Hart. So flirty in face they get a little hot & heavy on Wesley's desk. But then Fred has to walk in on that. It just is not helping her self esteem. Poor wee little thing.

Eventually they get everything all situated and back to normal. Bah... Montster-of-the-Week (MoW). I really don't like these types of eps in the scheme of things. It's not like I haven't repeated that several time, huh?

We've got a new season, on a new network. Buffy moved from WB to UPN on this season. My question is WTF was WB thinking to get rid of it. That just seems whacked. Executive Twats.  Apparently it was all about money, not about ratings. Whacked, I tell ya. Now that Angel and Buffy are no longer on the same network, we don't have the crossovers we usedta.

Before I talk about the specific episodes, let me talk about this season in general. I LOVE this season. I love it so much in fact, I watched it twice. The first time I watched it, I went so fast that I had to watch 'em again to write about 'em.  Anyway, I may not like certain episodes, but I really like this season. As I've read on some fan sites and listened to some interviews on the special features of the discs, this seems to be the opposite feeling of the fans. Apparently, most people feel Season 6 was too dark. Maybe that's why I like it so much. Maybe that will tell you more about me. I guess I do tend to like dark. I am really digging on HBO's True Blood, and that is definitely dark. Like a serial killer having sex in a bomb shelter dark. It's turning out far darker than the book series it's based on too, which I'm not minding in the least. Anyhoo, maybe I just like Season 6 cuz Buffy and Spike get it on, all rough-like. Awww, sorry if I ruined that for you. It happens in episode 9, if you really wanted to know. That's on Disc 3 of Season 6.

Oh, and I also seem to cry a lot while watching this season. Maybe I just like to cry when I watch TV and that's why I like it so much. To me that seems odder than just liking the dark nature of it.

6x01 Bargaining (1) & 6x02 Bargaining (2)

It's a dark and gloomy world without the Slayer. Buffy is dead, and the Scooby Gang must do the best they can without her. But concern about the way she died leads Willow to believe that she may have been pulled into a hell dimension. Unable to bear the thought of their friend enduring eternal torment, Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara decide to perform a resurrection spell that will bring Buffy back from the dead.

Spike: Oh, poor Watcher... has your life passed before your eyes - cup of tea, cup of tea, almost got shagged, cup of tea?

And since these things never turn out well, it doesn't. During Willow's spell, they all get interrupted by a motorcycle gang of demons that have learned that the slayer is really a robot - Buffybot. They realize the Hellmouth is open territory. The cemetery seems like an odd place to wreak havoc though. But, whatever works for the story. The gang is chased away by the demons and they leave believing the spell has failed.

But, they're wrong. She's alive, right where they left her... her coffin. She awakes, confused, and running out of air quickly. She scrambles quickly and has to claw her way out of her own grave. She doesn't realize what's going on and is stumbling around town. The town is a wreck because of the invading demons. She stumbles onto the demon biker gang, who are busy tearing the Buffybot apart. They see the real Buffy and go after her. She eventually kicks into butt-kicking mode and sees her friends. But after the butt-kicking is over, she runs away from the Gang.

Xander: Our spell. Our resurrection spell worked like a magic charm. We brought you back to life, Buffy. Right where we left her.
Willow: Oh god.
Xander: In her coffin.

The Buffybot stays online long enough to tell Dawn about seeing the real Buffy. Dawn finds Buffy at the tower where she died, and she wants to jump off of it again. Dawn convinces Buffy to not jump, and then the tower begins collapsing around them. She'may have decided not to jump, but she still doesn't seem like her usual bubbly Slayer self.

This episode certainly sets the tone for most of the sixth season. Buffy may be back, but she certainly doesn't look like she wants to be. I understand the need of this darkness. Buffy has died. How do you bring her back with a cheery Ta-Da! episode? I don't think that would be true to the show or the character.

6x03 After Life

This is really the 3rd part of the first two episodes. Weird they don't really call it that. Ok, so we start this episode with the Gang still looking for Buffy. Dawn has taken Buffy home to get her all cleaned up and dressed into her non-burial clothing. Which, let me comment on... Not really loving the outfit her buds buried her in. Seems awfully morbid and non-Buffy. But, an outfit probably isn't your main concern once your friend has died, huh? While she's trying to get used to her house again, and the fact that Willow and Tara have moved in and taken her mother's old bedroom, Spike arrives to find Dawn who he lost earlier. He gets quite the surprise when he sees Buffy walk down the stairs. At first he mistakes her for the Buffybot, until he really looks into her eyes. The look on his face was of sheer awe and love. He realizes her hands and knuckles are all mangled, and why they are that way. He tells her he's had to do the same thing, and then gives her this look, just for a moment... maybe he understands her more than anyone for that second.

The Scooby Gang arrive at her house and Spike leaves immediately. Turns out he went outside to cry. Xander and Anya start to give him crap when they go outside, and he gets angry that they didn't tell him about their plans. He reminds them that there are always consequences with magic and storms off on his new stolen motorcycle.

Looks like Spike is quite right. Bringing a Slayer back from the dead does indeed have its price. The Scoobies are being taken over one by one by some unseen spirit or ghost or something. When they brought Buffy back, apparently this demon/spirit thing was created. In order for it to stay around, it has to kill Buffy. It only appears in a spirit form, and can take over others, but does not have a form of it's own. The Gang realize they can't fight a spirit, so they have to come up with a way to get the spirit into a corporeal form.

The spirit finds Buffy, and she keeps punching and kicking the misty spirit-y thing. Bring in Willow the Witch, and poof, spirit is corporeal. Now Buffy can kick the crap out of it. With the help of some wicked weapon that Buffy keeps in her bedroom, cuz don't we all have crazy big ax things and stakes and maces in our bedrooms?

The next day at the Magic shop everyone is glad that the spirit is gone, and Buffy is still there and hasn't disappeared with the spirit she brought back. She tells everyone thanks for bringing her back, everything was so horrible where she was... boohoohoo. Then the original Scoobies all hug and bond, nut Buffy looks more depressed then ever.

She heads out to the back to be alone and runs into Spike who's avoiding the daylight in the shade. Convenient, no? They have a little heart to heart, and she admits to Spike that she wasn't in hell at all. She thinks she was in heaven, and she asks that he keep the info to himself.

Buffy: Wherever I was... I was happy. At peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time... didn't mean anything... nothing had form... but I was still me, you know? And I was warm... and I was loved... and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand theology or dimensions, or... any of it, really... but I think I was in heaven. And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out... by my friends. Everything here is... hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch... this is Hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that... knowing what I've lost...

6x04 Flooded

With her mother gone, Buffy finds that her months spent dead and jobless have left them without enough money to keep the house in good repair. To make matters worse, a trio of slacker sorcerers summon a demon to rob the bank for them just as Buffy is trying to get a loan.

Giles heads back to Sunnydale, and he seems very happy to see Buffy. Since I did the disclaimer earlier, I won't go through how it made me cry. Nope, won't mention a thing. However, he seems very angry and disappointed with Willow for channeling some dark magick and risking who-knows-what in the process. Willow seems like she's getting a bit too big for her britches, and actually threatens Giles for a second.

Giles: The magicks you channeled are more ferocious than anything you can understand and you are lucky to be alive. You rank arrogant amateur!
Willow: You're right. The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful. And maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off.

Buffy confides in Spike again on her back porch. It seems like he's the only one she feels comfortable around.

2x20 Over the Rainbow

This is the beginning of a very strange few episodes. They are a bit of fun, but still very strange.

Angel, Lorne and Wesley are left standing in Caritas and realize Cordelia is missing. Looks like she got sucked into the portal along with Lorne's cousin. Meanwhile, Cordy wakes up in a forest area that has animal skins hanging from the trees, with no clue where she's at. She's quickly found by some creature that starts chasing her, then she's eventually captured cuz she's "a cow" in this world and good for bartering apparently.

Back in the normal world, The Gang and Lorne are still trying to figure out where she's gone, and how they get there to save her. Eventually Lorne slips up and they realize he knows more than he's letting on. She's been sucked into Pylea, his home world. Lorne tells them how he got to this world and how much he loves it. He doesn't want to go back. They try to open the portal they used before, but it appears to be out of batteries. So, they have to find some place else that has a full charge to open a portal.

Over in Pylea, Cordelia is now a slave of sorts they call "a cow". How poetic is that? While doing some of her daily chores, like shoveling manure, another human finds her and hits her up for info on how she got there. The other cow gets found and they take her away for some unspeakable torturing I'm sure. While Cordelia is getting huffy about the girl getting captured, she gets a vision. She tells people to go save someone somewhere and they freak out. Then they find out she saw something happened before it happened and they are wigged out. Then they realize she's been blessed or cursed or something.

Angel: Ha, I'm not on fire.
Wesley: And, we're together. We didn't merge into a freakish four-man Siamese twin.
Gunn: That was a risk? How come nobody told me that was a risk?
Angel: Can everybody just notice how much fire I'm not on?

After a bunch of research in old books, they realize they need to travel in metal to not get separated. So, Angel and Gang arrive in Pylea via his car through a portal. When they arrive, with top down, the suns are out and Angel starts to scramble to get covered. But he soon realizes he's not getting all burned and stuff. He starts to act quite silly about being in the sun, which is so terribly cute. Just wanna squeeze his cheeks! (either set). They quickly get captured despite trying to lay low. While they are in their cell they overhear guards talking about Cordelia and thinks she's in major trouble. Then the guys are taken out of their cells, and they brought to a throne room and they try to attack the guards. A woman clears her throat which stops everyone in their tracks, and they look up to see that it's Cordelia all dressed fancy, and on a throne.

2x21 Through the Looking Glass

Yup, that's Cordy on a throne. Because of her cursedness with the visions, they've made her a Princess or something. Not sure what's up with that. I'm sure it's something awful and evil though. What would be the point otherwise. She pardons all her buds cuz she's all powerful like that, and then they go about researching. They realize their books are kept in 3s, and they find the ones they need. On the covers their are pictures of a Wolf, Ram, & Hart. Oooh, those fuckers are everywhere. Even other dimensions.

(seeing himself in a mirror)
Angel: Okay, this is because of going through the portal, right? (pushes down hair)
Cordy: No, it always looks like that.

Ok, Angel looking in the mirror in shock at his hair is hilarious. There's always been jokes here and there about his hair, but it's extra funny to see him get all worked up about it. Anyhoo... Angel is looked at like a warrior and he sits in the town center telling the tale of cutting off the evil lawyer's hand. Seeing him be all giddy and laughy is just weird. They then tell him he has the honor of wielding some weapon. But what he doesn't realize is he has to wield it to cut off the other lady cow's head. He refuses, fights the demony folk, Lorne sings a tune (they don't know music here), and it freaks everyone out. They are able to get away.

Meanwhile, Cordy is being all primped and ready for something big. It turns out she's to be mated to a Groosalugg. That doesn't sound very appealing. She tries to delay them, but then when she actually meets the Groosalugg, she is quite happy cuz he's a handsome man. They get to talking, blahblahblah, she decides she wants to be a real princess and start having some proclamations.

Angel ends up in a fight with some of the soldier dudes, and he turns into this weird ugly monster. Not a vampire like usual, but a very bumpy green thing that is just out of control. He even goes after Wesley and Gunn, and it's only the little lady cow that stops him and redirects him with a hand full of some blood of something. She manages to get him all under control in her own little private cave, and he is deeply shamed for what he's done to his friends.

Meanwhile, Cordelia and the Groosalugg are in the throne room on the floor writing out her proclamations. One of the priest dudes walks in with a silver tray and orders the Groosalugg out. The cover of the tray is lifted and we see Lorne's head all severed on the platter.

2x22 There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb

Um, yah, Lorne's head still on a tray. But as Cordelia is doing her "woe is me, it's all my fault" thing, his eyes pop open and he starts talking. Which makes Cordelia get all scream-y. Ya see, if his body hasn't been mutilated yet, he's still alive. So, she has to find his body. She trades clothes with one of her servants and goes on the search. She, with Lorne in hand, find a body with his clothes on, but it proves to not be him. The Groosalugg has saved Lorne's body for her cuz Lorne's her friend. Isn't he sweet?

Ok, let's try to shorten this cuz I'm beginning to bore myself. Let's see... Rebels capture Wesley and Gunn, they want to kill them. They talk them out of it and say they'll help them attack the weird priesty dudes that are basically trying to destroy Cordelia via her mating with the Groosalugg.

Rebel: Five cheers for the other-worlders.
Wesley: Oooo, in this world you get five.

Angel gets over his beasty-ness with Fred, the lady cow, and he ends up fighting with the Groosalugg to get Cordelia free. She ends up splitting up the fight cuz she loves the Groosalugg. Say wuh? Then she cuts off the main priests head and everyone is all happy and stuff. She makes some proclamations to the priest before she leave... no religious persecution, no slavery, the standards. She also leaves the Groosalugg in charge. But, before she leaves they get all lippy and kissy and stuff.

Fred has figured out the formula stuff for the portals, so off they go home. They arrive in Angel's car in the middle of Caritas, the karaoke bar. Now how are they gonna get that sucker out?

Back to the hotel, where they find Willow waiting for them. By the look on her face, he realizes it has something to do with Buffy... and it can't be good.

5x20 Spiral

Buffy, Willow, Tara, and Dawn narrowly escape from Glory, but only because she is hit by a truck. Which was actually quite awesome. Too bad she just pops right back up, but as Ben now. Ben was so cute before you knew he shared a body with the creepy God chica, Glory. Since Glory knows where Dawn-the-Key is and what she is, Buffy and the Scoobies leave Sunnydale. Not only do they leave, but they leave  in an RV that Spike procures. After everyone gets over the shock of Buffy asking for Spike's help. duh he's a strong vamp dude that can't hurt the humans, they all leave town without really having any other plan.

Dawn: I think Anya's gonna try to cook. Wanna come watch the tears and recriminations?

Then, these knight-type dudes, kinda come out of nowhere. Well, we've seen their kind, and we know they are all about destroying the key, which is uncool, but still... kinda out of nowhere. And they are so old school, yo. They ride in on horses, wearing chain mail and sporting swords and other renaissance faire gear. How they manage to catch up with an RV is beyond me. I guess it's just so old and so crappy it can't go very fast. Hrmph.

They pull over at an abandoned gas station to continue the fight, then Willow breaks out her black magics to block them out. They do manage to snag the main knight guy and start questioning him. He's not terribly helpful -- kill they key, kill the key, let me kill the key. Oh, and in all this kerfuffle Giles gets wounded majorly. They are allowed to call in a doc, and they call in Ben the man-nurse. *slap da head* Eeeeediots. So, after Ben takes care of Giles, he goes all weird and "get me out of here now!", and then turns into Glory. Odd thing is no one remembers that he changes into Glory. They just think she's just there suddenly. Only person who realizes that Ben & Glory are one is Spike, but he can't even tell the rest of the Gang cuz they just keep forgetting it.

In the end, Glory wipes out all the knight guys on her way out with Dawn. Buffy goes to follow, but is delayed by Willow's energy spell. By the time it's brought down, it's too late, and Buffy can't quite deal with her failure. She plops down on the ground with a look of dazed-and-confusedness. Poor Buffy cannot get a break this season.

5x21 The Weight of the World

Despite their best efforts, Glory has succeeded in taking Dawn. This failure after so much effort proves too much for Buffy and she slips into a catatonic state. Willow must use magick to enter her mind and help her work through the trauma before it is too late to save Dawn, or the rest of the world for that matter. Once she's in Buffy's noggin, she sees her as a child on the day that Dawn is brought home as a baby. Then it shifts to her in the magic shop putting a book onto a bookshelf, looking very contemplative. It then switches to Buffy in her house, where she proceeds to smother teenage Dawn with a pillow cuz "Death is her gift", or so sayeth her spirit guide.

Buffy: I wanted it over. This is... All of this... It's too much for me. I just wanted it over. If Glory wins, then Dawn dies. And I would grieve. People would feel sorry for me. But it would be over. And I imagined what a relief it would be.

After a few go arounds of this dream/catatonia cycle, Willow starts to make headway with her. She finds out the magic shop bit is a moment Buffy had where she says she quit. She realized that everyone would be better off if everything was just over and Dawn-the-Key was gone. Death is her gift and all that. You just know she's misinterpreting that whole thing. Eventually Willow gets her out of her funky state and they go to the magic shop to get a plan going.

5x22 The Gift

Glory has Dawn, and plans to use her blood to open the portal to her home dimension, even though the portal will cause all the hell dimensions to bleed into our own. Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Anya, Tara and Spike go to confront a true Hell God with the knowledge that they may not all survive. They end up using Tara to get to Glory. She's been itching to leave for some place she has to be, so they finally let her go and follow her.

First wave is Willow with Glory, she even sticks her fingers in Glory's head and Tara's head and manages to get Tara all back to normal. This weakens glory up for round two... with Buffy. Or is it? It actually ends up being Buffybot. After Glory beheads Buffybot, the next round is with the actual Buffy. They go at it... badda-bing, badda-boom. They fall from the stairs of the tower that Dawn is chained to, then Buffy goes a-wailing on Glory until suddenly Ben shows up. She leaves Ben, then Giles comes up and doesn't provide him with the mercy that Buffy did. He suffocates him. Giles kills a man! Granted, it's for the greater good, cuz Glory just ain't gonna quit, but he kills Ben. Crucial.

Buffy runs to the top of the tower, and finds that demon dude that Dawn went to for the resurrection spell. He has started the portal opening but making shallow cuts on dawn. Buffy rescues Dawn, and then it starts to "dawn" on her that she knows how to save Dawn and the world. Dawn's blood is the same as hers. She was created from Buffy. So, she gives Dawn a heartfelt goodbye, and jumps off the tower into the portal.

Buffy: Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. But this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles ... tell Giles I figured it out. And, and I'm okay. And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world ... is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me.

She is suspended in the portal writhing in pain, it seems. The next thing we see is the portal is closed, and Buffy is on the ground dead. The Gang is all around her and they look at her in disbelief. Willow is a mess as is expected, but the one taking it the hardest is Spike. Maybe he does truly love her.

The next thing we see is her headstone:

Buffy Anne Summers

1981 -2001

Devoted Sister

Beloved Friend

She Saved the World

A Lot

2x16 Epiphany

After an empty night of passion with Darla, Angel wakes up with his soul still intact and has an epiphany. In a moment of clarity he realizes how deeply he had sunk into despair and how self-destructive his actions had become. See what sex with Darla does, versus sex with Buffy. Tsk Tsk. He resolves to reunite with his crew, but Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn may not be ready to forgive him, even when their very lives are at stake.

Darla: I don't understand. Was I...was it...not good? Well, I don't accept that. You cannot tell me that wasn't perfect. Not only have I been around for 400 years, but I used to do this professionally, and that was perfect.... We'll go again.

Cordy gets kidnapped by these demons with an eye in the back of their head, they want her to pay for the spawn she got rid of, so they make her be a spawn person thingy. So, now she has an eye in the back of her head, which is SO not attractive.

Lindsey seems to be going through another crisis of conscience. Mainly cuz he found out that Darla and Angel knocked boots, and he wanted to be the one knocking Darla's boots. So, he decides to run Angel over with his car. They duke it out, then Angel kinda steals his truck cuz he has some place to be.

The next morning after all is saved, or whatever is needed done, Lindsey walks out of his apartment building to find his truck, mostly intact, with a Thanks note on the windshield. I think they might be fast becoming friends. I kid.

Oh, and Kate tried to kill herself, but didn't. Which was a total bummer. She got fired as a cop and was all boohoo about it. She left a drunken message on Angel's machine, and he finally realized what she was doing. He runs over there, and saves her. The problem is she had never invited him into her house. So, how did he get in? Ponder that folks. Deep stuff.

2x17 Disharmony

So, Angel is having a bit of difficulty with the fact that he works for Wesley now under their new arrangement. Little things like the big office is now Wesley's and Angel keeps giving the orders. And now, he's having to get everyone coffee. Which is just so cute. Big broody guy getting lattes and cappucinos for his once-upon-a-time employees. Atonement's a bitch, he says.

Angel: She doesn't have a soul.
Cordelia: Oh. That's it, isn't it? You're better than her because you have a soul.
Angel: Well... yeah.

Cordy gets a vision, sends the guys on their way, and then Harmony shows up. Thing is, Cordy and Gang don't know that Harmony is a vampire now. After a bit of a misunderstanding, Cordy thinks she's just lesbian, until she calls up Willow and finds out that no, she's just a bloodsucker. Willow's the lez.

For half a second, Cordelia convinces the guys to give Harmony a chance at being a good guy and they send her in undercover at a vamp version of a Tony Robbins event. That turns out to be a problem since Harmony has no self esteem, and she ends up betraying the Gang cuz they have her all thinking she's worth more and better than how they treat her. Whatever. Cordelia tells her to leave town and not return. If only that's what really happens. I could definitely do without anymore Harmony I think. Sigh.

2x18 Dead End

Lindsey McDonald is given an amazing bonus by his bosses at Wolfram & Hart -- a new hand to replace the one he lost fighting Angel. When the new hand begins acting strangely, Lindsey becomes suspicious, and when he runs into Angel and the gang researching body parts that seem to be turning on their owners, he must make a life-altering decision.

Lindsey: (about Angel) Work with him? Work with him?
The Host: Hey, am I the only one who saw 48 hours?
Lindsey: I got a murderous hand on me and you're telling me to team up with the guy who cut mine off in the first place?

Just as Lindsey is starting to get me hot and bothered, he leaves the damn show! That is just messed up. He sings at the karaoke bar, but he sings-sings, instead of karaoke. Christian Kane is an actual singer, and he has a really great voice. I believe he even wrote the song he performed on the show. He's now on TNT's Leverage. Anyway, after he gets a new hand via the evil Wolfram & Hart folks and the hand turns out evil too. Wants to do all this evil stuff or something. He gets mad about it and ends up quitting his position at the firm, thus giving Lilah the position he was about to get. Buh-bye sexy man with the sexy voice.

2x19 Belonging

The crew is eating dinner at a fancy restaurant and we learn that Angel is a bit of a cheapskate. He seems to be worrying about every little thing they eat. Old man. Cordy starts to moan and everyone thinks she is getting a vision, but really she's just gonna hurl from some bad sashimi. Which really sucks for her cuz the next morning she has a commercial she's going to be shooting. Angel actually shows up on the set where she's at to get more info about her latest vision. While he's there, he witnesses the commercial director treat Cordy like a cheap piece of meat. He doesn't take that too well.

Angel: I'm not cheap, I'm just old. I remember when a few bob got you a good meal, a bottle, and a tavern wench.

Anyway, Cordy's latest vision involves a girl in a library that seems to be suffering. On their search, they find that it was a girl name Winifred aka Fred. She disappeared from that library years ago and no one has seen her since. Then a bloodthirsty demon emerges from a magickal portal on the stage in Caritas, the Host (whose name, we learn, is Krevlornswath or "Lorne" for short) asks Angel and the gang to find it and destroy it before it cuts a bloody swath through Los Angeles.

Gunn is trying to help his old gang o' vampire hunters, but he keeps getting called away with Angel Investigation stuff. This particular time he can't help, one of his buds gets bitten by a vamp. They don't know if he was made to drink any vamp blood himself, so they have to make sure he is really dead via an old school pyre.

Oh, that demon that came out turns out to be Lorne's cousin from his home world. He helps them open a portal back to get his cousin back home. The problem is, Cordelia is suddenly missing now. She wakes up laying on a leafy ground in a forest with two suns in the sky. This ain't Kansas anymore Toto.

5x16 The Body

This episode is brutal. It makes me cry just thinking about it. It's so sad. Buffy walks into her house, and she finds her mother laying on the couch dead. The way this entire episode is filmed just makes it all exponentially more brutal. The first thing I noticed is that when she calls 911 and as she's waiting for the EMS, it seems all in real time. You wait with her, quiet, her staring at the phone. Staring out the window. There's not a bit of music either. It's just the normal sounds you'd here. Footsteps, breathing, sirens. After the EMS has come and figured they can't do anything, they actually leave the body there for the medical examiner to come get. So, she is there, alone. As she's pacing the house, she stops and hurls all over the carpet. We hear that, we see her clean it up. It's all very quiet, normal, and all too real feeling.

Anya: But I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens, how we go through this. I mean - I knew her, and then she's... there's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore! It's stupid! It's mortal and stupid! And... and Xander's crying and not talking, and... and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, "Well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch - ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever," and no one will explain to me why.

It only gets worse as we see everyone else's response to the news of Joyce's death. Again with the quiet, or the tears.. just raw anguish. And man, Alyson Hannigan's crying will just rip you through your gut. I had the same issue when Oz left her. That girl can make you feel every ounce of her sadness in the way she cries. Devastating.

5x17 Forever

Refusing to accept that her mother's death is the end, Dawn becomes obsessed with using magick to bring her back. In a weird sense of helping, Spike takes Dawn to a weird tailed magician dude to get her a decent spell. They have to steal an egg from some weird monster. The monster was so weak. It seemed to not really move much. It had three heads and they wiggled around a bit. But it just seemed strange to me. Not as menacing as I think they were trying for.

Angel: I can stay in town as long as you want me.
Buffy: How's forever? Does forever work for you?

Meanwhile, Buffy is getting some consolation of the Angel-kind. They spend an evening together and it's the first time she seems to have to slowed down. But once she realizes what Dawn has done, they have a bit of a tiff. Dawn tells her she has no one, Buffy ignores her, Buffy doesn't care, Buffy hasn't cried yet. She tells Dawn she stays busy so she doesn't have to. As a zombied Joyce starts walking onto the lawn and knocks on the door, Buffy races to the door to see her mother again. But before she can open the door, Dawn ends the spell and the porch is empty when the door is open. Buffy finally gets a good cry on.

5x18 Intervention

Buffy and Giles leave for the desert on a vision quest in an attempt to find a way to fight Glory. She gets a very vague answer from the First Slayer in a weird trippy bonfire vision thingy.

While they are gone, Spike decides to have a little fun with his BuffyBot he purchased from Warren, the other dude that had the robot. The Gang mistakes it for the real Buffy and think that she has gone absolutely bonkers.

Glory: (about Spike) WHAT is that, and why is its hair that color?

After a big vamp fight with the Gang, Buffybot, and Spike... Spike and Buffybot get it on in the cemetery. Xander and Anya actually see this and feel like an intervention is in order. However, Glory has come up with the idea that Spike is the Key and kidnaps him. The Gang needs to get him or kill him or something, since he does know who the real Key is. However, Glory realizes that he's a vampire and can't be the Key. But, she can torture him to get the information. He stays solid and doesn't say a thing. They rescue him, and in a way to figure out what he has told him, Buffy disguises herself as the Buffybot. She finds out that he didn't say a thing, and he wouldn't ever cuz he knows how much Dawn means to Buffy. So, she kisses him in gratitude, and he realizes it's the real Buffy.

5x19 Tough Love

While Buffy tries to control a motherless Dawn and bring their lives back to some sort of normalcy, Tara is captured by Glory who is desperately trying to find the Key. She's just grabbing at straws it seems. She realizes that Tara isn't the key, and does her mind sucking thing on her, making Tara a looney. This puts Willow in quite a tizzy, and rightfully so. But, instead of seeing reason, cuz who would, she tries to go after Glory by herself with black magicks. She's not quite ready for something so intense and Glory quickly gets the upperhand. Buffy comes in and saves her from Glory and herself.

Glory: A girl like Buffy's got just so many friends, all I have to do is rip through them one by one until--(Ground starts shaking) Did somebody order an apocalypse?

Buffy and the Gang just can't get a break. You know they are gonna have an end of the world sort of thing going on soon... end of the season and all... but they seem like quite a mess. How are they gonna manage?

2x12 Blood Money

Wesley and Gunn are busy playing Risk at Cordelia's apartment. I guess Cordelia is getting tired of them spending all their time at her house. So she orders them out. But before they go, they decide they need a new office and new business cards. They just can't quite agree on a new name, so I guess it'll be Angel Investigations for now.

Lilah: So, what if this guy's actually as good as he says and actually kills Angel?
Lindsey: Boo hoo, let me wipe away the tears with my plastic hand.

Angel threatens to expose Wolfram & Hart's criminal activities when he discovers that they are stealing large contributions that were made to a teen shelter -- but an old adversary has other plans.

Blah show. Yah yah yah, Angel is kinda evil. Not full-on Angelus, but he's into some serious hating of Wolfram & Hart. That sucks. The other guys are still trying to do their good their own way.

2x13 Happy Anniversary

Angel and the Host search for a physicist who they fear will cause the end of the world, but they are hampered by two Lubber demons who are seeking to subvert the scientist's work to their own dark ends. Wesley, Cordelia and Gunn settle into their new digs, where Virginia brings them their first official case.

Angel: You want to know what my problem is? I'm screwed, that's my problem. I can't win. I'm trying to atone for a hundred years of unthinkable evil. News flash: I never can! Never going to be good enough. Now I got Wolfram and Hart dogging me. It's too much! 200 highly intelligent law school graduates working fulltime driving me crazy. Why the hell is everyone so surprised that it's working? But no, it's "Angel, why are you so cranky? Angel, you should lighten up, you should smile. You should wear a nice plaid."
The Host: Oh, not this season, honey.

Episode, meh. But, I liked seeing more of The Host. He's a funny guy. He's especially needed next to the uber cranky pants Angel. Not cranky so much I guess. He's just seriously lost his reason for fighting the good fight. I get that, I do. Still... nice to have the lighter contrast with The Host.

2x14 The Thin Dead Line

Angel investigates rumors of renegade cops out for blood. Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn hear the same stories and try to catch the crooked cops in the act, but their plans go awry when they realize that these cops are not what they appear. They end up being zombies raised by a police commander type dude. Granted, his motivations are good. He wants less crime on his streets. And that is what he gets. But it gets to be a bit extreme when his zombie cops are hassling pretty much everyone for everything.

Cordelia: Maybe we can buy one of those star maps, find out where Steven Seagal lives. You telling me he got to be a movie star without a little demonic assistance?

Downside to getting rid of this guy and his zombie cops is now the crime rate is gonna go back up. Just can't win for losing. And on the opinion tip... totally forgettable episode. Oh wait. Well, except that Wesley gets shot while him and Gunn are out chasing down the meanies. That was a pretty big deal.

2x15 Reprise

Angel learns of the impending visit of one of Wolfram & Hart's demonic "Senior Partners," and he plans to use the visit to launch a kamikaze mission to the beast's home dimension to take on evil at its very source.

Angel: In the larger sense, I really don't give a crap.
Holland: Now, I don't think that's true. Be honest. You've got the tiniest bit of "give a crap" left.

The quick and dirty... Angel attacks Wolfram & Hart kinda, Darla is there. She has this weird glove thing. They fight a bit, he manages to get it on his way out the window of the high rise office building. Right after he lands, a ring - Band of Blacknil - lands next to him. He picks it up, puts it on his finger and orders to be taken to the Home Office. An elevator near by opens with the once-dead Holland inside waiting. Angel gets in, they have a heart-to-heart, they arrive... only it's exactly where they left from. Holland has essentially taught him that evil is everywhere. Angel walks out of the elevator and his eyes are a bit moist. Could we be getting our Angel back?

Oh wow... completely forgot about this. I do not know how... After he gets back to his place from his elevator session, Darla is there waiting for him. She wants to fight, but he wants to fight with his groin-al area. They get it on, he wakes up gasping for breath. Oh, he best not lose his soul over Darla?!? True moment of happiness with Darla? Puh-lease.

5x12 Checkpoint

Quentin Travers and a team from the Watchers Council arrive in Sunnydale with information about Glory. However, since Buffy no longer works for the Council, they decide that they must put her and her friends through a grueling set of tests to determine that she is worthy of their trust.

Anya: (Describing herself) Anya Christina Emanuella Jenkins, 20 years old...born on the fourth of July--and don't think there weren't jokes about that my whole life, Mr., because there were. 'Who's our little patriot?' they'd say when I was younger, and therefore smaller and shorter than I am now.

Buffy stresses over the whole test thing the Watchers do, but in the end comes to the conclusion that the test is really for them. She decides whether they are allowed back into her life. And man, do they kowtow to her once she realizes she has the upperhand.

Girl Power!

5x13 Blood Ties

Buffy finally tells her friends that Dawn is the Key and they start acting strangely when Dawn is around. Dawn figures out that something is wrong and wants the truth. She has seen that crazy people know that she is different, so she goes to the mental ward at the hospital for some answers.

Spike: (about Dawn) She's not just a blob of energy, she's also a 14 year-old hormone bomb. Which one's screwing her up more right now, spin the bloody wheel.

Ok, I believe I am remembering why I didn't like Dawn so much. Not that she doesn't have the reason to, but gawd she's a whiner. It gets a bit worse too as I recall.

5x14 Crush

Buffy notices that Dawn is spending a lot of time around Spike and assumes that Dawn has a crush on him. Dawn surprises her, however, by telling her that Spike is in love with Buffy. Meanwhile, a train pulls into the Sunnydale station with every passenger slaughtered by a vampire, and Buffy is finding it hard to concentrate on the investigation while simultaneously fending off Spike's advances.

Buffy: The late-night stakeout, the bogus suspects, the flask? Is this a date? Spike: A d- Please! A date? You are completely off your bird! I mean- Do you want it to be?

It was so cute to see Spike's attempts at wooing Buffy. He was wearing khakis and a pastel shirt. I'm not sure she even noticed, but I did. He's trying to be the type of man Buffy would want. It's so cute. He even finally tells her that he loves her. She finds it completely disgusting though. Instead of letting him think he has a chance, she goes looking for him to make it very clear how she feels, and stumbles onto Spike with his guest Dru. He fakes Dru out, and ends up having Dru & Buffy tied up. He tells Buffy that he is willing to kill Dru to prove how much he loves her. Then Harmony gets all whiny cuz she's not in the mix. In the end, she tells Spike she wants him to leave town. He also realizes she has revoked his invitation to her house. The look on his face when he sees that is just so hurt.

5x15 I Was Made to Love You

A strange girl arrives in Sunnydale searching everywhere for her boyfriend Warren. She is sweet, pretty, and strong enough to throw Spike through a window when he hits on her. Buffy and the gang decide that they must do something before someone less impervious to injury gets in her way and gets seriously hurt.

Buffy: Oh, no - love doctor Buffy is not in. I'm not qualified to give dating advice. I've had exactly two boyfriends, and they both left. Really left. Left town, left.

This girl was really good at being a overly happy cute robot chic. But overall, just kind of a  soso episode. But, it does kind of prep us for another episode involving a different robot soon.

Buffy talks to Ben the man-nurse and they plan on going out for coffee, but in the end she says she's not ready for coffee yet. Coffee is quite the commitment. We also see more of the whole Glory and Ben share a body thing. What is up with that? That is so weird.

After the big fight with the Robot at the end, Buffy comes home and sees her mom lying somewhat lifeless on the couch...