superstringtheory

Conversations with evil! I couldn't take anymore after an hour. It just gets to me, all their weaknesses being tortured out of them. Although, Cassie was a great last minute touch. The face & action of complete innocence, but somehow I think her confrontation with Buffy would have been more powerful (Buffy was extremely drawn to her), just not as amusing as with "An intern as a psych major with two years martial arty experience, Holden."

I missed Xan & Anya, I have to say. Anya trying to be seduced would have been quite a challange for the evil one. Praise Willow for gaining insight.

Strange to see Marsters without a duster. It looked almost as out of place as the Hawaiian shirt did.

Now we know Dawn can take action when she really has to. That was great to see. I didn't quite catch the movie she was watching - horror movies by oneself, not a good idea Personally, I think she should dump Kit as a friend.

Well, I know Xander has to be back next week because his entire construction crew is needed to clean up the Summers' household. A lot of good those cell phones are doing for the sisters.



I'm conflicted with the Spike look-a-like too. The seed has been planted in Buffy now (damn, can this evil multi task, or what?)that he is siring, he was clearly in a public place for many people to identify him and kills the woman right there on the entry way to her home. I don't believe it was him but that would mean that the evil shifted as a vampire twice in the episode or has many to do its biddings. Then, the main originating bad was stationed with Willow for the evening. If it's a power of only one though completing all of the nights events simultaneously, this is truly scary. Any chance the real Spike and Xander were home watching football together? Maybe their relationship isn't quite at that 'sharing time together' phase, lol.

There is some hinting from its 'balance'speech to Willow WHAT it really is, but I don't know overall if I'm convinced as of yet.

spainlinx0

Wow, I thought this episode was REALLY good. I love when the dialogue was spot on like in this episode. It irked me a little about the whole vamp/shrink way of revealing more about Buffy's inner workings, but I'll accept it since I like what was said. Watching this episode at 3 in the morning was also pretty damn creepy, and I always love when a Buffy episode is scary along with funny. They struck the perfect balance here between humor and suspense.

I really can't wait for next episode.

das Monkey

I enjoyed it quite a bit. When you first see Joyce's corpse on the couch behind Dawn, that was damn creepy. Loved it. Most everything worked well for me in this episode. I really liked the direction, particularly the opening sequence to set the tone that this was going to be a different style of episode.

Since the first season, evil's best shot at defeating the Scoobies has always been divide and conquer, so I'm a bit surprised they didn't do anything with Xander this week, though I can see how trying to pack too much into one episode would ruin the concept.

It really is a shame they couldn't ink a deal with Benson to play Tara for those scenes. I think that could have been very powerful. They did an excellent job filling the role with Cassie, but imagine the gut-wrenching scenes they could have played up had Tara been sitting across that table.

das

movieking

I think that it was "Amends". If I am not correct, I am sure someone will correct me.

rennervision

Agreed. Although it was scary enough when Cassie If that had been Tara that did that, I swear I would have been so frightened I might have lost all bladder control!

By the way, anyone have any thoughts on the appearance of ? Was it really him, or just an evil manifestation? If it wasn't him, whatever it was sure did a good job of imitating him when speaking to Andrew. (LOL at the Yoda and Obi-Wan dialouge!)

Original Desmond

geez a totally universal thumbs up!

I disagree about it being stronger with Tara instead of Cassie, i thought it worked very well and was more real to have a medium for Tara to talk through.

the Dawn scenes were hell scary ! Must have been nods to at least 5 horror films during those scenes

this season so far is kickin season 6 in the bum !

MadameTourvel

I agree-- great ep. Here's my take on it:

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned that each of the conversations was essentially a deception. The Big Bad brought back dead people to convince Willow to kill herself; turn Dawn against Buffy; make Andrew kill Jonathan as a human sacrifice; and make Buffy doubt her own abilities and worthiness.

Each was told a lie in order to get them to do the Dark One's will.

Clearly, our gang is considered a major threat by Mr. Evil if he is lavishing them with such attentions.

As for what we saw with Spike, I would not be surprised if we get more info about his activities that night. Is he really biting? Did he really sire the newbie-vamp who talked to Buffy, or was that a lie to turn her against Spike? And was the girl who talked to Spike placed there deliberately to trick him into attacking? Remember, we heard nothing of their conversation. Anything is possible.

And it wasn't a question of them not being able to "get" Amber Benson to play Tara. They didn't want the real Tara. The whole linchpin of Willow's Temptation is she would get to see Tara again. Make her want to see her even more by letting her only sort of "talk" to her through a medium.

Just my thoughts.

I thought some of the images in Dawn's sequence were scary as SsHhIiTt!

Patman

I brought up most of those points in my earlier post. Maybe not so eloquently, though. Heh.

The title of the episode gives the intent of the episode away. How each person deals with the temptations that evil dangles in front of them is what defines them. Willow is smart enough to stop doubting her control of her witchcraft (and she knows that she's got the goods on evil), Buffy's still strong (even though she is her toughest critic) and has issues that a slayer, who's lived has long as she has, would develop. Dawn is freaked because she lacks perspective (being young and impressionable), but when the call comes, she'll show her true colors. Andrew is a worm, and does the bidding of evil rather easily.

Wizdar

I'm going with evil for him and the Buffy Mom.

Coupla things. It must be impossible for Buffy to get homeowner's insurance.

Anybody got any hints on how to get that song Dawn was playing in the kitchen outta my head??

I don’t know what future the series holds, but if this is going to be the last season, it would seem to me that the Hellmouth would need to be done away with once and for all. It all seems to come back to that as the source of evil. Jonathan seemed to think they could destroy it and do a good deed.

I’m thinking of the outrage for no resolution of Farscape. Would Joss tidy things up before pulling the plug?

das Monkey

• Quoth MadameTourvel •<HR SIZE=1>I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned that each of the conversations was essentially a deception.<HR SIZE=1>

I thought that was the whole point of the episode and the subject of multiple posts already.

• Quoth MadameTourvel •<HR SIZE=1>And it wasn't a question of them not being able to "get" Amber Benson to play Tara. They didn't want the real Tara.<HR SIZE=1>

So, why did FOX try to sign Amber Benson for this episode?

das

bedhead_75

I think to have her come to Willow instead of Cassie.

If anyone is spoiled-->

Pointyskull

Anyone know who sang the song (and/or it's name) that bookended the episode?

Patman

Amber Benson's reps couldn't come to terms with Fox for her re-appearance as Tara (would she really want too much money to reprise her role?), so they used "Cassie" instead, which I thought was a better way anyhow.

Chopper

Hmmn... I looked at it a bit differently. I think that if the evil thingy hadn't said that she should kill herself, she would have really been leaning towards not doing magic anymore. Like the demon said, the suicide thing was a bit too much.

Oh - And I really think it worked better without Tara in the episode. I think it would have been more difficult to believe that Willow would see through it if it had actually been Tara. By having someone else play the part, "speaking" for Tara, it makes it easier for Willow to snap out of it & see that it was someone other than who it appeared to be.

cooper2000

I watched the Season three episode last night. It could be the First evil I suppose but what gives everyone the idea it really is?

Also, how do we know that Josh didnt say they couldnt get Amber back as a hoax and she could come back later in the season.
I cant believe she would turn down a chance to come back. She isnt doing anything else is she?

One question though. When Jonathon and Andrew were digging, dont you think there would have been a foundation there instead of just dirt?

Patman

Well, what I meant was upon further reflection, Willow should conclude that if some Big Bad wanted her out of the picture by trying to convince her that to find Tara again, she'd have to commit suicide, it would mean that Willow has some major firepower (magic) and that it should strengthen her resolve to focus her control on magic when the time comes now that she's aware someone wants her out of the impending fracas.

Basically, it's a kick in the fanny for Willow to shape up and get her dealio under control.

movieking

She is doing some filmwork on smaller budget type films, but I would love to see her back. Still, I didn't really miss her last episode, and thought that Cassie was more than effective.

superstringtheory

Actually:
"In 2001, at the age of just 24, Amber directed, wrote, produced and starred in her own movie called 'Chance'. It was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. "

Wizdar

Well, we can’t have the Hellmouth paved over, can we?

Also, it’s a bit of a stretch to think that something hiding under all that nice soft dirt would go unnoticed all these years. At the very least, Xander has to ask some serious questions of his crew.

Dr. DVD

So, can anyone shed light on what this

I hate to say this, but Dawn is actually starting to grow on me. She didn't really whine in this one as much as just be frightened and standing her ground well all things considered. Loved her little anchovies limerick!

MrN

Excellent episode!

The 'big bad' is on the loose and there's a lot of questions to be dealt with for the rest of the season.

My theory is that it wasn't Spike who killed the girl - something odd about the way he grabbed his face after he killed her...

I actually guessed about the big bad's identity and it sounds like I'm right.


Sorry to see Jonathan go, now Andrew has no one to be funny with.

After the mixed reactions to last week's episode, its great to see everyone excited about the show again...

Dr. DVD

So is this big bad just another demon or the Ultimate Demon? If it is the one from the aforementioned season, the kudos to Joss for placing a potential so early in the series' run.

Wizdar

OK, just who the heck was that girl, anyway?

It seems to me that the Spike segments were filmed with sorta different lighting, almost making it look like it was a dream sequence. And it wasn’t presented with the same “presence” that the other four (Dawn, Willow, Buffy, The Trio-Minus-One) were. Almost like a back story. Or did I doze off again?

bedhead_75

She was just a random victim (who we might see again, if indeed Spike sired her as well as Holden) I think the Spike sequences were real enough, the director just used dramatic lighting and music to heighten the shock factor when he bit her neck. Every character's story this week was filmed very differently from each other (to contrast I suppose).

iawiaw

Isn't it always the case that the big bad is almost invincible and omnipotent and yet it'll need some weak human to "free" it and can somehow be defeated by actions of some weak human? And also, why is it that big bad evil is always portraited as all powerful and the good always has to work through some human being? Where is the big good? If human is the only good, then we're screwed! 8-)