B5Erik of course Joss is a B5 fan, remember he and the writers gave Xander a B5 plate collection in one of season 5's eps.

And so it begins..............

I think there is a first good floating around. What if it's assumed the form of Giles and he's really still back in England trying to rebuild the council?

WTF?!?!

I thought it was official that there was no new Buffy until the new year!!! Why didn't I see any publiczied previews for this last week on UPN? Can someone please tell me a synposis in four sentences or less?

Oh well, I was busy watching the FOTR:EE that night anyway!

Now a question for all Buffy fans that have seen LOTR:TTT

In the scenes with Frodo,Sam, and Gollum, did you not get a Buffy, Xander, and Spike kind of vibe off of them? I kind of did. Sometimes I wonder if Joss is paying homage to Tolkien's work with the show.

For Buffy fans who have seen

Actually, wasn't that "haircut" episode of Buffy from January or February of this year?

Plus her hair was long at the beginning of this season.

My hair stylist says she must have hair extensions.

The big question is, if that really is Giles, why didnt he mention what happend to him in London with the big shuffle coming close to his neck?
I dont know, I think that would be one of the first things I told everyone.

But the story of SMG's hair being cut circulated in December of 2001 (I remember reading about it while visiting my parents for Christmas), so logic would dictate that SMG had cut the hair in either December, or November. Episodes are probably shot 3-6 weeks in advance of air date (especially with the Christmas holiday in December).

Couple thoughts:

The "vampire with a soul" has always been prophesied (in the "Scrolls of Aberjian") as playing a pivotal role in the apocalypse. Angel just sort of assumed it was him, but now Spike comes along with a soul. But from the look of things it does look like Spike will play some sort of pivotal role in the future, so the First wants him around.

As far as the "First Good," I think we maybe saw a little of its power being channeled in the season 4 almost-finale against Adam (which is, in spite of the rest of season 4, one of the coolest moments of the show). Recall that Buffy's received powers were fairly serene and "heavenly" in nature, and somehow released the First Slayer (the primal counterpart to the Turok'han or whatever the First Vampires are called) in the season finale.

Who are you?

What do you want?

Woudn't it be great if Ed Wasser showed up on Buffy? I'd just fall down - both laughing AND cheering!

Yeah, but her hair was long in the season opener which was shot probably in August or July, so her hair grew really long in only 6 months (plus I remember her hair being longish during the Scooby Doo promo interviews.)

There's no way her hair grew that long in half a year. I'm still thinking she has extensions.

I thought it took like a year for hair to grow back like that. Hmmm, I dont know.

I guess I am a future B5 fan because I just bought the DVDs as a present for my B.F.

Resistance is futile.

Wait, wrong show. Nevermind.

(Actually, that would be appropriate, because once you've seen an entire season of B5 in order, you will be hooked.... )

This episode helped clear up a few things and brought up some new puzzles.

The “First business” the First Vamp and First Evil, junk had me a tad confused, one in the same, or not? Now I know... Anyone else think if you are some primitive first vamp demon you’d skip the Renaissance Fair tattered leather costuming? The First being intangible does present a puzzler for the big finale battle and taking it out. Kinda’ hard to kick ass when its just empty air.

I too was first suspicious of a possibly Dead/Not-Giles when he mysteriously wasn’t there to lend a hand and help Buffy out of the hole. Likewise, when he seemed so downtrodden at the end and it was Buffy who gave the rabble rousing Braveheart speech, that seemed odd. (plus, I had the Close-captioning on because my reception was fuzzy. The dialogue at the end, Giles discussing Buffy’s wounds her ability to recover, was quite different, they must have changed the script around at the last minute). But, I think maybe Dead Giles assumptions could be stretching circumstantial junk. Hey, something I’ve always noticed is that Buffy (the cast the show) has never been too touchy-feely. They’ll face the end of the world and barely pat each other on the back.

So if there is a First Evil and First Good- The First Evil uses the UberVamp as its muscle and the First Good uses, well, I guess, Dr Fate? Oh wait, that’s something else.

Of course, this is all part of a Buffy asylum dream, so it is really irrelevant.

If you missed the episode and are looking for episode summaries, check out http://www.spoilerslayer.com. Also, this site has a great schedule listing, so you never have to miss a new episode again. Word of caution though, this site is full of accurate spoilers for upcoming episodes.

will someone please stake spike already

spike is no angel i am afraid joss has lost it but maybe with firefly gone buffy might get better. the giles situation is interesting but spike needs to be staked. how many innocent people did he kill. the scoobies all look at the geek as being despicable for killing his friend under the influence but buffy gives spike another pass, by the spike also attempted to rape you buffy, stake him already.

I always thought that the whole assylum thing would have been a great way to end the series - especially the explanation that Buffy "snapped out of her delusions" the same time when she died at the end of season 5 and then "became delusional again" when she came back from the dead. But, if they go back there now, I think that would be lame.....

I thought that episode was one of the series' best, and I think it would have been a perfect way to leave things.

As much as I hate Spike (and nowadays, I do) but Spike attacked Buffy before he got his soul back. If they allowed Angel to live, even though he killed Jenny Calender while he was Angel, it would be wrong to not do the same for Spike.

The REAL reason he is around is because the writers like him and a lot of fans LUV him. He should have been staked a long time ago.

I too have grown a bit tired of what they are doing with spike. They seemed to have written themselves into a corner.
Regarding him raping Buffy. I dont agree with what he did but she wasnt playing too fair with him all last season either. She was no "Angel".
I want you, I dont want you and then beating the crap out of him for the sake of it was not too cool.
No wonder he was a bit confused.

Plus, as we all know, Spike wasn't the most emotionally stable guy with the women before becoming a vamp ie: William the Bloody Awful Poet....

These are my thoughts: Giles is the first good. Probably similar to the First Evil being that he cannot touch anyone, can assume the shapes of the dead, etc. Maybe somehow the first good claimed Giles before the first evil could, or it won his body, or something like that. Or maybe all the dead can be claimed by either at any time.

If there is one thing that I am fairly certain of (in my own litle world), it is that I don't think that it was the sunlight that drove the vampire away from Buffy after the attack. I think that it was the vamp seeing the First Good in the shape of Giles (I also think that the first good was the shape of Joyce in Buffy's dream). The sun appears conveniently as Giles appears, leading Buffy to think that it was the sun that scared him away, when it was really Giles/Good. If this was the case, this could sort of explain why Giles is assisting the Scoobies by providing help with the new SIT, yet not touching anything. After all, if Giles is the first evil, why would he assist at all?

If Giles is the first good, then after the first evil is defeated, the first good could probably grant Giles life again, which could lead to the long rumoured Ripper series.

Just my two cents...

Why would the first good have to lie about being Giles?

It doesn't make sense.

I wouldn't consider it a lie. If Giles was the first good, what good could come out of telling the scooby gang that their leader is dead, and his body has been taken over? I would think that it would do more damage than good, since it would probably devestate them, and distract them from their goal. And if they didn't believe him, it would lead them to not trusting him, which wouldn't be good for them either, if he ultimately was trying to help.

Why do all the Scoobies and SIT see and hear Giles and acknowledge his presence? IMHO Giles is real and the writers are just playing with the viewers' imaginations.

I don't think that I understand what you are trying to get at. Everyone can see and hear the First Evil as well. I don't think that the seeming beheading of Giles was a red herring. It has to have some part of the overall plot that has not been explained yet.