We’re halfway through BtVS S4 & Angel S1 now and you know what? Those first 11 episodes of S4 are a pretty solid chunk. There are some all time greats, underrated classics, and really only one dud (“Beer Bad,” obviously). I think S4 has an unfairly bad reputation in certain circles. Sure, the whole Initiative arc isn’t the best and Adam is ho-hum, but just about everything else is somewhere from solid to wonderful.

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Retrospecticus…

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing for Angel so far. The whole first half of S1 is mostly forgettable, kind of repetitive, and only really picks up some steam once Wesley arrives. I remember S2 being much better. Anyway, onwards…

A New Man

• Written by Jane Espenson / Directed by Michael Gershman
• Giles being the lone adult amongst a bunch of almost 20 year olds is something I definitely sympathize with. I’m smack dab between his age and these young people’s ages and I already couldn’t be less interested in spending any time with drunken college folk. 
• Spike going crypt hunting in the middle of the day seems unwise, but he seems to have no problem going out and about as the sun shines.
• Walsh is already a rather condescending jerk to Buffy in their first slayer discussion meeting. And I like her flaunting Riley’s 17 captured/killed HSTs like it’s impressive when it’s peanuts compared to Buffy.

• Giles randomly remembering about some demon threat that doesn’t amount to anything this entire episode always seemed odd to me.
• Riley’s “I’m not even sure I could take you” comment to Buffy always kind of made me wish there was some example of just how much he could NOT take her. Really, there’s no contest.
• Walsh comes off as rather combative with Giles, this man she just met and has no intentions of getting to know. Also, of course she wouldn’t be a big fan of independent thought in people given her life’s work.

• The casual reveal to Giles how Riley and “that fishwife” work for the Initiative is fun and all (“Spike knew?!?”), but nothing Willow says about how Riley’s guys must have stopped the demon already and re-paved the cement floor makes any sense.
• Ethan ominously rambling only for Giles to immediately overhear and find him right away (“Oh, bugger, I thought you’d gone”) is great.
• Giles and Ethan having drinks at a bar seems foolish on Giles’ part, but I suspect he needed to be with someone of his own age for once and he does have a lot of history with Ethan.

• It’s a good thing Buffy held back a little during her Riley sparring, as she could probably just put her first through his face if she chose to.
• Willow and Tara float a rose (“It should be very pretty”) and their chemistry continues to be palpable. 
• Demon Giles rampaging through his home/the neighborhood before getting to Xander’s still makes me chuckle. And as an early bird, myself, I’m with Giles re: Xander being unconscious– “You’re still asleep? It’s 10:30 in the morning.” Also, Giles speaking demon to Xander (and his reaction) continues the amusement. 

• Considering what a good pair Giles & Spike make, I’m glad they keep crossing paths for whatever reason. Way to haggle from $100 to $200, though, Spike (I probably would have started at $10K).
• I guess Riley’s okay with Giles and Anya knowing about his business, too? I know he has no choice, really, but he went from having a secret identity to a half dozen people knowing all about his double life in a heartbeat.
• Giles having Spike stop the car so he can scare Walsh, for his own satisfaction, is pure gold. Jane Espenson for the win!

• Riley trying to tell Buffy she can’t come to help with the Giles situation is kind of hilarious. She’s already in charge now and she doesn’t even have an army of slayers yet.
• Spike’s car chase is the last time we see Giles’ Citroen, but he doesn’t get a new car until early S5 so perhaps it wasn’t totaled.
• Ethan gets taken away and unfortunately that’s a TV series wrap on him, but he will pop up again in the comics. Also, The Initiative simply locking him away for many years isn’t very above board.

Expecting

• Written by Howard Gordon / Directed by David Semel
• Since they bring it up, neither Cordy or Wes will get anywhere close to their 80s. They both have less than five years of life ahead of them.
• Cordy has some “friends” (if that’s what you’d call them) for once. Exactly once, actually, as we never see or hear of these people again.
• Cordy takes Ronald Donald home for sex and I wonder how often Phantom Dennis gets his own personal sex show. Or maybe he makes a point to haunt around the kitchen on nights like this?

• Cordy gets insta-pregnant with demon spawn after first-date sex, like some kind of Puritanical punishment, which leads me to wonder–would it be the end of the world if she slept with someone after their first date and both parties left satisfied? Some people like that kind of thing and they aren’t evil or worthy of punishment for it.
• Cordy’s amniotic fluid appears to share some characteristics of xenomorph acid blood.
• Hey look, a yellow pages. How quaint. 

• This huge demon at the end is so clearly not huge that it’s rather amusing.
• I wonder how Cordy felt later on when she looked back on the time she gulped down a bunch of Angel’s pig blood. Yummy.
• The whole situation/episode isn’t great, but I like how Angel, Wes, and Dennis all rally around Cordy.

The I in Team

• Written by David Fury / Directed by James A. Contner
• Xander (in a rather flattering shirt for his arms) pushing Boost bars on Willow while they play cards with Anya (who finds she likes winning at games a bunch) is probably not one of her favorite hangouts.

• I’d say Walsh seems conflicted about how Buffy fits in, but she mostly just seems bothered by Buffy’s presence and influence on Riley’s decision making–similar to Forrest, actually. Graham, on the other hand, genuinely doesn’t seem to have any problems with Buffy whatsoever or her involvement in their little club.
• While paying Spike for his help from last episode, Giles tries to imbue Spike with some sort of purpose now that he knows demons are fair game for violence. Spike, who takes a long time to count the $300, has no interest now but will feel differently when Buffy is the impetus.

• Buffy’s retinal scan to enter the Initiative didn’t look like a very successful effort–surely a second go would be needed. As for the facility itself, there’s so much useless dead space everywhere for a secret underground facility. Why the hangar-size open concept room with high ceilings? Also, the “armory” behind that crappy chain link fence looks paltry. 
• Tara goes way overboard in offering Willow her special crystal, like a desperate kid from school willing to give you his toys if you’ll just be his friend. At least Willow refuses ownership.
• The Scooby rift widens when Buffy brings a bunch of frat boy commandos to the Bronze. Willow *almost* brings up Tara before instead making many good points re: the Initiative’s shady nature when the pager symphony begins.

• The fact that Buffy needs more intel and has questions for Walsh is something none of them are accustomed to or interested in dealing with to the point of attempted murder, for Walsh.
• Spike throws a commando at a tree and tosses a bag towards another one, but maybe he knew those things wouldn’t hurt them so that’s why his chip didn’t go off? Who knows.
• The Buffy & Riley fighting/sexing sequence works well (Faith was right after all about being hungry and horny). Then Maggie watches them like a perv and now I wonder just how much watching she partakes in–does she make sure to check the video post-showers? Or when Riley has his private gentlemanly time? I suspect Riley and the commandos are oblivious to the cameras.

• Buffy finally has a sexual encounter where the guy’s still there when she wakes up, huzzah.
• Riley seems quite naive in their morning chat and as soon as Buffy mentions 314 the phone rings–Walsh was sure ready to go with that death sentence.
• Why can’t Giles just slice open Spike’s back and yank the tracking thing out of him instead of all this magic crystal stuff? He’ll heal.
• Buffy and Willow both keep secrets about where they’ve each been all night.
• I enjoy the silly hair from everyone as much as the next guy, but shouldn’t the Initiative have an address by now?

• Walsh watching her attempted killing of Buffy on screens right there in the open seems like an odd choice–as it could lead to exactly what happens with Riley. Plus, she just assumes Buffy’s dead and leaves the video feed on like a dipshit.
• Maggie has one last monologue about her grand plans before Adam puts her down with a “Mommy” and while I like the sudden pivot from Maggie to a new threat, Adam ends up being lame (like much of the Initiative and it’s gameplan).

She

• Written by David Greenwalt & Marti Noxon / Directed by David Greenwalt
• Cordy’s neighbors must have loved her during this huge party she’s having–and why’s Angel even there? This couldn’t be less of his scene and I doubt Cordy would take it personally if he stayed home. Also, meh to Wesley being a bad dancer who sucks at talking to women.
• This random lady really can’t read Angel’s disinterest very well and the Angel dancing like a moron cutaway is a weird departure from their style.

• Angel’s Batman devices still throw me a little–so…he makes these things? He doesn’t seem very handy most of the time, but okay. And that ice block sure is long-lasting.
• Oh, and Wesley officially joins the staff–at which point he gets a little teary, as if there was any doubt.
• Jhiera doesn’t try to kill Angel because why? Aside from him being the show’s lead, anyway.
• Angel losing the guys tailing him by pretending to be a tour guide is a clever, non-violent change of pace for him.
• This episode gives the series a power shot of Angel, Cordy, & Wes walking towards the camera that finds its way into the credits, at least.

• There’s so much backstory and focus on Jhiera, it feels like a backdoor pilot for her adventures. No more backdoor pilots, please.
• Sean Gunn as her sidekick spa guy is kind of painful–everything about his performance as this flamboyant sidekick rubs me the wrong way. It isn’t that hard to write a gay guy who isn’t a bundle or poorly done cliches, but whatever.
• Another thing I don’t care for? Wesley lusting all over these ladies, whatever the reason. At least Cordy and Wes get to free themselves from being damsels in distress in the whole lame climax fight.

• I’m amused by how much they lean into Jhiera and Angel in this last scene considering none of this ever comes up again and she’s gone from hearts & minds forever.
• There are plenty of points to be made about women being second class citizens & the horrors of female circumcision (not that there’s sense to male circumcision, either–it’s all an archaic exercise in ritualistic mutilation if you ask me), but I think we all get it. Personally, I don’t need to be sold that those things are bad and I’ll assume you also don’t.

Goodbye, Iowa

• Written by Marti Noxon / Directed by David Solomon
• We jump right into the aftermath of the last one with the same group scene at Giles’ (which is really only missing Tara, as far as major characters go). I like Giles’ disgust at the suggestion he “squat in that dank hole” (aka Xander’s basement). I’d be put off, too. 
• Xander being firmly in Buffy’s corner when Riley tries to pivot away from Walsh’s attempted murder effort is a nice bit, as is Riley realizing Spike isn’t “just an old friend of Xanderrrr’s.” Riley’s heavy confusion of who’s good and who’s bad is too much info for soldier boy. Oh, and Spike’s two big thumbs up and huge grin (“If you are trying to kill her.”) is forever amusing.

• The little kid who happily chats with Adam before being disemboweled must be new to Sunnydale as otherwise I’d think he would know better about chatting with monsters. Maybe his parents just dropped the ball about stranger danger.
• The whole basement sleepover looks like it was as hellish for Giles as he thought it’d be (and there’s a Mark of Ehygon tattoo cameo).
• Forrest certainly reveals the depths of his Initiative indoctrination while also happily jumping to conclusions without any info with his “maybe Buffy needed killing” comment.
• I wonder what any witnesses thought of all these random army guys patrolling cemeteries–if they even thought twice about it.

• What’s being loaded away from that kid’s murder scene as Buffy watches from a distance? Surely the kid’s body would have been hauled off by the time Buffy got there. At least Riley shows up in time to be a needless jerk.
• Willow turns to Tara for demon locating assistance, but there’s sabotage afoot. More on that next season, though.
• There’s a lot of “last week” and “a week or two back” stuff in regards to things that happened days ago–timeline snafu. And Riley’s *clearly* going through some kind of withdrawal, does anyone have eyes?

• Anya’s pretty much part of the gang by now, I think. Several of them may not exactly *want* her to be, but too bad for them.
• Oh, and Willy resurfaces for his last yearly check-in, I believe. Next time we pop by he’s just gone.
• Buffy’s disguise being glasses with her hair pulled back is very Clark Kent. Also, wandering into this secret government facility that very recently tried to kill her is amazingly foolish.

• Giles makes tea using Xander’s washer/dryer as the countertop, as there’s no excuse to miss tea time–even hiding out in a dank hole.
• Of course Buffy and Xander overhear just the right conversation in exactly the right hallway to get the information they need. Quite amazing timing.
• Xander disabled military surveillance? I have three excellent questions–How? What? How?

• Adam’s so advanced and next-gen he takes floppy discs right in his chest. The future is now! Anyway, at least he’s kind enough to unload a bunch of exposition so everyone can be roughly on the same page.
• Poor Spike finds out just how unwelcome he is in the demon community now, so I guess no more bingo nights for him.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

• Written by Jeannine Renshaw & David Greenwalt / Directed by R.D. Price
• The Angel/Wes knife chat and Cordy baking brownies has a relaxed air to things until Angel calls Wes “Doyle”–quite the mood killer.
• Creepy family setup of kids’ locked doors, imposing dad, and docile mother lays everything on nice and thick, but what’s with this random car speeding along like it’s trying to kill the kid wandering into the road? So many cars want to murder pedestrians in the Buffyverse.

• They lean into the dad being up to no good so much you can tell he’s obviously a red herring. Oh, and smoking in the house? Classy guy.
• “A father doesn’t have to be possessed to terrorize his children.”–Wes shares a lot about his history with this single line of left field character backstory.
• The demon son reveal doesn’t take long at all, which I appreciate. I also enjoy how the dad goes from combative to receptive while the mom starts pushing back a bit more.

• Why do they think a priest is necessary? I mean, Giles and Willow have done this kind of thing a few times before so it doesn’t seem necessary. What about a Rabbi? Or an Imam? How about someone ordained in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? 
• That cross that sinks into Wes’ neck really should have made a much bigger mess than we saw. It was huge and they ripped it right out of his neck.

• If all Angel had to do was hold the cross with some fabric then why didn’t he just do that in the first place? And the demon boy’s scary voice is too garbled/distorted to understand clearly.
• Another twist, it was the demon stuck in the boy and it wanted out of little Michael Myers all this time. I think this episode does well at not going exactly where you think it will. 

• This family’s going to have a lot to work on after the kid tries to burn the house down with everyone inside. Not so many family game nights in the future, I bet.
• Kate popping up at the very end for a couple lines was always odd to me. They don’t do that kind of thing often, having a guest star for 10 seconds, and if they do it’s usually more monumental somehow so this random, brief appearance that amounts to nothing is weird.

This Year’s Girl

• Written by Douglas Petrie / Directed by Michael Gershman
• Boom, right away Faith. I like that we waste no time dragging out that this is Faith’s awakening episode. And they very much so set up the Dawn stuff (“Little sis coming”) and do it well.

• I forgot how everyone hiding at Xander’s after all the Initiative stuff stretches into this one, too. And Xander has no luck fixing the blaster (with some physical comedy) while Giles keeps busy with doing laundry in an effort to not sit around being useless.
• Riley and his soldier friends exchange words about stuff, but who cares about all that when we have Faith stuff to get to.
• Faith and The Mayor have a picnic with a little snake and cheesecake before murderer Buffy kills him and stalks after Faith, in her 50’s-esque poodle skirt getup. This glimpse into Faith’s mind certainly suggests who she sees as the villain of the piece–Buffy, of course.

• When Buffy, Xander, & Willow find the demon strung up like The Silence of the Lambs there’s clearly a crew guy or something in the woods near Buffy.
• Slayer Sense (& regular sense) Fail: How does Riley get down the stairs behind Buffy unseen?
• Xander jokes about a chip in Riley’s brain, but it turns out he’s not far off…
• Murderer Terminator Buffy pursues Faith into a grave, where after losing for what I’m sure feels like forever she finally wins and climbs out of there–awake. None of those machines respond to her pulling all that stuff out at all, though.

• I love everything about Faith wandering the halls after waking up–the eerie/sad music, Faith’s eyes, the harsh way she gets the news about what’s happened, all over it.
• The Council’s nurse on the inside probably should have called the team first, right? Also, Faith’s hospital room was gross & sad. If the council is happy to kill her in the next episode, why didn’t they just do it at some point in the last 8 months?
• Anya being MIA from the Scooby meeting is already weird, so she’s definitely part of the gang.
• The whole scene where Buffy gets a courtesy call (from the Council?) about Faith being awake is good stuff that nicely culminates in Riley’s “Who’s Faith?” Also, before things go off the rials, Buffy and Giles do opt for rehabilitation as their first choice.

• Faith just turning around in front of Buffy was a great moment on that first viewing and remains a great moment still (followed by a great exchange between Buffy and Faith about the state of things and a fun fight). But c’mon, Buffy, once Faith went over the wall she obviously picked either left or right.
• Giles and Xander continue their dynamic duo as they patrol for Faith, only they bump into Spike (small town) for another amusing exchange as they treat him like an ally only to get a reminder that he’s not their buddy.
• The Council’s nurse must have amazing hair product, considering her hair remains quite still as this helicopter approaches.
• The Mayor’s video hello (after Faith kills the messenger) is the last non-The First appearance of The Mayor of the series. 

• We finally see Joyce again after a good long while–11 episodes since the Halloween visit. She doesn’t go to pieces at all after being taken hostage by Faith, though, which I appreciate. And Buffy wrote her mom actual letters, on paper! That’s something. Very pre-internet.
• The whole Buffy/Faith fight is aces (poor house) and Buffy certainly hits a nerve with the comment about how they all forgot about her because they wanted to.

The Prodigal

• Written by Tim Minear / Directed by Bruce Seth Green
• More of the Boreanaz Irish accent is always a welcome amusement. And the Angel vampire fakeout flashback leads to meeting Angel’s family–he has daddy issues, how original!

• Darla makes her Angel debut and she’s always a welcome sight. She brings a certain energy that livens Angel a bit. And Christina Hendricks says hello.
• Jeez, Kate still needs more adjustment time to Angel being a vampire than every teenager from BtVS. I guess being “older” and set in your world views proves a higher mountain to climb. You’d think she could bond with him over their shared daddy issues.

• Cordy saws into a body with little issue–good for her. She’s picking up life skills.
• Angel should have a different car & look if his goal is ever to be sly and stealthy, really.
• Hey look, old BtVS footage. Good times.
• Kate has pretty astonishing autopsy/necropsy/drug analysis skills.

• Of course Darla wants to be there for Angel’s vampire birth and she’s jazzed he’s gung-ho about killing his whole village. Young love.
• Kate finds dead pops and blames Angel first off, of course, but at least that doesn’t last long. Who puts a business card in with dirty money?

Who Are You?

• Written & Directed by Joss Whedon
• Faith as Buffy is a good SMG showcase, less so for Dushku honestly. Also, “And Eliza Dushku as Buffy” is a fun one time credit.
• Faith gets to know Buffy’s body right away with a tub soak and mirror mockery sequence–“You can’t do that, it’s wrong!”

• I’d think Buffy would be able to overpower a bunch of random hospital guys, especially in this panicked state–wha happen?
• The Willow/Tara romance continues to grow before our eyes, “I am, you know…Yours.”
• Faith dresses Buffy like a hooker, or something. It’s what Faith knows, though. I really don’t think this look suits her, but I’m certainly not the target audience.
• Buffy’s clearly being weird in the Scooby meeting/in general, how come nobody notices? I guess everyone’s too close?
• I’m sure Faith saying all these sexual things to Spike helped his Buffy obsession along nicely. Nobody minds him smashing a beer bottle on the wall? I know it’s the Bronze, but still.

• Adam’s speeches are not my favorite and now all I can think of is this Rick and Morty moment when anyone gives a speech of any kind.
• The Council guys acting like a magic body switch is completely ridiculous seems odd, considering their organizations’ whole purpose is dealing with the supernatural of the world.
• Faith lays in to Tara for no particular reason, just innate bitch, but it actually helps the good guys identify what’s going on and get to work on a solution so she sure shot herself in the foot.
• Faith saving that lady in the alley and getting a moment of genuine gratitude shakes her more than she’d like or accept. Maybe she isn’t as completely rotten as she considers herself.

• Riley can’t tell Buffy’s being extra weird all-around? I know sex is nice and the whole magic side of life isn’t really his expertise, but something is obviously up with her.
• Buffy being stuck in this armored truck and out of the action for most of the episode makes her scenes feel a little stagnant, but at least it doesn’t last forever.
• At least Tara jumps right to the point with Willow “She’s not your friend” and I remember this made me appreciate Tara a lot at the time. Then they get to do that very sensual/erotic spell to help figure out what’s up/how to fix it. I am forever amazed that Willow’s slow development into lesbian went over anyone’s head–how could they watch this scene and not read the room?

• Faith hearing Riley tell Buffy “I love you” is almost the last straw, she can’t handle all these genuine connections in Buffy’s life and how she has a place in the world while Faith has nothing. Oh, and Faith kind of raped Riley by deception according to various episodes of SVU.
• As to Faith’s comment that she’s being doing this since before Forrest could shave, she’s only been a slayer for two years and I’m damn sure Forrest has been shaving for longer than that.

• I’m glad Buffy finally escapes from these incompetent Council idiots–really, they suck. Buffy showing up at Giles’ (as Faith, of course) is exactly the kind of fun I’ve been waiting for from this premise. “What’s a stevedore?” Plus, Willow/Tara barging in only to already know what’s up with a solution in hand is a great moment.
• Barely any Xander this episode, really just that one group scene before then out. Light week.
• Riley goes to church regularly, I guess, which I’d think is another reason he and Buffy are doomed. She’s not too big on group think, whereas Riley seems to need it everywhere.

• And 3 lame vampires who attack a church in broad daylight? That’s Adam’s big accomplishment? They’re hardly some big threat, as we see when Faith shows up to stop them from killing anyone “because it’s wrong.”
• Giles makes a great distraction out front, re: “our families are in there! Our mothers and tiny tiny babies.”

• The sun kills that one vampire *right away* whereas plenty of other times, when it’s a main character, it’s a slow process they can avoid. Loosey goosey rules.
• I know Buffy’s been through a bunch, but she just lets Faith leave? I guess it’s easier than having to deal with any more of her garbage for now.

The Ring

• Written by Howard Gordon / Directed by Nick Marck
• At the very least, this episode has the first use of the “Demons Demons Demons” website.
• Cordy and Wes’ bickering/banter is vastly preferred to the faux-sexual tension of Doyle, per me.
• Angel, Cordy, and Wes should screen people before blindly believing everything anyone says to them, but I suppose they needed to learn that lesson here. Angel should know better in his old age, at least.

• Lilah appears, yay, and she and Angel briefly meet before getting to know each other moreso. I’d forgotten she appears in this silly forced demon fight club episode, where Angel gets captured fairly easily.
• I’m over these scenes of the demon prisoners as soon as they start, honestly. It’s just boring. The genius who jumps through the killer barrier surely had other means of expressing himself?
• Wesley finally gets to be kind of a badass on a small scale and Cordy’s a smooth operator with how she gets them tickets to demon fight club. When left to their own devices they prove to be a fairly effective team.

• Lilah is the most up close contact he’s had with W&H so far, and we don’t have to wait very long to see her again at all.
• Two fights a night and how many nights a week for the fight club means they blow through a lot of their labor really fast–seems unsustainable. 
• The climactic face off is overly dramatic, but at least things finally happen.
• I like the last beat of being conflicted if they should view it as setting free the captives or setting a bunch of demons free to roam the streets. They probably weren’t all evil, so there’s that.

Superstar

• Written by Jane Espenson / Directed by David Grossman
• Right away you can tell something’s amiss from Buffy’s face when she stakes that one guy, but we immediately get to the Jonathan of it all anyway (he’s everywhere, even the credits) so if that went unnoticed there’s always next time.
• I like that after a handful of episodes heavier on other aspects than comedy we get this one, which jumps right in with the silliness and continues it throughout–Jane Espenson FTW. I’ll try to shut up about how great Jane Espenson is, but no promises.

• Everyone defers to him as part of his unearned adulation dream scenario. He never learns, really.
• Buffy can tell things aren’t right, though, so maybe those slayer senses do kick in sometimes. I mean, even lesbians and straight men are attracted to Jonathan–that’s a pretty deep psychosis he’s got if EVERYONE must love/adore him.
• Hey look, pointless shirtless Riley. He’s just a piece of meat to you guys.

• Jonathan’s in the inner circle of all things as part of his vision of greatness–Scoobies, Initiative, starred in The Matrix, and so much more. How does he find the time!
• This random funny episode also clues everyone into the source of Adam’s power, which turns out to be hugely helpful.
• Jonathan, who’s rather condescending to everyone, also sings like a pro at the Bronze while in his lounge singer getup. Fun fact, Tucker (Andrew’s brother, who bred hellhounds to attack the prom) is actually the one singing when Jonathan takes the stage.

• Adam has a henchman we never see again and his reason for being unaffected by the spell (he’s completely aware) is laughable. I laughed at it, anyway.
• Jonathan having sex with twins makes it two episodes in a row with rape by deception, FYI, which he obviously learned nothing from as he tries to do it again in S6.
• Tara bumps into demons a few times so I guess Xander’s not the only demon magnet.
• Buffy wants to take a look at all Xander’s Jonathan stuff and as a result we get a rare Buffy/Anya scene–and what a fun one. Shrimp worlds come up for the first time. 

• At the meeting Buffy calls nobody supports her (Xander’s fairly combative), but Riley ends up backing her up–surely an effort to make peace after Buffy blames him for Faith raping him by deception in the last episode.
• Anya’s lovely directness “Buffy thinks you had a monster cut up Willow’s friend.” is always welcome.
• Buffy gets the intel from Spike by using her brain while the gang has a fun research scene–Xander ignites a book (“Don’t speak Latin in front of the books”).

• Tara’s around for lots of group events and meet ups this episode, so “New Moon Rising” being her first Scooby meeting (as Willow describes it) doesn’t exactly add up.
• This whole episode is more on the road to Dawn, with its whole pave over reality angle.
• Even after everything that happens Buffy still has to tell Jonathan why what he did was so wrong on many levels and, really, he still doesn’t take any of it to heart. He’s a lost cause.

Eternity

• Written by Tracey Stern / Directed by Regis B. Kimble
• The fun/silly opening of Cordy’s awful play suggests a fun episode ahead, except that’s not the case at all.
• Angel & Wes’ “You took the role and made it your own” & “A night at the theater I’ll never forget” comments remind me of my own attempts at finding something true to say that isn’t negative after a friend’s awful show.
• That car Angel saves Rebecca from would have hit her if not for him so I’m not sure what the agent’s plan was for that–hope she survives and books a role from it? And at least this driver *was* in on it.

• This actress and her whole “Poor me, I’m rich and have been famous since I was 14!” schtick isn’t exactly sympathy inspiring. Hard life she’s got, there. Hate being famous so much? Then move away from LA and start a different life with your piles of money.
• How the hell did Angel get into her house? I know they gloss over that, but what the hell? That’s a big thing to gloss over. And if that guy really wanted to kill Rebecca he could have.
• I don’t feel any deep connection between Angel/Rebecca and can’t help but wonder why Angel falls for her woe-is-me crap?

• Why was Cordy allowed to wander around this famous actresses’ house? Did she flash a badge, or what?
• Rebecca pours a bunch of powder into Angel’s drink and it looks quite noticeably gross until they cut to a different shot and it doesn’t anymore–easy enough to drug someone when the editor’s on your side.
• I never quite got the specs of how this works–Angel feels happy because of the drugs so he thinks he loses his soul and acts evil, but he does still have his soul and isn’t evil so…huh? 

• Rebecca getting blood splattered on her face is a nice wake-up call kind of moment, hopefully it works and she stopped whining about how hard her life is as a rich and famous person after this unpleasant ordeal.
• Angel’s a jerk to Cordy and Wes in his “evil” state, but they both manage to hold their own against him and he’s actually fairly easy to immobilize–just takes one fall and knock on the head.
• Leaving him chained up after their wrap-up banter is a smart move. You never know.

Next time we finish S4/S1 with episodes 18-22. Trivia time.

1. What are the names of Xander & Anya’s kids in the fake future vision Xander sees on the wedding day?
2. What was Adam’s power source?

*Last week’s answers: 1) KOUS 14, 2) October 16, 1980