Last Episode
Spike wrestled with insanity. Andrew was captured and questioned. The First drained Spike's blood to release the Ubervampire. No mention of the previous week's cliffhanger with Giles was made.

Ten Second Recap
Giles and the Slayerettes show up at Buffy's house. Buffy loses two straight rounds to the Ubervamp. Spike bobs for apples with Drusilla.

The First's plan to destroy the Slayer legacy is revealed this week and it's a pretty good one. By wiping out the Watchers Counsel, the Slayers in training, Faith and finally Buffy, the Hell Mouth will be left without a guardian and the balance of good vs. evil will be forever skewed.

Annabell, Molly and Kennedy arrive as the first of possibly many Slayers in training. With her obnoxious clothing and cockney accent, Molly stands out like a sore thumb . Annabell plays the dutiful Slayer that listens closely to everything her superiors say, a la Kendra. The shining star of the three is Kennedy, and would be the most likely to replace Sarah Michelle Gellar if necessary. Her wardrobe says "I'm hip and cool," while her smile says "you know you want me."

However, she might want Willow.

For a refreshing change, Buffy and Spike didn't have their usual banter this week. I like Spike and all, but we've been exposed to too many back and forth conversations this season and the last. It's nice to have a breather.

While sitting around Buffy's house looking for research material about The First, Buffy makes the remark that in her previous encounter with The First, "they nearly got Angel to kill himself." For those of you that don't remember the episode, allow me to summarize.

Amends, in Season 3, was written by Joss Whedon. Angel, who had recently been Angelus and killed Giles' love interest Jenny Calendar, is now being haunted by her ghost. Jenny tries to convince Angel that regardless of his soul, he is evil and should kill himself for the greater good. When Buffy and Giles investigate the apparition, Giles finds reference to The First, the first evil, older than man or demons. The Firsts' high priests, the Bringers, are robed men with no eyes. Giles tells Buffy that she cannot fight the First, but Buffy decides she can fight the priests. Blah, blah, blah, Buffy saves Angel and The First gets a 1 in the loss column.

See? All of this was set up years ago and that's what I love about this show.

My question is this: Why is it that every time Buffy wants to find out more about The First, she says that they need to find Spike. Why not give Angel a phone call? He's come back from Hell for her; it can't be that hard for him to come back from the WB.

There was an oversight in the script this week. Right before Annabell dies, Buffy and Company are in Buffy's house handing out weapons and getting ready to fight. Annabell leaves, dies and Buffy shows up minutes later alone, unarmed and without a plan.

I was expecting the chase scene through the warehouse (which looked like an homage to The Terminator) to be a trap that the Scoobies had set. Instead, Buffy ends up looking like tenderized meat. You'd think that after 6.5 seasons of fighting evil, Buffy would be smart enough to not run into a situation without a plan.

Buffy's buttkicking results in the final moments of the show, a series which, by the way, consistently delivers outstanding endings. Already this season we've been treated to exciting cliffhangers and beautiful cinematic endings like Spike draped over the cross.

Unfortunately, Buffy's speech at the end of the show didn't click. While it was supposed to signify a change in Scooby policy to no longer be reactive to evil but seek evil out, (hmmm...GW the Evil Slayer...)it felt hollow. It had the same delivery and tone that we've heard in other "let's get serious" monologues.

When we last saw Giles, an axe was swinging dangerously close to his head. This week he arrives with the few Slayers in Training and some news about The First. One of the things he mentions is that The First only takes the form of the dead and it cannot touch objects.

Notice that no one touched Giles this week. Annabell is holding the files on The First, not Giles. Also, as Buffy is climbing out of the Christmas tree lot, Giles momentarily appears to glow. Has he met the same fate as the rest of the Watchers? Did one of our favorite characters die off camera without fanfare and a glorious sacrifice?

They sure want us to think so…

Line of the Week
Willow: "Buffy, I'm really sorry for letting you down you know, here, before all of the magic going all 'ahhhh' and me going all 'eeeeee' and everything getting all 'errrrrrr.'"

Michael Goodson