Last Week
Buffy tried to kill Anya, Willow did that creepy thing with her eyes and everyone got chills anytime someone uttered "From beneath you it devours."

Ten Second Recap
Dawn tries to woo the high school quarterback but he's making time with Buffy. Anya and Spike have both rejoined the demon slaying fold and everyone has the hots for R.J.

Dawn's character has evolved over the last two seasons. She's not just Buffy's kid sister that gets into trouble every Tuesday. Instead she's grown up and become a part (albeit small part) of the Scooby Gang. However, this episode reminds us that she is still a teenager, prone to crushes, goofy outbursts and the random acts of evil we all had in our teens.

Unlike me, however, Dawn's acts of evil have mystical explanations. Dawn's love interest R.J. has the advantage all teens boys wanted in High School, a magic jacket that drives women of all ages to lust after them. Before too long all the Slayerettes are fighting for him, leaving the new roommates Spike and Xander to save the day.

It's episodes like these that bring up the oft-discussed topic of which Buffy cast member is hottest. I still vote Buffy, but I'll grant my wife the opinion that Spike looked very yummy this week.

Michael Gershman made some Interesting directorial choices this week. For the first time I can recall, the episode flashed back to the second season in order to help remind fans about Xander's previous experience with love spells. It actually threw the timing of the joke off. If they hadn't given us the flashback, those of us that remember the episode would have laughed doubly hard. However, the "Starsky and Hutch" montage made up for it.

Line of the Week:
Anya: "His physical presence has a penis." Willow: "I can work around it."

It was a fun episode this week with almost no mention of the larger season plot. Next week is Buffy's night of the living dead in the episode that would have aired two days before Halloween if UPN hadn't given us a week of reruns. Will Tara return?

Michael Goodson