Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Entropy
UPN Episode Air Date 04/30/02

It's been six long weeks since we saw anything new in Sunnydale. Buffy went insane and tried to kill the Scooby Gang, Xander left Anya at the altar, possibly causing her to go back to being a vengeance demon, Dawn's sticky fingers were exposed, Willow wanted Tara back, but thought Tara was seeing someone else, and Buffy told Spike she didn't love him. Except for the vengeance demon part, typical soap opera fare. All the while, Troika (the three geeks) schemed to take over the world, or get free toys, I forget which.

After a few weeks off, the return to Sunnydale begins with the Troika boys chasing vampires through the cemetery. Auditioning to replace Buffy? No. One of the vamps has a metal disc that they want. As Buffy appears and dusts the vamps, Troika escapes with the mystery disk.

The lust-lorn Spike tries to use his rescue abilities as a bargaining tool to get Buffy to tell her friends about them. He must not realize she can kick anyone's butt with or without him. Plus, she figures if they don't hate her after she tried to kill them, sleeping with Spike may not be that big a deal either. However, she still won't continue their carnal relationship for the simple reason that she doesn't love him.

Anya returns to confront Xander, who apologizes for leaving her at the altar, but not for calling off the wedding. He tells her he loves her but isn't ready to marry her. Suffering from a common misconception among newly human women, Anya tells him either he wants to marry her or he doesn't love her. He wishes they could go back to how they were before, and she turns demon and wishes he was never born (a common occurrence among human women). Only he's still there.

She continues to hurl wishes at him, wishes involving tentacles and burning hot pokers, but still none of those things happen. Most viewers will remember that the end of the wedding episode showed Anya being courted by her former boss to come back to the vengeance business, but we were left hanging. So is she demon or not? What's the point of her face turning ugly if she can't cause men pain? Yes, she's returned to vengeance, but she's out of practice and forgot that she can't grant her own wish, only someone else's. So she storms off to try to get Scoobys to wish harm on Xander.

Of course, they all love Xander and would never wish vengeful things upon him. Even the "man-hating" lesbians, who are out for coffee in a very first-date-like mood, have no bad wishes. (Though they do try to explain to Anya that lesbians are not man-hating, they're woman loving.)

Troika is working on their grand scheme with Jonathan having transformed the vamp's disc into some sort of magic lollipop. It seems the lollipop is supposed to lead them to something, but instead lights the map on fire. Meanwhile, while beating up a lawn troll in Buffy's yard, Xander discovers there's a camera inside. Someone is spying on Buffy. Buffy goes to talk to Spike about it and reminds him that she doesn't love him and never will. Willow starts investigating the camera by tracing the wires to the recipient with her laptop.

Spike goes to the magic shop in search of a numbing spell so he can stop loving Buffy. He and Anya talk, drink, and discover they have a lot in common. They end up bonding about the whole human experience and the evils of falling in love.

The two really have a lot in common, though Anya doesn't know Spike is talking about Buffy. A bottle of Jack Daniels later, they've had quite the heart to heart and Spike swoops in for a kiss. One thing leads to another and Spike and Anya are going at it in the magic shop while Willow is hacking her way into Troika's video lines. Apparently, the Troika boys have cameras all over Sunnydale.

Troika realizes they've been invaded just as the feed of Spike and Anya comes up on the wire, and on Willow's computer. Luckily Buffy, Xander, and Dawn are all there to witness it. The geeks desperately try to shut it all down but get distracted by the soft core porn transmitting from The Magic Box. As Jonathan and Warren enjoy Anya, Andrew comments on Spike. I always knew he was gay.

Full of ire, Xander raids the box of weapons and heads for the magic shop. Meanwhile, Dawn sees the look of jealousy and hurt on Buffy's face and figures out Buffy's secret. In Buffy's explanation as to why she's kept her relationship with Spike a secret, she almost admits she has feelings for him. (I knew she'd come around.)

Back at the magic shop, looks of regret float around as Spike and Anya re-dress. Buffy catches up to Xander, whiling his time by wailing on Spike. They all have some words, and Spike takes advantage of this tense time to admit he and Buffy have been together. Just as Spike wishes bad on Xander, Anya stops him. Everyone stomps off in opposite directions.

Back at the house, Tara comes back to Willow all emotional and horny. She goes on about the important steps in regaining trust but wants to skip all that and go straight to the kissing. I guess they're back together.

What a night. It's hard to say whether tonight's episode was really that packed full of stuff or if we're just out of practice from the last few weeks of repeats. Regardless a lot of hanging questions were answered.

Anya has gone demon, but it seems the human form of vengeance was more effective in the end. Demon or not, she still has feelings and I suspect she was hoping hurting Xander would make her pain stop.

The Spike and Buffy thing is slowly creeping out into the open. Buffy and Dawn's sisterly chat made them appear closer than they have been in a while. Dawn offering Buffy relationship advice painted Dawn in a more mature light which will make it more believable if Dawn and Buffy start spending more time together. Now Xander knows too, though he should be worrying about Anya, not Buffy. Tara already knows so the only one left is Willow.

Tara and Willow are apparently back together. The good in this is that we'll be seeing more of Tara's character, but the relationship was much more interesting when they were having problems. It'll be a challenge to keep viewers interested in the happy couple.

The main question that was left unanswered is what Troika is working on. The writers are piecing their next plot together a bit at a time. This is fine for now, because we've been more interested in the social aspects of the Scooby gang anyway. Based on the preview for next week's episode, it looks like we'll get some answers then, though it would make more sense for this to drag on to season finale. Which, by the way, is right around the corner.

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Sharon Goodson