After months of being laughed at by the cooler, deadlier vengeance demons, Anya shows them what vengeance is all about. At the wish of a heart college girl, Anya summons a spider-like demon to rip out a house full of frat boys' hearts.

Willow happens to be on campus kissing up to her professors in anticipation of needing to kiss up to them later in the semester. It's nice to see Willow back in college. Our favorite witch wanders in to the frat house and quickly recognizes Anya's role.

This sends Xander and Buffy spider-hunting as Willow tries to help Anya. Too bad they didn't stop for a giant can of bug spray. Apparently Willow thinks she can set Anya straight, from one murderer to another. Of course this doesn't work, because if it did the show would end there.

Buffy will have to kill Anya. She's a demon, she's responsible for a handful of dead college guys, and she could easily do such a thing again.

With some trepidation, Buffy breaks it to Xander, who still loves Anya and can't see the reasons she has to be dealt with. He accuses Buffy of being hypocritical for not ever killing Spike even though he was a demon. But Buffy has the ace… her one true love, the one man she would die for and instead killed for…Angel.

Clearly, Buffy is the law and order of Sunnydale, and she's shown that she deserves to be. She takes out the bad guys and protects the good.

But what about when those lines get blurred? Why was it okay to fight for Willow and kill Anya? Why does Buffy still look after Spike after all these years of horrible things he's done to people?

Perhaps because there's hope for Willow, Spike has a soul, and Anya chose to become a vengeance demon. It seems Buffy faults Anya for not being tough enough to handle her broken heart. Having loved and lost so many times, Buffy should be angry when Anya turns to granting vengeance wishes instead of dealing with her own pain. Or maybe she realizes with Anya gone, she's got a better chance at the hottest babe on the show award.

Anya takes a few trips down memory lane in tonight's episode. The singing flashback made me grateful I still have Once More With Feeling recorded to watch over and over. Her romantic ballad of commitment to Xander reminded viewers of the quality of musical, lyrical and comical content Joss Whedon showed himself capable of with that episode. However, it also provided a stark contrast to her uncaring evil-doing tonight.

It isn't that hard to believe Xander still loves her and would selflessly give his life to protect hers. Selfless. Like Anya tried to be by giving herself to reverse the spell she cast that caused such damage.

Funny, at the point where Anya should have seemed farthest removed from the Scooby Gang, she proved herself worthy of their friendship.

Rumor has it next week's Halloween episode will be a star-studded event with all the villains we've loved to hate over the years. Okay, actually it's a repeat of the season premiere, but it is pretty much Buffy's House of Villains. Call Joan Rivers and get out the red carpet!

Sharon Goodson