The Good; The tearful, incredibly intimate scene between Buffy and Dawn in bed. Also am I the only one who is charmed by Buffy confiding in Tara who seems to have blossomed once she split up from Willow? LOVE the Buffy/Tara scene at the end, how many times have you seen a character crying on her knees begging NOT to be forgiven?
The Bad; Even with the 'happy' ending hugely depressing.
Best line; Willow; "Shimmy on out when you're done lubricating"
Women good/men bad; The Geeks show their horrid misogyny. Especially awful when they refer to Katrina's body as 'it'. We see the fault lines develop in the Troika as Andrew sides with Warren and Joanthon starts to pull away from them.
Jeez!; The killing of Katrina is just awful beyond belief
Kinky dinky; Where to begin? I've heard that SMG was no fan of the Spike/Buffy relationship, she found it demeaning and it's probably because of eps like this. SO packed full of sex and sexual metaphor with the scene at the Bronze astonishingly graphic (actually that's not true, we see nothing, it's all implied) and kinky (Exhibitionist sure but exactly WHAT sort of sex do they have? What specifically of Spike's goes where precisesly in Buffy? 5th base? Buffy even says she needs "More lubrication"!). It's often cited by Spike defenders as justification for the later bathroom rape scene but her initially resisting then surrendering into bliss here is a very different kettle of fish to that. When she moans 'No' like some porn princess she doesn't necessarily mean no, when she pleads 'Please, stop, don't' through her tears SHE MEANS NO!
French Maid Katrina, we're obviously supposed to think the geeks will hypnotise Buffy into being their sex slave as stated in their original aims in 'Flooded' and the subject of much creepy fanfic (The Erotic Mind Control Archive) I do like the one where we discover the effect of the Orbs wears off but Buffy turns the tables and keeps using the Geeks as a guilt free booty call.
Captain Subtext;
Buffy imagines herself having sex with Katrina. Katrina tells the Geeks they'll be homosexually raped in prison. If ever there was a time for Buffy and Tara to hook up it would be between the end of this ep and the next. Warren tells a struggling Andrew and Jonathon 'You girls stop touching each other'.
Buffy just wants to curl up on the sofa for the night with Dawn but there's a distance between them. Joyce's illness and death brought them closer but Buffy's detachment since her resurrection has forced them apart again.
At the Bronze Spike tries to draw Buffy into the darkness, both inside and out. Instead she draws him into the light...
Scoobies in bondage: Buffy imagines herself in handcuffs (wants to be punished? Is that why she wants to go to jail?) but only in a dream sequence as far as we know for sure.
Kills: 1 demon for Buffy and 2 for Spike
Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 4 Anya; 1 Dawn; 1
Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 7 Giles: 4 Cordy: 1 Will: 3 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 4 Tara; 1 Dawn;1 Spike; 1
Recurring characters killed: 11, poor Katrina Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina Sunnydale deaths; 93
Spike; good or bad? A pivotal episode in this genre. Spike cares for Buffy so he helps her cover up the murder. But he doesn't care for Katrina, he truly doesn't understand why Buffy is so upset at killing her (even Faith and Warren show remorse). Not his fault, he doesn't have a soul. Spike makes many of the arguments that Faith made when she killed Finch but the difference is that Faith was in denial and making excuses whilst Spike actually believes what he's saying, he has no guilt as Faith had. He also comments that he once ate a decorator.
Dawn in peril; 8
Dawn the bashful virgin; 6
Questions and observations; Once again we see the difference in Faith and Buffy, how Buffy reacts to having killed someone and how Faith did (at least how she did in the past). Why doesn't Buffy just go to the Watcher's Council and ask them for their judgement? Willow has had no spells for 32 days, making this ep a full month after DMP. Note Buffy's little 'Thank you' to God/PTB when Katrina's scream interrupts her lusty feelings for Spike. Please note that when Buffy tells Dawn what's happened and what she intends to do Dawn never goes "What's going to happen to me?", she only expresses concern for her sister not herself. "You always hurt the one you love" is featured again just like in the Angel ep RM w/a Vu. Some great acting from Danny Strong when Warren and Andrew are euphoric at getting away with murder, you can just see Jonathon knows he's got in way over his head.
Marks out of 10; 5/10 good episode but not much fun for anyone
The Bad; Even with the 'happy' ending hugely depressing.
Best line; Willow; "Shimmy on out when you're done lubricating"
Women good/men bad; The Geeks show their horrid misogyny. Especially awful when they refer to Katrina's body as 'it'. We see the fault lines develop in the Troika as Andrew sides with Warren and Joanthon starts to pull away from them.
Jeez!; The killing of Katrina is just awful beyond belief
Kinky dinky; Where to begin? I've heard that SMG was no fan of the Spike/Buffy relationship, she found it demeaning and it's probably because of eps like this. SO packed full of sex and sexual metaphor with the scene at the Bronze astonishingly graphic (actually that's not true, we see nothing, it's all implied) and kinky (Exhibitionist sure but exactly WHAT sort of sex do they have? What specifically of Spike's goes where precisesly in Buffy? 5th base? Buffy even says she needs "More lubrication"!). It's often cited by Spike defenders as justification for the later bathroom rape scene but her initially resisting then surrendering into bliss here is a very different kettle of fish to that. When she moans 'No' like some porn princess she doesn't necessarily mean no, when she pleads 'Please, stop, don't' through her tears SHE MEANS NO!
French Maid Katrina, we're obviously supposed to think the geeks will hypnotise Buffy into being their sex slave as stated in their original aims in 'Flooded' and the subject of much creepy fanfic (The Erotic Mind Control Archive) I do like the one where we discover the effect of the Orbs wears off but Buffy turns the tables and keeps using the Geeks as a guilt free booty call.
Captain Subtext;
Buffy imagines herself having sex with Katrina. Katrina tells the Geeks they'll be homosexually raped in prison. If ever there was a time for Buffy and Tara to hook up it would be between the end of this ep and the next. Warren tells a struggling Andrew and Jonathon 'You girls stop touching each other'.
Buffy just wants to curl up on the sofa for the night with Dawn but there's a distance between them. Joyce's illness and death brought them closer but Buffy's detachment since her resurrection has forced them apart again.
At the Bronze Spike tries to draw Buffy into the darkness, both inside and out. Instead she draws him into the light...
Scoobies in bondage: Buffy imagines herself in handcuffs (wants to be punished? Is that why she wants to go to jail?) but only in a dream sequence as far as we know for sure.
Kills: 1 demon for Buffy and 2 for Spike
Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 4 Anya; 1 Dawn; 1
Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 7 Giles: 4 Cordy: 1 Will: 3 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 4 Tara; 1 Dawn;1 Spike; 1
Recurring characters killed: 11, poor Katrina Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina Sunnydale deaths; 93
Spike; good or bad? A pivotal episode in this genre. Spike cares for Buffy so he helps her cover up the murder. But he doesn't care for Katrina, he truly doesn't understand why Buffy is so upset at killing her (even Faith and Warren show remorse). Not his fault, he doesn't have a soul. Spike makes many of the arguments that Faith made when she killed Finch but the difference is that Faith was in denial and making excuses whilst Spike actually believes what he's saying, he has no guilt as Faith had. He also comments that he once ate a decorator.
Dawn in peril; 8
Dawn the bashful virgin; 6
Questions and observations; Once again we see the difference in Faith and Buffy, how Buffy reacts to having killed someone and how Faith did (at least how she did in the past). Why doesn't Buffy just go to the Watcher's Council and ask them for their judgement? Willow has had no spells for 32 days, making this ep a full month after DMP. Note Buffy's little 'Thank you' to God/PTB when Katrina's scream interrupts her lusty feelings for Spike. Please note that when Buffy tells Dawn what's happened and what she intends to do Dawn never goes "What's going to happen to me?", she only expresses concern for her sister not herself. "You always hurt the one you love" is featured again just like in the Angel ep RM w/a Vu. Some great acting from Danny Strong when Warren and Andrew are euphoric at getting away with murder, you can just see Jonathon knows he's got in way over his head.
Marks out of 10; 5/10 good episode but not much fun for anyone