SPOILERS from here on if you haven't seen the episode yet.
this week's show is just another that is making this season one of the best yet, in my opinion.
b/s: i am so very upset about what happened with them tonight. it will be very interesting to figure out what's wrong with buffy not just in that spike can hit her without any pain, but what would possess her to have sex with him. the kissing, i understood. she's depressed and he's the only person it seems she can talk to about it, but now she sleeps with him. the only thing i can figure is how they're both sort of not completely what they're supposed to be. spike's a vampire, but he can't hurt anybody and buffy's a human, but for some reason, he can hit her. neither of them fit in and i guess she thinks they fit each other....or something.
w/t: i was so glad to see tara. i figured she'd disappear for a while, but not so. her two scenes with dawn make it even more evident that it's almost like dawn's parents getting divorced. dawn trying to put in a good word for willow and trying to keep tara at the house, so they can at least see each other (that will be interesting when willow comes home with amy next week. i predict some big misunderstanding shall occur.)
willow having amy around certainly isn't going to help the situation at all seeing as amy is just as aloof with the magic as willow. as usual, anya was completely right in saying it's the responsible types we have to watch out for. i realized that willow has been showing signs of this behavior since at least "Gingerbread" when she told her mom she was "having a rebellion". and she again puts down her high school self. worry worry worry.
as for jonothan and co. i still don't see them as being the big bad. i just can't figure out how stealing a diamond has anything to do with taking over sunnydale. only time will tell.
there were, as usual, several funny parts that must be mentioned:
*Tara: 'good god, that's a lot of shake. please promise me you'll eat something green tonight. leafy green, not gummy green.'
*the girl in the bronze is named Brie, like the cheese (along with all the other cheese references in buffy, it's funnier because it's former rat amy who picks her out)
*Amy: 'and did you hear about tom and nicole?!'
i'm sure there were more, but i can't think of them off the top of my head...
anyhow, that's all i've got on this one. hope you all enjoy it as well.

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And Dawn so needs a great role model right now, with Buffy going through all kinds of emotional badness and with Giles gone. And it's great for Tara, too, so she won't be alone. Her world kinda revolved around Willow and the Scoobs for the past couple years, so I'm kinda wondering how she's handling everything.
I can't believe coax and I are have the same views on something for a change!