Previously on Buffy: Buffy doesn't love Spike, Spike doesn't believe her, Willow and Tara had coffee, Spike and Anya had crazed monkey sex on the table at the Magic Box, Xander and Buffy didn't appreciate it, Spike spilled the secret beans about his and Buffy's sexcapades, Tara came back to Willow, and I got really scared.

On with the show...

The morning after we left off, Willow and Tara are in some serious a.m. afterglow. They lounge, naked and content, happy to be together again. Willow mentions being worried about Buffy's reaction the night before, saying she knows it sounds crazy but that maybe there's something going on between Buffy and Spike? Which Tara confirms. Willow's upset that Buffy told Tara and not her, but Tara correctly thinks it was maybe because Buffy couldn't stand to see the freaked out look on Willow's face when she found out. Time to understand, Willow. Pretty much exactly why you didn't tell Buffy about Tara for so long.

Willow throws on a shirt and goes to check on Buffy, but it looks like she didn't come home. Dawn hears Willow in the hall and asks about Buffy. She mentions knowing about Buffy and Spike, and Willow pretends that she had it figured out too. Oh, wow, there's a picture on the wall over Willow's shoulder of Buffy as a little girl. And it's the little girl who played "young Buffy" in last season's "suffocating Dawn" brain loop! Yay, continuity! Then Dawn squeals with the cutest girly delight ever when Tara comes out of Willow's room. Dawn's just so happy to see them together again. I am too. Not that I actually agree with Tara's brisk forgiveness of Willow's bad mojo, but having Tara around is a good thing. A very good thing. Which should never, ever be taken for granted.

Buffy crashes down the door to the Trio's hideout. She walks around, pausing to "ew" a Vampirella action figure, picking up printouts, books, and stuff as she goes, until she finds their dry-erase board with the words "Too Late!" on it. Buffy says, "That can't be good." I happen to agree. So do the GIANT BUZZSAWS that come screaming out of the walls! Buffy does a seriously cool twisting flip to get out of the way, and I don't even sweat the cgi-ness of it because it's just that awesome to see her do neat slayer-type stuff again. Yay! She runs outside and collapses on the grass amid the pile of readouts she grabbed and sees a saw-made gash right across the midsection of her leather jacket. Well, that just makes her mad. Now it's personal. Because Buffy doesn't have enough leather jackets.

Opening credits: Amber Benson! In the opening credits! Oh my gods, yay! Oh, wait. Yay? On one hand, it's about damn time. But on the other? When it comes to BtVS, sudden changes like that make me very, very nervous.

Willow and Tara come downstairs, completely drunk on the happy afterglow cocktail they spent all night brewing. The girls all sit down to go over the stuff Buffy nicked from the MegaNerds' lair, and it's gonna take some time. Especially since they don't think Xander or Anya's gonna be in the mood for research, and Buffy makes it clear that Spike's out of the picture. That part really seems to bother Dawn. Once again, somebody's leaving her life. Not that he was really around much once he and Buffy got all groinal, but it still makes Dawn sad. Makes me sad for Dawn too.

In a bar, presumably on Main Street, Anya's talking to a jilted young woman. Anya tries to draw her into a vengeful wish about the man who scorned her but gets so wound up in understanding the woman's pain that she sets off on a rant of her own, too busy with her bitter and very funny tirade to even notice that the woman she's with keeps trying to make a wish.

Cut to Andrew backing away from a ginormous, pissed off demon. Warren stuns it with a high-voltage cattleprod and tells Jonathan to get busy.

In his crypt, Spike mixes himself a damn strong tequila & blood. Dawn enters, on her way to Janice's, but she wanted to talk to him first. He's clearly upset about how horribly things have gone. I keep thinking Dawn's going to ask him to come back, but instead, she tells him how badly he hurt Buffy. He points out pretty fairly that she didn't exactly treat him well either, but there's no high ground in this argument. They've both been awful to, and for, each other.

Still in the demons' lair (so very much with lairs on this show), we find out what Jonathan was supposed to do. There's a barrier they need to get through that only admits those of the right demony kind. So they've wrapped Jonathan in the demon's skin (can I get a "EW!"?) to pass through it. Not that Warren and Andrew will be too upset if it kills Jonathan. Andrew and Warren make with cool tough talk that just winds up sounding like two terminal dorks trying to make with the cool tough talk. Oh, and if everything works out right, Jonathan'll be out of the picture by the end of the night. Jonathan walks back through the barrier with what they came for - the Orbs of Nezzulicon (or something like that) - basically a set of mystical ben wa balls that'll grant their owner strength and invulnerability. Naturally, Warren gets to try them first. He grabs them, goes all glowy, and snaps a demon's neck with ease. Warren is happy.

Buffy goes to visit Xander. She tries to tell him how much Anya really loves him, why Anya slept with Spike, but the conversation quickly turns to Buffy & Spike instead. Xander's angry at Buffy for hiding it from him, and she tells him he doesn't understand how hard it's been for her since she was brought back. She snaps that her personal life is none of his business, but he reminds her that it used to be. I wonder if these guys really understand just how long it's been since they were really close. The more I think about it, this group started to fall apart long before they even got out of high school. Not that they don't all still love each other, just... I miss the Library.

Buffy reminds Xander that he fought alongside Spike all summer, but he retorts that he never forgot what Spike really was. She points out his recent mistakes, but he takes the high moral ground that at least he's not a killer. Good argument, really. Except for the part about how you were about to marry a woman who spent centuries slaughtering and torturing people and never said she was sorry. Oops, better not mention that part, huh? I love Anya. I really do. She's a bright spot in an otherwise morose group these days. But if Xander's gonna get all righteous about the moral flaws of the guy Buffy was sleeping with, he might wanna get that speck out of his own eye first. Then Xander brings up another good argument. Would Buffy trust Spike with Dawn if he didn't have his chip? She doesn't really have an answer for that. Xander takes a hike.

He walks down Main Street at night, serenaded by misery music. I'm getting tired of the misery music. So very tired of it. He walks past a Verizon product placement to look in the window of the Magic Shop at Anya, who's just as sad and lonely as he is. Willow and Tara are doing some snuggly naked hacking and researching. Willow thinks she may be onto something, but it can wait. There's more naked snugglies to be had. At The Bronze, Xander's inside having himself a nice, depressing drink. A girl tries to flirt with him, and some icky fish metaphor thing ensues that the writers worked so hard on that I hate not to have enjoyed it. But I'll translate. Xander's bummed and wants to be alone. Very well, then.

Except that the Geeks are there, and Warren's doing his creepy prowling thing. Buffy, meanwhile, is at a cemetery fighting a vampire. No, seriously! Again with the vampire slaying! She tempts fate by ridiculing his prowess, and he gets in a whammo of a kick before crumbling to dust. Actually, while crumbling to dust. Pretty cool. So Buffy falls backwards over a headstone with a serious case of ow.

At home, Buffy gets ready to take a nice bath, but Spike comes into the bathroom behind her, closes the door, and tells her they need to talk. He apologizes for hurting her, and he looks so sincere and sorry, and I remember how much I used to honestly believe he loved her. He wishes he could make the feeling go away. Or that Buffy would quit lying to herself about her feelings for him. But they have very different ideas about what love means. She may have feelings for him, but she could never trust him enough to love him. He doesn't think trust matters, that love is about passion and danger and excitement. And he knows she feels the same way, if she'd just let herself.

He grabs her and tries to kiss her, and she pushes him away and says no. Spike won't stop. His hands are everywhere, but she's already hurt and having trouble fighting him off. Then she falls hard against the bathtub and onto the floor. He just keeps telling her to let herself love him. I can't narrate this scene. He holds her down and tries to rape her. It's very real, and it's very scary. And with her injuries, Buffy barely manages to stop him.

I used to be a Buffy/Spike 'shipper. I'm not anymore.

At The Bronze, Andrew's sipping a humongous tropical drink, Warren's sleazing on a girl, and Jonathan's about had it. He tries to suggest to Andrew that Warren's going to end up getting them thrown in jail or worse, but Andrew's loyal to Warren. Pretty smitten with him, actually. Warren's being an absolutely reprehensible cheese to the girl he spotted, actually gleeful when her boyfriend shows up so he can settle an old score from high school. Several guys try to take Warren down, but he's all Terminator with the Orbs now. And he's just extremely gross to the women there, all "Daddy's got some for you too" and whatnot. Which is when Xander gets out of the bathroom. And gets himself seriously beaten up. But before Warren can kill him, Jonathan intercedes, reminding him of that thing they have to go do.

So Xander goes to Buffy's to tell her about it. He sees Spike's leather duster on the stairs and goes up to huff at her for still seeing him. But when he sees her crying and bruised on the bathroom floor, he gets the ugly picture of what happened. He turns around to go after Spike, but Buffy stops him. I wait for the camera to show us the pile of dust on the floor, but it doesn't happen. Willow comes in, dressed and excited about a breakthrough. I'm guessing she was over at Tara's earlier - couldn't see the room very well, but no way they wouldn't have heard Buffy screaming before.

They've deciphered just about everything Buffy swiped except for some strange writing Xander identifies as Klingon love poems. I love it when they remember that Xander's a geek like me. Um, not that I recognized the writing as Klingon. What? Hey, look over there!

So, ah, the Trio's going to be robbing banks and armored cars.

Spike returns to his crypt. He keeps seeing flashes of what he did to Buffy, and he's not even remotely proud of himself. He looks horrified by what he did. He pours himself a drink, but when he sees Buffy's terrified face again, he shatters the glass in his hand. And then Clem's standing there in the doorway with a huge, friendly smile on his face, a bucket of wings in his hands, looking forward to an evening watching the "Knight Rider" marathon on TV. I'm suddenly desperately afraid for Clem. But Spike's too upset about Buffy to take it out on his buddy. He blames the chip. He's always been drawn to Slayers, but he's supposed to be killing them, not whatever this thing with Buffy is. He's had it with the chip.

Outside the Wild River Adventure park, an armored car picks up the money drop for the day. They try to drive off, but Warren grabs the truck by the rear bumper and tips it over. That's not good. We see Andrew and Jonathan waiting in the wings, then Buffy's standing on top of the truck in yet another pastry puff hat. She attacks, but Warren's poorly camouflaged stunt double is easily a match for her. Until she wangs him in the face with the truck's metal door, and he crashes into the park's big, stone archway. It crumbles on top of him. Andrew screams "No!" But Warren's not out yet. He climbs out of the rubble unharmed and cheeses about being a "real man" for Buffy to fight.

Which makes it all the more infuriating that Warren is seriously starting to beat the hell out of her. Andrew screams for Warren to kill her, and Warren gloats about being the guy who beat the Slayer. Then suddenly, Jonathan jumps on Buffy's back. She wheels and tries to knock him off, but before she does, he whispers in her ear, "Orbs! Smash his orbs!" Oh, go, Jonathan! Warren kicks Buffy to the ground and pulls back his fist, exposing the orb pouch on his belt. Buffy grabs it and smashes it on the ground. Warren's mojo is history. He swears he's going to take her down for that, and he tears off his jacket to reveal... a rocket pack strapped to his back? Weird. But, hey, it works! He's outta there. Then Andrew takes off his jacket too. He's got a rocket pack of his own. These accessories are a complete surprise to Jonathan. Clearly, they planned to leave him to take the fall. Andrew fires up his rockets, and oh, wang! Ow! See, when you do that, you have to make sure you're not standing under an awning.

Andrew and Jonathan are under arrest. As they're led, cuffed, into the police station, Andrew is completely destroyed by Warren leaving him. Wow. He's seriously in love and completely shattered that Warren could abandon him like this.

And speaking of leaving... Spike's on the motorcycle he nabbed in the season premiere. He's leaving town. And when he gets back, he promises, things are going to be very different.

Dressed again, Willow and Tara kiss, and then Tara notices Xander in the backyard with Buffy. She tells him about the night before, and he says that Warren won't be much good without his friends. I'm about to argue that the guys really weren't his friends, per se, but Buffy takes the opportunity for a good segue. They sit and talk openly and honestly, like friends. And it looks like the gang is about to finally come back together again. Buffy tells Xander she loves him, but he jumps up in horror. Warren is there. With a gun. Buffy pushes Xander out of the way as Warren fires. And he keeps firing blindly over his shoulder as he runs away.

One bullet goes through the upstairs window. Willow is standing there. There's a spray of blood across her shirt, and the camera turns to Tara. She's been shot, and it looks like it's right through the heart. She falls.

Xander dusts himself off, blustering about where Warren got a gun until when he sees Buffy on the ground. She's been shot too. Willow cradles Tara, who's not moving. She calls to her, begging her to answer, but Tara doesn't respond.

Xander runs to Buffy, trying to stop the bleeding in her chest. She's still breathing. Tara's not.

Then Willow lifts her head, with fire in her eyes the colour of blackened blood.

Thoughts

Warning: strong language and a lot of anger.

I'm shaking. No way. I saw it coming. Too many hints and clues. Bastards. Amber made the opening credits. Finally. Then this. Go, Willow. Kill him. Kill him fucking dead. I've always said that as weird as the scary violent threats get in Sunnydale, one single gun on this show scares me more than all the toothy vampires and stupid spells ever have.

They were too happy. Gods forbid they ever let people on this goddamn show just be happy. Somebody's happy? Then clearly, they're about to meet with horrible tragedy. I'm just furious and heartbroken. I tried to look away last week during the preview for tonight, but I kept hearing Willow screaming. I knew this was coming. I hoped I was horribly wrong. But I wasn't.

I hate being right.

And that wasn't even the sum of it. Spike tried to rape Buffy. Sure, he didn't 'really' mean to, he thought he really loved her... Obviously he didn't. Damn Joss and Marti and everybody at Mutant Enemy for spending so long in S5 and the beginning of this year convincing me that he really did. So he's gone now. And I don't doubt he's off to get that chip out of his head somehow. Random thought - Spike as the big bad next year? That could be cool.

Except I can't get very excited about that anymore with the image of Tara, shot through the heart. Buffy'll be fine. She'll live and figure out she's glad to be alive or something. I'm not worried about her. I just can't stand what they did to Tara.

My favourite three women on the show. Tara, Kendra, and Joyce. All of them dead. Unless somehow they manage to save Tara from a bullet to the heart. But if this show has taught me anything, it's not to bother hoping anymore.

And the bitch of it is? It was a really good episode.

Quirks

How did Buffy know where to find the Trio's hideout? Willow shut down the feed, and we didn't see anything about her pinpointing the signal. And the guys left in too big a hurry to grab their highly informative printouts, but they had time to rig the basement to buzzsaw anybody who moved the dry-erase board? The scene was cool as hell, really, but I just don't see how it adds up.

One of these days, I'm going to count the number of different coats Buffy's worn on this show. Seriously, it's out of control. Especially for a minimum-wage-earner in Southern California.

Spike says he's tasted the life of two Slayers, but that's not quite right. He's killed two, but he didn't bite Nikki on the subway in New York.

Okay, so the Orbs of Whoosits make you strong and invulnerable, but do they really impart fighting skills? I mean, being strong doesn't mean you suddenly know how to do a roundhouse kick.

I know it's gotta be hard to blend the stunt/fight double in with the actor, but I don't think they were even trying here with Warren. Several times, they actually just cut to a plain, full shot of his double just standing there.

Spike's duster. Not with Spike anymore. I don't know how I feel about that.

I know exactly how to feel about what happened to Tara.

Body Count

Tara Maclay - shot through the heart by Warren
misc vamp - staked by Buffy

Haiku

Too upset to cry
All my favourites ripped away
Never be the same

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