This season on Buffy: Buffy was unwillingly resurrected from heaven, Giles left, I cried, three dorks decided to work Buffy's nerves, Willow went overboard with the magick, Tara left her, Buffy and Spike brought the house down, she was disgusted with herself, she broke up with him, Xander and Anya were getting married, Xander left Anya at the altar, she got her vengeance back on, Spike and Anya had rebound sex on a table, Tara came back, Spike tried to rape Buffy then left town promising a big change when he got back, Warren shot Buffy and Tara, Buffy survived, Tara didn't, I cried again, Willow embraced the wrathful power of the dark side, she ripped Warren's skin off him, everyone was horrified, Willow split to dispense more evil vengeance.

And we pick up, once again, right where we left off. Buffy, Xander, and Anya are running through the woods, trying to get to Willow before she racks up any more kills. Xander stops, leaning against a tree and trying not to be sick again after what Willow did to Warren. But they've got to keep moving if they're going to have any chance of getting to Jonathan and Andrew before Willow does. Anya tells them that Willow's more "flying" than teleporting, and she shimmers out to get to the guys ahead of Willow. Xander seems to think Willow won't kill them since they weren't involved in Tara's death, but he's not getting the vengeful fury she's running on. Buffy and Xander reach his car, but Willow apparently stopped off to smash it all to hell before she went back to town. That means Buffy's gotta run full-out now, and she leaves Xander behind. He'll just catch up, he says, feeling utterly useless.

In the jail cell, Andrew's trying to listen for some kind of hidden signal from Warren - he thinks maybe it's a big test, and if they pass, Warren's going to finally come for them. Jonathan is way past hiding his contempt and disdain. They bicker, Andrew finally admits they were going to leave Jonathan behind to take the fall, and they're just starting to get into a slapfight when Anya materializes in their cell to bring them the bad news. They call for the guard, and Anya tries to explain that he needs to let the guys out of the cell because they're in danger. He's clearly unconvinced, more curious about how she got into the cell with them. So Anya decides to teleport over to his side of the bars to continue the conversation.

Outside, there's an officer is sitting in his patrol car. The coffee on the dashboard goes all Jurassic Park as Hurricane Willow approaches. He gets out to confront her, but she tells him to take a nap and he slumps over on the sidewalk. She looks up at the wall of the jail, and bricks start falling away. Inside, the guard tells the guys to stay put, that they'll be safe in their cell. Well, that's just rotten advice. Bigger and bigger pieces of stone are flying away, making a hole in the wall, and police start to pour out of the building to gape and threaten ineffectively. Andrew wants to know why she's after them since they didn't do anything to hurt her, but Jonathan knows the score. They teamed up with Warren, which means they're just as guilty as far as she's concerned.

Still in her blue pastry puff hat (I'm sorry, I just can't get past it), Buffy kicks open a side door to the precinct, running down the hall towards the cells. The police don't notice, as they're too busy still swarming outside to wave and shout at Willow. They don't even phase her. She levitates, floating up to the hole in the second floor wall to climb into the cell. But the ones she's looking for are gone. Willow sees the bent bars of the cell and knows Buffy was there. Anya still is and tries to talk to Willow. Willow's really not interested. She knocks Anya to the floor and lets loose with a scream that would make the Furies proud.

Outside, the guys cover their ears against the sound. Buffy says they'll need to make a break for it past the cops who are now all gaping up at the hole in the wall. But then Xander drives up in a police car. He yells for them to get in, and they all hightail it out of there.

On the road, Jonathan and Andrew aren't impressed with the "run away" plan. But when Xander offers to pull over and let them out, they simmer down a bit. Jonathan wonders why Willow doesn't just magick them dead, but Buffy understands that Willow's not just after their deaths. She wants the satisfaction of killing them up close. Andrew still can't get past the idea that Willow wants to kill them even though they didn't hurt Tara, and Buffy rewards his input with a punch in the head.

Jonathan speaks for everyone when he says he can't believe that was really Willow, someone he's known for years. Then suddenly, something rams the car. Willow has hijacked a semi. The driver's still at the wheel, but it's doing him no good. She's standing on top of the truck, controlling it herself as she pursues them. Xander pushes the car faster, but she keeps ramming them, unconcerned for her friends inside. Finally, she starts to run out of juice and slumps to the roof of the truck. The driver regains control, grinding to a halt, and Xander drives on.

Meanwhile, in Spike's crypt, Clem is trying unsuccessfully to keep Dawn entertained with a snackfood taste test. He tells her he's so sorry about all the badness and offers to do anything he can to help. Then Dawn gets that "I'm gonna go get myself kidnapped" look in her eye and says "Anything?" Clem and I both groan at that. And if it's all the same to Dawn, he'd rather not piss off the Slayer, what with him being a demon and all. But Dawn says a demon's exactly what she needs. She appeals to him, saying Spike would have helped her, and he reminds her that Spike is gone.

Spike's still in the Africanesque beachfront cave, actually, ready to undergo the trials he needs to pass in order to get what he came for. He's got to fight a very muscular and human-looking guy to the death. For a moment, I wonder how he's supposed to kill the guy, since he's still chipped, but all of a sudden, muscle dude bashes his fists together, and they burst into flames. Then they hit Spike very soundly in the face.

Dawn and Clem are now looking for Rack's place. He's still hating the plan, especially now that he knows what it entails. She wants to see if Rack can help her find Willow. Which is a pretty good, except for the creepy bad guy-ness of Rack. Clem really doesn't want to see Rack - he's apparently unkind to the floppy-eared. But with Dawn determined to go with or without him, Clem grudgingly comes with.

The group reaches the Magic Box, Anya with them again. Xander thanks her for her help and asks if she can still sense Willow. She can't, which Anya says means that Willow's gone way past simple vengeance now. Buffy tells Jonathan and Andrew to pretty much sit down and shut up while she, Xander, and Anya look for something that will help them against Willow. The books certainly won't, since she literally sucked them dry. But Anya unlocks a box to retrieve a book of protective spells, kind of an anti-magick grimoire of sorts. Unfortunately, she can't read the spells since they're in something that looks Sumerian. I have a Season 4 flashback and remember that Giles *can* speak Sumerian, and isn't it about freaking time to call Giles?! Patience, Liz. Patience.

Jonathan wants to help. Buffy wants him to see above re: "sit down and shut up". She makes it clear the only reason she's protecting them is that she doesn't want Willow to cross that line. But with his background in magick (magick bone, superstar, etc), he can tell her that Willow's going to need to recharge soon. Buffy thanks him and reminds him about the sitting down and shutting up.

Xander pulls Buffy aside with the question of the hour - namely, what the hell the plan is. Buffy says the plan is for her to talk to Willow. Ow. It really hurts when I roll my eyes that hard. At least she finally takes off the pastry puff hat. Then she exposits that if Willow's battery's running low, she's probably headed somewhere to recharge.

Which places Willow over at Rack's. He feels her enter, and he's positively erect at the power he's feeling from her. Which means it's time for him to make with the creepy pimp act, feeling up his ripe Strawberry. Man, Jeff Kober is the king of creepy. But it's role reversal time - Willow plants her hand on his chest, lifting him off the floor as she starts to suck him dry. And because it's a horrible time for it to happen, Dawn and Clem finally arrive. He waits in the appropriately named waiting room, and Dawn goes in. She shrieks at the sight of Rack hanging dead from the ceiling, but before she can run, Willow is there, blocking her way.

Dawn takes one look at Willow and realizes she's into the bad mojo again, what with the black hair and the new veins she's sporting on her face. Willow casually cops to killing Rack, and Dawn tries to leave. But Willow isn't about to let her go get Buffy. Dawn tries to appeal to her, saying she misses Tara too, and for a second there, Willow seems to snap out of it. Doesn't last long, though. She taunts Dawn, saying that if she went back to being a mystical ball of energy, maybe she'd quit being so whiny all the time. I'm stuck somewhere between horror and giggles when she says this. But then she just gets plain cruel, mocking Dawn for crying when she lost Joyce, Buffy, and now Tara. She's going to make that stop, put Dawn out of everybody's misery, and turn her back into the little energy ball. She advances menacingly, and Dawn cowers against the wall. Then the door swings open, and Buffy tells Willow to get away from her sister.

Anya is making only marginal progress translating the spell. She's frustrated at not knowing the language, and I bite my fist to keep from screaming at her to call Giles. Jonathan tells her it looks more Babylonian than Sumerian, and Xander ungratefully invites him to cram it. So Jonathan returns to his seat at the table where Andrew proposes an alternative - namely, getting the hell out of there. They can team up, be The Duo or something. Jonathan can even be the leader and boss him around all he wants. You know, I'm firmly anti-Andrew cuz of all the gleeful evil and stuff, but then he goes and says something so vulnerable and earnest that makes me like him again. Andrew is desperate for a way out and begs Jonathan to tell him what to do. Jonathan grabs him by the shirt and backs him against the wall, telling him to grow up. Xander tells them both to pipe down so they can work on the protection spell, and Andrew asks them if they honestly think Willow's going to stop after she kills him and Jonathan.

Xander thinks she won't hurt her friends, but Anya thinks he's deluding himself. He wants to know, then, if Anya's going to turn on him if things get really bad, if she's going to join the vengeful free-for-all. She admits she doesn't think anything would give her greater pleasure, but even though she's re-demon-ated, she can't hurt him. He takes issue with her definition of hurt, reminding her of Spike, but she tells him that wasn't vengeance; it was solace. She tells him that was his own fault, but he blames himself for something much larger. He saw the gun in Warren's hand and couldn't do anything in time to stop Tara and Buffy from being shot. He feels horribly guilty and once again, so completely useless.

Buffy, meanwhile, is telling Willow to back down. She tries talking some sense to Willow, but it goes about as well as it did when she tried to stop Willow from going all payback on Glory last season. Willow isn't even remotely interested in listening. She's also referring to herself in the third person, distancing herself from the nerd-turned-junkie she is, saying the only good thing she ever had going for her were the moments when she could see herself in Tara's eyes. Buffy tells her she can't keep this up, or it'll destroy her, but Willow is huge with not caring. Then Buffy tries to tell Willow not to give up, that there's too much to live for, and Willow and I both bark at the ludicrous irony of Buffy giving somebody this particular pep talk. And while she taunts Buffy, the room starts slowly swirling.

Suddenly, they're in the Magic Box. Buffy and Dawn both fall over, disoriented and weak after the trip. Then Willow turns to Jonathan and Andrew and lets loose with a furious jolt of purple lightning. It doesn't hurt them, though. Willow's surprised but undeterred. She tries again, and the power sizzles but still doesn't hurt them. Then the camera shifts to reveal Anya behind a drape, chanting from the spellbook. The boys try to bolt out the side door, but Willow slams it shut. They grab swords off the wall because those'll be incredibly useful against murderous spells.

Meanwhile, Spike... oh yeah! Spike and the flaming fist guy! I remember them! Things aren't going so well for him. He's covered with burns and bruises, and he's probably been nearly incinerated several times from the looks of him. But he's about finished taking this particular beating. He picks himself up, grabs FlameFist's hand and knocks him to the ground. And because the theme of the match is "kill or be killed", he snaps the guy's neck. Trial passed. Only, not so much. That was just the first stage.

Willow still can't get past the spell that's protecting the guys, so she decides to do it the old fashioned way. If the old fashioned way involves doing a spell to make yourself strong enough to beat people to death. That's when Buffy steps in. She says she doesn't want to hurt Willow, but Willow's *really* not worried about that. She belts Buffy in the face, and the Slayer flies across the room to land in a heap. But she picks herself up and makes herself clearer. She doesn't want to hurt Willow. Wham! It's Willow's turn to go flying across the room and crash into the display case.

[That sound a bit familiar? "I don't want to hurt you, baby. Doesn't mean I won't." -Spike, Becoming II]

So while Willow's down, it's time for Xander to lead the escape. He takes Dawn and the guys, stopping to make sure Anya's coming too. But she can't. She has to stay and keep reciting the spell, or Willow will wipe the floor with Buffy. Wow, I'm impressed. Xander doesn't want to leave her, but she tells him to go and do something right (the "for a change" is implied). He looks both hurt and motivated by this, and he reluctantly leaves to get the others to safety. Anya watches him leave, then resumes the spell.

Willow gets up, about to follow, but Buffy blocks her way. They do the "crowd-pleasing threats and swagger routine" and then they begin. It's a pretty even fight at first. Willow remembered to include fighting skills in her upgrade, and she flings Buffy into the bookcase, into the display case... the Magic Box is getting trashed. Buffy is still trying to talk to Willow, telling her to stop this. Willow remains unimpressed. And the constant crashing into stuff starts to take its toll on Buffy.

Outside, Jonathan needs to take a break from the running away to catch his breath. Xander says they need to keep moving, but Andrew would much rather just skip town and head to Mexico. Xander tries to give the marching order, but Andrew refuses and holds the sword he still carries to Xander's throat. Oops.

Buffy throws Willow across the room. She crashes into even more shelves (the ones Xander built last year, in fact), then looks up to see Anya chanting the spell. Buffy tries to intercede, but Willow flings her against the table, which collapses. So does Buffy. Then Willow advances on Anya, who resolutely continues chanting.

Xander tries to get Andrew to put the sword down, but he doesn't budge. And then Jonathan raises his own weapon to Andrew's throat, telling him to let Xander go. Andrew won't, but Jonathan keeps pressing the blade against Andrew's neck until he finally relents. Then Jonathan informs Andrew that when this is all over, they're going back to jail to do their time.

So how do you make Anya stop chanting? Grab her by the throat. Buffy's still collapsed on the floor, unable to stop Willow, who tosses Anya into the opposite wall. Anya falls, unconscious, so it's Buffy's turn to get up. For all the good it does her. Willow knocks her into the desk, and she collapses again, also unconscious.

Willow says she gets it now. That being the Slayer isn't about the violence; it's about the power. But right now, she insists, there isn't a single person on earth with the power to stop her. Then suddenly, a huge blast of green fire knocks her down. She looks up at the door to see who it is.

It's Giles.

And he'd like to test that theory.

Thoughts

Phwoar, Giles! Looking so gorgeous and strong and every bit the man to save the day. Giles will make it all better, right? Unless Willow kills him. And that really would be the blow she'd never recover from. Not to mention that I'd never forgive her. But the sight of him standing in the door, half-Giles, half-Ripper... during this, my hubby was in the next room, on the phone with someone from work. I have no idea what kind of noise I made at the sight of Giles, but I heard him reassuring the guy on the phone that the woman screaming in the background was, in fact, okay.

Did I happen to mention that I love Giles?

But, um, there was other stuff too. I'm just having trouble separating it from the second hour, though, so I'm putting it all together under Grave. Those 10 seconds at the end, though? Wow.

Quirks

In the opening sequence, there was an odd abundance of floodlights out in the woods.

Jonathan mentions knowing Willow almost as long as Buffy and Xander, but he's known her a lot longer than Buffy has.

Maybe it was Willow's mojo that closed the gap, but a police car should be able to drive a lot faster than they were going, definitely faster than a semi.

Just like Buffy in "I Robot", Dawn walks all the way into the room and takes a full look around before she spots Rack's body hanging from the ceiling. I've never had the misfortune of walking in on a scene like that, but I'd imagine your eye would be kind of drawn to the hanging guy right off.

Plus... there was some stoned guy lolling about on the floor of Rack's back room when Willow got there, but we didn't see him leave before Willow got her veiny on. Did he pass out and remain on the floor, forgotten for the rest of the episode? Did he make a stealthy exit? Or did Willow go ahead and kill him too since she was already on a roll?

How did Buffy find Rack's place? She needed Spike's help before, Dawn needed Clem, the place is on the move, and she just walks on in by herself? And while I'm thinking about it, where did Clem go? Did he not hear Dawn shrieking? Did Buffy send him home? Inquiring minds wanna know.

I'm not sure how Anya's spell worked. She had to translate it, was working on it in English, but then when she uttered the spell (the same 4 words repeated over and over), she was chanting in a language that was likely Sumerian. So why with the translating stress if she could just read it as written?

Spike's hand hurts after grabbing FlameFist's fist, as naturally it should. But I'm extremely impressed that he was able to stand there holding it without bursting into flame himself. That Spike is one amazing guy.

Body Count

FlameFist - neck snapped by Spike
Rack - drained/killed by Willow's magicksuck
Possible also: did Willow kill the stoned guy on the floor @ Rack's?

Haiku

Standing at the door
He wants to test that theory
This is gonna hurt

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