Previously on Buffy: Anya dated a guy/troll, who found the experience tiresome. Spike's insane in the basement, Willow's back, and Anya's lost that lovin' feeling for her vengeance work. And Giles is not on a horse. Damnit.

As Willow unpacks, Dawn cheerfully advises her that the secret to a happy school life is to be just like everybody else. Such friendly banter sounds suspiciously like "Gosh, I know you tried to murder me and all, but let's do be pals." Maybe that's just me. Yep, Buffy needs some time alone after sending her lover to hell, and nobody could be bothered to give her the time of day when she came back. Willow tries to kill them all? Nobody seems too irritated. Gee, that's fair. So much for hoping that at least Dawn might be able to muster a "You know, it'd be nice if you said you're sorry." But the gist of their small talk is that Willow's going back to college.

Talk on the other side of the room has Xander wondering if he should call and see how Anya's doing. Buffy's a bit concerned about Anya's vengeance gig, but Xander is overflowing with confidence that her evil ways are definitely a thing of the past. Never overflow with confidence on this show. It always leads to badness and pain for all. In this case, it leads to an inevitable cut to a room full of corpses with big, gaping holes where their hearts ought to be. And in the corner sits Anya, dazed, covered in blood, and horrified by what she's just done.

We come back from the credits to an hysterical flashback, complete with a cottage full of bunnies. Olaf the not-yet-troll returns home in the year 880 to greet his love Anya, then called Aud. As she serves her lusty man a heaping tankard of mead, she suggests giving some of her many fluffy pet rabbits to the townspeople. Not for profit, just because it feels good to give to others. Olaf thinks she's being silly and foolishly mentions being at the town's bar, which prompts a close-up of a very jealous Aud, asking if he saw another woman there. He tries to reassure her, complimenting her non-load-bearing hips, and she confesses that she doesn't know what she'd do without him. He tells her she'll always be his beautiful girl.

She looks a lot less beautiful in the present, covered in blood.

Across town, Spike confesses to Buffy that he can't trust what he sees. He fondly remembers how Dru used to see things too, and now that he's the one doing the seeing, he knows he's in trouble. Buffy wants to help him, but the surprise is blown because her whole demeanour is too soothing, too comforting to really be Buffy. He insists he would never ask for her help, not after... This Buffy says things are different now, but he's firm. Never. She places a gentle hand on his head, and the camera pans across the room as Buffy enters. The real one this time. Though I suppose she could be another hallucination, but this one acts a lot more like Buffy. She's amazingly annoyed by the very sight of Spike, despite the fact that she's the one who came to look for him. Not that he deserves any particular kindness from her, but if he's so unpleasant to be near, why does she keep going to see him? Hmm, question for a later date. She insists he get out of the basement, but he confesses that he's got nowhere else to go - a tidbit which is sure to be relevant in an upcoming episode, but that's all the Spike for this week.

Over at UC Sunnydale, Willow's eagerly chatting up a professor about getting into her class. The woman says she'll be happy to have her best student back, especially considering the way Willow aced her finals like magic. Imagine that. Willow notices Anya doing a suck job of sneaking out of the nearby frat house. She's gripping a trenchcoat tightly around herself, clearly worried about being spotted, so naturally she runs into someone she knows. Isn't that always the way? Willow's happy to see her and starts to babble about being excited about all the school work she gets to catch up on, and for a moment, it's so wonderful so see some of the old Willow! She's looking forward to pop quizzes! Wow, that's my girl. I missed her. Anya hurries away but not before Willow notices blood on her wrist and goes into the frat house to investigate.

There's blood all over the place. Willow finds the room full of bodies, then hears a girl whimpering desperately "I take it back, I take it back..." Willow finds her cowering in a closet and gets the story. Apparently her boyfriend said there was going to be a big party, but when she got there, she was the only girl invited. My stomach sinks into my ankles, expecting to hear she was gang-raped, but it turns out all he did was break up with her in front of them all, and everybody laughed. Not that what happened wasn't really awful too, but since I was expecting a lot worse, I was more relieved than horrified on her behalf. But in her understandable pain, she said she wished they all knew what it was like to have their hearts ripped out. That's when the spider came. Willow asks where the spider went, but it didn't go anywhere. Over Willow's shoulder, a massive arachnid crawls up the wall, getting ready to pounce. Gack!! Score one for the effects department - this is one hell of a creepy image to take to commercial!

Hearing it skitter (notice how nothing pleasant ever skitters?), Willow erects a magickal barrier then turns to the girl, eyes black, and tells her to shut her whimpering mouth. Eep! Shades of Darth Rosenberg from last season, but it's over quickly as she forces the bug out a nearby window. She shakes off the hateful evil, apologizes to the girl, and the scene shifts back to 880.

Villagers pelt Olaf the Troll with fruits and various meats as Aud looks on. An amused and impressed D'Hoffryn introduces himself to Anyanka, as he insists on calling her, and he invites her to take her rightful place as a vengeance demon. She's cool with that. And why is it that I make all the funniest scenes sound really boring? It's comedy gold, baby. Trust me.

While Willow calls Buffy about the spidery badness, Halfrek pays Anya a visit. Halle says everybody's busting out thrilled at Anyanka's spectacular return to the fold, but Anya is still troubled by guilt. At least until Halle says that's only natural, and it'll pass. Then Anya's suddenly all reassured and confident about it. Pretty dramatic mood swing, really. Having finished her phone call, Willow heads over to Anya's too. She kicks Halle out and puts on her Hypocrite Hat. Or maybe it's her "been there and understand" hat. Hard to say which - I still have Willow issues. More issues than the people she tried to kill, actually. But the episode doesn't pause for my beefs, so onward. Anya insists the boys got what they deserved for humiliating the girl, but as adamant as she sounds, I'm not sure whether she's trying to convince Willow or herself.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Xander are on a spider-demon hunt. They come across a body and figure they're on the right trail, a suspicion which is confirmed when Xander spies some very large and sticky webbing. They hear the demon skittering in the trees above (again with the skittering!), and Buffy pushes Xander away just before it pounces on her. She barely fights it off, getting gouged and bloodied in the process before it takes cover again in the branches overhead. Xander wants to go get better armed, but Buffy ponders the tree for a moment, flings her axe upward, and down falls the dead spider demon. Buffy is cool.

When they get back to Buffy's, Willow is waiting for them. She tells them about what Anya did, and Xander is incensed that she didn't tell them sooner. Xander's all about full disclosure, but he'll be getting a little taste of that in a second. Buffy understands why Willow didn't want to say anything, though. Because Willow knows that Buffy's going to have to kill Anya. Dramatic close-up, cut to commercial.

When we come back, we learn that Anyanka helped start the 1905 Revolution in Russia. As a matter of fact, she and Halle are enjoying an after-dinner drink amid the bodies of the upper-class dinner party Anyanka apparently decimated. Halfrek tries to encourage Anyanka to get out a little and enjoy St. Petersburg while they're in town, but nothing seems to matter to Anya outside of vengeance. It's what and who she is - nothing else matters.

Xander begs Buffy to reconsider, but she's firm. Anya has to be stopped. Xander is angry that she doesn't want to think about options, but Buffy says she has - unlike Xander, it's already occurred to Buffy that this day might come. And then Xander swipes Willow's Hypocrite Hat and makes it his own. Despite all the times he yelled at Buffy to put her feelings aside and kill Angel or Spike, now that it's somebody he cares about, he wants everybody to step back and think about it. He tries to tell Buffy she doesn't know what he's feeling, and she appropriately throws Angel right back in his face. What they're feeling isn't the point - it's what has to be done. Then she reminds him how he cheered her on when she went to kill Angel, giving her Willow's message to kick Angel's ass... oops. Busted!

Man, it's high time that came out, huh? Of course, I've got a nickel sez that's the last we'll hear of it. Still, it's nice they remembered. So Buffy lays down the law because that's what she is. Xander doesn't like the shoe so much when it's on his foot, so he leaves. Buffy looks at Willow, I guess to see if she wants to come with, but Willow's not really up for hunting down a friend today. Instead, she goes upstairs and pulls D'Hoffryn's talisman out of a desk drawer. Hey, wow - they remembered lots of stuff today! Guess they didn't really get rid of all Willow's toys during the Great Magick Clearance of Season Six after all. She sprinkles some spooky sand on the bathroom floor and summons him with an incantation that doesn't sound remotely like the one Anya was trying to remember back in S4. He appears, full of "tremble before my badass might" but stops short a the sight of Miss Rosenberg. All that grandeur's really more for the tourists. The whole demon realm was apparently blown away by her display of vengeance at the end of last season - somebody named Lloyd even has a sketch of Warren's flaying on his wall, hee! She claims that's not who she is anymore, but he's doubtful, considering the anger whammy he felt coming off her earlier in the day. Yeah, well, Willow doesn't have much to say about that - she just wants to talk about Anya.

Xander, on the other hand, wants to talk *to* Anya. He finds her in the frat house where the massacre has apparently gone all day without being discovered - these must have been some really popular guys. He whips out some "stop, let's talk, I'm here to help you" - a highly underused tactic in these parts (insert sarcastic eye rolling), but Anya's really not interested (imagine that). He says Buffy's coming to kill her, but to Anya's credit, she expected as much - it is Buffy's job, after all. So cue Buffy, coming to swagger and threaten a minute like she does from time to time. No disrespect to Her Slayerness, really, but doesn't it seem like half the time she straps on her badass attitude, she ends up getting it handed to her? Not that it happens here - just something I've noticed. Anya tosses her around for a minute, but Buffy's the one who ends up doing the handing this time and runs Anya through with her sword, pinning her to the wall. Cool! I mean, oh no! Eh, I wanna be all scared for Anya here - I really, really do. But we watched Halle get run through last year with a very similar sword, and she made fun of Anya for thinking a little old thing like that would kill a vengeance demon. So I pretend to be frightened, and we cut to commercial.

We return to the caption "Sunnydale, 2001" - Xander's asleep in his chair, muttering about getting a happy ending, and Anya's hair is a very bad blonde wig. And a seriously retro dress that's clearly meant to emphasize the "I just wanna be the little Missus" vibe this scene's about, but between it and the hair, it just looks silly. Anyway, Miss "Didn't Actually Have Blonde Hair At This Point In Time" asks the borderline-comatose Xander if that singing earlier was strange with the coconuts and all, but he seems unphased and sleepy. From somewhere outside, a doleful duet wafts on the night air - a couple lamenting the sad, sad tragedy of a mustard stain. LMFAO!

Anya breaks into a song of her own, looking forward so eagerly to being "Mrs. Anya Lameass Made-up Maiden Name Harris." It's a lovely and funny song that finally underscores the point I think the rest of the episode was trying to make - namely, that she's defined herself by what she's doing or who she's with for so long that she doesn't feel like she has an identity of her own. Not that I ever once got that vibe from her before this episode, but that's the way they've decided to go with her. Mutant Enemy's new mission: get Anya an identity of her own. That is, if she survives the episode. So she swirls and twirls her way through the song, emerging onto the balcony in her wedding dress (hence the poorly timed blonde wig), eagerly anticipating her blissful future as Xander's blushing bride...

Yes, well, we all know how well that worked out. Just as the song swells, so full of hope and joy that it brings tears to your eyes, we come crashing back to the frat house and the sight of Anya pinned to the wall with a sword through her ribcage. Damn. That was possibly the most jarring and effective juxtaposition of images I've ever seen on this show. Well done, guys.

Buffy seems fairly pleased with her efforts until she notices that Anya is not only not very dead, she's pulling the sword out of her ribcage and feeling pretty cranky about how much that hurt. To her credit, Buffy covers okay and puts on her 'I meant to do that' face. So the girls get violent again. Buffy finally has Anya down, ready to run her through (which we've just been spectacularly reminded will actually not do much to Anya but hurt and annoy), but Xander comes flying through the frame to tackle Buffy out of the way. Neither girl seems to appreciate his help very much, but before anybody can launch another volley, it's time for one of D'Hoffryn's spectacular entrances.

Hoff takes a minute to appreciate the pile of dead preppies and suggests that Buffy curb her natural instinct to poke things with sharp objects. He mentions his call from Willow, deflects some gallant instructions from Xander, and then decides to be the first to actually ask Anya what it is she really wants. Anya wants him to take back the wish. He warns that such a huge request requires something in return to balance the scales - namely, the life and soul of a vengeance demon. Xander really wishes they'd consider some kind of alternate pricing structure, but Anya has made her choice. She seems satisfied that if her life is the price of putting this right, she's prepared to pay it. What she's not prepared for is for D'Hoffryn to summon Halfrek and incinerate her before their eyes. Nooo! I loved her! I mean, yay for Anya not dying and all, but noooo!

Anya says he should have killed her instead, but he says she'll probably be dead soon enough since "from beneath you, it devours." Oh, good. It's been all episode long, and we hadn't been reminded of that. Again. Gee, I'd almost forgotten. I surmise from his caustic parting words that she's no longer a vengeance demon, but nobody really says, and nobody really seems in the mood to talk about it. Xander goes after Anya to make sure she'll be okay. They finally seem to reach a peace of sorts, which is nice, but it's also kind of sad because it's got a "final closure" vibe to it that suggests their 'ship is dead and buried. Bummer.

They go their separate ways (pause to enjoy the subtle symbolism), and I suddenly break out in a cold sweat. Anya's shattered, alone, probably without her powers, and walking through Sunnydale at night. It'd be just like that ruthless bastard Joss to decide it'd be a delightfully tragic moment to have her get attacked and killed. But instead, she just walks away, sad and despondent as tears continue to roll down her face. Gosh that's... better.

Thoughts

Please don't let the lack of actual thoughts here suggest I didn't adore this episode because I really, really did. It had a great blend of comedy, action, spookiness, death, and the occasional musical number - what's not to love? It's just taken me so long to get this posted that I'd rather go ahead and do that than get sidetracked again while I try and put together some thoughts I haven't already mentioned.

Some tiny notes, though... I'm not sold on Anya's sudden lack of identity, but I'm willing to go with it if it'll give Emma a few more notes to play. One thing that bugged me was the vibe that X/A is completely over now. I really wanted those crazy kids to work it out. Of course, Xander being unattached now might help open the door to B/X if that's the way the writers are headed. This episode's tension aside, they really have been working the closeness with those two. Still not sure how I feel about that. The "old school" Buffy fan in me would love to see Xander get the girl after he spent so long pining for her, despite loving their other 'ships, I've always kind of cheered for them to hook up before the series was out. But a lot of this season's closeness has been very brother/sister to me, which has really diminished my interest in seeing them get smoochey. Other folks might see it as more of a "domestic couple" vibe, but I'm not sold on it yet. That's assuming, of course, that anybody's trying to sell me anything. It may just be that Joss finally remembered that these guys used to actually be friends.

The carnage in the frat house is chilling and really drives home the scale of what Anya had chosen to return to.

Interesting that Anya's quirky, literal nature is actually part of her original personality, not a result of her "newness" to human life.

You know, people have railed for years about wanting to see "the lie" addressed. And it was great for it to finally come back up, but there wasn't actually any addressing, which was kind of a bummer.

Willow says she's not sure if she trusts her power. Gee, ya think?! That girl needs some "being not evil" remedial courses and quick. Whatever Giles sent Willow back early for better be damn important if she's still coming over all Dark Phoenix.

I was so pleased and proud to see Anya choosing to take back the slaughterriffic wish, but her sudden earnest sincerity was a bit of a surprise. Then again, so was her sudden "Oh, heck, I don't feel guilty anymore" turn earlier in the episode.

By the way, I've just added Mustard Guy and Parking Ticket Gal to my list o' favourite 'ships.

Quirks

Spike says he doesn't have anywhere else to go, but wasn't Clem crypt-sitting for Spike until he got back? I mean, Spike specifically made arrangements to have a place to come back to.

Okay, the blonde hair looked great with the wedding dress, but Anya's hair was dark red and considerably shorter in "Once More With Feeling".

I know the Scoobies have always had pretty good luck with keeping murder scenes undiscovered, but this is a frat house in the middle of a college campus. Not one single person came in all day? Unlikely.

Body Count

Dozen-ish frat guys - hearts ripped out by the spider demon guy (they got better)
Guy in the woods - same lovely death, may or may not have gotten better
Crimslaw Demon - spelling? Eh, the spider/locust thing - got the business end of Buffy's axe
7 or 8 Dinner Guests in St. Petersburg - cause of death unknown, but Anyanka did it - also, a guy who ran through the room all on fire and stuff might have died, but it's unknown whether Anyanka was a direct cause, or if it's symptomatic of the little war Anyanka and Halle's actions helped set in motion.
Halfrek - incinerated by D'Hoffryn

Haiku

Olaf loves his mead
Suddenly not feeling well
Pelt with fruits and meats

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