Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 6x13 Full Reaction
Added 2025-03-10 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
Comments
"Once More With Feeling" was supposed to spill all the secrets they were keeping from each other, but guess what, they went right back to keeping secrets from each other, which drives them apart. It makes Willow and Buffy both unable to help each other when they really need each other the most. Dawn and Buffy are not even getting along and they should be super tight, as they are all they've got. Tara is amazingly still available for Dawn and for Buffy. Even Xander is preoccupied with his own fears, and it seems like more than just pre-wedding jitters. Spike is realizing this is not good for Buffy, and the idea of losing her now makes him desperate, (and violent to her). Spike and Buffy are speaking the language of abuse, of toxic codependence, and tho the blows are not hard enough to really hurt each other, they are a kind of sick lashing out from their own pain of existence, and taking it out on each other. Its also part of their sex, they want it to hurt as much as they want it to satisfy their urges. They do crave punishment, as if they could crawl out from the depression if they felt they had suffered enough it would disappear. Dawn I'm afraid is not written too well so far this season, it is like her character is dead-ending, and they don't know how to fit her into the more adult plots going on with the other characters. Last season she had the mystery of her origins and the villains coming after her, and her mom's death, and so on. This season she is kind of reduced to a few lines here and there. Willow is going through it, and I don't think she can live without Tara, no matter what other stuff she tries. How can Tara live without Willow? Again Willow is all Tara has.
spikeysnack
2025-03-14 09:47:39 +0000 UTCAnd one more thing I forgot to say. That line "you at least like me" is what Spike thinks about all of this. That it's just sex, nothing else. Old Buffy would never have allowed herself sex without love. But the old Buffy is gone, she died. And she is trying to feel something, to regain her senses. Spike at this point was in Riley's shoes, except he wasn't leaving. But he never really thought that Buffy could love him. Especially since she repeatedly told him that it would never be him. Of course, he asks, he is interested, but this question is rhetorical. He knows the answer for himself, knows from his conversation with Riley in his crypt that Spike will never stand a chance. He knows, probably, from the moment when he realized that he is obsessed with her
ThePowerDrome
2025-03-12 02:08:08 +0000 UTCListening to your talks before and after the episodes are sometimes extraordinarily amusing. Knowing what you are getting right and what things about which you are completely wrong. If you only knew....what is to come.
Douglas Robertson
2025-03-12 01:05:53 +0000 UTCSarah's acting at the end with Tara is top notch!
aeronitz
2025-03-11 23:53:47 +0000 UTCYeah, this episode conjures up all sorts of feelings. I think it's the perfect display of how "juvenile fantasies" aren't harmless once you're no longer a juvenile. A few episodes ago we saw them joking about spying on the girl's bathroom when they're invisible, which is something of a cliche fantasy for kids to have, but it's not funny when they're not 12 year old kids idly making wishes. When they can actually do it -- which 'translates' in the real world to people using cameras or peepholes for voyeurism -- it's a serious invasion of privacy. The ability to mind control somebody is another "harmless" fantasy for a kid, but when they can actually do it -- which could 'translate' as drugging somebody or other form of mental incapacitation -- it's just-plain-rape. Like Katrina said. The argument Spike and Buffy had when she was trying to turn herself in connects to the conversation that Doyle had with Angel back in the first episode of that series. That this isn't a numbers game. That if all you do is look at the total People You Saved, eventually you're going to stop CARING. And then maybe you'll stop saving them. Despite how low Buffy is at this moment, she hasn't reached that point yet, and she doesn't want to be the sort of person who would.
JBK405
2025-03-11 23:49:37 +0000 UTCIt's on Tubi, free with ads. No subscription or account needed.
JBK405
2025-03-11 23:39:40 +0000 UTCIf Buffy is truly leaving Hulu in 11 days, does anyone know where it will be available?
aeronitz
2025-03-11 23:10:49 +0000 UTCShe made a quick comment in the regular chat.
Andrea Frank
2025-03-11 14:03:53 +0000 UTCBuffy was 100% projecting onto Spike while beating him up in that alley. "You don't have a soul. There is nothing good or clean in you. You are dead inside. You can't feel anything real." That's how Buffy feels about herself: a dead thing, just like Spike is. Once we understand that, Buffy's behaviour this season makes a whole lot more sense.
Mornir
2025-03-11 11:09:58 +0000 UTCCan anyone confirm for me whether or not Cass has talked about Michelle Trachtenberg's passing in any of her recent videos? I didn't see any video discussion about it and it seems odd to just not address it at all considering it happened during her time watching the show, and all of us viewers and fans have been fairly stunned by it. Wondering if I missed it somewhere.
Mornir
2025-03-11 10:15:33 +0000 UTCHow off her game Buffy is, but also how dangerous people with that kind of mentality can be - often without even realising what they're doing.
Jack
2025-03-11 07:44:05 +0000 UTCSpike knows buffy doesnt belong in the dark and has a light side. He just doesnt care to think beyond his own selfish desire to have her at the moment. Thats the thing about not having a soul. He has no moral compass, Buffy is his moral compass. If spike had his chip removed and buffy told him he could be with her if 1) he never harmed a living being again OR 2) if he killed 20 innocent people, i think he would Happily do either without a second thought. He is motivated by buffy and he has recent evidence that buffy comes to him when she is lonely, isolated, and depressed. So he is doubling down on it. If she came to him when she was positive and happy, i think he would double down on that too.
mary smith
2025-03-11 04:03:18 +0000 UTCA couple of things that have occurred to me: Relationships; we have two broken relationships in Willow/Tara and Warren/Katrina. Where the W/K relationship is irretrievably broken, there are signs of healing with the W/T relationship. Fact is there's no telling how things go in that department... which works and which doesn't however it is clear that there is some hope so long as a certain level of selfishness is not crossed (Warren clearly crosses this line big time even before the criminality). This demonstrates that even if the relationship between Willow and Tara is never repaired, they can both be at peace with their history. Now, the trio... I had the thought of "borderline personalities" pop into my head. This may be an inaccurate characterization due to my not being up to par on my psychology knowledge yet... I get massive "Manson cult" vibes from this situation and Warren is the definitively the strongest personality of the three and is the primary driver into "utter darkness" for the trio. Not that it lets Johnathan and Andrew off the hook as they are at best accessories during and after the fact. It does give room for leniency as, for example, in Nebraska (the state I grew up in) it would not be Johnathan and Andrew getting the Death Penalty (life in prison at worst for them). Hopefully my ramble added some value. Looking forward to the next developments. Cheers.
Michael Labs
2025-03-11 03:08:34 +0000 UTCOne of the things that makes Buffy's closing plea to NOT be forgiven so powerful is how consistent it is with what we've always seen of her character: her enormous sense of responsibility not only makes her blame herself when things go wrong, it makes it almost impossible for her to forgive herself. Think all the way back to Season 2's "I Only Have Eyes For You," where, still blaming herself for 'killing' Angel, she can't give any sympathy to Ghost James who she identifies herself with. Even at the end, she says that she still can't understand why he was forgiven. She hasn't changed. All through this episode she feels she needs to be punished for what she's done, for how she feels. When she beats on Spike (a 'dead thing' who, again, she's identifying herself with) she's beating on herself. Spike loves her, but, as she tells him, it's impossible for him to understand why she feels this way. He's soulless. Thank God for Tara, who not only has the heart and understanding to forgive her (even if Buffy doesn't think she deserves it), but also the wisdom to tell her that if she loves Spike "it's okay," and that if she doesn't it's okay, too. No judgement, just understanding.
DanielOrme
2025-03-11 01:06:52 +0000 UTCThis episode was hard to watch but I agree that it did a good job to elevate the villains from comedic relief to actual villains, I think it raised the stakes for the season. It’s hard to watch because of how people like Warren actually exist irl. And Tara is an amazing person, had to mention that.
Ahmad
2025-03-11 00:13:05 +0000 UTCLoved your reaction, you seriously raised my opinion of this episode.
slypeartree
2025-03-10 23:32:24 +0000 UTCso funny reactors at the start of s6 are always like "oh this annoying little trio, yeah Buffy will kick their ass in this episode for sure" and it's like NO, (among other things) they are supposed to show you how off her game Buffy is this season
madfem
2025-03-10 23:13:12 +0000 UTCSo many of you dissect and get philosophical about episodes. I have no talent for that. I WOULD like to say that I have never seen The Trio as one entity. They all have varying talents, that work together & came together for some villainous goals. Ultimately, their differences are pulling them apart w/ this episode showing the cracks greatly widen. Jonathan sees that things aren’t going the way he thought & all is going to sh_t. Andrew is shocked too, but he still idolizes Warren & that hasn’t yet been chipped. Warren is truly a bad person, maybe not evil, but horrible. I can’t group them into one big bad group.
Andrea Frank
2025-03-10 23:03:17 +0000 UTCShe'll be fine.
Kevin Charley
2025-03-10 20:01:36 +0000 UTCCASS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ (or whoever Cass' moderator is) -- PLEASE TRY TO AVOID WATCHING THE EPISODE 14 AND 15 RECAP AND AVOID THE THUMBNAILS IF YOU CAN!! THEY ARE SUPER SUPER SPOILER HEAVY!!! Hopefully you see this before you get to the episodes! Lol
Cameron Ferguson
2025-03-10 16:17:55 +0000 UTCSPOILER Cassie: "I really love that Tara just validated her feelings, like validated the possibility of her being in love with Spike, not being in love with Spike. Tara's just the perfect person to talk to. ... It would be great for her to come out and tell everyone, all her friends, what she's been up to with Spike." This comment just completely clarifies for me why I dislike Xander's reaction to this so much. I'm not one of those people who needs to immediately hate on Xander for everything he does as soon as an episode drops, but from Tara's reaction (~"It's ok if you love him, it's ok if you don't") to Xander's (~"How could you have not told me?? All those times I told Spike he didn't have a chance with you, I look like such a fool."), there's *such* a wide difference in how they treat Buffy and what they care about in that moment...
Jack
2025-03-10 16:04:27 +0000 UTCSPOILERS - I'll post my comment as a reply to this
Jack
2025-03-10 16:04:22 +0000 UTCI'm not sure if the trust issue was specifically about the handcuffs. They're both strong enough to break them if necessary. Either way, Buffy answered in a general sense. Of course, she can't and won't trust a soulless vampire. And handcuffs are nothing, variety in bed. By the way, remember Band Candy? When Buffy wanted to somehow tie up Ethan, Joyce pulled out the handcuffs. Also an interesting moment. In the dream, Buffy tries to kill Spike in bed. This is something she hasn't tried to do in a very long time. And, apparently, this is something she should have done for quite some time, but for various reasons she missed this moment. But she physically can't anymore. No matter who she thinks Spike is to herself, she can't just kill him. She shared the most important secret of her life with him, with him alone. She gave him her body. She protects him, as we saw in Tabula Rasa. It just doesn't work that way.
ThePowerDrome
2025-03-10 15:36:36 +0000 UTC10000000%
Melissa Reynolds
2025-03-10 14:43:42 +0000 UTCOMG GIRL I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE. One of my fave eps of the show ever
Melissa Reynolds
2025-03-10 14:41:49 +0000 UTCWow, we're finally here at Dead Things! I've been waiting for this reaction. I know some people don't like it or don't get it but for me this episode is extraordinary and one of my favorites episodes of the season and Top 20 in the entire show. It has so much incredible, multilayered depth in every single scene and amazing character development for Buffy, Spike, Tara, etc. It's also one of the most misunderstood episodes, even by longtime fans. It's really worth walking through it. I could write an entire essay on just this episode but I wanted to focus on a couple scenes. Sorry for the comment length. The way that the episode opens with Buffy and Spike doing their dance, we immediately see that Buffy is completely satisfied and, most importantly, she's genuinely happy. That by itself is incredible and immediately makes you think, when is the last time in the show that Buffy's ever been that happy? Certainly not in Season 6, but even in Season 5, she soldiered on with grim determination most of the season but we never really saw her *happy.* But here she's laughing (over a joke about eating people!), joking and talking to Spike completely carefree. It's so important what she chooses to talk about too. Her way of starting the conversation is to compliment him on his crypt and how comfortable she feels there and then she says that she wants to fix up her bedroom (to make it just as comfortable). She says that they missed the bed "again" and then later, in Buffy's dream, she dreams about having Spike with her, in her bed, in her room. Buffy's dream is so important. It epitomizes what she's struggling against. Her bed is the one place we never see them ever having sex (beds where "normal" couples have sex). We saw in Gone that she went so far as to lie to him about having his lighter so she could hold onto it herself as a way to remind herself of their time together. But in Buffy's mind, she was utterly convinced that the feelings she's developing for Spike are *because* she was "wrong" on some level. That that's why she wants him to comfort her in her bed. That that's why she trusts him enough to let him use handcuffs on her (note Buffy rubbing her wrists while talking to Tara), etc. The show contrasts words vs. actions with Buffy saying she "never" trusts him but clearly she trusts him a great deal not only with the two of them but also with Dawn - she says it because it's what she's supposed to say, not what she believes. It's also this trust in Spike that sends Buffy directly to Tara about the spell. Buffy could have gone to Tara anytime for over a month during her relationship with Spike but she chooses immediately after this conversation with him? She wanted a rational excuse for why she was falling for him, why she kept letting him in. That's why Tara's revelation rocked Buffy to her core. If Buffy didn't come back wrong, it means that her feelings for Spike are real, not the result of a botched resurrection. It means that Buffy, one of the most moral people ever, beat Spike almost as bad as Glory for trying to protect her? When Buffy had decided to replace the metaphorical prison that she had been living in since her Resurrection for the real thing. (The alley scene itself deserves 10,000 words on how it’s an incredible hybrid of Faith/Buffy in Season 3 and in S4 Who Are You with the roles reversed). The final scene is also just stunning all around. Tara is the only one in the entire show who acknowledged the redemptive qualities of Spike's love and wondered if Buffy loved him. And it's also interesting that Buffy never actually answers Tara's question. It's just some incredible acting by SMG and Amber. I can't wait to see this reaction!
Land Howard Johnston
2025-03-10 14:09:16 +0000 UTC
