Buffy Mythology Guide Season Six Continued

Mythology Guide: Season Six

BARGAINING (part 1)

Plot Points:

For the past three months Willow has been leading the gang in slaying, using telepathy to co-ordinate attacks and Buffybot. Willow and Tara are living in Joyce's room in the Summers house with Dawn and Buffybot. If Hank Summers learns Buffy is dead he'll want to take Dawn so they're lying to him. Giles is leaving for England and leaving the Magic Box to Anya, but has been stalling for months to Anya's consternation. Xander is keeping his engagement with Anya a secret because of the mourning. Spike often babysits Dawn alone and is strongly protective of her. Dawn is still the Key, but probably doesn't open anything now. When Buffybot briefly does the sex talk with Spike, Spike coldly tells Willow to fix it. Willow has been keeping Buffybot running all summer.
Buffybot goes to a PTA meeting with Dawn. Dawn appears smitten with her English teacher Mr. Davis.
Giles departs for England to visit his family, after trying to sneak away without goodbyes, feeling empty without his Slayer to protect.
Anya got the last Urn of Osiris from a desert gnome in Cairo. Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara decided to resurrect Buffy without telling Giles, Spike, or Dawn. This is different from Dawn attempting to raise Joyce, because Buffy was killed by mystical energy. Willow doesn't know where Buffy's soul went, possibly to a demon dimension. Everyone doubts doing this except for Willow. Willow sacrifices a fawn for its blood. Willow does the ceremony with Xander, Tara, and Anya, marking herself in the fawn's blood. Her arms are cut and a snake is vomited out of her.
A vamp learns of Buffybot and tells the Hellions, a large gang of raiding demon bikers led by Razor. The Hellions attack Sunnydale, raining carnage and looting. They descend on Sunnydale, looting and pillaging.

Analysis:

So Willow now appears in the title sequence last, with an "and" just like Giles used to be. And most of her stock pictures are of her doing dark magic. Yep, she's definitely becoming the Big Bad this year. They'd better not kill her off!
Now that Willow is an adapt telepath, it raises all sorts of ethical questions about privacy. Is she respecting people's privacy?
It doesn't bother Willow and Tara to be shacking up in the bedroom of their dead friend's dead mother? Did they move out of their old apartment then? Will they be staying in the Summers house with Buffy and Dawn now?
Well apparently they finally managed to contact Hank and tell him that Joyce died. That probably rules out anything suspicious or arc-related to their being unable to contact him last year. And if Hank was so gun-ho to leave Buffy and Dawn to begin with, why would he want Dawn now? Just because she's living with strangers?
What's the point of Xander keeping his engagement secret? It seems absolutely contrived!
Spike has definitely reformed. Even with Buffy gone, he continues to protect Dawn like a mother hen and help the Scoobies keep the demon populations down. This is proven best at his ice cold reaction to Buffybot's brief sex talk. While I still hold that he deserves to be killed for his past crimes, and for being a remorseless demon incapable of salvation, he's continued to be a necessity in these times. But it should never be forgotten that he is a mass murderer who is prevented from further carnage only by the chip. If he had the chip removed today, he'd be back to his old ways. He'd feel guilty at first, but he'd still be back at it.
They're assuming that Dawn is the Key still, but that she doesn't open anything. Even still, she might still be capable of some kind of power, and she might still be a target by forces seeking to use that power.
Predicted future storyline briefly hinted to here: Dawn's crush on her English teacher Mr. Davis.
The resurrection spell is way too easy, but it looks like the price of it will be Willow's descent into darkness, which makes dramatic sense. Presumably this spell can only be done because Buffy was killed by the Key Portal, because the Urn of Osiris was a rare but relatively inexpensive artifact.
Willow sacrificing that poor little dawn was definitely a major step into darkness. This isn't the Willow we knew in high school!
Is there any significance to Willow vomiting out a snake during the ceremony? Where did that snake go?

BARGAINING (part 2) Plot Points:

The Hellions pursue Buffybot to Willow where they interrupt the resurrection ceremony, breaking the Urn. The gang flees into the woods, fighting off Hellions, unaware that the spell did work and Buffy was awakened alive inside her coffin, with her decaying corpse mended. Buffy claws her way out of her coffin, unable to speak and severely weakened, and wanders the Hellion-torn city. She watches the Buffybot get quartered and destroyed and gets attacked by the Hellions.
Buffy runs into Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya. They attempt to apologize but she tries to ignore them. Razor and the Hellions attack them, threatening rape. Buffy fights them off and flees. Razor attacks the gang but Tara manages to kill him, her first kill?
Buffybot tells Dawn with her final words that Buffy is alive. Dawn finds Buffy at the Glory Tower, about to jump off the unstable top. Buffy thinks this is hell. Dawn explains she's back home. When the structure starts to collapse Buffy comes to and saves them.

Analysis:

What the hell were the Scoobies thinking, performing the resurrection spell while Buffy was still buried in the ground in her coffin?! Shouldn't they have dug up the damn coffin first! The only possible explanation for this is that as they understood it the spell wouldn't immediately resurrect her... but you'd think they play it safe!
It sure was convenient that the resurrection spell restored Buffy's body to its decomposed condition!
Buffy's actions in this episode make a lot more sense on later viewings. Apparently she either a) woke up in the coffin immediately after jumping into the Key Portal or b) had been experiencing Bizarro-Sunnydales for the past three months. Most likely the first. So she wakes up in her own coffin and claws her way to the surface, incapable of speech with impaired sight and hearing. She wanders around Sunnydale which is a burning pyre overrun by demons, must have looked like hell to her! She sees herself getting horribly murdered by the demons! She briefly runs into her friends, but they never get close her! Makes sense.
It's really surprising they could get demons threatening to rape the girls past the censors. UPN must be looser about that stuff!
Was that really Tara's first ever kill, or was she being facetious? Surely she's killed vamps before this. I seem to recall a few instances.
Here's hoping they call Giles and Angel immediately to let them know Buffy's alive!

AFTER LIFE Plot Points:

The Hellions leave Sunnydale. Spike keeps his Hellion motorbike. Willow fears Buffy was being tortured in a hell dimension for years and years like Angel, Tara raises the fear if she came back dangerous.
Dawn shows an emotionless Buffy the Summers house and cleans her up. Spike arrives and sees Buffy alive. She was gone 147 days. Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya show up, again to a cold reception. Spike tells Xander that Willow didn't tell him because she knew it was possible Buffy would come back "wrong" and have to be killed, and he wouldn't allow it. Willow calls Giles who will return as soon as possible. Willow confides to Tara she expected more gratitude.
Buffy has a vision of the gang's pictures turning into skulls. Willow and Tara are briefly attacked by a Buffy vision who implies Willow's sacrificing the fawn and being permanently "stained" for it. The demon then briefly possesses Anya and attacks Xander. Anya thinks its a dimensional hitchhiker. Buffy says she misses Giles and leaves to patrol alone, not thinking about Dawn. Dawn is possessed and breaths fire at the gang.
Buffy visits Spike at his crypt. Spike tells her blames himself for Buffy's death and failing to protect Dawn. Willow learns the resurrection spell created a demon as the price for removing Buffy, it has no physical form and will dissipate unless it kills Buffy. The demon overhears this and attacks Buffy. Willow and Tara do a spell to solidify the demon, which Willow completes alone with black eyes. Buffy kills the demon in front of Dawn and the gang.
Later, Buffy is back to normal and sending Dawn off to school with lunch. Buffy finally thanks the gang for saving her from hell. She then tells Spike the truth. She was happy, at peace, timeless, formless, warm, loved, finished, complete; in heaven. And her friends dragged her out of it into a hard, bright, violent world. This is hell. But she and Spike can never let them know.

Analysis:

Willow seems to be trying to convince herself more than anyone else that she was saving Buffy from hell, no matter the costs.
147 days is about five months... if Buffy died in May that'd put this around October, in time with airing.
Spike will clearly be the one to bring to Willow to bat on her descent into darkness, and indeed can already see it. Willow knew it was possible Buffy would come back insane or violent, and would have to have been killed. Bad Willow!
Willow's expectation of gratitude, while sounding innocent, really does imply the darker more selfish part of her, one that gets hinted to every once and awhile.
Tara heard the demon vaguely refer to Willow sacrificing a fawn, and being "stained" for it. How long will it take her to figure out what Willow is dabbling into? And is this "stain" permanent for Willow and the gang? You could say that by this single 'evil' act she is forever tainted, and no matter how much good she does she can never really redeem herself. In fact, this action could be the impetus for Willow's true descent into darkness, just like Faith's killing of a human in "Bad Girls" was for her.
It's interesting that Buffy mentions missing Giles. Perhaps she knew that Giles would have never let her resurrection take place.
You know Buffy is drastically different when she leaves without even thinking about Dawn, after her protection obsession with her last season. But it might also be because she knows Glory is gone and so Dawn is no longer a target.
Buffy is clearly drawn to Spike now as the only one she can really connect with. Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya are all responsible for ripping her out of hell. Dawn is just a kid and is too happy to have her back to think about it. Giles is gone. But Spike has dealt with the very things she has, dying and resurrection, and he treats her with respect, doesn't keep things back.
It'd be nice to know how many days it was for the ending sequence, because Buffy was unfortunately almost totally back to normal. I was hoping for the darkness/moroseness to last a little bit longer.
Buffy ending up in heaven raises a huge question about the nature of the Buffyverse. It implies there is a God, a Heaven, and a Hell, rather than other dimensional beings and dimensional realms which can tend to be Hell-like. On the other hand, it's possible that Buffy got this reward because she was a Slayer, as a gift by TPTB, or because she jumped into a dimensional Key gate.
Buffy can never truly be friends with Willow, Xander, Tara, or Anya again, not with this horrible secret between them. She'll end up secretly resenting and hating them, unless she tells them the truth, and they work it out together. Telling Spike again implies a strong connection now between them, and perhaps she'll even end up with him romantically, with little other choice.

FLOODED Plot Points:

Buffy breaks a leaky water pipe, flooding the basement. Xander gets a cheap plumber. Buffy stares mutely at water going down the sink drain. Buffy is running out of money, the money Joyce left behind was mainly spend on her hospital bills, they only have the house left. Anya suggests charging people for Slaying. Xander is reluctant to announce the engagement with Anya to her disgust. Tara reluctantly lets Dawn begin demon research.
Buffy goes to a loan officer at the bank, Carl, who can't give her a loan as she has no collateral aside from the house, and Sunnydale isn't a market for selling property. A demon robs the bank and escapes despite Buffy.
Giles returns and is reunited with Buffy, but things are awkward. Giles met with the Watchers Council in England, met a few old friends and made a new one. He's bewildered to be back. Giles offers to help Buffy with the financial matters. Giles angrily berates Willow for dealing in powerful dark magicks, "the forces you've harnessed the lines you've crossed", she was the one he trusted most to respect the forces of nature. She could have unleashed Hell on Earth. "There are others in this world who can do what you did- you just don't want to meet them". Willow threatens him briefly. Giles wonders where she was, and if she's "undamaged".
The demon is a very dangerous mercenary working for true evil; the slacker Dorky Trio of Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew. They control magicks, machines, and the demon world. He wants the Slayer dead. Andrew is the brother of the devil dog "Prom" kid, he trained flying demon monkeys to attack the school play. The Dorky Trio joined a month ago to takeover Sunnydale. The Trio refuses to kill Buffy, but Warren tells him where Buffy lives. The demon attacks Buffy in her house, destroying a good part of it, but she kills him. They plot to deal with Buffy by hypnotizing her into their sex kitten. With the stolen money they build a Lair full of machinery in Andrew's mom's basement.
Angel calls Buffy and they go to meet each other at a place halfway between Sunnydale and L.A., ignoring the financial problems.

Analysis:

What in the world was up with Buffy watching the water go down the drain? General readjusting to life out of Heaven? Was the water a symbol for her life going down the drain, her soul being sucked out of Heaven into 'Hell'?
Joyce owned and operated an art gallery. But there's no money left? She had a single operation and only spent a month or two in the hospital, how in the world could that have eaten up all her life insurance money? Joyce was obviously upper middle class!
Looks like Xander is really just afraid to commit to marrying Anya because he's having another relapse of being afraid to grow up, which it seemed like he got over once and for all in "The Replacement". Or are his doubts specifically about life with Anya?
Okay so the only property Joyce left to Buffy was the house, but what the hell about the art gallery?
Has Giles moved on from life in Sunnydale? Is coming back too hard for him, just as it is for Buffy? Are the referenced events in England going to be shown in the coming RIPPER mini-series? How did he have time to do all this stuff, given that he left right before Buffy was resurrected and he returned in like a week?
The obvious solution to the money problem is have the Watchers Council give Buffy a salary for saving the world. And since she has them in her pocket after "Checkpoint" it certainly should be easy. Sure it won't be as good dramatically, but it just makes sense!
Giles tells Willow about other people in this world who can do what she does; sounds like foreshadowing for this year's Big Bad! Willow's truly evil opposite number, who will probably try to seduce her to the dark side.
Willow threatening Giles felt so completely out of character in so many ways. Are they going to make Willow a villain at the cost of her character? Make her something she wouldn't normally become? Or did her resurrection spell do something to her?
So the Dorky Trio looks to be the Little Bad for the first half of the season, should be hilarious! Of course the moment Buffy learns who they are she'll able to trash their brand new high tech Lair and that will pretty much put them out of commission. Or perhaps Willow will turn evil and work with them to make them a more powerful threat?
Too bad we can't see the Buffy/Angel reunion. Notice how Buffy runs away from the financial responsibilities, not good!

LIFE SERIAL Plot Points:

Buffy returns from her meet with Angel and doesn't want to talk about it. It's too late to register for college again. Buffy goes to a class with Willow but is lost.
The Dorky Trio set out to test their powers against Buffy and find a weakness. They track her in a van filled with surveillance equipment. Warren plants an Inhibiter chip on Buffy which slows her perception of time while the world races around her, people slamming into her, but she eventually finds the chip, prompting Warren to detonate it.
Andrew sends a demon beast attack Buffy's way on her first day at a construction gig with Xander. She threatens their job by getting it done too quickly with super strength. She kills all the demons, but the witnesses claim ignorance and she gets fired.
Buffy's first day as a clerk at the Magic Shop with Giles and Anya is interrupted by a troublesome mummy hand and Jonathan's magical time loop spell (which also floods the van with smoke). The Trio has a spy cam placed in the Magic Shop. The time loop won't end until she satisfies the customer. She quits that too, mainly out of boredom.
Buffy gets drunk with Spike and hits a demon club to discover her attackers, where Spike plays a card game for kittens. Buffy spots the Trio Van outside, and Jonathan wears a demonic illusion to distract Buffy while they escape.
Giles gives Buffy a large check for the bills. Buffy thanks him and feels safe knowing he'll always be here, which Giles is unhappy at.

Analysis:

Gotta love Buffy's solution to running out of money; go to college, which costs even MORE money! And what did she expect to find, going to a class in the middle of a semester in an unfamiliar subject?
Just how did that Inhibiter chip work anyway? That's a very powerful weapon; just slap one on Buffy in the middle of a fight and she's frozen just long enough for you to easily kill her!
Why did people slam into Buffy like that? Shouldn't she have just been standing still? So were there mean spirited people just ramming themselves into people standing still or something?
The construction workers denying the demon attack ever happened has to be one of the worst examples of a major problem with the series, the public's inexplicable unawareness of the paranormal happenings going around them.
It seems that the mummy hand was placed there by Jonathan as part of the spell, or was released from it's cage at least; surely Giles doesn't have such a dangerous thing just lying out in the open!
As comedic as the Trio are, they actually display pretty dangerous abilities here. The Inhibiter chip could easily mark the death of Buffy if used properly. Summoning a clan of demons on a moment's notice is very dangerous. And Jonathan is actually capable of creating a time loop, which is extremely powerful.
Presumably the Trio still have that spy cam in the Magic Shop, which means they'll be able to spy on all the Scoobie meetings, and even learn what Buffy and company plan to do about them once their identity is discovered.
Buffy working as a clerk at the Magic Shop seems like a perfectly acceptable solution. After all, Giles isn't working there anymore, so Anya is practically running the place single handily now. Sure it would be a tad boring for her, but she could stand to have a little more exposure to the magical realm, and refusing the job because it's boring seems a little conceited of her given her situation...
Buffy continues to buddy up with Spike... even getting drunk with him now! This situation is heading for a breaking point soon...
Now that Buffy and Spike know what the Trio Van looks like, it will curtail their operations against her. Unless they actually were fooled by Jonathan's extremely lame demonic showing and get away... They did seem to believe he disappeared even though we clearly saw him running away behind the smoke, so perhaps that was part of the spell.
Giles just giving Buffy is a bit of a cop out, but I'm confident this will continue to be dealt with. Looks like Giles isn't planning on sticking around in Sunnydale for much longer...

ALL THE WAY Plot Points:

Halloween is a big night for the Magic Shop. Buffy helps out. Dawn steals something again. Willow offers a clean up spell. Xander announces his engagement with Anya. At the party Willow does a decoration spell which sparks an argument with Tara about abusing magic. Giles talks with Xander about buying a house, which sparks fears of maturity.
Dawn runs off with her friend Janice and cool boys who turn out to be vampires. They go on a prank rampage ending with Dawn's first makeout with Justin. Giles saves Janice from Zack. Justin wants to turn Dawn into a vamp, and she seems to acquiesce to it. Buffy, Spike, and Giles fight off a small group of rebel vamps who don't follow the rules like No Halloween. Dawn stakes Justin, her first.
Buffy handles responsibility for disciplining Dawn off to Giles. Willow does a spell that erases Tara's memory of their fight.

Analysis:

Dawn seems to be having a sick attraction to vampires, because of Spike, because of Angel, because of her constant exposure to them as the somewhat harmless baddies that her sister, her authority figure, is always fighting. She even seemed to be accepting getting vamped, which is just horrible, she really should be smarter than that. Or has her exposure to Spike and Angel (well according to the Monks' artificial memories anyway), 'good' vamps, confused her definition of the evilness of vamps. I wouldn't be surprised.
It's understandable that Giles hasn't said anything to Buffy about fleeing responsibility since she's still recovering from returning from 'Hell'. But Willow erasing Tara's memory is absolutely inexcusable; she's fallen to darkness without question.

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING Plot Points:

The entire town suddenly breaks out into song when the Demon Lord Sweet arrives in town. Several people dance into death by combustion. Sweet ("I come from the imagination" of song) kidnaps Dawn and will take her to his underworld to be his queen; the talisman she stole from the Magic Shop summoned him. "Now we're partying, that's what its all about". "I can bring whole cities to ruin". Sweet can control anyone forcing them into song and dance, making them sing their secrets, killing many. When he learns Dawn is the Slayer's sister he lures her there to watch her burn.
Xander and Anya reveal their fear of commitment to one another. Spike claims to be immune but sings to Buffy about his frustration with her confiding in him then rejecting him. Tara realizes that Willow erased her memory and she must leave her. Giles realizes that for Buffy to mature he must leave her so she's forced to live her own life. Buffy says the fire can't burn her hand anymore.
Giles initially sends Buffy alone against Sweet to make her grow up, but then they all go to help her. Buffy offers to go in Dawn's stead for Sweet since she can't kill him. "Isn't life a miraculous thing?". Buffy sings to the gang that the reason she ignores her obligations is because she torn out of Heaven by them. Sweet has her dance to death until Spike interrupts her and Xander reveals that he was the one who summoned him, and leaves on his way saying "see you all in hell". Buffy kisses Spike.

Analysis:

We've had many horrible cases of the public ignoring the paranormal, but this really should be the final straw on that camel's back. The entire town was breaking out into song. Things they didn't have the capacity to do before. What will the official explanation be? Laughing gas or something? It's just ridiculous. Let's deal with this for once!
Sweet said he comes from imagination; is he the generation of the collective spirit of humanity in song? It's interesting that he doesn't seem to be necessarily evil. He goes about his thing fulfilling his talisman obligation, and a few people get dead in the process. He says that partying is what it's all about; his basic philosophy seems to be that the meaning of life is expressed in song, in getting enjoyment out of life. He says life is a miraculous thing. Quite an upbeat and spiritual message for a demon to have; he seems to be more a representation of the human spirit in song than an actual demon. But why would he bring whole cities to ruin? Was this a Sodom and Gomorra reference? Attacking people who repress their secrets, who don't "live" in song? His desire to kill a Slayer does seem to be an evil objective though, unless he knows about the darkness of her roots and feels this makes her evil; he didn't seem to know Buffy personally or the secret she kept from her songs until he met her, so it wasn't because of that.
Spike claims to be immune to the singing effect, and does indeed break out of a song at the end of the episode, but he also sings to Buffy thus exposing his feelings for her, which suggests he let that song happen in order to express himself to her. Which means that Spike fits into Sweet's conception of "living". Notice that Buffy could *not* break free of song, because she sure as hell would have prevented herself from telling them she was in Heaven if she could have. Is it because Spike is a vampire without a human soul? Makes sense. But then why did the demons Buffy fought at the beginning sing instead of fighting her? Were they that stupid?
Looks like both Giles and Tara are leaving now. Giles will go back to England, but where will Tara go? Will she stay in Sunnydale helping the gang? Will she return home to her repressive red neck family?
Buffy says the fire can't burn her hand anymore. Was this metaphorical or literal? And if so, was she referring to before her Awakening as a Slayer, or before she came back from the dead? Has she become physically more powerful after her resurrection?
How does Buffy know that she can't kill Sweet? An instinctual knowledge because he is the expression of human spirit in song? And was she serious about trading Dawn's place? Probably. Why would she rather go to Hell than stay on Earth? Wouldn't that be worse, regardless of whether or not she was in Heaven?
The look on Willow's face when she learned Buffy was in Heaven was absolutely priceless. Everything about her abuse of magic over the past months was built on the assumption that Buffy was in Hell; what will happen to her now? Will she snap and totally loose control, or will she thus realize the err of her ways and reform? Probably the later.
Sweet said he'd see them all in Hell. Was he speaking metaphorically or literally? Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya could certainly be considered hell bound for tearing Buffy from Heaven. Buffy might be hell bound for a) being a Slayer because of its roots of darkness (which would mean her Heaven trip was her reward for sacrificing her life to save the world in "The Gift", and was not the normal reward for a Slayer) or b) leaving Heaven albeit against her choice. Spike is obviously hell bound because he's a soul-less vampire, regardless of the chip neutering. Don't see what Giles could be hell bound for though, unless it has to do with his Ripper days when he delved in dark magic (which is certainly possible).
Time for another tirade against Buffy being with Spike. Spike is a soul-less vampire with a chip that prevents him from harming humans. He does not have a soul like Angel. According to the Buffyverse, when you are vamped your human soul leaves your body and is replaced with a demon spirit. It's a completely different person in the same body, that just happens to take a twisted reflection of the human soul. A vampire is an intelligent animal with an uncontrollable need to murder humans. They cannot be reformed. Spike's chip is only a temporary reformation; the moment that chip switches off he would be unable to control his murderous impulses. Sure he'd feel guilty about it at first, but that would go away eventually. On the same line, Spike is incapable of loving Buffy; the best he can hope for an artificial reproduction of the twisted imitation of his romantic human soul. It began as a sick obsession but now it's settled down into a quiet infatuation and caring, but it can never be love; the Buffyverse has told us that you need a soul to love. Not to mention the fact that Spike has murdered thousands if not millions of humans in his day; he's a Hitler. How can Buffy ever love that, even accounting for her being drawn to the darkness that is a part of her. This relationship should never happen.

TABULA RASA Plot Points:

Spike owes some kittens to a Land Shark after a bad game. Spike dresses in a tweed suit to avoid him. The Land Shark attacks the gang but his vamps get killed and he gives up the debt.
Giles tells Buffy he's leaving, but she begs him to stay. She can't trust her instincts until he's gone, he has to leave now especially because of the Heaven revelation.
Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya talk about Buffy being in Heaven. Tara says there are many heavenly dimensions. Willow blames herself for being selfish, Xander is just happy she's back. They need spend more time with her; Willow wants to give her a forget spell to fix it. Tara confronts Willow on using the forget spell on her, she violated her just like Glory. She's using magic to run away from consequences. Tara gives an ultimatum or she's leaving; go a week without magic. Willow apologizes to Buffy but she's can't deal with it. Willow immediately does another forget spell for Buffy and Tara, but it goes wrong and gives everyone amnesia.
Buffy, Giles, Spike, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Tara wake up with no memory of who they are. Buffy instinctually comforts Dawn. They conclude Spike is Giles' son and Anya is Giles' fiancee. Willow finds herself attracted to Tara. Spike is Randy and Buffy is Joan. Buffy's Slayer instincts take over when the vamps attack. Buffy is shocked to see Spike vamp out; he concludes he's a vamp with a soul. Buffy and Spike fight the vamps, Giles and Anya work on magic spells in the Shop, Willow Xander Tara Dawn flee in the sewers. Spells create bunnies, green fog, a skeleton warrior, and an unseen creature.
Giles moves back to England. Tara leaves Willow and moves out of the Summers house, Dawn snubs her. Buffy makes out with Spike.

Analysis:

Spike wearing the tweed suit is a reference to "Restless" when he claimed to be a Watcher in training with Giles in the dream sequence.
I really don't understand Giles leaving after the Heaven revelation. Buffy is a hero and has been through hell so to speak, doesn't she deserve to have her real-life concerns handled for her? She's saved the world over and over, doesn't she deserve some reward? On the other hand I understand the need for her to being independent to fight her battles without being weak, but does this apply?
Once again, zero sympathy for Willow. She promises to stop the magic, then immediately does a forget spell on them. No excuse.
It's interesting that Buffy immediately comforted Dawn; a side effect of the Monks' spell to make her protect Dawn?
It's surprising to see the kind of power they have just sitting around in the Magic Shop, creating creatures and whatnot. Why didn't they use this stuff against Glory? Looks like foreshadowing using this stuff against the Big Bad at the end of the season...
What the hell is up with Dawn snubbing Tara when she leaves? Is she that clueless on Willow's abuses? Divorced child syndrome?

SMASHED Plot Points:

Willow figures out how to restore Amy-Rat to Amy. Amy thought she was only gone for a few weeks and is jumpy but quickly readjusts. Buffy begins to tell Willow about Spike but is interrupted. Amy is staying at the Summers House too and refuses to see her Dad because of the questions he'd ask. Amy gets Willow to go out to the Bronze, and use their powers to play with people, then restore them to normal without memory, go looking for something "bigger".
The Trio breaks into the Sunnydale Museum to steal a large diamond on loan from the British Museum and stop a security guard with their non-lethal freeze ray. Phase One of the plan was steal the diamond. The media covers it. Willow magically interfaces with her computer to investigate. They hope to use Spike to keep Buffy out of Phase Two; they don't know Spike is neutered.
Tara has a movie date with Dawn to say she's always be there for her and will never stop loving her. They wait home for Willow.
Buffy again refuses to have anything to do with Spike after a second make out session. Spike says he can change. Spike hits her and doesn't feel pain. He immediately attempts to kill a woman but can't. He goes to Warren to have his chip examined, interrupting a Trio meeting. Warren learns the chip is working normally with a steady signal; Buffy "came back wrong", less human. Spike confronts Buffy and they fight, then make out, then have sex as the building collapses around them.

Analysis:

How convenient that Willow just restores Amy out of the blue... this just screams of story/actor availability problems.
Was Amy this evil and seductive in high school? Wasn't she nice back then? Or did she "come back wrong" too?
Sounds like next episode Willow and Amy will fall into a dark magic crowd while looking for something "bigger", and get found out since Tara and Dawn are at home waiting for them to return.
What do the Trio need that diamond for? Energy source for a weapon? Ingredient for a spell? And will they try to use Spike to keep Buffy out of Phase Two? In fact, they could hire Spike to constantly keep Buffy in check whenever they do something! That could put Spike in as a assistant to the Big Bad, just like he did with Adam in Season Four.
This episode should prove once and for all that Spike is just a mindless animal. The moment he thinks he's gotten over the chip, he goes out to kill an innocent woman. The neutering does not change his behavior, only restrains it temporarily. He is an animal.
If you think about it, it's not very shocking that Buffy came back less human. But does this make her more Slayer-ish, or is this a consequence of Willow's resurrection spell with Osiris?
Buffy's song "Going Through the Motions" explains that she feels dead and just wants to feel alive, which she can do with Spike, and her partly demonic heritage, now accentuated by being less human and knowing of it, makes it all the more attractive.

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