S06.E15: As You Were

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; I never really liked Riley when he was a regular but in small doses I find him much more agreeable (and indeed feel the same way

Spoiler

for Connor on Angel)

The Bad; One thing that always shakes me about this ep is that Riley's wife Sam looks so much like Warren's ex Katrina. Also rather a spoiler when Marc Blucas' name appears in the opening credits. Have a look at the scene where the demon attacks on Main Street Sunnydale, the couple sitting at the coffee shop don't react at all. Since when does Sunnydale have this huge dam just outside it? Why do Riley and Buffy have to dump most of their weapons to go down on the line together, can't they just go down one at a time?

Best line; Buffy (staring shocked at Riley);"Were you always this tall?" (yes which is one of the reasons he and petite Buffy were so ridiculous as a couple)

Women good/men bad; Riley says he is in command of Sam. She says 'He wishes'. Buffy says she's not defined by who's she with, the beginning of her cookie dough philosophy.

Kinky dinky; Riley walks in on Buffy and Spike. Buffy changes in front of him but he doesn't look (seen it all before?). Buffy and Spike against the tree right in the open outside the Summer's house. Some very risqué comments about 'Letting you in' and 'Come outside' that could be open to interpretation. But Buffy's 'He's not getting any gentler' remark gives a different aspect to all this, it seems almost joyless for her. According to Spike he and Buffy have sex for five hours straight but this is

Spoiler

the last time they ever will.

Captain Subtext; Xander is starting to dream of flower bouquets. Riley comments that he's seen enough of Spike's 'dead body' for one night. Willow comments how as a little girl she used to dream about marrying Xander but now seems glad to have ducked the bullet. After the events of 'Older and Farther Away' Buffy and Dawn seem much closer, getting on better, Dawn happy to go to school and kissing an ecstatic Buffy before she leaves. Spike seems to revel in flashing his nakedness in front of Riley, prompting him to comment that 'I've seen enough of your dead body for one evening'. Anya comments that if Xander is such a big fan of Riley he should just marry him. Buffy says she loves Riley's wife too. Once again Buffy says of guns "These are never useful" foreshadowing

Spoiler

the end of the season.

Guantanamo Bay; Riley's glad to be back in Sunnydale where he knows who to beat for information. Spike objects to Riley's search of his crypt as unconstitutional.

Kills: one vamp and a dozen demons for Buffy. Weirdly the vamp wears a peace symbol on his jacket. Buffy: 104 vamps, 55 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god. Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn. Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1 a demon, Anya: 1 vamp and 1 a demon Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons Spike; 8 vamps and 4 demons Buffybot; 2 vamps Tara; 1 demon Dawn; 1 vamp

Scoobies shot: Buffy uses Riley's shotgun and tranquiliser gun but can't hit anything with either. She makes better use of his belt of grenades. Giles: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 4 Riley; 1

Spike; good or bad? Spike is dealing in demon eggs, evil as they come. This seems to open Buffy's eyes to his true nature although she still won't let Riley kill him.

Questions and observations; Obvious allusions to Aliens and all the better for them, 

Spoiler

Angel;TS will do something very similar in season 5

(also a series with a strong female heroine until Alien3 ruined the series, thankfully Joss 'resurrected' it). Poor Buffy, you feel so sorry for her that she get's rejected for UCSD (but surely she wouldn't have the money to go anyway?). Nice to give Riley some closure after the strained nature of his departure in 'Into the Woods'. Riley comments that Dawn has grown one and a half feet, well probably just half that. Note Riley asks if Dawn wants to leave due to the gory details but Buffy now lets her stay for the grown up stuff. Check out Willow's expression at Sam's 'disposable cameras' idea.

What book is Spike reading when Buffy comes into his crypt? It's a very Angel like touch. Riley says that Buffy is the first woman he ever loved and the strongest he knows (better not tell the missus that!). Buffy's final goodbye to Spike is very emotional, especially when she calls him William, that means more than ALL the sex in the world between them.

Marks out of 10; 8/10

[Halting Hex]

I can say a number of bad things about this episode (from Buffy letting Spike drill her on her front lawn at about 8.30 PM on a weeknight, with Dawn in the house, to the poor acting by Mary Sam Finn to Riley now having a stupid "kewl" scar, too!), but compared to the rest of the season, it almost qualifies as gold. 8/10 is probably too high, but I can scrape up a generous 7 perhaps. And certainly worth a 6, I'd think.

And Willow's wonderful "Bitch" as the Sam-o-Matic 5000 choppers off is the capper on one of the very few friendship riffs we've seen this season.  It actually works either way, whether you think Willow was legitimately charmed by Sam and is now only making good on her "hate her" pledge for Buffy's sake, or if you think Will was just faking all along.  It really doesn't excuse Sam being the one to go console Willow in the kitchen, when it would be far more appropriate for Buffy, Xander or Riley to do it (Buffy and Xander because they're Willow's best friends, Riley because his wife just put her foot in it and he should be trying to fix the mess), but it's still cute.

And yeah, I don't know why they didn't hide Blucas's credit, the way they did for Marsters on the first airing of The Harsh Light of Day 

Spoiler

(or will for ASH in the upcoming Two to Go)

when there's clearly provision for restoring it for reruns.  Sloppy, team.

2 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Spike seems to revel in flashing his nakedness in front of Riley, prompting him to comment that 'I've seen enough of your dead body for one evening'.

I could be half-convinced that the whole reason Spike "romanced" Buffy was to flash Riley the goods.  How disappointed he must be, no Iowa-loving for him!

And Riley is now the only male character to have seen two of the male cast naked. (He also saw a good bit of Oz in New Moon Rising.)  No wonder Forrest was bitter that he wasn't getting any action…

[Joe Hellandback]

8 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

I can say a number of bad things about this episode (from Buffy letting Spike drill her on her front lawn at about 8.30 PM on a weeknight, with Dawn in the house, to the poor acting by Mary Sam Finn to Riley now having a stupid "kewl" scar, too!), but compared to the rest of the season, it almost qualifies as gold. 8/10 is probably too high, but I can scrape up a generous 7 perhaps. And certainly worth a 6, I'd think.

And Willow's wonderful "Bitch" as the Sam-o-Matic 5000 choppers off is the capper on one of the very few friendship riffs we've seen this season.  It actually works either way, whether you think Willow was legitimately charmed by Sam and is now only making good on her "hate her" pledge for Buffy's sake, or if you think Will was just faking all along.  It really doesn't excuse Sam being the one to go console Willow in the kitchen, when it would be far more appropriate for Buffy, Xander or Riley to do it (Buffy and Xander because they're Willow's best friends, Riley because his wife just put her foot in it and he should be trying to fix the mess), but it's still cute.

And yeah, I don't know why they didn't hide Blucas's credit, the way they did for Marsters on the first airing of The Harsh Light of Day 

  Hide contents

(or will for ASH in the upcoming Two to Go)

when there's clearly provision for restoring it for reruns.  Sloppy, team.

I could be half-convinced that the whole reason Spike "romanced" Buffy was to flash Riley the goods.  How disappointed he must be, no Iowa-loving for him!

And Riley is now the only male character to have seen two of the male cast naked. (He also saw a good bit of Oz in New Moon Rising.)  No wonder Forrest was bitter that he wasn't getting any action…

Yeah, it shows how depressing this season is when Riley is a bright spot, arguably here's where things turn around. I wouldn't say Spike romanced Buffy over Riley who he really didn't care that much about but I could certainly see it with big brother Angel who he is jealous of.

And yes, I was a firm believer in Filey, that was beyond just subtext.  

[lembergwatcher]

7 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

It really doesn't excuse Sam being the one to go console Willow in the kitchen, when it would be far more appropriate for Buffy, Xander or Riley

Because the writers desperately wanted all of us to believe that Willow's best friends "abandoned her" and it was only Tara always there for our beloved Wicca (despite Tara herself abandoning Will post-Tabula Rasa). 

Spoiler

I believe the writing team simply wanted to set the grounds for Dark Willow's upcoming rampage in the eps 20-22. 'Cause, you know, Tara has "always" been the "only one" who truly loved Willow (do you remember Willow's "I trusted you more than anyone in my life" in Family?) and losing her appeared to be a perfect justification for killing the world. Buffy and Xander? Who are they? It's the TaraDawnVerse after all where Buffy is high on Spike and Xander's world revolves around his Hellbitch.

Since Tara wasn't in the picture at the moment AFAIK, they had to bring Sam Finn as Willow's temporary comforter no matter how farfetched and stupid that looked.

4/10. Although I still feel like poor Willow in Go Fish pressured by Snyder to give someone like Gage better grades.

[lembergwatcher]

This episode would have been a hell of a lot better if they had deleted all those vomit-inducing Xanya scenes.

[Halting Hex]

Yes, but then we wouldn't have had this pearl:

Quote

ANYA:  You know if you love Riley Finn so much, maybe you should marry him.

XANDER:  He's taken.

Yes, yes, the Obligatory Gay Xander Joke, I know…but it would clearly have been an upgrade.  Both on the "Xander needs somebody who can understand him" and the "Wow, Ivana Milicevic really can't act at all, can she?" fronts.  Oh, well.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

I like the sincerity. Honestly.

Quote

ANYA: Why are you defending him?
XANDER: I'm not. I hate my uncle. I hate my whole family.

Pardon my naivete, but if Xander hates his whole family so much, what's the point in having that same family "who are monsters" (together with Anya's friends "who are demons") around at what's supposed to be (at least, in theory) the happiest day of his life?

Recalling the final stage of Xanya marriage madness, I don't actually remember any reasonable explanation for inviting those who abused you (in Xander's case) or didn't give a shit about your well-being (in Anya's case) for years on such an important event.

Edited February 6, 2019 by lembergwatcher

[lembergwatcher]

Quote

BUFFY: Let's go. Xander, are you okay to stay with Dawn?
XANDER: Yeah.

I still don't get it why exactly does 15-year-old Dawn need a babysitter? She sure can take care of herself on some level. What can Xander's presence at Casa Summers probably prevent lil' sis from doing? Ordering pizza? Watching porno or sneaking to Casa Penshaw to watch porno with Janice? Or is Buffy afraid Dawn's gonna bring boys home and act inappropriate? Not to mention Xander's lack of superpowers to protect younger Summers in case some Big Evil comes after her while Buffy's shagging with Spike at his crypt.

And, btw, why does it have to be Xander if Willow kinda lives at Revello Drive too? Seems like Buffy doesn't trust "her" Willow anymore, because I can see no reason why Xander has to be involved in watching Dawn as well. If Buffy has issues with trusting Willow, why does she continue to share the same roof with the redhead? Willow has a family and a house of her own in Sunnydale, after all. So what's the deal? Maybe our Buffy feels Xander's about to explode considering the whole marriage thing and thinks her buddy needs some distraction since she doesn't want him ending up in prison for murdering his hellbitch and half of his family. That would be very nice of Buffy, but highly unlikely due to her self-absorbed state...  

Not that I'm complaining about Willow, Xander and Dawn having some quality Buffy/Anya-free time together.

[lembergwatcher]

On 10/30/2018 at 3:13 AM, Halting Hex said:

And Riley is now the only male character to have seen two of the male cast naked. (He also saw a good bit of Oz in New Moon Rising.)

Generally, three male characters, I guess. Two on-screen, one off-screen. There should have been some Giles nudity in front of Riley's (and Buffy's) eyes after Ethan undid him in A New Man. The poor old Rip had to endure wearing Ethan's clothes, after all.

[Halting Hex]

Fyarl!Giles is shirtless and speaks of growing a tail, but his trousers keep that, and all his other Fyarl!bits covered.  And apparently they had Ethan volunteer a shirt promptly, so Riley didn't get much time to even swoon over the librarian pecs on brief display.  (A pity; I hear all that re-shelving really builds them up.  Of course, almost nobody ever used the SHS Library, so Giles might have gotten a little slack on that particular "workout"…)

I guess Giles is lucky that Ethan got him so stinking drunk that Rupert couldn't even undress before bed.  Because I doubt he'd have been able to properly clothe himself after he "came over all demony" in the morning.

[Halting Hex]

On 10/29/2018 at 9:13 PM, Halting Hex said:

Buffy letting Spike drill her on her front lawn at about 8.30 PM on a weeknight, with Dawn in the house

So, I'm watching a music vid, and Spike moves in for the kiss that will lead to all of this, with Buffy up against a tree…and Buffy delicately drops the Doublemeat bag to her side, out of the way!

So, wait, how did the meal get "smushed" then?  It's not as if it was in Buffy's backpack or her pocket while Spike was woodpeckering her into the tree with his pecker, er his wood…okay, you get the picture.

No, if the bag is on the ground, then Buffy and Spike must have been as well.  Never mind the proximity to the house, the fact that they're in full view of the street, the relatively-early hour (before dinnertime, and Dawn still has time to go with Willow to the Bronze, on a school night!) or, again, the fact that Dawn is right in the house and could be looking out the window for all they know.  Forget that, now I realized that Buffy and Spike were literally rolling around on the yard!  

Geez, how much more blatant can you get, guys?  Why don't you just put up a neon sign that says "BUFFY AND SPIKE FUCKING, RIGHT HERE!" with an indicative arrow?  How about a police helicopter to illuminate the action with an aerial spotlight, while you're at it?  Ew, ew, ew and ew.

And beyond that, if "those two crazy kids" really did roll right over Dawn's dinner in the heat of passion, this means that there's a fairly good chance that Buffy served Dawn food that had been stuck up Spike's ass!  EWWWWW!

Quote

BUFFY:  Hey, Dawn.  I brought you dinner from the Doublemeat.  Sorry it's a little…smushed.

DAWN:  No big, I'm starving.  (Takes a bite, spits it out) Ew!  

BUFFY:  What is it?

DAWN:  That burger, it…it…it tastes like Spike's ass!  EW!

BUFFY:  Um, no, it doesn't, why would you…hey, wait a second!  How do you know what that tastes like?

DAWN (defiant):  Hey, I'm not a little kid any more, you know!  I'm 15, remember?

BUFFY (horrified): Oh, my god…

DAWN:  Spike has needs, you know?  It's not his fault that you're "a stuck-up tight-ass with no sense of fun."  Jeez! Grow up, already!

BUFFY (weakly):  I'm going to be sick…

DAWN (proud reminiscing):  He said my tongue action reminded him of a hummingbird's wings…oh, Spike!  Not bad for a rim-job rookie, huh?

Buffy vomits and collapses on the floor

I know, I'm sick.  But it's so much fun! 😈

[lembergwatcher]

Well, I know that Buffy has some elements of horror genre but not to such an extent! Let Dawnie remain a virgin for the next two or three years. I want to believe Buffy was the only Summers woman to shag with the things that go bump in the night...

5 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Never mind the proximity to the house, the fact that they're in full view of the street, the relatively-early hour (before dinnertime, and Dawn still has time to go with Willow to the Bronze, on a school night!) or, again, the fact that Dawn is right in the house and could be looking out the window for all they know.

I guess Dawn does her homework, because she's a good girl

Spoiler

and is about to learn Sumerian and get her driving license in the span of one summer.

Willow is too wrapped up in her Tara-shaped fantasy to notice such minor things as Buffy and Spike fucking on the lawn. Sunnydalers rarely walk past Revello Drive 1630 and seems like most of the neighborhood's residents either died (like poor Mrs. Kalish or those whose houses were ransacked by the Hellions) or left town. People of Sunnydale chose not to notice much more interesting stuff than a simple coitus, after all.

Edited May 19, 2019 by lembergwatcher

[Halting Hex]

On 5/19/2019 at 6:37 AM, lembergwatcher said:

Willow is too wrapped up in her Tara-shaped fantasy to notice such minor things as Buffy and Spike fucking on the lawn.

Hmm, I'd always just assumed that Willow had only just returned home, as she enters the kitchen and greets Buffy midway through the "smushed" conversation, but of course she could have merely been upstairs to begin with.  And the fact that she and Dawn have already made plans to go to the Bronze indicates that they've been in communication (although of course W/D could have made those plans earlier in the day).  

But most likely there were two sets of eyes that could have looked out.  Yoicks.  Although at this point  Willow is resident in Joyce's former bedroom, which overlooks the back yard, not the front, so a certain amount of inattention is IMO excusable.  (I'd say Willow wanted to look pretty for her date with Dawn, but jokes about Dawn's romantic life got me into trouble before, so never mind that.)

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎3‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 3:52 PM, lembergwatcher said:

I still don't get it why exactly does 15-year-old Dawn need a babysitter? She sure can take care of herself on some level. What can Xander's presence at Casa Summers probably prevent lil' sis from doing? Ordering pizza? Watching porno or sneaking to Casa Penshaw to watch porno with Janice? Or is Buffy afraid Dawn's gonna bring boys home and act inappropriate? Not to mention Xander's lack of superpowers to protect younger Summers in case some Big Evil comes after her while Buffy's shagging with Spike at his crypt.

And, btw, why does it have to be Xander if Willow kinda lives at Revello Drive too? Seems like Buffy doesn't trust "her" Willow anymore, because I can see no reason why Xander has to be involved in watching Dawn as well. If Buffy has issues with trusting Willow, why does she continue to share the same roof with the redhead? Willow has a family and a house of her own in Sunnydale, after all. So what's the deal? Maybe our Buffy feels Xander's about to explode considering the whole marriage thing and thinks her buddy needs some distraction since she doesn't want him ending up in prison for murdering his hellbitch and half of his family. That would be very nice of Buffy, but highly unlikely due to her self-absorbed state...  

Not that I'm complaining about Willow, Xander and Dawn having some quality Buffy/Anya-free time together.

In most towns yes, but this is Sunnydale. 

[lembergwatcher]

"Payback is a Bitch" should've been this episode's name.

Yes, Buffy/Riley relationship fell apart due to irreconcilable differences in season 5, not because of Spike's intrigues. But Spike sure did play some role in the big breakup coming a little faster.

Now, I don't think Riley's reappearance in Sunnydale more than a year later had anything to do with Buffy telling Captain Peroxide to fuck off at the end of the ep. But I like the fact those two things coincided. And Riley's fist connecting with Spikey's face (once again) was priceless. Such things never get old.

I do like Riley (to some extent, of course) and even though I'm not a big fan of Buffy/Riley 'ship (truth be told, I don't like 95% of those "canon" relationships), I still think he was propbably the only decent guy Buffy ever had. Well, of course, he deserved a better significant other, but... True, Riley had myriad of issues, but Spike was just the lowest point (for Buffy and for the series in general).

And although Mr. Finn sure as hell wasn't aware of what happened following his (second) departure from Sunnyhell, I dare feel some kind of moral satisfaction on his behalf. Good to see how the past came to bite Spike in his skinny ass (even if that's not the case). And I smile whenever I remember the priceless look on St. Sunken Cheeks' face the moment he realized Buffy wasn't joking...