S07.E10: Bring on the Night

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; The epic fight between Buffy and the Turok-Han. Love her speech at the end!

The Bad; See above. Also it seems weird that Spike can be tortured by drowning when he doesn't breathe but I guess the reflex is still there? And most obvious of all why doesn't the Turok-Han finish Buffy when it has the chance? Or at least take her prisoner? Couldn't dig her out of the rubble before daylight? I know she likes her job but considering what's at stake (pardon the pun) surely Buffy should just continue taking some sick days and prepare for what's ahead? ASH's name in the title spoils the surprise of Giles showing up.

Best line; Dawn; "There's blood on this. The First must have made a sacrifice. Or a music video" (too much MTV for you my girl!)

Women good/men bad; Buffy has pics of Dawn, Joyce, Willow and Xander on her desk but none of her dad?

Jeez!; Watching Buffy getting the stuffing knocked out of her is HORRIBLE! Not to mention the gruesome murder of the terrified Potential and poor Spike getting waterboarded.

Kinky dinky; According to Anya demons used to boast about their evilness. Dru/First says Spike used to like it when they'd 'Giggle, wiggle, squeal' and says she'd be bad if Spike likes it (Dru's dance move reminds me of Kate Bush doing Wuthering Heights!)

Captain Subtext; And here's Kennedy who can convey an awful lot with just a look, you can see how Willow's mind is already working when Dawn asks her 'Does she want to eat?". . Andrew seems to think that a good leader should have shiny hair.

Guantanamo Bay; The gang still not hesitating to torture Andrew, even little Dawnie in on the act.

Scoobies to the ER; No which is weird?

Apocalypses; 7,

Scoobies in bondage: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 5 Will: 4 Jenny: 1 Angel: 4 Oz: 1 Faith: 3 Joyce: 1 Wes: 1 Xander; 2 Dawn; 4 Spike; 2

Scoobies knocked out: Anya by the First and Buffy by the Turok Han Buffy: 20 Giles: 12 Cordy: 6 Xander: 15 Will: 9 Jenny: 2 Angel: 6 Oz: 3 Faith: 1 Joyce: 3 Wes: 1 Anya;7 Dawn; 4 Tara; 1 Spike; 1

Kills: Buffy: 117 vamps, 60 demons, 6 monsters, 5 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human/1 god.

Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn+1 human.

Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1 a demon, 1 human Anya: 1 vamp and 1 a demon Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons Spike; 9 vamps and 6 demons Buffybot; 2 vamps Tara; 1 demon Dawn; 1 vamp + 1 demon Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 3 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 4 Anya; 1 Dawn; 1 Buffy; 1 Spike; 1

Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 1 Will: 5 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 4 Tara; 1 Dawn;1 Spike; 1 Anya; 2

Recurring characters killed: 13 Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina, Tara, Quentin Travers.

Sunnydale deaths; the poor Potential Annabelle 102

Total number of scoobies: 9, Giles and now add the first of the Potentials Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Spike, Giles, Kennedy and Molly Xander demon magnet: 5(6?) Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot: Giles: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 4 Riley; 1 Buffy; 1 Tara; 1

Dawn the bashful virgin; 9

What the fanficcers thought; Some good and bad on this one. Buffy captured by the First but rescued by Invisible Marcie from 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' is cute. In a similar style Buffy rescued by invisible Dawn because they never did think to give the Nerd's raygun back. One truly schizo story stands out where Buffy is captured by the Turok-Han and then gangraped by it and the other Sunnydale demons. Just when you think it can't get any darker in the follow up story Joyce's ghost appears to her and gives her the resolve to kill the Turok-Han (castrating it in the process!) rescue Spike and escape.It ends with the greatest line, something like "In our darkest hour we all cry out to our creator, whether god or mother. For some loves can bring us strength from far beyond the grave" And if you like things a bit more kinky an amazing one where Buffy ends up a ponygirl hitched to Santa's sleigh!

Questions and observations; Nice to see Dru back again. The last time we shall ever see Joyce/Kristine Sutherland on the show (sob!). I know we've been told that the vision Dawn has in CWDP is The First but is this the real Joyce here? It appears to Buffy in her dreams which we haven't seen it do before and seems very encouraging? Anya in glasses, have we seen that before? Why doesn't Buffy carry more weapons when she goes after Annabelle. Once again when faced with the Turok Han Buffy sensibly retreats whilst old Faith or Kendra might have fought to the death. I always thought the Turok-Han was huge but looking at it here it seems just normal human height. Does the First need Buffy and Spike to open the Hellmouth, is that why it keeps them alive? Shouldn't the scoobs take Buffy to hospital if they think she has internal bleeding? Marks out of 10; 8/10

[lembergwatcher]

The writers seem to have problems not only with the storyline in general but with its timing and continuity. The previous ep's events occured in November, while there's "Christmas in the air" (end of December) in BOTH (CWDP happened on November 12, therefore the events portrayed in Sleeper and NLM took place in November either). It appears that Buffy let the First and its minions hold ensouled Spike captive for over a month, beat and torture (and probably even rape) him with no direct action on her part... Hilarious...

And Buffy's altercation with Turok Han doesn't seem that long for her to get out of the cave at daybreak...

 

48 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:

And here's Kennedy who can convey an awful lot with just a look

True. Kennedy's (and writers') intentions regarding Willow were quite obvious the moment those two spoke to each other for the first time. Too obvious, I must say. What about mystery? Suspense? Tricking the audience? Sigh...

 

51 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Love her speech at the end!

Oh please...

Spoiler

Buffy's constant (but mostly useless) speeches were among the most irritating things about the series' final season.

I laugh out loud whenever I recall that particular speech. And keep in mind that neither we, the audience, nor Buffy's friends or other characters can take every word coming from Buffy's mouth seriously. Buffy promised not to keep secrets from her friends (Willow in particular) while climbing down a shaft in Primeval ("Let's promise to never not talk again"), yet it took her several eps to finaly reveal the truth about Dawn to her two supposedly best friends in the following season. Just like her promise to show Dawn the world at the end of Grave turned out to be equally laughable, since "the world" looked a hell of a lot like Casa Summers. It's not enough to simply say "we just became an army", it actually requires some knowledge of what army is and what commanding an army stands for. 

Spoiler

And Buffy obviousy had no clue (didn't use either time or opportunity to learn a few things on the matter) about any of this as we can see in subsequent episodes Dirty Girls and Empty Places.

[Jack Shaftoe]

This stretch of episodes includes the dreadful

Spoiler

Is Giles the First "mystery". And by mystery I mean idiotic contrivance.

Other hits include genius ideas like torturing a vampire by almost drowning him... or would have if vampires needed to, you know breathe. What's the point of torturing him when the First supposedly can mind control him? I mean, apart from seeing JM naked for the millionth time which was probably the main rationale.

Buffy does a web search for, wait for it, "evil". Exactly how dumb was Buffy at that point?

Why didn't the Turok-Han finish off Buffy?

Spoiler

Good thing we will only see this repeating only a few more times this seasons. Did I say few? I mean all the time. But that's what happens when you create an OP villain.

By the way, Giles, Neanderthals were not some mindless powerful savages, they were about as intelligent as Homo sapiens. Did you forget your brain in England?

Spoiler

Answer: yes.

Buffy's speech on the end is so corny.

Spoiler

And this army nonsense is undermined immediately when Buffy's genius plan in the next episode is to... wait for it... fight the Turok-Han one on one.

Last but not least, why, oh why is Andrew in the show? His voice is many times more irritating than SMG's and hers is already driving me crazy in these episodes (not least because she seems to almost whisper half her lines for no apparent reason).

Edited November 14, 2018 by Jack Shaftoe

[lembergwatcher]

9 minutes ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

Why didn't the Turok-Han finish off Buffy?

You mean denying Spuffy 'shippers pleasure to watch all those cheesy "twu wuw" moments? No. No. Never in a million years.

 

15 minutes ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

Last but not least, why, oh why is Andrew in the show?

I think it's time to make The Unresolved Mysteries of Buffy the Vampire Slayer list or something. Aside from Team Joss falling prey to Tom Lenk's charm or whatever I cannot find any reasonable explanation for that particular character's entire existence.

[Halting Hex]

On 11/14/2018 at 5:30 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

I always thought the Turok-Han was huge but looking at it here it seems just normal human height.

Not even.  It was played by Camden Toy, who was the smallest of the Gentlemen in Hush, and was also the not-terribly-large Gnarl earlier this year.  In this interview, Toy claims to be "five-eight, five-nine", but even that seems to be, pardon the pun, stretching things.  The seeming height generated by the shots of the übervamp at the end of Never Leave Me were probably just camera tricks.

Athough, to be fair to Toy, he appears shorter than he is because his previous roles have required a certain amount of hunching, and also because Doug Jones, the lead Gentleman, was a fairly tall fellow.  But still.

Edited November 15, 2018 by Halting Hex

[Joe Hellandback]

21 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

The writers seem to have problems not only with the storyline in general but with its timing and continuity. The previous ep's events occured in November, while there's "Christmas in the air" (end of December) in BOTH (CWDP happened on November 12, therefore the events portrayed in Sleeper and NLM took place in November either). It appears that Buffy let the First and its minions hold ensouled Spike captive for over a month, beat and torture (and probably even rape) him with no direct action on her part... Hilarious...

And Buffy's altercation with Turok Han doesn't seem that long for her to get out of the cave at daybreak...

 

True. Kennedy's (and writers') intentions regarding Willow were quite obvious the moment those two spoke to each other for the first time. Too obvious, I must say. What about mystery? Suspense? Tricking the audience? Sigh...

 

Oh please...

  Hide contents

Buffy's constant (but mostly useless) speeches were among the most irritating things about the series' final season.

I laugh out loud whenever I recall that particular speech. And keep in mind that neither we, the audience, nor Buffy's friends or other characters can take every word coming from Buffy's mouth seriously. Buffy promised not to keep secrets from her friends (Willow in particular) while climbing down a shaft in Primeval ("Let's promise to never not talk again"), yet it took her several eps to finaly reveal the truth about Dawn to her two supposedly best friends in the following season. Just like her promise to show Dawn the world at the end of Grave turned out to be equally laughable, since "the world" looked a hell of a lot like Casa Summers. It's not enough to simply say "we just became an army", it actually requires some knowledge of what army is and what commanding an army stands for. 

  Hide contents

And Buffy obviousy had no clue (didn't use either time or opportunity to learn a few things on the matter) about any of this as we can see in subsequent episodes Dirty Girls and Empty Places.

Buffy's speeches become a cliché, so much so even they make fun of it but her first one is a winner 

20 hours ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

This stretch of episodes includes the dreadful

  Hide contents

Is Giles the First "mystery". And by mystery I mean idiotic contrivance.

Other hits include genius ideas like torturing a vampire by almost drowning him... or would have if vampires needed to, you know breathe. What's the point of torturing him when the First supposedly can mind control him? I mean, apart from seeing JM naked for the millionth time which was probably the main rationale.

Buffy does a web search for, wait for it, "evil". Exactly how dumb was Buffy at that point?

Why didn't the Turok-Han finish off Buffy?

  Reveal hidden contents

Good thing we will only see this repeating only a few more times this seasons. Did I say few? I mean all the time. But that's what happens when you create an OP villain.

By the way, Giles, Neanderthals were not some mindless powerful savages, they were about as intelligent as Homo sapiens. Did you forget your brain in England?

  Reveal hidden contents

Answer: yes.

Buffy's speech on the end is so corny.

  Reveal hidden contents

And this army nonsense is undermined immediately when Buffy's genius plan in the next episode is to... wait for it... fight the Turok-Han one on one.

Last but not least, why, oh why is Andrew in the show? His voice is many times more irritating than SMG's and hers is already driving me crazy in these episodes (not least because she seems to almost whisper half her lines for no apparent reason).

Spike broke the mind control and as I've said, probably some reflex? How desperate was Buffy at this point?

I like SMGs voice and Andrew is supposed to be irritating. If Neanderthals were so great, why are they extinct?

The Giles subplot is clever, the boards went wild about it. 

[Halting Hex]

4 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

The Giles subplot is clever, the boards went wild about it. 

It was only "clever" in the sense that it caused commotion in the fandom; inside the story, no logical reason is ever presented for it.  Whedon later explicitly said that it was only there to fuck with the fans, much as the pointless "why is everyone wearing these numbered shirts?" had been the season before, much as Riley-stakes-Spike-with-a-plastic-stake-WTF? was the season before that.

Such repeated contempt for the people who make your show profitable is loathsome in the extreme, IMO.  I mean, it's not as if I didn't know Joss hated his audience already (cf The Trio) but this was hardly a welcomed reminder, either.

(There was one blogger, Darren something, who went explosively furious about the whole thing.  I think I've got his web page saved somewhere; I'll try to find it.)

[Joe Hellandback]

19 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

It was only "clever" in the sense that it caused commotion in the fandom; inside the story, no logical reason is ever presented for it.  Whedon later explicitly said that it was only there to fuck with the fans, much as the pointless "why is everyone wearing these numbered shirts?" had been the season before, much as Riley-stakes-Spike-with-a-plastic-stake-WTF? was the season before that.

Such repeated contempt for the people who make your show profitable is loathsome in the extreme, IMO.  I mean, it's not as if I didn't know Joss hated his audience already (cf The Trio) but this was hardly a welcomed reminder, either.

(There was one blogger, Darren something, who went explosively furious about the whole thing.  I think I've got his web page saved somewhere; I'll try to find it.)

Au contraire, it shows the closeness of the production staff to the fanbase, they like to have fun with us. Like the rumours of s5 where Buffy is sired or AI turning up at the end to help out against Glory?

[Halting Hex]

Was it confirmed that those idiotic "fake spoilers" came from production?  Ugh.  Just do your job and stop putting time and energy into yanking the fans around, okay?

"Have fun with us", meaning "treat us with contempt and act like assholes", I take it?  What a stupid thing to do.  No wonder the ratings tanked and tanked…

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎16‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 10:40 AM, Halting Hex said:

Was it confirmed that those idiotic "fake spoilers" came from production?  Ugh.  Just do your job and stop putting time and energy into yanking the fans around, okay?

"Have fun with us", meaning "treat us with contempt and act like assholes", I take it?  What a stupid thing to do.  No wonder the ratings tanked and tanked…

Now now, a series which interacts with its' fans isn't a bad thing, it just shouldn't be dictated to by them. 

[Halting Hex]

Interact with its fans is one thing.  Being deliberately deceitful (and arguably cruel) is another.  (There were fans who legitimately didn't know about the move to UPN and thought Buffy was dead after The Gift and mourned the series for "ending" on such a downer note.)

All I ask is that the show prioritize telling an honest and organic story.  None of the examples under discussion qualifies as such; they're just ways to fuck with the fans.  Well then…fuck you, show.

[lembergwatcher]

Quote

BUFFY
No, she's not wrong. We need more muscle. That's why we need to find Spike.

I guess I'm too dumb to understand where did all this bullshit about Spike Almighty come from. What led Buffy to believe he was so special (except for his performance in bed)? Was it because of his little "soul-searching" trip to Africa or the incoherent ramblings in the basement? Or due to Buffy's own "battered wife syndrome"? Or what? This whole "Spike is suuuuuch a valuable asset" theory makes zero sense even in the Spike-obsessed Dawnverse IMO. Given that the supposedly "strongest fighter" was helpless and held hostage

Spoiler

for 2,5 eps until Buffy came to save his skinny ass.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎19‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 3:19 PM, lembergwatcher said:

I guess I'm too dumb to understand where did all this bullshit about Spike Almighty come from. What led Buffy to believe he was so special (except for his performance in bed)? Was it because of his little "soul-searching" trip to Africa or the incoherent ramblings in the basement? Or due to Buffy's own "battered wife syndrome"? Or what? This whole "Spike is suuuuuch a valuable asset" theory makes zero sense even in the Spike-obsessed Dawnverse IMO. Given that the supposedly "strongest fighter" was helpless and held hostage

  Hide contents

for 2,5 eps until Buffy came to save his skinny ass.

He is valuable, we see him

Spoiler

kill other vamps in Dirty Girls, kill the demon in Get It Done, fight at the vineyard helping to save some Potentials, the list goes on

[lembergwatcher]

He does what the gang's been doing for years even before Captain Peroxide decided to join in. Not only Buffy, but Giles, Willow, Xander, even Tara, Anya and Dawn, all of them fought and killed vampires, demons or other monsters on several ocassions. Why exactly is Spike's participation so special or necessary?

[illdoc]

43 minutes ago, lembergwatcher said:

He does what the gang's been doing for years even before Captain Peroxide decided to join in. Not only Buffy, but Giles, Willow, Xander, even Tara, Anya and Dawn, all of them fought and killed vampires, demons or other monsters on several ocassions. Why exactly is Spike's participation so special or necessary?

In fact, Giles, Willow, et al, are actually better than Spike at this point, since he still has his chip & can't hurt humans (whereas everyone else can).

[Joe Hellandback]

13 hours ago, illdoc said:

In fact, Giles, Willow, et al, are actually better than Spike at this point, since he still has his chip & can't hurt humans (whereas everyone else can).

But he's better at it, vamp strength plus 100 years of experience having killed 2 Slayers? Plus do we want to kill humans? (Warren excepted)

[lembergwatcher]

8 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

But he's better at it, vamp strength plus 100 years of experience

How did the Scoobs manage to survive without having Spike and his 100 years of experience in their ranks for 4,5 seasons? He may be a bit stronger than your average Joe, but so far, his participation hasn't been crucial.

He did more damage than good throughout seasons 4-5. He failed to save Dawn in The Gift. Keeping the Hellmouth at bay during Buffy's absence was a collective effort, never just his, and I dare say Botty wasn't a wimp either. As for babysitting Dawn, I guess even Anya could have done it (maybe not for free, but... Well, she actually did it, together with Xander, on several ocassions in S.05). Aside from singing that cheesy song in OMWF, I can't see what was so groundbreaking about Spike being around throughout season sux. I doubt his sex therapy did Buffy any good and Captain Peroxide was nowhere in sight while Willow was trying to end it all. Spikey was mostly useless/irrelevant at the beginning of S.07 due to his own mental breakdown and The First's tricks. Moreover he resumed killing humans, thus becoming the potential threat for Buffy herself and her friends, not a reliable ally. And it really doesn't matter whether he did those things on his own free will or being mind-controlled.

So tell me again why does Buffy have to value his help more than anyone else's? Why was it so necessary to put the apparently insane mass-murderer and attempted rapist above Willow and Xander, who fought by Buffy's side since day one without any compensation in the form of fucking the Slayer?      

Edited December 22, 2018 by lembergwatcher

[illdoc]

10 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

On 12/21/2018 at 12:50 PM, illdoc said:

 

But he's better at it, vamp strength plus 100 years of experience having killed 2 Slayers? Plus do we want to kill humans?

Maybe not kill, but Spike can't even slap a human! And, aren't the Bringers human? Presumably, you'd want to do them some harm (or at least knock them out).

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎22‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 11:43 AM, lembergwatcher said:

How did the Scoobs manage to survive without having Spike and his 100 years of experience in their ranks for 4,5 seasons? He may be a bit stronger than your average Joe, but so far, his participation hasn't been crucial.

He did more damage than good throughout seasons 4-5. He failed to save Dawn in The Gift. Keeping the Hellmouth at bay during Buffy's absence was a collective effort, never just his, and I dare say Botty wasn't a wimp either. As for babysitting Dawn, I guess even Anya could have done it (maybe not for free, but... Well, she actually did it, together with Xander, on several ocassions in S.05). Aside from singing that cheesy song in OMWF, I can't see what was so groundbreaking about Spike being around throughout season sux. I doubt his sex therapy did Buffy any good and Captain Peroxide was nowhere in sight while Willow was trying to end it all. Spikey was mostly useless/irrelevant at the beginning of S.07 due to his own mental breakdown and The First's tricks. Moreover he resumed killing humans, thus becoming the potential threat for Buffy herself and her friends, not a reliable ally. And it really doesn't matter whether he did those things on his own free will or being mind-controlled.

So tell me again why does Buffy have to value his help more than anyone else's? Why was it so necessary to put the apparently insane mass-murderer and attempted rapist above Willow and Xander, who fought by Buffy's side since day one without any compensation in the form of fucking the Slayer?      

She doesn't value it above others, just Spike is part of the team? Plus they had Angel for 3 seasons?

[lembergwatcher]

2 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

She doesn't value it above others, just Spike is part of the team?

Spoiler

Well, she does. She says it openly in Empty Places after two Potentials dying and Xander losing his eye while watching Buffy's back.

Quote

BUFFY
You sent away the one person that's been watching my back—again.

 

And like I said before: Spike's tendency to fall for The First's charms makes him very unreliable part of the team, to say the least.
 

2 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Plus they had Angel for 3 seasons?

What does Angel have to do with Spike's supposed "indispensability"? Angel saved the Scoobs on several ocassions, even though I don't remember him playing crucial role in dealing with numerous Apocalypses (and he was much stronger than your average Joe either - just like Spikey). Buffy did let him go after graduation AFAIK. She was very far from all that "Angel is our strongest fighter, we have to keep him at all costs!" bullshit. Telling Spike to piss off and leave Sunnydale wouldn't have been much of a loss for the gang too.  

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎28‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 6:38 PM, lembergwatcher said:

  Hide contents

Well, she does. She says it openly in Empty Places after two Potentials dying and Xander losing his eye while watching Buffy's back.

 

And like I said before: Spike's tendency to fall for The First's charms makes him very unreliable part of the team, to say the least.
 

What does Angel have to do with Spike's supposed "indispensability"? Angel saved the Scoobs on several ocassions, even though I don't remember him playing crucial role in dealing with numerous Apocalypses (and he was much stronger than your average Joe either - just like Spikey). Buffy did let him go after graduation AFAIK. She was very far from all that "Angel is our strongest fighter, we have to keep him at all costs!" bullshit. Telling Spike to piss off and leave Sunnydale wouldn't have been much of a loss for the gang too.  

Which is true, he was there when she needed him. Plus Angel was always there for Buffy. 

[lembergwatcher]

1 hour ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Which is true, he was there when she needed him. Plus Angel was always there for Buffy.

I don't quite understand why you use Angel  as a justification for Spike's membership in the Scooby Gang. Yes, both of them are dicks, but Spike's involvement usually did more damage than good. And Angel had the guts to let Buffy go and leave, while Spike acted like a Buffy-obsessed sick SOB.

And "always" is a strong word in post-graduation Buffy/Angel case, I must say.

Edited December 30, 2018 by lembergwatcher

[Halting Hex]

Yes, just because one ensouled vampire was helpful to Buffy, that's no guarantee that another might be.  Especially as Spike has been a nutter/an (allegedly-mind-controlled) agent of slaughter/a hostage this year, and not so much a helpmeet, after all.

"You can't just judge me by my ensouled-vampire-ness Slayerness! That's…something-ism." —Buffy to Wesley, Choices.

[Halting Hex]

So I bought myself a sports-themed tee shirt online, and the site has a sale today, so I figured "what the heck" and decided to scout around for BtVS gear.  Sadly, despite 27 pages' worth of results, there was nothing that really hit the sweet spot.  (How tough would it be to put an image of S1 Willow and caption it "Smart Girls are So Hot", for example?  Or even Acathla's sarcophagus with "It's a Big Rock.  I Can't Wait to Tell My Friends.  They Don't Have a Rock This Big"?)  But there was one thing that really didn't hit the spot for me…and surprisingly, it had nothing to do with Spike.

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/301770-buffy-speech

Really?  You're making a tee-shirt out of the "we just became an army" speech?  Gee, how…inspiring. 

Spoiler

At least it isn't the "everyone sucks but me" speech or "I'm the Slayer and you have to fall in line!" from Empty Places, but even so.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

Well, I prefer tee-shirts with "we just became an army" instead of, say, "Power. I have it. They don't."

[Halting Hex]

Good point.  Although you could sell me a shirt with Lydia on it and the caption "I don't want a sword thrown at me, but…" 

(Well, maybe.  Depends on the price, I guess.  But in principle, anyway.)

[lembergwatcher]

I came across Clara Bryant's profile on Avvo.com recently - https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/30341-ga-clara-bryant-4234217.html

Her specialisation as a lawyer is quite interesting, I must say...

She looked quite cool in Bone Eater, her final acting project.

I was saddened to learn there is no Molly/Xander fanfiction out there...

[Halting Hex]

That last outfit, I could go for some

Spoiler

Faith/Molly now.  Mmm, Folly…

(Actually, it would make Faith throwing Molly's memory in Buffy's face in Empty Places almost sensible…)

Edited March 4, 2019 by Halting Hex