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7 February 2011
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Episode Guide
Fool for Love

Trivia

RILEY, YOU BIG LUG

A small shrine to the dumbest man on TV. This week:

Riley Has neato medical training - this guy is such a hero. He tells Buffy she should see a doctor about her wound. Good advice, but we don't remember him rushing to get proper medical attention for his dicky ticker a few weeks back.

He can't seem to cope with vampire hunting missions where his back-up team are noisily munching crisps. He blows all his cool with the silly "choo choo" combat sign language too.

Sneaky Riley. Sneak between those headstones, sneaky Riley! You fool!

He walks into a nest of vamps. He's getting arrogant, isn't he?

He does a good job of rescuing wounded Buffy, but drops his stun gun.

Have we mentioned how neat he looks in combat gear? Bet you he irons his trousers.

Boxer Rebellion: As mentioned in Season Two's School Hard, Spike killed his first Slayer during China's Boxer Rebellion. At the turn of the last century, a group calling themselves The Fist of Righteous Harmony rose up against supposed Western repression in China. The rebellion was eventually quashed by Western forces.

Despite Spike's claims that the Slayer pleaded for her life, the unnamed girl actually says "Tell my mother I'm sorry..."

Who's the Daddy? Again contradicting School Hard, we finally discover who really sired Spike - Drusilla. Joss Whedon had confirmed this for some time but had never stated it onscreen.

Spike had originally claimed that Angel had sired him, so Joss invented the theory that 'sired' covers a vampire's entire bloodline. As Dru sired Spike and Angel sired Dru, Angel is effectively Spike's vampire grandpa, but also his sire. If that's Joss's theory, it's good enough for us.

I Don't Fancy Yours Much: What was Dru thinking, running off with a Chaos Demon? They're just all slime and antlers.

Shaft Slayer! Nikki the Vampire Slayer is Spike's other Slayer kill. Dressed like a contestant in a Billy Idol lookalike contest, Spike battles the young black girl on a subway train in 1977 New York. He even has the cheek to steal her coat after he finishes her off. That was some baaaaaaaaad m-f fro, too.

Bloody Awful: Spike's original nickname, William the Bloody, has always sounded as if it had grand origins. The truth is that it comes from a cruel remark from a fellow aristocrat, bemoaning Spike's "Bloody awful poetry."

Another aristocrat notes "I'd rather have a railroad spike through my head than listen to that awful stuff!" - probably giving young William other ideas for a catchy moniker.

Food for Love: Seems Spike will do anything for a plate of spicy buffalo wings. And a big wad of cash, of course.

Dapper Chap: Giles is back in suit and tie now he's got a job again. But none of that fusty old tweed - he's gone designer. Go, go you funky librarian!

Eternal Flame: Watch out for that bit when the vamp team walk towards the camera with flames in the background. Now, where have we seen that before? Oh, any action film. Ever. Sheesh. And vampires in a burning building? Ummm... we hope it's irony.

Effulgent: it means 'Shining forth brilliantly; sending forth intense light; resplendent, radiant', apparently.

Cecily: the name of the young ward in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest

Wigs!: When Angel and William bump into each other watch their hairpieces leap.

Wigs II:: Anyone else think Spike looks great with the Leonardo Di Caprio hairdo?

Meanwhile, on Angel...: On Buffy's sister show we discover what Angel and Darla think about what's going on. Plus, what was on Angel's mind during the Boxer rebellion?

Music: This week's music playing in the Bronze is Balladovie by The Killingtons.


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Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the UK on BBC 2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.


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