Dan Vebber, making an auspicious Buffy writing debut, helps to restore things to normal after some recent out-of-character anomalies (Willow's reluctance to help research and Xander's spiteful attitude in 'Revelations', for example). There is still some amusing unfulfilled attraction between Xander and Willow to work through, but otherwise things are just peachy.

There's been very little interaction so far between Buffy and this season's arc villains (the Mayor and Mister Trick, in case you were wondering), so the return of Spike is a very welcome development. Here we get to see a whole new side of Spike, whose drunken, lovelorn ramblings make him more sympathetic than ever. His scenes with Willow and Joyce, in which he recounts his sob story, are well-written and beautifully performed. "She wouldn't even kill me. She just left. She didn't even care enough to cut off my head or set me on fire!".

This is undeniably Spike's episode, culminating in a terrific speech that undermines Buffy's and Angel's relationship, while defending his hopeless love for Drusilla: "You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children. It's blood, blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it".