Daniel
Comedy takes a backseat to shocks and scheming...

Firstly, we have the emergence of Warren as a big bad, complete with mystic balls. The plans of the Troika have seemed clumsy in the past - writing them as figures of fun sometimes didn't sit comfortably with their evil actions. But the events of this episode make sense of it all - he was the dark force and Jonathan and Andrew were just infatuated and following his lead. There is still room for comedy (the rocket pack sight gag in particular), but evil is suitably to the fore.

While Warren�s plans prove gripping viewing, the assault of Buffy by Spike seems a tad unnecessary, and makes for uncomfortable viewing (even with the cuts made for the UK teatime transmission). On the one hand you could commend the production team for tackling such a subject matter, but the inclusion of it in this episode, with so much else going on, seemed to demean its significance. Hopefully the aftermath will handled with more sensitivity.

Perhaps there is just too much going on, for all of the above events are overshadowed by the episodes denouement. Even foreknowledge of the death of a Scooby cannot prepare you for the power of the final frames, which prove that the Buffy universe is far from a safe one.

Ann
Two things stand out about this shocking episode of Buffy. Firstly, everyone in Sunnydale seems to have a very very odd attitude to sex, being more bothered by it than, say, murdering and the like. Xander is particularly hypocritical - acting as if Anya's life is still his to direct, despite leaving her at the altar. It makes you rather more sympathetic to her attempts to turn him inside out with her vengeance demon powers than you probably should be.

Warren's another hung-up sick little puppy. His fantasies are all about power, control and humiliating people - making him probably the most repellent, as well as the most realistic, big bad ever to afflict Buffy.

Which brings me to Spike. Everyone's down on Spike for, basically, making a mistake when drunk which even he regrets. It all seems a little unfair, and I can't help feeling that his unconvincing and out-of-character transformation into a rapist was a cheap trick to force us, too, into detesting him. There's nothing wrong with using shock, but when it seems to be used to force a particular moral standpoint on the viewer, it becomes pretty uncomfortable.