DVD review - Buffy season 7 episodes 18, 19 and 20

Continuing my viewing/reviewing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7 (final season)....

SPOILERS

B7-18: Dirty Girls (written by Drew Goddard, airdate 4/15/03)

Nathan Fillion!!!! Okay, now the fun really starts. Nice of Joss to get him here playing Caleb, with a folks southern type accent to go with his evil-holy man guise. Nice. Funny about Xander's dream - being the only male stuck in a house full of potential...slayers. Potential slayers. Sheesh. Good to see Faith and Spike tussle, then later talk. They have interesting character dynamic together. Couldn't help but laugh at Andrew's recap of Faith's history, including the battle with Spock. Wait...not a Vulcan? Bwahahaha. Xander gives yet another awesome speech to the girls, inspiring them and showing what Buffy really means to them. That, my friends, is his power. Kudos. Oh, evil vineyard - (Spike: "like Falcon Crest" - bwahahaha) - yeah, the place the gang gets smashed and not in a good way. It was a trap and Buffy fell right into it. Besides the couple potentials that get killed, Xander loses an eye! OUCH!

B7-19: Empty Places (written by Drew Z. Greenberg, airdate 4/29/03)

People leaving town - empy homes. Xander missing a left eye - empty socket. Anya and Andrew doing a poor job inspiring the girls - empty words. Buffy gets jumped by Caleb at the school - empty Sunnydale High. That covers it. Oh, Spike and Andrew on the bike and the discussion of the merits of a bloomin' onion - very surreal. In the end, everyone turns on Buffy - thinking her leadership skills aren't panning out and are leaving them all worse for the wear. Sure, we expect this from Giles and Faith, but coming from her closest of friends (Willow, Xander and Dawn) - yikes! And everyone putting their faith in Faith - hmmmm, this might not bode very well.


B7-20: Touched (written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner, airdate 5/6/03)

The camera work clearly shows the disarray the team has fallen to with Buffy gone - it jumps as the debate does. Poor Willow - delegated to be the one to tell Spike that Buffy is gone. Cowards making her do it. Good for Spike calling them all traitors because that's what they were - betraying their friend and protector. He finds her (gotta love his sense of smell) and motivates her with a speech. She isn't ready yet but she doesn't want him to leave. The others have some coupling time too: Willow and Kennedy, Faith and Wood (dang, he moves fast!) and Xander and Anya (awwww, they couldn't keep away - not even the ice cream deterred it). Finally, Buffy versus Caleb round 3 - and she manages to work out a plan to keep him at bay and find out what he's hiding. Meanwhile, Faith leads the girls into a fight with the Bringers that turns out to be a trap. 8...7...6...5... The countdown to the finale is quickly approaching!

Two more to go - tonight!