Random Thoughts on Tonight's Buffy (WARNING: Spoilers!)

All right! We appear to have finally found the plot again! And to be having some fun and excitement along the way, too... Yay!

As promised, various random thoughts follow (yes, they're not just for Farscape any more!):

I was pretty sure that was the decision Buffy was going to make about Spike, and I'm glad that she did, because it was the right one. Spike's got a soul now, and he deserves his free will as much as the rest of us. Besides, assume they had fixed the chip instead of removing it. How long could we expect the thing to stay fixed? Spike's lifespan is potentially very, very long. Eventually, I think it's pretty much a given that the circuitry would begin to degrade, and by that point there's probably not gonna be anybody left who knows how to fix it. That having been said, yeah, Giles' disapproval was still pretty understandable. Even if most of it did ultimately spring from a sort of "would you want your daughter to be involved with Spike?" kind of place. Or perhaps especially because of that...

Principal Wood: Ha! I knew he wasn't evil! OK, I had no idea what he actually was, but I was pretty sure he wasn't evil. And I'm rather happy about that, too. Buffy's right, the guy's really attractive and charming, and it'd be a shame to waste all that on evilness. Mind you, just because he's evil doesn't mean he doesn't have the potential to become an enemy... I did kind of see that last plot twist coming, but I don't really mind that at all. I think it's gonna make for some very interesting character dynamics.

Nice to see a potential slayer who doesn't speak English. I was beginning to wonder why all of them seemed to be from the US and England, when it's been very firmly established that Slayers can and do pop up anywhere. It's also kind of nice to know that there's a language Giles doesn't speak.

Speaking of Giles, anybody else wonder if maybe the reason he's so tetchy in this one is because he doesn't have a date? Poor Giles. Well, OK, OK, he's quite right about the need to get serious, but it's a bit difficult to take him seriously when he's holding up gory stick figures. (Ah, truly, I only make fun of the guy because I love him. And, man, did you see the way he took out that Bringer in the flashback? Giles is still the man!)

Did I mention recently that I was starting to like Andrew? Let me amend that. I'm really, really starting to like Andrew! You go, boy!

I love the way they've got pre-made distress messages set up on their cell phones. That's the kind of intelligent good planning you seldom see on TV. And, of course, it doesn't surprise me at all that Xander has a pre-programmed signal for "Help, my date turned out to be a demon." Come to think of it, he's right; this whole attracting-demons thing has gone way beyond coincidence. You think maybe the picked up some kind of a curse somewhere along the line without realizing it? I mean, sheesh.

For the record, Scott Bakula was, in my opinion, approximately 6,000 times more attractive as Dr. Sam Beckett than as Captain Archer. Still a good choice for Xander's alleged purpose, though, there's no denying it...