Mutiny on the HMS Buffy (WARNING: Spoilers for Last Night's Episode)

Well, the plot is still creeping along... I do wish it'd creep a little faster, though. At only three episodes left in the series, it doesn't really have very much longer to get wherever it's going. And, yeah, the writers are still all but jumping up on chairs and waving their arms and screaming "This is a looming apocalypse unlike any other looming apocalypse! This time things are really bad! Really!" But I have to say, I'm honestly just not feeling it. And that fact makes all the scenes of people panicking in the streets and desperately trying to get the hell out of Dodge seem kind of... odd. I mean, this is Sunnydale, Denial Capital of the World. Six zillion people get eaten every day, and the town motto still might as well be "Vampires? What Vampires?" You'd think it would take a lot to get to these people, but, really, while some of the stuff the First Evil has done has been pretty creepy, I can't think of anything in specific that it's done that would put the general public on edge, at least not any more than anything else they've ever dealt with. OK, maybe there's just a general sense of Evil in the air, but that's no more than business as usual for Sunnydale, so I'm really not buying it.

I will say this for the episode, though: I'm really glad to finally see everyone rebelling against Buffy's "bitch at everyone until they're miserable and then lead them on suicide charges" style of leadership. I'm not sure what her malfunction is, but it's long past time to bring in Dr. McCoy and have her declared unfit for command. Though I'm not exactly sure what kicking her out of her own house is going to accomplish, other than making it extremely likely that she'll go off on her own and do something stupid. Oh, and I'll say it: Bully for Faith! She's displayed a lot more good judgment and emotional restraint than Buffy. And there's a sentence I never would have thought I'd type.

Best Acting award for this episode, by the way, has to go to Nicholas Brendon, who delivers the usual Xander jokes with exactly the right inflection to let us know just how very much he's suffering. Poor Xander. He'd be top of my list of People Who Need Hugs right now, except he got one, and it didn't seem to help a whole lot.

Oh, and I think Spike and Andrew should team up more often. Especially if Andrew gets to be the Bad Cop.