THE KILLER IN ME; kissing Kennedy/alienating Amy

[joxerlives]

THE KILLER IN ME

Oh my god, this is ep 135, we're into single figures left!
The Good;
Always lovely to see Amy again, sadly her last appearance although she's back in the comics. Nice subplot with 'Is Giles the First?' and some creepy stuff in the old Initiative, very Halloween (the movie not the ep).
The Bad;
I find the whole Willow/Kennedy storyline not that involving frankly and I'm normally a Willow fan. Rather ruins the suprise reveal of Amy when EAA's name is in the titles.
Best line;
Spike; "Who you gonna call? You know that's never going to be usable again, is it?" (tell that to the 118 118 boys!)
but also like;
Initiative officer (of Spike) "We're here to help ass-face (noting Buffy's look) Those were agent Finn's exact words"
Women good/men bad;
Pretty much all the Warren stuff
Jeez!;
Will slapping Amy is shocking
Kinky dinky;
When Buffy tries to tell the Initiative that Spike's 'chip' is malfunctioning they seem to think she's referring to something else. Andrew grabs Will's breasts and he and Dawn take the opportunity to feel up Willow/Warren and all the Scoobs grope Giles in the final scene. Giles is affronted that the Scoobes think he's evil because he'd take a group of nubile teenage girls on a camping trip and NOT touch them. Xander appears to wear Aquaman underwear, how does Willow know this? Amy's top is very revealing, I never appreciated how hot she was until this ep.
Captain Subtext;
One big lesbian seduction of Willow by Kennedy. Kennedy says that Willow is sexy when she pouts, quite true. Kennedy presumes Willow is gay but Will never actually says so. She asks how long has she enjoyed sex with women (well doesn't EVERYONE?). Interestingly Will says she didn't fall in love with WOMEN but with one WOMAN. Will's mum hardly met Tara. Kennedy says she was first attracted to women when she was five (!) after watching Rhett sweep Scarlett up the staircase in Gone with the Wind. This scene is widely considered to be marital rape but then as a potential Slayer Kennedy has that dark sexual side we see in Faith and Buffy and in 'Get it done' we find out why. Note that Kennedy wishes to play the Rhett role who's the sexual aggressor just as Kennedy is courting Willow. Kennedy tells Willow she doesn't worry about her "Being too butch". More signs of Andrew and Xander bonding, love Anya and Dawn's little look at him. Dawn and Anya snuggle under a blanket.
So, does Amy actually have a gay crush on Willow and is this all the result of jealousy? Certainly Amy at the end seems to be coming on to Kennedy, saying "You must be good" after the revelation about the kiss. Kennedy thinks Willow's freckles are 'lickable'.
Guantanamo Bay;
The Initiative's new front is a flower shop, what is it with Buffy and florists?
Scoobies to the ER;
Missing scenes;
Presumably around this time Dawn recieves her phonecall from Angelus but we never see it. Also the Scoobies never seem to notice the eternal darkness in LA or Jasmine but then they have their own worries.
Apocalypses; 7,
Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage: Spike continues to keep himself chained up
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 4
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 2
Dawn; 4
Spike; 3

Scoobies knocked out:
Buffy: 20
Giles: 12
Cordy: 6
Xander: 15
Will: 9
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;7
Dawn; 4
Tara; 1
Spike; 1
Kills: one demon for Buffy
Buffy: 118 vamps, 61 demons, 6 monsters, 10 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human/1 god.
Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn+1 human.
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1½ a demon, 2 humans
Anya: 1 vamp and 1½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 9 vamps and 6 demons+1 human
Buffybot; 2 vamps
Tara; 1 demon
Dawn; 1 vamp + 1 demon
Kennedy; 1 human+1 vampire
Amanda; 1 vampire

Scoobies go evil: Willow, big time
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 4
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 4
Anya; 1
Dawn; 1
Buffy; 1
Spike; 1

Alternate scoobies: Willow as Warren
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 1
Will: 6
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 4
Tara; 1
Dawn;1
Spike; 1
Anya; 2

Recurring characters killed: 13
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina, Tara, Quentin Travers.

Sunnydale deaths;
103

Total number of scoobies:
Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Spike, Giles, Kennedy, Molly, Vi, Chloe, Rhona, Amanda

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot:
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4
Riley; 1
Buffy; 1
Tara; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Buffy: 4 confirmed; Angel, Parker, Riley, Spike. 2 possible, Dracula+RJ(?)
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara
Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore
Spike; 2 Buffy and Anya
Anya; 2 Spike and Xander
Dawn in peril; 14
Dawn the bashful virgin; 9
What the fanficcers thought;
Read an interesting one where Willow's guilt manifest's itself differently, she's visited by Warren every night and he cuts skin from her body. In the end she forgives him and then forgives herself, making him disappear and only dreaming of Tara from then on. www.fanfiction.net/s/3054002/1/Deserving (don't worry, non adult)
Another good one (Catch me if I fall) has Willow confronting Amy and we find out that this is all due to an unrequited gay crush from Amy for Willow. Amy tries to stab Will with her Bringer dagger and Xander shoots Amy with the gun Willow-as-Warren bought. She collapses and dies in the arms of a tearful Willow.
Questions and observations;
Weird to see flashbacks all the way back to season 4, seems a world away. SMG seems rather hoarse in the first scene. The series seems to be running out of money to judge by the commentary, all that CGI expensive. It strikes me that Spike has moved into the basement just as Xander moves out. Robson the Watcher has survived, the Watcher's Council is not entirely gone and can help Buffy and co in season 8. Shouldn't Xander pack some weapons when he heads off to the desert?
So is Amy working with the First (she uses it's catchphrase, 'It's about power')? But when she talks to Kennedy she seems to not even to be evil, that this is petty jealousy of Willow. OR maybe she's bitter at Willow having killed Rack and left Amy to have painful rehab on her own?
Is the leader of the Initiative team the same guy from the series The Unit? What a shame they couldn't have got Graham back. In the end where we see Warren weeping and saying "I'm sorry baby" is he actually grieving for Katrina?

Marks out of 10; 6/10, not my favourite

[Jaz ♀♀]

Will's mum hardly met Tara.

I think that an opportunity the writers missed is Willow's 'coming out' scene to her mom. I so would have loved to have seen that. If i remember correctly, Willow said her mom was proud of her because she thought she was making a political statement, then after awhile the statement wore off and she was 'just gay'. So i'm assuming her mom wasn't as mad/displeased when Willow told her she was dating Oz. Also would Tara be there as well for support? and is Willow referencing that time as possibly the only time Tara and Will's mom met?

So, does Amy actually have a gay crush on Willow and is this all the result of jealousy?

Hmm, I never got the gay crush subtext vibe from her, and i think the only jealously she had was for Willow's power.

Shouldn't Xander pack some weapons when he heads off to the desert?

I bet you a shiny nickle that after all these years of helping Buffy fight, that the Scoobies have weapons stashed EVERYWHERE including every car they drive, so i'm sure he has some in the trunk.



I'm not a fan of this episode, but i do love Aly's acting in it and i cry every single time when she's replaying the scene in Buffy's back yard.

[Darth Rosie]

I find the conversation between Willow and Kennedy charming; it's a well-written scene. I'm not really a Kennedy-Willow-shipper, but for me they have chemistry and Kennedy's straight-forward hitting on Willow is fun.

[joxerlives]

I'm ok with Kennedy and Willow, I think it was very deliberate that Kennedy was the anti-Tara

[orangejuicepony]

The first time I watched this episode I really didn't like it at all. Mostly because I really dislike Kennedy. It seemed that Willow would fall for someone like that. Looking back at her past loves, Xander was her best friend so it seemed natural that she might come to like him as more than that. But Oz and Tara were both quiet nerdy people. They showed off different sides of being quiet and nerdy but thet both kind of fit that, and I assumed that was Willows type. So it bothered me the first time I watched this because I really like Willow as character and I found her relationship with Kennedy kind of off. The second time I watched this though I think I was a little more used to the idea of Willow and Kennedy, so it didn't bother me as much. I think that maybe Willow just fell for Kennedy because she was so unlike Tara. Maybe if she acted like her, it would have brought up painful memories. So moving past that part I thought that this was actually a really good episode. I especially enjoyed the Spike storyline, and also how Willow was shown dealing with the death of Tara. Hooray for "the killer in me!"