I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU; thoughts and review

[Saturn 5]

Only Have Eyes for you (which I inexplicably missed first time around)

The Good;
Lovely romance, lovely analogy of Buffy and Angel, Gile's mourning Jenny and a great tribute to the power of forgiveness. Wonderful scenes with Spike, Angelus and Dru too

The Bad;
Fairly little, a good ep although not a great one. Some pretty dodgy zombie makeup to be truthful

Best line;
Buffy; Something weird's going on!
Xander; Isn't that our school motto?

Wheldon cliches;

Knocked out;

Character death;
The teacher, another SDH faculty member bites the dust

Shot;
Angel(us) by Buffy

Tied up;

Women good/men bad;
Buffy's anger is focused at James, an obvious substitute for Angel. Cordelia is outraged at the idea of the Sadie Hawkins' dance, not a huge fan of gender equality, obviously.

Subtext;

Questions and observations;
Whenever a gun appears in Buffy it's never good. Always nice to see Shakespeare paraphrased in a US teen show. What happens to the janitor who shot the teacher? Presumably without Giles' testimony and no gun the charges against him are dropped. We have the first confirmation that Snyder and the police are in on the conspiracy regarding Sunnydale and first mention of the Mayor. Spike getting out of the wheelchair at the end speaks of great things to come.

6/10 good ep without being brilliant,

[Alexandra]

I really, really like this episode. Especially when we find out that James is actually a substitute for Buffy! Anyway, for me it's one of highlights of excellent Season 2.

[Iceeh★]

The first time I saw this episode, I fell asleep halfway through (it was 4 in the morning, mind you), and I woke up as Angel and Buffy were kissing. Needless to say when I realized it wasn't REALLY them, I sobbed my head off. On rewatches, this episode has always been one of my favorites.

[Erica]

I really love this one, it's always been one of my favorite old-school-Buffy episodes.

[buffyfan21]

Love this episode. I always thought the reason Buffy was so outraged toward James is b/c she identified with him (hence why he picked her, b/c he knew that Buffy would understand). Buffy feels that she killed Angel the same way that James killed Grace (ok, maybe not with a gun, but this obviously makes little difference in Buffy's mind). When she talks about James "destroying the person he loved the most in a moment in a moment of blind passion," it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Buffy is also talking about herself here. Hence Cordy's phrase of, "over identify much?," b/c this is exactly what Buffy is doing. When she asks Giles, "I just don't see how she could forgive him," I think what she is really asking is, "how could Angel ever forgive me for robbing him of his soul and in effect killing the man I love?"

One of my favorite exchanges this ep occurs between Buffy and Giles when they are discussing the matter of Grace forgiving James:

Buffy: He doesn't deserve it.
Giles: Forgiveness isn't given because people deserve it, Buffy, it's given because they need it."

This line sums up the whole lesson of the episode foe me. Definitely a classic Buffy ep with an interesting premise. And I thought Zombie James was pretty crepyfying with the, "GET OUT!"

[gumgnome]

I think that this is a wonderful episode. For a start, it's a good ol' fashioned haunting, which is always very entertaining on screen.

I love the exorcism scene (Cordy: "I saw that movie! Even the priests died!").

It also expounds on the Buffy/Angel theme in a more interesting way than most of the episodes that have followed him becoming evil. Their interaction isn't simply fight/demoralise/throw snarky comments/both back out. Rather, we get to see a glimpse of the old days and then have it torn away again.

The ending with Spike getting out of the wheelchair is epic. I practically peed my pants when I saw that for the first time!

[hedgehogvampire]

Ya, I rebember that too it was pretty cool. This epedeode was cool, but it was also scary and funny to.

[Saturn 5]

I think in terms of Buffy as a tortured romance this ep is the ultimate, it also holds out the idea of redemption for Angel so a favourite for Bangelers

[cutiepatootie]

Yeah, awesome episode. Really creepy with the whole gramaphone music, if I hear it on the radio it still gives me the creeps, which is the mark of a well executed episode.

[glorylover]

One of the first Buffy episodes I'd ever seen, it made me a fan, so therefore I'll always love it, I had to download the cheesey song they dance to as well

[Max]

I think it was one of the most Shakespearian episode of the show,we have the fate who put two characters who are stuck in a time loop because of their love,this love is the reason why they hurt themselves (and of course,the one they possessed),it reminds me of Romeo and Juliette ..The fact that the ghost are a way to show us the torment that Buffy is feeling since Angelus is back,is just great ,and i love her lines,when she says something like "he killed the one he loved most in the world,he deserves what is happening to him".I think it's just great ,it shows us how much she feels guilty about what happened .
Anyway,i like this episode,i find really sad and the end,with the forgiveness ,just beautiful.