FOREVER; the ecstasy of grief and reconciliation

[Saturn 5]

FOREVER
The Good;
Angel's back, hooray. The final scene where Buffy and Dawn collapse into each other's arms is my favourite scene in the whole of Buffy.
The Bad;
Dawn stealing the eggs, the Ghora demon just looks lame.
Best line;
Dawn; "It's ok, okkaaayyyyy!"
Women good/men bad;
Jeez!;
Doc is far more human that many of the demons the gang face and ALL the scarier for it. Like Mayor Wilkins, Doc is a tribute to the skill of an actor in the role. Am I the only one who finds Willow's idea of making a stuffed animal dance extremely sinister? Buffy slaps Dawnie but in fairness she has every right to.
Kinky dinky;
Glory refers to Jinx as her 'Robed stud'. Willow likens Tara's fried eggs to 'little boobs'. Anya and Xander have sex, Anya hinting to a terrified Xander she eventually wants children.
Captain Subtext;
Note that Buffy never hugs Dawn after Joyce dies, not even at the graveside, can't even bare to look her in the face. (both girls sitting alone in their bedrooms) Can't stand to see her mother's eyes looking back at her? It's only in the last scene that the sisters finally find each other and it's all too wonderful. Spike (who was noticeably absent in The Body) brings flowers for Joyce whom he professes his fondness for (in Lies My Parents Told Me we discover why). Buffy says she wants Angel to stay on in Sunnydale for all time which must give Bangler's reassurance.
Guantanamo Bay;
Scoobies to the ER;
Missing scenes;
Apocalypses; 5,
Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1
Dawn; 1

Scoobies knocked out:
Buffy: 16
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 8
Will: 5
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;1
Kills:
Buffy: 95 vamps, 32 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 6 vamps
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, ½ a demon, ½ a demon
Anya: ½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 10
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce

Sunnydale deaths;
89;

Total number of scoobies: 6
Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara,

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

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
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
Questions and observations;
Willow's helping of Dawn foretells her abuse of magic in later seasons. A lot of people blame Dawn for trying to ressurect Joyce but just imagine you're 14 year old girl and the mother you love more than anything has died. If there was the slightest chance you could bring her back, wouldn't you? Wouldn't anyone?
Angel comes to Sunnydale for the funeral. Do Wes and Cordy come? Oz? Do they tell Faith? She doesn't mention Joyce when she turns up in season 7 but maybe Buffy posts her a letter? Nice mislead with Buffy and the coffins, you think she's vamphunting at first. Dawn in pigtails to make her look even younger. The album Giles is listening to is the same one he listened to with Joyce in Band Candy.
For the record the scariest monster we never see is the THING that crosses past the window and knocks on the door of the Summer's house. And Buffy goes 'Mommy' and runs to the door because she'd give the world to have Joyce back. And Dawn becomes the grown up and rips up the photo so she opens the door to nothing. And the Summer's girls collapse into each other's arms because (to paraphrase Ally McBeal) Joyce is dead, they loved her and she died and she's going to be dead forever. But they'll always have each other, she lives on through her deeds and her daughters. Angelus in Passion referred to 'The ecstasy of grief'. Here we see it in all it's glory. And in many ways Buffy needs Dawn a lot more than Dawn needs Buffy, Buffy doesn't ask who's going to take care of Dawn, she asks who's going to take care of 'us'. And the answer is from now on they take care of each other.
Marks out of 10; 9/10, would be 10/10 except for the stupid looking demon.

[Tea - Total]

Again great episode the theme is also darker then normal, i really like that demon it was different then an vampire.
The creation of the doc was brilliant and he had a warm grandma atmosphere toward him, which was good, but until he is evil and working for Glory.

The Grief was expanding towards Dawn but at the end scene Buffy had allot of emotions, But when Buffy ran to the door my heart sank for her, so sad.
10/10

[Randi Giles]

My heart broke for Buffy also when she ran to the door. When she said "Mommy" I choked up. She was like a little girl. It was so sad. Actually SMG killed that whole scene. When she said 'who's gonna take care us' my heart just kept breaking.
Saturn 5 to answer some of your questions to the best of my knowledge. If my mom had died and she was around the same age Joyce was I'd probably bring her back also. I doubt that Wes and others came. I would assume that maybe Willow brought Faith up to speed on the ride from L.A. to Sunnydale. 9/10