Maybe not focusing on the sex lives of the characters would be a good thing. I forgot how bad this season got.
On a first watch, I have mixed feelings about this episode. The revisitation and catharsis of the confrontation between Buffy and Angel from the preceding Angel episode was simply inspired writing, and extremely gratifying to watch. Their personal investments and entanglements made the initial confrontation fraught with raw emotion, leading to neither of them re/acting truly rationally, but it was both understandable and realistic. Buffy did lash out pretty harshly, but Angel still behaved worse than he felt he should have, and the honesty and reconciliation in the hallway were a joy to watch. I still don't hate Riley, but that scene with Angel showed just how much of a sideshow he is to the great Buffy/Angel tragedy.
However, I thought Spike's sabotaging of the Scoobies was quite weak. The parts were there, but it felt forced and uninspired. Also, I'm tired of Spike. He's funny. James Marsters brings a lot to the role, but I wish Whedon had actually been able to kill him off. Spike is just pathetic and the gag is old. He's a trashy murderous scumbag motivated entirely by his self-absorbed rage, blaming Buffy for his own loss and failure, only he's impotent, and that's the only reason he's tolerable; otherwise he'd be rushing to bludgeon Buffy to death. Adam is more interesting. He's at least got a plan.
Drunk Giles got a couple of short guffaws out of me, though. I miss the Cordelia and Giles dynamic. The "Oh, no, so that's what you really thought all along" was way too reminiscent of that bullshit scene from "Dead Man's Party" where everyone (except Giles) just dogs on Buffy in a ridiculous display of extremely out of character shrill insanity. Was it sweeps week?
Shout by SLionsCricketBlockedParent2017-07-18T05:02:19Z
A season's worth of emotions come pouring out in the second half of the episode and it's as fun to watch it as it is frustrating. Angel's returns to Sunnydale to make amends with Buffy for her mistakes when she visited him in LA in the midst of a counselling session with Faith.
There's much to love about this episode. Spike is still terrific and he really puts the final touches into disintegrating the Scoobies. It was he who let Willow and Xander know in Doomed that their little team was falling apart and here he executes. Angel giving Riley a bit of a pummeling is a fantastic moment, as is his apology to Buffy where she should be apologizing to him. Buffy's is probably my third favourite character after Wesley and Willow in this series (inc. ANGEL) but she pushed it one step too far in the ANGEL episode by mentioning Riley. It was an ugly moment intended to hurt him in the worst way possible and here, Angel returns to make amends in their relationship.
The Yoko Factor is fun, it's frustrating...mostly it's characteristic of BUFFY's fourth season.