"Don't tell me you've never heard of the Beatles?"
"I have. I like Helter Skelter."
"What a surprise…"
Well, that's quite a cliffhanger. Four seasons of Buffy have constantly drummed into us the message that the Slayer's main strength is her friends. Now all that has gone. And, if that wasn't bad enough, Riley, completely without warning, is seemingly in league with Adam. It's all gone horribly wrong.
It's odd that Adam, whom we've seen strangely little of for a Season Big Bad, should simply lurk in the shadows, manipulating people and being philosophical. But it works although, again, I wish I'd read Frankenstein: I suspect there are all sorts of allusions I'm not getting.
Spike connects Adam to everyone else: he's Adam's puppet but also everyone else's puppet master. It's an odd reversal from the end of Season Two, when he unexpectedly changed sides. This time, we shouldn't think of him as a turncoat; he's as evil as ever. And just because the chip in his head stops him from being violent (even aiming a replica gun!) doesn't mean he can't use words to the same ends, to divide and conquer. As we've known since he was introduced, Spike is emotionally intelligent and a shrewd judge of people. This is the episode when we find out just how dangerous this makes him as he plays the Scoobies like a piano.
But the fault lines are there to be used. Willow, because of her relationship with Tara, is semi-detached, and sees less and less of her University roommate. This means her friends misunderstand how she's changed; they still see her role as computer whiz more than spellcaster. Xander, lacking in superpowers and not being at college, is lacking in confidence and feeling chippy. And Giles, well… he's just a drunken retired librarian. And that extended version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird we saw from him just has to be significant. Is he going somewhere, perhaps?
I was surprised to see Angel, after my prediction that he and Buffy would never meet again. They make up, although not without awkwardness, and the friction between old boyfriend and new boyfriend seems, eventually, to be resolved. Until the last scene!!!
Big themes and plot arc stuff aside, there are some other interesting things here, not least of which is Forrest's shocking death. The Colonel's comment, early on, about Riley ("Boy thinks too much") is very revealing. This story arc is not exactly pro-military. Oh, and there's also Miss Kitty Fantastico. Awww! But mainly, yes, it is the plot and themes. How on earth is this going to pay off…?
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