Sunday, 24 March 2013

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Into the Woods



“I’m only sleeping over here so Buffy and Riley can boink!”

Joyce is okay, as we knew she would be. That doesn’t stop everyone worrying, though, and it doesn’t stop it becoming ever more obvious that Buffy is not confiding in Riley. She hasn’t even cried in front of him. After Joyce has her successful surgery, they have a romantic night together. He makes love to her, she has sex with him and Spike does his voyeur thing while chain smoking. But when Riley discreetly leaves for his vampire brothel, Spike takes the opportunity to drop his rival in it and take Buffy to the premises. She is not pleased.

Conveniently, it is this episode in which Graham and his squad of soldiers offer Riley a job, far away in Belize, giving him a convenient exit from the series. The way the episode plays out is heart breaking, though. Buffy and Riley have a stand up row in which everything is aired and Riley resolves to leave. It’s only when Xander, a true friend, has a deep chat with Buffy that she realises the root of everything: to her, he has just been a convenient rebound shag, whereas to him, she is the love of his life. He could be the love of her life if only she wanted it. She realises too late and, in a moment of maximum drama, he flies off in a helicopter, not seeing her running towards him. I didn’t cry. Honest.

There are funny bits in this episode- I love the bit where Buffy and Joyce use bible study as a metaphor for sex! But this one’s a right weepy. Now that Riley is out of the way, what will Spike do?

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