"If I were you I'd worry about the witch..."
At last, in the twentieth episode, we get the real season Big Bad. She’s immensely powerful, she’s truly terrifying, and she’s Willow.
After last episode’s emotional power- the “previously on” reminds us not only of Tara’s devastating death but Spike’s attempted rape of Buffy- this episode is one of numbed shock.
Of course, no one initially knows about Tara as a scarily cold and vengeful Willow turns to the dark arts and goes single-mindey after Warren, saving Buffy’s life almost as an afterthought and using both her and Xander as pawns.
We see Willow, a character we know and love, utterly changed to become cold, ruthless, single-minded; she’s been this powerful all the time but that’s been ok because she’s lovely. Now she terrifies us, and it’s the emotional coldness that is the most chilling. But the slow torture and killing of Warren is what really does it- her “Bored now” obviously evokes the evil (and sexy...) Willow from the other reality, but worse; she actually flays Warren alive before burning him to death. It couldn’t have happened to a worse person but, as Buffy sort of explains to Dawn and Xander, Revenge is not justice. And her parting words are “One down”. What will happen to Jonathan and Andrew...?
Oh, and Spike gets a brief contractual scene where he has to undergo some trials to remove his chip or something. But right now I and most viewers side with Xander in being quite badly disposed to this attempted rapist.
Obviously a powerful and superb episode, notably with very little humour, unusually for Buffy. Outstanding.
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