“Well, yeah. The jet-lag from hell has gotta be, you know, jet-lag from hell.” – Anya
Picking up directly from the end of the last episode with the remaining demon bikers high tailing it out of town as Buffy reunites with the Scoobies. However Buffy is still recovering from her resurrection, let alone adjusting to the changes which have happened since her death. A situation only made the worse when it appears that something came back with her.
The PTSD episodes of Buffy are always the worst ones to revisit and while they honestly reflect the character they can at the same time be abit of a slog to get through, especially as we’ve already had two of these episodes to kick of the season and now comes a third. The episode though is split pretty evenly between Buffy adjusting to life after death, while the Scoobies battle the spirit which appears to have come back with her.
One of the key things this episode really served to do was highlight just how far off the path Willows character has gone as even when faced with the repercussions of resurrecting Buffy she unlike the others feels little remorse for the situation which has now been created and while it can be see as being corrupted by her power, in this episode it just came off more egotistical. Plus am I the only one who was more than alittle bothered by how her and Tara had taken over Buffy’s family home? Yes they were supposed to be watching Dawn, but seeing how they changed everything just had such a squatters vibe to it.
Buffy’s return to life is an interesting situation to observe especially when its hinted that her resurrection meant she was pulled from Heaven, a place were she was finally content in the belief that everyone she loved was looked after. Worse still by the end of the episode is the revelation that her return is like being taken to hell, something she confides in Spike that her friends must never know. Of course by having Buffy confide in Spike its painfully obvious in retrospect how much the writers were forcing the romantic angle between these two characters.
The upside of this episode comes from our monster of the week, who provides some fun “Evil Dead” style possession moments as various members of the scoobies are possessed damming them for their actions while it tries to locate Buffy. The final showdown though between Buffy and the spirit sadly being rather lacking despite some still impressive effects. Still if what they need to have Buffy snap back to reality was to have one decent beheading then so be it.
Not the best start to the season, to be three episodes deep and still be left when the season is going to properly start, but at least it shows the show trying to get back into its groove.
Next Episode: Flooded
Channel: Superhero 