ANYA BEGINS - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reaction - 7x5 - Selfless

[@vixevinweria8400]

I never thought Giles killing Ben needed any further discussion cause I got the impression that it wasn't his first.

[@becait]

same

[@88jl]

It's definitely not his first time. That is why he said to ben "she's not like people like us" Giles has never been above sacrificing one to save many. Giles has always had a dark side especially when he was known as Giles the Ripper who loved and practiced the dark arts, he's no stranger to darkness and that is why he warned willow about going overboard. I believe this is also why he said to willow "oh there are others in this world who can do what you did, you just don't want to meet them". I would have loved to see his spinoff.

[@ninaamaral4434]

Exactly! It is heavily implied that "The Ripper" is a nickname with a purpose and we have seen only glimpses of that part of Giles´life. He kills Ben with such ease and lack of remorse he does not see it as a personal sacrifice...

[@heather9857]

Ditto

[@zemoxian]

Well he is a trained and experienced Watcher and we’re all familiar with their methods. It’s a very Machiavellian type of organization. And he’s no where as green as Wesley was starting out.

[@BaBamf11]

The scooby gang didn’t know that destroying the pendant would destroy Anya’s powers and turn her human because that happened in the alternate Wishverse universe and was never experienced by our scooby gang.

[@Logan_Baron]

The "I am the law" is an interesting comparison from Faith and Buffy both saying it. It should be noted though that Faith said it as "We can do whatever we want" while Buffy used it as "It's my responsibility".

[@Mcherri]

Because it’s true faith said it as she implied humans that she was above them. Whereas buffy meant demons like angel and Anya as she is above them when it comes to her responsibility as a slayer buffy never says she is above everyone so she can get away with murder which is what faith does. Don’t get me wrong while it is a comparison it is meant in a different context to both slayers.

[@Logan_Baron]

@@Mcherri Thanks for rewording what I said.

[@KT-iy9vc]

Anya was a demon for 1000 years and almost certainly tortured and killed more people than did Angel, or Spike, or almost all of the BTVS villains. And she actively worked to become an evil demon again after she lost that power. Yet she gets more sympathy than pretty much anyone else. No judgment here, I like her too. I just find it interesting.

[@anastasis3818]

Giles doesn't feel guilt. He did what he had to do to protect Buffy from Glory in the future.

[@Madbandit77]

And Tara, while loopy, noted that he was a killer.

[@tarotdiscombe5573]

But he's aware it shouldn't have been on him to deal with the hard parts which is why he left, even though Buffy is constantly dealing with hard parts but I do see where he's coming from. This is her life, she needs to deal with all aspects herself and ask for help, not just depend on him. It's an amazing scene when he kills him x

[@MrDWinter]

Exactly. Glory trapped here on earth with no way to get back to her hell dimension? That’s basically the end of the world. Buffy already threw everything she had at Glory just to slow her down a little. There’s basically no one on earth anything near as powerful as Glory is, and with nothing to lose she’s going to destroy everything. Giles is a Watcher; he’s trained to be as ruthless as he has to be to protect the world. (I mean, the job description is “manipulate and control a young woman to risk her life every night until she dies”.) that’s why he tells Ben that Buffy’s “not like us”.

[@artman2oo3]

I agree. That makes what Giles did different.

[@METerrell]

​@@tarotdiscombe5573 No, that's not why he left. He'd accepted that he would need to be the one to permanently stop Glory by killing Ben. He saw what she went through when she thought she'd killed Ted before finding out he was a robot. He saw what she went through when Faith had killed the Mayor's assistant while they were out fighting vampires. Why he left was her overreliance on him for non-slayer things because she didn't want to deal with having to take care of things since she'd returned from the dead. He'd thought about leaving a few times before Ben had even been in the picture. He thought about it when she was in college & he really had nothing to do. He thought about it & was prepared to tell her that at the start of season 5 just before she asked him to be her watcher again after Dracula had been taken care of.

[@abbesatty9498]

There is a big difference in what Buffy vs Faith meant by "I'm the law". In Faith's world, this applies even to human while buffy clearly meant she's the law when it comes to killing demons and making the hard choices if such demon is her lover (Angel ) or her friend (Anya). Buffy was always consistent in her understanding of her role as slayer and always had a healthy instinct when it comes to such conundrums. I love Anya, but I also understand Buffy's reasoning.

[@MrDWinter]

right. and I'm not even sure Faith believed it that much - it felt more like a way for her to shrug off killing the deputy mayor and justify it.

[@Henrik_Holst]

And by "I'm the law" Faith very much meant "I can do whatever I want", so actually more "I'm above the law".

[@donsample1002]

The main writer for this episode, Drew Goddard, went to Joss, who was mainly concentrating on _Firefly_ at the time, and said it would be really cool if they could include a flashback to the musical, but he’d need a song for that, and Joss was all “yeah, cool idea, but I don’t have the time to write one now.” And then he turned up in the Buffy writers’ room the next day with the song.

[@woogie2345]

goddard showed up or joss did?

[@donsample1002]

@@woogie2345 Joss

[@woogie2345]

@@donsample1002 siiick

[@somerotter]

My headcanon is that Anya sacrificed her rabbits as part of the spell to turn Olaf into an Ogre, and that was the start of her complex regarding rabbits.

[@frugalseverin2282]

This is my favorite of season 7. An Anya (or Aud) episode was long-overdue. That transition from singing her solo at the high-point of her life to being pinned against the wall with a sword in her chest is the most dramatic ever. And how about giving some credit to Xander who was willing to give his own life to save Anya? He will always be the heart of the Scooby gang. It seems that Willow still has some black magic in her and an evil side that comes with it.

[@Uhohlisa]

Meh. I can’t stand Xander most of the time. He’s a genuinely bad person at least a handful of times in the series, a sex pest at the beginning of the show, and a typical Nice Guy(tm) to Buffy the entirety of the series, always judging her (entirely normal and if anything a little chaste) sex and dating life. His behavior in s3 when she returns, in this season when he allows her to be kicked out of her own home, leaving Anya at the alter, his HORRIBLE speech to her concerning Riley, etc. There are moments when he’s great, but his character has aged horribly imo

[@1stgenkpopfan646]

A big reason why this episode is so good is the writer, Drew Goddard. His filmography rivals or even exceeds Joss’s in terms of how solid it is. Not only has he written for Buffy and Angel, he’s written and produced for Lost, The Good Place, he developed Daredevil for Netflix, was the writer and director for Cabin in the Woods, and has an Oscar nomination for writing The Martian. And this episode for Buffy was his first professional gig.

[@BS-ne5cr]

This is probably my favorite Anya episode. It's probably like a top 10 for me in Buffy.

[@jp3813]

Isn't this the only Anya-centric episode?

[@joeypotter6051]

Definitely one of the highlights of season 7

[@BS-ne5cr]

@@jp3813 I couldn't remember but I was also leaving room for B storylines that she was featured heavily in.

[@EvanSawyer4]

The singing scene would’ve definitely been on the first night of OMWF. The people singing outside were singing about getting mustard on their clothes. Then the next day buffy confirms people other than the gang are singing by opening the door of the magic shop to the number about how “they got the mustard out!!!”

[@robertmckenna3994]

It all comes down to choice. Anya chose to be a vengeance demon, twice, no one forced or coerced her to do it. While D'Hoffryn may stack the odds in his favor, he does not compel people to his service. Willow is an example of this. It is also interesting to see Xander on the other side of the argument this time. Throughout the series he has seen the world as black and white. Angel and Spike were demonic killers that needed to be put down, no matter how Buffy felt about them. Now the tables are turned, and he finds himself trying to save a killer from his best friend.

[@capturedgift]

This! Xander’s hypocrisy is real.

[@Henrik_Holst]

@@capturedgift well in truth wouldn't we all be in a case like this

[@minuette1752]

D'Hoffryn is an extremely powerful Lower Being. But he still has rules to follow.

[@67Daidalos]

Your excitement when you realized there will be a "bonus" song from Once More With Feelings was such a treat ! I'm pretty sure others might have mentioned it, but the reason for Anya's fear of bunnies is implicitly given in the flashback you edited out between the first one and the one where Olaf is turned into a troll. She had bunnies, but they were reproducing uncontrollably, then Olaf's cheating happen, so she kinda bind the trauma of her heartbreak with the bunnies, thus the phobia.

[@zemoxian]

I think the guy was singing about having the mustard stain so that was before “The Got the Mustard Out!”

[@jacobomejia2701]

the one who knew about the talisman, and that destroying it would reverse a vengeance demon to a mortal state was the Giles from "the wish" alternate universe , i doubt Anya would tell anyone afterwards, i think that's why nobody talks about the talisman in this episode

[@mrmidlife2546]

Ben was willing to let Dawn die for his own survival. Giles killed him to protect the whole world because he knew that Glory would eventually come back and "make Buffy pay for that mercy". Killing Ben was necessary to kill Glory and that tells you everything you need to know about Giles. He didn't revel in it, just did what Buffy couldn't and carried it with him.

[@Nicamon]

Still...he killed a human and didn't pay for it,after all the guilt put on Faith for killing 1 guy BY ACCIDENT!😡💢

[@mrmidlife2546]

@@Nicamon Killing one guy by accident, whose life wasn't tied to a god that would kill them all next time she emerged... Then hiding the body, trying to cover her tracks by putting the blame on Buffy and almost killing Xander. They're not the same thing.

[@Nicamon]

@@mrmidlife2546 She wouldn't have had to put the blame on Buffy if Buffy didn't blame her _first_ for the accident in the 1st place!!Giles himself sounded much more understanding...he said (and it makes sense)that accidents like that already happened in the past...if Faith heared _that_ first and not Buffy's lecture *_maybe_* things could have gone differently.

[@Henrik_Holst]

@@Nicamon the guilt was placed on Faith for what she did later, not for her accidental killing of the deputy mayor.

[@Nicamon]

@@Henrik_Holst That's not how Faith percieved it,though.

[@Katerine459]

Loved this reaction, as always. :) Regarding Faith vs. Buffy: Faith's attitude had been along the lines of, "We save people, and therefore we get to be above the law." Buffy's attitude is more, "I have to be the law. It's my responsibility."

[@bobapjok4241]

He was the Ripper, i never even thought it needed dealt with

[@Richard_Ashton]

From IMDB "In the DVD commentary, writer Drew Goddard claims that the Sjornjost scenes were written in Swedish but he intended for the lines to be dubbed badly in English. Thus, Emma Caulfield Ford and Abraham Benrubi were told that they did not need to memorize the Swedish that carefully because it would not be heard. Both actors memorized all of the alleged Swedish words phonetically, and the show creators were so pleased with their performances that they decided to subtitle the scenes rather than dub them."

[@Henrik_Holst]

yeah but being native Swedish talking I can say that most of their lines makes zero sense :)

[@shaynaformity1384]

@@Henrik_Holst I'm curious whether Aud is a Swedish name, and is it pronounced like the English word "odd"?

[@Henrik_Holst]

@@shaynaformity1384 it was a common name some thousands of years ago (means prosperity in old norse) but as a male name, today according the name registry only 177 women and 3 men are named Aud and I guess that they are quite old people all of them. The pronunciation is quite like Odd yes, slight difference but I think that is the closest one can come in English, the Au part is a bit longer than the Od in English but other than that quite close.

[@shaynaformity1384]

@@Henrik_Holst how delightful! "prosperity" adds another layer to the wordplay - she was prosperous as well as odd

[@shaynaformity1384]

My headcanon is that Anya developed her phobia of bunnies when she had all these bunnies she decided to share with other people, and when she went to deliver them, she found Olaf with the barmaid. That's how she discovered his infidelity, so it became inextricably linked with rabbits in her psyche.

[@valinny8571]

Good memory about Halfrek not getting killed by a sword last season,so you knew that sword wouldn't kill Anya. I am impressed, most don't remember that.

[@faithvictoria9014]

Love this episode. Anya deserved her own focal episode for so so long and this delivered amazingly. Also regarding Buffy's speech, yes it's implicitly paralleled to Faith, but one thing that always comes to my mind is that the group brought Buffy back from the dead specifically for this purpose. To make hard decisions. To lead them into battle. To overcome the forces of darkness as the title sequence said in the first season. They said they needed Buffy to be the slayer, and do exactly this kind of thing: put down her foot. So now in this episode, Buffy is being extremely harsh and from a viewer perspective, we obviously know what Anya is going through and that she absolutely isn't an evil threat, she just needs help, and she leaps at the chance to undo what she did. But from Buffy's point of view, the group needs her to make tough decisions about demons. So that is what she is doing. She is the law because they made her the law, over and over. While with Faith, she killed a person and then in a panic tried to justify it by saying everyone gets caught in the crossfire. Alan was working for the bad guys but he also wasn't specifically harming anyone especially not on the night he was killed, and potentially he might have even been about to betray the Mayor. That's why Faith struggles with the thought so much, in Sanctuary on Angel we see it's still playing on her mind, because there was no real justification for the death. It is subtle in this episode, because Buffy has definitely taken a darker turn since season 3 and is willing to kill when it is absolutely necessary as we saw in Spiral, but there is a difference between how Buffy and Faith justify killing someone: Buffy views killing Anya as a necessity for the safety of the world and the exact thing the group brought her back to do, while from the beginning Faith was killing unnecessarily, whether by accident or eventually by design. Even though from an outside perspective Buffy is wrong to want to kill Anya, she isn't in the same state as Faith was back in Consequences "utterly unable to accept responsibility for her actions." Buffy's more in the mindset of doing what has to be done. I realise I said necessarily too much there but I hope that made sense 🤣

[@haddow777]

A problem with reactions is you tend to have to run through a series and see episodes only once. Buffy, the show, is actually quite complicated and pretty much everyone misses a lot of the details in their first watchings. Some things don't make real sense until you watch it through a few times, because there are a number of unspoken elements to the Buffyverse. One of the biggest things that the show does though, is build the slayer lore. There is a lot of episodes that contain many pieces to that puzzle. There is a big difference between Willow and Anya, and Buffy has very definite rules she's abiding by that have been defined quite a bit over the whole show up to this point. The show starts with Buffy being the slayer, basically, her purpose was to stop evil. This meant killing every demon, including vampires, she ran across. Angel's episode complicated being the slayer infinitely, because in that episode she learned that not all demons are bad, and that she is more than just a warrior, she's a judge. She sat in judgment that episode over Angel and judged him reformed and unlikely to kill humans again. So she spared his life. Considering the Powers that Be sent Angel to watch Buffy so he could learn to be good, this was a decision supported by larger forces in the universe. In season two, with episodes like Lie To Me and Ted, we were introduced to the concept of what is the slayers role in the human realm. Before then, Buffy had never faced the choice to having to end a human life in the course of her duties as slayer. Can she act as judge and executioner of humans? She answered that question in Ted, when she turned herself over the human authorities after killing Ted. Decidedly, she figured out that the slayer has zero authority in the human realm and cannot kill a human. This later was explored further with Faith. Faith made the wrong choice and she slid down a very slippery slope. Still, Buffy had to face the choice again when she faced off against Faith. Buffy then made the wrong choice by stabbing Faith. The show didn't come straight out and say it, but it gave lots of evidence to support it. First, beforehand, Xander said she would lose herself. Basically, she would become just like Faith. Also, if you watch the moment right after she stabs Faith, you will notice her face is the same expression she made when she realized she killed Ted. This wasn't an accident. Buffy regretted her choice the moment she made it. Spike was further evidence of Buffy's rigidity when it came to her role as judge of the underworld. Not only had Spike been a major pain in her side for years, but he also had a unique connection to her. He saw right through any facades she put up to her inner being. He practically read her mind. This was a major disadvantage to her, which he exploited many times. Also, it was a source of attraction to him in her, which she fought hard against. It would have been so much easier to kill him. She couldn't though. I mean that too. She really could not kill him. When he had the chip implanted, she officially judged him in her role as slayer and found him incapable to killing humans, and this had to judge him unworthy of execution. I know there was no official decree spoken by her, but if you watch season 4 and 5 again, you will notice small comments from the others on the scooby gang showing that they knew that even they weren't allowed to kill Spike because of Buffy's stance on the matter. Now, I heard your arguments for why Willow is similar to Anya, but in the slayers eyes, Willow was off limits to the slayers judgement. Here are several reasons the show gave as to why. One is her old friend Ford in the second season. He was assisting vampires to kill several humans, including Buffy herself. She could not kill him. I already discussed Faith, and faith wasn't even fully human. She was part slayer, like Buffy. Still, she wasn't actually part of the demon realm, so she ead off limits. Jonathan used magic in season 4, and Buffy could not kill him. That extends to the Trio, which again, she could not have killed. Instead, she handed them over to human authorities. Even Ben and Glory couldn't be judged by the slayer. Well, Glory could, but she could not as the slayer kill Ben, even to kill Glory. There is another aspect of the slayer that didn't really get exposed until the sixth season. One of Buffy's biggest weaknesses as the slayer was she felt like acting like the slayer was being a bully when it came to pathetic beings. This was the true purpose of the Trio being in the sixth season, not because as many think, to be the big bad of the season. Buffy overlooked many opportunities to stop the Trio long before they got around to killing Tara. She kept letting them go and didn't take pursuing them seriously until then because they were just so pathetic. She had been doing this the whole show. How many humans did Harmony kill because Buffy couldn't bring herself to carry out being the slayer with her due to her extreme patheticness. Similar to Spike before in season's two, three, and four. This was related to her weakness exposed in season two by Angelus. She also had the weakness of not being able to bring herself to judge those close to her. She got over that weakness though. So, with respects to Anya and Willow. Willow may be using magic, but still, she was a human, and Buffy had clearly defined rules. Same with Anya. You may have noticed how Buffy was avoiding Anya ever since she learned of Anya becoming a demon. That is because she was now forced, as the slayer, to constantly sit in judgement of Anya. Quite literally, Buffy has been waiting for Anya to cross the line to kill her the while time. She absolutely didn't want to, so she was giving Anya all the distance she could. You can see how true this is in the discussion they had in the living room this episode. Willow finally understood that to Buffy, it isn't a choice she can make. As the slayer, if a demon is judged worthy of death, Buffy is obligated by higher forces to kill that demon. Remember, in Lie To Me in season two, Buffy spoke about how heroes are defined by the choices they make, especially the impossible choices. She made that choice to be the hero and killed Angel in season two. She was given the gift of bot having to again make a choice and a loved one in season five by being give the third choice to sacrifice herself. Willow knew that once Buffy learned Anya had killed a human, her judgement would be forced and she would have no choice but to kill her. Literally the entire show backs this up. Willow fortunately was able to give Buffy a reprieve by giving Anya the choice to undue her actions. Watch the end again. As soon as Buffy understood Anya was being presented a choice to be good, she stopped immediately. The absolute last thing on the world Buffy wanted to do was to kill Anya. So the instant she was given an out, she took it. She didn't leave, in case Anya chose wrong, but she made no move to carry out her judgement while there was even a chance Anya could reverse the judgement. If you want to know just how scary being the judge of the underworld is to Buffy, there is more. Back in season two, a lot of people misunderstand why Buffy doesn't tell anyone about Angel being back, at least somewhat. When he came back, Buffy was forced to sit in judgement over him again. Yes, she was torn because of her feelings towards him, but even worse, she was watching him specifically to guage how much of a danger he posed to humans. She could not have killed him, because she knew he got his soul back, thus without evidence of him being a danger, she was had no right to kill him. More than that though, and the thing that was destroying her on the inside, and the real reason why she didn't tell anyone, at least initially, was that if she found him to be a danger to people, she would have been obligated to kill him again, this time permanently. If you watch all that again, you can see it. When he spoke her namez that was why she was crying. That moment showed her that she likley wasn't going to have to kill him again. Even worse than that, was Tara. Once you realize all that, you then realize that Buffy, for a short moment, wasn't Buffy, but was the slayer sitting in judgement over Tara. In that short moment in the store, she was actually contemplating having to be forced to kill Tara. Crazier still, Tara knew this. A major thing people miss in season four, is just how much Tara really lived Willow. The moment Tara was told by Willow that her best friend Buffy was the slayer, a superhuman being whose purpose was to kill demons, she knew her life was in danger. At that time, she believed she was part demon. She also believed that her demon side was going to surface soon. Did she run or manipulate Willow to separate her from Buffy to save herself. No. She loved Willow so much that she lived in close proximity with the slayer believing full well that Buffy would one day be forced to kill her. In fact, lilley a major aspect to keeping Willow close to Buffy was to keep Willow safe. She believed she could end up being such a danger that she wanted Willow to be as close as possible so Buffy would protect Willow against herself. She basically was sacrificing herself to stay there because she loved Willow do much. So, yes, Buffy's having to hunt down Anya is terrifying and disturbing. Just be grateful we never had to face the day when Buffy, as the slayer, would have been forced to kill Tara. A thing that was actually a real possibility for an entire season in the show until it gave away that Tara was actually just a human. That knowledge really changes those scenes where Tara showed sixh fear about being exposed, such as when she caused Willow's demon finding spell to fail, doesn't it.

[@DaveVampireSlayer]

Percect comment!!!! I quote on single words :) :) :) *Applause*

[@Henrik_Holst]

excellent analysis, the text is very hard to read though with no paragraphs so I worry to many people will simply never bother to read it.

[@MicukoFelton]

Willow told Xander to tell Buffy to stall. Since she was trying to give Angel his soul back. Xander told Buffy the wrong thing on purpose, he wanted Angel dead. So I understand Buffy's pain, she had to kill the love of her life and it was partly Xander's fault. But I also agree that there isn't a difference between Willow and Anya. Both are powerful. Willow has supernatural powers, she's not just a human. So Buffy going to kill Anya immediately without trying to save her first felt out of character for her.

[@Logan_Baron]

I think it's not out of character for Buffy, because it was Willow. Her very best friend. Anya, while a friend, wasn't in that tier. Xander was correct that Buffy made different concessions in Willows case than she would anyone else. Willow did fall as much into the supernatural danger as Anya, but for her, when it's Willow, it's different.

[@Cacjams]

Wellll, I do have to add that Willow only killed one person, and she was motivated by her grief and rage. Meanwhile, Anya killed 12 people just because she wanted to stay a vengeance demon. I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just saying that Willow was acting on emotions while Anya was acting on her own desire.

[@joeypotter6051]

@@Cacjams Willow also brutally tortured that person which is pretty f-ed up

[@joeypotter6051]

It still pisses me off that Xander never had to own up to his lie to Buffy. Accountability matters, Xander.

[@Henrik_Holst]

even with powers Willow is still human. In the BuffyVerse witches are not demons, they are just humans that use magic.

[@donsample1002]

I took the entirety of the final fight to be Anya trying to commit suicide by Slayer, and Buffy knew it, which is why she just stands back and waits after stabbing her. In the first part while Buffy has the sword Anya stays in her stronger and tougher demon form. When she gets the sword she reverts back to her more vulnerable human form.

[@painlord2k]

I would suggest the "revert to her human form" is linked to her dreaming scene. What she really wanted to be, not what she was. In the first part of the fight, Anya throw Xander away, to allow Buffy to kill her. Xander can not stop Buffy there. But Buffy, I believe on purpose, hit Anya in the chest (we knows not a mortal wound for a Vengeance Demon like her). Buffy can not go immediately for the killing blow. She don't have the stomach to do so immediately to a friend. This give Xander time to get back and stop Buffy second (probably mortal) blow.

[@danh8804]

"Selfless" is genuinely one of the best and most effective episodes of the season and the series as a whole

[@grkpektis]

@23:30 I love when a comedy relief character gets really dark, when you laugh at a character you let your guard down

[@1stgenkpopfan646]

One of my favorite things about this episode is that we really got to realize who D’Hoffryn really is, even though he’s only in a few scenes. Up until this point he seems like this reasonable, friendly guy. Actually, he’s a pimp. Like a pimp, he comes across as very affable, even charming. But that’s what he uses to keep your guard down around him while he’s controlling, manipulative, and violent towards the women under him. If you continue to serve his needs, performing vengeance and spreading pain, he’ll treat you very well. However, if you screw up, like Anya circa The Wish/Doppelgangland, he’ll cast you off and leave you to suffer the consequences. And if you get uppity and try to get out from that life like Anya here, you will see how truly nasty he can be. Really I just love how that one moment at the end turns him from a funny, likable guy to a vile POS, all while all the funny, likable moments before still make complete sense, and you know exactly who he is now.

[@Talisguy]

On the one hand, yes, it could have been interesting to bring it up. On the other hand, Giles killed Ben for entirely pragmatic, logical reasons, while Willow tortured Warren to death. Sure, he was an unrepentant shithead and nobody will miss him, but she passed over just setting him on fire with her mind, which we see she can do, in favour of hunting him down so she could spend an unknown amount of time torturing him with the bullet that killed Tara, let him scream in vain for a while and then rip off his skin when she got tired. Giles killed Ben in self-defence, essentially. *Buffy* has killed humans in self-defence. This was different. This was sadistic. I think it's a much bigger shame that Buffy's death and crippling depression, and then Giles leaving for England, meant that season 6 never got to explore how Buffy must have felt about Giles overriding her decision to show Ben mercy.

[@evatesche]

Maybe Buffy doesn't even know Giles killed Ben.

[@roonarific1086]

I feel Buffy sums up the difference in her line "she doesn't want you dead, she wants to kill you", discussing why Willow isn't killing Andrew and Jonathan with a simple spell. Giles simply needed Ben dead to stop Glory, Willow actively wanted to kill Warren, Andrew and Jonathan, it was personal.

[@ulrichs3061]

The bullet that killed Tara? Wasn't it the one Willow got out of Buffy?

[@painlord2k]

@@evatesche The others should, but Buffy probably not because she was saving Dawn and the died.

[@Henrik_Holst]

@@ulrichs3061 yes it was

[@3dflux]

I do think it's interesting that when Willow walks in on Hallie and Anya she has that black necklace pendant on. Like she's been marked by vengeance. Lexi, your commentary made me notice! D'Hoffyn's interest in her reinforces the image.

[@simom931]

This is a brilliant ep. And I'm with Buffy in that. In the end, a slayer is always alone, she has to do the dirty job, she can't allow herself the luxury to be guided by emotions. She proved it with Angel (by the way, they finally brought up the "kick his ass" stuff, though didn't really delve into the topic). And I think she would have killed dark Willow in S6 if that was the only way to stop the world from ending. While Xander was ready to sacrifice Angel, no matter how Buffy would be emotionally broken, but when it comes to his own love interest things change. Well, I guess he's not a slayer...

[@sadiebosqueauthor]

Buffy let Angel roam for months, regardless of how many people he killed. And she jumped on the opportunity to restore his soul even after he killed Miss Calendar. She also only killed him because otherwise the world would end. Anya wasn't doing world ending evil this episode. Yes, she killed people, but Angel killed a lot more without his soul. And Buffy didn't even want to consider that there were other options to stop Anya.

[@mrmidlife2546]

Fun fact: Sarah's hair is the same as the evil spirit and as Buffy. She refused to change it because as soon as filming was over that day, she was out the door to Vegas and getting married. :)

[@MicukoFelton]

Huh, really? But that's not even a particularly interesting hairstyle, it looks like it's just tied in a ponytail.

[@donsample1002]

@@MicukoFelton I suspect it was more a matter of “I don’t have time to have my hair restyled between shooting these two scenes.”

[@mrmidlife2546]

@@MicukoFelton go back and look again, it's a more detailed style when you see it fullscreen. And I imagine there were parts that she let down once filming was over.

[@kendavis8046]

FINALLY! Do you know how long we long-time fans have been referring to "The Big Lie"? And that is all the way back from S2. I am very glad you caught on right away when this episode revealed that Willow was unaware of Xander's perfidy for another 5 seasons, and Joss and the writers never forgot to tie up that loose end!

[@Madbandit77]

And I wish Willow would have gave Xander grief for it because, with his jealousy issues (Whedon weirdness) he made her look more of a liar than he does. Sure, Angel came back reformed, but that doesn't mean things are okay.

[@heather9857]

YES❣

[@joeypotter6051]

Yeah but Xander was never made accountable for it. They mention it and move swiftly by.

[@TigerNightmare]

It's not really the show or the writers you're annoyed at if you keep imagining things you want, and then expect those things to happen. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get so attached to this idea of consequences for Ben, of all people. Buffy killed 5 knights in a single episode, and before that, she killed an assassin by slitting his throat with her ice skate, and then she fried Gwendolyn Post. Glory was a bigger threat than all of them combined, and if Ben was left alive, that threat would never go away. We all saw the look on Giles' face, it was all business, it would be out of character for him to feel guilty about killing a dangerous monster. Even considering Ben's humanity and being born into something he didn't ask for, in the end, he still chose himself over Dawn. So, fuck em. Buffy also didn't let her friendship with Willow get in the way of her duty at the end of season 6. She wanted to reason with her, but when reason failed, she was willing to fight. It might seem a little forced that Anya wanted to undo the killings in spite of attacking Buffy, but the more I think about it, the more parallels I see between this and Faith's fight with Angel. Anya even said, "I'm not even sure there's a me to help," and tried to alleviate her guilt by allowing D'Hoffryn to kill her. "You should have killed me." "What if I'm really nobody?" She wanted to give penance, thinking death would be a relief from the emptiness she feels.

[@Jontor11]

Love this episode!! And in comes Drew Goddard, one of the best writers today. This episode is his first ever writing job. He was a BIG Buffy fan so that's why there are so many callbacks in this one. Drew will be involved in the whole season 7 and then he will move on to Angel and be chief story editor for the last season 5 (the best Angel season imo). Drew Goddard has later become famous as the writer for 'Cabin in the woods', 'Cloverfield', 'The Martian', 'Bad times at the El Royale'...etc.

[@TigerNightmare]

And Daredevil!

[@athena450]

Wow I had no idea this was Drew Goddard's first episode! That's so impressive.

[@Jontor11]

@@TigerNightmare Yes of course. And he also did some great stuff with 'Alias', a show I hope Lexi will react to...

[@cheyennecox8683]

this was his first writing job???? what a killer start omg

[@codypendragons]

Don't forget that after, "Once More With Feeling," at the end. They still sing, "Where Do We Go From Here," the demon was defeated and he'd already left but they were still singing. So it could have been that evening, after the two of them went home. 🎶🎶

[@athena450]

This episode is in my top three in the whole series. It literally goes Restless > Who Are You > this. There are probably objectively "better" episodes, but an Anya-focused episode was so overdue and they absolutely knocked it out of the park. It helps that she's my favourite character in the entire Buffyverse. Her asking Xander "what if I'm really nobody" ruins me every time.

[@TheWiseGrif]

This is one of my top 10 episodes...just...every emotion coming in to play

[@AnActualWolf]

I've been waiting SO LONG for you to get to "Selfless." It floored me when I first watched it in 2003 (?) and really cemented what an amazing character Anya was. Deep breaths; season 7 is so, so brutal.

[@wordyblerd7723]

I forgot how incredible the first episodes of season 7 were.

[@Nicamon]

I forgot it the 1st time when they aired and I forgot them again as soon as I finished S7 for the 2nd time a couple of years ago. S7 is my least favorite of them all. Apart from _1_ episode it just doesn't stick in my mind.

[@wordyblerd7723]

@@Nicamon Same. The back half is... something. Not a good something. Except the final episode. That resonated pretty well.

[@cheyennecox8683]

Same, the beginning is genuinely so strong

[@alooncnej4696]

Yes one of the best first half with season 4. I like less then some parts of the main arc but still good episodes. Strongless and less memorable than seasons 5 and 6, i don't like the tone the colours like older but great ending and see the characters together for the last fight. And great episode like 7x07, 7x11, 7x16, 7x17 and 7x18

[@Nicamon]

@@alooncnej4696 The only episode that *really* stuck with me is 7x13 and only because it's a Willowcentric episode and I'm surprised you didn't include it in the list.

[@WilliamLucas-uk8zk]

The spider demon jumping down on Willow bit is like that bit in Resident Evil 3: Remake outside the power station when Jill gets the thing implanted in her stomach and you have to use the green herb to throw it up again.

[@Dunybrook]

At least now we know why Anya is so afraid of bunnies as it's really her lost humanity and/or guilt that terrifies her or maybe they symbolize how she was betrayed and hurt so badly. That or those twitchy noses. The lack of hair continuity was just part of the magic of the musical enchantment. RIP Halfrek/Cecily. You will be missed. Although my head canon is that D'Hoffryn didn't really kill her and that was just an illusion to torment Anya.

[@karollysiak1]

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong but I think Giles said in episode Dark Age that he had to kill his friend because he was possessed by a demon

[@lilywong9672]

Randall died from a failed exorcism. They actually show this in one of the Buffy Season 9 books (Angel + Faith's book). I recommend you read it! Eyghon actually comes back as a villain!

[@alalcoolj216]

Selfless is one of my favorite Buffy episodes. Has a little bit of everything.

[@CaptNondescript]

I always just assumed that Ben wasnt the first person Giles had killed and it wasnt a big deal for him 😬😂 after all he did say he wasnt a hero

[@james.mellor]

The song was the night before, she had already sang with xander then he fell asleep, if you listen to the singing outside, it was the guy from outside the magic box singing about the dry cleaners getting mustard out, the song in this episode was about the mustard getting on the shirt. I think the 50s housewife was done on purpose to show how devoted she was to xander The guy with the mustard was David fury, a writer and director on the show. And on 'OMWF' the parking ticket lady was marti nixon, also a writer and director on thw show. The original tracks were recorded by joss wheadon and his wife for the whole show then played to the cast to learn. :)

[@Buffy8Fan]

I don't mind Buffy and in Xander being on opposite sides of this debate considering she is the slayer and he loves Anya, but their are three points that bug me: 1. Xander should be acknowledging that he is now in Buffy's position over all the times he was using Angelus to throw her relationship with Angel at her, and cover his own issues of Angel up. Buffy, at least has a good reason in this episode for doing what she was doing, considering the wish went far enough that she needs to take action. 2. Buffy told Xander and Willow to find her a reason to not have to chase Anya down, and then didn't actually give them the time to not help her before Buffy tried to kill Anya. 3. This is how the "Willow said kick his ass" issue is outed and handled? I know it's been a little over four years in-universe, but come on.

[@miaamer7718]

Exactly!

[@erickwebster1973]

Willow is very much human she just has magic in her blood

[@Madbandit77]

Kali Rocha, who played Halfrek, recently was in "Waco: The Aftermath" limited series on Showtime.

[@killianlpc]

I think we just knew at some stage that Anya would return to her original ways, and revert the being a Vengeance Demon. This of course has repercussions, and the massacre of the male students at the start is of course the consequences. The flashback with Anya and Olaf is light relief, but then the transition to blood being washed from hands at the sink. Spike of course is still being tormented since he got his soul back, and when Willow meets Anya on campus she notices the blood on her hand. When Willow sees the girl in the Frat House and the spider creeps up wall, we almost see a return to Dark Willow when she says to her 'shut your whimpering mouth'. Another flashback again with D'Hoffryn turning Anya in the past. Halfrek is back and of course is the worse person Anya could speak to, we remember her too from playing Cecily who cruelly rejected Spike when he was William the human. Great scene with Willow and Anya, and Anya reminds Willow of what she done. When Buffy is told of what happened she knows what she has to do and kill Anya. I think the flashback to 1917 with Anya and Halfrek being in the middle of The Russian Revolution was stretching it a bit, when Halfrek says 'there's a revolution going on outside that you are somewhat responsible for'. Painful conversation with Buffy and Xander when he says to her, if it's and Demon that's boning you, it's all a grey area. She reminds him she did kill Angel, this was a terrific scene with great acting. When Buffy puts the sword through Anya we switch back the fairytale Musical type of domestic bliss, but this is short lived. Willow gets D'Hoffryn to appear, and when Anya says she wants to revert back to human, D'Hoffryn says OK but there is a price to pay. As Spike said in S5, 'there's always got to be blood', a price has to be paid. Halfrek being Anya's best friend is killed in front of her, D'Hoffryn teaching Anya a lesson here. 'Never go for the kill, when you can go for the pain' similar to Angel in S2 Passion where he is outside the window looking in at the pain they are all experiencing, rather than just kill them all. All in all a superb episode.

[@painlord2k]

"Anya says she wants to revert back to human, D'Hoffryn says OK but there is a price to pay." No. This would not be selfless. Selfless is wanting to take back what she did to the boys and be ready to pay the ultimate price for it. And being denied that too. D'Offryns make someone else (a friend) pay for her sins.

[@danielbutler8103]

2:58 I think another reason Spike could hit a human with the chip is he wants to punish himself so it hurting him is what he wants.

[@Henrik_Holst]

Faith was more about them being _above_ the law then them being the law.

[@dominiquedoeslife]

I have a really clever answer to “why did she look like that” in the flashbacks. She was seeing herself through her own distorted view-very black and white, flaws facing forward kind of thing. That was a glimpse into Anya’s psyche, rather than a realistic third party view of the situation. That bothered me for years and I finally realized that we might just be seeing Anya’s biased, internal viewpoint. I kind of like that idea. It’s strangely endearing.

[@rosshall6475]

Buffy killed that Knights of Byzantium guy on the RV. She put an ax through his chest and dropped him off the back at high speed. But nobody ever talks about that.

[@Henrik_Holst]

that was self defense so of course no one talks about it (but for something that people never talks about it have a tendency to come up every time this discussion happens).

[@tehcoolemu]

The song was meant to be the first night of OMWF, I'm pretty sure. You mentioned the singing in the background... did you catch the "mustard on my shirt" part? That's a callback to OMWF, the afternoon after the first night, when they went outside to check if it was only affecting them, and we got the whole "They got the mustard out!" thing. What is and isn't forgivable definitely gets complicated on this show. It largely seems to come down to subjective factors. For example, objectively, if they didn't hold S1 Angel responsible for his crimes as Angelus in previous centuries, then they shouldn't hold S3 Angel responsible for his crimes as Angelus in S2. Ditto for everything Spike ever did before S7. But, it's not always that simple, emotionally.

[@sirmoonslosthismind]

the show has always prioritized emotional truth over continuity.

[@sirmoonslosthismind]

i'm pretty sure it was the first night. the singers outside were just to cue the viewer as to when it took place; xander and anya didn't notice.

[@coldservings]

And here we see Xander add hypocrisy to his tendency for self-righteousness. When it's someone _he_ cares about who is a current threat we've got to find another way, but when it's somebody Buffy cares about who's no longer a current threat it's "kill, kill, kill." Angel and Anya were different. Angel had gotten his soul back and was no longer a threat. He might become one in the future but that was for the future. Anya was a threat _now_, killing people _now_. That was the difference.

[@coldservings]

As for the case with Willow, Buffy was trying to stop Eullow when she was going after the Trio. By the time Willow shifted from personal vendetta to apocalypse, Buffy was out of the picture. By the time Buffy was in a position to do anything, Xander had reached Willow and she was no longer a threat. So the difference, once again, is active threat vs. former threat.

[@BigIndianBindi-jy1cz]

Giles killed Glory. Ben was just her Prison. Ben was created specifically to hold Glory, so Ben isn't a typical human.

[@labrynna87]

I don't think D'Hoffryn kills Halfrek because he prefers Anya and can't bring himself to kill her. I think he kills Halfrek because he knows Anya likes Halfrek; she's kinda her best friend; and he wanted to hurt Anya emotionally as bad as he could - as vengeance for not choosing the path as a vengeance demon/for disappointing him. --- Btw, "I'll never tell" happens at the morning after the second night. The whole incident lasts for at least 2 1/2 days (first night (Going through the motions), day 1 (I've got a theory; Under your spell) and day 2 (I'll never tell; Rest in Peace; Dawn's Ballet; Standing; Walk through the fire; Something to sing about; Where do we go from here?)). But I also don't know where "I will be his misses" is supposed to fit in. ^^' Personally, I guess it's the night of day 1 and she just didn't change into her jammies yet, but... could also be the first night. I don't know.

[@davidmcleod5133]

Oooh, been waiting for this episode since last season!!!

[@Sytrylt]

Hey great video, as always !

[@blotcho84]

I love the big Anya episode! She's one of my favorite characters

[@HH-hd7nd]

26:20 Simple She's afraid of Bunnies now because she loved them as a human. Bunnies where reminding the demon of her original self.

[@Nicamon]

This doesn't make sense.Expecially because Anya was turned into a human after the Dopplegangland mess and she was still afraid of bunnies as a human.

[@HH-hd7nd]

@@Nicamon And? Do you really think that you can simply switch off a phobia like that? That's not how this works.

[@Nicamon]

@@HH-hd7nd No,but it doesn't make sense that her phobia generated by what you said.Expecially because,as Lexi said,Anya's personality is not different *at all* than Aud's.She's literally the same person,only with super-powers...WHY would she be afraid of something that reminds her of her human days?🤨It would have made more sense if she _hated_ bunnies because they reminded her of Olaf and when he cheated on her,but being SCARED of them?Makes no sense at all!

[@The_One_In_Black]

There's a clue during that scene which night it is. Remember how they figured out the singing applied to everybody in OMWF?

[@benmosley3190]

I never really considered Giles killing Ben as an issue, he always made it clear even back during his testing of Buffy on her 18th birthday that he was willing to do what he had to as a Watcher, even though he had second thoughts then. I guess it could have came up at some point after that but I guess no one would think of Ben at this point. Glory was defeated and missed her shot to go home. They probably could care less where Ben went after the fact, unless they wanted to 'deal with him' so Glory wouldn't come back.

[@becca1189]

Great reaction! Have a lovely day!! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

[@Girl4Music]

You would think a scene like this would warrant a longer and more drawn out confession than the two second response you get from Willow. “I never said that-“ No elaboration by Willow or explanation by Xander for what is a very important character interaction long overdue since Season 2. Buffy never knew that Angel’s soul would be restored by Willow. If she knew, she would have been relieved of the necessity to kill Angelus. Xander had the opportunity to tell her Willow was performing the restoration spell but decided to be a petty git and tell her to “kick his ass” instead… So this character interaction right here needed to be much more then just a comedic dialog moment to fill the awkward silence in the room. Oh… Season 7 disappoints me so much. That’s another problem I have with it. They don’t sit with character interactions enough. They want to hurry it up and get passed them to focus on the plot. But foregoing pivotal character interaction severely limits the consistency and urgency of the plot anyway. Nobody cares about the plot when the characters aren’t being the characters needed to deal with it. Not sure that made any sense but I don’t know how to explain it any better. It’s like without proper character representation and development, I don’t care for whatever else is going on in the fucking seasonal arc.

[@YNergy]

My new favorite character is Anya. I had NO idea Emma had Multiple Sclerosis (I do too and it SUCKS)!

[@smilebehappy109]

OMWF timeline🎉 In the flashback we heare a man in the Background einging about mustard in His Shirt and in the original Episode He sings a Song about, that they get Out the mustard 😃

[@MINKIN2]

Buffy makes the rules alright :)

[@alicequinn505]

Love your reactions! That is something I never realized about Anya. You're right about D'Hofryn, he is tricky, just like his real world counterparts. But I still don't dislike him as much, because at least Anya was able to do something she thought was just for many centuries. Really sad it was actually serving evil, though. Love the camaraderie between Willow and Anya in this episode, though. And we finally had the season 2 reveal!

[@jonaskoelker]

> He killed a whole-ass human being Actually, that one is arguably the most half-assed human being.

[@emilysimon6239]

16:28 I think the difference is that with Willow it was emotionally-motivated and revenge against someone who hurt her personally. She also is/was an addict and was not well mentally at the time she killed Warren. Anya (while I don’t agree that they should kill her now) is a demon who is not acting on her own behalf and is seemingly fully cognizant of what she is doing/in generally the right headspace when she is acting. Anya only feels human because she looks it and was for so long on the show. I think if Buffy had encountered her without all the history, she would have a much easier time killing her. Just some thoughts🤷🏼‍♀️

[@MarkusR144]

Ben joined Glory on her plan to go back to her dimension and let the universe fall into chaos, basically killing everyone that doesn't have god powers. And even with Buffy stopping them, a bunch of demons still got to earth and those demons would've killed a bunch of people before the gang could kill them after Buffy died. He knew Dawn would die for sure and countless of people would have a high chance of dying. He's not innocent. And I don't buy for a second that Glory would just disappear because she missed her time window, it makes much more sense for her to go all rampage and kill everyone that helped to stop her and then find another way to get back home. If Giles didn't kill Ben right there, they would've all died as soon as Glory came back, which could've been only minutes, we don't know how fast she heals from the hammer. Also, Buffy killed a bunch of people a couple of episodes earlier. Those people were giving their lives to stop Glory by killing Dawn, but without having the universe die. Their plans were objectively more innocent than Ben and Glory's and Buffy killed them. It was during a fight, but she could've beaten them without killing them, but she chose to kill them anyway. I don't see how Ben is any more special than any of them and nobody ever talks about them.

[@giovanni385]

The thing is, Ben is not the first person Ripper killed, he reald with that feeling before, he has lived with that for a long while.

[@n0namesowhatblerp362]

Oh and Aud, really is an old scandinavian name. I used to work atr a nursing home were an old couple lived whose names were Aud and Dare. Cause Dare is an old male name aswell.

[@danielbutler8103]

28:40 I don't think any of them know that smashing the neckless makes her human, That happened in a different reality so the only one that knows all of what happened is Anya.

[@heather9857]

LOVE this episode❣ And I love this season too. Really interesting how you see the Giles killing Ben situation. Always nice to see a different opinion. At the end of S5 I never expected them to revisit it. I took it as it wasn't the first time he did something that most people were not capable of doing. I don't know if you remember what Tara said to him as they were walking out the door to go face Glory?

[@grife3000]

Giles struggle with his conscience? The Ripper? These things must be done. (that's kinda the point of the scene, he's an anti-hero, and any consequences wouldn't be applicable; he would have killed Dawn) LOL at "That's a start."

[@lenakohl2339]

Why isn't Buffy going after Halfrek then? She is also a demon.

[@B-Dad]

I think the gang assumed Buffy killed Ben. And Giles just let them think it! 🤷🏾‍♂️😱😂

[@n0namesowhatblerp362]

Fun fact: the "jibbrish" language Anya spoke was Swedish. The scene was supposed to be dubbed but the directors thought they did a well enough job anyways so kept it like that. I once found the transcript for the scenes in swedish and once i read them i could understand some of Emmas sentences. Fellow swedes usually fight me on this saying im wrong, but no, i read the transcript years ago and now i can even hear it everytime the scenes are played. Just from the scenes seen in this video: Emma Olaf, är du skadad? - Du har varit pa krogen?

[@Henrik_Holst]

yes one can hear the words, but much of the actual spoken text is just nonsense as a sentence while having actual Swedish words.

[@DaveVampireSlayer]

When your favorite character decides to kill a fan-favorite character...... Me: Oh no Buffy, no! Many fans never forgive you for this!!!! However, Buffy said "I'm the law!" in a different way than Faith. Faith considered herself the law in human and demons category, Buffy only in the second.

[@tupac1971ever]

Liked your reaction, did you watch Cruel Intentions yet?

[@smylyface]

Ben was going to die no matter what the outcome. If Giles hadn't killed him, Glory would have taken over completely and he would have ceased to exist. Glory and Ben had already begun to merge consciences so even if they found a way to stop Glory from destroying the world Ben would not have been the same person. With Glory's influence inside of his mind he would have become a monster and Buffy would have to kill him anyway.

[@planetwatch0000]

I don't think Giles needed a heart to heart with anyone over Ben. He put Ben down with cool logic to save Buffy from Glory. As the 'ripper' it is heavily implied he had a dark past, and probably it wasn't the first time he had killed a human - though I'm sure they would have been villainous and a threat.

[@invadertifxiii]

yes thats what faith said, faith knew way back then before buffy did

[@MyFeuerFrey]

Yesss. Not a lot of people realize how close this mentality of her's here is to what Faith used to say. Meanwhile Faith ended up in jail accepting human law as above her. The directions those two characters walk are truly fascinating.

[@rfresa]

My theory about Spike's chip is that it taps into his feeding instinct. He was able to hurt several scientists in his escape from the Initiative, because he didn't drink the drugged blood. The chip only activated when he tried to feed on Willow. Since he has a soul now, his thoughts and motivations are more complicated, and he can do violence to humans without seeing them as food. As for Anya's fear of bunnies, it's simple. There actually is a secret cabal of evil bunnies out there, and she has encountered them. Oz has also mentioned bunnies several times, so I think werewolves can sense them. "Bunnies can really take care of themselves."

[@abbesatty9498]

I think he was pretty hurt as usual when hitting that boy in the "Help" episode but he ignored the pain due to his moral compass: "No hurting the girl". If he was still soleless, he wouldn't have the incentive to go through the pain. My understanding of the chip function is that it blindly detects whether the target is human or demon regardless of what the underlying intends of Spike's or the target was.

[@rfresa]

@@abbesatty9498 It's not magic. Pseudoscience, yes, but it doesn't have senses outside of Spike's brain. It's just a chip.

[@sirmoonslosthismind]

@@abbesatty9498 i think we all expect too much perfection from technology. why does my phone sometimes think i said the hotword when i didn't? why does it sometimes ignore me when i do say it? because it doesn't really know. it's not sentient. it's running some algorithm and the algorithm is flawed.

[@amyc8313]

It always comes down to if something has a human soul. Human soul equals a chance given. A demon with no human soul killing humans falls under a slayer's duty. Demons with a human soul are a grey area. Humans killing humans are handled under human law.

[@ibgvox]

Joss and Drew did some of the story breaking at a restaurant (well.. Joss had 3 shows so...)

[@robbiereacts22]

You have a Golden Stare shirt on. I went to that college and was a competitive swimmer

[@boingo69]

As far as the Anya song goes. I don't think that actually happened. I believe that was a "happy place" fantasy that she was escaping to while her body was dealing with being stabbed against the wall. I think it represents the life that she had wanted. It's why we saw a flashback to Olaf and how much she just wanted to be loved. And then she was ripped from the dream and returned to reality. If that was just her fantasy, it explains why she didn't look like she did in "Once more with feeling".

[@hardybryan]

Faith never said 'we are the law,' or at least Buffy never argued that point. She said 'we are better' in reference to other people to justify not turning herself in for killing Alan, a human. Buffy would have never argued she wasn't the law when it comes to demons. It was definitely the first night of OMWF, you can hear the mustard guy and his wife singing about the stain having just happened and how 'they'll never get it out.'

[@ChevaliersEmeraude]

I mean, to be fair, it's kind of a theme for season 7; Buffy getting a superiority complex over the fact she's the slayer, despite being wrong a lot (like when she thought Willow was the one flaying people a few episodes ago, and this episode with killing Anya, and it's really just the beginning of that theme). It's kinda unfortunate that it doesn't really get a resolution by the end of the season...

[@sirmoonslosthismind]

@@ChevaliersEmeraude superiority complex? really? buffy's just becoming less hypocritical. she *is* the one who constantly has to make these decisions and bear the consequences of them, and no one else will ever really understand that. it's more selfish asshattery from xander that he judges her immediately when he happens not to like the decision this time.

[@ChevaliersEmeraude]

@@sirmoonslosthismind Dude, it's LITERALLY the theme of the season! They ain't even subtle about it, they pretty much spell it out loud, like, in "Conversation with Dead People": "You've got a superiority complex, and you've got an inferiority complex about it." I might have gotten a few words wrong but they say that out loud, very directly, in that episode. AND they bring it up a few times later on. AND they even brought it up in THIS episode. Again, it's like, the whole theme this season!

[@chrisandersen5635]

There was talk all those years ago of a ‘Ripper’ series set in England that would have explored Giles’ character through the medium of British mystery wrapped around demons, vampires, supernatural, stuff. With Tony Head in the lead. I for one was super excited at the prospect, but somehow it never happened for whatever reasons. Could have answered some of the questions?! Maybe??

[@Henrik_Holst]

From what I found there where a writers strike at the time that delayed many projects and Joss later in an interview said "It might become too problematic. The rights issue with "Ripper" becomes complicated. There are other characters in the woods. We may have to do some fancy footwork. Obviously I’m committed to Dollhouse.", so something with the rights had become a problem for some reason.

[@codypendragons]

Ben was a bad guy, he was a murderer. He summoned the queller demon that killed people. Ben was trying to kill all of them, all the people Glory made crazy, because they were an inconvenience.

[@depluribusunum3128]

Ben was not human. He was a "god" and the alter ego of Glory.

[@allocat5867]

How is turning Anya back into a human not an option? Because she already WAS a human, and easily became a demon again...

[@jp3813]

Except when her pendant got destroyed, she failed to become a demon again for a long time and almost found happiness as a human.

[@painlord2k]

1) They don't know about the pendant because it happens in a different timeline. 2) Maybe they learned something about it in Dopplergangland but no one made the connection 3) She did it volutarily (they don't know Anya feels remorse for it and Anya mask it until the end). 4) The only one that could make the conenction with the pendant (Willow) is the only one that have a dark side experience and it is the only one that saw Anya after the fact and saw her behaviour and is the only one that make the right move: call for D'Offryn to help Anya.

[@jp3813]

@@painlord2k Alternate Giles found out about the pendant through research.

[@Henrik_Holst]

@@jp3813 from books that most likely got destroyed when the magic box was destroyed last season. But even then it doesn't matter because it was her choice to become a demon so turning her back to a human is not solution since she could be turned back to a demon again.

[@jp3813]

@@Henrik_Holst Books that likely have copies in England and probably got restocked by Giles at this point. As I said, Anya already tried to become a demon again in season 3. Instead, she got stuck in human form and went through development.

[@andreduarte8372]

The Anya we see in this episode would've been extremely helpful against Dark Willow. Alas...