Buffy The Vampire Slayer S05E19| 'Tough Love''♡Reaction & Review♡

[@SoFieReactsTV]

BTVS 6x15 and Angel 3x15 are now up on Patreon. For full reactions + more: www.patreon.com/SoFieReacts

[@arikrishnan6729]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/emXUcoSPocyNh9U

[@juanmicazalilla3421]

"Give this man a soul already!" Oh girl...

[@donaldfleming5049]

9:31 I wonder how many realized that Giles had just switched into Ripper mode right at that exact moment.

[@kyosgirl106]

I love the argument between Tara and Willow. As a Tillow shipper it breaks my heart, but its probably one of the most realistic arguments on any TV show. They start off having a small disagreement about Buffy which then escalates and before they know it they're arguing about bigger things that are completely unrelated. If you've ever had an argument where the other person suddenly brings up something that happened months ago and leaves you thinking "Whoa, where did that come from?!", you can relate!

[@Nicamon]

True,but when Willow is like:"This is not about magic...it's about me potentially liking boys again!!>:-o"and Tara is like:"Should I worry about that?"I am like: "No,sweetie...you should *REEEEEAAALLY* focus on the magic problem!!X-S"

[@asthajindal5275]

​@@Nicamon I know..... it's almost like Willow purposefully took the argument in that direction because she didn't wanna talk about magic.

[@Nicamon]

@@asthajindal5275 Yeah...and Tara took the bait.

[@Talisguy]

I love Glory's laugh at "they used to bow down to gods." Even she had to admit it was a good comeback.

[@davidgorman994]

Tara refusing to give up Dawn is still one of my fave moments

[@HelloXrancidkitteh]

and the irony that Tara, though out of her mind, is the one who outs the Key to Glory in the end anyway is so sad.

[@lucyhardman2267]

@@HelloXrancidkitteh Exactly, her major sacrifice was in vain, which just twists the knife that little bit more.

[@sirmoonslosthismind]

@@lucyhardman2267 on the flip side, dawn was completely distraught about causing what glory did to tara. well, in a weird way, it might help a little that tara returned the favor so quickly.

[@christianschoff2490]

The look of determination that comes onto her face. Like Sofie said before "her actress is so good at emoting."

[@McCrispyTaco]

Tara and Oz both had concerns with Willow using magic, smart cookies lol

[@Girl4Music]

God she was so lucky with her lovers. Had to have the best experience with love out of the whole Scooby Gang. Her lovers were always great to her…. She to them on the other hand… 🫤

[@AshLee92490]

The problem with Oz is that despite showing concern, he didn't set boundaries. He even told her that he'd support her regardless. Something a lot of the Scoobies (and fans) have a tendency to do with Willow. It's rarely ever called out about Willow purposely crossing boundaries and the boundaries of others with her magic since season 3. Willow has ALWAYS misused her magic and was very often coddled regarding it. Tara here and found it in her to set her boundary. Unfortunately, I didn't get resolved because she got her brain sucked and that it made their argument seem fruitless in comparison in their eyes. At least the time. But as we see the following season, as it wasn't completely dealt with the season prior, it only gets worse. Sooner or later, that official line in the sand has to be drawn and set...

[@McCrispyTaco]

@@AshLee92490 yeah that’s true. Boundaries should’ve been set earlier on. I believe in season 3 Giles tried to do so but I can’t remember which episode.

[@AshLee92490]

@McCrispyPizza It was "Faith, Hope, Trick". She wanted to help Giles with a spell and he tells her no. So, what does Willow do? She casually starts naming things that she's been experimenting with magically in front of Giles, like she's trying to show off and impress him, until she realizes she said too much and tries to immediately backtrack, which pushes Giles to question her and her uses of dangerous magic. Of course, Willow does the sad puppy thing that is practically her get-out-of-jail card for everything (also she tends to get defensive and starts deflecting conversations as we saw with her & Tara in this episode). That was the beginning. The problem is, once again, there's no real boundary drawn and no real follow-up on Giles, or anyone else's end... I call that conversation the prelude to the fight they had in "Life Serial" (I'm only mentioning certain season 6 stuff since she's in the midst of season 6 as I type this), where once again, Willow does something reckless and dangerous with magic and she's again just randomly telling Giles about it thinking he'd be impressed, only this time, instead of being concerned at a novice high school girl trying stuff out, he's PISSED that the one he trusted to be responsible one did the possibly the most reckless and irresponsible thing she could probably do. You notice she bites back before going back to her default of being sad puppy trying to excuse herself, but it's too late. Giles saw that mask slip... That's why I always tell people that Willow abuse of magic didn't come out of nowhere. It'd been building for years, since at least season 3. It was never about magic with Willow. It's always been about power. Let's go back to season 3, except this we'll look at "Dopplegangland". When Willow gets upset at her friends, Anya comes to her for help. Willow's not interested until the moment Anya mentions "spell". She asks Anya if it's dangerous, to which she says "no". Willow immediately gets disappointed at the spell not being "dangerous" and literally asks Anya if they could pretend it was. She's always been reckless and hellbent on pursuing magic the way she had because she wants power. To feel special. That's why she likes to be in control of her relationships and chooses more backseat partners (Oz & Tara), which is why Tara becoming more dominant in her personality, especially in regards to Willow becomes an issue with Willow... It's also why I don't refer to Willow as a Wiccan. She's not. The conversation in "Forever" where they both try to explain why they couldn't resurrect Joyce. You see two very clear distinctions of morality and mindset when it comes to the use of magic. Willow tells Dawn they couldn't because of lack of ability. Tara corrected her and told Dawn they shouldn't do it because it's morally wrong. Then of course Willow secretly helps Dawn behind Tara's back, despite Tara explaining WHY it's wrong, she still decided to cross the boundary anyways. Tara actually practices her religion and respects magic, while Willow often disregards it and just uses it to purposely seek more power. I always say that I don't necessarily think Tara is a weaker magic user than Willow. Not naturally, at least. I think if Tara took the Willow route, she'd probably be just as, if not moreso, powerful than Willow because we see that she does have great power, even back in season 4 when she escapes the demon in "Superstar", but she's more of a Jedi in the sense it's more about obtaining knowledge and mastering her skills a step at a time with the knowledge she obtained along the way, whereas Willow tries to go the fast and easy route... There's a lot I could say on this topic, but I already wrote too much lol...

[@danh8804]

Tara's courage is unspeakable. Making the choice to remain silent, and to die well. One of my favorite character moments.

[@LordMarvin1993]

I think Tara is the only one of Glory's victims that referred to Dawn as beautiful rather than a thing

[@WoncoTheSane]

I am so thankful of you I do not even have the words. Thank you for including this crazy old wonderful show I grew up with in your repartee. Thank you for taking of all things on the internet "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (lol) seriously. Thank you for your heartfelt and thoughtful reactions. Thank you for sharing your joy and your pain in all of the continuing story arks. Thank you for your laughter and tears. Thank you most of all for your spirit of sharing your journey with all the world. In this crazy/weird corner of the internet you bring everyone willing to enter a moment of joy. THANK YOU!

[@SoFieReactsTV]

Thank you for your kind words ❤️

[@blacktronlego]

9:45 Clever how Giles makes them turn away so they don't see him 'go Ripper' on Glory's minion.

[@Nicamon]

DAMN! I never noticed the CRACK moment until I read your comment!!!😱For all these years I thought Glory's minion was just a coward who changed his mind before they even actually _did_ anything to him! I never realized Giles _was_ actually doing something to him already!!😱BUT I must verify if we can hear the crack in the italian version as well because if they cut that part of the audio that would explain my confusion...(Checks)No,ok,you _can_ hear a little crack,but you know what still confuses me?He doesn't change his facial expression or even his way of talking or his body position pretty much _at all!_ It _literally_ looks like nothing happened off-screen.@.@

[@painlord2k]

@@Nicamon It shows Giles is a good but ruthless person. He is not a "pure hero"

[@Nicamon]

@@painlord2k Yeah,we saw that already in some occasions,but this one just slipped over my head.@.@

[@jp3813]

@@Nicamon I don't remember the crack either. Probably added later?

[@musenji]

​@@Nicamonhe 100% changes his way of talking, he goes "AAAH!!!" when the camera is pointed away...unless you mean in the Italian version specifically. As for his body not changing position, I think that was the point, that Giles was fast and artful about it

[@notoriouslybratty]

Got to like how perceptive Spike is. He also knew how hurt Willow was when Oz left her too. He really understands pain.

[@Girl4Music]

They really should have interacted more. There’s so much in that dynamic that was never really explored and I wish it was.

[@mrshimmy1999]

I think that William the poet was very perceptive and had a desire to express his viewes but the older spike is better able to articulate that perspective

[@greigclement9081]

That moment when Glory tears the the wall of the house really demonstrates her effortless strength.

[@gooch0607]

Where are they? Is it Tara's room? Has baffled me for years.

[@dneill8493]

Spike has always known the group better than they know themselves. Most of the time at least. He has to be one of the most interesting and best written characters ever.

[@Nicamon]

Most interesting?Probably. Best written?A SOULESS vampire that behaves *exactly* like a souled being would?!?!ò____O I don't think so!X-[

[@Talisguy]

His idea of "being a hero" to impress Buffy is not drinking the blood of disaster victims and demanding credit for it. Spike is capable of genuine bravery for at least superficially altruistic reasons but his attempts to "act like a good guy" are almost always distorted by his lack of a soul.

[@Nicamon]

@@Talisguy I personally disagree. I see nothing distorted about him letting Glory to torture him without revealing who the Key was or about him genuinely caring for Buffy,Dawn and Joyce like he proved multiple times to do.He's simply a decent human with fangs. And *he SHOULDN'T be!* Also...I don't know why most people think that being selfish is enough to be considered a believable souless being.MOST humans are selfish and they all *do* have souls!Doing good things to obtain some sort of benefit is *totally a human thing to do!!* This does *not* prove in *any* way that Spike behaves like a souless being!

[@Talisguy]

He tried to force his way into a relationship with Buffy by saying that he'd let Drusilla kill her if she didn't say she loved him. He broke into her home several times to steal photos and underwear from her. He commissioned a sex robot that looked exactly like her without her consent. He told her that he wanted praise for not lapping up blood from accident victims and honestly didn't understand why this didn't impress her. And he did all of that *this season.* He's not "just a decent guy with fangs," he's a possessive, selfish stalker who's perfectly willing to coerce Buffy into a relationship with the threat of death. He does honestly seem like he's trying to be a good person, someone Buffy could love, but without a soul, he's just never able to get there.

[@Nicamon]

@@Talisguy You're talking about things he did before ep 5x18. I said under _that_ video that the final scene between him and"Buffy-Bot"was *the* moment I *stopped* finding him believable as a souless vampire.You've enlisted a bunch of things he did *before* that(and BTW,those are _also_ things a particularly bad human could do...Warren is a human and HE built a robot for himself and then he abandoned her once he got bored of her without tell her anything.And,I repeat,he *DOES* have a soul!Souled beings *CAN* do nasty stuff...the point is souless beings *SHOULDN'T* be able to do GOOD stuff!And Spike did!Multiple times already!!).

[@Buffy8Fan]

The moment where Willow is trying to get to Tara while Glory is brain-sucking her is filmed very well. I always try to look around all the passing pedestrians, before realizing what I'm doing.

[@TristanaPalmer]

Sofie, I like your emotions and reactions so much!! I'm looking forward to each Buffy video from you. You're so sensitive, perceptive and funny, it's a real pleasure to see your comments of my beloved Buffy 😊Salutations from France!! 😆

[@Girl4Music]

Her and Naj are incredible Buffy reactors. They put so much into their reactions and discussions. They bring up so much new insight I never even thought of before.

[@Nicamon]

@@Girl4Music My TOP 3 of favorite"emotive"Buffy reactors is 1)SoFieReacts 2)domi e. 3)alley box. I also *LOVE* Thor's reactions,but I wouldn't count him among the super-emotional"Buffy"reactors....;-]

[@Girl4Music]

@@Nicamon Thor is very analytical. He can communicate emotions well but can’t convey them.

[@Nicamon]

@@Girl4Music Exactly.

[@Yakerina]

And you see how Whedon set up the monks to be incredibly clever. They want the key protected. They want the key disguised. They spent (presumably) months setting it up, engaging Buffy's cooperation in dreams where she set up Dawn's room. They made Dawn human, with a history, so when Glory looked for someone recent in the Slayer's circle, there was no one. But eventually you have to reach the conflict, so now scrambled Tara admires Dawn's shining in front of Glory.

[@coldservings]

"I'd do it. Right person. Person I loved." And, in fact, he had offered that up in the preceding episode.

[@arc7375]

Willow in this episode with Tara is acting like an addict in denial.

[@menachemsalomon]

So Glorificus knows Dawn is the key, and things will begin to _Spiral_ out of control, until the best season finale I've ever seen in a show.

[@Girl4Music]

I like what you did there 👍

[@menachemsalomon]

@@Girl4Music I left a similar comment when Shannan (After Show Reacts) was horrified at that scene. Still appropriate.

[@dneill8493]

Are you ok Sofie? That was a harsh burn from Anya. 🤬🤣😁

[@SoFieReactsTV]

Caught me out of guard 😂😂

[@chrissyjoy08]

​@@SoFieReactsTVAre you French, Sofie?

[@connorgarbett8429]

This is a testament to willows power here … okay guaranteed she didn’t last 5 minutes with glory but she did manage to inflict some pain on her which buffy hadn’t manage to do yet . So yeah she’s a badass Wicca

[@killianlpc]

I think we can understand Willow wanting to use her magic powers to avenge Tara, but we can see it's also getting out of control. Even though Glory is a very entertaining Big Bad we tend to forget how utterly cruel and evil she is. We are beginning to see the slight fracturing of the Tillow relationship, and once Glory now knows Dawn is the key it will be hard for the Scoobies to save her. You are in for three brilliant closing episodes to S5 with a superb, stunning finale unmatched in the whole show.

[@ferrisulf]

"If only she knew someone who likes poetry...they would get on well together." LOL Fantastic!

[@TheRulesLawyerRPG]

That was a shrewd catch by Sofie that I'm sure most people (myself included) missed. Sofie with her perceptiveness!

[@boqndimitrov8693]

Glory: she's crazy, she's evil,...she's one of a kind,and we adore her!

[@greigclement9081]

The argument between Willow & Tara demonstrates how insecurities can suddenly flare up and take over the main topic.

[@Girl4Music]

Yep. A unusual and profound sort of representation in TV. I mean it doesn’t happen all the time with her but when it does… boy do things escalate way beyond what they would if she actually addressed her complex trauma. That’s the thing with Willow. Shit happens to her the same as it does with all the other characters. The difference is her reaction to it.

[@greigclement9081]

@@Girl4Music The writing team were fantastic. They combined humor, empathy, and sarcasm in brilliant ways.

[@mparantha]

Thus begins one of the strongest marches to a season finale

[@transmatized]

I had a similar reaction to that argument between willow and tara but I think it ultimately comes down to willow projecting her own insecurities about her use of magic and her sexuality onto tara who genuinely was not being combative in that moment but just expressing her concerns. willow kinda has a tendency to react based on pure emotion so I think the argument escalating makes sense for her character but did serve as a way to separate them so that glory could do what she did

[@Nicamon]

This is why I always reject strongly the arguments people try to make to justify characters acting stupid or OOC just to advance the plot. You *can* advance plots using perfectly believable and In Character events,you don't *need* to force anything just to make a certain thing happen...you just need to be a good writer.A thing that people tend to forget is that you *can* disapprove/disagree with some character's actions _without_ finding them forced or OOC. You *can* be like:"Ok,this thing was totally wrong/stupid,but I can perfectly see where it comes from. It makes sense.U___U"

[@invadertifxiii]

Oh I've been waiting for this, the first glimpse of willows true power

[@Tantalus010]

Willow gets the best one-liners, too.

[@watershipdowneyjr]

And her willingness to immediately turn to abuse of dark magicks

[@Nicamon]

@@watershipdowneyjr For some reason this went over my head for literally *DECADES.* (Because Willow has always been my absolute favorite character and she looks and sounds adorable most of the time.That.That is the reason.❤) I had to watch this show _BACKWARDS_ between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 to realize how _early_ her"problems with magic"started!!😱

[@Girl4Music]

@@Nicamon Yes, Willow effectively gaslights the audience too.

[@rayharley597]

I've always felt that the argument between Tara & Willow steps from Willow's insecurities about her identity and that any acknowledgement of bisexuality would drive Tara away; whereas I don't believe Tara has any problems with that at all. Virtually all of Willow's mistakes in the series stem from insecurities which exist entirely in her own head. It's about the only thing where I found, or find, myself identifying with her. It's also where we see, for the first time, Tara standing up for herself. Willow has such a powerful presence in every one of her relationships it can be hard for anyone, let alone a partner, to voice 'problems' because of how Willow can react. kerk

[@alicequinn505]

Willow's avoiding talking about magic, and projecting her insecurities onto Tara. And who knows, Tara might be insecure about Willow, but maybe not for that reason. Why was Willow even angry about what Tara's said? I think she just wants her to be fine with her having so much more power than her. Is it that she can't empathize with how it might feel to have no power like that (like how Willow was with Cordelia), or is it that she can't imagine why Tara might think she would do something bad with it? Either way, she doesn't allow for her own mistakes, or understand the more power you have, the more mistakes matter. But maybe Willow's right, her meticulous and studious nature could make her a better magical ally to Buffy, than anyone else who could've tried to be a witch. Still, hard to be in a relationship like that.

[@Nicamon]

"the more power you have, the more mistakes matter."Geez!!😳Several people/characters should get this tatooed on their BRAINS!😱

[@Girl4Music]

@@Nicamon it’s a goodie!

[@painlord2k]

Let's say we had another, increasing, episode where shows her dark side. We already saw many cases when she had a problem managing anger or magic. I would suggest Willow is a very agreeable person and this cause her to be, also, prone to resentment, because she often fold to someone else will. The problem is she is becoming more and more powerful and she is not used to manage her emotions and her power like Buffy is. She is around where Buffy/Faith was in Season 3.

[@Nicamon]

@@painlord2k I saw a thread on tumblr some time ago making some visual parallels between Willow&Faith and it stunned me and it shocked me and it *scared me* to realize how bloody *accurate* that actually was!!!😱😰💔

[@Girl4Music]

@@Nicamon would that have been my post from Tumblr? I did a Willow/Faith parallel.

[@adgato75]

I just realized who Glory looks like. Steve. Steve Harrington.

[@Nicamon]

I'd say she looks like Cariba Heine(Rikki Chadwick from"H2O").

[@TigerNightmare]

Never bring knives to a god fight.

[@divinelangene6813]

🤣🤣🤣

[@cat.733]

If only she knew someone who liked poetry… 😂

[@relaxingtopology256]

"Give this man a soul..."

[@JhadeSagrav]

Spoilerish Every time SoFie predicts something i repeat the adage "Whedon gives you what you want in the worst way possible."

[@Girl4Music]

In ‘Tough Love’ the fight between Willow and Tara escalates so quickly because Willow jumps to conclusions. Tara was absolutely talking about Willow’s accumulation of magical power that is what frightens her. It’s Willow that twists that around to mean her sexuality because she doesn’t like the whole “overusing magic is bad for you” argument. She’d rather be attacked for her “experimenting”. I get it from a writer’s point of view and really love that they included a conversation like this between them. But yeah, I certainly don’t think Tara deserved that bullshit. The twisting of her words, the gaslighting… ugh. Yeah. It was all Willow. But isn’t it always? 😑

[@robertoglencoco7861]

Willow used to get walked over all the time. Now that she's come into her own she gets overly defensive over the slightest judgement or critique.

[@Nicamon]

😢

[@hardybryan]

And people wonder why Anya is my favorite character (after Buffy). Come on.

[@Nicamon]

I don't know. I was never able to see her as something more than a Cordy 2.0.🤷‍♂

[@hardybryan]

@@Nicamon The only things she has in common with Cordy are Xander and speaking her mind, which gives her a very similar role in the plot, but they are very different characters. What is on her mind is completely different from Cordy. She's very rarely nasty the way Cordy is, nor does she need to be rescued nearly as often.

[@Nicamon]

@@hardybryan "The only things she has in common with Cordy are Xander and speaking her mind"Which was basically the entirety of Cordy's character when she was on"Buffy"so you see why I say they're basically the same?;-P Yes,Anya did some more things because she was around longer and in seasons in which"deeper"stuff happened but,overall,I was never really able to scroll off that"copycat"sensation whenever I watched her.😕

[@horsepuncher95]

@@Nicamon Fair enough, but if you think that was the entirety of Cordy's character idk how close you were watching

[@Nicamon]

@@horsepuncher95 Well,not _really_ but let's say it was the part that stood out the most.😉💜

[@PoseurGoth]

For Willow and Tara's argument, you need to understand it in the context of the time. There was an idiotic trope of the "lesbian until graduation". Bisexuality wasn't understood. We still see this today, but it was far worse back then.

[@discardmyfriends]

The next 3 episodes are quite the rollercoaster

[@Rasperdan]

I came across you through GOT but I am also a buffy fan. There is an episode in season 6 of buffy I just cant wait for. OMG I think you are going to love it. Haha saying that there is also an episode in GOT season 6 I also cant wait for. I love having things to look forward to... thank you.

[@whitneyconnors1425]

🎉😂

[@menachemsalomon]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but now it's topical: I've seen your English improve tremendously over the series of reactions, but I can still detect an accent that I think is Slavic. Would you be okay with sharing what country and/or language you are from (or in)? Doesn't really matter, I'm just curious.

[@ulrichs3061]

Didn't you listen to her? She's obviously french. (2:27)

[@menachemsalomon]

@@ulrichs3061 That's not the impression I got from the way she laughed. And maybe I haven't heard enough French accents, but I don't think that's what I'm hearing.

[@Nicamon]

@@menachemsalomon I'm very curious too to know where she's from! I've also been wondering that for a while and I'm still not sure.@.@

[@ulrichs3061]

@@menachemsalomon I'm not talking about the laughing. When Anya said the french don't tip Sophie said "ouch" and after laughter "can't deny it". Why do you think she reacted that way?

[@timpeltier2901]

glory is hot 🔥

[@jatinyadav530]

Please react to the originals please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please

[@robertoglencoco7861]

But William's poetry is bloody awful 🤢

[@dancerkris95]

Tell that to the audience that heard his poetry in the series finale of "Angel" they actually loved it, and it was the same stuff he wrote back when he was human. It was a beautiful full circle moment for him 🥰

[@JhadeSagrav]

I'd rather have a railroad Spike through my head... 😂