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The aftermath of Faith killing Allan shows psychological distress, emotional manipulation, and absolutely no enjoyment from using the shredder. No, not the TMNT villain, that's always enjoyable.

Also, I'm not saying a slightly trained man shouldn't be written to approach a bound Slayer's legs, but it is weird that it happens two more times before the end of season 4...

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There are some apocalypse demons in town, capable of going one on one with a Slayer. At the same time, the Hellmouth is due to erupt again, and this time it's grown! Giles resorts to consulting with spirit guides outside our temporal restrictions. Buffy and Angel face emotional decisions about which of them might survive the climactic fight, Willow prepares to cast a spell more dangerous than any she has attempted before, Faith shares a more personal side than we have seen from her before, and Oz is in an even more feral than normal werewolf phase.

Oh, and this episode isn't about any of that. It's about Xander, a car, and a cake. And it's actually pretty flipping good.

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It's Buffy's birthday, so it's time to... what's the word.... celebrate? No, that's not it... Prepare! That's the one! Prepare for horror and bloodshed that is. Of course.

In a remarkably "on the nose" assessment of patriarchal power structures Buffy is having her physical agency reduced so that she can prove she's worthy of said physical agency. Or something. It's entirely barbaric and unnecessary so let's not waste time working out the actual purpose. She is to be locked in a building with an insane vampire and use her wits to defeat him. Until the whole plan goes sideways, said vampire creates a minion and goes out into the world. With the whole scenario compromised, the council scraps it and calls in help to deal with the now out of control vampire.... this just in... no they don't do that at all, they just let her walk into an even more dangerous situation, including an innocent hostage...

For goodness' sake.

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Joyce is witness to something terrible, but after seeing "Mr Sanderson from the bank"'s vampface she discovers what appears to be two children who have died in some sort of ritual. This develops into strong civic-mindedness from Joyce. This develops into fear-mongering and persecution of anyone outside what is considered normal. Because that playbook isn't tired enough in *real* life.

Also, Pat gets a run for her money from Willow's Mum. Argh, PAT!

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