Ep by ep; Storyteller
The Good; The wonderful Andrew in the kitchen fantasy sequence, all the straight to camera stuff and Spike's conceit towards the camera. The hilarious 'We are gods' sequence complete with unicorn. But who cares because the Cheese Man from Restless is back!
The Bad; Do we really believe that Andrew can read an ancient demon language and yet doesn't bother to translate what's on the knife? Wouldn't the Invisible Girl be a useful ally against the First? Or does it matter as the Bringers are blind anyway? Andrew says that Buffy has no steak knives, so what did she stab the Queller demon with?
Best line; Andrew (describing Dawn); "Bubbly and sweet with a hunger for fun and a smile that lights up the room"
Jeez!; According to Willow's research Greek cookbooks like to use goat's tongues. Let's hope the Supersizers don't get around to ancient Greece, I doubt even Sue and Giles could eat that (Giles Coren that is, not Rupert Giles). Exploding heads too although that's just implied.
Kinky dinky; Buffy apparently dreams of running for the bus whilst naked. Oddly whilst much of this ep confirms our suspicions of Andrew as gay he glosses over cute but unconventionally pretty Amanda in the kitchen scene for the blonde bimbo whose name he doesn't even know, a very hetero male thing to do. Anya is suspicious as to what Andrew is doing by himself in the bathroom with a video camera, stating that everyone else just masturbates in there. Anya and Xander get it on once more, in Spike's bed in the basement! Revenge for Xander having to put Spike up in his basement and closet? Anya comments that she's a 'spitfire' in bed whilst they both agree that this was an act of closure and comment that it's a shame Buffy took Spike's chains down. Dawn wears a remarkably revealing top, showing her now formidable cleavage off to all (I think the only reason they made Dawn into a centaur in the comics was an excuse to draw topless pictures of Michelle Tractenberg).
Captain Subtext; Willow and Kennedy kissing and totally ignored by Andrew? Hmmmmmm? The Playboy test for heterosexuality (enjoying the thought of 2 or more women together)and he failed it completely. Guess the pair got over the events of 'Get it done'. Andrew also thinks that the tension between Woods and Spike is sexual in nature. Note Spike is topless in Andrew's kitchen fantasy. Andrew also admires Xander's skill with his hands 'Extraordinary' and implies that he thinks Jonathon is cute. In his fantasy Andrew has Warren commenting he's good-looking. Andrew and Jonathon share a bed together whilst on the run. Andrew says that Jonathon promised to buy him a 'burro'.
Guantanamo Bay; The Scoobs don't hesitate to threaten and rough Andrew up.
Apocalypses; 7, Buffy says that there are 'hundreds upon hundreds' Turok-Han in her vision implying tens of thousands. OK, if they got out it would be bad but against 6 billion humans armed with all our technology would it really be the end of the world?
Kills: two vamps killed by Buffy
Scoobies go evil: Wood possessed by the seal. Buffy says she never went evil but she did try to kill everyone in Normal Again.
Sunnydale deaths; the poor student whose head explodes Scanner's style 105 Total number of scoobies: 30 or so, going to add Andrew to the mix Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Spike, Giles, Kennedy, Molly, Vi, Rhona, Amanda, Chao-Anh, Wood, Andrew plus an indeterminate number of potentials, at least a dozen or more.
Dawn in peril; 14
Dawn the bashful virgin; 9
What the fanficcers thought; The erotic adventures of the nerds a staple of much slash fiction.
Questions and observations; The invisible girl at school is reminiscent of Marcie in 'Out of sight, out of mind', as Joss said it's all about getting back to the first season. Buffy also refers back to The Witch in that everyone hates the cheerleaders and to Amanda's loathing of the marching band in Potential. Unless someone can correct me the last appearance of Warren and Jonathon in the series. The poor piglet is still running around, I'd always assumed the Turok-Han ate it. Surprising that Buffy still let's Amanda and Dawn go to SDH. Note that Jonathon just wants Buffy to stick to her car if she's supermagnetic but Warren more viciously wants sharp things to fly at her. The flesh coloured plaster joke rather reminds me of Bloom County, one of my favourite comic strips, anyone else remember it? Where do people always get flaming barrel's from? Is there a picket line at SDH? Good thing Buffy had Spike's chip removed or he wouldn't have been able to fight the students. We see how The First forms it's Bringers. The important thing of course is that Andrew doesn't cry tears of pain or fear but of remorse, he's sorry for what he did. Andrew refers to Xander as the heart of the Slayer machine just as he was in Primeval. Can anyone tell me what exactly Andrew mouths to Amanda in the kitchen after he says 'Not you sweetheart'? Buffy mentions running to catch a bus in one of her dreams although she doesn't know where it's going and indeed she does in Chosen (but not whilst naked). Andrew refers to buying the sacrificial knife from a weapons dealer who also sells collapsible swords (like Wes has on Angel) and poison arrows (like Faith used on Angel). Be sure to watch to the end to catch the GrrrArrggh demon singing "We are gods!" Last appearance of Warren and Jonathon although Adam Busch plays a VERY Warren like character in an episode of Terminator; The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Andrew says his mission with his filming is to 'educate and entertain', just add inform at the front and that's the BBC motto (which used to feature on their videos/DVD so he may have got it from watching Dr Who/Red Dwarf? Buffy correctly tells Woods that she's never been evil although she did try to kill everyone in Normal Again. Did they allow Andrew to go back and get his stuff (so that he has the ceremonial knife)? You can't blame the Scoobies for wanting to get a little bit of credit for all they've done, I think that's a very human thing to feel.
Marks out of 10; 8/10 Andrew comes into his own.