It took me a while to get there, but I finally managed to goad myself into seeing the second episode of the seventh season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (and how cheesy a title isn’t that?). “Beneath You”. A nice, ambiguous title.

Again: SPOILERS!

I finally figured out what I think I suspected during the opening of episode 1: The girls who are being killed by black robed men are Slayers, or rather potential Slayers. I expect that they try to release some kind of big, bad beastie by doing this — probably the Hellmouth itself, although it could be too early in the season for that. (Although I don’t consider that to be likely.) I should have figured this out right away, but that’s the disadvantage of a chaotic-analytical mind for ya. :P
The fact that Buffy dreams about these murders should be taken as proof, or at least an indication, of the Slayer and Slayerettes (aka. the potential Slayers) being connected in some way.

So, back to the immediate happenings in the episode. First, it was Buffy’s first day at work. And I really begin to wonder at this Principal. I mean, the first principal was completely unaware of anything going on at Sunnydale High, at least until the hyena pupils got him. Principal Snyder (or however it was spelled) was also ignorant. He was a disgusting little rat-man, but not connected to demons in anyway. (And Mayor Wilkins was blown to pieces too soon after he ate Snyder, for the latter one to be integrated with the former, to put it that way.) But now… First of all, this guy seems too normal and charming. His office is right on top of the Hellmouth. The school was rebuilt just in time for it to kill some students before the Apocalypse, and he was hired as its first principal. A coincident? Maybe…

The main, non-arc related plot was decent. The huge worm thing was rather silly, but it reminded me of Dune and Tremors, which was kinda cool. That it was Anya who had “created” it was a nice twist; perhaps her reversing of the spell is part of what gets her killed later? (Oh gods, that’s cerntainly one spoiler I wish I’d never read.)

However, now I begin to inch closer to the element of this episode that really bugs me, and distracts me from focusing on the rest of the episode. Spike. Is he mad? Is he connected to what’s about to happen? Is he just suffering from the after-effects of getting back his soul? Does he really see dead people? (Ooh, n00b reference. :P)

My answers: Yes, that’s certainly a possibility. Yes, the fact that he uttered the same phrase as that Slayerette who was killed in Berlin seems to indicate that he’s somehow connected to the upcoming events. Yes, that’s also a possibility. Perhaps the effects of questions #2 and 3 combine into #1. As for the last question, I’m sure that he sees something. The tricky thing is figuring out what he’s actually seeing…

Moving on, but at the same time staying where we were, we take a look at the title, which I referred to earlier as “ambiguous”. Obviously, the first and most irrelevant meaning of it, is the reference to the Great Manworm Demon. The second is equally obvious, and is the reference to that utterance that was repeated again and again throughout the episode: “From beneath you it devours,” or something along those lines. Finally, there’s the slightly less obvious reference, which struck me during the second scene where Spike was involved. Spike is beneath Buffy at the moment. And this was, despite of the plotline, a Spike episode. In the last scene, he performed a long monologue, that I unfortunately didn’t manage to grasp the finer detalis of, as my new speakers aren’t prperly tuned yet. I did, however, manage to understand that he told Buffy about his soul. He also mentioned the “from beneath you” phrase again, but wether or not Buffy recognized that, I don’t know. I’d totally understand her if she didn’t, as she was a little baffled by the news she’d just received.

Speaking of that phrase. “From beneath you it devours.” Not only is the “beneath you” part ambiguous; so is the entire sentence. Primarily, there’s the question of wether or not to interpret it literally (ie. in reference to the Hellmouth and whatever’s stirring down there) or metaphorically (ie. Spike’s reappearence and his effect on Buffy). At the moment, I’m thinking both…

All in all, it was a decent episode. The “most touching scene of the entire series”, that Loki referred to in a comment yesterday, I never really discovered. Although I’m guessing he meant the last scene in the church. I expect it could have been more touching if I’d been more closely attached to the Spike character, but I’ve not been able to shake off the goofy impression he made in the first episodes he appeared in, so I was unable to let his torment touch me. So I still consider the scene with Xander and Willow by the old temple, close to the end of BS6×22 - Grave, as the most touching one.

Speaking of Will, it was nice to see that she’s on her way home. I miss the scoobies!

Oh, and this should be the italics code, if things work out the way I hope:
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For bold, add this code:
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