Honestly, though, of all the various versions of Spike we get on this show, I think I like Fury's the best (which isn't saying a lot, really).

Pod!Giles was upsetting, because I completely didn't believe that he would really pull that kind of crap behind Buffy's back. However, my newly acquired Spike hating heart was conspiring with my brain and I kept chanting 'Faster pussycat. Kill. Kill!' to myself and forgetting I was annoyed at the whole 'we have to kill Spike' scenario.

Happy birthday, Min! t looks around for Min, under seat cushions and behind fridge Hello?

Not insane, and some of the parts that would have made it make more sense from a narrative standpoint were cut, like Giles talking about having to kill Ben, and yes I'm still bitter.

That would have been fantastic. That's never ever been addressed, has it? Man, knowing about cut dialogue can be so disappointing. I read somewhere - probably in the Buffista archives - that some dialogue got cut from First Date which included Xander asking his date if she hatched from a praying mantis egg at the old school, which delights me so very much I've decided to pretend it happened off-screen.

Pod!Giles was upsetting, because I completely didn't believe that he would really pull that kind of crap behind Buffy's back.

I kind of felt the same way. I listened to the commentary for Helpless a couple of days later, and David Fury was talking about how much the fans hate it when the writers cause tension between the Scoobies. I felt that was a little unfair - I mean, we understand the need for drama and tension, but we expect it to be well-written and believable. It gives me tummy rumblings when Giles and Buffy fight, but it's a different kind of tummy rumble when I don't really buy the motivation. The events of Helpless were very upsetting but in that hurts-so-good way - I totally believed the way both characters acted and reacted. But I wasn't fully on board in this episode, so that last shot of Buffy closing the door on Giles kind of made me feel like the writers were slapping me in the face for loving Buffy's relationship with Giles and disliking her relationship with Spike.

All that said, I still liked the episode. I really believed Spike was going to kill Wood. And I liked the mother retcon because it creeped me the hell out.

I just didn't feel adequately convinced by any of the dramatic set-ups. In series 5 (my favourite), I was utterly convinced by everything that Buffy and Dawn and Spike did. Combination of good writing, acting, directing. In so much of series 7, the plot movement, the characterisation seem forced (except for Conversations with Dead People and First Date -- far and away the best -- and Selfless).

I should have been blown away by the Spike/Wood confrontation, and Nikki and Spike fighting in the rain with little Robin looking on. But all I could think was how inferior it was to Fool for Love, which still has me going, Wow, Wow, Wow, after the ninth watch.

and Nikki and Spike fighting in the rain with little Robin looking on

The actress who played Nikki was reminding me so strongly of Jennifer Garner's character on Alias in that scene that I got completely thrown out of the moment by a little meta-loop of how Alias was influenced by BtVS and then BtVS started referencing Alias...

It's not fighting between the scoobs that bothers me, it's when they go out of character to get them to do something during the fight. Yes, Buffy and Giles would disagree about what to do about Spike. And maybe a couple years ago, Giles would have considered secretly having him killed. But the Giles of today respect's Buffy's judgment, considers her the leader and himself an advisor, and has this thing about being honest with her. During the ep I kept trying to mentally rewrite it to have it a plot between Robin, Xander and the SiW's. Kennedy's already been shown to have no problem lying to Buffy - and she's all about taking power for herself.

Refresh my memory - I thought what Giles and Robin had plotted was that Robin would find out if Spike was still under the FE's control, and if he was, then he'd kill him? Still going behind Buffy's back, but she'd pretty much tied their hands about not keeping Spike chained up.

I had actually been sort of hoping for some nice scene between Giles and Spike where Giles appeals to the better angels of the vamp's nature instead of the whole, "I'll tell Buffy to look at some shiny object, and while she's distracted, you blast Spike with Johnny Nolan's greatest hits and stake him."

I thought what Giles and Robin had plotted was that Robin would find out if Spike was still under the FE's control, and if he was, then he'd kill him?

I don't think there was any "if...then" about the plan, just "I'll distract Buffy while you kill Spike."

I was so pissed at Giles by the end of that ep - not because of Spike but because deceiving Buffy like that and making her decisions for her was so fucked up in terms of their history - that I loved her shutting the door on him. I do wish, though, that that act had led to something - some aspect of the situation taking a distinct turn for the better or the worse because of the wall between Buffy and Giles. It did contribute to her isolation, yes, but I was hoping for something a little more concrete.

There seems to be a lot of agreement that convincing emotional connections are not always being made between characters who have a lot of history and depth between them.

What does this mean? a) that the writers are trying to hint, via the ``offness'' of the characters, that they are not themselves for some intended plot reason, such as being influenced by the FE OR b) that the writers have so much to get through in a few episodes that they can't pay the important attention to little character details OR c) that our expectations are impossibly high.