"She's going through something…maybe she has reasons for acting this way. So what if she crossed a line? We learn and we don't do it again." - Buffy
8.9
"Great"
Buffy has sex. Bad Things happen. You'd think she'd have learned by now. This time, instead of it being Angelus or Poophead Parker rejecting her, she rebuffs Spike - calling their liaison "perverse and degrading.a freakshow". Once again Spike makes it easy for her to leave, telling her: "I always knew the only thing better than killing a slayer was f[ucking one]". We see Spike's clingy aggressive tendencies as the only way Buffy can get him to let her go is by punching him in the face. Spike is determined to make her see things his way: first he kissed her, then he slept with her - he thinks she is starting to come round to his point of view, refusing to see that she is never going to turn to the dark side (they already did that Slayer Gone Bad thing in S3), never going to stay in during the day, never become Drusilla #2. Buffy isn't "hot for vampires", she loved Angel before she knew that he was immortal, and Spike, as she says, is "convenient". He's the very epitome of the booty call boy. She's only hot for this vamp because she can allow herself to use and abuse a soulless dead thing as she couldn't a human being even if it does mean that she is full of regret and shame in the cold light of day.
Meanwhile, in the other Smashed Part Two storyline, we find out that drugs are bad, m'kay? as Willow goes through withdrawal, druggy trips with mystical highs and hellish lows, friends stealing her stash, breakdown and finally, cold turkey all in one episode! But when she returns home after a night on the magicks to find that the only sensible Scooby is looking after Dawn, she still doesn't understand Tara's 'tude - she is quick to explain Amy's presence as being magically, rather than hormonally, induced. Tara disapproves and leaves and the burnt breakfast pancakes she made for Dawn symbolise Willow's magic burn out and Buffy's burning, um, groinal area (she sits down very carefully). Unable to do a simple curtain closing spell, Willow allows herself to be taken along to Rack's Crack Shack and finds out what Zachary Kralik has been up to since Buffy killed him in Helpless. Learning how to manipulate innocent witches seems to be the main thing. And Willow is still innocent, apologising for "vibing" at Rack and offering to help him with his computer problems. "You taste like strawberries," he tells her as he searches her power, setting up a sex-for-drugs metaphor. Exactly what power does Willow get from Rack? Perhaps this is to show that dealers get more from their relationships with junkies than vice versa - also shown by the dependence of the strung-out people waiting outside. As they've now moved on to the harder drugs, Willow has a terrible comedown after her psycho-trip, crying in the shower and magically inflating Tara's Under Your Spell dress (the last time the two were happy) to cuddle with. Willow still only wants Tara. She tries to make it up to Dawn for staying out all night by taking her to the movies, but after a while she is bored and edgy, and goes back to Rack's, leaving Dawn in the waiting room whilst she goes to shoot up and then drives under the influence as they try to escape the red demon (the bad trip, the comedown, the consequences) that Willow has inadvertently summoned during her trip.
Willow almost kills Dawn but eventually saves her by frying the demon before collapsing in hysteria. She is finally facing up to what she's done. Interestingly, although the gang has always forgiven each other before, it takes Willow sobbing "I screwed upI can't stop - I've tried and I can't. I need help" to get Buffy, who has coldly told her to stay away from Dawn, to come to her aid. Buffy, who has told off Anya and Xander for being "judgy" about Willow is certainly judgemental herself, perhaps because she is feeling guilty about her out of control behaviour which left Dawn alone all night, especially as she has already tried to palm off her parenting responsibilities onto other people. Maybe she also feels bad about previously ignoring Willow's problems, only relating Xander's concerns about Willow to her own situation. Maybe she's still mad about the last times Willow went overboard with magic in Something Blue and Tabula Rasa.
Later, she softens towards Willow as the (ex)-witch comes to terms with her problems: "I thought I had it under control," as well as admitting her over-use of magic is why Tara left. She even gets to the root of her trouble self-esteem: "If you could be plain old Willow or Super Willow, who would you be?" She doesn't want to be the girl kidnapped by vampires or running away from demons. She wants to be able to deal with these things as Buffy does.
Buffy should be able to understand this; she may complain about being the Slayer but during the times she's lost her powers, she doesn't like it at all. Instead, as in her conversation with Anya and Xander, she sees Willow's pain as being all about Buffy. Willow says: "I was out of my mind. I did things, I can't evenit won't happen again I promise". And Buffy replies: "I think it's right to give it up no matter how good it feels." Because Willow has got to the heart of her issues, she can give up magicks (until Ep 20 at least), but because Buffy thinks her problem is Spike Sex rather than the cause of it her depression and loneliness, she will find detoxing more difficult. Instead of sitting in her room with a cross and garlic (does that even work?), she could be analysing her relationship with Spike: why does she 'reward' him with sex when he is violent rather than when he is tender? (and he can be tender, see how he gently leads an injured Dawn away). Is it because if she responded to his gentleness, there would then be a chance for a relationship, even love? This is not what she wants, she only desires distraction from her troubles. She tells Spike: "I want you out of my life, my work, my home". He replies: "You invited me in already". This may be a double entendre, but it's true, Spike is very much in her. She can't give him up just yet.moreless