I REALLY hate the premise of this episode. JW sets up the whole Buffy universe then pulls the rug out and says oops I was just kidding. Maybe. Buffy is crazy! Or not! Grrrr.   On the other hand, some good Spike stuff.

After I saw this the first time, I asked myself is this just a retcon by JW or has he been dropping clues the entire time? So, I looked up the word crazy and there were so many in reference to Buffy that I had to give up. Insane and nuts are popular, too. Spike says she’s insane, one of the potentials calls her a high-functioning schizophrenic, not to mention the scene with Holden the Head Shrinking Vampire. Oh, and there’s a cuckoo clock at the miniature golf course. 

So, Buffy might be crazy and every summer she is back in the insane asylum and presumably chatting up the shrink about all her fun friends in Sunnydale. (Sunnydale sounds like a good name for a mental health facility, doesn’t it?) Doc says that Sunnydale is the “ideal” reality. Right. That makes so much sense. Almost as much sense as Joyce telling Buffy that she can be cured of hallucinations if she just believes in herself or something. 

The only persons connecting the two worlds are Joyce (until Buffy kills her off) and Hank (sometimes – when his agent is working). Everyone else is made up. Kendra, Faith, Dawn, Spike and possibly all the potentials (Kennedy?????!!!!) are Buffy’s personality splitting, then fragmenting. She goes catatonic and tries to commit suicide in S5. She considers committing suicide as soon as she gets back in S6. She’s depressed a lot, especially after she’s been dead. She jumps into the Hellmouth three or four times, I lost track. Ultimately, she chooses the crazy world. 

Here’s some points:

Buffy goes looking for Warren and his nerds and they spot her and cook up some magic. If magic is supposed to be so hard, how is that everyone finds it so easy to do? So, Buffy gets stabbed and we’re magically transported to the nut house where they have that creepy bed with the leather straps. 

Then, we’re back in Sunnydale and Buffy goes for a stroll in the cemetery. She walks by the angel statue. Why, because she’s dead and she’s an angel that’s why, even though on the angel score, she’s pretty mean. And, here’s Spike and they have a nice little chat and we find out that no one has talked to Spike since the wedding which was days ago and Spike, who’s supposed to be so perceptive says he didn’t see that Xander was going to leave Anya at the altar. 

The gang comes along and Buffy says something stupid about searching Spike for contraband. Right. Spike and Xander have a little fight and Spike once again indicates his interest in getting married to Buffy which possibly makes Buffy pass out. (Must be the thought of having to plan a wedding without a mom to do all the work.) So the gang hauls Buffy off home and we find out that Buffy has a kink thing for ice. Buffy tells Willow, oh by the way, I was in the nut house before. Sure, cause they’re bestest friends and tell each other everything, so it only took Buffy six years to come out with this bit of news. Hank and Joyce just forgot about the whole Buffy being crazy thing, cause what parent wouldn’t?

Then, Spike and Xander go out looking for the demon and oops! Spike spills the beans that he’s doing the nasty with Buffy and Xander doesn’t even figure it out! Wow, for a really observant guy, Xander is really not. So they drag the demon back to Buffy’s house and Willow cooks up some jungle juice in the metaphoric cup o’ luv and gives it to Buffy who’s sitting in her bed wearing her little white hoodie, cause you have to wear your hoodie when stuff is going down and does she even get up all night to pee? Spike comes in (out of the dark basement and into the light of Buffy’s bedroom) and threatens to blow away the whole Big Secret and Buffy decides she’s going back to the real world before Spike shoots his mouth off and to hell with Sunnydale. 

Then, several fun things happen, which reconcile me to this show – Buffy smacks Xander on the skull with a frying pan and Buffy chases down Dawn and duct tapes her mouth shut. (Oops, Buffy mentions that she happens to be sleeping with a vampire she hates. Who can that be? Guess Dawn was too distracted to remember that in the next episode.) Good times. I’m sure everyone noticed Spike is the only one who doesn’t get tied up in the basement. (Except Anya and Giles who aren’t around. Guess Buffy isn’t ready to deal with all her Daddy issues.) I have to say that I’m so sick of the Scoobies with their crappy problems that I was pretty disappointed when the monster didn’t get to eat anybody. 

Isn’t it interesting that Buffy “kills” her parents in both universes? 

This is the episode where Nick and James kissed... so I adored it :D

Besides, it's the one that had "Willie-Wanna-Bite" and "King of the Big Exit", and you ask me why love those two together *huggles them*

I do agree that I dislike the retcon, especially seeing as it puts Joyce in such a bad light during S2.  (This episode reminds me of an anime I used to watch when I was a kid, about a boy who searches for his father with his friends -and his best friend, a blue pony called Blink- and after several advantures, we eventually discover that the whole thing was just a dream, everything and everyone are only living in his head. Imagine the disappointment, I felt so cheated.

LOL, it's just a shame the kiss wasn't on screen.  Other than that, really don't like this episode.

-Tammy