Act Six: With Andrew’s instruction,
Ro takes off from the library, unwilling to stay behind when Wills is being killed. In the meanwhile, Tracey has been sent off to grab Jeff and return him to the library.
In the meanwhile, the Presidium army is still holding off the rest of the Slayers, including Buffy’s team. Dawn and Skye are holding their own when Ro arrives, trying to get to where
There’s an important throw-away here that I’m going to bring up now – Heli, a Slayer we’ll get to know a lot more about in the coming seasons. Watch her closely – that’s all I’ll say. Watch. Her. Closely.
Back to this episode – Ro finds herself the target of Larmin, but is saved by Kennedy. Above ground, demons who’ve broken through the Slayer lines begin to invade the Council proper through the basement and streaming for the upper floors. Bonnie is freed from her basement prison….
As
Andrew is nearly killed by one of the vampire minions helping the Presidium, but is saved by Tracey. But the battle over the opening portal isn’t done…
Act Seven?!
Act Seven: More titanic battling – the Engineer tries to open (and temporarily succeeds) in opening the Invasion Portal himself using his own magic added to what was stolen from Willow!
Thankfully, it is only temporary and only a few dozen (!) more invaders make it through. But upstairs, the Watcher contingent is being over-run.
Becca, not able to stay locked away in Giles’ suite, ventures out to see how she can help (the lady is gutsy) and sees Bonnie trying to make her escape through the lobby in between the warring parties… OH NO YOU DON’T … Becca runs for the stairwell down into the melee, her goal to stop Bonnie!
Bonnie gets away after a brief scrape with Becca, but there’s plenty more battles to be fought. As this is taking place, Jeff finds his mother lying on the floor, a dead demon on top of her. It doesn’t look good for Lily.
Underground, as the Engineer tries again to open the portal with his own energies,
Back in the lobby – Brell and Tram return to stand with their allies… they both wade into the grand fight for the Council’s future. And, their not alone!
Down below, the machinery has been destroyed, but it has caused a raging fire and the barrier keeping
Back in the lobby – remember Julia? She came to retrieve Mia forcefully… well, she suddenly finds herself in the middle of chaos. Slayer instincts win out over selfishness and she saves Giles and lends a hand (but not before she accidentally shoots Tram through the forehead – oh no!).
Oh, come on! I didn’t remember how many Acts this one has… (smile)
Act Eight: The battle ends, but there’s still one hell of a mess. The infirmary is filled to the brink with the wounded and dying. I’ll give only highlights here, because this review is really, really long – but its all SO DANG GOOD.
- Marsha was injured, but seems fine.
- Lily, Jeff’s mother lies in a coma.
- Tram was, indeed, killed by Julia on accident via bullet to head.
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- Dawn, with Buffy’s blessing (that’s a surprise!) decides she wants to stay and join the Council officially as a Watcher-in-Training. She’ll be joining the regular cast next season!
And finally, with the post-Apocalypse joking out of the way – we get a surprise visit to
Honestly, how much more could they squeeze into this episode… LOVE IT!
We get some Faith/Buffy “beginnings of a beautiful friendship” banter and some Ro/Willow angst. For some reason, although Ro is ready to admit that she’s in love with
The Good: Holy Crap, that was looooooooong! But, as you’ll notice – I’m mentioning the fact in ‘The Good’. This was expansive and detailed and action packed, but the pace of the story never lagged. It was … well… something that means better than the words that are coming to mind: Damned Near Perfect.
Character Interaction: Fantastic.
Plot: Exciting. Tense. Awesome.
Artwork: Fantastic – a lot of it and really terrific. I’m just awe-struck.
Look, every detail of this gets put in ‘The Good’, alright. If you haven’t checked out WATCHERS yet – please, please do!
But if you want to just dip your toes in first, then read both parts of this season-ender, “Another Day and Another Apocalypse”.
The Bad: Not a damned thing. Even the guest-stars from episodes past were well used.
The Score: Easy and Obvious: 5.0 out of 5.
And, don’t forget to check out the MUSIC VIDEO at the end of Act 8!