 |
|
 |
| | Guest Starring: | |
| |
|
|
| | Anthony Stewart Head: | |
| | (Giles) | |
| | | |
| | Tom Lenk: | |
| | (Andrew) | |
| | | |
| | DB Woodside: | |
| | (Robin Wood) | |
| | | |
| | Adam Busch: | |
| | (Warren) | |
| | | |
| | Harris Yulin: | |
| | (Quentin Travers) | |
| | | |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
9. Never Leave Me. |
|
| | | |
| |
The Scoobies hold Spike – and then Andrew – captive in the hope of learning more about their new enemy. |
|
| | | |
| |
Great quotes: |
|
| | | |
| |
 | | The Uber-vamp. |
- Dawn describes Buffy’s illness: “... stuff coming out of both ends.”
- Andrew: “You’ll get nothing out of me, carpenter. Not exactly a great line, but this is exactly the kind of thing someone playing Dungeons and Dragons would be likely to say. Once again it is all too obvious that the BtVS writing team are utter nerds.
- Spike: “A soul’s not all about moonbeams and pennywhistles, it’s about self-loathing.” The sun isn’t exactly shining in the world of Spike is it?
|
|
| |
Fantastic moments: |
|
| | | |
| |
- The episode opens with a wonderful cut from Anya warning that “... William the Bloody is back” straight to a leather coated figure striding along the streets. Zooming out; the figure is none other than Andrew, the last surviving member of last season’s geek trio.
- The scene in which Willow confronts Andrew is brilliant. It is the first time the characters have met since she murdered his friend in cold blood, so he is rightfully worried. Willow starts of awkwardly repentant but then realises that it’s Andrew who is acting suspiciously and pretending to wield the power of all manner of gods and spirits in a lame effort to scare her off. She turns the tables on him, growling “... don’t interrupt me insignificant man; I am Willow, I am death!” That soon shuts his whining up.
- Xander and Anya role-play a good cop bad cop routine when questioning Andrew. It’s just brilliant. “Did you see that? I actually made him cry!”
- Buffy’s fight against the Bringers is brill, especially the moment when she uses Andrew as a weapon.
|
|
| |
Duff Bits: |
|
| | | |
| |
- It seems a little odd that The First is trying to influence Andrew of all people. I know he’s weak-minded and all but shouldn’t The First have picked someone slightly less lame to do its dirty work, The Bringers perhaps?
- Principal Wood buries the body of Jonathan while in what appears to be a trance-like state. This contradicts what we learn later about The First’s ability to control people; it is meant to be able to influence people’s actions, not send them into hypnotic stupors.
|
|
| |
Dean's comments: |
|
| | | |
| | This is a hugely exposition-heavy episode in which we get to learn an awful lot about what is going on in season 7. The First is mentioned for the first time, we get to see what the seal is for and we get a glimpse of an uber-vamp. All the while Spike and Buffy are having indecisive feelings about each other and Andrew provides a comic aside as he is interrogated by everyone else. The exchanges between Buffy and Spike seem to go around in circles quite a lot, but then they are essentially a couple having an extended tiff so that makes sense really. It all feels somewhat confined, as it is almost entirely set either within the Summers’ residence or in a cave under the school basement. Essentially ‘Never Leave Me’ should be tedious and dull, the fact that it isn’t is testament to the writing skills of Drew Goddard and the rest of the team at BtVS HQ. | |
| | | |
| | 7/10 | |
|
|
|
|
