Damn. I'm too inarticulate right now to adequately express my admiration for this latest installment. I couldn't believe that you had Mike cloven in two (is cloven a word?). It was all the more real for the lack of dramatic build up - it all happened so fast. Buffy's anxiety felt natural to me - I took it as coming from her concern for how Mike's condition would impact Spike and Dawn as well as the whole Sunnydale vampire power structure. Mike getting dusted would not only grieve her loved ones but would create a whole lot of problems for the Master Vamp of Sunnydale, I should think. And just when she had Spike home most nights.
I thought the image of the blood soaked daisy sheet around Mike was especially vivid - it just drove home how the blend of mundane, human, every day domesticity mixes with the supernatural results in the supernatural feeling much more credible and real than if the characters and the setting existed in a far removed kind of otherness, if you know what I mean. I guess that's because there's so many more details that we can personally relate to.
I loved the allusion to Munich that Spike directed to Angel - reminded me of at least two other such instances in canon between Spike and Angel - reinforcing the fact of their long, shared history.
I loved Angel acting like a dead-beat dad - excusing his lack of emotional connection to Mike, illustrating why Mike's more Spike's than his, yet coming through in the end because he's still family.
I loved Spike forbidding Buffy from contributing any blood to Mike, directly or indirectly, apparently to Buffy's relief. It's nice that she was willing to contribute for Dawn and Spike's sake but she willingly submitted to being over-ruled by Spike, without even a token 'You're not the boss of me' kind of resistance.
I loved all the character interactions in this installment.
I thought the image of the blood soaked daisy sheet around Mike was especially vivid - it just drove home how the blend of mundane, human, every day domesticity mixes with the supernatural results in the supernatural feeling much more credible and real than if the characters and the setting existed in a far removed kind of otherness, if you know what I mean. I guess that's because there's so many more details that we can personally relate to.
I loved the allusion to Munich that Spike directed to Angel - reminded me of at least two other such instances in canon between Spike and Angel - reinforcing the fact of their long, shared history.
I loved Angel acting like a dead-beat dad - excusing his lack of emotional connection to Mike, illustrating why Mike's more Spike's than his, yet coming through in the end because he's still family.
I loved Spike forbidding Buffy from contributing any blood to Mike, directly or indirectly, apparently to Buffy's relief. It's nice that she was willing to contribute for Dawn and Spike's sake but she willingly submitted to being over-ruled by Spike, without even a token 'You're not the boss of me' kind of resistance.
I loved all the character interactions in this installment.
Looking foreword to more.
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