I took a break from studying to watch Sleeper and now I must gush in true fangirl fashion.

Sleeper! Sleeper!!! Sleeper!!!!!!

- JM is fantabulous in this episode. That's generally a given, but it still bears saying.

- The scene between Anya and Spike is great comedy, but I love it on another level. When Spike wakes up, he's all tough guy, bad-ass, asking Anya why she's rustling through his stuff. Then, as soon as she mentions sex, he's scrunched up against the wall, wide-eyed and freaked out. What a perfect way to show the difference between souled!Spike and soulless!Spike.

Heh. Upside down and halfway to happy town.

- I can't be the only one with the "jealous girlfriend" vibe going off when Buffy confronts Spike in his bedroom. Or maybe I'm just distracted by the fact that Spike's wearing leather pants and no shirt.

- Okay, help me out here. You know the scene where Buffy's looking for Spike and has a convo with the bouncer of some club where he warns her away from Spike...what's the larger point of that scene? Is it just filler (Unlikely)? Usually, those little scenes have a larger thematic resonance in the context of the episode, but I'm having a bit of difficulty putting my finger on this one. Quinara wins.

- And the bestest bestest scene ever down in the basement.

Cause stairs have been a running theme for Spuffy. That and Spike being "beneath" Buffy. Last we saw in the Stairs Saga, Buffy was coming down to Spike's level in After Life. However, Spike's level was in her home, as he was trying to fit in with the other humans.

Now, however, we're in a basement. Spike goes down to the bottom of the stairs, but Buffy hesitates. The basement here is Spike's rock bottom. It's his monster, created by the First Evil (FE). It's the full horror of what he is. Buffy eventually goes down and ends up attacked by his little vamplings.

Love it love it love it. Why do I love it? Because Spike gives up at this point. He tried so freaking hard. Trying to be good without a soul. Fighting to get a soul when that fell through. And then it just didn't work. He couldn't escape from his demonness. He's still killing people.

So Spike opens up his shirt to give Buffy her chance. Cause, you know, Buffy's been saying for years how she's just waiting for Spike to give her a reason to dust him. Now she's got it. Objectively, Buffy knows that, yeah, he killed all those people.

But she also clues in to the fact that he's not quite in control of what's going on.

In Help, Spike asked Buffy to help him when he was crazy in the school basement. She tells him that she thinks it's worse when she's there. Here, he asks Buffy for help again, and this time, she agrees.

Early S7 is a gradual process for Buffy. After the attempted rape, she has no real reason to give Spike any benefit of the doubt. However, his revelation in Beneath You set the gears turning in her head. Makes her rethink a lot of things. But she's hesitant because she can't get a gauge on his recently souled up state. At first, he's just too crazy. She can't get a read on whether he's still a threat or not. So after Selfless, she moves him in with Xander to get him away from bad Hellmouth-y vibes.

In CWDP, though, the bombshell of Spike siring Holden makes her assume the worst: that Spike is willingly evil again. She doesn't dust him right off the bat, though. She tries to catch him in the act. When that fails, she directly confronts him. Finally, seeing his behavior in the basement clarifies for her that he's being controlled. That he's only a threat because of some outside force acting on him.

Unfortunately, just now when Buffy's getting to the point of unwavering belief in Spike, he's given up on himself.

*can't wait for Never Leave Me*

*huggles Spike*