I gave it another look because of the drubbing that “Him” from S7 got. I liked that one much more than most, also.

And what exactly is the difference between crying and weeping?

While I didn’t really take offense during my first viewing, subsequent viewings have made me more and more offended by the last bit of that clip. Buffy blubbers about seeing Xander and Anya “good and alive and together” while completely ignoring the other couple — the same-sex couple — who is also good and alive and together standing right next to them…her not recognizing Willow and Tara’s good, alive togetherness suggests that Buffy (and the writer) doesn’t see them as a real couple.

Good point. I had thought of mentioning that but thought I was moaning too much.

I think SMG is extraordinary at times but while she can weep, she can’t cry and definitely can’t heartily laugh.

I like any scene with Tara with someone else because then she’s not just gazing at Willow.

This episode…. This episode offends me. Granted, Willow is not at her most likable during the first part of season five, but I find Willow’s behavior in this episode wildly uncharacteristic. I mean, stealing ingredients from Giles? Willow had to talk herself into eating her banana at a time that wasn’t lunch in “Doppelgangland” — I really don’t think that she would steal, especially from a friend. True, she is a hacker, but I think hacking to Willow is like solving a puzzle and “stealing” information is quite a bit different. This episode feels like the writers’ attempt to soften the character of Anya, and in order to make Anya sympathetic, Willow has to be a callous shrew in this episode. She has expressed antagonism toward Anya in the past but never to this extent.

Emma Caulfield and Alyson Hannigan are (or at least were) good friends, and it’s obvious that they are having a lot of fun doing these scenes. (The director really went for broke in the campiness department.) Both of them do some nice comic acting, but Willow and Anya’s bickering wears thin very quickly.

I actually kind of like the fight in which they finally address and resolve their real issues with each other, but it does drag on a bit. It felt very old-school Buffy with a potentially sentimental moment being undercut by the fact that they’re actually yelling at each other and just as they reach an understanding a troll breaks down a door and threatens them.

Olaf does get some good lines. Anya also gets some good ones when she is taunting him: “Your roar is less than full-throated!”

I love the “I said ‘quirky’” bit. It’s a nice hint at intimacy…even though Buffy and Xander get more play from Tara and Willow respectively than they give each other in this episode. And in compensation for the lack of touching, we get two “Willow is gay” comments. The “Hello, gay now” statement pisses me off for the reason you stated and because one would hope that Willow wouldn’t break up Xander and Anya because, you know, she is committed to her relationship with Tara and learned from her past experience. I know that Espenson was going for a joke, but like most of Willow’s remarks in this episode the “gay now” comment comes across as glib and facile.

The second “Willow is gay” comment delivered by Anya puzzles me a bit.

I like Alyson Hannigan’s nod and accompanying “Yes, it’s really true because they keep having me say it” look, but I can’t decipher the meaning of Xander’s reaction. He looks almost depressed by her confirmation of her gayness. Maybe it’s just the broken hand.

While I didn’t really take offense during my first viewing, subsequent viewings have made me more and more offended by the last bit of that clip. Buffy blubbers about seeing Xander and Anya “good and alive and together” while completely ignoring the other couple — the same-sex couple — who is also good and alive and together standing right next to them. I know that Buffy has been focused on Xander and Anya throughout the episode because she thought that they might be breaking up. But seeing as though their relationship was never in any real jeopardy, her not recognizing Willow and Tara’s good, alive togetherness suggests that Buffy (and the writer) doesn’t see them as a real couple.

Comments about this clip:
Shrewiness aside, the shot of Willow after she sends Olaf to Troll-land is probably one of my favorite shots of Alyson Hannigan during this season.
I like how excited Tara seems about a land without shrimp.
I think season five also rubbed me the wrong way because of all the property damage. I don’t remember there being as much gratuitous property damage in previous seasons.
SMG is a pretty decent actress most of the time, but she cannot fake laugh or funny cry. She’s no Mary Tyler Moore.

One aspect of this episode that I really like is that we get to see Tara interacting with members of the group who aren’t Willow on more of an individual basis. She has two whole scenes alone with Buffy, and Xander amends his “two favorite girls” comment to include her and then asks her to protect him from Willow and Anya.