Knock yourself out

Flooded (Douglas Petrie and Jane Espenson)

The trio make their first appearance, I’m not stressed out and I even like Warren handing the M'Fashnik demon Buffy’s address and pretending he has the Force.

The episode also introduces the freeloaders. I don’t know what the writers or executive producers were thinking of by omitting any reference to how Tara and Willow were contributing financially but we can pretend that they were but were too modest to say it out loud. I find Anya’s remarks ironic about charging (were they supposed to be?) considering Angel Investigations.

The gun - “These things? Never helpful.” – chucks it away and it goes off – oh my.

How perfect is this Anya dialogue and Emma Caulfield’s delivery? “No, no. Captain Logic is not steering this tugboat. I smell Captain Fear at the wheel! God, I hate this. This tone in my voice? I dislike it more than you do, and I'm closer to it!”

And they may forget about how close Dawn and Spike were but they continue to remember Tara and Dawn’s relationship and I love Tara’s “Knock yourself out” and Dawn’s “That's a weird place for a horn…That’s not a horn..”

And I would like to direct people to the long shot of Amber Benson in this scene and say this woman is a slender woman and the word voluptuous cannot be applied to her.

The scenes between Giles and Buffy are very well done but his concern and tenderness is at odds with what he does to her in “Tabula Rasa”.

I remember being gobsmacked by the scene between Giles and Willow in the kitchen with the two of them being so angry. It still packs a punch particularly when you know just where it is all heading: “You're a very stupid girl.” and “Are you saying you don't trust me?” but the scary exchange is

GILES: You were lucky.
WILLOW: I wasn't lucky. I was amazing. And how would you know? You weren't even there.
GILES: If I had been, I'd have bloody well stopped you. The magicks you channelled are more ferocious and primal than anything you can hope to understand, and you are lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur!
WILLOW: You're right. The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful. And maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off.

The fight between the demon and Buffy is funny in its destructiveness and for once all that damage means something and Buffy’s “No…more…full…copper…re-pipe…” is full of more than just demon directed anger.

It is in fact a very angry and tense episode and I liked it a lot although it is uneven.