Jordo: To amuse the audience, of course. Greenberg is one of the writers most fond of throwing in little gags whose sole reason for existence is to wink to long-time fans.

It's a little "hey, aren't you…" moment to amuse the fans. We don't know, canonically, how or why the two of them know each other; we can choose to make the Halfrek-Cecily link or not.

Quirky: I don't know that the "why" really needs to be explored any more, but yeah, it might have made the storytelling a little cleaner to stay on-point with it. But we know what we need to know. Willow and her friends have come to the conclusion that her problem can best be characterized as an addiction, and that…

The spell is coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!
Two episodes with weaknesses around the main stuff but great supporting cast work. I've been surprised to see Noel in previous weeks being so interested in Dawn this season. Her trait of making everything about her is at its most annoying here, but I think her last good S6…

Sometimes they come back
"They" being trivia devotees.

Back to the heart of things
And now we hit the good stuff. "Dead Things" is the one episode that really dives into the twisted layers that make the Buffy/Spike relationship so interesting in theory and so rarely interesting on screen. I remember that originally I liked the episode but wasn't sure I loved it, just…

It's late
I don't have the energy to have much of an opinion on either episode. DP is a trifle with a few dumb moments and a few weighty stuff, while "Provider" strikes me as a misfire whenever there's no zombie or Holtz on screen.

My wife worked at Borders, and the training video included the line "to me, Borders represents freedom."

Re. trivia point #4) S'alright? S'alright.
http://www.youtube.com/watc…

I thought this wasn't starting again until the 14th
So I got caught off guard. This will not stand, ya know. This aggression will not stand, man.

It appears that "Dad" actually got a D, not an F. Whatever. It's hard to piece together TWOP history using just the recaps, since they're generally just recaps without much opinion, and then a random grade slapped on to the end. Most of the screaming/complaining/batshit insanity happened/happens on the forums.

Magic can be addictive, in a manner analogous to hard drugs. That's part of the story, and only part of it.

Bix - One of Willow's core issues is the ability to cast spells as part of her identity. It's about magic itself, not any particular spell. Hence Willow rolling around in magic. Really, the exact nature of the Rackhouse itself is not the point of the episode, and the spells in question could be almost anything…

Tom - You might be right about the dedication, will have to double check. But yeah, I misremembered that Noxon's "written and directed by" episodes are both in S5.

Bix - Subsequent episodes state no such thing.

Spatulas II
As for the rest of the episodes, you liked "Dad" better than I do, but it does have some badass moments. Buffy and Spike actually bore me at this point - like you say, it's the play, not the premise. And yes, a good episode for Dawn and Trachetnberg. In this episode, she channels anyone who realizes too…

Spatulas are for wimps
This is the first time I've extensively pre-written something before reading the review, just because I knew I'd have to say it, but here is my defense of Willow's portion of "Wrecked."

Oh, and obviously, the comedic potential of a freeze-ray (different kinds of freezing) would eventually become a recurring motif in Whedon's work.

Good god, that's a lot of shake!
"Lullaby" is one of those episodes that's great from top to bottom, isn't it? In my mind, I tie it back to human Darla from S2 too. Not only does she fear losing her soul again, but she *remembers* having that understanding, coming to a catharsis, and then having it taken away. I…

I always thought "I've seen every surviving episode of _Doctor Who_" would've made the line not only more accurate, but funnier. Ah, well.