I’ve watched this episode more than any other (Becoming and Chosen are close), and I think I like it better every time. Any message is pretty straightforward, and Joss gave extensive commentary which is worth quoting:

All the Way is a very light episode, though with some disturbing incidents along the way leading up to an ending that should be very disturbing indeed. Still, the main plot seems like fluff, but I don’t think it is. IMO, this episode serves a structural purpose similar to that in Bad Eggs. In order to avoid spoilers,…

One of the things I noticed about this show only after I’d seen it all and gone back through to watch it again, was that in each season one or more early episodes foreshadows the basic themes of the season and some clues about how Buffy will resolve her season’s dilemma. For example, in S4 “Fear Itself” shows the SG…

I didn’t like this episode when it first aired, nor for a long time after. I’ve change my mind, and now think it’s pretty good. Why?

“From her mother’s womb untimely ripp’d”

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

Tough Love

He who does battle with monsters needs to watch out lest he in the process becomes a monster himself.
 
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Bringing Joyce flowers was perhaps the first legitimately “human” thing Spike has done. Before this, everything he did was designed to bring attention to himself as a method of getting Buffy’s respect: “Look at me, I’m doing what humans think is good (e.g., not feeding off of bleeding disaster victims).” The lack of a…

There’s a lot of television I’ve never seen, so I can’t say this is the very best episode of any show ever. Hell, I can’t even say that it’s the very best episode of Buffy, because it has close competition (IMO) from Passion and OMWF. It’s real tribute to the show, in fact, that an episode as incredibly good as The…

Pygmalion, or I Was Made To Love You: 
  
 
This has never been one of my favorite episodes, mostly because I’ve always found the metaphor somewhat confusing. After hearing her friends talk in the Magic Shop, Buffy seems to identify herself with Warren:

After The Replacement, I said that the themes of the season had been established. Checkpoint is the first episode to reveal a part of one theme.

To me, the irony of Into the Woods is that Xander, with the best of intentions, managed to make Buffy’s life much worse by his behavior. Two of his arguments stand out. First, Xander tells her she should have seen it coming:

The physical injury Buffy suffers at the beginning of the episode stands as a metaphor for the emotional one at the end (Joyce’s need for a CAT scan to evaluate a condition much more serious than anyone thought).

In Real Me we were introduced to Dawn and I raised the question whether she served as a metaphor, at least for some purposes. In The Replacement the metaphor of the split Xander caused Buffy herself to ask Riley whether he wanted just a particular part of her; she herself felt like 2 different people (a feature of her…

Three episodes into the season and already the show has given us the themes which will play out the rest of the year. It’s amazing, really – 3 episodes have primed the viewer for the season and it’s been done so subtly that s/he doesn’t even realize it.

I'll go back and look at the episodes to see which ones are missing. I can't do that till Tuesday, though, because I'm visiting friends.

No blog, though I guess that makes me unhip. I can email them, or I can get off my butt and set up a blog.

This is news to me; I've never gone back and looked. I'm sure it must be the new system. Anyway, I keep the longer comments and if anyone wants a copy, let me know. I'd be flattered.

I agree with this. I'll stand by my rejection theme, but I think you've identified an even more important aspect. Thanks.