Totally agree with your "Anne" comment… Do you think since it was a more urban setting it made the episode feel more like an Angel episode?
"Band Candy" another favorite… "Summers, you drive like a spaz!"

Funny, I was in contact on Twitter with a former TVWoP writer… I was planning on writing an oral history of Buffy and the early internet boards… Unfortunately/Fortunately there were already two books out on the subject so I scrapped the topic…

"The Puppet Show" is one of my favs!

Completely agree with your assessment. I remember a lot of flaming going on over on the Bronze boards regarding season 5, more specifically Dawn and the "dark" turn of that season. We had no idea how dark it would eventually get. Nevertheless, season 5 is very low on my favorites list…

Nope, everything I've read online (buffy-boards, criticallytouched.com, unwelcomecommentary.com, etc…) Refers to rumors and conjecture regarding Crouse's departure. Not saying you are wrong, it would just be nice to read something definitive on the subject…

That's amazing to hear! Is there an article or commentary about this that I can find out more?

We all knew a Riley at some point in college (usually a freshman) right? They saw the world in "black and white" and usually came from the Midwest… I actually loved his character as "Teutonic" as he could be…
His response to Angel asking him, "do you actually think you can stop me?" And his response of "I surely do…"…

It's good to know there are still people that can't let go of this show!
Interesting trivia regarding this episode: wasn't there an interview in which Joss indicated he wrote this episode last minute over a weekend?
Anybody remember the 1800Collect campaign associated with this ep?

Deus ex machina…

Whoa? This is the first I've ever heard of this, can you elaborate please?

How true, this point has been glossed over or ignored farvtoo much…