From "Grave" to "Older and Far Away"
(Yes, it's in reverse order. Deal. Lol.)

Two to Go and Grave
(Season 6 finale)
Aired on May 21, 2002 on UPN
Two to Go directed by Michael Gershman and written by Doug Petrie, Grave directed by James A. Contner and written by David Fury

Two to Go: In the first of a two-part sixth-season finale, Buffy, Anya and Xander race to the Sunnydale police station to try to save Jonathan and Andrew from a sorceress; Dawn persuades Clem to take her to Rack; Spike's stamina and courage are put to the test by a mysterious demon.
Grave: In the second part of the sixth-season finale, a magical friend helps the Scooby Gang try to stop a sorceress. But the witch still has a few tricks up her sleeve---and an unwilling assistant. Also: Spike's African sojourn comes to a climax.
-from TV Guide

I loved, I loved it!! Ok, let's see.. where should I begin?..
Two to Go- Buffy, Xander, and Anya help Andrew and Jonathan out of jail and to safety from the furious Willow. Buffy and Xander are back to really close best friends like they used to be in the first seasons, which is so nice. Xander and Anya talk about what they've been going through. Xander says, "You don't care whether I live or die", to which Anya replies, "I do care whether you live or die... I just haven't decided which one." :) Cute.
Dawn persuades Clem to take her to Rack to find Willow. By the time she's gotten there, Willow has killed Rack (a good thing, I think) and taken all his magic (not a good thing). Willow tries to turn Dawn back into the energy ball she used to be. She tells Dawn she's sick of her whining and complaining.. "Mooom! Buffy!" Lol, that was kind of funny. I think everyone is sort of sick of her complaining. The world is ending and all she can say is "Buffy, why didn't you tell me about Spike??" Oops, that doesn't come til later, but yeah.
So yeah, then Willow and Buffy fight and all that stuff. Not very interesting. But then..
Giles comes!!
Grave- Willow says something like "Ooh, Daddy's back" when she sees Giles, which was funny because my mom had said that during the commercial break. Giles has borrowed magic and uses it to hold Willow and her magic for a while. Giles hugs Buffy and notices she's cut her hair. Anya, feeling left out, mentions how she dyed her hair.. again. Giles smiles and gives her a hug, too. I thought it was really interesting how Anya seemed to appreciate and need Giles the most this time. Before she was always wanting him to leave so she could have her shop. She was really cute with him in this ep, though.
Willow, using magic, makes Anya undo the spell and breaks free. Buffy goes to save Xander, Dawn, Andrew, and Jonathan from a fire ball Willow throws. Meanwhile, Giles is being tortured by Willow. She takes his magic. She can suddenly feel all the pain of everyone. She decides she must stop it. She goes to end the world (and stop everyone's suffering) with the help of magic and a temple.
Meanwhile, Buffy and Dawn have fallen into a grave. Xander is no where to be seen. Jonathan and Andrew have run off to Mexico (lol). Anya tells Buffy that Giles said no magic or Slayer can stop Willow from destroying the world.
Buffy is fighting demons that Willow sent. There are too many of them, though, so she asks Dawn to help her out. She's amazed how well Dawn can fight, and Dawn says, "You think I haven't watched you?"
Willow is performing the magic ritual when we see Xander. He tells Willow he loves her, even when she's like this, and if the world's gonna end, he wants to be with his best friend while it happens. Willow zaps him, he says "I love you". This repeats over and over until her magic starts to run low. Finally Willow breaks down and sobs and Xander hugs her. (Very emotional and well done!)
Giles somehow knows what has happened and tells Anya Xander has saved the world. Anya doesn't seem sure what to think, but she smiles a little.
The demons Buffy and Dawn have been fighting poof, and Buffy realizes the world hasn't ended. She starts crying. Dawn thinks it's because she's sad the world hasn't ended. This shocks Buffy. Buffy tells Dawn she realizes now what she's been doing wrong. All this time she's been trying to protect the world from Dawn, when she should be showing her the world. I thought that was really deep. I had never considered that before, but I realize now that *is* what's been missing from their relationship. Together, they climb out of the grave and into the light. It's sort of amazing to think it took Buffy a year to really get out the grave metaphorically. In real life, that would be normal, but on TV, it's kinda cool. Usually everything on TV is sped up, but this was pretty realistic.
We see Andrew and Jonathan in a truck going to Mexico. I'm glad Jonathan didn't die, he's basically a good person. Andrew I could have seen go bye-bye, but whatever. Hehe.
Everything is so beautiful with the Scoobies. Dawn and Buffy are walking through the sun and flowers, Willow and Xander and crying and hugging, Giles and Anya are happy. I feel like Tara's love and joy is spreading throughout them.
And then. The final scene. In Africa, Spike is trying to get his chip out. He has completed all the tests. So the demon gives him what he wants, which is how he used to be. The demon gives him a soul.
My mom thought I was a genius cuz I predicted so many things that were gonna happen. Hehe. Like I knew Giles knew Willow was going to take his magic, so he got magic that made you feel people's pain. And I knew Spike was going to get a soul. I was sort of wrong about that, though. I thought maybe Spike had been wanting a soul all along. I mean, if you really look at it closely, he says stuff that could make you think he might want a soul, rather than his chip out. But, nope, the official Buffy site says he wants his chip out, but gets his soul instead. I think this will be really interesting!
I literally can not wait for the next episode. UGH!! Too long! I'm gonna have to rewatch Grave again too sometime (I taped it). I love that episode. :)

Villains
Aired on May 14, 2002 on UPN
Directed by David Solomon, written by Marti Noxon

Buffy is rushed to the hospital after being shot by Warren while Willow turns to the darkest of majicks in order to exact revenge on Tara's murderer. -from The Offical Buffy Site

Willow is mad. And when she gets mad, she gets MAD. Not just "I'm gonna kill you", but crazy. She wants revenge so bad she will stop at nothing. Her black hair obviously is very symbolic of the black magic she's getting into. Scary stuff.
Willow tries to bring Tara back, but Osiris refuses since she died of "natural causes", rather than mystical ones. Willow does take the bullet out of Buffy by magic, though. She notices how small it is.,br> Dawn, Willow, and basically Xander want to kill Warren. Buffy wants to turn Warren (the murderer) into the police. She thinks it's not up to them to kill him or any other human. Xander points out that he's just as much of a monster as the demons they kill daily. Buffy says it's not up to them, though. I respect her. Everyone on the Buffy chat was talking about how cool it was when Willow killed Warren, but I thought it was just gross and painful to watch. I don't feel sorry he died because he killed 2 people, almost killed Buffy, tried to rape his ex-girlfriend, plus lots of other horrible stuff. I wasn't happy about Willow torturing him to death, though. Well, let me get to that part later.
Let's talk about Spike. I don't know what he wants! I can't tell if he's trying to get the chip out, get his soul, or what. I mean, it seems like he wants to get the chip out, but why would he go to this tribe and demon for that? That seems soulish to me. But who knows.
Xander and Buffy find out Anya got her powers back. I would have asked how, myself, but oh well. It's good Anya helped them, or rather as she pointed out, helped Willow. I think she's feeling guilty about being a demon again.
Jonathan and Andrew were funny in the jail scenes, interestingly enough. Andrew's actually not being some sort of annoying guy in the sides now. He's actually doing some talking. I like it. He has such a weird, but interesting voice. Lol.
So. The torture scene. Gross! Ok, so first Willow manages to tie him up. Then she shows him his (dead) ex-girlfriend and she talks about how she hates him. To which Warren yells, "Shut up, bitch!" or something to that effect. Issues much?? Hehe. And then she takes the bullet, that tiny piece of metal that changed everything, and makes it go in slow motion through Warren's heart. Omg, that was painful to watch. ::shudders:: Then she sews his lips shut. Ever since I saw "Hocus Pocus", sewn lips have freaked me out. Lol.
Willow says "Bored now", which would be funny, except that she then makes Warren's skin come off. The Vampire Willow (from the 3rd season episodes The Wish and Dopplegangland) used to say "bored now". Interesting. When Buffy sees the skinless Warren she asks, "Willow... What have you done?" Willow then makes him go up in flames. She says something like: "Two to go" and disappears. Poor Andrew and Jonathan! I hope she doesn't kill them.
So the big season finale is next week. I can't believe this season is over so soon. :( And the next season will be the last, I guess. How sad. I just got addicted to Buffy and now it's ending in a year. :P

Seeing Red
Aired on May 7, 2002 on UPN
Directed by Michael Gershman, written by Stephen DeKnight

Buffy's ongoing tussle with a trio of would-be supervillains intensifies in an episode packed with imaginative plot twists. Buffy goes looking for trouble in the lair of Warren, Andrew and Jonathan, the three nerds obsessed with her destruction, and she nearly falls victim to a booby trap of buzz saws. But that's the least of the Slayer's worries. With a little help from his friends, Warren acquires the Orbs of Nezzla'khan, a pair of demonic talismans that he says imbue him with "strength, invulnerability... the deluxe package," thus setting the stage for a fateful showdown. -from TV Guide

The geek trio, troika, nerds, wutever you want to call them are getting serious. At least, Warren is. Warren truly wants to kill Buffy and just about everyone else. Screwball. Hehe.
And then Spike had to go and do that. Bad Spike, bad. Yes, Spike tries to rape Buffy. It was scary, but very well acted by both actors. When Spike realizes what he was doing, he looks so shocked. It's like he's half-human, half-demon..Jekyl and Hyde. But he's not really? Is he? Spike is so complicated. We're told he's a bad vampire. But then he has all these feelings. And he's realizing this too. He hates these emotions and doesn't want them. (Clem was hilarious by the way... I luv that demon.)
I was glad Jonathon finally helped Buffy when Warren was going to kill her. Afterall, he was the one who presented her with the golden umbrella award for Class Protecter in high school. And she saved his life when he was going to commit suicide. He owes her!
Xander was being a total butt about Buffy having sex with Spike. God, she's obviously going through a lot and was trying to get away from that abusive relationship and he was *no* help. Just cuz he still has a puppy-love crush on her... That's what it is, you know. You can tell. He's really protective of her and he still idols her. And now his idol has fallen. So he has, too. It was nice they made up, though.
It was startling to see Warren shooting them. Guns are really used in Buffy. And I don't think they've ever killed or even wounded anyone before on the show. Poor Tara! It's not fair. She was the only sane person on the show this season. And now she's dead. Shot right through the heart. I'm making a tribute page for her. Oh, and Willow's magicky eyes aren't good either. ::shakes head::

Entropy
Aired on April 30, 2003 on UPN
Directed by James A. Contner, written by Drew Z. Greenberg

Xander's expresses a lot of remorse about having left Anya standing at the altar and Buffy reassesses her relationship with Spike. -from The Offical Buffy Site

Well... interesting episode. Hehe. I don't think anyone (who is basically spoiler-free, like myself) expected Spike and Anya to have sex. It's funny I haven't really seen the similarities between them before. It was really powerful when they were drinking their sorrows away, relating to each other.
It was nice to see Buffy and Dawn actually really spending time together. I wonder if this will really be the end to Dawn's klepto habits.
It was soo funny when Anya was going around trying to get people to wish bad things about Xander. I loved her conversation with Willow and Tara. Lol.. "What kind of lesbians are you?? If you love men so much, why don't you just go love men?!" ::storms off: Haha.. Emma Caulfield's great.
I wasn't particularly impressed with Nicholas Brenden. But he was ok. Xander's rehearsed speech wasn't that good, and when he totally messed up the part he didn't rehearse, it was bad. Anya's reply: "Congratulations, Xander on being honest now. I wonder what the medal will say" was funny.
It was touching when Spike was finally going to wish something bad upon Xander, and Anya said: "Don't". Of course, the question is now: How did she get her powers back? From Halfrek or D'Hoffron I'm assuming. I don't think Halfrek has that kind of power, so it was probably D'Hoffron (or however you spell it).
Tara's little speech at the end was cute as well. I'm so glad to see them back together. They're so good for each other. I hope nothing happens to Tara... ahem...

Normal Again
Aired March 12, 2002 on UPN
Directed by Rick Rosenthal, written by Diego Gutierrez

Buffy is sent into a wild fluctuation between alternative realities - in one world she's a vampire slayer, in the other she's been institutionalized for severe delusional schizophrenia. -from The Official Buffy Site

Ok, honestly I'm sort of apprehensive about writing a review for this because I'm not sure what to think of it. And I don't want to be wrong about it, lol.
I missed the first 20 minutes because I was at my honors ceremony at school. What I saw was great, though. It was so weird how that schizo-world made so much sense. It was creepy.
It was disturbing to see Buffy beating up Xander and chasing Dawn around. I'm glad they didn't show her beating her sister up-- I think they knew that would be too much for us to handle. Having Dawn screaming as Buffy tried to practically kill her was eeky enough. I just had the thought that it's a little like that case with that woman who killed her 5 kids. Well, maybe not..but umm yah. Hehe. Nevermind.
So. The question on everyone's minds now is: Which was the real reality? Well, only time will tell, I guess. But I think either the Slayer-verse was the real one or they were both real. We saw in "The Wish" and "Dopplegangland" that there are alternate realities. This could very well be the case with this episode, too.
Now we have to wait til mid-April for a new Buffy episode...pooey.

Hell's Bells
Aired March 5, 2002 on UPN
Directed by David Solomon, written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner

On the day of his wedding to Anya, Xander gets cold feet about their prospective life together when an odd stranger offers him a glimpse into the future. -from TV Guide Online

Aww. I didn't think they'd get married at first, but then I thought they would. I thought maybe they were just making it sound like they weren't to throw you off. But, alas, Xander did get cold feet.
The whole pre-wedding stuff between the Scoobies was cute. I loved how the bridesmaids (and best man) dresses were so tacky. Willow's was the worst. Buffy's actually looked alright. I mean, I wouldn't have gone with those colors, but the style was alright. And Anya dress--whoa! Kinda tight and lots of skin showing. But once she got the vail, so looked better. She looked very sweet.
I loved Anya's vows! Aw, they were so funny and sweet. She says, (paraphrasing here), "I get it now, Xander. I get love." And then he has to break her little heart! Lol.
I really don't think there was any reason for Xander to be afraid of hurting Anya. He'd never hurt her or any other girl before. Just because hiss dad's a creep, doesn't mean he is.
I do think he made the right decision, though. I often forget Anya and Xander are only about 20 because the actors are actually in their 30's. But yes, the characters are young. Too young to get married, in my opinion. Plus Xander and Anya as individuals are both immature. They need to find out more about themselves and learn how to be independent before they can commit to each other. I think it's great if they get married later, but right now, they're still not ready.
The Buffy and Spike moment was precious, too. I love B/S when they don't have sex or make-out. I mean, I like them when they do that, too ;)..but when they're being civil beings, they are so enjoyable. They could be great friends. You can feel the love so much more where they're communicating, rather than gettin' it on.
I'm glad Willow and Tara are friendly with each other again! I hope they get back together. And I hope Tara doesn't die! I love both their characters. Tara's about the only one of the show without problems, too. Hehe.
So... "where do we go from here?" It doesn't seem that the writers are going to be dealing with Xander and Anya's problems in the next episode. No, instead they're gonna have a demon make Buffy delusional and think she's in a mental institution! What fun! Can't wait for that episode!..... (That would be sarcasm by the way.)
On the other hand, after "Normal Again" will be a re-run of "Tabula Rasa"! I loved that episode! I'm gonna tape it this time. :)

As You Were
Aired February 26, 2002 on UPN
Directed and written by Doug Petrie

Consumed by professional and personal disappointment, Buffy is jolted from ennui by the reappearance of her old beau Riley (Marc Blucas), who needs her Slayer skills to track down a demon called the Doctor. He also has some startling news to share about his private life. Meanwhile, Anya and Xander struggle to finalize their wedding arrangements. -from TV Guide Online

This was a very good episode, I thought. I usually don't like Riley, but at the end he was quite good. The first half of the episode was kinda pointless... it was basically just leading up to the second half. It didn't even get good til the last 20 minutes or so. Riley got married kinda soon, don't ya think? Oh well, who cares, he's not good enough for Buffy neway, so it doesn't matter.
It wasn't a big surprise that Spike was the Doctor. We knew something had to happen with him. And then... Buffy ended their relationship. Yep, she'd tried before, but after Riley telling her how strong she was and how much he respected her, she finally had the strength to end her relationship with Spike. She admitted she'd been using him. Look at Spike's face while she's saying all this, too. He looks so weak and vulnerable. And he seems to realize now how human Buffy is, she's not a creature of the dark like he thought she was. Buffy's been abusive and unfair to Spike. He's been a bit abusive, too, but really, I do think it's more on her. He loves her, she doesn't love him. But she kept sleeping with him anyway. That's not fair to Spike.
And then when she called him "William"! Omg, I gasped outloud. This shows that that's the first time Buffy has ever truly treated Spike has a human, rather than a monster.
Can't wait to see what happens with Anya and Xander's wedding.

Older and Far Away
Aired February 12, 2002 on UPN
Directed by Michael Gershman, written by Drew Z. Greenberg

It's Buffy's birthday, and Halfrek's in the house. But when the party's over, the vengeance demon won't let anyone leave, and the Slayer must discover how Dawn created this sticky situation. Oh, and did I mention the Sword Monster? -from The Official UPN Buffy Site

Happy 21st Birthday, Buffy! You're an adult now!
I think this was a great episode. I knew all of them being stuck in the house would make them face their problems.
First off, though-- notice how Xander almost always takes Anya's side. She'll say something to someone and he'll be like, "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to agree with Anya on this." No duh! You always do! Hehe.
Then Dawn says Buffy doesn't realize what it means to be alone because she has all her friends. In the previous episode (Dead Things), Spike reminds Buffy of how she'll never fit in with her friends. Of course Buffy's lonely. She and Dawn are having the same problems.
Though Dawn was a little over the top, I think. "I'm GLAD you're stuck in here!...Get out! Get out! Get OUT!!" Lol. I loved how after that Anya says she thinks Dawn is possessed, and Xander says, "She's a teenager." And I loved how when anyone actually did notice Dawn they treated her like a little kid. Dawn says something like, "I'm not 8." And Anya goes, "Oh, of course you're not, honey." Lol!
I love how Tara's character is getting meatier, too. My mom and I were just discussing last week how Tara's character is good, but kinda empty. She's just Willow's ex-girlfriend, the Wiccan nurturer. But now we're starting to see her spunkiness. It was funny when she teased Spike.
That demon with the big ears was funny, too! He seems to be non-evil. Is he a good demon?
Now we know why in Dead Things Halfrek's demon face was always on. It annoyed me, as well as other people, I think. But now we know why. What's weird is when Halfrek is being the guidance counselor, she looks a lot like a Yale tutor at my school. Hehe. Anywayz, her little speech on how Dawn was in such pain and no one noticed was good. It was a real wake-up call.
The awkward moments between Tara and Willow were cute, too. Anya's bitca-ness was great, too. Realistic. I was kinda on her side when she told Willow to use magic. I mean, after a couple days, I would definately be saying "JUST CAST A SPELL!! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" I mean, that guy (Xander's friend, Buffy's date-thing) had a major wound! I'm still surprised he managed that so well. But it was a good thing Willow didn't risk it, cuz it turned out she couldn't do anything anyway.
I was wondering how they were going to get them out of this predicament. I was starting to think maybe they'd still be stuck in the house in the next episode, lol. But, just like they always do, the writers came up with a quick, easy solution in the last few minutes.