Well, I finally got to watch this episode, and I gotta say that it was very nicely executed.
Spike's turmoil, though far less than Angel's decades long suffering, is still interesting to watch. Compared to Angel though, his suffering is pretty trivialized. By the same token though, we've never really gotten a good long look at what Angel was like for those many years. The tightest picture they've shown of the good natured vampire's suffering was not long after he got his soul back (he attacked a group of men and a woman, tried to drain the women, but couldn't bring himself to do it), then it jumps all the way up until he meets the enigmatic Whistler (funny connect with the name to another slick vampire flick there

).
I enjoyed watching Dawn's inner turmoil. She seemed to believe Buffy, but at the same time, you can tell she truly wants to believe that what she saw really was her mother.
Anya and Xander...well, they're still just zany sidekicks. Nothing more there. Although, in regards to the Xander and his nice suits and buisness meetings, I'm pretty sure its nothing more than him growing up. Joss is pretty good about that.
Now, there is one thing that's getting me about this whole killing of the potential slayers thing. First of all, who are the current slayers? Buffy and Faith, of course. What happens when either one dies? A new one takes their place, so if you kill all the candidates, only one slayer left (either Buffy or Faith, whichever doesn't get the axe). The interesting part is that its obvious nobody knows who exactly the next slayer will be, which is precisely why they're killing all of them.
But, here's the kicker. The future of BtVS is uncertain, but info has been circulating that Joss is thinking about keeping the overall story alive. With that taken into account, what better way to keep the show going? What if one of the potential slayers is none other...
...than Dawn?
Damn, I love this show.
