Act Three

31WW) "Maybe I'll sleep underground. Dig myself a little burrow." UNDERGROUND: This sentiment fits in well with the universe of Anne Rice's vampires, many of whom bury themselves directly under the soil when they go to sleep when they want to embrace their more primal natures rather than the comparatively civilized habit of sleeping in a coffin. See 7UU, 15M, 15UUU, 19V, 19SS, and 33Cx5.

31XX) "She's dancing. Dancing with death." DANSE MACABRE: This line eerily foreshadows Buffy's more literal dance with death in Once More, With Feeling.

31YY) "Our man Angel here likes to talk but he's not much for action. All hat and no cattle." PERCEPTIVE SPIKE: "By I Only Have Eyes For You, Spike is on to Angelus' lack of interest in killing Buffy. When he points it out, however, Angelus uses the challenge as an opportunity to physically flirt with Drusilla right in front of the (presumably) disabled Spike. But Spike will not take Angelus' taunts sitting down for much longer. He is simply biding his time until he can take his revenge."--Masquerade, "I Only Have Eyes For You" Analysis, from http://www.atpobtvs.com

IDIOM TIME: "Before the late 1970's it was very common to see ordinary men in the western United States wear 'cowboy' style hats on a daily basis for work in the sun as well as dressing up to go to town. The country music craze of the late 1970's and early 1980's changed that. Suddenly hordes of city dwellers were wearing cowboy garb to show off. The farmers ranchers and their workerman used to look down on these folks they called 'dudes' saying they were 'all hat and no cattle,' in otherwords phonies, all talk etc. The word 'dude' lost its meaning (it had been losing meaning since the 1960's among non-Westerners), and cowboy hats became something only city clowns wore. These days since western music is out of fashion again only old timers, and real individualists can wear them town in the west, without embarassment. The baseball cap has taken over as the utilitarian hat in the fields and to a large extent on the range."--Cactus Watcher, Mon, 05/05/03 at 21:52:38

31ZZ) "I'm ready to focus my energy elsewhere." FREUDIAN GOODNESS: "'The Angel/Dru/Spike fits the classic Oedipal profile. We have a father figure - Angelus - a mother figure - Dru - and the child - Spike. Dru's siring of Spike entangles him more firmly into this complex relationship because she, in a sense, birthed him into this life. Angelus' siring would somehow distance Spike from Dru, rather than result in the closeness they shared, making him more brother than lover. In this relationship, Spike feels a hatred for Angelus, his 'father', a desire to kill him and to take his place in 'mother' Dru's bed. Dru is fulfilling her role in the triangle by catering to both of them, fueling the fire of competition (strigoi, Jan 21 16:09 2000).'"--Masquerade, "I Only Have Eyes For You" Analysis, from http://www.atpobtvs.com

31AAA) When she looks back up and is about to put some on, the side of her face with the snakebite suddenly becomes rotten. POP CULTURE TIME: "A reference to a particularly gruesome scene from the film Poltergeist (see 31EEE)."--KdS, Tues, 05/06/03 at 03:15:15

31BBB) "Jenny could never be this mean." Giles desperately wants the ghost to be Jenny because then her death would not have to be so final. The sad fact, however, is that death is final, and Giles finally confronts this here. After earlier ignoring the evidence that this isn't Jenny, he finally realizes it when Willow is almost killed. The simple way Willow points out to Giles that Jenny would never do this is incredibly touching and sad.

31CCC) "I shall *totally* confront and expel all evil." WRONG WORDING: Note that Cordy changes the words of the spell here. See 31DDD.

31DDD) At the far end of the hall they see a dark swarm of wasps coming toward them. FAILED SPELL: "It is unclear why the spell does not work. It might be the fact that Cordelia uses slightly different words (see 31CCC), or because Willow did not pick the right kind of exorcism spell [remember, this is her first spell]," or meant to be an indication of how strong James and Grace's ghosts have become.--Masquerade, "I Only Have Eyes For You" Analysis, from http://www.atpobtvs.com

31EEE) "So he's experiencing a form of purgatory instead." BUFFYVERSE METAPHYSICS: "A ghost is a human spirit that has remained on the Earthly plane. Haunting is a highly psychological phenomenon. Appearances of a ghost are tied closely to places (Sunnydale High, especially the balcony where James accidentally shot and killed Grace) and events (the night of the Sadie Hawkins' Dance) that were meaningful in the life of the individual who is now a ghost. 'Purgatory' refers to the condition they take on in this state. One fan speculates: '...as seen by Giles' definition of James/Grace's predicament in IOHEFY, where tortured souls eternally attempt to right their wrongs (Shalazar, May 25 21:04 1998)'. James is condemned to reenact the last traumatic moments of his life again and again through living human intermediaries, with no ability to change the outcome as a living person could."--Masquerade, "I Only Have Eyes for You" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

IN THE AFTERLIFE: "It may be coincidental, but in Islamic tradition suicides are condemned to eternally repeat their own final moments in Hell."--KdS, Tues, 05/06/03 at 03:15:15

POP CULTURE TIME & METAPHORICAL GOODNESS: "Poltergeist: the 1982 horror/ghost film, [produced by] Speilberg/Tobe Hooper, was perhaps an infuence on this episode. A family experience possessed furniture, a child is drawn into the TV set. Dr Lesh, the paranormal investigator in Poltergeist describes possible causes. She says a poltergeist tends to be centred around an individual: '.. Maybe they didn't want to die. Maybe they weren't ready. Maybe they hadn't lived fully yet or they'd lived a long, long time and they still wanted more life. They resist going into that light however hard the light wants them. They just, they just hang around, watch TV, watch their friends grow up, feeling unhappy and jealous and those feelings are bad. They hurt.' Although in the film the issues turn out to be somewhat different, this summary is relevant.

This episode, and the poltergeist metaphor, is about unresolved issues, about pain and distress which cannot find an outlet. The poltergeist manifestation has come about because death has interrupted an emotional process which must now remain forever incomplete. It is as if, without emotional closure, the energy of the emotion must remain in the ether, searching for a way to earth itself. It's notable that in the film of Poltergeist, the TV plays a major part. While the metaphor of electricity as energy flowing through the wires is perhaps originally derived from the alchemical concept of life energy, the metaphor has now been re-appropriated from electricity to describe the psychic energy causing apparitions and manifestations. But as the energy searches for the resolution of which death has deprived it, it remains sentient. As time goes by, its suffering is added to by isolation, lack of contact and communication, despair, and eventually anger. Then the poltergeist begins to attack, to destroy. The longer Buffy holds on to her pain and guilt over Angel, the more destructive it will become. She will find herself isolated from her friends, filling with hate and bitterness, unable to entrust herself to another relationship, unable, like James, to move on."--MsGiles, Wed, 05/07/03 at 06:53:11

31FFF) "To forgive is an act of compassion, Buffy. It's, it's not done because people deserve it. It's done because they need it." DOES JAMES DESERVE FORGIVENESS FOR KILLING GRACE?: "In Buffy's view, James let his anger over Grace leaving him get the best of him. Even if he realizes later it was wrong to kill her, she is still dead, he still did it, and it was his emotional weakness that caused him to do it. Since he is guilty of such a heinous crime, he cannot be forgiven. Giles argues that James' guilt is irrelevant in the decision to forgive. Forgiveness is not ignoring a crime or the proverbial 'slap on the wrist' punishment, it is a therapeutic act. Since James cannot deal with his own guilt and is stuck in an eternal purgatory of self-blame and violence, the only way to help him is, literally, 'therapy for the dead'. When Grace's spirit returns via Angelus and forgives James, he is able to get past his guilt and move on to the next life."--Masquerade, "I Only Have Eyes for You" Analysis from http://www.atpobtvs.com

POINT: "The 1st time it aired, SMG came on as herself after the ending to say it was about a serious problem: teen suicide. Um, 'scuse me. This was a murder-suicide. James said some very abusive things to Grace. There's some indication the gun may have gone off accidentally in the original incident, but he brought the gun. He might well have pulled the trigger if it hadn't gone off when it did. This was not some beautiful relationship that couldn't be understood & accepted back in the unenlightened 1950s. Buffy comes to some understanding of it by feeling what James did while she's possessed & rethinks her earlier condemnation of him. OK, but I don't buy 'He was so sad.' 'Sad' doesn't make you call your lover a bitch & pull a gun on her. Anger does. It may come from feeling scared, hurt, wanting to control her, but it comes out as violence, & I didn't like that it was presented as romantic in any way. Maybe the sadness Buffy felt was her own. And she may not understand 'why she would forgive him,' but it happens in abusive relationships all the time. Usually only up until the abuser kills the abused, but according to this ep, even after."--anom, Tues, 05/16/03 at 00:30:13

COUNTERPOINT: "Following up anomís comments about the morality of the episode, this is one of the closest BtVS/AtS eps to orthodox Christian beliefs about forgiveness and salvation. Yes, James isn’t a victim in this situation, but the whole point is that even the worst sins can be forgiven through grace (nice pun) rather than any equal act of atonement (see 31QQQ). The difference is that the Angelverse will subsequently develop in a far bleaker and more atheistic way that often suggests that forgiveness in any explicit sense is impossible and that one can only accept one’s past actions and live as well as one can in the future. Another interesting idea--some sources I’ve read suggest that Jewish ethics deny that any form of generalized forgiveness is possible, and that the only person who can meaningfully forgive a specific crime or sin is the person who actually suffered it. Hence, murder is literally unforgivable. Here, however, that is made possible through mystical means."--KdS, Tues, 05/06/03 at 03:15:15

31GGG) "Okay. Overidentify much?" HONEST CORDY: See 11UU and 30ZZ.

Act Four

31HHH) "Not even a mega-vat of Raid's gonna do the trick here." POP CULTURE TIME: "Raid is a commercial insecticide."--Sophist, Mon, 05/05/03, at 20:28:24

31III) "You can't make me disappear just because you say it's over." MAIN THEME FROM "IOHEFY": "At this point Angelus and Buffy are possessed by Grace and James. Why is this so effective? I think it's partly because of the surprise, the gender reversal (not unlike the Sadie Hawkins gender role reversal). We have assumed, like Giles, that James will possess a man, and Buffy will be possessed by Grace. Now it suddenly becomes clear that James is possessing Buffy. From J/G being a rather vague, general parallel to B/A, it becomes focused. The dialogue that we have been hearing in short snatches over the whole episode comes together, and becomes clear and specific. James' feelings of betrayal are Buffy's. Through their proxies, Buffy and Angel can have an exchange that we had thought was impossible, to momentarily go back to being the people they were before Angel's change, and tell each other about the hurt they have suffered. And more, because this is really about Buffy, it allows Buffy to express her sense of desertion, her misery, and express it to Angel, not Angelus."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/09/03 at 04:14:32

ANGEL AS BUFFY'S FATHER FIGURE: See 25LL.

31JJJ) "I just want you to be able to have some kind of normal life. We can never have that, don't you see?" WHAT IS NORMAL, ANYWAY?: Grace and James could not have even had a relationship had they waited until he turned 18, or graduated from high school. "To a large degree the US of the 1950's was a very puritanical place. After all, in that decade married couples on TV couldn't even be shown as possessing beds-for-two. If there were any hint of a possibility that Grace was involved with a former student, even one 18 and graduated she would have been fired, her possibility of being a teacher anywhere ended, and her life otherwise ruined in that town. It would be a case of hide-it carefully-until-he-turns-20-or-more and out of school several years, or it would be leave town."--Cactus Watcher, Fri, 05/09/03 at 08:36:02

"I think the gender reversal of the situation is central. Young male schoolteachers marrying their charges - well, that was common enough in places to be expected. (After all, it was common for girls to marry right out of school, and the power dynamics issue wasn't such a concern then.) But the other way around would likely have been frowned upon."--dream of the consortium, Fri, 05/09/03 at 09:49:56

31LLL) "I don't give a *damn* about a normal life!" NORMAL AGAIN: "A perfect description of Buffy & Angel's situation, which will lead to his leaving at the end of the next season. Of course, Buffy won't have a normal life anyway. And we've seen, & will again, that she does give a damn about it." Except when it comes to Angel, for whom she would, at this point at least, gladly sacrifice a normal life.--anom, Tues, 05/16/03 at 00:30:13, with additions by Rob

31MMM) "No. A person doesn't just wake up and stop loving somebody!" IRONY, THY NAME IS ANGELUS: "This, of course, is exactly what Angel did after he & Buffy made love."--anom, Tues, 05/16/03 at 00:30:13

31NNN) "...BITCH!" GENDER TWISTAGE: One of the most shocking moments in this scene is when we hear Buffy refer to Angel with this word. We are so used to hearing this word used by a man to put a woman "in her place" that it is very powerful hearing a woman use this word to do this to a man. Obviously, James is actually the one saying this, but this offers Buffy one of the few times in her relationship with Angel that she has the complete upper hand, and she is the one in control of the situation.

31OOO) Cut to Angelus. His eyes suddenly open. TWISTAGE: "A final, beautiful twist. The fatal scenario has been played out once more, but Grace/Angelus cannot be killed by a simple bullet, so now, as was never possible before, he/she can return to James/Buffy, and conclude the unfinished business with forgiveness."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/09/03 at 04:14:32

31PPP) "I'm the one who should be sorry, James. You thought I stopped loving you. But I never did. I loved you with my last breath." THE GRACE IN ANGEL: "James and Grace can cease to haunt now, and Buffy can feel her pain eased. Somewhere in the back of her mind there has been a doubt as to whether Angel, as well as Angelus, rejected her before he turned...[Although] Grace is speaking...we, and Buffy, can accept...[her] words as being true for both" Grace and Angel.--MsGiles, Fri, 05/09/03 at 04:14:32

31QQQ) Above them in the ceiling a bright light appears, and the spirits of Grace and James leave this world for the next. HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH: This is the first indication that there is a heaven in the Buffyverse, or as Tara later makes clear in Tabula Rasa, there are 'zillions of heavenly dimensions,' after the Scooby Gang discovers that Buffy was in heaven after her death in The Gift. The details are kept deliberately vague, however, because this is one of the mysteries of the universe that we as humans just cannot presume to know. Joss' conception of heaven, however, does not follow the Christian conception word for word (see 31FFF). James' action, for example, should have surely sent him to Hell, under the Christian belief, because he killed a woman and then killed himself, two big no-nos. Instead, James is trapped in a hell or purgatory of his own making (see 31EEE). Attaining heaven seems to also have to do with the person's state of mind. The important thing at t the end is not that Grace's forgiveness saves him, but that Grace's forgiveness puts James at peace psychologically. He reaches heaven not because he deserves it, but because he needs it, in order to finally rest. Similarly, Buffy reaches heaven because she is totally at peace with her decision to kill herself and thus save Dawn. She has a moment of perfect clarity, and feels no regret, remorse or ambivalence about it. Heaven-attainage in the Buffyverse seems to reflect the person's own state of mind upon death rather than religious or societal conceptions of good and evil.

31RRR) "A part of me just doesn't understand why she would forgive him." FORGIVEN: This line indicates that even at this point, Buffy isn't sure if she should be forgiven, as people who blame themselves rarely do. Interestingly, she has forgiven herself, but there is still a niggling doubt. But significantly, she accepts the forgiveness, because, as Giles makes clear, it doesn't matter why someone is forgiven, just that they are.

31SSS) "I'm the one who was friggin' violated. You didn't have this thing in you." ANGELUS, VIOLATED: "This may be the only time anyone will ever say, ‘poor Angelus’. For the previous few episodes, he’s been tormented by the memory of his love for Buffy, but it’s been expressed in his usual stalking. Now the same thing’s happened again, and even worse it has led to forgiveness and salvation and all those other things that set his teeth on edge. My personal theory is that it’s the events of this episode that really turn him from the calm, sadistic, but essentially hedonistic and self-serving character we see in pre-1898 flashbacks to a fanatic trying to consign the whole world to eternal torment."--KdS, Tues, 05/06/03 at 03:15:15

31TTT) "We'll find you a nice toddler." SNACK FOOD: "Are they in seach of a toddler because it's a particularly evil act which will purge the residue of the best of human emotion or because Angelus has been, to some extent, disempowered and needs an easy kill? Or both. If we assume Angelus is weakened at this point the snarls take on a new meaning, Dru is currently 'top dog' but Angelus is warning her that this will not last. Spike on the other hand is seen to be gaining in strength but is concealing this fact from the other two vampires. Sneaky and dangerous.

31UUU) "Sooner than you think." SPIKE IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: "We had been feeling almost sorry for Spike, his disability making him the helpless butt of Angelus's jibes, but now his deviousness becomes apparent. Unable to challenge Angelus directly, he has been concealing his regained strength, waiting for a chance to catch Angelus off-guard. Angelus's games with Dru have wiped away the happy family reunion we saw when he joined them in 'Innocence'. In addition, Spike suspects Angelus' judgement, following his repeated failure to kill Buffy. Spike is a weaker partner, even out of the wheelchair, and his change of allegiance puts him in great danger, like Jonathon in the Trio, in S6. However, his gift for self-preservation and his talent for improvising is carrying him through."--MsGiles, Fri, 05/09/03 at 04:14:32

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