Buffy: Shadow (5.8)

We've reached the moment when Buffy becomes a hell of a lot more soapy. Season five has a couple of self-contained stories, but it mostly has a whole bunch of arcs which blur through several different episodes. Shadow is kind of the nadir of that type this year, with some interesting moments related to various story arcs currently at work, but an A-plot which is surprisingly weak. Ordinarily I'd like an episode which ends with Buffy pummeling a rubber snake, but somehow this fell flat for me.

Joyce has a brain tumor, which is incredibly depressing. Here's something so raw and ordinary slammed down into the center of Buffy's life, and she can't do anything to fix it. Magic won't work. It's unlikely Joyce has been 'cursed'. It's just everyday pain, which feels beautifully unusual for this show.

I liked Spike's scene in Buffy's bedroom. He obviously knows how to get to Riley, and plays on the tension between him and Buffy. Spike's always been pretty great at this form of manipulation, always the casual observer who notices things a long time before anybody else does.

Glory is fun, Clare Kramer managing to make her an evil, impatient valley girl without descending into annoyance. She needs some enunciation classes (her lines get cut off or go mumbly all the damn time), but I still don't understand the hate she gets from a lot of Buffy fans. The cobra monster story is a whole barrel of stupid, though, even if I did love the CGI. It's ridiculously formulaic, and the entire episode pretty much descends into Buffy running around after a big snake. Surely we've moved on from stuff like that by now? Blah. Messy filler episode. C

Credits
Guest stars Clare Kramer (Glory); Charlie Weber (Ben); Kevin Weisman (Dreg); William Forward (Doctor); Amber Benson (Tara Maclay); Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)
Writer David Fury Director Daniel Attias