SHIELD: Seeds

One of the first rules you learn about writing is "Show, Don't Tell". Don't say that a couple fell in love, show it happening. Don't say that someone learned a lesson, show the consequences of their actions and the steps they took in wake of them. Don't talk about a pivotal character moment, show the revelation happening.

At the end of this episode, Coulson gives a big speech about how to react when life hands you a shit sandwich. Thematically, it all works. It ties together his misgivings about his resurrection, Skye's reaction to learning about her past, and the birth of a new super villain. But parts of it would have worked so much better in Skye's voice. I don't want to hear that she looked past her revolving door experience of the foster care system to see the protection of SHIELD while she looks mournfully at a memorial. I wanted to see and hear her reach that conclusion. Her character arc would have worked so much better if it hadn't been delivered by a third party.

The show, is of course, trying to make this all about Coulson. But why couldn't that have been a conversation between the two of them?

The whole speech at the end reminded me strongly of the second season finale of Buffy. The episode handles these themes, the ultimate message, and even the cheesy voice over so much better. Because we aren't told that Buffy made the hard choice in the end. We get to see her whole journey and are able to understand fully both why she made that choice and how much it cost her. We barely get a glimpse of Skye after she gets handed a bag of lemons until we hear that she's decided to make lemonade.

I don't want this show to be a second-rate retread of a show I've already seen. A show that this one can't even hold a candle to in terms of character development, season-long arcs, and thematic tie-ins.

SHIELD is trying. It's getting better. But I still just barely care about these characters. And I need to care about them to stay invested in their journeys. To keep watching the show.

Earlier this week, the episode of Sleepy Hollow brought me to tears. It's cheesy and over the top, but it still manages to hit all the emotional beats that it needs to. Now I cry easily, especially at TV, movies, even commercials. And this episode should have brought me to tears. Happy tears, but tears none the less. Instead it made me groan and roll my eyes and wish that I was watching a show that aired 15 years ago.

Still, seeds have been planted, and some of them look interesting. Hopefully this show can still pull it together in the back half of the season. At least all the bad guys are starting to coalesce into one shady agency.

Shower Scene

I can't stop looking at this picture. I'm not entirely sure why it makes me so happy. I think it's the look on Spike's face. Sort of a surprised pleasure. And then there's Angel all, yeah, you know you like it. Also, they're in the shower. With shower caps and clothes and everything. This might be my new Stewart/Colbert banana skit. Only my mom is going to get that.

There's an entire blog devoted to Angel doing stuff (other than Spike) here: Angel Does Stuff

Here's the Stewart/Colbert/banana sketch I mentioned.

Jon Stewart looks really young, doesn't he?

Random Geek Stuff

First there's this video. Except insert Eliza Dushku for S Michelle Gellar.

She's such a dork. It's adorable.

 Apparently American Gods got picked up for SIX seasons on HBO. Tom Hanks' production company is funding this with a huge amount of money. But I'm not sure how they're going to turn one novel into six seasons of television, 10-12 hour-long episodes each. Unless this is true

I really hope this is true. And maybe one season will be dedicated to Anansi Boys as well.

I've been watching a whole lot of Supernatural lately. Like, a lot. It's basically two hot guys driving around the country slaying demons. It's very fun and kind of addicting. The guys are really hot. And it's a surprisingly smart show when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of the genre. It's less smart about women, but that's okay. It's mostly about the guys and the demons.

I've been re-reading the Sookie Stackhouse books in preparation for the True Blood premiere. It's in two weeks; I can't wait! I'm also planning on picking up the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series as soon as Game of Thrones ends (finale next week). I thought there was a nice bit of symmetry to that.

Finally, I saw this and kind of want one:

It's a trap door in your floor that leads to a mini wine cellar. Someday when I'm rich...

Buffy's Eighth Season

Here be spoilers.

I finally got the last comic book in the Buffy Season 8 series and read it last night. Overall, I have to say, I think this season was kind of a mess. It turns out Joss Whedon doesn't do so well with an unlimited budget (and this has me slightly worried about The Avengers). He needs something to reign him in. Otherwise you get Angel and Buffy with the dimension ripping sex giving birth to a new universe. No one needed that.

Parts of this season were just ridiculous. The big bad was named Twilight, which they swear was a coincidence. I don't buy it. Harmony brought the vampires "out of the coffin" ::cough::TrueBlood::cough:: Meanwhile vampires were seen as good guys with the world condemning the slayers for genocide. I don't think that's how it would play out. I'm also not sure how this ties into Angel's 6th season, since he seems pretty far past redemption now. And I didn't remember anything about Spike's arc in either season, though I think he had his own set of comics. Hmmm, I'll have to go back and re-read some things.

That said, there were some things that I liked. Mostly little character moments. I'm getting behind the Xander/Dawn paring. It really does make sense, and they're kind of adorable together. Oz got closure and his happily ever after with a wife and kid. Willow finally dumped Kennedy. Faith seemed to come into her own. It's all those little character things that really make Buffy special.

This does seem to be a lesson Joss Whedon learned. He dialed things back a lot at the end of the season. Buffy has managed to cut off the slayer line once and for all. Most of the slayers are just pissed at her and don't want to be slayers anymore. So she's living in San Francisco, working as a waitress, and going back to basics. One vampire at a time.

Despite this mess, I'm excited for the 9th season. I feel like a similar thing happened on Angel. Joss let things get a bit out of hand with the soap opera aspects of the 4th season and the constant cliff hangars. The show lost the ability to do one-offs. But then they hit the reset button, wiped everyone's memory, and had a really good 5th season. I think something similar could happen with Buffy's ninth season. Hopefully Joss and Co have figured out that just because they *can* tear the universe apart doesn't mean the *should*.

I am excited to go back and re-read the entire eighth season now that I own all of it. I want to see how it stands up as a whole. My guess is that, like Angel's 4th season, it will hold up a bit better on the re-read, now that I know how it ends.

Buffy Drinking Game

Found these rules for a Buffy Drinking Game. Who wants to play with me?

• Whenever you see pleather
• Every time Xander says something “pithy”
• Every time everyone’s deep in research
• Every time Cordelia struts 
• Whenever Buffy restyles her hair
• Whenever Angel is ‘dark and broody’ 
• Whenever furniture is broken
• Whenever the sun is referenced 
• Whenever a vampire inexplicably travels during the daytime
• Whenever there’s a mass crowd of people running
• Whenever the cast has a calm peaceful dialogue in a cemetery 
•  Whenever someone says “Vamp”
• Whenever a cast member adds a “Y” to the end of an adjective creating a new word
• Whenever Giles removes his glasses
• Whenever Buffy pouts
• Every time a political agenda is presented
• Whenever Buffy touches her lover’s face
• Whenever Buffy misses a scholastic event
• Whenever overwhelming symbolism is portrayed 

30 Days of Buffy: Day 30

Day 30: What You Think Made Buffy So Great

The best thing about Buffy, the thing that kept me coming back week after week and has me continuing to watch the show, is the characters.  There are so many wonderful, three-dimensional characters.  All of them are people, with hopes and dreams and strengths and flaws.  They make good decisions and bad decisions. And have to deal with the consequences.

The characters on Buffy are people I would like to hang out with.  And I think that interesting characters are the key to any successful show.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 29

Day 29: Episode You Hate That Everyone Else Loves

This is especially tough.  There aren't that many episodes that I hate.  I guess I'm a bit of a Buffy apologist.  There are episodes that aren't as good.  But I tend to be in agreement with the critics about those.  So I went and found a site that gave each episode a grade, and grabbed one that had received an 'A' that I felt was undeserved.

And that episode is Revelations.

It's not that this is a bad episode.  But it's not one of my favorites.  Faith and Xander are a bit too willing to kill Angel.  This feels out of character for Faith, at least to me.  Xander catching Buffy and Angel making out is a bit too convenient.

I don't know.  I guess I'd consider this an average Buffy episode (and even bad Buffy episodes are pretty good).  I'd probably give it a B- instead of an A.  So there you go.

I'm such a bad hater.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 28

Day 28: Character You Love To Hate

I adore Angelus.  He is so much cooler than Angel.  His complete lack on conscious.  His twisted obsession with Buffy.  His leather pants.  We'll just ignore that thing he calls an Irish accent.

Angelus is a great villain.  As a character, he's far more interesting than Angel.  That Angel could revert back to his soulless self at any point adds to the intrigue.  Really, he's just a wonderful character.  I love pretty much any episode he's in

30 Days of Buffy: Day 27

Day 27: Cutest Moment

The first episode of the second season opens with Willow and Xander walking through the cemetery, eating ice cream and playing "guess the movie".  Xander eventually dabs Willow's nose with ice cream and feeds her a line from Witness.  She guesses correctly of course and gives him the most adorable look as she informs him that her nose his cold.  He goes to lick it off, she dodges and giggles and they lean in for a kiss.

It gets ruined by the appearance of a vampire and Buffy.  But up until then, it's completely adorable.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 26

Day 26: Favorite Scooby Moment

This one's tough because there are so many good ones.  The Scoobies hanging out are, like, half the show.  I think my favorite might be when they're all hanging out watching the musical soap opera because they don't have enough money to go to the Bronze.  It's so sweet and one of the few times they aren't worried about saving the world from evil

30 Days of Buffy: Day 25

Day 25: Favorite Buffyverse Saying

I can't pick one. Instead, I shall list a whole bunch of my favorite quotes.

Giles: God, every day here is the same 

Buffy: Bright, sunny, beautiful. However can we escape this torment? 

~Teacher's Pet

Buffy: If the apocalypse comes, beep me.
~Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Willow: I mean, why else would she be acting like such a b-i-t-c-h?
Giles: Willow, I think we're all a little too old to be spelling things out.
Xander: A bitca?
~When She Was Bad

Spike: I was actually at Woodstock. That was a weird gig. I fed off a flower person, and then I spent the next six hours watching my hand move
~School Hard

Buffy: Does it ever get easy?
Giles: You mean life?
Buffy: Yeah. Does it get easy?
Giles: What do you want me to say?
Buffy:Lie to me.
Giles: Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.
Buffy: Liar
~Lie To Me

Whistler: Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So, what are we, helpless? Puppets? Nah. The big moments are gonna come, you can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that count. That's when you find out who you are.
~Becoming

Buffy: I hate you
Spike: And I'm all you've got
~Becoming

Angelus: No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away, and what's left?
Buffy: Me
~Becoming

Spike: You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love 'til it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other 'til it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood -- blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it.
~Lover's Walk

Willow: Bored now
~The Wish, Doppelgangland, Villain

Willow: ...And I think I'm kinda gay
~Dopplelgangland, Tabula Rasa

Buffy: You had sex with Giles? You had sex with Giles?! On the hood of a police car? Twice?
~Earshot

Willow: What are you doing?
Oz: Panicking.
~Graduation Day

Xander: Who's a little fear demon? Come on! Who's a little fear demon?
Giles: Don't taunt the fear demon
Xander: Why? Can he hurt me?
Giles: No, it's just tacky
~Fear, Itself

Anya: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice... with pie.
 ~Pangs

Spike: I just can't take all this namby-pamby boo-hooing about the bloody Indians.
Willow: Uh, the preferred term is-
Spike: You won. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do. That's what Caesar did, and he's not going around saying, "I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it." The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story.
~Pangs

Giles: It's the end of the world.
Buffy, Willow, Xander: Again?
~Doomed

Faith as Buffy: You can't do that. It's wrong.
~Who Are You?

Spike: My heart expands. Tis grown a bulge in it. Inspired by your beauty effulgent
~Fool For Love

Anya: But I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I knew her, and then she's— there's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead... anymore! It's stupid! It's mortal and stupid! And... and Xander's crying and not talking, and... and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why!
~The Body

Buffy: The hardest thing in this world is to live in it
~The Gift

Spike: Every night I save you
~After Life

Andrew: Timothy Dalton should win an Oscar and beat Sean Connery over the head with it!
~Life Serial

There are probably some I missed, but that's ok.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 24

Day 24: Favorite Example of 90s Special Effects

There were so many snake monsters over the course of Buffy.  And all of them managed to be more funny than scary.  Mostly due to CGI that didn't age particularly well.  Oh the early days of CGI.

First there was Machida in Reptile Boy.  Machida was actually a dude in makeup, not a CGI monster.  He was still a failure of a snake.  He was supposed to come out of the pit and eat the girls chained up in the basement/dungeon.  But it didn't look like he could even open his mouth wide enough to gnaw on someone's arm.  He probably would have been scarier if he'd remained off screen.

Machida is followed by Lurconis in Band Candy.  They add terror to this demon by making him a baby eater.  But he's basically some bad CGI trapped in a sewer.  And handily dispatched with fire.

Post-ascension Mayor was kind of awesome.  One of the better uses of CGI on the show.

But then they completely failed with the snake-demon Glory raises to track the key.  Honestly, it's the most fake-looking monster that ever appeared on the screen.

Any Buffy episode with a snake is guaranteed laughs.  CGI just dates the show so much.


Note:  Work just got really busy.  I may have to pause this meme briefly.  It will pick back up again.  As soon as things calm down

30 Days of Buffy: Day 23

Day 23: Two Characters You Wanted To Get Together That Never Did

I always secretly hoped that Joyce and Giles would figure out a way to make it work.  They seemed like a good match, and Giles was basically Buffy's father already.  So it made perfect sense.  We'll just ignore the fact that technically, they did get together.

On the hood of a police car.

Twice.

Okay, I picked them just so I could make that joke.  And it was kind of lame.  Honestly, I'm pretty happy to let the creators of the show do what they want with their characters.  Almost all of my shipping tends to be canon.  So at the time, I may have hoped that two characters would get together.  But in retrospect, everything basically made sense.  Even Xander and Willow got together for a few episodes.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 22

Day 22: Best Xander-centric Episode

The Zeppo is an amazing episode.  The way it's framed is so unique.  We get a day in the life of Xander, who is trying so hard to be cool it hurts.  He borrows his uncle's car, picks up a girl and ends up on a bad date, falls in with a group of bad boys who turn out to be zombies, loses his virginity, realizes that the zombies are planning to blow up the school, and saves the day.  Over the course of this, he discovers that cool is more a state of mind, an ability to be comfortable in your own skin.  If you're confident, other people will pick up on that.

The best part is that in the background of Xander's wacky adventure, the world is coming to an end.  The rest of the Scoobies are actively fighting the apocalypse (and trying to keep Xander at minimum safe distance).  Honestly, I didn't even pick up on this until the third or fourth time I saw this episode.  I can be fairly thick sometimes.

I really like Xander's growth in this episode.  I like the humor that's born out of him constantly interrupting the important work of the others.  And I like that he never tells anyone about that time he saved them all.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 21

Day 21: Best Willow-centric Episode

Boyfriend and I spent all day touring vineyards and drinking wine.  The answer is Dopplegangland

30 Days of Buffy: Day 20

Day 20: Best Spike-centric Episode

Oh Spike.  My love for Spike knows almost no bounds (except for that one episode in season 6).  But which episode best showcases him?  Is it School Hard, when he is first introduced and throws out the old traditions in favor of a more modern style?  Is it What's My Line? when he calls in the Order of Taraka to distract Buffy so he can heal Drusilla?  What about Lover's Walk when, freshly dumped, he screams into town and manages to destroy everyone else's relationships in the process of fixing his own?  Perhaps The Harsh Light of Day, when he briefly becomes invincible and torments Buffy?  Or Pangs, which isn't really about Spike at all, but sees him tied to a chair getting shot with arrows for a large portion.

So many episodes to choose from, but really, it always has been and always will be Fool For Love.  In Fool For Love we finally get Spike's back story.  How could I not pick the episode where I find out more about Spike's past and what makes him who he is?

The episode being with Buffy getting staked by a vampire.  Worried that she's losing her slayer abilities, she seeks Spike out to find out how he killed two slayers.  And so we get to meet William the Bloody.  The reveal that William was actually a dorky poet who didn't fit in with society is fantastic.  This character is so very far from the Spike that was introduced in School Hard. (Holy crap, I just realized that's a riff on Die Hard.  How did I not notice that before?) Cecily's rejection of him (you're beneath me) is heartbreaking.

The scene where William is turned into a vampire is hilarious.  His "ow"s simply become more insistent until they finally turn into a scream.  Then he begins picking up all the little traits that make him Spike.

First the name and the accent, then the obsession with slayers.  The first slayer gives him his sexy eyebrow scar.  He acquires his signature trench coat from the second slayer.  Watching his transformation is wonderful.  Each scene shows him a little bit less like William the Bloody, a little bit more like Spike.

The cross cutting of his fights with Nikki and Buffy is a work of art.  Buffy's rejection at the end of it (you're beneath me) hits so hard.  She throws the money at him and walks away while he just weeps in the alley.  It's perfect and heartbreaking.

Everything about this episode is just so good.  It's really one of my top-ten episodes of the series.  There is so much back story that gets filled in.  So much gets revealed and advanced in the Spike/Buffy relationship.  Spike neatly foreshadows the finale when he tells Buffy that "Every Slayer has a death wish".  Joyce heads back to the hospital.  Riley's recklessness increases.

If you watch it paired with the Angel episode Darla, it only gets better.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 19

Day 19: Character You Like That Everyone Else Hates

Dawn seems to be hated more than any other character in the Buffy-verse (with the possibly exception of Riley).  But I really liked her, and thought she was a good addition to the show.  She wasn't perfect, but I do think the good outweighs the bad.  I definitely don't think she deserved all the hate she got.

Part of this might be my intense love of Michelle Trachtenberg.  I was a devout fan of Pete and Pete and spent hours watching and re-watching Harriet the Spy.  I even watched the short-lived NBC drama Mercy because Ms. Trachtenberg was on it.  But I digress.

I liked Dawn.  Yes, she was a whiny teenager, but I don't really blame her for that.  She's been living in the shadow of her sister the slayer for her entire life, which she just found out is almost six months.  And she's not quite human.  And a god wants to kill her.  And her mom died.  I'd whine, too.

But Dawn has some good qualities, too.  She really does want to help Buffy.  As soon as she's allowed, she's hanging out doing research.  And she's good with the languages.  She may not be all that interested in school, but she does want to learn.

Dawn is also proactive, which is probably a Summers trait.  When everyone finds out that Dawn is the key and starts acting weird, she sneaks out and learns that she's the key.  She may not always make the best decisions, but that's part of being in high school.  Buffy made some pretty stupid decisions when she was Dawn's age, too.

In the seventh season, she finally matures and really comes into her own.  I love her arc in Potential.  And I like that, despite not having any superpowers, she steps up and joins the fight.  When Xander kidnaps her to get her away from it, she heads straight back to Sunnydale.

So yes, she could be annoying at times.  But I think that she was an interesting character who added a lot to the show.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 18

Day 18: Character Who Didn’t Get Enough Screen Time

So I'm going to delve into Angel a bit for this post.  Because the character I want to talk about appeared on both Buffy and Angel and I still wish I had seen more of her.

She first shows up in the season 2 episode Lie to Me, going by the name Chanterelle. Chanterelle is lonely and desperate for acceptance. She has joined up with a cult of vampire worshipers, convinced that becoming a vampire is the key to fixing her unhappiness. Little does she know that Spike and his gang have no intention of turning her (or the other cult members). They just want an easy meal. Fortunately Buffy saves her.

When next we meet Chanterelle, she has changed her name to Lily. Lily is broke, homeless, hungry. She's completely dependent on her boyfriend, Ricky. Ricky even went so far as picking her new name for her.  She runs into Buffy in a diner in LA, when Buffy is living and working there under the guise of Anne.  The two of them help each other reclaim control over their lives.

Buffy is too late to save Ricky, so Lily must face the prospect of life on her own. Buffy helps her see that she is worthwhile, and that she can take care of herself. Lily asks if she can have the name Anne. For her, it symbolizes self-reliance, courage, and strength, which are qualities Lily has come to value and wants to find in herself.

The next time we run into Anne is in the second season episode of Angel, Blood Money. She has faced the demons and decided that there are scarier things. Upon discovering that she could take care of herself, Anne turned around and started giving back. On Angel, Anne has opened a homeless shelter. It's a wonderful success. Anne and her shelter appear on Angel a few more times, including the season finale. And she shows that she does possess the strength and self-reliance she wanted so badly in the third season of Buffy.

I wish we had seen more of her journey. I would have liked to witness Lily's transformation into Anne. I like to think that she stayed in touch with Buffy, at least for a few months. I really wish there had been an episode, or even a series of flashbacks, to show how she found her strength and why she decided to open a shelter.  It is undoubtedly an interesting story, and one I wish more time had been devoted to.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 17

Day 17: Character You Relate To The Most

It's the computer age, nerds are in.  They're still in, right?

I definitely relate to Willow more than any other character.  In high school I practically was (2nd season) Willow.  I shared the shyness, the quirkiness, the nerdiness.  I even kind of looked like her.  (I also got compared to Alyson Hannigan's character from American Pie.  The horny band geek.  Clearly she will have to play me if they ever make a movie about my life.)  I have a similar love of knowledge.  I'm also fairly skilled with computers.  I can at least usually figure out what I want to do.

Like Willow, I was always a big fan of school.  I didn't like chemistry as much as her, opting for the physics route.  Maybe if I could have made some magic potions, I would have changed my mind about that.  But it is what it is.  I also loved history, and spent some time in high school tutoring my fellow classmates.  I was asked to teach our physics class when the teacher was put on probation.  That wasn't exactly successful, though.

I even find myself occasionally comparing my boyfriend to Oz.  In the "I, too, know the love of a taciturn man, and you have to look at their actions" sense.  Because Boyfriend's actions certainly speak louder than his words.  In a good way.

I'm sure this is no surprise to anyone who knows me.  I always identify more with the geekier girls in Whedon's shows (Fred and Kaylee).  And BtVS is no exception; I am definitely Willow.

30 Days of Buffy: Day 16

Day 16: Episode You Like That Everyone Else Hates

There was a whole lot of backlash against the season 6 episode Normal Again.  In this episode, Buffy is stung by demon and the venom causes her to hallucinate.  In her hallucinations, Buffy is a patient in a mental institution.  Her parents are alive and together.  Dawn was never born.  Nothing that happened in Sunnydale is real.

Back in Sunnydale, Buffy's friends are trying to find the antidote for the poison.  But Buffy herself isn't sure what's real.  I mean, a girl in a mental hospital does make a lot more sense than a girl with superpowers battling demons.  So, with the help of her doctor, Buffy starts taking steps to break ties with the Sunnydale world by rounding up her friends and locking them in the basement with a demon.

Of course, Buffy ultimately chooses Sunnydale, drinks the antidote, and is cured.  But the last shot of the episode is Buffy in the hospital, catatonic in the corner.  The doctor is shining a light in her eye, saying "we lost her" and Joyce and Hank are holding each other, grieving.

The choice to make this the final shot, along with the hint that when Buffy died she actually awoke and lived in this "normal" world, angered a whole lot of fans.  They claimed that it destroyed the past six seasons by implying that everything happened in Buffy's head.  A lot of people simply choose to ignore that this episode even happened.  Which is a shame, because it really is a great episode.

This is the episode where Buffy stops complaining about how life was so much better when she was dead and decides to get back to the business of living.  In the midst of the incredibly depressing sixth season, things finally start to look up.

I had a slightly different reading of the ending of this episode than most of the fans.  Why can't both worlds be real?  BtVS has played with the idea of alternate dimensions before, in both The Wish and Superstar.  So there's no need for one reality to be true and the other to be nothing more than a hallucination.  I like to think that when Buffy finally does die once and for all (third time's the charm), she'll wake up back in the mental hospital, magically cured of everything.  She'll get the one thing she's always wanted more than anything: a normal life.  She'll get to hang out with her family and shop and date.  She'll be warm and loved.  And she'll be done trying to save the world.

And I think that's why I love this episode so much.  It lets me give Buffy the happy ending she'll never really get as the slayer.  Because as long as she's the slayer, she has to fight and lead and inspire and save the world.  But after she dies, she gets a happy, normal life.  We'll just skip over the whole part where she'll have spent her late teens and twenties in a mental institution.