Beauty and the Beasts

On the surface, this is just a throw-away episode. Mysterious deaths, scooby gang doing scooby stuff (Willow even has a Scooby Doo lunchbox in this). Buffy's kind of seeing Scott, but doesn't seem that interested. No big revelations, no huge angst.

However, there is a bit of interesting forshadowing. Buffy is seeing the school counselor, and he echos Joyce's comments from last season about "you're seeing a guy, you get intimate, the guy turns mean..." The theme of Men Turn Mean is not explored in any depth, but is assumed. More interestingly, he also previews Spike's "I'm love's bitch" speech. "Sometimes you love too much, and Love becomes your master, and you're love's dog" was roughly the way it was worded. He made it seem bad; Spike embraced the title. (I think that's this season, too, but I'm not sure.)

Also, Buffy is hiding that Angel's back, and she's obviously worried that he's damaged. In talking with Giles about what it's like to come back from a hell dimension, he explains briefly what it means to have humanity left within you. If it's not there, the returnee can't be saved. If the humanity is, the human can be redeemed. These questions also arise in season 6 after Buffy is resserected--with similar assumptions about her being in a hell dimension, in fact.

Other little things, but overall, not a must see episode--that's my opinion right now. We'll see if I change it, which has happened!