COMEDY.

Pat, I certainly hope that this was the "other" episode you mentioned. Because. ... Yeah.

[Begin Spoiler for "The Girl In Question" — Highlight to view]

Oh man, the COMEDY! Comedy . This episode was just filled with it, wasn't it? A gay comic romp! An hilarious *caper* if you will. A giggle-a-minute frolic through the--

Oh wait. It wasn't funny.

Is this the reason that some people are so angry at Sarah Michelle Gellar? Because she for some crazy reason decided not to be a part of this gem? Perhaps the fact that the only Buffy cast member they could rope into appearing on this show was Tom Lenk should have been some kind of clue. A clue to not do it.

Seriously, I understand that the show was cancelled. And at this point in time, the writers knew that. So, they probably wanted to try to wrap up the whole of the Buffyverse within this show. And really? That is such a mistake. They ruined Buffy. It crashed into the Pit of Eternal Suck from which there is no return. It's done, over, ruined, desecrated, finished. And they should have left it that way and just moved the fuck on. As I've stated before, I'd prefer just dropping something to handling it poorly. And Angel was doing fine on its own. Even this season, it has not crashed into the Pit of Eternal Suck. (Really, Kirk, it hasn't.) But every time they attempt to bring in elements from that other show, that ruined show, this show skips ever closer to the edge of the pit. See: the enormous gamble that was Spike.

So they should have left it. Because the Suck of the fall of Buffy is so great and powerful that its Suck extends far beyond its ugly and prolonged death. If you invoke its name, you also begin to Suck.

Also, this episode was written and directed like shit and I refuse to speak about it anymore.

So, moving on to the couple of parts that actually had to do with this show: Illyria can assume any shape now? Okay. Since when? Nevermind, I don't care. I'm glad she did, though. Because, 1. They didn't tell Fred's parents?? Holy shit. Nice one guys, nice one. 2. Her parents were so cheery and dumb and the whole tone of the episode was so manic and zany with the COMEDY! that I couldn't have fucking dealt with it if they tried to bring in some serious dramatic themes. Also, Wesley was going to blurt it out like that? I'd glad she stopped him, because he would have sucked at it. So, while the whole thing was kind of weird, it was better than the alternative.

Illyria has the hots for Wesley! Funny! Also, considering that Illyria is, actually, maybe, a boy, this is actually the closest to a boy/boy relationship either show has had. Right? Eh.

There were two things I found funny, though. The flashback to the 50s ("Ciao." "Ciao.") and "You never let us do that!" Okay, fine: Hee. But they were miniscule moments compared to the mind-numbing affront that was the rest of this episode. Someone needs to reel Marsters in. For the love. of. God.

[End Spoiler]