YMMV / Buffy the Vampire Slayer S5E7 "Fool for Love"

• Better on DVD: Owning both the Buffy Season 5 and Angel Season 2 box sets allows the viewer to watch "Fool for Love" and then "Darla" as its crossover second part.
• Genius Bonus: In tarot readings, the King of Cups represents — UPRIGHT: Emotionally balanced, compassionate, diplomatic. REVERSED: Self-compassion, inner feelings, moodiness, emotionally manipulative. In other words, when Dru said "The King of Cups expects a picnic, but it is not his birthday!", she's saying that Angel (the KoC, manipulative and balanced, cruel through empathy) expects to win the fight with Spike, but Spike will come out on top.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Spike does indeed turn out to be there when Buffy dies. And it's the worst day of his life.
  • Spike's fight with Nikki intercutting with one with Buffy. Season 7 shows Buffy in a small Love Triangle between Spike and Nikki's son!
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Spike sitting with Buffy to comfort her over her mom's illness hits doubly hard in the heartwarming department when you consider the later reveal that he relates deeply to the helplessness Buffy feels— his own mother having been victim of a then-incurable illness when he was human.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Ming Lu, who plays the Chinese slayer Xin Rong, later appears in the series finale as a Potential. The Movie did say that reincarnation was possible for a slayer. And this time Spike dies, while she survives.
  • Given Spike later sleeping with Anya in "Entropy", this means he has been with both of the two friends (although given Victorian decency standards, he likely didn't get very far with 'Cecily').
• Signature Scene: During Spike's fight with Nikki Wood, he breaks off a subway bar and twirls it around before attacking her. It becomes part of his name plate in the opening titles for the next two seasons.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The production design and effects used to recreate 1900 Beijing for the Boxer Rebellion are quite impressive. One would have to watch the Angel episode "Darla" to see the set more in full.

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