By the end of School Hard, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a fundamentally different series to the one that existed the week before. This is a pivotal episode, and in my opinion is the most significant episode of the entire run, because it’s the one that ensures the show’s longevity. There is one simple reason for that: Spike.
Drusilla is an amazing character as well, of course. She veers back and forth crazily between mournful helplessness and pure evil. Like Spike (but in a very different way), her personality shows us a twisted version of human foibles without losing the element of danger. She is also a subversion of childhood, speaking to her dolls before biting into a neck. Continue reading