"The Harsh Light of Day"
Airdate: October 19, 1999

Oh, come on. Just admit it. You were waiting for this just as much as I was. The triumphant return of Spike... what fan wouldn't be jumping up and down and breaking out the champagne?

Of course, there are down sides and up sides to Spike's appearance in "The Harsh Light of Day". Down: He's shacked up with former Cordette Harmony (Mercedes McNab), who's now a vampire. Up: There's a sex scene with the aforementioned Harmony. And it's not tough to ignore her when James Marsters is lounging around without his shirt on.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. There is a plot here, so the idea evidently isn't to sit around watching Spike's rippling biceps. Whatever.

Spike returns to Sunnydale for the Gem of Amara, something of a vampire Holy Grail that will supposedly engender its wearer with complete invincibility, making him impervious to fire, stakes... even sunlight. Spike wants it, and he digs up Sunnydale to get it. Why he's whoring around with Harmony I still have yet to figure out, but... moving on.

Buffy's gotten involved with Parker (guest star Adam Kaufman), who she ends up sleeping with. Anya (Emma Caulfield) and Xander hit the hay together, too; the former demon returns to Sunnydale to get Xander out of her mind, which she thinks will happen once they've had sex. Spike gets the Gem and dumps Harmony, taking off to fight Buffy... in the middle of the day.

Now, I have to sideline here. We don't get to see a lot of Spike on Buffy that's not dark, ominous shots in underground caverns in the middle of the night. Hell, just try to find pictures of James Marsters outside during the daytime, and he doesn't even combust in sunlight! So it's remarkably refreshing to see him in the light of the sun. It glints off his bleached hair and accentuates the high arch of his cheekbones...

I'm sorry. Where were we? Oh yeah... Spike gets his ass kicked and Buffy grabs the ring, but it doesn't end there; Buffy decides to send the ring to Angel in Los Angeles, and Oz offers to play courier as he's headed that way on a Dingoes gig.

My opinion may be biased due to the way my brain shuts off and salivation kicks in when I see James Marsters in pretty much anything, but I think "The Harsh Light of Day" is one of Buffy's best thus far, and I can't wait for Marsters to get more involved in the series. But there were a few things I didn't like about the episode. I would've liked to know why Spike put up with Harmony at all; he obviously didn't have much patience for her, and it seems that if all he wanted was sex, he probably had some perfectly willing minions who'd be better at keeping their mouths shut for at least two minutes. I also didn't like how easily Spike lost the Gem, though I understand that it just led into the second part of this Buffy/Angel crossover; if you've got a Gem of invincibility, do you go out in daylight to show it to your worst enemy, tempting her to pull your magic ring right off your finger? Why not wreak some major havoc first? Or wear some big jewelry bit to throw people off the real thing? But I know Spike's no good at plans, so I guess it's in character, even if it's stupid.

Overall, though, a great episode. I've heard some people ragging on the amount of adult content (three different couples have sex in the space of a single episode), but I figure it's about time some people got laid. It doesn't turn out well for any of the women involved, of course, 'cause sex never turns out well for anybody on Buffy, but the characters are very well developed and well written, and the story's an engaging one.

The crossover continues: "In the Dark"

-- Lisa Kohles

Buffy the Vampire Slayer airs Tuesdays on the WB. Check your local listings for airtimes.

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