Buffy goes to work in a burger bar but believes that humans are involved in making them way beyond the people who work the grill.

The 'this food is made of people' horror story has been done countless times, and as such is the first thing anyone watching this thinks of. The only possible twist can be that there's nothing wrong with the burgers, that they aren't made of people, and that just means a decided non-event as far as an episode of Buffy is concerned. Way too much attention is focused on the burger place and the dull drudgery of it, and without much in the way of comedy and with a frankly stupid demon granny plotline, it doesn't hold together at all well. Even the demon looks a bit on the ropey side as it's one of those physical effects the show can never quite pull off without it looking ridiculous. If writer Jane Espenson is trying to make a point about all burger place employees looking the same or being interchangeable, she succeeds admirably, as no-one here really stands out as a character, instead everyone just has a blank stare and no personality. While that may be the point, it makes for a really tedious story.

Meanwhile, Anya gets to chat about the wedding with an old vengeance demon friend. Firstly, you'd expect Xander to not pass comment about the ugliness of the visiting demon's face as that's hardly something that will stand you in good stead with your fiancée, former demon or not. Secondly, after Once More, with Feeling gave the impression that the wedding jitters were just that, we now seem to be back to wondering if this mismatched couple will tie the knot. If they've been unsure half the season already, it seems a little silly to go through with the whole thing...

And then there's Willow. With the return of Amy and a dose of magic power, she's tempted back to the dark side and resists. Again, how many times can the writers do this? I think the previous episode proved Willow's inner strength so we don't really need another demonstration, and if she's going to eventually give in to magic, hurry it up already. Her vacillating between bad and good is starting to wear a little thin as well; it's time to make some serious decisions and kick things onto a new level. Last episode the ongoing plotlines were pretty good; this episode really lets the side down.

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