Mark Watches ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’: S07E18 – Dirty Girls

In the eighteenth episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, absolutely nothing goes as planned. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Buffy.

OH MY GOD!!!!

• NO ONE TOLD ME THAT NATHAN FILLION WAS ON BUFFY. 
• No one told me that Nathan Fillion played a super creepy, misogynistic priest dude on Buffy.
• NO ONE INFORMED ME THAT I WOULD SIGN UP FOR NATHAN FILLION BEING UNENDINGLY CREEPY WHEN I SIGNED UP FOR BUFFY.
• I mean, that’s good, I’m glad, the surprise is way more fun, but these feelings aren’t fair.
• As a whole, “Dirty Girls” gave me a whole lot of feelings I didn’t expect?
• Faith is coming back to Sunnydale, DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH META THIS IS INSPIRING IN ME?
• Wait, the whole point of this site is meta, so, yes, you do realize this.
• REDUNDANT BULLET POINTS ARE SO FUN.
• When I was on the last Mark Does Stuff tour, someone asked me if I really enjoyed writing lists or if it was just an act because I was lazy. It was a rather mean question, but all I showed them was the list I had made on a napkin on the Greyhound earlier that day that had everything that I needed to talk about during that day’s event. So yeah, you seriously don’t know how much my life is absolutely ruled by lists. I use lists for productivity! It’s how I’m able to get so much stuff done every week.
• It’s very satisfying to write lists for reviews because I feel like I can either: 1) tackle the episode chronologically, or 2) create a theme and follow it, or 3) address every single random thought I had while watching or reading something.
• THAT’S RIGHT, THERE IS A LIST INSIDE THAT BULLET POINT. God, I rule.
• There was a Latina Potential!!!! Oh god, THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY. That’s like the first real Latin@ on the whole show, isn’t it? Which, seriously, they’re in Southern California, 90% of us there were Latin@ or Chican@. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but you get what I mean. (And before you ask, the “@” sign at the end is a way of denoting a more gender neutral grouping. Get it? It has an “a” and an “o” at the same time! GOD, IT’S SO PERFECT AND CLEVER.)
• Okay, as you’ll see in the video for this episode, I have a very important question: where did the straight male fantasy of bisexual girls pillow fighting in their underwear come from? It’s so prevalent, but it makes zero sense to me! Heterosexuals, explain your culture to this outsider.
• I was so happy that the show addressed the fact that no one came to see if Faith was okay when the Bringers were trying to wipe out the Slayer line.
• Actually, I was really pleased with how “Dirty Girls” handled Faith as a whole, especially when the writers were geniuses and paired her with Spike. Can I support Spike/Faith based not on any romantic or sexual aspirations, but purely on the idea that if the eighth season of this show was just them, I would watch the fuck out of it? Buffy hasn’t been perfect about it, but when this show pairs together two characters well, it knocks it out of the park. It’s like when I realized how similar Anya and Spike were at the end of season six. Now, I can’t undo the image of Spike and Faith ambiguously fighting good and snarking their way through it.
• For real, that entire conversation in the basement is one of the best things this whole season has given us. Two characters who have done terrible things working towards redemption, but still outcasts from the main group. IT’S JUST SO BEAUTIFUL.
• Okay, wait, Faith and Dawn didn’t actually meet, did they? I thought they did when I was watching the episode, but now I can’t remember when they ever would have. I’M CONFUSED.
• I haven’t made a bullet point for Buffy’s hair in this episode. Y’all, it’s so fucking great. Like, this is the best her hair has ever looked in this season!
• I admit that I liked Andrew’s fanfic-like story of who Faith is. SHE FOUGHT A VULCAN LOL.
• Principal Wood just makes me sad, now? Look, even if I don’t understand his full role yet, it just sucks that now he’s been taken out of the story. I just wanted to hug him when he was being all sad and useless at his desk. 🙁
• On that note, where the hell is Anya? Where did she go?
• I KNEW CALEB WAS SETTING A TRAP.
• So here’s the bigger question: Who the fuck is Caleb? How is he so strong? Where does he get his power? Does he have Glory levels of invincibility? Who the fuck is Caleb? And why is he dressed like Book? OH SHIT THAT’S WHERE BOOK CAME FROM.
• While it wasn’t as beautiful as her conversation with Spike, Faith’s talk with Buffy was fantastic. Seeing Buffy perk up at a mention of Angel was kind of adorable.
• You know, there’s a horrible sort of irony to this episode. Many of the Potentials, Rona in particular, are upset that they’re being sent into battle. On top of that, Giles and Spike earlier expressed concern that Buffy was walking into trap. Cue Xander giving a really heartfelt monologue about why he trusts Buffy and why they should all trust her, too.
• Cue everyone getting their asses kicked and two Potentials dying. In hindsight, while Xander’s monologue is sweet, it’s somewhat misguided. Buffy messed up by taking the Potentials into a trap with a villain they were unprepared to fight. There are now two dead girls, and Rona’s got a broken arm. It’s important to note Rona’s body language in the hospital, too. She’s turned away from Buffy, and I think that’s important. I don’t believe the Potentials will be ready to come to Buffy’s defense again after this.
• Of course, the big twist comes from the horrifying attack on Xander. How Caleb knew what Xander said in “Potential” is beyond me (HOLY FORESHADOWING), but he gouges Xander’s left eye out. I am all kinds of fucked up about this. CHRIST. WHAT THE FUCK EVERYONE I AM REALLY REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS.

So where the hell do they go from here? Dealing with The First was bad enough, but now they’ve got a seemingly invincible demon priest to deal with, too??? Jesus, this just keeps getting worse, my god.

The video commission for this episode is now archived on MarkDoesStuff.com for $0.99!

In addition to today’s Mark watches, my editor Ryan commissioned me to read a fic related to this episode, and here’s my reading of the first chapter:

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