Watched "Earshot"

Since I've been in a S3 groove the last few days, I watched "Earshot" tonight.

There are some wonderful funny moments (You had sex with Giles? On the hood of a police car? Twice?).

When Willow's interrogating Jonathan, it's insanely foreshadowy for "Superstar." Look:

Fantasys are fun, aren't they Jonathan?...We all have fantasies that we're powerful, more respected. Where people pay attention to us...But sometimes the fantasy isn't enough, is it Jonathan? Sometimes we have to make it so people don't ignore us. Make them pay attention. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

Like, wow. Obviously it fits with this episode, too, but it totally describes "Superstar."

Buffy was really bugging me tonight. This episode seemed to really drive home her self-absorption; even in an episode which is about her learning about the pain everyone around her is carrying, in which she even makes a speech to that effect, it still somehow ends up being all about her. And at the end when Giles suggests it might be good if she went to the prom with Jonathan, and she says "Oh come on! What am I, Saint Buffy? He's like three feet tall!" Grrr.

On the other hand, I was also noticing how almost unbearably pretty she is. Her face looks just like a Barbie doll's.

What if?...

And now I've watched S3 again through to the end of Graduation Day.

I get goosebumps down my back and tears in my eyes when I watch the students throw off their grad gowns to show that they've become an army. Every single time.

But this time the big question that I'm asking is: how would everything have been different if Buffy had succeeded in her attempt to kill Faith and feed her to Angel?