Spoiler Slayer

The SMGFan.com boards have a report from a location shoot. I'm debating about moving some more spoilers to 'confirmed' or 'nearly confirmed' based on it. I think I'm going to sleep on it. It was the one I mentioned before that was taking place at a construction site, with the only major players being Sarah, Nicholas and the Troika (Danny Strong in particular).

I also got some spoilers from the UK phoneline direct from Matt (Thank You!). I'm going to list them here, and they'll probably be worked into the Spoiler Slayer page tomorrow morning.

• Marc Blucas (Riley) is not confirmed to return to BTVS but would love to come back
• Willow will be crossing over to Angel and Wesley to Buffy (was mumbling at this point so I think this is what he was saying!)
• In the musical everyone except Dawn will sing at some point
• Tara sings love songs to Willow in the musical
• Jonathan, Warren and new more sinister and malicious guy Andrew are up to mischief [possibly masquerading as demons] and causing trouble
• Although it does not effect Buffy, they are worried that she will be cross with them and they stalk throughout episode 5 (or 6) [Buffy does not realise till episode end]. They are introduced at start of ep 5 or end of ep 4.
• Buffy goes through a series of time displacements. Time suddenly speeds up and she finds it hard to cope. It may even be reminiscent of Groundhog Day.

Now I've made some allusions to my own speculation on what the first thematic arc of the season will be. This speculation is a very important piece of how I judge spoilers for validity. If you can figure out the theme, then it gets much easier to determine how possible a given spoiler can be. I'm very hesistant to discuss my own speculations, for two reasons. One, I don't want that speculation to become the fodder for new spoilers. Second, until the season actually begins my speculation isn't based on any facts, it's based on spoilers. After the second (or third episode) actually airs, I'll know if my early guess is correct. Based on the spoilers that I've heard so far, I think I'm on the right track.

Of course, this speculation won't actually confirm any spoilers, but it can give me the confidence to change a 'possible' to a 'likely'. The reason why I bring this up, is the recent furor over the entire Buffy/Spike issue. I gave my reasons for why I don't believe that Buffy/Xander will happen, but that doesn't mean that there aren't hints of it here and there. In fact, "I Was Made To Love You", had lots of Buffy/Xander chemistry that really teased the audience. That opinion aside, I can say that according to the feel that I'm getting for the thematic arc, Buffy and Spike are going to get much closer this season. I'm not saying that it's going to be romantic, I'm not saying it's going to be a one-night stand, I'm not saying it's going to really be love. I do feel that the mutual respect that the characters have for each other (otherwise one would have finished off the other years ago), is going to be a lot more obvious. Think along the lines of the chemistry they had in 'Fool For Love', that's what I think we'll be seeing.

But, and this is a big but, the reasoning is all based on spoilers. If the spoilers (and I'm not talking about the Buffy/Spike ones) that we've seen are true, then I can say that it will happen. If they are false, then there are fans out there who should be writing for the show. In either case, I've stated before that I would prefer Buffy to get back with Angel, and we all know THAT won't happen for sure (or at least this season.)