The "Letter from the Emperor" exercise, by the way, was borrowed from Jack Hodgins A Passion for Narrative. You can pick up that book in a bookstore, but nothing beats having your work critiqued by perfect strangers.
I was quite satisfied with the Buffy episode this week. Spoilers to follow.
The second episode of the seventh season was standard, solid Buffy. A firm plot, with funny moments, good acting from all the regulars, and more elements set up for the rest of the season. Xander is comfortably Xander, and Anya looks like she may have some tough choices to make in the near future. Dawn had a great moment threatening Spike, but I hope she gets more action soon. The episode was full of fun little details such as the parody of Run, Lola, Run in the teaser, and genuine shock of Spike accidentally skewering the human.
There were some unintentionally funny moments too, like the worm. When I saw the mound churning through dirt, concrete and asphalt, I said to myself, "I knew I should have made that left turn at Albuquerque." That sort of detracted from the menace, as did the rather blatant rip-off of the movie Tremors.
It was James Marsters who pulled the episode above average, however. I admit, his sudden change in manner threw me for a loop (I thought that it was the shapeshifting monster for a minute), but his mood swings are freaky to watch, and he just shines in the final scenes. The picture of Spike smoking body as he hugs the cross is one that will stay with me for a while.
So far, so good! Maybe next week, we'll add Giles and Willow to the mix.