During the commercial break -- a commercial for Jack in the Box. I groan and hold my stomach. Especially after the close-up of their two-patty burger. Ugh.

Back at the Doublemeat Palace, Buffy struggles with the employees holding her arms and throws them off, rather more vigorously than a normal girl her size should be able to. Manny is upset because he thought Buffy was "part of the team" and tells her, "You are fired." Buffy makes an "I'm sure I don't care!" face and stomps out of the place.

At Xanya's, Hallie spoons something (I was going to say sugar, but it's never safe to assume with demons) into her tea and asks Anya to tell her more about Xander. Anya seems a little disturbed by her friend's curiosity and asks, "Do you think I'm making a mistake?" When Hallie replies, "Do you?" Anya protests that she's very happy with Xander and gives a list of his attributes: kind, brave, nice smile, nice body, and he loves her. "Sometimes it isn't easy, but he does [love me]," Anya concludes. Hallie incredulously asks, "Who told you that it isn't easy to love you?" Weeeeell, this is a little interesting. I'd be a lot more interested if this conversation had happened last year, and if I cared at all about Anya and Xander as characters anymore, but still, it seems like we might actually get an acknowledgement of Xander's low-level disdain for his girlfriend here. Anya attempts to explain how Xander admonishes her, and then asks Hallie, "Do you think there's something wrong with the way he treats me?" Sounding an awful lot like therapists I have known, Hallie then replies, "Do you?" This agitates Anya a little, and she protests that she loves Xander and he doesn't actually think he knows better than her. Hallie says she understands, and that Anya need not discuss it any further if she's "not comfortable." What a manipulator she is! "It's not like I'm hiding any deficiencies or anything," protests Anya, to which Hallie just replies, "Hmm!"