Instead of ending up onstage, though, she walks down a long narrow corridor made of red curtains. I quickly jot Twin Peaks on my rental list and wonder how many more "homages" Joss has up his sleeve. In the corridor she meets Tara, who says that things aren't going very well. Dreamy electronic music plays. Willow is disgusted by the drama class and the fact that a cowboy is appearing in "Death of a Salesman." Tara beetles her brows and says Willow doesn't understand. Willow asks if something is following her, and Tara confirms it. Willow frets about not knowing her lines; Tara tells her the play has already started but "that's not the point." Because this is a dream sequence and all, I'll forgo my temptation to ask what exactly the point is. Onstage, Riley and Harmony stand in front of a simple backdrop while Buffy reclines nearby on a chaise lounge. Riley greets Harmony and asks to hold her milk pails; the audience titters. Harmony asks why he has come to their small town, and Riley announces that he has come looking for a salesman. In the curtain corridor, Tara tells Willow that "everyone has started to wonder about [her], the real [her]." She says that "if they find out," they'll punish Willow, and Tara won't be able to help her. Willow desperately asks what she should do and wonders if there was something she left undone. Onstage, Buffy is giving an impassioned speech to an impassive Riley. She rants about men ("all groin, no brain"), recommending that they be tossed in the ocean. In the background, Harmony is seated on the chaise lounge weeping. Amateur theatrics make me want to cry too. Willow looks around but Tara has vanished. Willow calls out, but she's attacked by a force behind the curtains which stabs at her with a knife. She falls to the floor and is found by Buffy, now in her regular hair color and clothes, who grabs Willow's hand and leads her out, telling her to "stay low."








