Mallory Rubin

And they're in part because they're like a little bit on the outside of that looking in.

I do think that the, like I've had some sort of awakening about the differences between

And entwinements in, like, being a follower or being a leader and the way that Buffy is then kind of imparting that wisdom and helping somebody else have the scales fall off of their eyes through the wisdom that she has learned, like, not just because someone else told her, but from her firsthand experience, is interesting.

Riley's just not an interesting enough character to carry 10 episodes of that as a journey.

I think, like...

The overall connection, and this is obviously not just true with the back half of the season.

This is true for Buffy writ large and as part of what's so compelling about it.

But this is like a very identity-driven stretch of story.

And I love that.

And I think, again, that's emblematic of like you have even something like Jonathan's return, obviously.

Giles, like what role do I have?

Willow and Tara.

Spike, you know, could I be a...

Scooby, do I want to be?

Faith coming back, Buffy.

But then Adam and Riley, so much of the way their stories are positioned, Riley's crisis of faith and Adam, I am the one with this awareness about what it means to be alive in a way that nobody else possesses.

There's a version of that that would be, like, really, I think, scintillating, this idea of being pieced together from other bits of humanity and demons and machine.

And then what does that make you and what do you do with that insight?

Like, I like that.

As an idea.