diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 03b2ab796e..9cdca6501e 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
 Changelog
 =========
 
-## v.2.x.x - xx, 2015
+## v.2.2.0 - xx, 2015
 
 Features
 
 -  Added disable_resubscribing option to prevent a client from resubscribing after reconnecting (@BridgeAR)
 -  Added rename_commands options to handle renamed commands from the redis config (@digmxl & @BridgeAR)
--  Increase performance by exchanging built in queue with [Petka Antonov's](@petkaantonov) [double-ended queue](https://github.com/petkaantonov/deque) and prevent polymorphism (@BridgeAR)
+-  Increased performance (@BridgeAR)
+ -  exchanging built in queue with [Petka Antonov's](@petkaantonov) [double-ended queue](https://github.com/petkaantonov/deque)
+ -  prevent polymorphism
+ -  optimize statements
 
 Bugfixes
 
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 3188cd42ad..b8300577de 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ function RedisClient(stream, options) {
             }
         }
     }
+    this.options.return_buffers = !!this.options.return_buffers;
+    this.options.detect_buffers = !!this.options.detect_buffers;
+    // Override the detect_buffers setting if return_buffers is active and print a warning
+    if (this.options.return_buffers && this.options.detect_buffers) {
+        console.warn('>> WARNING: You activated return_buffers and detect_buffers at the same time. The return value is always going to be a buffer.');
+        this.options.detect_buffers = false;
+    }
     this.should_buffer = false;
     this.command_queue_high_water = options.command_queue_high_water || 1000;
     this.command_queue_low_water = options.command_queue_low_water || 0;
@@ -433,7 +440,7 @@ RedisClient.prototype.send_offline_queue = function () {
     this.offline_queue = new Queue();
     // Even though items were shifted off, Queue backing store still uses memory until next add, so just get a new Queue
 
-    if (!buffered_writes) {
+    if (buffered_writes === 0) {
         this.should_buffer = false;
         this.emit('drain');
     }
@@ -531,8 +538,18 @@ RedisClient.prototype.return_error = function (err) {
         err.code = match[1];
     }
 
+    this.emit_drain_idle(queue_len);
+
+    if (command_obj.callback) {
+        command_obj.callback(err);
+    } else {
+        this.emit('error', err);
+    }
+};
+
+RedisClient.prototype.emit_drain_idle = function (queue_len) {
     if (this.pub_sub_mode === false && queue_len === 0) {
-        this.command_queue = new Queue();
+        this.command_queue.clear();
         this.emit('idle');
     }
 
@@ -540,12 +557,6 @@ RedisClient.prototype.return_error = function (err) {
         this.emit('drain');
         this.should_buffer = false;
     }
-
-    if (command_obj.callback) {
-        command_obj.callback(err);
-    } else {
-        this.emit('error', err);
-    }
 };
 
 RedisClient.prototype.return_reply = function (reply) {
@@ -566,37 +577,29 @@ RedisClient.prototype.return_reply = function (reply) {
 
     queue_len = this.command_queue.length;
 
-    if (this.pub_sub_mode === false && queue_len === 0) {
-        this.command_queue = new Queue();  // explicitly reclaim storage from old Queue
-        this.emit('idle');
-    }
-    if (this.should_buffer && queue_len <= this.command_queue_low_water) {
-        this.emit('drain');
-        this.should_buffer = false;
-    }
+    this.emit_drain_idle(queue_len);
 
     if (command_obj && !command_obj.sub_command) {
         if (typeof command_obj.callback === 'function') {
             if ('exec' !== command_obj.command) {
-                if (this.options.detect_buffers && command_obj.buffer_args === false) {
+                if (command_obj.buffer_args === false) {
                     // If detect_buffers option was specified, then the reply from the parser will be Buffers.
                     // If this command did not use Buffer arguments, then convert the reply to Strings here.
                     reply = utils.reply_to_strings(reply);
                 }
 
                 // TODO - confusing and error-prone that hgetall is special cased in two places
-                if (reply && 'hgetall' === command_obj.command) {
+                if ('hgetall' === command_obj.command) {
                     reply = utils.reply_to_object(reply);
                 }
             }
-
             command_obj.callback(null, reply);
         } else {
             debug('No callback for reply');
         }
     } else if (this.pub_sub_mode || command_obj && command_obj.sub_command) {
         if (Array.isArray(reply)) {
-            if (!this.options.return_buffers && (!command_obj || this.options.detect_buffers && command_obj.buffer_args === false)) {
+            if (!command_obj || command_obj.buffer_args === false) {
                 reply = utils.reply_to_strings(reply);
             }
             type = reply[0].toString();
@@ -620,11 +623,9 @@ RedisClient.prototype.return_reply = function (reply) {
                 this.emit(type, reply[1], reply[2]); // channel, count
             } else {
                 this.emit('error', new Error('subscriptions are active but got unknown reply type ' + type));
-                return;
             }
         } else if (!this.closing) {
             this.emit('error', new Error('subscriptions are active but got an invalid reply: ' + reply));
-            return;
         }
     }
     /* istanbul ignore else: this is a safety check that we should not be able to trigger */
@@ -648,7 +649,12 @@ RedisClient.prototype.return_reply = function (reply) {
 };
 
 RedisClient.prototype.send_command = function (command, args, callback) {
-    var arg, command_obj, i, elem_count, buffer_args, stream = this.stream, command_str = '', buffered_writes = 0, err;
+    var arg, command_obj, i, err,
+        stream = this.stream,
+        command_str = '',
+        buffered_writes = 0,
+        buffer_args = false,
+        buffer = this.options.return_buffers;
 
     if (args === undefined) {
         args = [];
@@ -660,7 +666,7 @@ RedisClient.prototype.send_command = function (command, args, callback) {
         }
     }
 
-    if (process.domain && callback) {
+    if (callback && process.domain) {
         callback = process.domain.bind(callback);
     }
 
@@ -678,15 +684,17 @@ RedisClient.prototype.send_command = function (command, args, callback) {
         }
     }
 
-    buffer_args = false;
     for (i = 0; i < args.length; i += 1) {
         if (Buffer.isBuffer(args[i])) {
             buffer_args = true;
             break;
         }
     }
+    if (this.options.detect_buffers) {
+        buffer = buffer_args;
+    }
 
-    command_obj = new Command(command, args, false, buffer_args, callback);
+    command_obj = new Command(command, args, false, buffer, callback);
 
     if (!this.ready && !this.send_anyway || !stream.writable) {
         if (this.closing || !this.enable_offline_queue) {
@@ -725,8 +733,6 @@ RedisClient.prototype.send_command = function (command, args, callback) {
     this.command_queue.push(command_obj);
     this.commands_sent += 1;
 
-    elem_count = args.length + 1;
-
     if (typeof this.options.rename_commands !== 'undefined' && this.options.rename_commands[command]) {
         command = this.options.rename_commands[command];
     }
@@ -734,7 +740,7 @@ RedisClient.prototype.send_command = function (command, args, callback) {
     // Always use 'Multi bulk commands', but if passed any Buffer args, then do multiple writes, one for each arg.
     // This means that using Buffers in commands is going to be slower, so use Strings if you don't already have a Buffer.
 
-    command_str = '*' + elem_count + '\r\n$' + command.length + '\r\n' + command + '\r\n';
+    command_str = '*' + (args.length + 1) + '\r\n$' + command.length + '\r\n' + command + '\r\n';
 
     if (!buffer_args) { // Build up a string and send entire command in one write
         for (i = 0; i < args.length; i += 1) {
@@ -752,10 +758,6 @@ RedisClient.prototype.send_command = function (command, args, callback) {
 
         for (i = 0; i < args.length; i += 1) {
             arg = args[i];
-            if (!(Buffer.isBuffer(arg) || typeof arg === 'string')) {
-                arg = String(arg);
-            }
-
             if (Buffer.isBuffer(arg)) {
                 if (arg.length === 0) {
                     debug('send_command: using empty string for 0 length buffer');
@@ -767,13 +769,16 @@ RedisClient.prototype.send_command = function (command, args, callback) {
                     debug('send_command: buffer send ' + arg.length + ' bytes');
                 }
             } else {
+                if (typeof arg !== 'string') {
+                    arg = String(arg);
+                }
                 debug('send_command: string send ' + Buffer.byteLength(arg) + ' bytes: ' + arg);
                 buffered_writes += !stream.write('$' + Buffer.byteLength(arg) + '\r\n' + arg + '\r\n');
             }
         }
     }
-    debug('send_command buffered_writes: ' + buffered_writes, ' should_buffer: ' + this.should_buffer);
-    if (buffered_writes || this.command_queue.length >= this.command_queue_high_water) {
+    if (buffered_writes !== 0 || this.command_queue.length >= this.command_queue_high_water) {
+        debug('send_command buffered_writes: ' + buffered_writes, ' should_buffer: ' + this.should_buffer);
         this.should_buffer = true;
     }
     return !this.should_buffer;
@@ -1077,7 +1082,7 @@ Multi.prototype.execute_callback = function (err, replies) {
                 }
                 replies[i].command = args[0].toUpperCase();
             } else if (replies[i]) {
-                if (this._client.options.detect_buffers && this.wants_buffers[i + 1] === false) {
+                if (this.wants_buffers[i + 1] === false) {
                     replies[i] = utils.reply_to_strings(replies[i]);
                 }
                 if (args[0] === 'hgetall') {
diff --git a/lib/parsers/javascript.js b/lib/parsers/javascript.js
index 1230401e4d..cfd89f20b6 100644
--- a/lib/parsers/javascript.js
+++ b/lib/parsers/javascript.js
@@ -2,9 +2,8 @@
 
 var util   = require('util');
 
-function ReplyParser(return_buffers) {
+function ReplyParser() {
     this.name = exports.name;
-    this.return_buffers = return_buffers;
 
     this._buffer            = new Buffer(0);
     this._offset            = 0;
@@ -37,10 +36,8 @@ ReplyParser.prototype._parseResult = function (type) {
 
         if (type === 45) {
             return new Error(this._buffer.toString(this._encoding, start, end));
-        } else if (this.return_buffers) {
-            return this._buffer.slice(start, end);
         }
-        return this._buffer.toString(this._encoding, start, end);
+        return this._buffer.slice(start, end);
     } else if (type === 58) { // :
         // up to the delimiter
         end = this._packetEndOffset() - 1;
@@ -77,15 +74,12 @@ ReplyParser.prototype._parseResult = function (type) {
         // set the offset to after the delimiter
         this._offset = end + 2;
 
-        if (this.return_buffers) {
-            return this._buffer.slice(start, end);
-        }
-        return this._buffer.toString(this._encoding, start, end);
+        return this._buffer.slice(start, end);
     } else if (type === 42) { // *
         offset = this._offset;
         packetHeader = this.parseHeader();
 
-        if (packetHeader < 0) {
+        if (packetHeader === -1) {
             return null;
         }
 
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 6f1661f1d3..3b282bc5ea 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
-// hgetall converts its replies to an Object.  If the reply is empty, null is returned.
+// hgetall converts its replies to an Object. If the reply is empty, null is returned.
 function replyToObject(reply) {
     var obj = {}, j, jl, key, val;
 
diff --git a/test/parser/javascript.spec.js b/test/parser/javascript.spec.js
index 491a292ab1..499cfb11ca 100644
--- a/test/parser/javascript.spec.js
+++ b/test/parser/javascript.spec.js
@@ -3,13 +3,15 @@
 var assert = require('assert');
 var Parser = require("../../lib/parsers/javascript").Parser;
 var config = require("../lib/config");
+var utils = require("../../lib/utils");
 var redis = config.redis;
 
 describe('javascript parser', function () {
     it('handles multi-bulk reply', function (done) {
-        var parser = new Parser(false);
+        var parser = new Parser();
         var reply_count = 0;
         function check_reply(reply) {
+            reply = utils.reply_to_strings(reply);
             assert.deepEqual(reply, [['a']], "Expecting multi-bulk reply of [['a']]");
             reply_count++;
         }