Commenter Lookup *Caution* Unless you see an ADMIN tag, the comments below may not all belong to the same person! "I Was Made to Love You" | View Comments2 | sarahJan 4, 2013 I didn't realise the 'cookie speech' in season 7 is infamous? I just thought it was .. well, famous "Checkpoint" | View Comments3 | sarahJan 4, 2013 *in reply to Ryan ONeil (#49) Yeah but the mannequin was wearing Buffy's sweater"Checkpoint" | View Comments4 | sarahJan 3, 2013 Did anyone else notice that the Buffy manniquin Spike has in his cript was clearly visible when Buffy, Joyce and Dawn arrived there. I'm surprised they didn't see it! haha "Fool for Love" | View Comments5 | sarahJan 2, 2013 It's also good to note that Angel had his soul in the ending segment of the flash back, very interesting to see this on buffy and angel "Helpless" | View Comments6 | SarahFeb 14, 2012 Also, in the last scene Travers says that the Council is not in the business of fair. He says "we're fighting a war", and Giles correctly jumps in with "you're waging a war, she's fighting it, there is a difference". This goes to show how disconnected the Council is from the reality of this war because they aren't putting their own lives on the line each day (much like how a certain former president of ours skipped out on his own military duty yet as president jumped into a war based on false pretenses, not seeming to care at all for the people actually fighting it). I find it completely believable that the Council would administer a test like this. All they care about is a false sense of control over the Slayer because she's truly the one with the power (as she'll come to realize in Checkpoint). The parallel to female genital mutilation becomes even more apparent. "Helpless" | View Comments7 | SarahFeb 14, 2012 "I see it as something that would never be done by an organization trying to help in the fight against evil, especially not in today's world." That's the whole point - the Council runs on antiquated, anachronistic traditions that largely have not adapted to modern times. The fact that Buffy and Giles do things differently than previous generations is what makes them special - they're redefining the fight against evil so that it makes sense and is relevant to modern times. This episode is brilliant in the way it further solidifies both Buffy's belief in her calling and our belief as viewers. By challenging the whole basis of the Buffy-verse, this episode makes an even stronger case for it - I truly feel this episode is a stellar for that reason. It's one of the episodes that made me a hardcore Buffy addict. I can't help but see the themes of this episode as an excellent metaphor for criticizing certain traditions - whether religious or cultural (the cultural practice of female genital mutilation comes to mind speaking of Buffy being physically violated) - in the way that they often disregard modern circumstances in favor of blindly adhering to myth and custom. I also love that Buffy being forced to question her calling as a metaphor for someone who feels they have a calling for a certain line of work - whether art or medicine or whatever - naturally going through a period of failure or lack of self-confidence in which they question if they are truly able to live up to that calling. This episode is pure genius, Period. "Revelations" | View Comments8 | SarahFeb 13, 2012 I love this episode, but I was really Really annoyed at how quickly Buffy and Xander made up at the end, if you can call it making up. I much prefer the intervention seen where they were at least being honest with each other. The dialogue at the end of the episode should have been just as probing, but it seems like the writers just wanted to wrap it up quickly. Buffy simply asking, "Are we cool?" is hardly believable. I'm just not buying it. Though I do buy Xander faking his "ya". The rift between these two is clearly still growing, yet somehow Buffy seems to either not realize it or is just repressing the realization. "Go Fish" | View Comments9 | SarahFeb 8, 2012 You forgot to mention how this episode addresses sexual assault. I find that aspect more interesting than the steroid story. The fact that Buffy is blamed for the way she dresses, as if she's "asking for it", is very realistic unfortunately. Even today, women who are victims of sexual assault are blamed. Every effort is made to dig up their sexual past and prove that they're whores who were asking for it. I like that this episode addresses that, even briefly. "Wild at Heart" | View Comments10 | SarahFeb 7, 2012 Btw, I like Giles_314's interpretation of Oz's actions, makes sense and sounds like the kind of theme/metaphor the writers would want to explore. "Wild at Heart" | View Comments11 | SarahFeb 7, 2012 I'm surprised there was no mention of how this episode adds to Willow's arc of trying to conceal her true personality and put on a "costume" (as it was called in "Restless"). Throughout S4, we see Willow go from a cuddly girl to a woman who wants to be sexier and bolder, and I love how this adds another layer to her magic-power arc. Maybe in seeing how Oz reacted to Veruca, Willow subconsciously starts wanting to be more like that sexy woman she thinks a guy like Oz truly wants (she's too insecure to believe that he could want her above all others). Any woman can relate to that, and it's interesting (and heart-breaking at times) to see Willow go through that transition, esp. since Buffy is naturally very sexy while Willow struggles with wanting to be but not feeling like she is. "Selfless" | View Comments12 | SarahFeb 6, 2012 Agree with everything you've said. PURE BLISS. I will never be over this episode. Also, just wanted to point out that I really liked the music at the very end when Anya is walking away alone. I think it's the only time that particular piece is played, sadly, but for some reason it really stuck with me. Beautiful sadness is how I'd describe it, it fit the mood perfectly. It captures the painful, scary, yet ultimately beautiful journey that lay ahead for Anya as she learns who she is. It just makes my heart swell. "Season 5 Review" | View Comments13 | SarahFeb 4, 2012 Season 5 is the one that got me hooked on Buffy and made me realize that this show is so much more profound than it appears at first. I watched the series out of order, starting with season 5, so it will always be the most special to me. On the topic of each season's "big bad", it's interesting to zoom out and look at what each season's villain means in the overall development of the show and its characters (you may have already talked about this in a review I haven't read yet). Season 2's evil was Buffy's boyfriend, which made it extremely personal for her, Season 3 was the town mayor, Season 4 involved the federal government, and Season 5 involved a god. As we move from the deeply personal to the larger social and political structures and then to the theological, each villain pushes the characters to new heights in their strength and maturity. I especially love S 5 for juxtaposing a god with Buffy's spiritual journey into her own nature. And then Season 6's villains turn out not to be something bigger than S 5, but rather the complete opposite - the 3 dorkiest, most immature boys. It makes perfect sense when looking at Buffy's character at that point - lost, depressed, struggling to reclaim who she is. Having suffered from severe chronic depression myself (I remember you mentioning that you hadn't), I can say S 6 really hit the nail on the head and I really, really love the writers for taking such a dark risk with it. S 6 can easily be a metaphor for a person's depression and/or quarter or mid-life crisis - a time when they really have no direction and feel they have lost their purpose and passion for life. In those times, even the littlest challenges feel like mountains, which is why those 3 dorks are such perfect villains. And then S 7, when Buffy has overcome her personal demons, she is all the stronger for having gotten through that phase and is able to take on the source of all evil by spreading her knowledge and strength to others. It's just so beautiful to contemplate this whole arc, but it wouldn't be nearly as powerful if S 6 hadn't happened. In order to be realistic and true to human nature, the show had to take that nose dive and then come out of it. Sorry for all the blabbering. I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS!! Thank you for this site! "Family" | View Comments14 | SarahJan 30, 2012 Hey Mike. I've been enjoying your reviews for a while now. You've done an excellent job and I agree with you 99% of the time. I tend not to comment much since it's been so many years since you've written these posts, but there are a few occasions when I can't resist saying something. I don't mean to dwell on disagreement, b/c like I said, I LOVE the work you've done, but I've been noticing a few comments you've made about homosexuality across different reviews that strike me as naive. Perhaps you've outgrown these views over these years...nonetheless I must point out that Tara being a lesbian and the men in Tara's family being oppressive are not necessarily connected. A straight woman can have oppressive men in her family and a lesbian can have extremely caring men in her family. Assuming there's a logical "reason" why Tara is gay kind of implies there's an element of choice, whereas we tend not to make such assumptions about heterosexuality. I'm not here to debate whether being gay is a choice or about nature vs. nurture - people have their own opinions about that based on whatever reason and the bottom line is we don't know - but I just wanted to point out subtle assumptions we tend to make about gay people that may not be true. "After Life" | View Comments15 | sarahAug 29, 2010 I share your love for this episode because it is emotionally and intellectually absorbing. During this season my latent uneasiness concerning Willow finally manifested in open dislike. I guess that this was not only due to rational motives but also bases upon a lack of understanding of her flaws. According to my personal theory you can relate better to people´s mistakes if you share the same faults in character to a certain extent. I can empathise with Buffy´s dominant attitude during a crisis, with Xander´s fear of long-term decisions or with Faith´s wild streak but I never understood Willow´s willingness to do unethical things in order to avoid conflicts. Honesty and openess are virtues that I really appreciate. To me Willow mindraping Tara was the worst thing a supposed good character has done during the whole series. A physical rape is aweful but a mental one in my opinion is worse: Your whole "core", your identiy is captured and violated. Everything that constituted yourself is put into question. In a certain way Tara parallels resurrected Buffy who also lost an stable sense of identiy. This season shows us the unholy alliance of Willow´s to greatest flaws: Her avoidance of conflicts and her love for power that is supposed to hide her insecurity. "Checkpoint" | View Comments16 | sarahAug 20, 2010 Random question: Did you others also mention that the woman from the council who took part in interviewing Spike seemed to be a little bit too attracted by him? "Out of My Mind" | View Comments17 | sarahAug 13, 2010 again, I love your analysis but I have to disagree with a few things concerning Riley "his strength isn't enough for her either" I don´t think that Buffy personally needs his strength to be content. I will say it in a very hard way: Riley is not a real help if they have to face a perilous enemy who is more dangerous than the usual "newborn" vampires. If they were in such a situation every intelligent enemy whould see Riley as easy prey thus Buffy always had to look after Riley and fight the demon synchronous. In a nutshell she was more in danger with Riley than without his help. In addition to this rational argument I also can see Buffy trying to protect her boyfriend. She knows that he is a better fighter than the Scoobies but not a real challenge for a strong demon. As slayer she already had to face the death of friends like Kendra or Ms Calendar and I guess she does not want to repeat that sad experience with a beloved person like Riley. Thus strength is not something she craves by her boyfriends but something she sees as life assurance. On the other I always had the feeling that "manliness" and fighting capabilities are things that are linked closely for Riley. "Ignoring Riley is really the thing for Buffy" I did not perceive it as ignoring. I think that Gilles and Xander sacrified a lot of time and presumably money to create a "real" training place for Buffy. If i remember it right she used to train in the former school library which was a rather crowded place. Thus i assume that it was only naturally for her (and a sign of good manners)to show great gratitude and to admire the room at length. It was Gille´s and Xander´s moment and I thought it was a bit unpolite of Riley that he did not caught this feeling and tried so desperately to gain her attention. "Into the Woods" | View Comments18 | sarahAug 10, 2010 I yesterday found your reviews and I am seriously intrigued because they are really insightful and you show great depth in your analysis. I have my own theory concerning the Buffy/Riley relationship and the reason for its break up. I often read that people blamed a lack of love (Buffy) or jealousy (Riley). However I guess that their characters simply are incompatible which results in the conflicts written above. Buffy is a strong emancipated woman who reacts rather dismissive towards authority. Riley is the born soldier who likes following orders (yes, i am a bit polemic) and who has a rather old-fashioned relationship to women. He "courts" Buffy and he wants to "protect his girl". I admit that I am not a huge fan of this attitude but I don´t want to blame him for it. After all he is a decent guy. However his protective attitude becomes rather ridiculous regarding the fact that his "girl" is the strongest human (?) in the world. I always thought that maybe this relationship could have worked if Riley realised this and a) tried to create a life of his own, b) accepted Buffy´s superior strength and supported her emotionally instead of physically. I had a hard time not to despise Riley for his simplistic world view, too. I accept that his idealism was abused by the Initiative but even after he left it his black and white view still was intact. I am political scientist and after seeing what attrocities humans have committed over the centuries I can´t relate to him, I am sorry. Of course it was not helpful that Buffy never felt that fierce love she felt for Angel. But we have to take into account that Angel was her first love, such things are always "bigger than life". I speak from own experience when I say that later relationships tend to be more calm but also more mature and stable. "Shadow" | View Comments19 | Sarah Jun 12, 2010 Anybody else notice that Sandy appears back in Dopplegangland? She's the girl vamp Willow feeds on in the Bronze. Some nice subtle contiunity there. "The Weight of the World" | View Comments20 | SarahMay 5, 2010 one very subtle line Willow said that I thought was interesting - when Anya warned how dangerous it would be to enter Buffy's mind, Willow at one point said, "it's not exactly well-explored territory." This has two meanings - from a magic perspective mind travel has not been well-explored, but also Buffy's mind in particular is so complex and difficult for others to relate to b/c she's the slayer, and in that sense Willow could also mean that trying to understand Buffy herself is not a well-explored territory. Subtle writing, Love it. Selene is getting Willow's whole struggle all wrong. I love that this show doesn't make any sort of black-and-white statements. Yes sometimes the magic she does is good and helpful, but like mike constantly reminds us, this show is about things having consequences, and so her use of magic is an ambiguous issue. it is sometimes good, sometimes bad, but the point to focus on is the effect it's having on Willow herself. "Restless" | View Comments21 | SarahApr 30, 2010 great review! regarding Giles and Spike in Xander's dream, I wanted to add my own interpretation - that Giles training Spike to be a watcher may foreshadow the close relationship Buffy is going to form with Spike over the rest of the series. Giles and Buffy have a very special relationship, and so this could foreshadow Buffy and Spike's very special relationship. Spike's journey teaches Buffy a lot, and so perhaps that is what is meant by watcher here. "Seeing Red" | View Comments22 | SarahApr 25, 2010 I don't think that the bullet was a mistake. Even if Tara's death had been instaneous, there still would be leakage, but the heart wasn't pumping anymore so it would have been slower. Tara was shot through and through. Since she was on her back, the blood went out the back because of gravity. Buffy's wound was to the front and the bullet stayed lodged in her chest. Since there was no exit wound, the bloos had nowhere to go but up. So Buffy bled a lot through her front; Tara bled through the back. Buffy's blood was seen; Tara's wasn't. "Once More, with Feeling" | View Comments23 | SarahApr 22, 2010 I can't stop watching this episode! Great analysis. I wanted to add that the look on Willow's face after finding out that Buffy was in heaven was not only a look of utter disgust and disbelief, but she also seemed to be extremely angry at Sweet for being the reason Buffy's secret came out. I almost feel as if Willow was mostly angry about the fact that she had to hear such a depressing truth, maybe even moreso than feeling bad for Buffy herself. I got the feeling that Willow just wished that this truth had never been revealed, so she could go on thinking that the magic she did was good. She doesn't ever want to face the fact that magic always has consequences. This makes sense given how selfish she's becoming as the season progresses, leading to her turn to the dark side. "Never Leave Me" | View Comments24 | SarahApr 22, 2009 I think it's a bit of both. Having people around had to do him good, but mostly I think it's personality. At the end of Damages, Angel visits Spike in the hospital and they have a bonding moment discussing what kind of monsters they were. Spike: I never did think that much about the nature of evil. No. Just threw myself in. Thought it was a party. I liked the rush. I liked the crunch. Never did look back at the victims. vs Angel: I couldn't take my eyes off them. I was only in it for the evil. It was everything to me. It was art. The destruction of a human being. I think those two different perspectives, attitudes could also be attributed to how they reacted to their souls. Not that Spike doesn't feel bad about what he's done, knows he was vicious and vile, he owns up to it every time it comes up, but he is in the moment kind of guy, he files what's done away, stores it, doesn't forget it, and moves on. Whereas, Angel, as Angelus, was about pyschological torment as well as the brutality. He lingered in the moment, relished it and now with a soul he lingers in the moment and suffers. I don't think their different reactions indicates one is more "soulful" than the other, just demonstrates their differences, differences that compliment each other, I might add. "Never Leave Me" | View Comments25 | SarahApr 13, 2009 I'm glad you put Anya slapping Xander in the plus column, but though she was funny with the mouthing "I'm Sorry" it was the look on Xander's face that makes that moment priceless. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. Nice review. Thank you. "Beneath You" | View Comments26 | SarahMar 5, 2009 "not actually crazy at all" I don't think I can agree completely with this statement or imply that Spike at this point is a "rationally thinking person". The First is manipulating his vulnerable state of mind, but it is a fractured state of mind. "I dreamed of killing you. I think they were dreams." This is a perfect example of him trying to rectify, trying to understand past thoughts, past actions with his new conscience, in my opinion. Even if he hadn't had the most evil of evils whispering crazy nothings in his ear, I think he would have returned to Sunnydale broken; maybe not stinky, wild haired, basement living broken, but broken. His snark response seems to be a reflex, fractured mind or not. Again I just enjoyed seeing it, as it was rare this season. "Beneath You" | View Comments27 | SarahMar 2, 2009 My favorite moment of this episode is the noise Anya makes when she hears about the puppy then "Ohh puppy!" and Xander responding, "Wait, that gets your sad noise? People's lives are in danger, and you give it up for the Yorkie?" It makes me laugh every time. That blue shirt though was hideous, costume or not. My take on the not ripped anymore Spike, since the soul, the touch of insanity he was experiencing distracted him a bit from the working out. No longer patroling, demon fighting, no more violent sex, he lost the six pack. Ironically, he looked healtier for it IMO. Prefer "soft" Spike to emaciated Spike of season 6. What I found most fun about Spikes insanity, was his moments of clarity came in the form of snark. "Well, yes. Where've you been all night" "Manifest spirits controlled by a talisman, raised to seek vengeance. A four year-old could figure it.", "I'm insane, what's his excuse?" It so fits his character. Overall, the main plot, the monster were weak, but the episode had bright shiny moments, glowing even. "Lessons" | View Comments28 | SarahFeb 22, 2009 Great review. Although it wasn't the attention getter of an opening episode along the lines of Bargining, it was, in my opinion typical season opener. Looking back at your reviews even most first episodes got "B" grades. What I've liked about Buffy is how the tention builds over the season and a fun, fluffy first episode is how they get that done. The tailmen thing was a bad loose thread, can't really forgive that. But like you said this episdoe has a detox effect; the color is bright, the action fun, the characters are in a good place. A good way to begin... "Fool for Love" | View Comments29 | sarahDec 20, 2008 Just found this site and I'm enjoying reading everyone's reactions to the show. There's a line from Dru in this episode that from the first time I heard it I always found immensely forboding, "you taste like ashes" Not only did she know that Spike loved the Slayer before he did, she also knew the path back to the Slayer, that obsession would end with his death. But it's the word "ashes" that most interesting. Knowing now how Spike meets his end (on Buffy anyways), not a mere "dusting" but burning up, turned to ash, Dru's warning carries more weight. Whether it be coincidence or intentional, it's a nice bit of continuity. That's one of the fun things about this show is how well they, for the most part, work within the history they created. It's not written, filmed then forgotten. "Family" | View Comments30 | SarahMay 7, 2007 I really liked this episode and think it deserved a higher score. I just don't think Tara was very likeable until this episode. I think a lot of people, me included, really loved Willow with Oz so seeing her with Tara just seemed off. I finally started to like Tara this episode and I love how we finally found out why Tara purposely ruined the spell to find out where the demons were in a previous episode. That made me mad at the time and now I have a reason for it. By the way great reviews! |
Latest News  Delays... MikeJer - Feb 24, 2013 Hey all!I just wanted to let you all know that I'm looking forward to getting going on my Season 2 review updates. I recently started a new job, so life has been extra bu... View Full Post Latest Comments Ryan ONeil [Gingerbread] *in reply to Vishal (#60) The popular theory on the forums is that:Before Buffy showed up, ... View CommentMay 21, 2013 Ryan ONeil [Consequences] *in reply to James (#30) Probably public property View CommentMay 19, 2013 Waverley [Family] This episode makes me cry like a big girly man every time. That bit where Buffy says 'Take h... View CommentMay 18, 2013 Latest Forum Posts buffyholic [Supernatural Rewatch] I agree that Mark Pellegrino is amazing as Lucifer. But season five isn´t all that perfect... View PostMay 22, 2013 buffyholic [Dexter] The trailer for season 8 has been released. What do you think will happen? And how do you f... View PostMay 22, 2013 Ryan ONeil [Xander Harris] The problem with DMP isn't the argument. It's A] the party being over the top and out of cha... View PostMay 20, 2013 |
I wish Angel stayed. Buffy and Angel's talk in this episode showed that Buffy clearly loves Angel and always will. She can still tell him anything. They have a deep connection and are soulmates