Commenter Lookup *Caution* Unless you see an ADMIN tag, the comments below may not all belong to the same person! "Angel" | View Comments2 | fray-adjacentNov 1, 2012 *in reply to Alex (#41) That was always how I interpreted it. I like that as an in-universe explanation, and Ryan's as a Doylist explanation. :)"The Pack" | View Comments3 | fray-adjacentSep 26, 2012 *in reply to Ryan ONeil (#46) Yeah, as far as Xander's behavior is concerned, my interpretation is similar to Ryan's. I don't think that we were seeing Xander acting out his own desires with less inhibition. We were seeing him possessed (I guess I do think of it as demonic possession, but I don't know if that matters so much for the question at hand). But Giles' "your secret dies with me" line? That's disturbing. And, I think, quite out of character. Maybe it's supposed to be a hint at Giles having his own dark teenage past, and understanding why Xander is so uncomfortable with those memories, but really it just comes off as an obnoxious expression of male solidarity, not one that I would expect from Giles. To give him a little credit, Giles probably doesn't know about the attempted rape. Just the sniffing and meanness. "Go Fish" | View Comments4 | fray-adjacentSep 18, 2012 *in reply to Brian (#24) Two questions:Do you really have nothing to offer this site besides pedantic grammar/spelling/usage quibbles? Have you really not noticed that all your previous pedantic grammar/spelling/usage quibbling comments have been deleted? Sorry, admin, this just bugs me. Obviously feel free to delete this comment when you do Brian's. "Selfless" | View Comments5 | fray-adjacentAug 1, 2012 Wow, ATB, never thought of it that way! Great point, very cool connection. "Seeing Red" | View Comments6 | fray-adjacentJun 29, 2012 Janice, I partially agree about lack or response to Faith's sexual assault/attempted murder of Xander, though I have seen viewers talk about it a little. I do think there are other additional explanations for the lack of response relative to that of Spike's AR of Buffy, though the idea that women can't rape men is probably also one of them: 1. Like you say, Spike is more loved, and many of the people who love him at least to some extent want him to be GOOD, at least to Buffy. 2. The victim was the show's primary protagonist, who has long been an icon of female empowerment. It was very scary to see her in this position. 3. The way the event was filmed was much more realistic, also making it more scary. It was also a longer scene. 4. There is no follow-up within the series itself on Faith's assault of Xander. We never see either character (or Angel, who stopped it) reflect on the experience at all. And, if you're interested in more discussion, please do check out the forum! "Once More, with Feeling" | View Comments7 | fray-adjacentJun 26, 2012 Hi Candice! I too have teared up once or twice during that number. Sarah Michelle Gellar's acting performance is (unsurprisingly) outstanding -- she conveys so much even while she's working so hard on the singing and dancing! "Season 1 Review" | View Comments8 | fray-adjacentMay 30, 2012 Riis, I agree with you (except on Kennedy; I don't mind her so much). I've often wondered about that aspect of the fight in "Tough Love": did Willow just change the subject and turn Tara's concern into something much bigger than it actually was as a way to avoid dealing with Tara's real worry, which was about magic? Or was Tara genuinely worried about Willow's sexuality? It certainly is a reality in relationships between women -- some women grow tired of being someone's "college experiment" while many bisexual women (and men) struggle to be recognized by gays and lesbians. Anyway, I suppose that if Tara really had been worried that Willow would "head back to boys' town" then that fear was pretty thoroughly laid to rest by the devotion that Willow showed her after the mindwipe. "The Body" | View Comments9 | fray-adjacentMay 17, 2012 I agree, but it's not entirely clear that Anya herself recognizes this. She seems remarkably good at compartmentalizing/not worrying about her past misdeeds. I do wish the show would have delved into this a little more, and this time would have been a good one to do it. Well, maybe not in "The Body" itself, but in "Forever" or "Intervention". "Primeval" | View Comments10 | fray-adjacentMay 16, 2012 But the making up of different parts is quite different. Adam is made of different parts because of demon-vivisection. Scientists created Adam by killing and dismembering demons as well as a human (though *hopefully* he was already dead a la "Some Assembly Required"). Buffy grows stronger because of the combined talents of four friends who willingly bring their various strengths to the effort and who remain complete and autonomous individuals. It is their cooperation and friendship that is the "source of [their] power", which Adam "could never understand". "Flooded" | View Comments11 | fray-adjacentApr 11, 2012 JustJenna, nowhere in the series do they say that Willow and Tara don't pay. Furthermore, we know that before they moved into the Summers home, they paid for their expenses through money from parents, scholarships, grants, loans etc. They had to. There is no reason to believe they aren't still contributing at least that much to maintaining the Summers household now. The fact that their student budgets don't cover the mortgage on a two-story, three-bedroom craftsman with gorgeous hardwood floors, a finished basement, and a yard, all within audible distance of the Pacific Ocean and a short drive from LA, is not terribly surprising. Yes, they should have gotten jobs, but there's no reason to interpret their statement as meaning that they weren't contributing. I do strongly agree that the Watchers' Council should pay Slayers, but obviously they don't. However, given that Buffy (in "Checkpoint") helped Giles get his Watcher position back with more than a year of back pay (and it must have been a good salary for him to live unemployed for a year and still have enough to buy the Magic Box), and given that his employer depends entirely on the Slayer to even justify its existence, I'd say HE owed her financially far more than Willow or Tara did. That's why it was absolutely right for him to give her a big ole whopping check at the end of this episode. "Becoming Pt. 2" | View Comments12 | fray-adjacentApr 7, 2012 Alex, your point on plot continuity and a large obsessive fan-base is well-taken, but there are definitely shows that handle plot better than Buffy. I am in the midst of my first run through Veronica Mars, and while on first watch I'm sure there's things I miss, and I have noticed one or two danglers, overall the writers on that show do a far better job than Buffy writers of maintaining a coherent plot throughout the seasons and series. I do also agree with Mike's distinction, which is a fundamental reason why I love Buffy far more than I will ever love Veronica Mars (great though it is). I know quite a few people who like to just put Buffy on in the background while they do chores around the house and whatnot. I think this is because the characters in the show are so full and real feeling that it's almost like hanging out with friends. This is a direct result of the character and emotional continuity that Buffy writers did such a masterful job of, far better than they did at plot continuity. On another note: how many TV shows in the early Buffy days even had serialized plots? I don't think it was particularly common. I expect now that there are probably a lot more TV writers who have developed the skills needed to write a good serialized plot, and that the bar is just generally higher in that regard now than it was in 1998. "The Wish" | View Comments13 | fray-adjacentJan 17, 2012 Brock, can you explain more what your criticisms are of the writing, directing, and acting? I recall being rather impressed with the former two and perfectly satisfied with the third, so I'm curious to hear what you dislike in more detail. "Season 6 Review" | View Comments14 | fray-adjacentJan 8, 2012 To chime in, one of the great aspects of this site is its ability to maintain a culture of healthy and respectful debate. People disagree, sometimes quite strongly, but don't resort to name-calling and psychoanalysing someone they've never even met in order to express that disagreement. So thanks to Mike and Alex for trying to maintain that culture here and in other comment threads. :) "Homecoming" | View Comments15 | fray-adjacentJan 4, 2012 I agree. The difference between this case and, e.g., "Ted" (before she found out he was a robot) was that in the latter case Buffy wailed on him a lot harder than she needed to given how much danger she (thought she) was in. She was entering punishment territory, not self-defense territory. That's not the case for the snipers here or for the "role-playing rejects" in "Spiral", and it makes all the difference to Buffy where humans are concerned, at least until Season 7. "Reptile Boy" | View Comments16 | fray-adjacentDec 22, 2011 I'm not a fan of the "when you kiss me I want to die" line either (if nothing else, it makes me wonder when the hell in the last 6 months has Angel kissed Buffy). But I'm even more bothered by Boreanaz's terrible acting throughout. Some of his scenes with SMG are just a little excruciating in the contrast between her acting and his, and this is one of them. He's so wooden and awkward that it's really hard to even tell why he's even saying these things. It's too bad, because the scene has so much foreshadowing and could have been fantastic, but his bad acting in addition to the clumsiness of the last few lines really weigh it down, IMO. I don't "enjoy" the scenes with Xander being humiliated at the frat house either, but I don't mind that they have them in there. The frat party stuff is all about patriarchy -- the frat boys drug the girls in order to sacrifice them and boost their own power. The scenes where they dress up Xander underscore that socially, for those frat boys, Xander ranks no higher than a woman would. They objectify and torment him, as they do the girls (though of course they don't try to kill him). If the frat boy demon worshipers are a thin metaphor for the rule of rich men, the Xander stuff shows that most men -- the ones who aren't rich -- don't fare well under such a system either. Furthermore, it underscores Xander's social outsider status, which is an important trait for all the Scoobies, and is particularly relevant for Xander, who doesn't go to college, who floats from minimum wage job to minimum wage job for S4, etc. Plus we get the satisfaction of watching him punch out one the frat boys later. :) "School Hard" | View Comments17 | fray-adjacentDec 22, 2011 Wow, deadlego's analysis of the "chop her into messes" line is a good case for even more foreshadowing. That's really interesting! I would also add that Angel telling the Scoobies that once Spike starts something, "he doesn't stop" is another good piece of foreshadowing in this episode. It certainly is an overall character trait, but in particular it makes me think of his obsession with Buffy in S5, his determination to protect Dawn "to the end of the world" even after Buffy died, and his quest to regain his soul at the end of S6. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" | View Comments18 | fray-adjacentDec 13, 2011 Early in the episode, Cordelia tells her teacher, "I'm real unfocused. I have all these points, and I'm pretty sure they all contradict each other." I think this could read as forshadowing her development in S2 and S3, and maybe S1 of Angel. She faces this constant tension between doing good and fulfilling her desires for fun and popularity, between her attraction to Xander and her wish to stay cool, date rich guys etc. "Nightmares" | View Comments19 | fray-adjacentDec 13, 2011 In addition to the moment when the Scoobies look over and see Buffy's nighttime-graveyard world from their POV -- the daytime on-campus world -- there is another moment in this episode that underscores the way the Buffy's life is fundamentally different from their's, that she walks in a different world. When Buffy and Billy first stumble into the nighttime-graveyard, he says, "is this where your friends are?" She looks around and says, "no, it's not." I'm surprised that this review doesn't have a foreshadowing section -- I guess because you covered all the foreshadowing in the review itself. "When She Was Bad" | View Comments20 | fray-adjacentDec 7, 2011 Hey Gemma, It's been nice reading your comments the last few days. You'll get a lot more responses if you join the forum and post your thoughts there! Hope to see you there. :) "Teacher's Pet" | View Comments21 | fray-adjacentDec 6, 2011 I've long held this is my least favorite episode of Buffy (there's a comment a ways up of me saying so), but I just rewatched it and I must admit it's not as bad as I remembered. There's some fun and charming character interaction early in the episode -- this is around the time when the writers started really finding the characters' voices, I think. Also, I disagree that this episode is unaware of Xander's growth. The previous two epidsodes -- every episode since Xander learned about Buffy being the Slayer -- his insecurity about her power has come out in some way. In "The Harvest" he says, "I'm less than a man" because Buffy doesn't want him to help rescuing Jesse. In "The Witch" he takes credit for saving everyone Willow, right in front of Buffy, Giles, and Amy no less! His dream sequence at the start of this episode fits in with that. But at the end, he acknowledges that Buffy was right and that she saved him -- no qualifiers, no mumbling insecurities, just real heartfelt gratitude. And he does change after that, and though he by no means treats Buffy perfectly in the future, he does accept her leadership. "After Life" | View Comments22 | fray-adjacentAug 19, 2011 Actually, Buffy's friends didn't push. Willow actively avoided finding out how Buffy was really feeling, cause she was afraid of what she'd hear. There's a great scene in "Flooded" that shows just this. Buffy is taking out her anger on the punching bag after being denied the loan. Willow tells Buffy that she hasn't been very emotionally expressive lately, then sort of falters. The camera stays steady on Buffy and it looks like she might, maybe, actually open up to Willow again. But then Willow quickly changes the subject and then leaves. It would have been ridiculously out of character for Buffy to punch Willow at any point in the show (outside of Two to Go and Grave), but especially now, when she's depressed and feeling dead inside. And Spike can't punch people. And, bad as she's behaving, a punch is not at all what Willow needs. I think they can all see that she's not fine, Spike is just more open to hearing about WHY. Willow in particular, though probably also Dawn, Xander, and Anya, don't want to here why because it could mean that it was a mistake to bring her back. And they really don't want to deal with that. Very interesting points, ShinyNorman. I did always wonder if Buffy was really in Heaven. "End of Days" | View Comments23 | fray-adjacentAug 18, 2011 I feel like a big dork for writing a comment about this, but I love when Buffy tells Spike that "shirty ... isn't even a word." Because she's always inventing new words by adding y's to nouns. That makes me laugh sooooooo hard. OK, to add a bit of substance to the comment -- I actually like the Buffy/Xander scene. While Buffy telling Xander that he's her strength is a little weird after "Empty Places", in the context of the conversation it makes sense. 1, Xander himself might not be Buffy's strength, but the entire series has shown us that her friends as a whole are. Remembering that how much strength she forges through her relationships, through human connection, is part of how she gets to her plan in "Chosen", and it's part of the insight that she (re)gained from her night with Spike. 2, Buffy's asking Xander to take Dawn and leave town, to run away and leave the rest to fight, probably to the death (remember that it was only later that she realizes that they're "gonna win"). She's trying to convince him to go AND she doesn't want a bad goodbye. It makes it easy to believe they'd both overlook recent events and try act in the spirit of their years-long friendship. Another scene I love in this episode is the Xander/Dawn ones. Yeah, the taser might not have been such a good idea (though I love that she carries one), but everything else about those scenes is great stuff. Agreed on the Buffy/Faith, Buffy/Spike, and Anya/Andrew scenes. Character gold. Overall, some really bad exposition scenes (made much worse because what they're exposing isn't all that sensible) but even more great character scenes. "Consequences" | View Comments24 | fray-adjacentJul 15, 2011 Louisa, I think you hit the nail *square* on the head with that one. Very well put. (BTW, you should join us on the forum. It's lots of fun.) "A New Man" | View Comments25 | fray-adjacentMay 16, 2011 Wow, that's a great insight Helen! I never thought of that before. I do think that the primary difference between Riley/Adam and the first Slayer is one of consent (well, for Riley anyway). He certainly did not consent to the Initiative implanting chips or administering hormones or whatever -- that was a major violation of this body -- but he did choose to join the fight in the first place. "Season 1 Review" | View Comments26 | fray-adjacentApr 28, 2011 Nice review. Your distinction between serialized plot and serialized characterization is key, and also highly relevant to Seasons 4 and 7, where they somewhat failed at the former but still, to a large extent, succeeded at the latter. Every time I rewatch season 4, I'm less bothered by the Adam plot and more impressed by the character development. I think the moment of depth they gave Cordelia in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" -- and the follow-through on that development afterward -- was the first time I began the recognize the specialness of the show. Prior to that, I had absolutely no faith that she'd be anything other than a caricature. Like most fans at CT, I like Season 1 the least, but I still enjoy the charm and even the camp. I very much agree with you that it succeeds at creating a group of likable characters with a great dynamic and excellent dialog. I'm watching Buffy with a friend (her first time), and I skipped half of S1, only showing "Welcome to the Hellmouth", "The Harvest", "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date", "Angel", "Nightmares", and "Prophecy Girl." (I skipped OoMOoS despite the initial impact it had on me.) Now I think that's a mistake: flawed as season 1 is, the way it establishes the characters and their relationships is probably important in getting a viewer to really care about them. My friend didn't really get sucked in until "The Body"! (I also skipped a number of early S2 episodes, so she missed a lot of the early Buffy/Angel relationship that you referenced in your review. I think that's why the Angelus arc didn't pull her in like it does most people.) "The Wish" | View Comments27 | fray-adjacentApr 24, 2011 Andrea, I agree about Angel, but I believe Giles knew that Buffy was the slayer. In the alternate reality she went to Cleveland instead of Sunnydale, but he was still stationed there, presumably to deal with the demonic activity there despite the Watchers' Council insistence that there was no Hellmouth there. (Remember that Fate brought Buffy to Sunnydale, not the WC; presumably in this world Fate sent her to Cleveland.) I interpreted Giles' reaction to Cordelia as shock that *she* knew about Buffy and about slayers, and specifically that he was a Watcher. Interestingly, while double-checking the dialogue related to my comment, I noticed that when Giles calls the council, this is what he says: "Yes, I understand, but it's imperative that I see her. Here. (listens) Well... when will you? (listens) Yeah, well, you are her Watcher. I'd expect her to at least check in to... (listens) Yes, I'm aware that there's a great deal of demonic activity in Cleveland. (listens) It... Well, it happens, you know, that, that Sunnydale is on a Hellmouth. (listens) It, it is so! (listens) Well... Just... Just give her the message, if you ever see her again. (hangs up)" It sounds like alternate-reality Buffy is just as rebellious against her Watcher as Sunnydale Buffy. What makes her different is that lack of connection to people and to the world that Spike talks about in "Fool for Love." The writers seem to be implying that, while Buffy's "think outside the box" method is important, it's not enough. She needs her relationships in order to sustain her so that she keeps up the will to win. "Empty Places" | View Comments28 | fray-adjacentMar 31, 2011 Conor, I agree with your description of the situation, and when I watch that scene I feel positively furious with Buffy. (I do understand why she's acting the way she does, though, which other commenters and Mike himself have described in detail.) But I also can't imagine, after everything they've been through together, Xander, Willow, and Dawn allowing the group to kick Buffy out (or, in Dawn's case, initiating it). I could *maybe* buy that it happened in the heat of the argument, but afterward they let Faith be the new leader and made no attempt to track down Buffy (as Susan pointed out in comment #80). Buffy needed to be called out. She didn't need to be kicked out of her house; by that point it was pretty clear that no one was going along with her plan. What's more is that, even if *I* thought it needed to happen, I still wouldn't buy Willow, Xander, and Dawn doing it. (Giles I'm not so sure of.) Then again, there is something to be said for the power of the group dynamic, which other commenters have pointed out. Also, I very much agree that Buffy's burden is, at this point, no longer her own, or at least no longer entirely her own. (Actually, it was never entirely her own; part of why she lived so long was that she had the Scooby gang to share a bit of that burden with her.) That's part of what makes Anya's comment, "You're not better than us, just luckier," very interesting. On one hand, it's a slap in the face of how much Buffy has sacrificed over the previous six years (including, twice, her life). On the other hand, everyone there is in that fight, and Buffy's strength does make her more likely to survive. In a way, you could even read this comment as foreshadowing Anya's death in battle, something she chose to fight even though she didn't have the strength and skills to win. "Bring on the Night" | View Comments29 | fray-adjacentFeb 17, 2011 Beth24, I believe it's implied that the Watcher's Council has long had ways of detecting potential slayers, and that they reach out to and train those slayers in anticipation of them eventually being called -- not by the Council, but by Fate. This is probably part of the justification for how large the Council is -- they aren't just managing one slayer, but also any number of potentials. However, the Council clearly is incapable of detecting *all* potentials: they detected Kendra ahead of time but not Buffy, and it's not clear whether they detected Faith. The Council also didn't originally detect all of the potentials that wind up at the Summers' house: Rona says she'd never heard anything about this slayer business until just before she came to Sunnydale, and Amanda also was never detected until the Coven told Willow that there was another potential in Sunnydale. Anyway, the rationale in S7 is that if there are no more potential slayers, then Fate will not be able to call them. However, we see in the "Chosen" montage that there's lots of undetected potentials still out there; the First was nowhere near bringing down the Slayer line. Clearly the magic that the Council uses to detect potentials isn't very good! "Some Assembly Required" | View Comments30 | fray-adjacentFeb 16, 2011 It could also be a reference to Buffy's original watcher being killed. That happened in the movie, which as far as I can tell isn't canon with respect to the TV show, but some aspects of the movie, like the name of her school in LA, make it into the show. So this early in S2 anyway the writers might have that in mind. Just conjecture though, and one without a lot of support since no one ever refers to this in the entire 7 seasons of the show. "Season 6 Review" | View Comments31 | fray-adjacentFeb 16, 2011 Jared: agreed about Dawn in S6. When I discuss her character with friends (most of whom hate her), I always have to remind them that in the course of one year she learned her entire history (a history which included being abandoned by a parent) was a lie and she experienced the death of *two* mother figures. Then a few months later yet another mother figure (Tara) leaves, and Buffy is ignoring her. Like Joss once said, "her abandonment issues have abandonment issues." But you make a great point that the writers don't portray this in a way that makes her sympathetic, instead she comes off as whiney. My personal experience being that real people complain as much about traffic jams as Dawn does about these deep personal traumas, I don't mind so much, but I think that's in spite of the writers' portrayal. "I Was Made to Love You" | View Comments32 | fray-adjacentFeb 9, 2011 Something I'd add to the plus column is the fantastic acting by the woman who played AprilBot, especially in its final "death" scene. The way she moves her mouth and eyebrows looks just the right amount of mechanical. Very impressive, even more so than Sarah Michelle Gellar's BuffyBot. "Who Are You?" | View Comments33 | fray-adjacentJan 30, 2011 Brizon, I think you're underestimating how controversial lesbian sex was on network television in 2000. According to Whedon, he had to fight just to show the kiss in "The Body" -- and that kiss is about as familial as it is sexual. "Spiral" | View Comments34 | fray-adjacentJan 25, 2011 Niko, the magic that kept Ben and Glory as one being also made any person who saw them change forget about it. There was no need for spell-casting afterward, it happened automatically. When you think about how often they must have changed in front of other people, it's a pretty good little rule to throw in there. "Selfless" | View Comments35 | fray-adjacentJan 24, 2011 Buffy may be Lady HacksAway with your run-of-the-mill demon, but this is Anya, who, if nothing else, risked herself to help them when Willow was attacking in the S6 finale. I'm not arguing it's out of character (as I'm not in my comment on LMPTM), in fact I think it's really well done in terms of character development, as are her arguments with Xander, but S7 Buffy just ... frustrates me at times. "Lies My Parents Told Me" | View Comments36 | fray-adjacentJan 24, 2011 Coyote, I agree about the unsettlyness of Buffy's treatment of Robin, but I don't find it out of character, it just makes me feel frustrated with her! That happens a lot for me in S7, but perhaps the most in this scene (and, actually, in the argument scene in Empty Places). "I Only Have Eyes for You" | View Comments37 | fray-adjacentJan 18, 2011 Odigity, you should join the forum! You'll get a lot more excellent discussion there. "Dead Man's Party" | View Comments38 | fray-adjacentJan 18, 2011 Yeah, I agree. Except I love the ending with Buffy and Willow's name-calling. :) "Dead Man's Party" | View Comments39 | fray-adjacentJan 17, 2011 The end of the episode feels like a somewhat cheap copout of a complex conflict, but it becomes clear later on in the season that the problems *weren't* resolved. This is particularly true in "Revelations", when a lot of related problems come to a head (though not specifically the problem of Buffy running away). And MikeJer, you've pointed out a number of times that the gang isn't as close in this season as they were in S2. I read the resolution after the zombie fight as a temporary truce that the characters can come to since they've blown off some steam, but the show demonstrates later that the underlying problems haven't been resolved by showing the Scoobies' increasing emotional distance. "Anne" | View Comments40 | fray-adjacentJan 17, 2011 Love that oner. Only noticed it after seeing the episode 3 or 4 times, though. "Selfless" | View Comments41 | fray-adjacentJan 11, 2011 Sorry, I see that folks have discussed the amulet option pretty recently. However, there the focus was on reversing the spell, which Buffy wasn't looking to do. She wanted to stop Anya from doing *future* vengeance by killing her. And she appparently didn't try to find any other way of stopping her. "Selfless" | View Comments42 | fray-adjacentJan 11, 2011 @Keaton & Coyote (hey, join the forum! lots of fun discussion there!): The trouble I have with Buffy's decision to kill Anya is that, while she may have thought about it beforehand, she clearly didn't do a lot of *research* on it. If she had, she would've discovered, as Giles did in "The Wish", that you can destroy a vengeance demon's "power center" (the necklace) and make them normal humans. It seems that Buffy really didn't consider alternatives to killing Anya. Although I tend to agree with Joe's assessment of how this fits into Buffy's character development, I certainly don't like her more for it. "Once More, with Feeling" | View Comments43 | fray-adjacentJan 1, 2011 Rahel, I'd like to agree with you, but a moment in the season 7 episode "Selfless" seems to indicate that he actually did summon Sweet. There's flashback to OMwF, specifically to the first night of the episode, and Xander is drifting off to sleep mumbling "just ... want ... happy ... ending." Which is what he says at the end of OMwF in defense of having summoned Sweet. "Spiral" | View Comments44 | fray-adjacentDec 29, 2010 I agree with Mike's -- and pretty much everyone else's -- criticisms of the plot, but the character interactions that Iguana describes tips the scales in this episode's favor for me. The fun battle sequence doesn't hurt. Mike, you describe your feelings on "Spiral" as a "mixed bag", and that's actually exactly the phrase I'd use for the next episode -- "The Weight of the World." LOVE the Buffy/Willow mindwalk. BORED TO TEARS by the Ben/Glory back-and-forth. "The Harsh Light of Day" | View Comments45 | fray-adjacentDec 29, 2010 MikeJer, I just saw your 6-month old response to my comment. I re-read your review and I totally agree with you. Obviously I misinterpreted your statement before, and I'm not really sure how since you state it so clearly. Sorry. Also, I'm impressed with how quickly you whipped out these reviews of the first few seasons, and by how much your writing improved in that time. It looks like you wrote this within about a year of writing your review of "Welcome to the Hellmouth"! "Prophecy Girl" | View Comments46 | fray-adjacentDec 23, 2010 Like MrB, the first three quarters of the episode stand so far above the rest of season 1 that I tend to conveniently ignore the silliness of the last act. At least they recover the earlier tone at the end for Buffy's somber "I say we party" moment. Another excellent review! "Nightmares" | View Comments47 | fray-adjacentDec 10, 2010 Wow -- this is a truly excellent review. I'm really impressed by your insights into the symbolism of the camera panning up from the Master's cave to the school and the image of the nighttime cemetary next to the daytime Sunnydale High. I hadn't picked up on either of those things. You're right that the latter definitely points toward later themes in the show. This is one of my personal favorites from S1, especially if I skip the last scene. Ham-fisted is right. And while I agree that the other Scoobies' nightmares are shallow compared to Buffy's, I find Willow and Xander's nightmares so entertaining that I put them in the plus column. The plot, though, I'm with you 100% on. "I Robot, You Jane" | View Comments48 | fray-adjacentNov 24, 2010 Yeah, I liked this episode more than "Teacher's Pet", mostly because of the introduction of Jenny Calendar. But still, the new review is more entertaining than the episode itself. :) Especially this line, which made me laugh out loud: "If anything, there should have been less talk about being "jacked in" and more talk about who would win in a fight between a couple Borg Cubes and the Death Star (easy answer, by the way: one cube left standing due to adaption technology). These S1 techies make the Trio in S6 look like high class geeks." "The Pack" | View Comments49 | fray-adjacentNov 17, 2010 The first time through I found this episode utterly shocking. Until, of course, everything is forgotten/forgiven at the end. I wonder how the show would have gone if S1'd had basically the same episode plots but with more cohesion between them, so that the characters and relationships change as a consequence. It certainly would have been a much darker show from the get-go, and perhaps that would have interfered with establishing the lovable core Scoobies. But it would've made for a much better S1. Loving these rewrites. And I definitely agree with you on what's good and what's not in this episode. Also, this was a great point: "Speaking of missed opportunities, how about there being absolutely no parallel drawn between the possessed students and Cordelia's often cruel 'pack?'" "The Wish" | View Comments50 | fray-adjacentNov 13, 2010 I think it's safe to assume Anya doesn't remember. How would she ever have started hanging out in the same social circle as Giles if she knew he'd been the one to rob her of her powers? I don't think a little crush on Xander would've been enough to overcome that. One thing that always bugs me is how "Selfless" is inconsistent with this. You'd think that, once the Scoobies learned that Anya'd become a vengeance demon again, they'd try to find out how to stop her, and they'd come across the same text that Giles finds here, instructing them to destroy her power center. But the writers seem to have completely forgotten this and instead have Buffy try to kill Anya. (Also, they state that all of her wishes are undone, but the demon in "Hell's Bells" is unchanged.) "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" | View Comments51 | fray-adjacentNov 13, 2010 Great review, and nice opening. I watched this episode with a friend (her first time) a few months ago and she said, "so is this how every episode is going to be? Buffy tries to date a guy but her slaying interferes?" Thank goodness the writers didn't go that route. As a single episode, though, this is a pretty good intro to Buffy's slayer/social life problems, as you said. "Teacher's Pet" | View Comments52 | fray-adjacentSep 26, 2010 Fair grade. This is actually my least favorite Buffy episode -- I like it even less than "I Robot, You Jane." So my review probably would've stopped at the first sentence. Thanks for expanding on yours! "Witch" | View Comments53 | fray-adjacentSep 26, 2010 Great re-review! I like the insight about how S1 differs from remaining seasons in that the latter explore themes through the characters rather than through an episode-of-the-week plot. "The Long Way Home Pt. 3" | View Comments54 | fray-adjacentAug 27, 2010 Although I've stayed caught up on the comics, the resurrection of Warren Meers has kept me from ever really seeing them as canon. I just simply refuse to believe that he's alive. "Season 7 Review" | View Comments55 | fray-adjacentJul 19, 2010 ditto on Guido's comment. This review is chalk-full of excellent insights on S7 -- what's great about it, what's not-so-great about it, and how the events and the choices the characters make relate back to the six seasons before. Thanks! And thanks for the series retrospective. I think I want to share your 10-item list when I evangelize my favorite TV show. "Grave" | View Comments56 | fray-adjacentJun 16, 2010 Nice work. I've really enjoyed your S6 reviews and can't wait to see the polished-up versions of the earlier ones. Very insightful, and your "Sunnydale is real! ..." gave me a laugh-out-loud moment. :) "Flooded" | View Comments57 | fray-adjacentJun 11, 2010 Sven: I always wondered this too, but I just made the connection -- Buffy was buried in the woods. The Scoobies never reported her death. They used the Buffy bot when needed (e.g., parent-teacher day) so that Dawn could stay in the house, etc. I agree Willow and Tara should've gotten jobs, and their role in the financial stuff should be discussed more explicitly, but I don't think there's anything that states that they didn't contribute financially. This is what I always assumed: they were paying for room and board in the dorms for the previous two years, so they should be able to contribute that much money to the household. But that won't be enough to cover a spacious three bedroom craftsman with a wrap-around porch and big yard, so they relied on what was left of Joyce's life insurance, most of which covered the hospital bills (which would've been huge even with health insurance). "Tough Love" | View Comments58 | fray-adjacentJun 10, 2010 I like how Anya's patriotism = consumerism and anti-French stuff just sounds ridiculous, but, since this aired in Spring 2001, people will be hearing this stuff loud and clear from their president and congress post-911. "Triangle" | View Comments59 | fray-adjacentJun 8, 2010 I agree with your review, though Olaf doesn't bother me so much. I loved the Season 1 camp but it's out of place now, and Buffy's silly tears are way OOC. Xander's fight with Olaf is so annoying. He gets hit on the head with an enormous hammer and isn't even knocked out, when Katrina gets hit by -- what, a *glass*? -- and dies? "Family" | View Comments60 | fray-adjacentJun 7, 2010 Sven -- I agree that in S2 or S3, Buffy probably would have told Angel about Dawn. But, post "Innocence," this would have been a huge mistake! I agree with Willow that Buffy has a blind spot for Angel, and so if something that she learns from the experience is that she should be selective about who she trusts with life and death information, that's a good thing. Of course it's awful for Riley, who doesn't understand why Buffy needs to keep things from him, but it's the right decision. Imagine if he went off, joining the hardly-trustworthy commandos, with that knowledge? The major theme of this episode, that family doesn't need to mean blood kin, and that queer people and people coming from abusive families in particular often have to form their own families, is important and not often seen on TV. The problem with this episode is that they sort of hit us over the head with that theme by cramming it into a single isolated episode. If Tara's relationships with her father, brother, and cousin had a little more time to develop on screen, and in contrast with her relationships with the Scoobies, I think it would have felt more authentic. In the final confrontation with Tara's family and the Scoobies, it always seems that "Cousin Beth" flashes a look of envy and fear at Tara just before she comes down on her. I always thought that she was, on some level, conflicted about staying with the family herself, but in the end still did her duty. "No Place Like Home" | View Comments61 | fray-adjacentJun 7, 2010 Wow, like many commenters, I always thought this was a very good episode, but I was surprised to see the P rating. However, you make a great case for it! I really like the idea that it is easier for Buffy to embrace being Dawn's sister when she understands why Dawn is there and can think of it as part of her slayer duty. This seems very in character for her. On some level, Buffy knew that something was up, and now that she understands she gets over (for the most part) her impatience with Dawn, and after this point her love for Dawn, originally manufactured by the monks, grows throughout the season. It also makes it more believable that Buffy would accept what the monk (and the spell) told her. After all, imagine how hard it would be to believe that something so firmly ingrained in your memories is not true? Even if you live on the Hellmouth. But, on some level, Buffy intuited the unrealness of Dawn from the beginning. "Real Me" | View Comments62 | fray-adjacentJun 7, 2010 Spot on review, Mike. I too have often thought that Buffy's high level of intolerance for Dawn in early season 5 is because, on some deep unconscious level, she's not used to having a sister yet. The point that this episode represents Dawn's first real memories is interesting too. Inserting Dawn could have been very bad, but they did it really well. I always thought that bringing Dawn into the show raises some really interesting questions about the nature of memory, experience, and reality. What does it mean to say that the things that the Scoobies remember of Dawn didn't happen, when every single character, including Dawn herself, remembers it as if it did happen? Is there any difference between Dawn's "real" memories and the ones that the monks manufactured? Is it useful to think about Dawn's insertion as creating a new universe? However, I think it was very good that the show didn't dwell on these questions and left them mostly as subtext. The emotional aspects of creating Dawn, and her ensuing relationship with Buffy (Joss Whedon said he created Dawn so that Buffy's love interest wouldn't be a boyfriend) are the focus, and that's exactly why it works so well. "The Yoko Factor" | View Comments63 | fray-adjacentJun 7, 2010 The fight at the end is so painful to watch, especially when Buffy storms out, cruelly saying, "I'm starting to understand why there's no ancient prophecy about a chosen one...and her friends. If I need help, I'll go to someone I can count on." What the audience knows, of course, is that Buffy's friends are precisely why she's lived so much longer than most of the Slayers. The last line sounds so much like Buffy in S7, around the time of "Lies My Parents Told Me." Great continuity. I think Buffy's "If I was anymore open-minded about the choices you two make my whole brain would fall out!" is out of line (but appropriate for the scene). First of all, in the context of Willow's sexuality, that's straight up homophobia. As for Xander dating Anya, Buffy's got NO room to judge. "New Moon Rising" | View Comments64 | fray-adjacentJun 7, 2010 Oh, also, MikeJer, when Buffy changes the subject to Oz when she's talking with Willow during the coming-out scene, I didn't interpret it as Buffy's reticence. I think she was being a good friend: Oz returning is a huge deal and Buffy wanted to give Willow a chance to talk about it. I do agree that the Scoobies are separating during this season, overall, but not so much that Buffy wouldn't be eager to hear how Willow's chat with Oz went. "New Moon Rising" | View Comments65 | fray-adjacentJun 7, 2010 Lollypop: yes, in the previous act we see Willow wearing the cardigan that Tara is wearing when Oz wolfs on her. Overall a very good episode, but I found Oz's reactions, both during the Tara-sweater incident and later when he's escaping and just seeing Willow makes the wolf come back, a bit out of character. I think the series does the "she brings out the monster in him" thing too often and too heavy-handedly. I know we haven't seen Oz for a while, so he may have changed, but it just didn't feel real to me. It felt like a plot device that made it so that Oz HAD to leave, whereas if Willow had just rejected him he might have stayed. (Though it also sets up the conversation that Buffy has with Riley about Angel, and facilitates Riley finally leaving the Initiative for good, but the writers could've found other ways to make those things happen.) What I would've preferred to see was Willow, after some soul-searching, choosing Tara, and Oz accepting it (heartbroken and angry yes, but not murderously violent) and leaving. "A New Man" | View Comments66 | fray-adjacentJun 4, 2010 Attacked, I agree about the foreshadowing. It's really common on BtVS for the last line in a scene to be some sort of comment (often humorous) on the first thing we see or hear in the scene that follows. The first time I saw Fyarl-Giles chase Maggie Walsh, I laughed harder than I have at any other moment on this show. And the "snapping necks until everyone is dead" line is priceless. I really love this episode, but I have a very special place in my heart (an occasionally lusty place, actually...) for Giles. "The Initiative" | View Comments67 | fray-adjacentJun 2, 2010 I agree with Lucy about the missed opportunity that is Season 4. I never re-watched this episode ("because I hate the Initiaitve") until the series re-watch that I'm doing right now. In this episode I realized how interesting the Initiative could've been, and still was at this point. Sure, it's a bit hokey from the start, but it also continues an interesting development in the Buffyverse. At the start of S1, things like magic, monsters, and vampires are an intrusion into the real world. It's the job of the Slayer to stop this intrusion, and what's more she must maintain the secret. As the series continues, we see the mystical more and more interwoven into the "real" world, to the point where, by Season 6, BtVS is clearly its own universe. In S3 we begin to see that government knows about mystical stuff, and the Initiative arc really expands that. If Linsday Crouse had stayed on the show, this could have gone in a very interesting direction, instead of turning into the annoyingness that is Adam. "Wild at Heart" | View Comments68 | fray-adjacentJun 2, 2010 I agree that the writers did about as well as they could with the circumstances. I suppose killing Oz off would have ruined the opportunity for Dark Willow later on, when Willow's powers are stronger and it's more realistic. It would have been nice to see some prior indication that the wolf is creeping into Oz's everyday life more. But even so, I agree that this is a fantastic and heart-wrenching episode. It amazes me that they get from that incredibly sweet morning bedroom scene between Oz and Willow to the heartbreaking end in just one episode. What's interesting about this episode is that, in Season 3, Oz was the most emotionally mature of the teen characters. Here we see that, while Xander, Buffy, and Willow are growing up, Oz in a way moves *backwards*. But this is pretty realistic: growing up isn't just this steady progression of maturity: people go through phases where they're depressed, irresponsible, etc all the time. And this happens to adults as well as teens. MikeJer, when you do your second pass in the reviews, I'd be interested to see a little more commenting on Giles' development in this episode. I'm not sure I understood your point here. "Beer Bad" | View Comments69 | fray-adjacentJun 2, 2010 Jim, I refer you to MikeJer's explanation for why we aren't able to edit our comments. Totally agree with your review, MikeJer. Some good character development and some great funny moments, and a good setup for Buffy to do what we've all been waiting for: take a swing at Parker. The cavemen are dumb, and all the more so because, as others have said, no way cavemen were actually that stupid. (Also likely not so rampantly hetero, imo.) "The Harsh Light of Day" | View Comments70 | fray-adjacentJun 1, 2010 I always thought of the Parker encounter as a real-life version of what "Innocence" is a metaphor for. Also, I disagree that what happened is Buffy's fault. Sure, she made a bad choice, but it was based on mis-information! Parker manipulated and lied to her; if there is fault to be assigned, it goes to him. I love the title, "The Harsh Light of Day." Rhonda Wilcox, in her book Why Buffy Matters, wrote an interesting essay about light being used to symbolize pain in BtVS, most obviously for vampires, but, as the series progresses, for Buffy as well. "Normal Again" | View Comments71 | fray-adjacentMay 28, 2010 Like Illinae and sj, I tend to interpret the end as indicating that both realities exist. We know we have a *true* reality in which Xander and Willow are vampires (until Buffy and Oz dust them). After all, if there's an infinite number of universes (a big if, even in Buffy), then every universe with a non-zero probability *must* exist. I would definitely reject the claim that the universe we see in every other episode is a product of mentally-ill Buffy's imagination. I would not reject MikeJer's interpretation, which I think is well-reasoned. But I like the multi-verse interpretation best. "Graduation Day Pt. 2" | View Comments72 | fray-adjacentMay 27, 2010 When Angel is drinking Buffy's blood, I never interpreted Buffy's crushing the vase or kicking the bench as showing satisfaction, though I'd like to. That scene always felt really rapey to me, and it's hard to watch. It sorta makes me hate Angel, for a little while at least. "Graduation Day Pt. 1" | View Comments73 | fray-adjacentMay 27, 2010 While I love these episodes, I really expected there to be more follow up (in Season 4) on the effect that trying to -- and nearly succeeding at -- killing Faith had on Buffy. But all it gets is one off-hand comment (in "Doomed") before "This Year's Girl." Do we ever see a sign that Buffy is troubled by what she did, and what she tried to do? "The Prom" | View Comments74 | fray-adjacentMay 27, 2010 "The Prom" ranks with "Becoming Pt. 2" and "The Gift" as one the tear-jerkingest episodes of the series, and I didn't even go to my prom! The class protector moment is so beautiful, and I think, as much as the dance with Angel, is Buffy's "perfect high school moment." What makes this moment, as opposed to Buffy's fantasy moments such as being crowned homecoming queen, so great is that it's one in which both of her selves -- the slayer and the high school girl -- are one. She's being recognized and appreciated for who she truly is, and like you said, she sure has earned it. I love Buffy's dress. Yeah, it doesn't push out her boobs or suck in her waist or display cleavage all over, but the fabric and folds are beautiful, and I love the back of it. I'm with y'all on the chunky heels though. (Being Buffy's age, I remember them well.) "Doppelgangland" | View Comments75 | fray-adjacentMay 26, 2010 The first time I watched the series, I was delighted to see Willow grow in confidence and in her skill as a witch. I didn't recognize the foreshadowing of Willow using her power to manipulate people and emotions, or to rely on her magical talents and the power they gave her as her source of confidence. Now, as I re-watch, it's very interesting to see how these develop. I think that Willow does undergo quite a bit of "natural" (non-magical) development and confidence-building. We see this really start, as MikeJer has pointed out, in "Halloween" (2x08), but it continues in "The Dark Age" (2x10), when Willow figures out how to solve the demon possession (get it to possess Angel), and in numerous other small moments throughout the next few seasons. Willow's relationship with Oz, who is probably the most emotionally mature of the Scoobies (besides perhaps Giles) at this point, is important too. This is one of the reasons why, even after Tara leaves Willow and she quits magic, Willow still has a self to fall back on, a self that is stronger and more confident than the person we saw in "Welcome to the Hellmouth," even though Willow herself doesn't seem to believe it in "Wrecked." That is the Willow that Tara loves and comes back to in "Entropy," though this Willow is still too fragile to withstand the shock and horror of Tara's death one episode later. But I think there is even more to it than that. Willow has inherent magical talent, a talent that she cultivates into a considerable skill through long, hard work and a desire to do good in the world. In this sense Willow is not so different from Buffy. Yes, Willow sometimes gives in to the temptation to manipulate relationships and people through her power; this is her main failing, and a damn scary one. (Buffy, by comparison, doesn't face this temptation because she doesn't have the power to do those things anyway.) A major part of Willow's growth and increased confidence is through magic, but I don't believe this is always bad. Willow discovers that she has a skill that can contribute enormously to the important work that the Scoobies do, and she loves doing it. That Willow gives into the temptation to use this power unethically shows the ways in which she still is not confident in herself. But that doesn't mean that magic, or the confidence (and even joy) that Willow derives from practicing it, is inherently bad. We see this in Willow in Season 7. Although Willow is afraid of her power, she knows it is an inherent part of her, and she develops the strong solid core self that she needs to use that power for the good instead of for selfish reasons. (Sorry this comment isn't really about "Doppelgangland," which I agree is a marvelous episode, a fantastic mix of great humor and important character development, though the latter's not apparent on first viewing. This just seemed like as good a place as any to put in my views on Willow's development.) "The Zeppo" | View Comments76 | fray-adjacentMay 24, 2010 Love this episode, and I totally think of it as BtVS's nod to "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." In that story, the epic drama of Hamlet, in which his choices have dire consequences, is contrasted with the tale of "ordinary" Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whose lives seem largely subject to random events and are well beyond their control. The absurdist storytelling and ridiculous (and very funny) dialogue in R&G are Dead illustrates this. What happens when you apply this absurdism to the Hellmouth? Xander ends up running around with an undead ne'er do well, who was previously threatening to kill him, who raises his dead buddies to bomb the school and catch up on Walker Texas Ranger. But at the end, Xander reclaims his ability to shape events -- he might be Jimmy Olsen, but he can still make a difference. @ Selene: I agree, my only problem with this episode is that Xander has put himself in danger numerous times. He's stakes tons of vampires, why does he all of a sudden need to be "fray-adjacent"? They do this with Willow a few episodes later in "Bad Girls"; suddenly Willow, who fought an open hellmouth, can't face a few vamp minions and one gross demon? "Helpless" | View Comments77 | fray-adjacentMay 24, 2010 Definitely one of my favorite episodes of the series. MikeJer, I didn't think of Giles's willingness to go along with the Council as evidence of his "do things for the greater good" outlook, but as evidence of his beholden-ness to the Council. Giles at this stage will still follow the rules, even if he disagrees with them, but in the course of this episode he learns that he CAN break the rules. He loses his job, but not his actual role in fighting the good fight, or his relationship with Buffy. This is an important growth episode for Giles, too, and in Season 3 he as well as Buffy "graduates" from the control of the Watcher's Council. "The Wish" | View Comments78 | fray-adjacentMay 24, 2010 What a fantastic episode -- totally agree with your review, MikeJer. "The Wish" contains the only scene in BtVS that I've only seen once: the part where the Master demonstrates the blood production machine on that poor girl. The mechanization of it, the knowledge that she's still alive and paralyzed -- it's just so disturbing and gross that I leave the room for a minute when I re-watch that episode. "The Wish" | View Comments79 | fray-adjacentMay 24, 2010 What a fantastic episode -- totally agree with your review, MikeJer. "The Wish" contains the only scene in BtVS that I've only seen once: the part where the Master demonstrates the blood production machine on that poor girl. The mechanization of it, the knowledge that she's still alive and paralyzed -- it's just so disturbing and gross that I leave the room for a minute when I re-watch that episode. "Revelations" | View Comments80 | fray-adjacentMay 24, 2010 I agree with Harfang and Selene's takes on Xander. He is cruel to Buffy, but I completely agree with the content of his argument, and being a little harsh on your friend is better than lots of people dying! At this point Xander and the rest of the Scoobies have little reason to believe that Angel is trustworthy. Rekidk's comment on why Giles was hard on Buffy for not telling him about Angel being back is interesting: perhaps he was trying to distance himself and act more the "professional" Watcher. At the same time, his reaction seemed right on: Angelus DID kill his girlfriend and torture him for hours. Even if Angel is not the same person, that's not something you should just be expected to get over in a few months' time. Even so, we see Giles showing that, intellectually, he understands that Angel is on their side; he tells Gwendolyn that "Buffy's friend" is keeping the glove safe. I think that Gwendolyn so thoroughly undermines Giles's confidence at the beginning of the episode that he doesn't even think to question her and check with the Watcher's Council; that may have even been part of her intent when she ridiculed him. "Revelations" | View Comments81 | fray-adjacentMay 24, 2010 I agree with Harfang and Selene's takes on Xander. He is cruel to Buffy, but I completely agree with the content of his argument, and being a little harsh on your friend is better than lots of people dying! At this point Xander and the rest of the Scoobies have little reason to believe that Angel is trustworthy. Rekidk's comment on why Giles was hard on Buffy for not telling him about Angel being back is interesting: perhaps he was trying to distance himself and act more the "professional" Watcher. At the same time, his reaction seemed right on: Angelus DID kill his girlfriend and torture him for hours. Even if Angel is not the same person, that's not something you should just be expected to get over in a few months' time. Even so, we see Giles showing that, intellectually, he understands that Angel is on their side; he tells Gwendolyn that "Buffy's friend" is keeping the glove safe. I think that Gwendolyn so thoroughly undermines Giles's confidence at the beginning of the episode that he doesn't even think to question her and check with the Watcher's Council; that may have even been part of her intent when she ridiculed him. "Homecoming" | View Comments82 | fray-adjacentMay 21, 2010 I agree that Cordelia and Buffy were never friends, but I don't think this episode is inconsistent with that. In fact, after this episode they seem slightly cooler with each other than they were before, showing that their "make up and be friends" moment wasn't all that genuine. The scene where Faith humiliates Scott Hope as revenge for him dumping Buffy is funny, but also quite meaningful. At this point Faith is on her way to becoming Buffy's friend. The events in "Revelations" undermine that, though, and even though they have fun slaying together for a while, they never can become close. This is tiny, but it drives me crazy that, in the coronation scene, Buffy doesn't pull up the strap on her dress. "Beauty and the Beasts" | View Comments83 | fray-adjacentMay 21, 2010 Saying that Debbie's death as basically her own fault for not leaving her abuser (whether it's stupidity or another reason) plays into a dangerous myth. Yes, a lot of people don't leave abusive relationships because they have low self-esteem, but often it's the case that they do so to protect themselves -- victims of domestic violence are most likely to be killed by their partner AFTER they've left them. If people are to safely leave abusive partners, they need a lot more support than is typically available to them, and Buffy and Willow certainly don't offer that to Debbie in that highly disturbing bathroom scene. In fact, Pete eventually kills Debbie because he thinks she told Buffy everything, which is exactly what Buffy was trying to get Debbie to do! We see that Debbie does exactly what is least likely to get her killed (besides following Buffy around for protection all the time, but she doesn't know Buffy has superpowers) -- she is not stupid at all. But in the end there was no way to stop Pete, no matter what she did. This is too often the case. Also, there is a difference between Angel and Oz on one hand, and Pete on the other: the former two do have an "inner beast" whom they must control, and they do. Pete, on the other hand, actively worked to turn himself into a monster, presumably so he could better control Debbie (though that's not how he characterizes it, of course). It is that choice that changes everything. "Faith, Hope, and Trick" | View Comments84 | fray-adjacentMay 21, 2010 Sorry, forgot to finish my comment. I think another really interesting thing to see in this episode is the dynamic between Faith and Buffy. There is no hint (that I can see) that Faith is gonna go evil, but Buffy immediately dislikes her. This is because, 1. Faith's footlose-and-fancy-free attitude grates on Buffy (understandable, especially because Buffy has good reasons for being so serious right now), and 2. Buffy's jealous of how her friends react to Faith. While I'm sympathetic to Buffy's response, it's also very sad to see Buffy immediately act so cold toward Faith, knowing how things are going to end up. It sort of opens up the possibility that things could have turned out differently, if Buffy had been kinder and more open to Faith, so that they could have built some real trust before things got so trying. There are other moments in the episodes between this one and "Consequences" that point to that as well. It's also noteworthy that we never again see Faith as friendly and outgoing as she is in this episode. I don't think this is a character inconsistency, though -- Faith is new to town, trying to fit in, and most of all is trying to hide how traumatized she was by her encounter with Kakistos. I agree that Faith is a lot more interesting than Kendra. I do wish that she got more time on Buffy (or Angel), because I think they could've done a lot more with her character. "Faith, Hope, and Trick" | View Comments85 | fray-adjacentMay 21, 2010 I agree that bringing Angel back cheapened "Becoming Pt.2," even if it was worth it in the end because we got another good show out of it, and I agree with Wulvaine that it was important to mend their relationship a bit before the new show started. But I think they could've at least waited a little longer. Along that line, sometimes I think the entire Angel series somewhat undermines BtVS, because they show us a universe (multiverse?) full of multi-dimensional evil that doesn't even seem to care that the slayer exists. I mean, Buffy's supposed to be on the front lines of the fight against evil, but compared to what Angel gets up to she seems more like the rearguard. Angel is a good show, but sometimes I wish it wasn't part of the Buffyverse (yes, I know that's not possible). "Dead Man's Party" | View Comments86 | fray-adjacentMay 21, 2010 I totally agree with MikeJer's review, and with spurious' comments. It's always surprising to me when viewers talk about being annoyed by Buffy's behavior, when what I find annoying is when characters keep a cheerful disposition no matter what they go through. Buffy makes a lot of mistakes in this series, but I can still usually sympathize. I think this is one of the great strengths of the show, and I think that they do a good job of this with most ALL of the characters. I love the way Buffy responds in the argument scene: she's frustrated, crying, defensive, inconsistent and even a little incoherent in her arguments. I found it totally believable. That's what people are like when they get in these kinds of fights with the people are close to. Too often you see fights like this where everyone's in grand monologue mode, and this fight was way more emotionally authentic (until the dumb zombies showed up). The Giles scene when Buffy returns is one of my favorites in the series too. I think the episode is worth re-watching just for a few of the moments like that. "Becoming Pt. 2" | View Comments87 | fray-adjacentMay 20, 2010 What a wonderful, wrenching episode. Just reading the review put a little frog in my throat. As far as Xander's lying to Buffy in the "kick his ass moment,"I do think it's worth differentiating between Xander's motivation and the effect. I agree that Xander said it (mostly) because he hates Angel. But it may very well have been the best thing for Buffy, considering that it wasn't likely that the spell would work, and reducing Buffy's certainty in killing Angelus could have ended disastrously. (Also, I don't think that the only reason Xander hates Angel is because of jealousy -- he even says "Angel's our friend" in "What's my Line." I think Xander also hates Angel because of Angelus's behavior -- all the characters have differing amounts by which they can emotionally separate the two.) "Killed by Death" | View Comments88 | fray-adjacentMay 16, 2010 I agree with Ida and Guido somewhat that this episode is a letdown after "Passion," but as far as MotW episodes go, this is a good one to follow "Passion," since the hospital setting, and the fact that Buffy has gotten sick (the only time in the series if I remember right) suggest how harmful the last few weeks have been and the healing that's needed. I agree that the creepy atmosphere in this episode is great (though it didn't help that the first time Buffy sees Kindestod I instantly recognized the music as being from the DVD menu). Also, for some reason this demon is one of very few in the whole series that I found creepy and/or gross enough to think about days after watching the episode. As I re-watch the series, it's funny to see how many opportunities both Angelus and Spike have to kill main characters and don't, as Paula points out. Obviously this is important from the perspective of the show -- even Joss can't kill off more than a few main characters in a single season, and it would also make it much more difficult to redeem Angel and Spike later on -- but it also could be read as a certain level of ambiguity in their characters. Angelus could've killed Buffy in her bedroom in "Passion," but he chose not to. Spike has a reputation for brutality and ruthlessness, but we rarely actually see that after "School Hard." The romantic side of his nature gets developed a lot more in comparison. I think this may be subtly setting the stage for Spike's soulless transformation (or cultivation of a soul, as I like to think of it) in later seasons. "What's My Line? Pt. 2" | View Comments89 | fray-adjacentMay 13, 2010 Nix, I totally agree with your analysis of Kendra & the Watcher's Council. I think her character foreshadows how patriarchal the council is. After all, Kendra is all about following the orders of her "superiors" and being "of service." Also, don't folks think Buffy succeeds as a slayer BOTH because of her friends and because she doesn't play by the rules? The former in fact is an example of the latter. Marti Noxon says on the commentary that Kendra's accent was a last-minute decision, and the accent coach gave her an (authentic) accent from a remote part of Jamaica, rather than a more recognizable Kingston accent. Obviously this was a mistake and they should've just scrapped the accent as soon as they heard it, since it just sounds like a bad accent to the majority of viewers! BTW, does anybody else find the way that Buffy treats Kendra (at times) be be incredibly offensive and racist? She repeatedly acts as though Kendra's native language is Spanish (e.g., "no kicko, no fighto"). Evidently all brown people with an accent are Spanish speakers in 16 year-old Buffy's eyes. Perhaps this was meant to show a character flaw on Buffy's part but to me it mostly comes off as racist humor on the part of the show. (And they way Buffy talks to Kendra at those moments would be messed up even if Kendra WAS from a Spanish-speaking country.) "Teacher's Pet" | View Comments90 | fray-adjacentMay 11, 2010 With respect to Xander's railroad spike comment, what seems most likely to me is that one of the Buffy writers for some reason has that idea in his/her head as a way to torture someone and wrote both of those lines (here and in "School Hard") coincidentally. My understanding is that there was no initial plan to keep Spike on as a character, and so it's unlikely that his arrival was foreshadowed. |
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 Iguana-on-a-stick [Once Upon a Time] I've seen most of it. I'll admit that I never cared that much for the fairy-tale world with... View PostMay 23, 2013 buffyholic [10 Years after Chosen] On May 20th 2003 Buffy was airing his final episode and ending the show. Has anyone of you... View PostMay 23, 2013 buffyholic [Xander Harris] I kind of agree that the "kick his ass" line was a bit of an impulsive moment, not... View PostMay 23, 2013 |
Great review! I really like your insights into the foreshadowing and introduction of season-long thematic elements that this episode introduces. Many of them I'd never noticed. I also largely agree with your pros and cons.
About that penultimate scene in the classroom: I find it so touching until that awful music starts and just *ruins* it. What a shame!