Drusilla becomes bat**** insane? What do you consider her to be now, cause she certainly isn't sane.
The explanation for why she was there was a nifty one, too, though it seems like ten episodes is kind of a long time to get a slayer back in Sunnydale. I imagine a lot of havoc would've been caused by then if Buffy had really been dead. It makes me question why Buffy was sent to Sunnydale, too. There wasn't a Slayer there before her family moved there, yet it seems definite that one was needed. Nitpicking, I guess.
I'll field this one. Most the time slayers remain in the general area where they are when they are called unless there is a crisis. Unless they are like Kendra and raised by the Council, in which case they just get sent where ever they are needed. The reason Buffy is in Sunnydale is because Giles is the one who discovered/theorized that there was a hellmouth there, and at this point I'm not sure if the council thinks of it as anything more than a supernatural hotspot. The Hellmouth hadn't been active in a long time, basically just acting as a prison for The Master. Though as is routinely stated there have been a high number of deaths in Sunnydale for a decades. I imagine it was just too small of a town for the Council to care about it.
Some of this is explained in supplemental material, or in interviews with Joss, or just meant to be inferred so I'm not worried about spoilers with any of that.
-- (Maniac64 at work) Guns don't kill people, Kinder eggs do. I saw it in a post on GameFAQs. ~FAHtastic
Well, right now Drusilla is simply insane. Bat**** will be a whole 'nother level.
I guess all that makes sense. And yeah, feel free to be open about the prehistory to the series and the environment. This isn't stuff I"m probably going to figure out on my own, so I appreciate enlightenment when these thoughts occur to me that could probably be explained through outside material and inferences that I may have missed.
Season 2, Episode 11: Ted
I'll start bolding I guess.
Back to Monster of the Week business. This monster was...well, kind of dumb. Though, honestly, hearing the backstory at the end of Ted saved it a bit. Still, the plot was too slow moving when it was completely obvious what was going on within the first fifteen minutes.
The subplot with Giles and Miss Calendar was pretty boring, too, though yay them being back together I guess. Whatever. I'm almost convinced she's going to die anyways. At least her technopagan bull**** doesn't ever get mention anymore.
I've never really liked Buffy's mom. Still don't for the most part. At least she isn't a snoopy person though just designed to complicate Buffy's slayer life through compromising it. Her purpose seems to be damsel in distress, which is fine. I don't foresee that being a common plot archetype.
I find it interesting yet weird how Cordelia has warmed up to the gang so much. It was gradual, but I still feel like not much reason was given for it. They saved her life, yet she still acted like a *****, but they still had her hanging around. I guess it makes sense that somebody would give those who saved their life the time of day, but it would've been nice to see it acknowledged.
This episode gave me some stuff to complain about. I don't like complaining.
I love that episode, awesome stuff, I like them tackling having your parent dating someone, and of course John Ritter owning, I'm not wired that way baby.
-- One Piece: Pirates with style! -= Metal Gear Solid: Tactical Espionage Action =-
Yeah, I'm actually watching through the series cold right now too, I guess I just like following in your footsteps Zazi, and I almost wish Ted had remained human. I think it would have curbed a lot of Buffy's *****ing about being a slayer. I really hope that goes away in later seasons. Which I imagine it will. But who knows. It's been really interesting watching the episodes and reading your thoughts on them as well.
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http://img.imgcake.com/crimjpgpe.jpg Mo' buildings mo' problems ocean kinda grew on me like a flesh eating ...fungus. -BIGPUN9999
I don't think Ted is a great episode, but it was different, which I thought was nice for a MOTW episode. it dealt with some stuff about buffy's life that hadn't really been explored too much.
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I'm "kind of a big deal". http://img.imgcake.com/cyclo/Cyclopngegpngre.png
John Ritter. I know that name. Believe he cameo'd in Scrubs for a bit? I've only watched the first four seasons, so I'm not sure how much they use him after his cameos seem to be completed. The guy did look sort of familiar.
Ted being human is an interesting proposition, and it would've avoided that lame "oh my god he's dead" business. I would've liked this episode more if that backstory about the guy who built robot Ted had been expanded on and been used more as the clues to Ted's true identity.
You must be watching at a faster pace than I, Crim, which is fine. I naturally don't really talk much about the plot specifically, just because if anybody is ever doing what you are doing and want to read what I've had to say so far, I wouldn't want them to accidentally read something I've said and been spoiled at all. I imagine the people watching know what I'm talking about for the most part, anyways, so a summary of the episode isn't needed! Feel free to chime in with what your experiences with an episode are as well. It's fun hearing what somebody else watching cold at the same time is thinking.
Also, did you keep watching Firefly? If so, did you love it as much as I did?
My opinion is the episode felt different yet the same. Seems like a plot that's been used before, if not just for the who Stepford Wives business (never seen but know the gist). At least they acknowledged it, though. But yeah, any new insights into the characters lives is always appreciated.
ZaziGuado posted... You must be watching at a faster pace than I, Crim, which is fine. I naturally don't really talk much about the plot specifically, just because if anybody is ever doing what you are doing and want to read what I've had to say so far, I wouldn't want them to accidentally read something I've said and been spoiled at all. I imagine the people watching know what I'm talking about for the most part, anyways, so a summary of the episode isn't needed! Feel free to chime in with what your experiences with an episode are as well. It's fun hearing what somebody else watching cold at the same time is thinking.
Also, did you keep watching Firefly? If so, did you love it as much as I did?
Actually we're about right on the same pace. Sometimes I get a few episodes ahead but generally we're right on. It's fun to get a guy's perspective, because a lot of times the stuff you don't like is the stuff I do like. I'm not even talking about the relationshipy stuff either, because I find a lot of that kind of tiresome and share many of your same sentiments.
But yeah like... the only example I can think of right now is Kendra. You weren't too big on her, but honestly I think those two episodes have been my favorite in the series so far. That could be the gay girl in me coming out though. I can't resist a lady that kicks that much ass.
I unfortunately didn't keep up with Firefly. I plan to watch it some day. I don't know why, maybe it just wasn't the right time for me. It just didn't strike me in the right way when I started it. I actually think I'll enjoy it more now that I kind of know what I'm in for when I eventually go back and watch it. Also, I had no idea Firefly and Buffy were by the same guy until this topic! Crazy.
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http://img.imgcake.com/crimjpgpe.jpg Mo' buildings mo' problems ocean kinda grew on me like a flesh eating ...fungus. -BIGPUN9999
I love me a good mind control plot. Some things seemed to lend themselves to convenience (such as waking up before the eggs hatched or the book being on the right page when the needed to do research), but those are easily ignored. Overall, it was executed very well, and it's always nice to see characters like Willow, Cordelia, and Giles be uncharacteristic.
The Gorches (?) were interesting, though didn't get enough screen time. I hope that the leader guy shows himself again, as his actor seemed pretty good at the part. I question how they got into school in the middle of the day, though, unless they got in the night before and just planned to lay in wait in the basement there. Still, seems like a pretty bad plan with no guarantee Buffy would come anywhere near them. I guess it was said that they weren't really thinkers. The scene with Buffy and Gorch fighting the controlled classmates next to each other was a pretty amusing sight. I got a kick out of it.
The Xander-Coredlia relationship is, well, pretty entertaining. I'm surprised to hear me say that, but it's being pulled off very well. The Buffy-Angel one is still kind of lame, especially with the whole "into the future" bit. That kind of conversation would only be natural, I guess, but just watching them make out this entire episode was kind of a drag.
Xander was notably excellent in this episode. He had good humor moments ("be careful" and then stumbling, "last time Cordy dragged me in here she was a lot nicer," and other random quirks). Him hard boiling his egg was a brilliant way of getting him exempt from mind control as it played right into his characteristics. Bravo there. I like it when I don't have to suspend disbelief in a show about vampires.
One negative was Buffy's mom. She's just a *****. I thought she was cool with Buffy being different after episode 2, but I guess the whole "this won't last long" thing was true. Of course, maybe it could also be that I've never really been a supporter of grounding. Hopefully this "Buffy is grounded" thing isn't continuous, or if it is, it is fixed rather quickly in the next episode.
I guess all that makes sense. And yeah, feel free to be open about the prehistory to the series and the environment. This isn't stuff I"m probably going to figure out on my own, so I appreciate enlightenment when these thoughts occur to me that could probably be explained through outside material and inferences that I may have missed.
Yeah, I'm pretty good for that. Not only have I watched everything, listened to the commentaries, and had way to many discussions on the show (as well as one college class); I have the benefit of a sister who has most the supplemental stuff and an encyclopedic knowledge of the first 5 seasons of the show (its terrifying really).
-- (Maniac64 at work) Guns don't kill people, Kinder eggs do. I saw it in a post on GameFAQs. ~FAHtastic
What, is your sister training to be a watcher? lololol
I watched this episode last night, but am writing this now. That's not my style and I hate doing it like this, but it's how it worked. I'll do my best to remember the important stuff, but no promises. If I missed something you expected me to talk about, let me know and I'll throw out some more thoughts.
Season 2, Episode 13: Surprise
So, that entire episode was nothing but setup, and was chock full of yummy, mushy, gooey Buffy-Angel bidniss. Disappointing overall, really, especially since I'm too tired to watch the second part right now. Still, some interesting things were brought up.
Miss Calendar is a gypsy, which is so much better than just being a stupid technopagan. The storyline that seems to be forming here is all sorts of interesting. Twice there seemed like moments when she was going to turn heel on the gang, at least momentarily to get rid of Angel (and boy wouldn't that Buffy-Calendar scene have been fun). Something has to give here, and I think either way I should be pleased, unless it all ends in cupcakes and rainbows. Here's to Miss Calendar getting snuffed out!
I know there was something else I wanted to mention, but I can't remember what. I think it was how much I enjoyed them trying really hard to throw that surprise party for Buffy. Giles was great in that. Or perhaps it was how great Drusilla is coming as a villain. She makes me uncomfortable when she is on screen, which is impressive. I'm really looking forward to the final showdown. However, I wish Spike was getting a little more play in all of this. He's still great, though.
But yeah, back to the Buffy-Angel stuff: it's getting really, really thick, which means it's getting kind of (read: quite) annoying. I guess it's a good thing I know Angel leaves next season, so if this really is carried out, it won't be for too much longer. However, I suspect it'll be something like "oh I can't do this to you and put you in danger in la la la" and they have to do the friends thing, and then Angel decides he needs to up and leave because it's to hard for him to remain composed. I'm open to surprises (see what I did there?), though. Also, was that human-vampire sex? How silly. I hope it burned his penis off. Also, hopefully she wasn't on her period. Okay, I'm dumb. I'm making too much distasteful light of a very serious part of the episode. It was probably that whole gypsy curse thing. Let's see where they go with this. Also, I have a Giles "previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer" opening to look forward to.
But yeah, overall this episode was just setting up for the second part, which is kind of annoying. If the second part is really good, I'll be happy, but I would've liked there to be at least some plot that allows them to take action here.
My sister was truly obsessed with Buffy. She wrote her college honors thesis on the show (actually you are at Iowa so you could probably find it. But don't as there would be tons of spoilers).
In the process of writing her thesis she watched the show an insane number of times, read scripts, interviews, and any background material she could find. At one point she could name any episode of Buffy Seasons 1-5 in under 10 seconds, no matter where in the episode it started.
She tried to get on that Beat the Geeks show as a Buffy geek.
-- (Maniac64 at work) Guns don't kill people, Kinder eggs do. I saw it in a post on GameFAQs. ~FAHtastic
Would it lead to0 spoilers if I ask just what her thesis statement was? That's interesting to me. And was she doing this before the series was up, hence Seasons 1-5?
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snowpork I wanna be a SuperNiceDog when I grow up!
The main part of it is about a specific relationship in the show and how it is handled as compared to similar relationships in other shows. Or something like that, it has been a long time and I don't remember much more than the title (Which again is kind of spoilerish). Though it also talks about other characters and relationships but one of them is the primary focus.
And yeah I think Season 6 was going while she was finishing it up. So she used seasons 1-5.
You can look it up or have me tell you more after season 4 (at that point there is nothing to left to spoil). I'm pretty sure all thesis papers are kept at the library or are available in some manner at U of I.
-- (Maniac64 at work) Guns don't kill people, Kinder eggs do. I saw it in a post on GameFAQs. ~FAHtastic
Oh hello evil Angel. You are certainly refreshing.
The spoiler was inevitable, but it just sucks knowing that Angel comes out of this alright in the end. I guess I don't know how long they draw this out, though. It could be something where Angel is the villain up until his leaving the show, and that's why he needs to ride off and seek redemption elsewhere. I'm excited to watch this play out. The guy is fun as hell to watch strut around being bad to the bone, and his exchanges with Spike are great. I'm going to enjoy whenever Angel, Spike, and Drusilla are all on the screen at the same time.
I'm hoping this is all leading to one giant dramatic scene between Buffy and Miss Calendar. It was awesome watching Buffy storm in and ***** choke Calendar, so let's see more of stuff like that in the future. The fact that Giles turned on Miss Calendar as well was nice. Maybe all of this is because I never really like Miss Calendar to begin with and always had my reservations about her.
The relationships of Xander-Cordelia and Willow-Oz are good subplots. It was a good scene seeing Willow discover Xander and Cordelia. Hopefully they can keep it from going to augh territory. I actually trust they will, which is nice. Don't disappoint me.
The conclusion of The Judge boss seems like something I would have issue with, but I really didn't. I liked the callback to Halloween, though it's convenient how it gave Xander all the knowledge but didn't take it away. And the fact that the weapon actually blew him to pieces made sense. It was nice to seem them acknowledge that those texts are quite, quite old. I have to think a giant explosion would separate his limbs. I'm pleased with how it all ended. Good show.
Things are really getting rolling with new Angel's introduction. I'm excited to keep watching.
As you can see, evil Angel (called Angelus) is very popular.
The conclusion of The Judge boss seems like something I would have issue with, but I really didn't. I liked the callback to Halloween, though it's convenient how it gave Xander all the knowledge but didn't take it away. And the fact that the weapon actually blew him to pieces made sense. It was nice to seem them acknowledge that those texts are quite, quite old. I have to think a giant explosion would separate his limbs. I'm pleased with how it all ended. Good show.
I loved that resolution. It just made so much sense but no body ever thinks of stuff like that. So we can't kill you? Alright we'll just blast you into so many tiny little pieces that nobody will be able to reassemble you.
-- (Maniac64 at work) Guns don't kill people, Kinder eggs do. I saw it in a post on GameFAQs. ~FAHtastic
Right, so this was kind of a letdown episode, though understandably. It's hard to top the reveal of Angelus.
Overall, the episode was just kind of boring and for the most part predictable. It was relationship heavy and god damn how many girls does Xander have to love. Willow-Oz is still weird to me. I don't know. It's pretty much more of the same.
The Angelus tease was nice. It's good to know he's not going to be laying dormant like Spike and Drusilla.
Giles was good in this episode. On top of his humor. Xander had a couple of good moments. Everyone else was just kind of there. There were a couple of really good callbacks, especially the one from Witch with the cheerleader statue.
Honestly, not much to talk about with this episode. Of course, I was probably expecting a little more given what happened last episode, but that was a little unfair. It reminded me of a Season 1 episode, just with more polish.
Ah, so you've gotten through Surprise and Innocence now :D Great eps. Angelus is the best villain that Buffy ever faces, IMO, because of the personal connection.
I'm surprised you didn't like Phases more because you kept hoping Oz was more than a love interest for Willow. Now he's a werewolf love interest for Willow!
If they call back to Oz being a werewolf and have to find a cure for him as a meaningful plot, I'll be happy with it. Until then, it just seemed like a plot meant to get Oz involved more. Season 2, Episode 16: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
This was a good episode. It was kind of an interesting twist on the zombie plot and I thought it was well-executed. The entire callback to Amy was nice. I love continuity throughout a series. I was most impressed with how they got Buffy, who would've easily laid waste to everyone, out of the picture. I also loved how they showed that even Drusilla was affected by the spell. I wish they would've gone somewhere more with the Angelus tease, though. Stern Giles is always fun to watch.
This episode really seemed to bring to the forefront how much relationships are being formed in the show. We've got Giles-Calendar, Buffy-Angel, Willow-Oz, Xander-Cordelia, Xander-everyone else. It's slightly annoying, really. I can give them credit, though, that these are all actually being pulled off fairly decently, with the exception of Willow-Oz because that just seems tacked on and incredibly annoying and designed to just give Willow something to do in the downtime.
There's 1/3 of the season left. I expect plot-heavy stuffs to begin making me a very happy watcher. I can imagine they will pull off the season finale better here than they did last season, first off by actually giving the main arc some love. I looked forward to Drusilla craziness and Angelus badassery and Spike actually doing something besides sitting in a damn wheelchair.
I never really connected that well with Jenny. She was growing on me, but never to the point where I would've been sad to see her go. The emotion in the aftermath was incredibly well done, though, so I guess it makes me look back on her more fondly.
I knew that episodes was going to be great from the beginning. It just had that feel. The narration by Angel going on about passion, and then his games being played with the gang let you know that **** was gonna go down. The best part was the first half hour of the episode just kind of buzzed along and felt like they were just tying up loose ends of good Angel to bad Angel that would feasibly make life difficult for the gang. But from the Angel-Calendar encounter on, everything just got turned into overdrive.
I expected what happened to happen eventually--I never doubted that. Once Miss Calendar started showing up more and more often, especially when she became a love interest for Giles, I knew she was easily expendable and was going to be killed off eventually. I'm not sure if I was ahead of the game or if everyone else expected what I did. Feel free to share your thoughts. It was done well, though, The killing scene wasn't overly dramatic, which is good, because it allowed the aftermath to be amazingly so.
And how about that aftermath? Watching Giles go HAM for the minute was absolutely amazing. His throwing the fire and coming in with a bat was just a perfect opening for the entire scene. It was just as great when Buffy jumped in. That fight scene was easily the best the series has had yet. I could feel the hatred in every contact that was made. It was awesome. Definitely my favorite scene in the series so far.
And the aftermath of that fight scene was great, too. The Buffy-Giles exchange was beautifully done. Angry, blinded Giles getting punched and Buffy breaking down crying was so wonderfully acted. The burial was a good touch as well, followed by the closing voice over by Angel.
Also, that foreshadowing in the end was a nice touch.
At this moment, I can't sing enough praise about the climax and resolution of this episode. Bravo.
On another note, there was a quote in the ending voice over that I really enjoyed. "If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead." Good stuff.
I liked Jenny and was not happy to see her die, but man was it worth it for Giles going berserk. And seeing the way Angel presented it to Giles was the moment I finally accepted Angel was evil and was ready to cheer his death. In the end that was really what the episode was about, getting Angelus to the point where the viewers and the characters weren't just going to wait around for a way to save him, it was the moment where he really became a big bad that needed to be stopped. This is the episode where everyone is forced to accept that Angelus is Evil with a capital E.
This is also one of the places where it was so much better to be watching it as it went since there was no Angel spinoff so you didn't know if this really would be the end for the character.
-- (Maniac64 at work) Guns don't kill people, Kinder eggs do. I saw it in a post on GameFAQs. ~FAHtastic
Did not expect Jenny to die, or not at that point... Although when I saw the show first time around, I wasn't aware of how trigger happy Joss was so you know... And I liked her so it was a bit shocking... But in a good way, I like when fiction traumatizes me... :P
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Nominate B.B. Hood for CB IX http://miniurl.org/ntI
This was an okay episode, though a little on the forgettable end. There was a lot of misdirection with the doctor and the security guard. I don't know, it was just kind of a weird episode with not too many notable parts.The monster looked creepy, I'll give them that. The best part was probably the opening scene, though Xander's exchange with Angelus was pretty fun to watch, too. Basically Angelus makes scenes great.
The only thing I could probably note for the long term is what appears to be a "Xander still loves Buffy" plot. This will probably end up being really annoying, but it's a natural plot, especially given the characters involved.
I'm noticing a sad trend of being let down by the episodes that follow huge major plot happenings. I don't know if this is just because I have elevated expectations of the episodes to follow, or if they are truly just average episodes.
I think Season 2 has the most occurrences of "they put this episode after that?"
But yeah... the breaks from the arcs when the arcs get really good are a bit disappointing at times. Especially when the actual episode isn't that good.
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No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck.
What a dumb ****ing episode and I'm not going to let the fact that the final scene was setting up the return of Spike to action make me think of it any better. The plot was just dumb. The resolution, while I understand what the impact of the scene was supposed to be, was dumb. Just the entire thing was lame and I didn't enjoy any of it outside of that last minute or so.
Willow as a teacher is also dumb. The school really has no subs available? Giles reaction to think it was Jenny was understandable, but everything else around him being dumb made me see it as dumb.
That was like Season 1 material dumb. I forgot what that felt like.
I probably came down harder on that scene than I intended to. Truthfully, I did enjoy the scene, but everything that surrounded it was just stupid. It was all leading up to this big scene, which was wonderfully acted, but it just felt like getting there was completely forced. Parallels and whatnot are nice, but I just wasn't happy with the plot used to reach that point, and the scene suffered because of it.
I never particularly liked that episode either, but that scene is amazing. In fact, that scene is apparently what convinced Joss that David Boreanaz was a strong enough actor to eventually carry his own show.
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http://www.smkgp150cc.com/images/toadspin.gif SuperNiceDog ate all my bananas.