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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Thread starter GKarsEye
- Start date
GKarsEye
Regular
Calendar: "Is there anything I can do?"
Summers: "Get out"
Calendar: "I just want to help"
Giles: "She said get out"
GKarsEye: "OH SHIT!"
best non-comedy line of the series so far
I love stories where someone has to coldly banish their love in order to serve a greater good. I dunno why... but it was the theme of this last episode, Angel being evil (so, finally, a personality of some sort) and Calendar being revealed as a Gypsy. I liked.
I mean I didn't like that thing I complained about before where a character just turns out to be completely different than you thought and now you have to try to figure out if that fit in with everything that happened before (in this case, a techno-pagan gypsy), but the way it played out after was cool.
I guess that pretty much sums up this series thus far: here's some stupid shit that completely makes no sense, but look at how it effects these people.
VL, that detailed explanation of how vampires are made here, is that something that I just missed or is that explained later?
So this show is known for turning teenager issues into literal monsters. Post-coital Angel is the best such instance thus far. Being cast aside after trusting a man enough to give up her virtue is every non-slutty girl's nightmare. Granted Angel's insults weren't exactly original (something about "you don't know men, last night proved that" or whatever) but to a kid who made a deal about giving it up... yeesh.
Good episode. Dunno if I want to risk tainting that goodness with any more tonight, though it might be a better option than talking to my parents, reading a book I'm bored with now, or watchin the Lakers or Celtics win again.
Summers: "Get out"
Calendar: "I just want to help"
Giles: "She said get out"
GKarsEye: "OH SHIT!"
best non-comedy line of the series so far
I love stories where someone has to coldly banish their love in order to serve a greater good. I dunno why... but it was the theme of this last episode, Angel being evil (so, finally, a personality of some sort) and Calendar being revealed as a Gypsy. I liked.
I mean I didn't like that thing I complained about before where a character just turns out to be completely different than you thought and now you have to try to figure out if that fit in with everything that happened before (in this case, a techno-pagan gypsy), but the way it played out after was cool.
I guess that pretty much sums up this series thus far: here's some stupid shit that completely makes no sense, but look at how it effects these people.
VL, that detailed explanation of how vampires are made here, is that something that I just missed or is that explained later?
So this show is known for turning teenager issues into literal monsters. Post-coital Angel is the best such instance thus far. Being cast aside after trusting a man enough to give up her virtue is every non-slutty girl's nightmare. Granted Angel's insults weren't exactly original (something about "you don't know men, last night proved that" or whatever) but to a kid who made a deal about giving it up... yeesh.
Good episode. Dunno if I want to risk tainting that goodness with any more tonight, though it might be a better option than talking to my parents, reading a book I'm bored with now, or watchin the Lakers or Celtics win again.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
Yay! I was hoping that you would enjoy Angelus more than Angel. He does take on a much bigger personality than his, "Buffy, I love you," personality that he has prior to losing his soul.
I think the revelation of Jenny is good. Before, she was just the love interest for Giles. Now, she's her own character. She's got a bigger stake in the story, and she becomes far more interesting.
It's been partially explained so far. In the first episode of the show, Giles confronts Buffy about how a vampire comes into existence, she replies, "First they have to suck your blood. Then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing. Mostly, they're just going to kill you." That it takes a bit of time between a person's dying and awakening as a vampire is something that we learn from seeing Buffy hunt over the first few seasons of the show. I think the first time we see a vampire crawl up out of the grave is in "Lie To Me," but it's definitely not the last.
You've got it! I think it's probably the best instance of the "high school/life is Hell" metaphor made real to that point in the show. It's not as over-the-head obvious as other instances of the metaphor, and it's definitely a situation that really gets some good acting out of SMG.
My acessment of your next episodes: the next episode after "Innocense" is ok. It's not great, but it's not bad either. The episode after that is, in my opinion, one of the most hillarious episodes of the entire seven seasons. And then the episode after that is another really, really good A+ episode.
I think the revelation of Jenny is good. Before, she was just the love interest for Giles. Now, she's her own character. She's got a bigger stake in the story, and she becomes far more interesting.
It's been partially explained so far. In the first episode of the show, Giles confronts Buffy about how a vampire comes into existence, she replies, "First they have to suck your blood. Then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing. Mostly, they're just going to kill you." That it takes a bit of time between a person's dying and awakening as a vampire is something that we learn from seeing Buffy hunt over the first few seasons of the show. I think the first time we see a vampire crawl up out of the grave is in "Lie To Me," but it's definitely not the last.
You've got it! I think it's probably the best instance of the "high school/life is Hell" metaphor made real to that point in the show. It's not as over-the-head obvious as other instances of the metaphor, and it's definitely a situation that really gets some good acting out of SMG.
My acessment of your next episodes: the next episode after "Innocense" is ok. It's not great, but it's not bad either. The episode after that is, in my opinion, one of the most hillarious episodes of the entire seven seasons. And then the episode after that is another really, really good A+ episode.
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GKarsEye
Regular
Werewolves. k.
Werewolves and vampires in love with high-school students. How much did the Twilight author pay Joss Whedon in royalties?
The episode with Xander as the star of an Axe body spray commercial was fun. Mostly I remember how all the ladies showed a lot of leg. This is, of course, brilliant writing. And excellent and genuinely creepy performance from stalker Willow.
Did I say I was gonna get through the season by the weekend? I ain't got shit goin' on tonight, I'll bust through it now.
Werewolves and vampires in love with high-school students. How much did the Twilight author pay Joss Whedon in royalties?
The episode with Xander as the star of an Axe body spray commercial was fun. Mostly I remember how all the ladies showed a lot of leg. This is, of course, brilliant writing. And excellent and genuinely creepy performance from stalker Willow.
Did I say I was gonna get through the season by the weekend? I ain't got shit goin' on tonight, I'll bust through it now.
GKarsEye
Regular
Ok... Jenny Calendar's death was done really well. The chase leading up to her execution was completely pointless dramatically but it was done well. A lot of these kinds of scenes were filmed real clunky before- this is the first one that looked real good.
Evil Angel is scary but he's using his powers to be a stalker ex-bf. Lame. You don't need to be a vampire to do that!...er, so I've been told...
So now Angel is evil but there's a way to restore him, and Buffy has finally decided to kill him for real. The fact that Angel gets his own spin-off series means I will be denied the best possible operatic ending for this story: Angel getting his soul back, Buffy killing him without knowing that, only to find out too late.
I am not crazy about the whole thing with Buffy needing to take her sweet time to decide to kill him. If anything, Giles should have been leaning on her harder. Especially since after Calendar died, he was just able to march into their lair and attack. So they knew where the 3 most vicious vampires in the world are, this is where Giles needed to get on the phone to Jamaica, get Kendra back, and have the 3 of them mount an all-out assault to eliminate Angel, Drusilla and Spike. Yes, I'm armchair vampire-slaying.
Tonight's agenda: finish season 2, with live-blogging.
Evil Angel is scary but he's using his powers to be a stalker ex-bf. Lame. You don't need to be a vampire to do that!...er, so I've been told...
So now Angel is evil but there's a way to restore him, and Buffy has finally decided to kill him for real. The fact that Angel gets his own spin-off series means I will be denied the best possible operatic ending for this story: Angel getting his soul back, Buffy killing him without knowing that, only to find out too late.
I am not crazy about the whole thing with Buffy needing to take her sweet time to decide to kill him. If anything, Giles should have been leaning on her harder. Especially since after Calendar died, he was just able to march into their lair and attack. So they knew where the 3 most vicious vampires in the world are, this is where Giles needed to get on the phone to Jamaica, get Kendra back, and have the 3 of them mount an all-out assault to eliminate Angel, Drusilla and Spike. Yes, I'm armchair vampire-slaying.
Tonight's agenda: finish season 2, with live-blogging.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
You've only got five episodes to the season left, so you can definitely get it finished petty easily. So, your last episode was "Passions." Your remaining episodes are "Killed By Death," which isn't all that great, "I Only Have Eyes For You," which I think is a really good episode, "Go Fish," which is, in my opinion, one of the most boring episodes of the show, and then the two-part finale "Becoming," which of course is a stellar finale.
Chilli
High Treason Prevention Officer
Killed by Death, along with S3's Gingerbread, had me reach my absolute high point in snotty-Europeanness. Horrible, horrible, horrible German.
(except for Tony Head)
GKarsEye
Regular
Oh yeah I definitely will finish those 5 tonight. Not only am I working from home, so no commute, but I just got off the phone with my boss and he's like "so this is gonna take the rest of the day right?" and I'm all "oh god, yeah, I'll probably have to work late, too" when in fact this work will take me like an hour. We software engineers gotta have our Scotty moments.
Observation: some people are sympathetic to the mistakes of others if they themselves made that mistake. Others are the opposite- they get more upset because they understand the consequences better. The last batch of eps showed Giles as being the latter.
1. He kept his past and identity secret (member of some demon cult).
Jenny kept her past and identify secret (Gypsy Angel curse spotter).
"She said get out"
2. He dabbled with dangerous magic foolishly in his youth (demon assassin thingy).
Xander dabbled with dangerous magic foolishly in his youth (love spell witchcraft).
Giles was so disgusted with Xander it was beautiful.
Thank you evil Angel for making smoking look cool again... by exhaling it after blood-sucking a smoker.
Thing this show does very well: portray the emotional subtexts of relationship. Like the way Giles emotionally shields Buffy from Jenny.
This this show does very poorly: portray the emotional subtexts of relationships, like having people stand around and dictate those things. Maybe I should just stop watching the last 3 minutes of every episode.
Observation: some people are sympathetic to the mistakes of others if they themselves made that mistake. Others are the opposite- they get more upset because they understand the consequences better. The last batch of eps showed Giles as being the latter.
1. He kept his past and identity secret (member of some demon cult).
Jenny kept her past and identify secret (Gypsy Angel curse spotter).
"She said get out"
2. He dabbled with dangerous magic foolishly in his youth (demon assassin thingy).
Xander dabbled with dangerous magic foolishly in his youth (love spell witchcraft).
Giles was so disgusted with Xander it was beautiful.
Thank you evil Angel for making smoking look cool again... by exhaling it after blood-sucking a smoker.
Thing this show does very well: portray the emotional subtexts of relationship. Like the way Giles emotionally shields Buffy from Jenny.
This this show does very poorly: portray the emotional subtexts of relationships, like having people stand around and dictate those things. Maybe I should just stop watching the last 3 minutes of every episode.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
At least "Gingerbread" gives us a line of dialog that makes me bust out laughing every time...
Spoiler for a line of dialog in season 3's "Gingerbread":
GKarsEye
Regular
Oh I just remembered a prediction of mine: I was wondering why they kept Oz as a werewolf instead of curing him. I'm guessing that some shit is gonna go down with some other bad guy, maybe even one of the Big Three, and it will happen to be on a full moon, and they'll release the werewolf.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
What makes you think there's a cure for being a werewolf?
GKarsEye
Regular
Seriously?
It's a show about magic and vampires and shit. They can't have a werewolf cure if they wanted one? I'm in the middle of a plot that involves a floppy disk with a cure for being an evil vampire (as opposed to a "good" vampire!), ferchrisesake.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
I asked because it seemed that you were alluding to something specific in the episode that made you think there was a cure for lycanthropy and that the characters had chosen to not use it, and I couldn't remember anything cure-ish in the episode.
GKarsEye
Regular
Ah I see what happened... the "they" I was referring to was the creators of the show, not the characters.
Pronoun trouble...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyPFQKpRnd0
GKarsEye
Regular
Peeking at the wikipedia pages for the eps I watched, apparently Innocence, the two-parter conclusion, is the highest rated episode and Joss Whedon's favorite. I guess this is where the show peaked?
Also this:
Continuity
In the first dream, Willow says to a monkey, "L'hippo a piqué ton pantalon" (French: "The hippo stole your trousers"). This refers back to her conversation with Oz near the end of "What's My Line, Part Two," in which, intentionally absurd, he wonders if the hippo animal cracker is jealous because the monkey is the only animal cracker with pants, and asserts, "All monkeys are French." Buffy is not shown to have witnessed this conversation, which lends credence to her fear that this dream is prophetic, yielding real information about things outside her direct experience to date.
Cool.
Also this:
Continuity
In the first dream, Willow says to a monkey, "L'hippo a piqué ton pantalon" (French: "The hippo stole your trousers"). This refers back to her conversation with Oz near the end of "What's My Line, Part Two," in which, intentionally absurd, he wonders if the hippo animal cracker is jealous because the monkey is the only animal cracker with pants, and asserts, "All monkeys are French." Buffy is not shown to have witnessed this conversation, which lends credence to her fear that this dream is prophetic, yielding real information about things outside her direct experience to date.
Cool.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
I never really ever knew anything about the numbers of viewers or ratings or any of that, so I can't say when the show peaked. All I remember ever reading is that the show never exactly had stellar ratings.
We didn't have a local WB station where I lived, so it wasn't until a local NBC station started showing some of WB's primetime shows in the middle of the day throughout the week that I even had the ability to watch Buffy, and they started doing that with season four, at which point I started watching. I liked it enough that I bought two 6-episode VHS tape sets, one for season two and one for season three, that I found in the store to try to catch up as best I could on what had happened before season four.
We didn't have a local WB station where I lived, so it wasn't until a local NBC station started showing some of WB's primetime shows in the middle of the day throughout the week that I even had the ability to watch Buffy, and they started doing that with season four, at which point I started watching. I liked it enough that I bought two 6-episode VHS tape sets, one for season two and one for season three, that I found in the store to try to catch up as best I could on what had happened before season four.
GKarsEye
Regular
Watching something about Buffy in a hospital, I'm kinda bored, so...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgkzqQhxxSw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgkzqQhxxSw&feature=related
GKarsEye
Regular
Killed By Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6noHEd6XE'
Lemmy looks like some demon Buffy has to defeat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6noHEd6XE'
Lemmy looks like some demon Buffy has to defeat.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
Yeah, I'm not all that fond of "Killed By Death," but the one after that "I Only Have Eyes For You" is a pretty good one.
GKarsEye
Regular
I'm just going to assume you mean the episode, not the Motorhead song, 'cause otherwise your awesomeness quotient would decrease.
LEMMY!!!
I'm sorry what were we talking about? Buffy TV? These three episodes just sucked. I dunno maybe I wasn't in the mood... lot going on in my brain right now.. or maybe the let-down due to the fact that it's after a pretty sweet two-parter and that the finale is the Greatest Thing Ever Ever according the internet.
I mean I don't actually mind the "monster of the week" thing it's just that these offered nothing particularly entertaining. There weren't even funny lines, it was all just so.. bleh. It's like they did all this stuff before.
I don't find ghosts particularly boring. The whole "they're looking for closure thing" is ruined for me ever since the Japanese started doing it way better than anyone else in their horror flicks. Plus I saw the "twists" from a mile away.
Basically it's episodes like these that make the case for shorter TV seasons. HBO does like 10-12, and British TV does 6 per "series."
Tonight: the finale and maybe the start of season 3, accompanied by something called The Wallick Cocktail (yes I just bought a copy of the Boston Bartender's Guide).
