Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel - First Time Viewer

The episode I watched, that thing looked like a snake that was burnt. It was not a snake?

 

@gblews, I think he’s referring to the snake demon Buffy burned at the end of Band Candy.

@tomalak301, yes it was a snake.

 

And a penis metaphor.

 

With one exception the show wasn’t particularly good at snakes.

 

Ever feel like Marcie from Season 1?

 

@tomalak301, now that you've seen some of the early Buffy episodes you might get a kick out of this. It was a test real for a unproduced animated Buffy series, with all of the original cast except Sarah Michelle Geller voicing their characters.

 

That was decent. Xander still sounds the same from the series, for better or worse.

 

Amends

This episode was good until it started snowing in Sunnydale. I was already to compliment Whedon for this incredible payoff, finally finding out why Angel was brought back and thinking he did a really wise thing by revealing this before the show went on winter break 1998. However, it was like they got to the end of the episode and was like, "holy crap, we're running out of time and it's Christmas. Let's come up with the most random thing ever to end this episode". I mean they were talking about a heatwave in Sunnydale, and Joyce was talking about putting the AC on. I am assuming this new evil first one is definitely coming back.

I'm confused, but I'm going to watch the next episode and see if some of that confusion might be lifted.

And Buffy's haircut was a little distracting. She's better in the next episode.

 

The story of how Angel came back and why he was prevented from killing himself in this episode won't be completely forgotten, but don't expect to see any explanation of it on Buffy. That stuff was basically reserved for Angel.

 

But it was a start. That episode pretty much felt like a backdoor pilot for the Angel series. Still, I can't get over the ending, which kinda ruined the episode for me.

 

Gingerbread

I'm typically not good with remembering quotes, but there was a line in this episode that I absolutely loved and it came from Cordelia. When she finds Giles unconscious on the floor, when he wakes up she says "I swear one of these times you're going to wake up in a Coma". The look on Giles face was absolutely priceless. It's a very Cordelia thing to say.

Anyway, I liked this one more than I liked Amends. It's another episode this season dealing with demons and Cults, so my prediction regarding the Mayor is still holding true so far. I think what I really liked about this episode was Angel and Buffy's conversation. It was referencing The Wish and Amends even though Buffy doesn't know what happened in The Wish. It made for some nice symmetry in these last few episodes.

 

You should invest in a Giles Concussion Counter™. The one device no aspiring Buffy fan should live without.

 

Maybe a year from now when I rewatch Buffy (and do the flipping back and forth with Angel) I will probably do that. Giles concussions are like Voyager losing shuttles.

 

The snow was intentionally made to save Angel, who did that will be revealed in Angel The Series

 

The only thing I don’t like about that ending is it establishes all it takes for vampires to go out in daytime is heavy cloud cover. Which is forgotten later.

You’d think vampires would just figure out to construct sunproof clothes they can fully maneuver in and then just do whatever they feel like.

 

Well, Spike gets around in daylight all the time. And Angel when he really wants to, as well. The other vampires already have to be assumed to be either stupid or lazy or just indifferent to the idea of getting around in daylight. But perfectly sunproof clothes wouldn't exactly be practical, either, unless you have no need to see where you're going.

 

To be fair, this snowfall is heavily implied (and later confirmed) to be supernatural in origin. The laws of physics my not necessarily apply here.

There's actually a really great moment in

Spoiler

Angel's first season

where they did just that. As for why vampires don't do it more often? Well, they look suspicious as fuck. Someone dressed up like "Winter is Coming!!!" in the middle of July is going to raise more than a few eyebrows. They probably just prefer to go hunting at night when they can blend in with humanity more easily.

 

It’s amusing that Spike can drive around with this windshield blacked out and not get pulled over.

You could see, you’d just need special sunglasses.

 

Well, in Sunnydale cops know better than to do their job after dark. Outside Sunnydale - he probably has been pulled over. And eaten the cops who did it.

And we've seen how easily even the tiniest exposure starts to burn, even if it's just a scrap of skin between goggles and facemask, so it's still not that practical. Especially since many vampires (ie, the ones who aren't important to the show and never get a name) seem to instantly go up in flames from even a brief flare-up and are unable to save themselves.

It also goes back to the vampiric aversion to technology which the show commented on several times. It's no different than how vampires theoretically can have special glass windows installed (as we saw some do on Angel) and live a seemingly 'normal' life, yet they still almost all choose to live in ruins and sewers and abandoned warehouses.

 

Interesting it will get revisited. I thought it was just corny. It was like we get this really passionate scene, and then the episode ends with a feel good christmas moment during a heatwave. Not knowing what comes next, what was my reaction supposed to be.