Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel - First Time Viewer

Kennedy to me is why Tara's death didn't feel like it was part of the Bury your gays" trope. The show was not just going to ignore that Willow is gay and she would still have romance. The problem is Kennedy flat out sucks as a character. Because she sucks it means Tara instead of feeling like a chapter in Willow's life, much like Oz was before her ends up feeling like her last true love. If Kennedy had been interesting then people I think would soon be in love with seeing more of Willow and Kennedy together. Frankly the show was kind of off in terms of romance in season 7. Xander and Anya like Willow is still trapped in season 6 feelings the entire season IMO as well. It's basically Buffy and Spike and nothing else in season 7.

Jason

 

First Date

It's a small world, this Buffy Universe. I was really hoping Spike wouldn't have been the one to kill the mother but here we are. I am liking Wood a lot more with each episode. He and Buffy now knows each others secrets, which should help for the final episodes. I wonder if I write stuff if people just laugh because they know what happens and I'm here just speculating. My last episode I said that Buffy shouldn't remove the chip because it served as an insurance policy. Well, it pretty much happened off screen, and I'm still not sure I by the reason. Ok, so Buffy believes muzzling Spike is evil. Well, didn't she also pretty much say she had no choice but to kill Anya and not give her a chance at redemption because that was "Slayer Law"? I agreed with Giles here. That was a dangerous decision to make but I hope it works out.

I never knew Ashanti was an actress before turning to a singer. She wasn't bad here. I also loved Buffy's line about knowing someone who doesn't know about the Industrial Revolution. Also, the Chinese potential was funny, with the lactose intolerant comment.

Get it Done

Interesting episode. Got to learn a little more about the first slayer and wondering if slayer power is part demon power. I'm starting to wonder if being a slayer is a curse. Thinking about the first slayer being forced in the role with powers that she didn't want and also thinking about the whole theme of Death being a gift. Considering what Buffy experienced with Heaven and stuff, maybe Death being a gift is like liberation of sorts. My first question when I started the series was do I need to rewatch the movie. Well, the series has been sprinkling in these little details of the Slayer origin story and it's been quite fascinating to watch.

That army at the end though? No wonder the First was in "remission". This is like Lord of the Rings before LOTR became movies, in terms of big armies and such.

Also, a little side note, this is the second time in two seasons there was a mention of Star Trek Enterprise. I don't remember Enterprise referencing Buffy at all. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Maybe UPN felt Enterprise needed all the help it could get. This is 2003 so it is the second and much maligned season of that show.

Storyteller

They finally made Andrew a sympathetic character. I've been waiting for his big moment (Because I was told that he has a break out year) and he's been kinda annoying all throughout to the point where I was wondering when that Big moment was going to come. This was a good episode for him, maybe even the start of his redemption arc. I still wish this series would drop the trio though. I'm also not sure I'm liking the tension between Wood and Spike. It's amazing they haven't had those two deal with it yet, even though it got really close in the previous episode.

 

Lies My Parents Told Me

And there's the episode that makes what Buffy did to remove the chip worth it. That episode was amazing, probably the first true great episode of the season. While all the other episodes were good to decent, this one rose to another level, thanks in part because of James Marsters performance. That was awesome getting to know more about William, how he sired his mother and then killed her. I loved the fight sequences with Buffy and the Vampire and Spike and Wood. Ever since we found out Spike killed Wood's mother, I've been waiting for an episode like this to tackle it head on. I am having a hard time understanding the Slayer having the time to take care of her son though. Maybe she gave birth before she was chosen, but Wood looked about 6 years old in that first scene.

Apple is getting a lot of product placement on this show this season. We just saw early itunes. Considering this week Apple announced they were killing it, kinda, it's nice to see Itunes at it's peak again.

 

I can't recommend the novel Blackout by the Trek BBS's very own @KRAD highly enough...

https://www.amazon.com/Blackout-Buf...dido+blackout&qid=1559970402&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

Storyteller is such a great episode! It’s one of the few comedies of the season. When Andrew is introducing everyone and Spike is the only one who shown in a sexy way.

And more Spike backstory is great. It’s sweet how even though he was soul-less, he turned his mother out of love.

 

D.B. Woodside fucking killed it in Lies My Parents Told Me. That's really all I have to add.

EDIT: Oh, and the episode was co-written by, you guessed it, Frank Stallo--. Uh, Drew Goddard. It was co-written by Drew Goddard.

 

I'm realizing that I haven't seen most of Season 7 since it first aired. I need to go back and watch it again.

I remember it being so bitter sweet when I watched it because, like the 90's Star Trek series in their various incarnations we knew it was the last season---I wanted everything to be great, and it seems like it did do a good job of paying tribute to its own history, but it often seemed to fall short of what I wanted to see. I do remember the ending being so satisfying, almost as much as the ending to DS9 was. (DS9 of all the series I mentioned also had the best final season.)

 

Dirty Girls

We're in the home stretch, and I think that's the last episode I'm going to see tonight. I have a feeling these episodes are going to start blending together so it might be hard to talk about each one individually. What I will say about this one is it was awesome to see Faith again, and man Eliza Dushku as Faith is attractively amazing. If there is one thing I'm looking forward to watching Angel, it's watching Faith's journey. It's interesting. I would think this series would spoil Angel for me, but it really hasn't. They're more like teases. Faith had to put a magic something on Angel? Interesting.

As for Caleb, wow what a bastard. What makes matters worse is I am a catholic and I wonder if Joss is trying to trigger me with the whole Catholic abuse scandal. Yeah, that was a real black eye for the church and it still is. In the context of this episode, man that final scene was scary as hell.

 

The story that Willow and Faith are returning from on Angel is my favorite arc in the whole Buffy verse.

 

The best thing about these two shows and this thread is once Buffy is over, there's still a whole other series to get to. I can't wait. I think I might actually watch that one straight through like I'm doing Buffy here. I get the sense that switching back and forth might work better once you have the context of each series down.

By the way, I think I passed the other WTF thing Kennedy did this season, which was pushing Chloe to the point of suicide. Yeah, I'm not a fan of her, or how that relationship with Willow just "seemed" to happen.

 

LOL--Black eye.

 

Is Embarrassment better? I don't know. I mean I still try to go to church as often as I can (Not every week), and I still think they do some good things. The whole scandal sucked and the Church not doing anything about it is embarassing. I'm not going to renounce my faith in Jesus Christ because the Church itself should burn in hell.

 

Sorry--you're reading too much into it--I thought you were making a pun about the fight at the end.

 

I'm going through a similar thing with the Methodist Church in terms of its homophobic stances on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. There's actually a bunch of pro-LGBTQ Methodist churches (including my own) planning to rebel against the greater church when the even harsher "Traditional Plan" goes into effect in January.

 

Oh, ok. Sorry I jumped on you about it.

I'm actually not comfortable talking about my religion on here mainly because there are some things about it I am embarrassed about.

 

I grew up Catholic--lapsed now principally for the very thing you are discussing--but really I just thought your eye comment was a joke about what happens at the end of the episode.

 

Yeah I get it. I disagree with the Catholic Church's message on that as well. Jesus's Greatest commandment said "love one another", and yes there are many contradictions in the bible. That's how I rationalize my stance, especially since the Catholic Church believes Jesus as the Massiah, WWJD and all that stuff.

@theenglish

Yeah I get it now. No pun intended, but still kinda funny. Again, sorry about that.

 

Bringing the thread somewhat back to topic, have you seen The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix? It is a worthy successor to Buffy and is also a poignant take on the intolerance of organized religion and how it has been used to subjugate women and free thought.

 

I have not but I have heard good things about it. Might be something worth checking out maybe in the fall.

 

I just learned that Drew Goddard who got his start on Buffy is Executive Producer on The Good Place. That's amazing.