It's funny how opinions change. I hated 'Ted' the first time around and sorta liked 'Amends'...now that's flip-flopped.
Buffy ep by ep; rewatch and reviews
- Thread starter saturn5
- Start date
It's funny how opinions change. I hated 'Ted' the first time around and sorta liked 'Amends'...now that's flip-flopped.
That was my feeling for a long time too, but robots on Buffy are sometimes a case of a bad or dubious idea done very well. Ted should havre been pathetic, but actually kind of works in my opinion.
No one get the quote?
Well the Scoobs do encounter aliens in Quelled. As for the vamp in The Body Joss has explained his reasons for it, Spike is noticeably absent from it as is Glory.
Bad Eggs;
The Good;
Neat opening scene with the mirror. Some creepy 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers' stuff including the great scene where Giles' looks at the kids at the bottom of the stairs, you think they're already possessed. Great scene with Giles and Joyce in the library (love the way that even possessed Giles still covers up Buffy being the Slayer) and a genuine shock when Giles' sticks the creature on her. Not really much else.
The Bad;
The Gorch's are pathetic as an enemy whilst the monsters are very badly done.
Kinky dinky;
Buffy being swallowed up by the beast in the cellar reminiscent of vore fetishism (beautiful women enjoying being swallowed whole by giant snakes, carnivarous plants etc PM me if you want the link)
Best line;
Xander; "You've got to keep your egg safe and teach it Christian values"
Willow; "My egg is Jewish!"
Xander "Then teach it that dradle song"
and
Giles "The Gorch's made their name by massacaring a whole village full of Mexicans"
Buffy "Par for the course"
Giles "No this is before they became vampires"
also like;
Xander "Well I guess we know what happened Professor Whitmore"
Cordy "He saw this and ran away?"
Xander "Try best case scenario!"
Questions and observations;
Considering what we learn in 'Normal Again' Buffy's remark to Joyce about saving the world from vampires is very reckless. What's painful about this ep is that Buffy and Joyce obviously love each other and Buffy wants to be a good daughter but slaying always gets in the way.
The Gorch's know Angelus? They really don't seem to be his kind people. Jonathon back once more. In a previous post I stated that Giles and Tara were the only Buffy characters never to go bad but I was wrong, Giles is possessed here so Tara seems to be the only one who never went evil. Cordy refers to having sex in a car, so she's no longer a virgin? (if so the first of the younger Scoobies to be so). Love the way Buffy and Willow get so maternal about their eggs. BUT Angel mentions for the first time that he can't have children although we later find that isn't true, at least in Connor's case. Buffy fighting the parasite is very like the scene in Aliens where Newt and Ripley are trapped in the lab with the facehuggers, right down to the plucking strings music. Buffy and Xander and ultimately everyone else knocked out. Presumably the parasites need a conscious/sleeping host which is why they lock them in the closet. No one dies although actually that's not as unusual as I first thought, Halloween, When she was Bad, The Witch and quite a few other eps have no human deaths whatsoever.
Joyce refuses to buy Buffy an outfit because it makes her look like a streetwalker. Considering some of the things Buffy DOES wear in the first three seasons it must have been the full Julia Roberts?
4/10, awful story saved by the character elements and a few good lines, very nearly the worst episode of Buffy ever
Well the Scoobs do encounter aliens in Quelled. As for the vamp in The Body Joss has explained his reasons for it, Spike is noticeably absent from it as is Glory.
Bad Eggs;
The Good;
Neat opening scene with the mirror. Some creepy 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers' stuff including the great scene where Giles' looks at the kids at the bottom of the stairs, you think they're already possessed. Great scene with Giles and Joyce in the library (love the way that even possessed Giles still covers up Buffy being the Slayer) and a genuine shock when Giles' sticks the creature on her. Not really much else.
The Bad;
The Gorch's are pathetic as an enemy whilst the monsters are very badly done.
Kinky dinky;
Buffy being swallowed up by the beast in the cellar reminiscent of vore fetishism (beautiful women enjoying being swallowed whole by giant snakes, carnivarous plants etc PM me if you want the link)
Best line;
Xander; "You've got to keep your egg safe and teach it Christian values"
Willow; "My egg is Jewish!"
Xander "Then teach it that dradle song"
and
Giles "The Gorch's made their name by massacaring a whole village full of Mexicans"
Buffy "Par for the course"
Giles "No this is before they became vampires"
also like;
Xander "Well I guess we know what happened Professor Whitmore"
Cordy "He saw this and ran away?"
Xander "Try best case scenario!"
Questions and observations;
Considering what we learn in 'Normal Again' Buffy's remark to Joyce about saving the world from vampires is very reckless. What's painful about this ep is that Buffy and Joyce obviously love each other and Buffy wants to be a good daughter but slaying always gets in the way.
The Gorch's know Angelus? They really don't seem to be his kind people. Jonathon back once more. In a previous post I stated that Giles and Tara were the only Buffy characters never to go bad but I was wrong, Giles is possessed here so Tara seems to be the only one who never went evil. Cordy refers to having sex in a car, so she's no longer a virgin? (if so the first of the younger Scoobies to be so). Love the way Buffy and Willow get so maternal about their eggs. BUT Angel mentions for the first time that he can't have children although we later find that isn't true, at least in Connor's case. Buffy fighting the parasite is very like the scene in Aliens where Newt and Ripley are trapped in the lab with the facehuggers, right down to the plucking strings music. Buffy and Xander and ultimately everyone else knocked out. Presumably the parasites need a conscious/sleeping host which is why they lock them in the closet. No one dies although actually that's not as unusual as I first thought, Halloween, When she was Bad, The Witch and quite a few other eps have no human deaths whatsoever.
Joyce refuses to buy Buffy an outfit because it makes her look like a streetwalker. Considering some of the things Buffy DOES wear in the first three seasons it must have been the full Julia Roberts?
4/10, awful story saved by the character elements and a few good lines, very nearly the worst episode of Buffy ever
That would be Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered, I reckon. Should be up soonish.
Bad Eggs was indeed one of the worst episodes of Buffy. Fortunately after that, season two really becomes all kinds of bloody awesome! Except for maybe Go Fish, everything that follows maintains the flow of brilliance pretty amazingly.
Yeah Bad Eggs is the crud before the brilliance really kicks in
Suprise
The Good;
Everything! Buffy's opening dream is superb. The fight, the Judge, Dru and Spike and THAT ending! Also the clever way you think Jenny is leading Buffy astray but is actually just leading her to the party. Love Oz's reaction to discovering the truth about Sunnydale
The Bad;
Are you crazy, this is Buffy at it's best!
Best line;
Dru; (after the Judge burns Dalton) "Do it again! Do it again!"
Questions and observations;
Xander mentions giving Buffy a 'pre-birthday spanking', a display of kinkiness that will become apparent in all the Scoobies to a greater and lesser degree over the course of the series. Jenny back in the gang but with her true self revealed, all the Scoobies keeping secrets over the years. Buffy loses her virginity, as the age of consent in California is 18 this is technically statuatory rape. Oz refers to past groupies although he doesn't have any now
Spike in a wheelchair, he seems reluctant to release the Judge, again showing his more human side. The Judge senses it, commenting that Spike and Dru share jealousy and affection (love Spike's confrontation with him "Yeah, what of it mate!?" as though the judge has spilled his pint or something). Dalton also seems to have retained some humanity (enough for the Judge to burn him), perhaps because he was sired by Dru or Spike? The fact that reading is considered sufficently un-demon like behaviour to warrant a fiery death speaks volumes as to why humanity rules the Earth and demons don't any more. Dru hates the flowers, I thought roses were supposed to repel vamps anyway? Brian Thompson back again and the wonderful Vincent Schavelli.
Why not just sink the Judge's arm into the Pacific? Why does Dalton still need his glasses, surely as a vamp his eyes would have healed up like Darla's heart condition and Spike's mum's tuberculosis? Maybe they're just for effect? Small point that Xander says "Hello mom" on the phone and then still needs to say "It's Xander". Does he have siblings or is she just too drunk to understand what he said?
10/10 and more!
Suprise
The Good;
Everything! Buffy's opening dream is superb. The fight, the Judge, Dru and Spike and THAT ending! Also the clever way you think Jenny is leading Buffy astray but is actually just leading her to the party. Love Oz's reaction to discovering the truth about Sunnydale
The Bad;
Are you crazy, this is Buffy at it's best!
Best line;
Dru; (after the Judge burns Dalton) "Do it again! Do it again!"
Questions and observations;
Xander mentions giving Buffy a 'pre-birthday spanking', a display of kinkiness that will become apparent in all the Scoobies to a greater and lesser degree over the course of the series. Jenny back in the gang but with her true self revealed, all the Scoobies keeping secrets over the years. Buffy loses her virginity, as the age of consent in California is 18 this is technically statuatory rape. Oz refers to past groupies although he doesn't have any now
Spike in a wheelchair, he seems reluctant to release the Judge, again showing his more human side. The Judge senses it, commenting that Spike and Dru share jealousy and affection (love Spike's confrontation with him "Yeah, what of it mate!?" as though the judge has spilled his pint or something). Dalton also seems to have retained some humanity (enough for the Judge to burn him), perhaps because he was sired by Dru or Spike? The fact that reading is considered sufficently un-demon like behaviour to warrant a fiery death speaks volumes as to why humanity rules the Earth and demons don't any more. Dru hates the flowers, I thought roses were supposed to repel vamps anyway? Brian Thompson back again and the wonderful Vincent Schavelli.
Why not just sink the Judge's arm into the Pacific? Why does Dalton still need his glasses, surely as a vamp his eyes would have healed up like Darla's heart condition and Spike's mum's tuberculosis? Maybe they're just for effect? Small point that Xander says "Hello mom" on the phone and then still needs to say "It's Xander". Does he have siblings or is she just too drunk to understand what he said?
10/10 and more!
Surprise and Innocence are definitely in my top ten episodes of the series, probably even the top five. Brilliant stuff. The second half of season 2 is probably only rivalled by the second half of seasons three and five for most consistent run of awesome episodes in the show's history.
Personally I'd add 'Killed By Death' as a non-awesome episode (not a fan of Der Kinderstod)
I like killed by death but we'll talk about that when we get there
Innocence
The Good;
As Joss says "Buffy in pain, show good!" And he really puts her, Jenny and Giles through the wringer here (Willow also has her pain but Oz is there to thankfully not kiss it better) But you know what? It doesn't matter because in the final scene she ends up back in Joyce's loving arms (and probably Dawn's too in everyone's memory) and it's all too beautiful for words.
Stunningly brilliant in every way, quite possibly the best episode of Buffy ever.
The Bad;
Ummmmmm?
Actually one thing I don't like is Angelus killing the hooker in the alley (She is lovely in a trashy sort of way, the Gorch's were wrong!). Such a misogynistic cliche, couldn't he have killed some guy emptying the bins or something?
Best line;
Xander (to Cordy) "Wear something trashy...er" (unkind actually as CC's outfit is very nice although a little school-uniformish).
Plus;
Giles; "I'd say we've hit rock bottom"
Xander; "I have a plan"
Cordy; "Oh no, there's a lower place!"
But best dialogue;
Joyce; "So how was your birthday?"
Buffy; "Got older"
Joyce "You don't look any different to me" (nice contrast between the scene where Joyce senses something different about Buffy after she's lost her virginity)
What the fanficcers thought; Angelus kills the scoobs but others take their place-http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3006642/1/Deadscoobies
Questions and observations;
So much good stuff, the dream sequence and the scene where Angelus kills Jenny's uncle especially good. But how does he know he's in town? Did Dru have a vision?
So Sunnydale has it's own army base (couldn't the Initiative have been based there?) as well as an airport big enough for a 747, zoo, docks etc Not bad for a town of under 40,000. How come Spike is prepared to destroy the world now but not in Becoming pt2? You can start to see his jealousy of Dru and Angelus almost from the start, without Darla the Fanged Four are out of balance. Although, like the Harvest or Adam or the Mayor turning into a big snake it would have been bad but would the Judge really have been the end of the world? Buffy using a firearm is a rare sight (I always thought she chucked it away afterwards but obviously she saves it for Season 7 'Him', couldn't she have used it on Adam or Glory?). It was always one of the things that troubled me about the supernatural threat, that really faced with modern technology they're not really up to much (love the Judge's ignorance of what he's facing followed inevitably by death) Buffy says she beat up Willy the Snitch again. I think most people fell in love at this point with Oz, ironically because he DOESN'T want to kiss Willow. Jenny leaves the Scoobies here and realistically will never get back in. Alison Hannigan shows some superb acting skills upon her discovery but all the actors really shine here. Oz joins the Scoobies from the beginning. This makes the Scoobs offically;
1. Buffy
2. Giles
3. Willow
4. Xander
5. Angel (for the course of the ep at least)
6. Jenny
7. Cordy
8. Oz
the biggest they'll ever be until season 5
10/10 and more of I could make it, just superb and a whole new era for Buffy
Innocence
The Good;
As Joss says "Buffy in pain, show good!" And he really puts her, Jenny and Giles through the wringer here (Willow also has her pain but Oz is there to thankfully not kiss it better) But you know what? It doesn't matter because in the final scene she ends up back in Joyce's loving arms (and probably Dawn's too in everyone's memory) and it's all too beautiful for words.
Stunningly brilliant in every way, quite possibly the best episode of Buffy ever.
The Bad;
Ummmmmm?
Actually one thing I don't like is Angelus killing the hooker in the alley (She is lovely in a trashy sort of way, the Gorch's were wrong!). Such a misogynistic cliche, couldn't he have killed some guy emptying the bins or something?
Best line;
Xander (to Cordy) "Wear something trashy...er" (unkind actually as CC's outfit is very nice although a little school-uniformish).
Plus;
Giles; "I'd say we've hit rock bottom"
Xander; "I have a plan"
Cordy; "Oh no, there's a lower place!"
But best dialogue;
Joyce; "So how was your birthday?"
Buffy; "Got older"
Joyce "You don't look any different to me" (nice contrast between the scene where Joyce senses something different about Buffy after she's lost her virginity)
What the fanficcers thought; Angelus kills the scoobs but others take their place-http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3006642/1/Deadscoobies
Questions and observations;
So much good stuff, the dream sequence and the scene where Angelus kills Jenny's uncle especially good. But how does he know he's in town? Did Dru have a vision?
So Sunnydale has it's own army base (couldn't the Initiative have been based there?) as well as an airport big enough for a 747, zoo, docks etc Not bad for a town of under 40,000. How come Spike is prepared to destroy the world now but not in Becoming pt2? You can start to see his jealousy of Dru and Angelus almost from the start, without Darla the Fanged Four are out of balance. Although, like the Harvest or Adam or the Mayor turning into a big snake it would have been bad but would the Judge really have been the end of the world? Buffy using a firearm is a rare sight (I always thought she chucked it away afterwards but obviously she saves it for Season 7 'Him', couldn't she have used it on Adam or Glory?). It was always one of the things that troubled me about the supernatural threat, that really faced with modern technology they're not really up to much (love the Judge's ignorance of what he's facing followed inevitably by death) Buffy says she beat up Willy the Snitch again. I think most people fell in love at this point with Oz, ironically because he DOESN'T want to kiss Willow. Jenny leaves the Scoobies here and realistically will never get back in. Alison Hannigan shows some superb acting skills upon her discovery but all the actors really shine here. Oz joins the Scoobies from the beginning. This makes the Scoobs offically;
1. Buffy
2. Giles
3. Willow
4. Xander
5. Angel (for the course of the ep at least)
6. Jenny
7. Cordy
8. Oz
the biggest they'll ever be until season 5
10/10 and more of I could make it, just superb and a whole new era for Buffy
I liked Bad Eggs. Character moments, the Gortch brothers...Buffy is one of those shows that even the weak eps usually redeem themselves somehow.
Yes, Angel killing the hooker was a mysogynist cliche. But Angelus is BAD, nothing wrong with showing his mysogynist streak. And the post bite smoke was cool.
OK, here is where I am going to stick in one of my major beefs with the Angel/Buffy thing: the "happiness clause" on Angel's curse.
Step by step:
Step by step:
- Angelus kills a gypsy girl
- Gypsies curse Angelus into regaining his soul
- His soul makes him feel all the pain he has caused over the centuries...
- ...more or less neurtering him as a vampire
- He meets Buffy
- He and Buffy make love
- Angel has a moment of perfect happiness...
- ...which, due to a "happiness clause" in the curse...
- His soul is removed
- He is now an evil vampire again???
I'm actually re-watching the series at more or less the same pace as you so I watched this one last night and noticed something about that scene. Apologies if this has been pointed out before.
At the beginning of that scene the uncle is looking in a mirror and as the door opens behind him he begins to speak as if Jenny had walked in. He then sees (and the audience sees) Angel's reflection in the mirror and he is shocked and turns around to confront Angel.
I thought that was an odd little goof on the production team's part.
I don't think that it was a clause per se. I think that Jenny's uncle says something to the effect that the spell has limited scope and that when Angel is at ease with himself and feels no guilt for a while, the soul might be unshackled enough to leave.
I gotta tell you...
That's the same thing that's always annoyed me. It made no sense beyond "it's what the story needs, so...."
Sigh.
The one major flaw in the beautifully woven tapestry that is the Buffyverse.
Exactly. The "perfect happiness" is not a part of the original plan. It's more like a glitch in the curse - an unexpected loophole.
The whole point of the soul curse was to make Angelus suffer. The soul is not supposed to be there - it was forced into a reanimated dead body where it doesn't belong. The soul and the suffering are connected - they feed each other. A soul IS suffering - the ability to feel guilt for one's actions.
If there ever comes a point where Angelus is not suffering anymore - not consumed with guilt to the exclusion of all else but has actually forgotten all his horrors because he loves Buffy and Buffy loves him back - then this tentatively-clinging-on soul loses its grip and flies off to soul-land, free of the body, thus leaving the demon to take control again.
It actually works perfectly well. Granted, the characters very rarely explain it that clearly - they tend to talk about it as if it is an original clause of the curse - but it's really not.
Thanks. That's what I meant to say.
"Flies off to soul-land"...
Anyway, I imagine that Willow's spell as cast in Angel was much more powerful, so no worries from then on.
Although in Angel they talk about it
Although they keep bringing up the conditions of the original curse. I kept thinking "why didn't willow just change the curse so its like... if Angel has sex with twenty women he'll lose his soul." or something like that.
But after re-watching some Season 1 Angel I'm thinking why didn't they just get more blood of the Krios demon (or whatever that name was) that basically made Angel alive again, but powerless. I mean then he'd have A) A soul. B) A living real body C) he could play house with Buffy D) Willow or someone could always somehow power him up again with some other demons blood or something and he could still be an ass kicker, just not a vamp. A mortal that could still die, but like a male slayer or something.
I think in some ways that could have added some extra drama to the show... he stays apart from Buffy because he's worried that both of them could die... so he's still mortal, he could very well get injured and die, same as her... but they're both fairly tough.
I dunno... I guess its one thing that Joss brought in that I never liked. OR the PTB could have granted him vamp like powers again to be a champion. But maybe if he went to the path of evil on his own free will, he was screwed. I mean, if he was free to do whatever he wanted... he could easily have gone rogue and become a far more dangerous mortal vigilante. They kinda alluded to it in Season 2 Angel...
Anyway... one nit though...
Why can't vampires have a reflection? "No soul." bullshit. My toaster has no soul either and I can see its reflection in the mirror. My cell phone has no soul and I can see its reflection. Hell a dead fly still has a reflection.
But after re-watching some Season 1 Angel I'm thinking why didn't they just get more blood of the Krios demon (or whatever that name was) that basically made Angel alive again, but powerless. I mean then he'd have A) A soul. B) A living real body C) he could play house with Buffy D) Willow or someone could always somehow power him up again with some other demons blood or something and he could still be an ass kicker, just not a vamp. A mortal that could still die, but like a male slayer or something.
I think in some ways that could have added some extra drama to the show... he stays apart from Buffy because he's worried that both of them could die... so he's still mortal, he could very well get injured and die, same as her... but they're both fairly tough.
I dunno... I guess its one thing that Joss brought in that I never liked. OR the PTB could have granted him vamp like powers again to be a champion. But maybe if he went to the path of evil on his own free will, he was screwed. I mean, if he was free to do whatever he wanted... he could easily have gone rogue and become a far more dangerous mortal vigilante. They kinda alluded to it in Season 2 Angel...
Anyway... one nit though...
Why can't vampires have a reflection? "No soul." bullshit. My toaster has no soul either and I can see its reflection in the mirror. My cell phone has no soul and I can see its reflection. Hell a dead fly still has a reflection.