Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel - First Time Viewer

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Tabula Rasa ends on such sadness but it’s a beautiful montage with Michelle Branch singing. But there are some good laughs in it.

Giles and Anya think they are engaged, Willow’s “I think I’m kind of gay” comment which is totally a callback to Dopplegangland, and of course...

“Randy Giles!?”

@tomalak301 i second watching Galavant and also Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

 

[tomalak301]

Tabula Rasa ends on such sadness but it’s a beautiful montage with Michelle Branch singing. But there are some good laughs in it.

Giles and Anya think they are engaged, Willow’s “I think I’m kind of gay” comment which is totally a callback to Dopplegangland, and of course...

“Randy Giles!?”

@tomalak301 i second watching Galavsnt and also Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Oh, I know there were some great moments. It's just I think I was ready to cry and the beginning and end of this episode overshadowed everything else.

Anya bringing in all the bunnies was hilarious.

 

[JD]

@tomalak301 i second watching Galavant and also Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

I really need to check out Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I've seen a few songs and they were pretty good, and Fuck Me Ray Bradbury, which was by CEG's star/co-creator is hilarious.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Spike got shamed not because he used a robot but because he used it as a Buffy substitute. Joyce didn't know Ted was a robot until the end. Warren didn't get tired of April, rather he met a human woman he liked better.

And if you're calling Willow shallow, would you *really* have sex with a person who you didn't find physically attractive?

Willow made an emotional commitment to a "person" sight unseen. Yes, that's a dice roll, but she was all-in, and it's not Moloch's fault that he is a charismatic Toaster thirst trap.

Well, maybe it is, but what choice did he have?

Helo from BSG Knocked up a Toaster, and he stuck it out, because he is a man of convictions that follows his dick into whatever calamity it generates. He's a good boy.

True, Sharon is prettier than Seven of Nine, but it is unlikely that that reject go-bot Moloch was in was Malcolm's final body. The technology was out there. In a year Malcolm could have looked like young Colin Hanks, and in 4 years Mally could have looked like young Christina Aguilar, when Willow came into her own.

They might have had a successful physical future together, if she had just waited for the parts to become available, and he didn't sacrifice her to evil.

 

[tomalak301]

Smashed

Well, that happened. That relationship between Buffy and Spike is wrong and toxic on so many levels, yet here we are. That scene at the end must of had all the Spike/Buffy shippers happy, but it has it's desired impact of a pretty uneasy feeling. I thought that echoed what Willow was doing pretty well though, the addiction to love and the addiction to magic. I'm really glad they finally changed Amy back to human form, but we already see what a bad influence she is. This season really is taking a turn to the dark side. Not as depressing as the previous two episodes, but still pretty impactful to move the story forward.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

“I know it isn’t real, but I just want to feel.”

Buffy/Spike is interesting in season six because it gives Buffy what depressed alcoholics get from alcohol and really tests how good Spike can really be as a soulless creature.

Spike wants to be the truly good creature that is worthy of Buffy and not just her pleasurable wrong vacation, but has to grapple with really being a monster.

 

[tomalak301]

“I know it isn’t real, but I just want to feel.”

Buffy/Spike is interesting in season six because it gives Buffy what depressed alcoholics get from alcohol and really tests how good Spike can really be as a soulless creature.

Spike wants to be the truly good creature that is worthy of Buffy and not just her pleasurable wrong vacation, but has to grapple with really being a monster.

That’s actually a dynamic I really like. You don’t know what is good and evil in this season. It’s all shades of grey and a good argument can be made from Spike and Buffy’s point of view. Like I said last night, they are really going all in with the depression and addiction angle and it really is making season 6 a lot more interesting than just the three nerds.

 

[tafkats]

The series' magic-related metaphors get a little ... troubling if you think about them too hard.

In Seasons 3 and 4, magic largely served as a metaphor for female empowerment. Whether it was Buffy and Willow's magical approach to demon-fighting proving more effective than the male-dominated Initiative's approach, or Willow's magical skills coinciding with her growing confidence and authority, or the close thematic ties between magic and Willow's discovery of her lesbianism and her relationship with Tara ...

And then suddenly in Season 6, magic is a dangerous drug and a source of destruction.

I don't think it was intentional, but the abrupt metaphor switch creates some unfortunate implications.

 

[tomalak301]

It kind of goes with the saying of absolute power corrupts absolutely. You like it, you learn to love it and without you even noticing it takes over. That’s why I said it seems like the main villain this season is addiction. It’s so sad watching our heroes descend like this but that’s the power of addiction. Once it grabs hold, it’s incredibly hard to let go.

 

[gblews]

Once More, With Feeling (AKA, Buffy The Musical)

OMWF was actually the first Buffy episode I ever saw. My daughter knew what a music lover I was and am, and that I also love musical theater. She insisted I see this episode which had just aired. I had avoided Buffy before this.

I wasn't expecting much from a "musical episode", especially a Buffy musical episode. I was shocked at how much I liked the opening song. It had a great melody and clever as hell lyrics. Anyway watched the whole episode and came away thinking 'maybe I'll check out Buffy one day'.

When I finally watched the show when it came to Netflix, OMWF came up unexpectedly. This time I came away thinking that this was one of the most extraordinary hours of television I'd ever seen.

Unlike before, this time I was familiar with the characters and the show.What I didn't know before was that each character's initial song told us who the character was, where the character was in the series, where the character was in season 6, where the character was in the episode, and were all written in that character's "voice". Incredible.

Throw on top of all that, as others have pointed out, the episode has significant arc and character development, and the fact that the singing is part of a very organic Buffy-like plot, and it's no surprise that OMWF is the favorite of so meany fans. Getting Tony award nominee/winner, Hinton Battle as the demon was just Joss flexing.

I thought every song was not just good but great. That never happens. It made High School Musical appear to be an even bigger waste of time than it already was. And they did this with only two legit singers (Head and Benson).

As I always say about this episode, until Steven Sondheim or Lin Manuel-Miranda decide to write a TV drama for 4 or 5 seasons and then create a musical episode for that show, we'll likely never see anything like OMWF again.

 

[tafkats]

As I always say about this episode, until Steven Sondheim or Lin Manuel-Miranda decide to write a TV drama for 4 or 5 seasons and then create a musical episode for that show, we'll likely never see anything like OMWF again.

I cringe at the thought of a Sondheim TV drama, with or without a musical episode. Everything about it would be way too long and groaning under the weight of its own self-conscious cleverness ...

 

[CorporalClegg]

As far as I know, Branch was the only time where the Bronze performer of the week was currently charting. Aimee Mann is in a season 7 episode, but I don't think had a Top 40 single at the time. And for my money, it's the stand-out performance of the entire series. And I say this as someone who pretty much knew (or was at least aware of) every performer the show had.

And the version on the show is a unique arrangement that's slightly different from the studio version. And the funny thing is, there were promo releases (The ones radio stations get for prizes.) of Hotel Paper that had various remixes of the singles off her first album. (Record companies do this sometimes to help prevent sophomore slumps.) And one of the Goodbye to Yous was labeled 'Buffy Version' The funny thing is it sounds nothing like the version that was performed for the show. It's got a sort of techno/dance backbeat. And I think this was also used in one of the Radio Sunnydale releases outside North America. The track listings on those were always different region to region. (For licensing reasons, obviously.)

 

[Guy Gardener]

Angel Season 5....

Spoiler

How the Frakk is Angel filming on the set of the Good Fight? Did Wolfram Hart change its name to Reddick, Boseman, & Kolstad?

 

[tomalak301]

As far as I know, Branch was the only time where the Bronze performer of the week was currently charting. Aimee Mann is in a season 7 episode, but I don't think had a Top 40 single at the time. And for my money, it's the stand-out performance of the entire series. And I say this as someone who pretty much knew (or was at least aware of) every performer the show had.

And the version on the show is a unique arrangement that's slightly different from the studio version. And the funny thing is, there were promo releases (The ones radio stations get for prizes.) of Hotel Paper that had various remixes of the singles off her first album. (Record companies do this sometimes to help prevent sophomore slumps.) And one of the Goodbye to Yous was labeled 'Buffy Version' The funny thing is it sounds nothing like the version that was performed for the show. It's got a sort of techno/dance backbeat. And I think this was also used in one of the Radio Sunnydale releases outside North America. The track listings on those were always different region to region. (For licensing reasons, obviously.)

Interesting. It sounded like on the show Branch was more raw on the song than in the album version. I was watching it and I was like, is that really Michelle Branch. I actually watched the end credits to make sure. I know she was charting with All You Wanted at the time (Or Everywhere) so seeing her on the show was a surprise. The thing was she was there to do the song and it worked perfectly. That was an amazing, but sad, montage.

I wish it was available somewhere because I really liked the Buffy Version.

 

[gblews]

I cringe at the thought of a Sondheim TV drama, with or without a musical episode. Everything about it would be way too long and groaning under the weight of its own self-conscious cleverness ...

To each his own.

Edit to add; IMO, Sondheim is the gold standard in musical theater. His work was the inspiration for the songs in OMWF according to Joss Whedon. He was channeling Sondheim's style. So, you might like Sondheim more than you actually know.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I think it might be on one of the Radio Sunnydale releases. I'm pretty sure you can get them for cheap on Amazon. I only ever bought one of them and it was an import. It was the only place at the time you could get the full 8-minute version of the Robert Duncan's masterpiece from the series finale. Which I'm sure you'll recognize when you hear it. It was used everywhere in the mid-naughts. It was in movie trailers and commercials and what not. But it also had strict licensing. Because it was also used in an episode of Top Gear. But by the time that episode was aired on BBC America, the song was cut out and replaced by something much less impressive.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Getting Tony award nominee/winner, Hinton Battle as the demon was just Joss flexing.

I only know him as the Cat in one of the Red Dwarf USA pilots.

 

[tomalak301]

Wrecked

I feel really bad for Dawn this season. Here is this innocent teenage girl who is watching as her sister and Friend is slowly descending into a shadow of themselves. This time it puts her In Jeopardy as Willow crashes the car. Tara is the only one providing her with stability and she moved out. This is another episode where the power of addiction is on full control and you see the harm being caused.

These episodes really are flowing together as just another stage in the arc this year (even though unlike many arc shows, the individual episodes have some kind of individual identity that makes them stand out rather than just another chapter). What is happening to Willow is scary.

I think the only other show that tackled addiction as well as this was Babylon 5 with Franklin and especially with Garibaldi. What this season is doing is really shining a light on what addiction is. It’s disturbing and uncomfortable but this series really is doing it justice.

 

[tomalak301]

Gone

That was the first episode that felt optimistic in a while, even though it could be a stage of thinking recovery only to relapse back into it. Buffy had some serious cleaning up to do, especially when it comes to Dawn and the social worker.

I am glad they finally found out about the three though. Seasons half over, it was a good time.

Watching the next episode, and I just saw some synergy between UPN shows. A picture of TPol was in the Van. Does that make this show a little dated? Probably but it was still funny.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Trio.

Warren is the worst.