Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel - First Time Viewer

[Jayson1]

That scene is great. It's also the first appearance of Buffy's trauma dungarees. Get used to them.



Annnnd this is the first time I ever thought of it that way

Same here. I thought he did that just because he thought she looked like a badass in the scene.

Jason

 

[tomalak301]

Same here. I thought he did that just because he thought she looked like a badass in the scene.

Jason

I did too. I'm also do not agree with communism so thinking about that scene is now a little bothersome.

I prefer to think of it as her regaining her identity. It's much more positive that way.

 

[tomalak301]

Dead Man's Party was a pretty good return to normal (In a sense) for the show. Nothing like hashing things out while Zombies are attacking the home. That feels like a very Buffy thing. I actually liked how it all worked out, with Joyce admitting that she handled it badly, the hurt everyone felt, and the stuff with Willow and Buffy was really nice. I'm glad Giles is speaking on Buffy's behalf to Snyder (Who interestingly enough is kind of acting like Quark now, at least Quark from season 1). I loved the ending with Buffy and Willow trading playful barbs back and forth.

I don't really have much to say regarding the Mask plot other than I wonder if they took inspiration from the Jim Carry movie. Heck, even the masks were similar, even though off the top of my head I don't know when The Mask actually came out. I think it was either 1997 or 1998.

I wonder if Angel is going to be like Caprica 6 was to Gius Balter this season. Two episodes now showing Angel and Buffy in a dream sequence. That doesn't lead to Angel having his own show though.

By the way, now that I am on Season 3, could I watch Buffy straight through and then watch Angel in it's entirety later on? The more I think about it the more I don't really want to flip shows. Also, I'm actually thinking about buying Buffy via Itunes so I don't have to watch the Ads anymore. They aren't bad (I've seen the trailer for the new season of Handsmaid's Tale so many times now) but Buffy is becoming a show that I would actually consider purchasing.

 

[cultcross]

By the way, now that I am on Season 3, could I watch Buffy straight through and then watch Angel in it's entirety later on? The more I think about it the more I don't really want to flip shows.

Angel season 1 runs alongside Buffy season 4, and so on from then on.
There are a few crossover episodes, especially early on, but it won't cause you any issues to just watch the Buffy side of those. Personally, I would watch them separately. Angel is a quite different show, and I'm not convinced the back and forth tonal shifts of flipping between them would enhance your experience.

 

[CorporalClegg]

There's a life lesson here: When the zombie apocalypse comes, drive a Citroen. They're easy to hotwire.

By the way, now that I am on Season 3, could I watch Buffy straight through and then watch Angel in it's entirety later on?

Absolutely. As far as I'm concerned, it's the preferred way to do it. There is very little crossover. People are way overselling it.

 

[tomalak301]

Angel season 1 runs alongside Buffy season 4, and so on from then on.
There are a few crossover episodes, especially early on, but it won't cause you any issues to just watch the Buffy side of those. Personally, I would watch them separately. Angel is a quite different show, and I'm not convinced the back and forth tonal shifts of flipping between them would enhance your experience.

That's what I figured. I was just wondering if there was a whole You have to watch Show B to appreciate Show A thing or could I watch Show A, then Show B and then if I ever wanted to do a rewatch, I can combine them later. I mean when I started this I wasn't really planning to watch Angel. I've always heard Buffy was considered this iconic show and it's pretty much the reason I signed up for Hulu. I wanted to see what I was missing. Now that I'm enjoying Buffy, I will watch Angel but I kind of want to see the both shows separately on their own terms.

 

[SAndrews10]

You’ll be just fine doing it that way

 

[Turtletrekker]

Angel season 1 runs alongside Buffy season 4, and so on from then on.
There are a few crossover episodes, especially early on, but it won't cause you any issues to just watch the Buffy side of those. Personally, I would watch them separately. Angel is a quite different show, and I'm not convinced the back and forth tonal shifts of flipping between them would enhance your experience.

Largely agreed. The only exception I could think of offhand would be to watch Angel season 1's "I Will Remember You" immediately after Buffy season 4's "Pangs".

 

[CorporalClegg]

Why? The former adds nothing to Pangs and he'd be watching it completely out of context.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I came in late and watched Angel first before going into Buffy and never really felt shortchanged. In a way they lead into each other because Buffy is kind of like high school/college and Angel is kind of like moving out/first job vibe.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Why? The former adds nothing to Pangs and he'd be watching it completely out of context.

I disagree that it adds nothing to Pangs due to the way that episode ends, with Xander accidentally revealing to Buffy that Angel had been in town and nobody told her. The episode ends on a beat that you want to see followed up on that you miss if you don't watch I Will Remember You.

 

[cultcross]

Careful with coding spoilers past season 2.

 

[tomalak301]

Before we get into a spoiler argument, I'm going to watch Buffy, then watch Angel. Whatever obvious crossovers happen, I will include Buffy and rewatch that episode with Angel, so the two we're talking about here I can cover together.

By the way, I decided to purchase Buffy the Complete series tonight, which means no more Handsmaid Tale or Adventure Time or King of the Hill Ads.

 

[OCD Geek]

By the way, now that I am on Season 3, could I watch Buffy straight through and then watch Angel in it's entirety later on? The more I think about it the more I don't really want to flip shows.

There are a handful of crossovers, but the showrunners on both series took very good care to make sure the episodes worked 100% on their own without any knowledge of the other show's episode. They acted more like sequels (or in one memorable case, as companion pieces) rather than any "To find out how the Fonz gets out of this one tune into next week's Laverne & Shirley" bullshit. I wish more shows handled their crossover events that way, honestly. Whedon, Noxon, Greenwalt and Bell perfected it.

The only thing I'd tell someone just getting into the Buffyverse that they absolutely had to do is watch Seasons 1-3 (or at the very least 2-3) of Buffy before diving into Angel. Angel is very much a spin-off in the Star Wars Rebels mold. The events of the parent series greatly inform many of the character arcs and storylines of the spin-off. You get way more out of it than you would otherwise by watching Seasons 1-3 of Buffy first.

Plus I'm sure some of Angel: Season 1, as the show abruptly transforms from a monster-of-the-week show that was originally planned to solely be an anthology series starring just three characters into an ambitious serialized saga with an ever sprawling cast, would be a bit confusing without the context. Whedon and Greenwalt say it was designed to stand on its on, but there are a ton of references to major things that happened on Buffy that I feel would go way over the head of any newbie. Even in the "it's just an unambitious monster-of-the-week anthology" stage of the show, believe it or not.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Before we get into a spoiler argument, I'm going to watch Buffy, then watch Angel. Whatever obvious crossovers happen, I will include Buffy and rewatch that episode with Angel, so the two we're talking about here I can cover together.

By the way, I decided to purchase Buffy the Complete series tonight, which means no more Handsmaid Tale or Adventure Time or King of the Hill Ads.

That should work fine.

The main list to keep an eye out for would be:

Pangs(B)/I Will Remember You(A)
This Year's Girl + Who Are You?(B)/Five by Five + Sanctuary(A) - That's kind of a four parter, but all the Buffy stuff comes first so you just watch those two, then switch.
Foor for Love(B)/Darla(A) - This is really more of an atmospheric or thematic crossover which doesn't have a ton of story overlap. I think it benefits from watching them together, but you probably don't need to if you'd rather not.

And there's a bit of a more extensive arc featuring Buffy characters in season 4, but it honestly doesn't tie into the story of Buffy much at all, except to set up one particular thing that will happen in Buffy - but that set-up isn't strictly speaking necessary to understand Buffy season 7 and by the time you get to Angel you'll have already seen it, anyway.

 

[tomalak301]

Faith, Hope & Trick

Did Buffy just do a First Season Flash-like teaser at the end of the episode? I believe they did and now I'm very much intrigued. Angel got spit out of where ever he came from Terminator Style and I have to say this is the first episode of Season 3 where I kind of perked up. That was some teaser for what is to come.

As for the rest of the episode, I like Faith. She has spark, which is a lot better than Kendra. However, I really do hope this series dives deeper into the whole Watcher thing. I mean they have retreats, and there is a watcher council, and I feel like I'm missing out. Yes this is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Buffy is the main character, but I'm also interested in the whole idea of the Watcher and feel like it's getting to be that time where we can give that part of the Slaying business a little more development.

In terms of Buffy the teenage life, god I hope the stuff with Scott sticks around for a while. Yeah it's been established that Buffy can't really have a normal life, but I hope he's around for a few episodes at least.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Faith, Hope & Trick

Did Buffy just do a First Season Flash teaser at the end of the episode? I believe they did and now I'm very much intrigued. Angel got spit out of where ever he came from Terminator Style and I have to say this is the first episode of Season 3 where I kind of perked up. That was some teaser for what is to come.

As for the rest of the episode, I like Faith. She has spark, which is a lot better than Kendra. However, I really do hope this series dives deeper into the whole Watcher thing. I mean they have retreats, and there is a watcher council, and I feel like I'm missing out. Yes this is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Buffy is the main character, but I'm also interested in the whole idea of the Watcher and feel like it's getting to be that time where we can give that part of the Slaying business a little more development.

In terms of Buffy the teenage life, god I hope the stuff with Scott sticks around for a while. Yeah it's been established that Buffy can't really have a normal life, but I hope he's around for a few episodes at least.

There is plenty more watcher stuff to come, fear not.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Pizza delivery person in Sunnydale. Worst. Job. Ever.

 

[USS Firefly]

I am a little jealous that you watched the show for the first time, Buffy and Angel are such great shows.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Pizza delivery person in Sunnydale. Worst. Job. Ever.

What about morgue attendant?