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Whilst awaiting new Trek, Buffy Rewatch; CHOSEN; Buffy reviews and eps; CHOSEN
Topic Started: Sep 6 2009, 06:34 AM (4,743 Views)
saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
'I Robot, You Jane'

The Good;
Buffy's undercover look is hilarious. Here's Jenny, yay! The final scene with Buffy, Willow and Xander, sitting on the step bemoaning their lovelessness is WONDERFUL!

The Bad;
The robot Moloch simply looks stupid, not as bad as the mantis but close

Best Line;
Giles; I'll be back in the middle ages
Jenny; did you ever leave?

Observations and questions;
No Cordy or Angel. Some pretty strong stuff here, necks being broken, Fritz self-harming (a topic we'll see again in Blood Ties) and Dave hanging himself. Willow's first boyfriend although you might note that Will has a picture of herself and Giles in her locker. Of course it's twelve years ago so all the computer equipment seems just unbelievably clunky. Xander refers to his uncle working at the computer firm, is that the infamous Rory? Ironically given that the younger Scoobies end the episode bleakly contemplating the future alone here Giles his future girlfriend.
Are the monks who trap Moloch the same ones that create Dawn? ( they do nice work!)
Possible the weakest ep of season 1; I'll give it 4/10
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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
Nightmares;

The Good;
Buffy's dreams of the Master are truly terrifying as is his burying her alive which of course she'll experience for real in Bargaining. Giles' fear of not being able to read and Buffy dying are also excellent. Willow's stagefright and Cordy joining the chess club/bad hair brigade are utterly hilarious. It rather reminded me of the ep of Sabrina;TTW where Sabrina places a spell on her arch enemy Libby the haughty cheerleader turning her into a nerd only for Libby to become Queen of the nerds and start mocking the less clever. Semi-naked Nic Brendon who in the great comedy tradition wears embarassing boxer shorts. Some great CGI giant wasps. The Joyce/Buffy scenes. The tough guy whose mum turns up at school (don't know who he is but he resembles a character from Grease?)

The Bad;
The scene with Buffy and her dad is just too cruel. Apart from that, not much.

Best line;
Almost Xander's; Your balloon animals were pathetic!
But the winner is Joyce; Your father loves you dear but no more than I do

Observations and questions;
Xander suffers clourophobia (fear of clowns) whilst Willow suffers arachnaphobia (although she faces down a giant spider in season 7). He also fancies a teacher called Miss Tishler demonstrating his fondness for older women again. Willow says that there is marital tension in her house (and as we later learn in Xander's also). The Master says he met the last Slayer, did he kill her?
Here we have confirmation that Buffy was born in 1981 and is 15 turning 16 in this ep (so shame on you if you fancied her up to this point ) This begins the long tradition of disasterous birthdays for Buffy. First appearance of Hank Summers in the show. The only time we'll ever see Buffy as a vamp but she's still Buffy. You wonder if this is because it's just a nightmare and she's not truly been sired or even if a Slayer becomes a vamp that they're not evil, they're still the Slayer?
Great ep, 8 and half out of 10 again

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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
The Puppet Show;

The Good;
The introduction of Snyder. Cordy's performance and the hair gag with Giles. The triple Keyser Soze, Buffy's relationship with Sid. The exciting finale, Snyders reaction to it and the Scoobies scene at the end. Don't you just love the fact that Buffy the superhero runs into her mum's arms when she get's scared in the night? Something only a female hero could do, what would we think of Clark Kent if he did that on Smallville?

The Bad;
Not much, a very strong episode, easily one of the best of the first season

Best line;
Buffy; Euuuugghhhh, dummy! They freak me out, ever since I was little.
Willow; What happened?
Buffy; I saw a dummy, it freaked me out, there really wasn't a backstory there
(anyone else reminded of Gremlins?)

Observations and questions;
Our first hint that there are other individuals fighting the forces of darkness like Whistler and Doyle. The scene the Scoobies perform at the end is from Oedipus which Angelus references in season 4 of Angel. It was painted by Grant Wood who Riley refers to in season 4. Cordy sings 'The Greatest Love of all' which she also sings for Lorne on Angel. She hasn't the best voice. Giles in bondage, the first of a long line of Scoobies to be tied/chained up. Snyder obviously going to be a lot harder on Buffy than Flutie was although as an authority figure that probably works better for the series. At this point though he doesn't really seem to know what's going on (does he ever?). Flutie was a nice guy but has the misfortune to be the 2nd recurring character killed in the course of the series. The police put the butcher knife in a plastic bag? Don't they have some better form of container? Willow suffers from stage fright. Willow is clever enough to know that 841 has a square root of 29 but how does Xander know that to ask her? A shame Joyce doesn't come to the talent show. Will plays the piano?

One of the best eps of season 1, I give it 9 out of 10
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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
Prophecy Girl

The Good;
Buffy's unjustified (but very human) rant at Giles, the wonderful slow motion fight with the vamp whilst Cordy is parking with a guy. Buffy accepting her fate for the sake of her friends and family.The Buffy/Master confrontation and her final battle with him. Xander listening to country music, the white man's blues. Xander practicing on Willow and Willow consequently turning him down. Cordy and Will finding the bodies. Cordy's car trick and the girls fleeing in terror. The Buffy/Joyce scene. Love Buffy's dress.

The Bad;
The tentacles from the Hellmouth look pretty weak. Also I thought the boy who get's killed is the same one as in the last ep but it's not, Cordy seems to have a new guy every week. I always think that's lame on TV, characters get boyfriends/girlfriends one week who mean the world to them then they're forgotten about the next ep.

Best line;
Angel; I like your dress
Buffy; Big hit with everyone

Questions and observations;
Buffy dies for the first time and is bitten by a vampire for the first but by no means the last time. Giles get's knocked out for the first time (by Buffy!). Jenny's back, yay! Presumably the reason Cordy is being so nice to Will and isn't mad at her boyfriend du jour is that it's one of the signs of the apocalypse?
So if Buffy had died for real what would have happened? Presumably Angel would have defeated the Master? Or the Initiative? No offence to Kendra but I figure this would have meant that Faith would be the Slayer and consequently Dawn would be HER sister. Faith would never have gone bad and Joyce would get over her grief by adopting Faith and Dawn as her foster children. Even so, in the Buffyverse death isn't necessarily for ever...?
Note that when Buffy comes back from the dead they play the show's theme full blast. According to Joss the theme starts off like a conventional horror theme but then kicks into rock and roll thrash because it signifies that Buffy and co won't conform to the horror stereotype, they won't take it any more. So we have Buffy dying just as the prophecy says, like all the Slayers before her but she rebels and comes back. If you wanted to see a feminist subtext, she refuses to be the victim, to accept the gender role assigned to her. I don't know if Joss intended it but someone at The Bronze once pointed out that the Scoobies are actually the cliched victims you'd find in any horror film, the sexy blonde, the athletic hunk, the bitca-y cheerleader, the hapless nerd, the wiseass jerk and the stuffy authority figure. But in Joss' show the victim's fight back and win.
Angel has a phone and Giles' know's his number.
Buffy actually says she feels stronger after Xander brings her back. She shouldn't of course, she should be weak as a kitten so maybe this is God's/the PTB's doing?
Now of course, at the end of this we see the characters walk off into the sunset and we have no idea if there will ever be a second season? If the series had stopped there it would have been a good ending and fondly remembered, we'd assume the Hellmouth was closed and that our characters would go on to leave fairly ordinary lives. Except for Angel, of course?
Couple of interesting lines. Xander says that if Willow is interested in Buffy she's playing it close to her chest. Cordy remarks that she doesn't know why she and Willow bother with boys and Willow agrees 'I hear you'
10/10 even with the stupid tentacles

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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
When she was bad;

The Good;
Buffy's 'Miss me' to the camera (which I inexcusably missed first time around). Xander and Willow's almost kiss (awwwwww! even the most foremost Tara/Willow or Willow/Oz fan must feel their heart breaking). Snyder and Giles' brilliant talk and walk and the first hints of Giles'/Jenny's attraction. Buffy's great training session with Giles, the incredibly creepy dream sequence where the Master-as-Giles tries to kill Buffy whilst Willow and Xander watch on unconcerned (she should have known it was a dream when Xander swapped his chocolate for an apple). The whole scene smacks of Freudian rape overtones, Buffy's father figure forcing himself upon her and penetrating her body with his fangs. Willow not being able to say the word B-I-T-C-H and Xander not being able to spell it (LOVE Giles' expression in this scene). The great Hank/Joyce scene (I figure this is the summer by the beach Dawn later refers to in Blood Ties), Cordy's sympathy with Buffy and characteristic bluntness about the truth about Sunnydale. The Buffy/Angel bedroom scene and the smoking-hot Buffy dancing with Xander at the Bronze. The trap and rescue of the Scoobies, Buffy's cathartic smashing the Master's bones, especially Buffy killing 2 vamps at once. All told, fan-bloody-tastic and a whole new start for Buffy.

The Bad;
The only thing I can find wrong with it is when the Scoobies figure out that Jenny is the vamps next target and rather than try to warn her just assume for no possible reason that they've already got her. Lazy writing! Also Willow wears her HORRIBLE yellow tights again

Best line;
Snyder; there are some things I can just smell, like a sixth sense
Giles; actually that would be one of the five

Questions and observations;
So, you CAN bring a vampire back from the dead as we'll see later with Darla in Angel. One wonders why they don't try it more often but then with a few notable exceptions they don't really seem to care about one another so much. Joyce and Hank seem to have a pretty civilised divorce.
The whole look and feel of this ep is different, as though the first season was just a trial run and now it's time for the real thing to begin. Firstly, we have all the Scooby's except Buff and Angel knocked out and all but Buffy, Angel and Xander tied up. Secondly rewatching this ep you're very much struck by the sight of Buffy torturing the vamp for information to save her friends, ramming a silver cross down it's throat, the vampire equivalent of a red-hot poker. HMMMMMM?
Kinda puts 'waterboarding' and Abu Grahib in persepctive, huh? Psychologists (and yes, that's the degree I'm doing in case you're wondering) have occaisionally commentated on the way people object to torture in real life but are ok with it in fiction (Dirty Harry springs to mind). What they suggest is that we find it easier to accept when we can put a human face to those who are going to be saved, in TV and movies the correlation between the info gained and benefits are always very direct and evident

10/10, now we're talking

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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
Some assembly required;

The Good;
We have our first sympatheitic monster/villains and the show is all the better for it. Love the grave-digging sequence, the fiery rescue, the kids telling Giles how to date Jenny and the date itself, especially Giles' opinion of American football. The twist that the villains are doing it for Daryl rather than themselves. And if you're a guy or girl-who-likes-girls Cordy in her cheerleader outfit. Giles dealing with Cordy's pain.

The Bad;
Angel wears a hideous tan jacket which makes him look like a used car salesman. Was all his black leather being dry cleaned or something? We thankfully never see it again. Jenny uses the word 'disses' which I normally negatively associate with people who wear their trousers around their knees and regularly stab each other.

Best line;
Buffy; Sorry, I'm an old fashioned girl, men dig up graves and women have the babies

Questions and observations;
Of course this resembles Frankenstein but also Wes Craven's horror film Deadly Friend starring the original Buffy Kristy Swanson
Chris and Eric's plan is just creepy in the extreme although a lot more understandable when you meet Daryl, they're doing it for him rather than just creating their own yucky sex toy. Once again Cordy is knocked out and tied up. Jenny again and more and more part of the group.
We have the first example here of the Hellmouth genius, that the supernatural energy of the Hellmouth can make certain people smarter, Chris Epps, Willow, Ted's creator, Warren so despite being in high school they can do things that have eluded scientists for centuries. Despite Willow's complaint in Doomed it actually seems to be Cordy who always seems to be finding the bodies. We see Cordy beginning to come around to Xander's better qualities.
I rather like to think that Chris goes home, pulls back the curtains, switches the TV off and takes his mother to Daryl's grave to say goodbye. As for Eric he has a picture in the Sunnydale High Class of 1999 yearbook where therapy seems to have done him a lot of good. A shame we don't see either of them again but there is only so much room in the show
Good ep; 8/10
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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
School Hard;

A whole new era begins as Spike and Dru explode onto the scene!

The Good;
Pretty much everything. Spike and Dru spark right from the beginning, you get their swagger mixed with their very real affection for one another. Julia Landua did her 'Look at all the people' line once for me and it chilled me to the bone. I often think the secret of a successful show is to make the villains as interesting as the heroes and here Buffy does it in spades. Also a great ep if your a fan of the the Joyce/Buffy relationship (and face it, who isn't?)

The Bad;
Not much!

Best line;
Xander; Does anyone remember when Saturday night was date night?
Cordy; You sure don't!

Observations and questions;
First meeting between Cordy and Joyce, Cordy seeming to be appreciative of Joyce's milfiness, as Snyder comments, a mother/daughter resemblance (certainly when she hit's Spike with the axe). First hints that Snyder and the SDPD are aware of the truth about Sunnydale. For the record, no one died at Woodstock but Spike didn't say he killed anyone, just fed off them (and he lies a LOT). The very subtle handbag joke. Ironically whilst Spike later teases the Trio for their nerdiness he refers to Angel as 'My yoda'. Angel's 'Anne Rice routine' is so convincing you almost buy it for a second. Listening to Spike mocking the 'I'm so tortured' brigade you can't help think of 'Twilight' and laugh. Spike's fascination with Buffy could almost be there from the beginning, check out the way he looks at her in the Bronze. The first Spike/Joyce scene which are something to look forward to in the seasons ahead. It almost goes unnoticed amongst all the excitment but this is the first time Cordy is a full official Scooby, she's in the library making stakes with everyone else without any form of back story, she's simply an accepted part of the gang. The crucifixion is mentioned, confirming Giles' assertion that demons and vampires predate christianity but also confirming it as historical fact.
Interestingly at the end of this ep Cordy and Willow end up in the closet together. Will's out, how about Cordy?
Utterly fabulous 10/10
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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
Inca Mummy Girl.

The Good;
Another doomed romance for Xander with a demon/older woman. Will's lovely Eskimo outfit and the first appearance of Oz and Devon, the first of Jonathon since the pilot. Buffy's identification with Ampata is lovely. A good enough ep but not a great one. Xanders as a cowboy from the country of Leone

The Bad;
Nothing really bad here, just a little lacking in sparkle

Best line;
Oz; What impresses me in a girl involves a feather boa and the theme from a summer place (the mind boggles but I'm sure it's been covered in fanfic).

Questions and observations;
The only ep in season 2 with no Angel in it whatsoever. No Jenny either. The cordettes are back but no Harmony. The mummy's way of killing people is reminiscent of an extremely so bad it's brilliant British sci-fi horror film called Lifeforce. We discover that Xander can drive and that he is aware of Willow's crush on him (which makes him turning her down all the more cruel). How does the mummy know to call Ampata's name at the bus station? Ampata shares Buffy's room, what about the one Dawn will eventually inhabit? Willow plays with a toy frog although it's later established that she fears real ones. This marks the beginning of Willow deciding to try for boys other than Xander. Buffy comments that one day Giles will have to get a proper car and indeed he does. Does Amapata have to drain people totally? Couldn't she just take little bits of Lifeforce so she doesn't kill anyone?
4/10
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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
Reptile Boy;

The Good;
Buffy slumping her head onto the table. Willow's rant at Giles and Angel. Cordy and Buffy getting all hot-to-trot for the party. Queen C's driving skills. Jonathon! On a date with Cordy no less. Buffy pouting (Giles her father figure more than ever)

The Bad;
The endings a bit cheery considering the fate of all those poor girls over the years, just like the disappearing corpses in The Harvest. You utterly cringe at the misogyny of the Frat boys. What exactly do the Sunnydale police make of the demon's body?

Best Line;
Buffy (to Angel)"When you kiss me I want to die"

Questions and observations;
Buffy and Cordy go illicitly to a party with a bunch of older guys, pass out through drinking and end up in chains being menaced by a huge snake. Or what the girls at my old school used to call 'Saturday night'. (Apologies to the writers of Friends). Seriously though I was beginning to think I was seeing sexual subtext where there was none but upon listening to David Greenwalt's DVD commentary it's clear that's exactly what was intended. Xander also tries his hand at cross-dressing.
Another point for bisexual Will, she seems to fancy the frat boys. You wonder if Mayor Wilkins was a member of the fraternity?
An OK ep but not the best, I'll give it 6/10 but that might be a little generous
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saturn5
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Lieutenant, Jr. Grd
Halloween

The Good;
Pretty much everything, great ep, love the alternate Scoobies, the Xena ref, the first appearance of Ethan and Ripper, the fight in the pumpkin stall at the beginning, Dru and Spike back, Oz, Larry, Cordy in her pussycat costume, Willow getting 'Sexy and Wild' (love her strutting at the end, do you think she got any offers?) the list goes on. Buffy unknowingly impersonating Darla and fainting (but at least she doesn't get tied up) and clinging onto Cordy's arm

The Bad;
Open to suggestions?

Best line;
Hard to pick but I'd say;
Willow "She couldn't have gone as Xena?
Just pipping Giles' "The ghost of what exactly?" upon seeing Will's streetwalker outft and "You went mental when?" from Cordy

Questions and observations:
Willow appears to be a Xena fan. Hmmmmm? Of course Xena started a couple of years before Buff and without it I don't think we'd have had Buffy. In one ep they refer to the play Buffus the Bachae Slayer. You could say that Spike's fascination with Buffy is evident in his watching the video of her fighting. Love Willow walking through the wall and people's reaction to it. The long tracking shot of Xander transforming into Rambo. Where are Joyce and Dawn during all of this? Either he reloads offscreen or Xander's rifle has a limitless magazine. Another hint of attraction between Cordy and soldier Xander. Angel wears a blue shirt which is ok but not really him. The Summers house get's trashed for the first time. How does the vamp Angel fights in the kitchen get in without being invited? First appearance of SDH's famous soda machine. Buffy get's sexually assaulted AGAIN, mauled by Pirate Larry (who really musn't be himself considering what we learn later). We discover that Cordy doesn't know Angel is a vamp. Xander tells Cordy she'll never get between Buffy and Angel, well almost. Giles tortures Ethan for info, the Scoobies really seem to have a knack for it.

10/10 afters a couple of false starts season 2 firing on all cylinders

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