The Puppet Show

Mark here...this one is called "The Puppet Show" and the premise is that there's a demon running rampant at the school talent show.  It's done pretty well considering the show's budget.  Basically, one kid at the show has a creepy dummy that is obviously possessed or something.  But, fake out...the dummy is actually a good guy looking to kill the real demon, who's taken the form of a student.  It's another of the show's interesting twists on a cliche horror theme.  As in Chucky. There's some genuine scary and creepy moments too before this reveal.  It's also funny to see Cordelia's "talent" of singing "Greatest Love of All".

We also get some more computer time with Willow accessing school medical records.  At this point, the computer use seems kind of dated, as Laurel said for the previous episode.  It also plays as a plot device to give Willow something to do and let us know she's a brain in the group...  Although not the only one, as we're reminded at episodes end when the demon goes after Giles for his brain...:)

Laurel here...I was super creeped out by this episode.  Is there anything creepier than a walking talking dummy?  He turns out to be a good guy, which like Mark said is an interesting twist, but creepy nonetheless.  Also creepy is the new, mean, principal (you may remember principal Flutie, who I loved got eaten by hyena possessed teenagers a few episodes ago).  I suspected he was the demon but it turns out he is just a mean, creepy normal person.

I Robot...You Jane

Mark here...This episode is called "I Robot...You Jane" and it's a cool concept.  There's a demon who's been trapped inside a book.  He is inadvertently released onto the internet when the gang is scanning books in the library.  He seduces certain students, one of whom happens to be Willow.  The gang eventually catches on to what's going on and catches the demon again.  As I said the episode plays well...up until the end.  The demon finds his way out of the internet and into a conveniently ready demon shaped robot.  Its a bit of a stretch and after an otherwise interesting episode, its kind of corny and low budget.  Also, this episode introduces us to Jenny Calendar.  She's the new school computer science teacher and is clearly meant to be a bit of a foil for Giles.  She's also "hip" to the supernatural world, a "techno-pagan".  I seem to remember her being a popular character, but I never really liked her.  She's a bit too "Melrose Place" to come across as a cool nerd.  In any case, her computer skills help save the day here in the end.

Laurel here...I thought this episode had a really interesting concept, of the demon escaping into the internet.  I feel like it was a real sign of the times.  In the late 90s the internet was still super new, remember how people used to be afraid of shopping online because they had to enter their credit card numbers?  Anyway I thought it was an interesting idea to have a demon escape into the internet and wreak havoc.  In the show even after the demon incident the gang still seems to be ok with technology, except for Giles of course just wants to be alone with his books.

Another note about this episode.  Poor Willow!  The demon pretends to be an 18 year old boy from a town 80 miles away and seduces willow through online chat.  She thinks she has met the man of her dreams on the internet and he turns out to be a crazy, ancient, ugly monster turned robot.  wah wah.  This is why I don't do online dating!

I agree with Mark about "Jenny Calendar".  A of all, worst name ever, B of all I feel like as the teacher who is a computer expert and a pagan, she should be a little quirkier.  It's an opportunity for a really interesting character and she is just too normal and boring.

Angel

Mark here...Laurel and I are sitting down for some blogging again.  Tonight I made a Shepard's Pie with a bit of a twist using ground bison.  Originally I was making it to be a bit low fat but I think adding bacon and butter may have pushed the fat content up.  In any case, it tasted good.  On to the episode...this episode is called "Angel" and is an expository episode to give us a bit of background on Angels' character.  Up to this point he has sort of lurked in the shadows and turned up here or there for a rescue.  Here we get the set-up that he is actually a 200 plus year old vampire who has been cursed by gypsies.  The curse gives him back a soul and a conscience, thus his tortured persona.  Of course now's the perfect set up for him and Buffy as star-crossed lovers.  In these days of vampire lovers left and right, this romance is actually pretty interesting.  That said the episode writing was a little flat.  Given that Angel's story is pretty good, the events around the episode are run of the mill.  One bright spot was Darla the villainous vampire.  She's the vampire who made Angel a vampire and also his ex.  She's out of the picture by the end of the episode, which is too bad...she's way more fun than The Master or the Anointed One (aka little brat).

Laurel here...I was really into Darla this episode.  She's a pretty awesome lady villain.  She comes up with a sneaky plan to get Angel to kill Buffy that almost works...While Buffy is out, she pretends to be one of Buffy's friends to get Buffy's mom to invite her into their house.  Then she bites Buffy's mom (although I'm not quite sure why she didn't finish her off). Angel shows up to save the day of course, because that's what he does.  When he gets there Darla shoves Buffy's mom into his arms and leaves, so Buffy walks in she finds angel standing over her mom, and course thinks that Angel tried to kill her mom.  She does go out hunting for Angel intending to kill him,  but Darla's plan is foiled when Buffy and Angel realize they feel for each other too much to kill each other, and Angel ends up killing Darla instead.   Anyway I'm sad she got killed.