I Only Have Eyes For You

Mark here...Laurel and I are checking in for another episode of Buffy, Season 2.  This episode is called, "I Only Have Eyes For You".  We kind of intentionally flaked on a meal and are ordering take out because it's 900 degrees here in LA!

Anyway, I liked this episode.  It's sort of a cheesy, cliche idea but done well in the way Buffy does B-movie so well.  The premise is that Sunnydale High is being haunted by a poltergeist,  That being the ghost of a teenager who died in the 50s after killing his lover/teacher and then himself.  This ghost is possessing people in the school and causing all sorts of supernatural mayhem.  The gang decides to exorcise him and we gets to see more hints of Willow going witchy.  She leads the team and researches whats needed.  Giles is distracted by thinking, wishfully, that this is the ghost of Jenny Calendar.  In fact he and Buffy both have issues with this particular ghost and misidentifying.  Buffy claims to identify with the murdered woman and yet in the end is possessed herself by the male ghost who identifies with her.

Angel is drawn into the mix too to give us a final but of Buffy/Angel drama, although it feels a little forced.  The best parts of the episode are the scoobies playing ghostbusters in Sunnydale High.

Hey guys Laurel here. I liked this one too, it was fun and something a little different.  The poltergeist kept trying to re-enact the night of his death through other people, first a male student and his girlfriend, then a male janitor and a lady teacher.  So we think that Buffy is going in to get killed by some dude, but really she ends up playing the killer (the "dude" part) which I thought was a good twist.  Kind of bored by the angel part but whatevs.  I feel like it may have been more interesting if it was a normal high school boy that had been flirting with her or something.

4 stakes from us for this one!

Fire and Ice

Hi Laurel here...Mark and I just sat down to another full day of 90210, beginning with "Fire and Ice".  I made us creamy papperdelle pasta with bacon and leeks that is pretty heavy hitting in the calorie department but worth it.  Mark made us a lemon rosemary syrup that you are supposed to drink with vodka, but we found we both prefer it with cava.

So this episode Brandon meets a real nice girl at the ice rink (he is playing hockey and she is a figure skater) but even though she really likes him it turns out she is too busy to have a boyfriend, and ends up going back to Texas (???) to pursue her skating career.

I'll let Mark tell you about Brenda...

Mark here...first I'll give a shout out to Laurel for a delicious meal.  When she first said she was making pasta, I wasn't 100% sold, but the combo of bacon, leeks and cream sauce was amazing! So well done Laurel!!

On to the episode...basically this was a boring but inoffensive episode.  Boring, because who really cares about Brandon dating a figure skater?  Inoffensive because there's no Andrea!!  Anyway, there's also a subplot about Brenda getting a job as a sales girl with a bitchy boss who steals her commission. But once Brenda tells Cindy, they devise the most ridiculous comeuppance scheme.  It involves Cindy dressing as a "rich woman" and letting the boss think she's going to get a huge commission and then not buying anything.  Hilarity ensues, but Cindy's outfit makes it worth it...let's just say it involves a head wrap.

The quote of note this episode has to be when said figure skater breaks up with Brandon and says, "I'll always remember you as the guy who gave me my first burrito"  Really, watching the episode was worth it for this line alone!

The style award goes to...Brenda's bed, although it was a tough call,  what with Cindy's ensemble and a scene with Brandon and Steve's shirts, but really, this bed is hideous!!

Spring Training

Laurel here...blerg.

Well this episode was super boring. Brandon and Steve coach a competitive little league baseball team from West Beverly Hills who turn out to be good at baseball but bad at sportsmanship. Do you smell a lesson coming?

Turns out Nat from the Peach pit also coaches a little league team (the Pitts), but they are good at sportsmanship and bad at baseball. Brandon and Dylan spend a few afternoons teaching them some fundamentals, Andrea brings in a ringer (she somehow knows a girl baseball prodigy from the Valley?), they set up a few practice games with the rich kid's team and everyone learns a thing or two.

I wish that the baseball part was the most boring thing about this episode but wait, there's more! A stray dog follows Brenda home while she is jogging and she spends the episode trying to convince her family to let her keep him, but in the end the dog finds his owner, one of the kids on the little league team. Snoozefest!

Mark here... I agree totally, I have to say, some of this season has really been the show finding it's footing and many of the "classic" story lines have yet to happen. So we find ourselves slogging through these filler episodes of "Very Special" teaching moments and "wacky" subplots.... Good grief! No wonder the show was on the rocks about renewal in the beginning. Don't get me wrong, some of the early episodes are awesome when they focus on high school, but the other episodes are painful.

Style award this episode goes to...Steve! for his crazy baseball half shirt style. Runner up is Dylan for his crazy baseball outfit, super high waisted pants that really show off his girlish figure. We think he is actually the skinniest person on the show, except maybe for Donna.

Cocktail moments:

Anytime Brenda is with the dog...those moments need lubrication!

Whenever Jim yells at somebody...his back is out this episode and boy is he grumpy!