Killed By Death

Hey Guys Laurel here...So this episode was another "filler" so nothing really epic happened but it was still pretty good.  It was sort or Freddy Kruger esque, except the killer was someone who only took children, and could only be seen by children who had come down with a specific sickness, a Sunnydale fever if you will.   So we don't know how but somehow Buffy got the fever (maybe because she is a young adult?) and saw him briefly in a fever dream...enough to convince her that this villain was real but not enough to fight him aside from in her fever dream state.  Anyway the gang figures out that this villain is going after kids with the fever and sucking the life out of them in order to keep himself alive.  After Buffy gets well and the gang learns more about the death villain she chooses to go back into the hospital and get the fever again (by drinking a vial of a fever sample out of the hospital fridge, how she got access to that is beyond me.)  Anyway she is about to down the whole vial, but thankfully Willow, ever the science nerd, is there to warn her that she should dilute it and only do a few drops.

Mark here.. so basically the episode is as Laurel described...  Buffy is fighting at the beginning of the episode, contracts a disease, sees demons and re-contracts herself with said disease to kill the demons.  Its not a classic episode but its sort of amusing.  We sort of kept referring to  future episode.  Suffice to say the writers and costumers were going to get way better.  Honestly, I liked this episode even though it was filler.  It's a bit cheesy Freddy Krueger B movie-esque, but whatever...

In any case, we give this episode 3 stakes...

Passion

Mark here...so we're on to the next episode of Buffy, "Passion"... this was a good episode but with a some caveats.  I know we are watching this episode years later so I have to temper my opinion....

First let me describe what happened...  Essentially this episode, we see Jenny Calendar trying to make up for her gypsy past.  We see her at the beginning of the episode trying to recreate the magic spell that gave Angel his soul. Unfortunately, psychic Drusilla sees this and Angel is on to Jenny.  He ends up cornering her in the school and breaking her neck.  What we see is that Jenny has found the spell and stored it on a floppy disk.  A disk that by the end of the episode has fallen between the desk and a file cabinet.  So the big drama of the episode is Angel killing Jenny!

On to my thoughts... So this episode was very dramatic when it aired.  A presumably major character just got killed by Angel.  Also it reveals that Angel is not going to just be "talked down" from being evil.  At the time I understand the drama of the episode. Watching it now... I hate Jenny Calendar, so good riddance.  Also, evil Angel is annoying.  Evil Angel on the show Angel serves a purpose.  Here,  he's also kind of annoying and given that I never bought the Buffy-Angel romance, I'm not so invested.  Honestly, the most dramatic moment comes at the end when Buffy rescues a vengeful Giles from attacking Angel.  I'll let Laurel go into that.

Essentially, I liked the episode but I also like getting rid of Jenny Calendar.  I recognize the drama of the episode in that it upped the stakes going forward for the series.  Unfortunately, watching it now, it didn't have the dramatic umph...

Hey Laurel here...I agree!  I would have been so much more into this episode if I gave any fucks about Jenny Calendar.  I know we are supposed to like her and we are supposed to be super effected by her death but neither me or Mark care about her at all...so good riddance!   Mark remembers everything that is coming up but I don't, so I am just hoping that her leaving the show makes room for somebody way more awesome.

Like Mark said the best moment of this episode is a small interaction between Buffy and Giles...Giles is no where to be found after Jenny's death, but the gang suspects that he has gone to "the factory" to exact revenge on Angelus for killing Jenny.  Buffy goes to check it out and low and behold, Giles is unconscious, about to die in a fire that has broken out there after a fist fight with Angel.  She kicks Angel's ass (just enough to distract him, of course) then drags Giles out of the fire.  Giles gets upset because Buffy put herself in danger for him but Buffy gets even more upset and slaps Giles in the face for going to the factory alone and putting himself in danger.  She tells him he can't put himself in danger like that because "she can't do this (be a slayer) without him".  It's a very tender moment where we realize how much these two care about each other.  We loved it, but it also made it even more crystal clear that we don't care at all about Jenny C because we were invested so much more in this 30 second clip than we were about any of the rest of this pivotal episode.

3 stakes!  Would have been more but we just can't muster any concern for Jenny C!

Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered

Hey guys Laurel here...so This episode was a little boring, especially compared with the last two, but still way better than any of the 90210 filler...

Despite the fact that Cordelia is dating Xander, she still thinks he is super annoying and geeky which she has no problem expressing to him at every turn.  And not afraid of doing it publicly.  So this episode she goes so far as to break up with him because the popular girls don't want to hang out with her anymore because she is dating such a geek.  Cut to Amy, a beginner teen witch that Mark had to remind me we met in the first season (because as you guys know I have a very bad short term memory.  And long term memory actually also).  Anyway he enlists the help of Amy to cast a spell to make Cordelia love him more, but since Amy is a just a beginning witch she botches the spell and instead it turns out every woman in Sunnydale EXCEPT for Cordelia falls madly in love with him, including Buffy and Willow which leads to some awkward moments.  The women of Sunnydale are so obsessed with him that his life is actually in danger because these women would rather see him dead that see him with someone else.  But Giles saves the day in the nick of time, he helps Amy reverse the spell just as the women of Sunnydale are closing in, and all's well that ends well.  In a way the backfired spell actually works because it makes Cordelia realize that she actually likes Xander.  At the end of the episode she ends up telling off the popular girls she had been trying to coddle to fuck off because they make fun of Xander.

Mark here... Laurel did a great job of summing up the episode.  It was certainly a fun and inoffensive episode, but a little blah. I think we got distracted a few times after we saw where it was going.  Yeah, Xander casts a love spell which includes Joyce and Drusilla.  So there's some humor there.  It's nice to see Amy again, I can't remember if we've seen her since her appearance last season, but I think not much if so.  We find out she's still dabbling in witchcraft.

We'd give this episode 2 stakes....not terrible but a little predictable.

Phases

Mark here... we're back after a long break!  It's been a while for us due to work and other commitments but here we are on to Buffy Season 2!  Laurel and I have just had the first part of our meal, Artichokes with butter and parmesan, yum!!

This episode is sort of Buffy's ode to "I was a teenage werewolf" and "teen wolf" and whatever other teen werewolf b-movie stories there are out there.  It was a good episode!  Any episode with more Seth Green is great and in this episode we find out Oz has become a werewolf.  I really like the way it's written.  He's not savagely attacked, instead his infant cousin has bitten him and he comes to find out the infant is a werewolf.  As he realizes this it's played against his burgeoning romance with Willow.  Willow herself is showing much more strength as a character, despite still being dressed like she's in elementary school.  Seriously at one point she is wearing bright yellow overalls.  Everyone else is appropriately 90s fashion but yeeesh, Willow's outfits are atrocious!

Anyway, there's a series of werewolf attacks, a random werewolf hunter and high school hijinks but it's pretty good over all.  There's a subplot with Larry, the school jock, coming out as gay to Xander when Xander questions him about being a werewolf (he's not).  It's pretty edgy stuff for the time and Laurel and I discussed how the show could get away with this stuff because it flew under the radar, being just a show for teenagers that adults didn't care about.  It's also nice to see that the gay stuff didn't make it "A Very Special Episode" and instead was treated like nothing.  The show will obviously delve deeper into gay subtext and text in the future without making a big deal of it.

Hey Laurel here...Mark did a pretty good job of wrapping it up, I'll just second his comment about coming out.  I didn't make any note of it watching it the first time as a "young adult" because it just seemed like the way it was supposed to be, but in hindsight the show was pretty groundbreaking in terms of how they include LGBT issues without making a huge thing out of it.  I guess if you extrapolate the show is making a comment on diversity in general, because you are allowed to be a werewolf, a vampire, a witch, a nerd, a cheerleader, etc and still just be part of the gang, but I especially appreciate the inclusion of LGBT characters when I'm rewatching the show as a grown adult.  Pretty forward thinking stuff for the time.

Also just wanted to give Cordelia some props because she did some serious stunt driving this episode!  We first meet the werewolf when Cordelia and Xander are making out in her car.  The werewolf pounces on top of the car and punches through the roof to try and eat them.  Cordelia has the where-with-all to throw the car in reverse, slam on the brakes to hurl the werewolf off the roof, and makes a clean getaway.  Way to go Cordelia!  You are not my favorite but I was not ready for you to die just yet!


In conclusion, we give this one 4 stakes!

Innocence

Mark here... this episode of Buffy is called , "Innocence", and whoa! It was much better than the last! This episode had much more of the emotion involved in Buffy's choice to sleep with Angel and was much less of the young adult fawning.

So essentially this episode starts with Angel's curse being broken. He runs out of the bedroom with Buffy and it soon becomes clear he has lost his soul and become Angelus.  Angelus eventually confronts Buffy and tells her that sex essentially meant nothing and she wasn't that good.  This would be awful for anyone but for a teenager, so tough!  Buffy eventually realizes what's up.  She also realizes that Jenny Calendar is not what she seems, thanks to a prophetic dream.  She confronts Jenny and the curse is revealed,  and the fact that it's broken.  Willow figures it out first and shows the first signs of adult Willow.  Willow up until now had been portrayed as the mousy nerd, and now she's starting to show a more complex side.  For instance, she is very upset on discovering the Xander-Cordelia romance, but she starts to realize the appeal of Oz, who genuinely likes her.  Of course, this may not be the best choice long term for Oz... but he's awesome!

Anyway, the episode ends and changes the status quo.  Angelus is now evil...

Hi Laurel here...Nothing much to add except I am also super excited about signs of life from Willow.  She is obviously a genius and there's no reason for her to act so mousy and insecure all the time.  I know she has not found her witchy power potential yet but it's nice to see her start believing in herself at least a little.  You go Willow!

We give this one 4 stakes! Just because the writing was better at conveying emotion and we got the inkling of more complexity in Willow's personality.

Surprise

Mark here... we've just watched the next episode of Buffy.  This episode, "Surprise" is about the Buffy-Angel romance...like heavily.  It's interesting to watch this post Twilight and all the other vampire related stuff thats come after.  The whole episode hinges on the romance between 200-year old Angel and now 17 year old virgin Buffy.  At the time and to a teenage audience, I'm sure it played out differently.  As it is now, it was sort of entertaining, but also a little bit boring? I mean I guess part of it, is that I'm not buying the Angel Buffy chemistry.  In any case, the gang finds out that Drusilla is still alive and intent on reviving this super demon, The Judge.  His body parts have been separated and Drusilla has put the parts back together by the end of the episode.

The bigger plot points are that we find out that Jenny Calendar is not what she seems, as an uncle of hers shows up and reminds her of her duty.  Jenny being a gypsy who's job is to ensure that Angel's gypsy curse is never broken. What breaks this curse? A moment of true happiness.  And what could make a 200-year old vampire happier than doing it with a 17 year old virgin?!

It's funny because, when the event inevitably happens, Angel of course tells Buffy he loves her.  Which is clearly what a young teenage girl wants to hear. To my cynical older self though, I'm like, oh, he just wants to do it with you!  I get the whole Young Adult appeal, and this was clearly ground breaking at the time, but I'm a little jaded I guess.  It's not that I don't like Angel, but...  In any case, the episode ends on a cliffhanger, as Buffy and Angel have obviously spent the night and Angel awakes in pain....

Hey Laurel here...not much to add except that I totally agree with Mark!  I know we are watching this with 40 year old eyes.  Also 2014 eyes.  That being said, I can't help but to compare this to "True Blood"  I know they have the benefit of hindsight, but I feel like true blood does a pretty good job of acknowledging that the vampires on the show are hundreds of years old.  They are still in love with 20-something humans, but they address the fact that it's unlikely and find ways to make the relationships a little more plausible.  I know, Buffy is the first show of it's kind, it was the 90s, etc etc...but I can't unsee what I have seen and I really wish they would treat Angel like the 200 year old he really is.

Also I hate Drusilla so much!  Any episode she's in I totally stop paying attention as soon as she's on screen, then Mark has to explain to me what happens.  But this happens to Mark all the time, not just when Drusilla shows up.  I'm sorry Mark.

Also just a quick note that "the judge" who ends up getting re-assembled is totally a 90s raver demon. He's muscle bound with a blue face and baby horns.   I kind of miss 90s rave culture, both because I kind of believe in and and at the same time I love making fun of it.  Pacifers?  Come the fuck on!  but also I lost my virginity at burning man.  You can see why I am conflicted.

This one gets 3 stakes.  barely.  It wasn't the worst but not the best.

Bad Eggs

Hi Laurel here...we're back at it!  Mark made us an awesome dinner of stuffed squash...Acorn squash stuffed with sausage and quinoa topped with cheese.  Yum!  I know what you're thinking, the theme of the blog for this season of Buffy was supposed to be "bloodless"  aka all vegetarian.  Mark was going to make this recipe with veggie sausage but we both decided that would be a crime, so we made an exception to the vegetarian theme for tonight.  We are rebels that way.

So this episode was pretty good!  It borrowed HEAVILY from Alien, specifically Aliens (the sequel) but I'll let Mark fill you in on that, since he actually still has a functioning memory.  As you know, these days mine is not what it used to be.

The gang has the classic assignment in school to take care of an egg baby for a week.  Mark said he never had this assignment, but I did and I failed.  I think I put my egg in the fridge and Barb ate it. Sign from the universe?

Anyway it's Buffy so it turns out there's something fishy about these eggs...They are full of creatures that hatch and take over your body, in service of their queen.  Everyone gets taken over by them except for Buffy and Xander.  Willow and Cordelia end up clocking both of them and knocking them out, which was oddly satisfying.  But like I said I'll let Mark tell you the rest.

Also of note this episode, Xander and Cordelia are hooking up on the reg...but they still hate each other.

Mark here... I liked this episode too.  As Laurel said, it's sort of an "homage" to Aliens and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  The whole thing as a B-movie feel, mostly due to the special effects.  Not that that's a bad thing,  but some scenes are clearly direct from Aliens, except in a high school.  The demons/aliens that are in the eggs are clearly just like the aliens from the movie.  The scenes also play out pretty similarly.  The scene where Buffy confronts her alien from the egg in her room plays out exactly like Ripley and Newt confronting the alien in the med lab in Aliens.  Also, the dissection scene is similar to Aliens dissection.

Once the gang is "infected", it moves into Body Snatchers territory.  I think even though it might not be the most original it's a fun twist, setting this all in a high school, similar to the movie, "The Faculty" which I also enjoyed.

Separately, Buffy's mom is starting to lay down the law with Buffy and tell her to be more responsible.  Of course we know she's not really as irresponsible as she lets on, it's just all the vampire slaying.

All in all, we'd give this episode 3 and a half stakes.  It wasn't brilliant plotwise, but the writing was fun and it played out fun....