Archive for the ‘Buffy Season 2’ Category
Monday, September 25th, 2006
Bad Eggs (Marti Noxon)
I am prepared to be contradicted once I rewatch Beer Bad but I think this is the worst episode of Buffy.
I can’t even be bothered writing about it but it can be summarized as the Gorch Brothers, too much kissing, the unsubtle Aliens rip-off, and the overwrought music that merely emphasized that there was no drama on the screen.
“Oh, sure. They say they’ll call” – even the dialogue is gyughh except this exchange: “Can I just say gyughh!” “I see your ‘gyughh!’ and raise you a nyaghh!”.
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Friday, September 8th, 2006
Ted (David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon)
I liked this episode a lot though it was an uneasy mixture of deadly serious (Buffy thinks she has killed an ordinary human – a situation not dissimilar from Faith and her killing of Allen Finch) and the humorous (Willow is so cute in this episode – not as cute as in a parka – but still sweet in her geeky eagerness). John Ritter was great as Ted – jovial, sinister and jerky. SMG was superb. I find it easy to under appreciate her which is just wrong. Her vulnerability and fear was moving when she tries to speak to her mother about what she did.
The conversation at the beginning about Captain and Tennille shows that Buffy, contrary to Xander’s opinion, was not “raised in a culture-free environment” but is, in fact, a normal sixteen year old who, quite rightly, wouldn’t know the good Capt if he bit her in the neck. This sort of dialogue reveals the age of the scriptwriters and is not very convincing.
“Oh, that’s the sound she makes when she’s speechless with geeker joy.”
“Vampires are creeps.” “Yes, that’s why one slays them.” “I mean, people are perfectly happy getting along, and then vampires come, and they run around and they kill people, and they take over your whole house, they start making these stupid little mini pizzas, and everyone’s like, ‘I like your mini pizzas,’ but I’m telling you, I am…” “Uh, uh, Buffy! I-I believe the…subtext here is, is, rapidly becoming, text.”
“What? Freud would’ve said the exact same thing. Except he might not have done that little dance.”
“But I’m sure it wasn’t your fault. He started it.” “Yeah. That defence only works in six-year-old court, Will”
“I don’t get it. Buffy’s the Slayer. Shouldn’t she have…” “What, a licence to kill?” “Well, not for fun. But she’s like this Superman. Shouldn’t there be different rules for her?” Sure, in a fascist society” “Right! Why can’t we have one of those?”
“That’s right, little lady, you killed me. Do we have something to say about that? Are we sorry?”
“No, no, really, I, uh, I don’t think it went in too deep. The advantages of layers of tweed. Better than Kevlar” – the reconciliation of Giles and Jenny is sweet
“Oh, Will, you’re supposed to use your powers for good!”
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Monday, August 14th, 2006
What’s My Line I and II (I Marti Noxon and Howard Gordon, II Marti Noxon)
Kendra is a marvellous contrast to Buffy (as much as Faith to come) for despite her heavy make up and revealing clothes, she’s conservative, dedicated, hardworking and obedient, all summed up in the exchange: “I don’t take orders. I do things my way.” “No wonder you died.”.
It’s corny but the swelling music as the mismatched of Xander and Cordelia kiss is amusing. The Rosa Klebbish villainess was great partly because there was no need for a stunt person. Drusilla was driving me mad so it was a treat to see her looking strong and dominant by the end. For a show not known for its beauty ( I mean in its look not in the actors…) there is a nice moment when vamp dust lands on a pool of water. Buffy wears an extraordinarily unflattering outfit when she visits the crypt with Giles which makes her short and (wait for it) dumpy. I wonder if Alyson Hannigan is ambidextrous, her mouse is situated on the left in this episode while (much later!) in All the Way she opens a bottle left-handed.
There were a few lovely Bangel moments including one that shouldn’t have worked: when she tells him she didn’t notice his game face in the rink, plus Angel holding Mr Gordo and Buffy sleeping in Angel’s bed.
Unsurprisingly for this Willow and Giles fan, some of the nicest moments involved the two: Giles’ tender concern over Willow’s tadpoles outburst is sweet; Oz offering Willow canapés; and this:
“You have the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen.” “So, I’m wondering, do the other cookie animals feel sort of ripped? Like, is the hippo going “Hey, man, where are my pants? I have my hippo dignity”” “And you know the monkey’s just “I mock you with my monkey pants”” is just gorgeous.
The timing and continuity was all over the place with an endless career fair, long days, short days, an assassin with two guns in the same holster, etc. And the usual puzzlements: why did by-the-book Kendra arrive in the cargo hold (undercover my arse)? why didn’t Kendra spike Angel? why didn’t they check Spike and Dru were dead, bearing in mind the ways vampires are disposed of?
Dialogue ahoy:
“We’re having this thing at school.” “Career week?” “How did you know?” “I lurk”
“I’ve been, uh, indexing the Watcher diaries covering the last couple of centuries. You would be amazed at how numbingly pompous and long-winded some of these Watchers were” “Colour me stunned”
“It hums. I can hear it” – like your acting
“Principal Snyder! Great career fair, sir! Really! In fact, I’m so inspired by your leadership, I’m thinking principal school. I wanna walk in your shoes. Not your actual shoes, of course, because you’re a tiny person. Not tiny in the small sense, of course. Okay, I’m done now”.
“Note to self – religion – freaky”
“C’mon, Cordelia. You wanna be a member of the Scooby Gang you gotta be willing to be inconvenienced every now and then.” – the first mention! the legend begins.
“Is that even possible? I mean, two Slayers at the same time?” “Not to my knowledge. Um, the new Slayer is only called after the previous Slayer has died. Oh, good Lord! You were dead, Buffy” “I was only gone for a minute” – she is sweetly petulant here
“Buffy would never do that! Oh. Except for that sometimes you do that. But only with Angel. Right?” - adorable
“There’s a Slayer handbook?” “Wait. Handbook? What handbook? How come I don’t have a handbook?” “Is there a T-shirt, too? Cause that would be cool” “After meeting you, Buffy, I realized that, uh, the handbook would be of no use in your case”
“Maybe. I mean, maybe after this thing with Spike and the assassins is over, I could say, ““Kendra, you slay, I’m going to Disneyland” ” “But not forever, right?” “No, Disneyland would get boring after a few months.”
“I, I’m shot! Y’know. Wow! It’s odd! And painful”
“When this is over I’m thinking pineapple pizza and teen video movie fest. Possibly something from the Ringwaldoeuvre”
“Shhh…grr! Bad dog” - Andy is a fan and this is his favourite Drusilla moment which I admit has a certain charm
“First we must return to de Watcher” “Excuse me? While we run to Giles, this whole thing could go down!” “But it is procedure” “It’s brainless, you mean! If we don’t go now, Angel could die.” “Is dat all you’re worried about? Your boyfriend?” “No, it’s not all, but it’s enough.” “It’s as I feared. He clouds your judgment. We can’t stop dis ritual alone!” “Are you listening to me? He could die!” “He’s a vampire. He should die. Why am I de only person who sees it?” – Kendra is totally in the right here and is proved so five minutes later
“Dat’s me favrit shirt! Dat’s me only shirt!” – many think this is a dumb line but I love it
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Thursday, July 27th, 2006
The Dark Age (Dean Batali and Rob Des Hotel)
An episode about Giles’s past and I can barely remember any of it (that’s before checking the transcript, of course). Jenny and Giles’ relationship hits the buffers in this which is a shame because Jenny’s teasing of Giles is a pleasure. However, her reluctance to get over it is highly understandable and good work by the programme makers.
Anywhere but here: “Amy Yip at the waterslide park”
“He was home alone drinking?” “But, tea, right?”
“No, he seemed perfectly normal yesterday when I saw him talking to the police” “And you waited till now to tell us this because?” “I didn’t think it was important” “We understand. It wasn’t about you” - the tension between Cordy and Xander is rising!
Ethan has a droll touch: “You sold me that dress for Halloween, and nearly got us all killed!” “But you looked great” and the not so droll “Now, this may sting a little just at first. But don’t worry, that’ll go away once the searing pain kicks in”
“It’s complicated, Buffy, and quite frankly, it’s private” “I don’t care from private! I care from dead guys attacking us. I care from you lost weekending in your apartment” (as much as I love BtVS dialogue, I can’t see Buffy being a big Ray Milland fan)
Again, Buffy is felled with one blow – grr to this inconsistency.
Not large with the butch?: “Hey! We don’t have time for this! Our friends are in trouble! Now, we have to put our heads together and, and get them out of it! And if you two aren’t with me a hundred and ten percent, then get the hell out of my library!”
“Bay City Rollers. Now, that’s music” “I didn’t hear that” - neither did we
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Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
Lie to Me (Joss Whedon)
Many of my headlines are quotes about Angel, which is odd because I’m not a big fan.
This is a serious episode about how we could deal in extreme circumstances with pain versus immortality but the best thing about it is the Divinyls conversation and Willow’s face as she slowly catches on (I am shallow and easily pleased). Other notables: a lovely scene between Angel and Willow in her bedroom; I find it unlikely that Jenny would like monster trucks much less take Giles to a show; I liked the scenes between Ford and Spike; Buffy tells Angel she does love him; Ford thinks he has it all planned out and can justify his actions but his mind is as sick as his body; Buffy gets knocked out by a human, she’s the bleeding Slayer, that shouldn’t happen.
Dialogue:
“and Marie Antoinette cared about them. She was gonna let them have cake!” and with that Cordelia disappears from this episode
“He’s not in school, right? He looks older than her” “You’re not wrong” “Whoa! Cold hands!” “You’re not wrong.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with Dead Boy on this one” “Could you not call me that?” – once again Xander is jealous of Angel
“What? Whating a what?” – Buffy is a terrible dissembler which means she is very funny
“A couple more days and we’ll get to do the two things every American teen should have the chance to do: die young, and stay pretty.”
“There aren’t two of those in the world” – not until Doppelgangland anyway
“In no way do we stick out like sore thumbs” “Okay, but do they really stick out?” “What?” “Sore thumbs. Do they stick out? I mean, have you ever seen a thumb and gone, Wow! That baby is sore!” “You have too many thoughts” – each of them endearing
“Don’t be ashamed! It’s cool that you’re open to it. We welcome anyone who’s interested in the Lonely Ones.” “The Lonely Ones?” “Vampires” “Oh! We usually call them the nasty, pointy, bitey ones.” “So many people have that misconception but they who walk with the night are not interested in harming anyone. They are creatures above us. Exalted!” “You’re a fool.” “You don’t have to be so confrontational about it, other viewpoints than yours may be valid, you know.”
“I’ve known you for two minutes, and I can’t stand you.”
I’m almost complete with my quotes from this episode and I have only just remembered that this is a Joss episode which explains the sheer amount of good stuff.
“Now you let everyone out, or your girlfriend fits in an ashtray.” – once again Buffy fails to take out somebody who proves fatal to many more people in the future
“What happened? “We’re stuck in a basement” “Buffy?” “She’s not stuck in the basement.”
“You mean life?” “Yeah. Does it get easy?” “What do you want me to say?” “Lie to me.” “Yes, it’s terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.” – sob
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Monday, July 10th, 2006
Halloween (Carl Ellsworth - apparently he was fired which is a shame because I liked this episode a lot)
A fantastic standalone episode. Unusually, the low point was SMG as an unconvincing 18th century damsel in distress – I just didn’t believe in her. There was a fine smirking performance by Robin Sachs as Ethan Rayne and hello Larry!
Xander lived off “army man” for a fair few episodes and Cordelia as ever is very funny (I really never appreciated her first time around).
Willow may have stunned many in her skimpy costume but to me she looked too skinny – she was much sexier as Vamp Willow but it is always a pleasure to watch an episode in which Willow takes charge.
Two classic lines: “she couldn’t've dressed up like Xena?” and “who died and made her the boss?” (the latter is one of those clever lines that make you buff your imaginary fingernails because you got the joke).
“the ghost of what, exactly?”
Willow uses the word spaz (not for the first and certainly not the last time): “Oh, I don’t get wild. Wild on me equals spaz” and this was, unsurprisingly, cut for the BBC broadcast. I have long been intrigued as to why this word isn’t considered offensive in the USA and so just for my reading public (that’s you, Andy) I found this interesting article.
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Monday, July 3rd, 2006
Reptile Boy (David Greenwalt)
What do Ghost World and Reptile Boy have in common?
This is an episode with a lot of potential but rather like the not-so-good monster, it was all unconvincing. The implications of Buffy’s single lie to Giles are summarized: “I told one lie, I had one drink” [a single drink that knocks out the Slayer] “Yes, and you were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake. The words ‘let that be a lesson’ are a tad redundant at this juncture” [that's the Slayer's burden in a nutshell, make a single mistake and you endanger yourself, your friends and family, and the world!]. I’m not persuaded by the course of Buffy and Angel’s relationship through this episode. We are supposed to feel their great attraction but I don’t really get them. Buffy’s comment that she wants to die when they kiss is both tasteless and not clever. Xander’s jealousy is funny (not in real life when you would want to hit him). And after Willow’s rant, Buffy’s “sometime, I’ll let you know”, is just WTF?
The men have a hard time in this one: poor Giles gets humiliated by Buffy again when twice again and she wasn’t even trying. Xander gets humiliated helping his friend (helping her because he was jealous but helping nevertheless).
Any average BtVS episode is essentially elevated to better than any other TV show by its dialogue and its delivery:
I love it when Willow lets rip and this is a snorter: “Well, why do you think she went to that party? Because you gave her the brush-off! And you never let her do anything except work and patrol! And I know she’s the Chosen One, but you’re killing her with the pressure! I mean, she’s sixteen going on forty! And you! I mean, you’re gonna live forever! You don’t have time for a cup of coffee? Okay, I don’t feel better now, and we’ve gotta help Buffy.”
“She’s sad because her lover gave her twelve gold coins, but then the wizard cut open the bag of salt, and now the dancing minions have nowhere to put their big maypole…fish thing” “Uh-huh. Why is she singing?” “Her lover? I thought that was her chiropractor” “Because of that thing he did with her feet? No, that was personal.”
“Just because the paranormal is more normal and less…para of late is no excuse for tardiness or letting your guard down”
“Boy, what a long day” “And you skipped three classes” “Yeah, and, of course, they flew by” [I never skipped classes in school but I did in college and, boy, did those hours drag, eating scones and drinking coffee in the canteen at Hilton]
“I’m not going with Angel. I’m going with, ye gods, Cordelia” “Cordelia?! Did I sound a little jealous just then, cause I’m not really…Cordelia?!” “Cordelia’s much better for you than Angel” [this is so not my imagination making these gay moments up]
“You don’t want her. Look at her. She’s all skin and bones. Half an hour later you’ll be hungry” [it’s a close run thing between Buffy and Cordelia but essentially Buffy has a cheek]
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Friday, June 23rd, 2006
Inca Mummy Girl (Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer)
Here’s Oz
and Willow is the cutest of the Scoobies – she is utterly endearing in a parka
(and sparks a classic Cordelia line: “Oh, near faux pas! I almost wore the same thing”). There is an amusing sparring session with Giles in which scones get a mention. Xander and the IMG were sweet together, she had a lot of charm and all she wanted was a normal life. The parallels with Buffy are rather belaboured: “They told her that she was the only one. That only she could defend her people from the nether world. Out of all the girls in her generation…she was the only one…” and she even gets called the Chosen One. The photography is notable (even on my dodgy season two DVD transfers) particularly in the scene when the IMG tries it on with Jonathan (Danny Strong’s first appearance too).
“I better stop him before he gets in trouble.” “I got it. The non-violent approach is probably better here.” “I wasn’t going to use violence. I don’t always use violence. Do I?” “The important thing is you believe that.”
“On the other hand, maybe Rodney just stepped out for a smoke.” “For twenty-one hours?” “It’s addictive, you know.”
“Why are you suddenly so worried about looking like an idiot? That came out wrong.”
“Yeah. And then Xander can find someone else who’s not me to obsess about. At least with you I knew he didn’t have a shot. Well, you know, I have a choice. I can spend my life waiting for Xander to go out with every other girl in the world until he notices me, or I can just get on with my life.” Good for you” “Well, I didn’t choose yet” [that final line is so sad but don’t worry, it’ll be over soon, Willow]
What kind of girl travels with a mummified corpse? And doesn’t even pack a lipstick? [me! Except the corpse bit]
Oddities: Seth Green gets an “as Oz” credit that disappears for his next few appearances and Willow wears a couple of woolly hats [her clothes are always odd and it rarely gets better].
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Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
School Hard (story by Joss Whedon, written by David Greenwalt)
I see…so this is the reason why I disliked Spike and Drusilla in the early days: bad, bad, bad accents. At least Spike’s modulated away from this Cary Grant impersonation but Drusilla’s was always barking. Juliet Landau is inexplicably bad as Dru (what were she and Joss thinking?) though I admit with a bit of work I can just about put up with her in later episodes.
The action wasn’t very well put together; I was never entirely sure where any one was in relation to the others.
Good things: Cordelia praying, Joyce with an axe and Colin getting dusted.
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Sunday, June 4th, 2006
Some Assembly Required (Ty King)
A terrible story that was utterly derivative and I didn’t care about any of the secondary characters. The only redemption was the nascent relationship between Rupert and Jenny. I have turned into a middle-aged woman: I adore Anthony Head. He has been a delight as Giles: not only does he deliver his lines beautifully but he is also the master of the look and the gesture. The sequence with Giles not asking Jenny out was lovely: Jenny saying that Ms Calendar was her father’s name (what was that about?), Giles pathetic attempts at asking Jenny out, Jenny deftly asking him out to the game and his “that went well” were just wonderful. Robia LaMorte (what a name) is one good-looking woman; at the end when she is suggesting another date with Giles, she looks spectacular.
Another Willow gay moment: the photographer says (of another girl) “look at those legs” and Willow replies “no, thanks” (protesting too much?).
Fun dialogue:
“Sorry, but I’m an old-fashioned gal. I was raised to believe that men dig up the corpses and the women have the babies”
“Danced with is a pretty loose term. Mated with might be a little closer”
“Simple deduction. Ms. Calendar is reasonably dollsome, especially for someone in your age bracket. She already knows that you’re a school librarian, so you don’t have to worry about how to break that embarrassing news to her”
“Nothing in here but back issues of Scientific American. Ooo, I haven’t read this one!”
“I just think it’s rather odd that a nation that prides itself on its virility should feel compelled to strap on forty pounds of protective gear just in order to play rugby”
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