posted
Hey, I thought I had. Hmm. I've got the first, um, three seasons on DVD now as well. So I guess I could go back and do the first season. Plus "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" and "Go Fish," which I missed, thanks to FX.
Registered: Mar 1999
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For real this time. Uh, the summary is: everyone gets ready to graduate.
At my high school, we didn't get our yearbooks until the following year. Or, at least, we didn't for the last one. Which is the only one I bought. Because I edited it. Plus, you know, I figured I probably should. Anyway, only two people signed it, since it was later. Addendum! This is more or less what I wrote in my first attempt, but I've been looking at the book since, and I realize that my friend Perla somehow managed to write in the book. Was she there the day I got it? I no longer recall.
When the Mayor is tidying up Faith's apartment, it seems he makes a nice pile out of the comic books on Faith's table. Comic books, I ask? Really?
I wonder what Faith is supposed to get out of this Ascension thing? She gets to be in charge of daily operations once the Mayor is a demon? That doesn't seem like a job Faith would really like, in the long run. Still, she seems to have taken to the evil lieutenant job pretty quickly. So who knows.
I think it could be argued that Buffy has a moral obligation to tell her classmates of the upcoming apocalypse. They already know about what's going in town, in general I mean, more or less. But her first reaction seems to be the usual "Let's solve this problem ourselves." (Um, let's pretend that I have no idea what's going to happen next.)
What's with the fencing in the library? What's with Wesley there, for that matter. I realize I have asked this before. But not even a token explanation! Everything does sound cooler when accompanied with the flourish of a rapier, at least.
Other things I've wondered about: What does Snyder know about what's going to happen? He would seem to have known Buffy was the slayer for at least this entire year. He knows the Mayor has supernatural interests. But does he know he means to turn into a giant demon and eat everybody? You know what I'd like to see? Snyder teaming up with Buffy to stop the Mayor.
Giles sticks his sword into the Mayor with little warning and to much applause from me. I mean, not really, of course, because that would be the dumbest thing imaginable. But, good job. Though, would a fencing blade go that deep into a human body?
The stage here, or at least I presume it's constructed and not a real location, where Buffy and Angel leave the dead professor's apartment (I don't know what to tell you if you aren't watching these or haven't seen them. Uh, Faith killed a professor earlier.) is kind of odd. There's a crosswalk just kind of sitting there, far from any visible intersection, and after we see a car slowly pass behind them there are people walking right down the center of the street. Is Sunnydale large enough to have those weird streets that the hippies and college students claim for their own?
How did Faith know that Angel would go with Buffy to investigate the professor's death? I suppose she may not know they've broken up. Has she been up there since she killed him (barring the scene where she went back to report that she had done so), waiting?
Anya has a car?
Goodbye, Watcher's Council. Ha!
You know, Angel wouldn't necessarily have to drink all of Faith's blood, would he? Though I guess Buffy is set on killing her.
Hey, she is reading comic books! So much for my suspension of disbelief.
Climactic Slayer Showdown. Good thing slayers all have long hair and wear it loosely. And the winner is...
Buffy. Well, duh. But so much for bringing Faith's body back for Angel, thanks to Faith's spitefulness (Though, Buffy just killed her. She can't really be expected to be eager to help.) and a luckily-timed truck passing below. Time for plan B! Uh, there is a plan B, right Buffy?
Registered: Mar 1999
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Two: This thread has inspired me to begin following Buffy: The Vampire Slayer on DVD ... hence, my purchasing of Season One, and my recent win of Season Two on eBay. Sadly, I am moving in a week, so I asked the seller to delay shipping it to make sure I'm in my new digs when it arrives.
Three: I would very much enjoy season one commentaries.
posted
I'm glad you like it. Anything season one related will probably have to wait until the end of the school year (which is, luckily, I guess, not far off). Though they may take awhile to do, since I have no idea what I'm going to be doing this summer. For the same reason, I might not be able to get to season five until I can buy a copy for myself. (Season four, I think, I've got taped, since I've got this huge backlog of episodes I've recorded but not yet watched.) Incidently, I don't suppose anyone is looking for a charming freelance writer who needs lots of free time to complete his senior thesis?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
And if they are, do they want to hire someone to stand around and talk about cartoons? And occasionally try to fix computers?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Buffy's just leaving the knife out on Faith's balcony? Or, I guess, not really a balcony, since there seems to be no way to get to it, normally. So, out on the roof, then. What if the police find it?
Because, you see, the Mayor is completely serious for the first time, over the apparent fight and disapparence of Faith. What if he brings both his covert vampire enforcers and the Sunnydale PD to bear in tracking Buffy down? Not that either seem to be the most competant of institutions. But that's the necessities of television for you.
Buffy's plan B: "Drink me." First of all, "drink" is just an odd, if accurate, way to put it. Very Alice in Wonderland. Which I suppose was intentional. Then we've got the odd sexual allusions. Which are surely also intentional, because, well, wait and see. Who's keeping that fire in Angel's mansion going, incidently?
I suppose this blood drinking scene is contrasted to the more usual kiss and pan away applied to Oz and Willow last episode. Because they have graduated from their virginity, you see! It is like, layers and stuff.
Angel does look a bit strung out when bringing Buffy to the hospital. I wonder who he's calling first? The library, I suppose.
Hey, Faith is alive. But that fact doesn't seem to cheer the Mayor up much, because she is in a coma. Doesn't he know any healing spells? Maybe he'll take care of that after the ascension. I'd think he'd want Faith transfered to a hospital in some other city, though, so in case he kills all the doctors in town during said ascension she won't die. His attempt to smother Buffy is casual enough to suggest he's done this before. And his invulnerability doesn't prevent Angel from throwing him around a bit. Good.
(Side note: I wasn't at all sure that smother looked right there, so I put it through Google, as I do from time to time, because it is not a bad spellchecker. And, anyway, it seems enough websites with the word smother on them somewhere are pornographic to warrant one of those Google "mature content" advisors. Huh. Also, ew.)
Xander is lucky that Angel doesn't hit him.
Wait, what's this? A prophetic dream? No...it appears to be slayer telepathy. Wait, a slayer mindmeld! This is unexpected.
Buffy has another plan, which involves recruiting all the extras who've gotten lines over the past three years. There's Percy, and Jonathan, and...Larry, I think he's called. And Harmony. That's about it.
Half a season's worth of romantic build up leads to one really awkward kissing attempt. Incidently, though I knew what was going to happen, more or less, the first time I saw this, I really didn't bother to think about just what Wesley and Cordelia were doing in the library. Foreshadowing. Also good, post-failed kiss: Wesley: "Well, I'll drop you a line when I get back." Cordelia: "That'd be neat." I just like the way she says neat.
So it seems Buffy has gone ahead and told her class what's going to happen. I wonder what it took to convince them?
Hey, Willow and Oz, there's no time for love. I was thinking "Hey, this is a great spot for the Indiana Jones line when I write this up," but then I thought that would be too obvious. You can add it in yourself if you want.
One thing about the show that genuinely surprises me is that Sarah Michelle Gellar seems to be a really good actress. Who would have thought? (Because, what has she been in? A Scream? A few of the Scream-inspired spinoffs? That movie about the mean kids? Scooby Doo?) Here I'm thinking mostly about the scene where she realizes that Angel still intends to leave town, despite everything that happened earlier.
Well, it's graduation time. But where are the families? All I see is students.
This is probably not a revelation new to this episode, but I hadn't really thought much about the Mayor's history in relation to Sunnydale. So he founded the town, then? What was there before? And he was the first mayor, I suppose. Has he been reelected ever since? He's Richard Wilkins III, I believe. I'm not sure if three generations is enough time to span 1899 and 1999 without raising too much suspicion, but it seems possible. That explains the vampire-compliant sewer system, anyway. Also, I wonder if the Mayor was the one responsible for foiling the Master's plan the first time? It hardly does him any good if some ancient vampire king comes along and takes over the world before he gets a chance to ascend, does it?
Oh, there are the parents. You couldn't really see that section, earlier.
"Now!" This is surely included in a promotional trailer for the show, somewhere.
Xander's role in this fight is very Army of Darkness.
So much for Larry. And Snyder. Which I'm not that happy about. What did he expect to happen? I think Snyder should have gotten a different death. Somehow. If he had to die. Still, it's kind of neat. And Harmony. The scene where the vampires start up the stairs only to be confronted by an army of angry high school students feels very epoch-making. I wonder if Percy was killed and I didn't notice?
Hey, I thought that Cordelia and Wesley were just grabbing Giles' books, but it looks like they managed to get all the books, demon-related or not. At least, in the sort of foyer area of the library. It's implied that most of the books are through that door in the back, I think. Anyway, good for them. Bad for the Mayor. Huge explosion, which, according to Marti Noxon, made the show no longer welcome in Torrence, California for awhile, because of the noise.
Hooray for good. Maybe I should just stop here for awhile, since this all sort of mirrors my upcoming graduation from college. I mean, minus the demons and the explosions and the fighting and the deaths. Plus I don't actually get my degree for a few more months. I guess maybe it more closely mirrors Oz's aborted graduation from last year. Which is to say, a graduation that isn't, and that's all offscreen. Anyway, I watched this one at a particular resonant time, is what I'm saying.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Yes. "Little sister's coming", I think. Less cute though that next season's "Be back before dawn" comment.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Buffy goes to college, just as I am leaving it. Synchronous! She fights some vampires that seem a lot like the vampires from the movie, or would if I had ever seen it.
"The Freshmen"
Willow frowns on Buffy choosing her classes late, but as it happens I have never chosen my classes on time. Ever. This is not really a thing to be proud of, I guess.
It has been a busy summer for vampire activity? Shouldn't things have gotten pretty quiet after the death of the Mayor? Unless, I guess, there has been a huge power struggle. Which there should be. I will be expecting such.
Normally vampires seem to love attacking the slayer, but this one takes off after seeing the crossbow and crosses and stakes and whatnot. Though, really, he could have grabbed Buffy pretty easily.
Introducing: New settings! A campus! Assorted buildings! My first day of college, that is, real college, was spent wandering around in a daze too. And this is not a particularly large campus. I don't think.
You know, this library is very tall, but it doesn't seem to have all that many books in it, despite Willow's excitement. And then Buffy says it would be a good place to hold the Nuremburg rallies? That's an odd thing to say.
Least realistic dorm room ever. It's bigger than Buffy's real room, and she's an only child living in a pretty sizable house with just her mother. I won't comment on Celine Dion as a symbol of horror, due to its obviousness.
Buffy, in class, being dressed down by a jerky professor. This feels very odd. Is it a dream? I guess not. This still feels really odd. Who hired this guy?
Buffy, after meeting twitchy guy whose name I don't recall (Eddie?) but suspect it won't matter because being left alone by the slayer at night is never good: "I've never had a security blanket. Unless you count Mr. Pointy." Yikes. And, yes, vampires. Called it.
Vampire thieves, no less. That's new. I guess dorm rooms don't count as private spaces, which could prove to be a problem in the future. These vampires are really goofy. Do they just hang around on campus all the time?
Giles has a lady friend. Good for him. She calls him Ripper, but doesn't seem to know about the slayer. Interesting.
The lead college vampire's name is Sunday? Weird. And she beats up Buffy, while her gang of 80s vampires look on. I get that Buffy is supposed to be feeling alone and out of place. Do I ever. But this Sunday lady is tougher than Angel? Or Spike? I'm not so sure about that. I like how Buffy holds her arm carefully throughout the rest of the episode.
Xander! Finally. I suspect we are supposed to feel relived like Buffy does. And I do. Because I am sappy. Now things can get back to normal.
Thumbs up to Buffy falling through the window. Though she really should have just been sitting on the roof looking through it. Plus, yet another vampire home with a big skylight.
Buffy is not so wounded as Sunday was led to believe. Hooray for trickery. And then Giles shows up, but how did he know where they were?
Ominous covert ops team on campus. Huh.
Oh, yeah, and some guy named Riley got hit by some books, and is a TA and stuff. I'm sure he'll never be back. Extras get speaking parts all the time.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Buffy's roommate is hard to live with, and Buffy acts kind of oddly, and her friends act even more oddly, and the whole thing leaves me very confused.
"Living Conditions"
Kathy wants to keep a log of all calls, to assist in dividing up the bill. That's not a bad idea, really, but who pays phone bills in college? I don't even have long distance. And who's Buffy going to call that doesn't live in Sunnydale? Angel, I suppose. Which leads me, for no reason, to ponder the following: Just what happened to Cordelia? Ok, I realize that there's supposed to be this spinoff show on too, but I couldn't watch it at the moment even if I tried. The least they could do is tell us where she's off to and what she's doing. I'll be waiting.
Kathy, about something I don't remember: "What the blender?" Excuse me? Did she just say "what the blender?" That's the oddest thing to say in a show filled with odd things said.
Giles suspects Buffy is having a hard time living with her roommate because she is an only child. Identification time. Though I've had pretty good luck with roommates, and try to be sharing and forgiving.
What's with that sliding latch on the closet? It's designed to keep something in, it seems, which is kind of creepy. I am all over the music thing, though. The number of times I've shared musical tastes with a roommate are rare, and I've only had three of them. For instance, there is a (very low level) music clash between Pavement, which I'm listening to, and the radio, which my roommate is listening to.
Also identifiable: fridge space issues. I don't have much to put in the fridge, usually, which works out because it is always filled with lots and lots of water bottles. Who drinks bottled water? Everyone but me, it seems. Also, window issues. I tend to like things a bit warmer than others, it seems. Though right now it is way too warm.
Uh, but back to the show. It is kind of weird for Giles to be in this student lounge. The Student Union Building here is way in the middle of campus, far from any parking space.
Kathy peels her hardboiled egg the same way Xander does. I've never seen anyone do it that way before. It's kind of odd.
Ok, I don't understand this episode at all. Are we supposed to actually think Buffy is losing her mind? Her friends do, on what seems like very little evidence. And now Buffy is going to kill her because she must be a demon? And now Xander and Oz and Giles are trapping Buffy with a net? This is nuts.
So Kathy is a demon, then. Who just wanted to go to college? Aside from liking Cher, she really doesn't seem all that evil. Sure, she was stealing Buffy's soul to hide from her demon counterparts. But who wants to live in a hell dimension? Lots of damage to the dorm room in this fight. And she gets sucked into hell.
Now Willow moves in and eats Buffy's sandwich, leading to a closeup of Buffy's eye twitching, and then my tape cuts off. I presume that was just about the end, and that Buffy doesn't kill Willow.
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: For instance, there is a (very low level) music clash between Pavement, which I'm listening to, and the radio, which my roommate is listening to.
Notice my complete lack of surprise that I have never heard of the band that Simon is listening to.
Er, unless he is listening to the pavement. Or something.
Since you aren't getting Angel, I feel the need to point out STUPIDLY CUTE crossover. You know in "The Freshmen", when Buffy gets a call, and there's no voice? That was Angel. Yes. Everyone feel smug.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
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quote:Joyce knows that Angel is a vampire now? And she apparently knows that he's an OK guy again as well? When was this information shared?
In "Lover's Walk".
quote:Or is there only one creepy magician around who can remove the souls from cursed vampires?
$ Angel Season 4 $
There's another one of these magicians, who appears in "Awakening".
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Sol System: "Faith, Hope & Trick"
Is there a character named Hope running around that I missed?
Yes, Buffy's boyfriend at this time was Scott Hope.
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
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quote: Regular Boy Scott Hope: Let's go to a Buster Keaton festival, Buffy. Ok, first of all, Hope! Now I get it.
I write these in real time.
Actually, that's a lie. I make notes in real time, which I turn into posts at a (sometimes much) later date. But I try to make the post look as if it was written in real time.
Registered: Mar 1999
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