Appreciation for The Replacement

[VisionGirl]

I don't think I realized until this viewing how much I like this episode. Er, the 2nd half of it, the 1st is so-so. Anyway, it's hilarious. Giles: "We just need to arrange the candles. Also, we should pretend we heard none of the disturbing sex talk." Then Willow: "Check. Candles and pretense."

When Riley told Buffy in the car that he was in love with everything about her, I went "Awww". But he's looking at her, waiting for her to respond. Nothing. The last line by him talking to Xander is so incredibly sad.

But my favorite line is Giles again: "Yes, he's clearly a bad influence on himself."

 

[Ojuice5001]

That was the first episode I ever saw. And yeah, it's good. It's got plenty of funny moments as you say. Spike scavenging in the garbage dump for example, that's good for a few decent laughs. The magic of splitting Xander in half, that was fun as well. And I like the good solid boost of confidence in himself that Xander gains. All in all, it was a decent start to my Buffy-watching.

PS: Oh look. My current signature is a quote from The Replacement. And yeah, that's another of the episode's funny lines. It would be cool to put both versions of Xander in separate rooms and do experiments on them. :lol:

 

[LyteHouse]

"Kill us both, Spock!"

That line just cracked me up. It was such a great episode and one of my personal favourites of Season 5.

Xander-centric episodes are always full of laffs and win. =D

 

[caitaintdead]

I'm not the biggest Xander fan, but this is episode is definitely quality!

Nick is brilliant in this episode, definitely his best performance in the show in my opinion. So many great lines, and I love that it is so clever.

Come to think of it, this would be an excellent episode to show a first time Buffy viewer, or someone you're trying to convert because it really does have it all. Wit, one liners a plenty, and a clever storyline.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I love, love, love this episode. Even if I wasn't a huge Xander fan I would still love it because the humor and plot of the episode are brilliant.
I laugh every single time at the Giles lines in the scene where they're trying to merge the two Xanders together. "Yes, he's clearly a bad influence on himself". LOL

 

[Tome]

Xander centric episodes are awesome almost every time! 'The Pack', 'B&B&B', 'The Zeppo' & 'The Replacement'. The only two that were not ''that'' good were 'Go Fish' and 'First Date'.

I also riley like the Briley scenes in this ep! His speech to Xander at the end is great.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

I think it's great, although late, that they finally used Nick's twin on the show. And you can tell who is who (or is it just me?).

I'm not a big fun of this episode, but there are some good scenes in it. Almost every member of the Scooby Gang has had a double somehow. And they are all mirrored with the real ones somehow. Even Faith was kind of Buffy's mirror (a lot more than the Buffybot, she just wasn't it). What they want to be, what they could be, their opposite... So I think every character on the show who has a double, it's not just there for the good look of it, it's something deeper, it's connected to the real characters.

 

[Bungle Jerry]

This is the episode that's on TV right now as I'm writing this actually. It's definitely great to see Xander get (a) so much screen time and (b) some progress as a character. I think this episode says a lot about Xander - how the responsible adult has always been there all along, hiding behind the insecure kid. Xander is a great character because he's a combination of the two, and whenever the writers get lazy and write Xander just as a geeky manchild, they completely miss the point.

 

[Bluebird]

I love The Replacement, I always look forward to it on my rewatches. Xander eps are a definite fav of mine though, they always seem to change (for the better) his character. Like The Zeppo, they're real confidence booster eps for him. Cos I think it's just after Buffy vs Dracula, and this ep, that he starts to sort out his life, and escapes from the basement.

I think it's great, although late, that they finally used Nick's twin on the show. And you can tell who is who (or is it just me?).

Apparently they only used his twin in the scenes with both of them, and Nick played both Xanders in the rest of the scenes.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

Apparently they only used his twin in the scenes with both of them, and Nick played both Xanders in the rest of the scenes.

Yeah, I remember reading about it. Not that confusing though

 

[Bungle Jerry]

Isn't there another episode where Nicholas was sick for some scenes and has his twin sit in, uncredited?

 

[xaphania]

Isn't there another episode where Nicholas was sick for some scenes and has his twin sit in, uncredited?

That's in Intervention, I believe. Not sure which scenes, though.

 

[Chosen Enemy]

That's in Intervention, I believe. Not sure which scenes, though.

I completely forgot about that one!
I also heard that Nick has teached Kelly (his brother) how to draw his autograph so that he could sign for Nick's fans as if it was really him. Dirty.

 

[FetalPig]

So have i got this right? The Sophisticated Thoth Demon with the fancy weaponry and no appreciation for Giles' fertility goddess wielding skills had a plan to ... make two Buffys?

 

[BuffyElevated]

So have i got this right? The Sophisticated Thoth Demon with the fancy weaponry and no appreciation for Giles' fertility goddess wielding skills had a plan to ... make two Buffys?

Yes... He wanted to separate the good from the bad of Buffy, presuming the "good" is the Slayer half of her and the "bad" is plain human Buffy, because if he could kill Human Buffy, it would also kill the Slayer Buffy. They explained this when talking about how one half of Xander could not exist without the other.

 

[Username]

This episode is nice, lots of funny stuff

When Buffy, Riley, Xander and Anya are watching a movie and Buffy says Willow is always complaining about how witches are being portrayed in movies and Xanders says "yes she's like 'what's that a cauldron, who uses a cauldron anymore?'" I can just imagine Willow actually say that 😀

Love the way this episode is built up cos you totally buy into that the other Xander is an imposter.

 

[FetalPig]

Originally Posted by FetalPig
So have i got this right? The Sophisticated Thoth Demon with the fancy weaponry and no appreciation for Giles' fertility goddess wielding skills had a plan to ... make two Buffys?

by HisMrs
Yes... He wanted to separate the good from the bad of Buffy, presuming the "good" is the Slayer half of her and the "bad" is plain human Buffy, because if he could kill Human Buffy, it would also kill the Slayer Buffy. They explained this when talking about how one half of Xander could not exist without the other.

😱

that'll teach me to post before the Ep has finished

😱

---------- Post added at 12:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 AM ----------

well i mean to say that it might 🙂

 

[Ojuice5001]

Yes... He wanted to separate the good from the bad of Buffy, presuming the "good" is the Slayer half of her and the "bad" is plain human Buffy, because if he could kill Human Buffy, it would also kill the Slayer Buffy. They explained this when talking about how one half of Xander could not exist without the other.

Hey, what if Toth's ray had hit Willow? We've seen what Willow's witchy side is like when it's unchecked by her humanity. Surely Willow's stronger half would have been just as fearsome as Dark Willow. And probably a pure-Slayer Buffy would have been just as bad. Of course, in both of those cases, Toth would have known he had to kill the human half as quickly as possible.

Then, too, what about vampires? Obviously the ray would split a vampire into a pure vampire, and a pure human. Pretty much the way the Shanshu Prophecy is supposed to do.

Yes, this ray is quite powerful, so it's just as well that it didn't do any more damage than just cloning an ordinary human like Xander.

 

[sisterofmercy]

I'm not a huge fan of Xander centric episodes but I really enjoyed this one. Very funny dialogue and the two Xanders were very entertaining.

 

[PassionBecoming]

I like this episode. Very funny, great lines, and Xander made a great character leap! I like Xander, and always appreciate when he isn't being a butt-monkey all the time. 🙂

My favorite line is also "Yes, he is cleary a bad influence on himself". I also love the dialogue with Anya's disturbing sex-talk. HAHA.

---------- Post added at 12:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 PM ----------

Oh, and the Briley/Xander scene at the end always kills me. It just makes me so sad that Riley is so devoted to her and she isn't feeling it/isn't letting herself feel it.

Then this led me down this path: Let's say Buffy and Riley are all in love and never had their problems. Is it really responsible for a Slayer to get married and have the babies? Would it even be POSSIBLE? Because I would think demons would have the mindset of "Slayer has a husband and children. Kill them." Not to mention how impossible slaying while pregnant would be.

I always think about her talking about wanting Mr. Normal when she first found out about Riley being in the Initiative. I have always liked Riley and would love for Buffy to get to have the "normal" relationship, but I just don't think it's possible. Angel and Spike fit more into her world - they were atypical realtionships, and I think they are the only ones that would work. Yes, Riley is a demon hunter/researcher, but he and his wife can enjoy things like maternity leave, buying a house, and someday retiring to the quiet life. Buffy goes until she dies. Well, in theory.