Amends
The Good;
Pretty much all of it, the ending is too beautiful for words, Will and Oz getting back together and Will's attempt to seduce him are the highlights. I also really like Joyce hurriedly turning down Buffy's suggestion that they invite Giles for Christmas and you can't fail to be touched by Faith at the Summers' house for Christmas. Also some powerful Giles/Angel scenes. On a lighter note I love the depiction of Liam the 'drunken, whoring, layabout' who seems a pretty fun guy
The Bad;
Irish accents not so great on Buffy. I'm still not that clear on the role of the First and what it's plan was? Did it want to wreck WR&H's scheme for the apocalypse?
Best line;
Buffy; What are your Christmas plans?
Willow; Being Jewish not much, not everyone worships Santa, remember?
Wheldon Cliches;
Character death;
None but Jenny makes her second (and unfortunately final postdeath appearance except in flashback)
Shot;
Tied up;
Knocked out;
Women good/men bad;
Angelus' behaviour towards the maid is just horrible beyond belief, not just in killing her but in the way he uses his position to shame her into silence
Kinky dinky;
Flashbacks to the Buffy/Angel coitus. Love Will's seduction dress and she takes a page out of Ally McBeal's book with Barry White. Amazingly this is the second time Willow has offered her virginity to a boy and he's turned her down. To judge from her remarks Oz is not a virgin however. Great line from Joyce "Angel on top again?"
Calling Captain Subtext;
Quite a lot of Jaith, it's obvious that a family Christmas is what Faith really wants despite her projected steel
Guantanamo Bay;
Buffy and Xander threaten Willy the Snitch but don't beat him up for once
What the fanficcers thought;
Plenty of adult stuff as normal (Buffy as a ponygirl pulling Santa's sleigh) but largely this time of year brings out the slush (physically and metaphorically). My favourite has Buffy as a C19th noblewoman (much as we saw her in Halloween) who get's vamped by Darla on her way back home for Christmas. 200 years later she get's cursed by gypsies, restoring both soul and humanity. She tracks down her family's descendents (Joyce, her husband Hank and their daughter Dawn) and turns up on their doorstep on Christmas morning, posing as Joyce's long lost niece. And they adopt her, forming her new family, finally allowing her to enjoy a normal human life once more and completing the journey she began centuries before.
Questions and observations;
So, is the First the real deal? Lucifer, the Devil, Satan, The Evil One? Apparently Robia LaMorte had a hard time in this ep because she's become very Christian and didn't like playing what was essentially the Devil? But it's not exactly as if they're saying it's a good thing and gets defeated in the end. Buffy comments that Xander has a piece of Willow that Oz can't touch, the same is true of Willow and Xander with Anya in season 5. Presumably Dawn enjoys Christmas with Faith at home. To judge by his flashbacks whilst Angel was Angelus he kills a father and his young children yet no one goes hysterical Gingerbread style.
The First says that Angel will drink Buffy and he does at the end of the season. Once read a horrible fanfic where the ending gives Angel his moment of joy turning him into Angelus and having him torture Buffy. Thankfully there was a sequal where everything works out happily, his soul get's restored and he uses WR&H's healers to cure her.
So, God in the Buffyverse? What are we to think? I think the snowstorm is clearly the work of the PTB. I know the rival theory is that it's WR&H saving him but it's pretty clear that they're unaware of his significance until near the end of the first season of Angel. Or it's a meterelogical freak but who could buy that?
8/10 I think
The Good;
Pretty much all of it, the ending is too beautiful for words, Will and Oz getting back together and Will's attempt to seduce him are the highlights. I also really like Joyce hurriedly turning down Buffy's suggestion that they invite Giles for Christmas and you can't fail to be touched by Faith at the Summers' house for Christmas. Also some powerful Giles/Angel scenes. On a lighter note I love the depiction of Liam the 'drunken, whoring, layabout' who seems a pretty fun guy
The Bad;
Irish accents not so great on Buffy. I'm still not that clear on the role of the First and what it's plan was? Did it want to wreck WR&H's scheme for the apocalypse?
Best line;
Buffy; What are your Christmas plans?
Willow; Being Jewish not much, not everyone worships Santa, remember?
Wheldon Cliches;
Character death;
None but Jenny makes her second (and unfortunately final postdeath appearance except in flashback)
Shot;
Tied up;
Knocked out;
Women good/men bad;
Angelus' behaviour towards the maid is just horrible beyond belief, not just in killing her but in the way he uses his position to shame her into silence
Kinky dinky;
Flashbacks to the Buffy/Angel coitus. Love Will's seduction dress and she takes a page out of Ally McBeal's book with Barry White. Amazingly this is the second time Willow has offered her virginity to a boy and he's turned her down. To judge from her remarks Oz is not a virgin however. Great line from Joyce "Angel on top again?"
Calling Captain Subtext;
Quite a lot of Jaith, it's obvious that a family Christmas is what Faith really wants despite her projected steel
Guantanamo Bay;
Buffy and Xander threaten Willy the Snitch but don't beat him up for once
What the fanficcers thought;
Plenty of adult stuff as normal (Buffy as a ponygirl pulling Santa's sleigh) but largely this time of year brings out the slush (physically and metaphorically). My favourite has Buffy as a C19th noblewoman (much as we saw her in Halloween) who get's vamped by Darla on her way back home for Christmas. 200 years later she get's cursed by gypsies, restoring both soul and humanity. She tracks down her family's descendents (Joyce, her husband Hank and their daughter Dawn) and turns up on their doorstep on Christmas morning, posing as Joyce's long lost niece. And they adopt her, forming her new family, finally allowing her to enjoy a normal human life once more and completing the journey she began centuries before.
Questions and observations;
So, is the First the real deal? Lucifer, the Devil, Satan, The Evil One? Apparently Robia LaMorte had a hard time in this ep because she's become very Christian and didn't like playing what was essentially the Devil? But it's not exactly as if they're saying it's a good thing and gets defeated in the end. Buffy comments that Xander has a piece of Willow that Oz can't touch, the same is true of Willow and Xander with Anya in season 5. Presumably Dawn enjoys Christmas with Faith at home. To judge by his flashbacks whilst Angel was Angelus he kills a father and his young children yet no one goes hysterical Gingerbread style.
The First says that Angel will drink Buffy and he does at the end of the season. Once read a horrible fanfic where the ending gives Angel his moment of joy turning him into Angelus and having him torture Buffy. Thankfully there was a sequal where everything works out happily, his soul get's restored and he uses WR&H's healers to cure her.
So, God in the Buffyverse? What are we to think? I think the snowstorm is clearly the work of the PTB. I know the rival theory is that it's WR&H saving him but it's pretty clear that they're unaware of his significance until near the end of the first season of Angel. Or it's a meterelogical freak but who could buy that?
8/10 I think
