Buffy ep by ep; THE INITIATIVE

saturn5

Scooby
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
937
The Initiative
The Good;
So at last the truth! The Initiative set is indeed impressive and Spike's escape is daring, he's almost like Jaws in the Bond films, the audience starts rooting for him even when he's the bad guy. The fights also good and the Harmony/Spike scenes and Harmony/Xander scene is wonderful
The Bad;
Not a great deal, strong ep

Best line;
Buffy (to Walsh); "For someone who teaches human behaviour you might try showing some"
Wheldon Cliches;

Character death;
Shot;
Buff uses a flare gun, odd to see her using a firearm of any kind. The Initiative seem to have more guns than NATO.
Tied up;
Spike tied up but escapes.
Knocked out;
Willow in the struggle with Riley and co.
Women good/men bad;
The horrible scene where we think Spike is killing Willow. Of course, she then fights back, You go girl! Contrast that to Harmony who takes Spike back AGAIN after all he's done to her. She asks Xander why men just leave but of course by that stage Xander already has. Buffy is outraged at Riley's seeming chauvanism towards her. Parker's remark about Buffy is unforgiveable although maybe he has a right to be bitter, he did try to apologise to her only for her to bash him over the head with a branch.
Jeez!;
Walsh's remark to Willow about Oz is very harsh. For a moment your heart is in your mouth when you think Willow is lying dead behind Spike on the bed.
Kinky dinky;
Buffy describes her top as 'slutty' but I don't think it is particularly. Unlike her top on the cafeteria which you can blatantly see down when she trips. Forrest eyes up the women in the cafeteria, the first blonde girl in the floral number in particular is undeniably HOT! Parker describes Buffy as 'Bunny in the sack'. You figure she must have gone easy on him? Forrest figures that Buffy and Xander are on their way to have 'Crazy naked sex'. Harmony comments that she can 'slap Spike around' a little if he likes it. Buffy dancing is also good although she's better with Faith.
Calling Captain Subtext;
Doug Petrie describes the Initiative boys as a 'gay calender pin-up' and he's not wrong, you can imagine Jack from Will&Grace having it on his wall. Petrie seems very keen on Marc Blucas in his commentary although he was equally as keen on the Faith/Buffy sapphic subtext.
The whole Spike/Willow scene is one big impotence gag. Once again a vamp feeding is compared to a sexual act. Harmony comments that Buffy is just going to slap Spike around and that she can do that. Is that why Spike falls in love with the Slayer? When Spike finds Buffy on the computer he says 'Hello gorgeous". Hmmmmm. Will still has some insecurity left over from her wallflower days.
Guantanamo Bay;
The whole idea of the Initiative is very 'War on Terror', it resembles Camp X-ray to a T. Of course this all takes place BEFORE 9/11
Scoobies to the ER;
Thankfully not this week
Where's Dawn?
Questions and observations;
Spike likes the Sex Pistols, big suprise. Buffy likes cheese, a leftover from her day as a rat? Here we have Spike in the opening credits hinting that he's a regular from now on (by contrast it took poor old Tara 3 seasons to get there and she only lasted 1 ep). Giles comments that he should lock his door. Spike refers to the Nazis conducting experiments on vamps which we'll see in 'Why we Fight'. Xander refers to the mobile infantry from Starship Troopers, Riley not unlike Johnny Rico in many ways. Spike is 126 which means he was born in 1873, making him a late Victorian (Angel is over 200 making him a Georgian). Note Doug Petrie named Grahme Miller after a Canadian friend of his and that it's Grhame who suggests that Buffy might be a little off because she's Canadian. Spike seems to use significant violence during his escape but maybe the chip hasn't really kicked in yet? Riley' shirt makes him look like he's from Star Trek.
Marks out of 10; 8/10

Currently reviewing Sense and Sensitivity on the Angel season 1 board so please drop by
 
Spike was turned in 1880 so your assessment that he was born in 1873 is wrong. It's just another inconsistency in writing.

Also for a remarkable foreshadowing quote, please see my signature.
 
Spike was turned in 1880 so your assessment that he was born in 1873 is wrong. It's just another inconsistency in writing.

Also for a remarkable foreshadowing quote, please see my signature.

Yeah, I guess we just have to figure that the Watcher's records aren't all that accurate.

Wow, what a great quote, I'll have to add that to my reviews
 
U
ubi4soft
Glad to be helpful
I like this episode because I like Riley. That scene that Buffy was sitting alone on the bench and Riley tried to take her home is so funny. I love their conversation. It's so feminism. Harmony girly fighting with Xander is hilarious too. And you're right. Buffy better dance with Faith. 😀

What? Marc Blucas is a Fuffy? I heart him more and more. 😉
 
I enjoyed this episode a lot. It's hilarious when Willow references to Spike as "impotent."
 
S
Stakesteak
Haha yes! Especially how she tries to console him about his "problem."
I found this to be a pretty fun episode. The dialogue between Willow and Spike after he tries to bite her is hilariously amazing and I really enjoyed his escape from the Initiative as it emphasized how despite his willingness to work with others, at this point in the Buffy timeline he's still only in it for himself.
 
T
thevikingsgirl
I love the scene with Spike and Willow. That was hilarious!
Yeah, Spikes redemption is a slow and gradual process, he doesn't even realise he loves Buffy yet
 
I really liked the fight in the dorm hallway after Buffy says, "Contain this!" and fires the flare. With all the smoke and confusion, Buffy just kicks butt... and then hearing the soldier tell Walsh that it was someone big and fast.... too funny.
 
I really liked the fight in the dorm hallway after Buffy says, "Contain this!" and fires the flare. With all the smoke and confusion, Buffy just kicks butt... and then hearing the soldier tell Walsh that it was someone big and fast.... too funny.

Yeah, a little reminiscent of Glory's boys trying to explain themselves in Intervention
 
Revelation of Riley's ture identity, Willow and Spike's hilarious talk..."maybe you're trying too hard" ahaahahaa!!! and Buffy kicking ass in the end!!!

Nice episode! Finally Spike with a chip! I kinda feel sorry for him but i am very glad that this chip saved Will!
 
This is the only episode in which I like Riley. After this, no more! But he's pretty cute in this one. Willow was absolutely wonderful in this. She's so adorable in all her scenes... especially with Riley. "She likes cheese." I LOVE WILLOW. Poor baby.

I also enjoyed Forrest; he makes me laugh. Parker was obnoxious as ever and it was satisfying to have Riley hit him. He was so awkward with Buffy... Riley, not Parker. Xander and Giles were so lonely. It made me a little sad.

Overall, a nice episode.
 
I love this episode. I don't care much for the Inititave episodes either, but I loved the Spike and Willow part when he cheers her up by telling her he wanted to bite her.
 
Good episode. I don't know what to say about Riley really! I never disliked him, but I don't like him either. First time I saw this episode he seemed nice and I was even expecting it might turn out he would be with Willow(the scene at the party!).

Xander narrative while waiting with Giles :lmao: And his fight with Harmony hahaha =P

The scene at the end when they try to take Spike and Buffy fight Riley without either of them recognizing the other, I loved it! She really kicked their asses.
 
The scene at the end when they try to take Spike and Buffy fight Riley without either of them recognizing the other, I loved it! She really kicked their asses.

LOL. Riley with all his "women need to be protected" shenanigans getting beat by Buffy. I can just imagine what was running through his mind when he found out!
 
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