Buffy ep by ep; THE REPLACEMENT-doubles and self-doubt

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saturn5

Scooby
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THE REPLACEMENT

The Good;
Great performance from NB in both roles, you wish you'd had more Xander eps in later seasons but instead he get's squeezed out by the girls. Worth it for the snoopy-dance alone.

The Bad;
Anya says she wants a car, puppy, child and boat. But didn't she refer to her car in Graduation Day pt2?

Best line;
"Kill us both Spock"

Women good/men bad;
None but Giles fends off the demon using a fertility statue, the power of the female.

Jeez!;

Kinky dinky;
Buffy and Riley can't keep their hands off each other, nipping to the bedroom for a quick smooch even when house-hunting. The estate agent quite shamelessly throws herself at cool Xander. Interesting that she assumes Riley is 'Mr Harris' at first, he is the guy you'd want as a tennant. Anya wants to take both Xander's back to her place and have a threesome with them, maybe it's not just men who fantasise about group sex with twins/triplets/sisters/mother and daughter(s)? As indeed Dopplegangland suggests, thinking about it. Dawn is quite the voyeur and seems to enjoy spying on Buffy and Riley smooching. The Xanders checked out some stuff in the car but one Xander quickly qualifies this as fingerprints. Anya refers to herself as Xander's slave.

Captain Subtext;
Spike's mannequin speaks of his Buffy obsession. Xander has been a soldier, clad in leather (The Wish) and now a construction worker. Half way to being his own Village People tribute band. When Xander refers to his love for Anya Willow replies 'Really?'. Riley and Buffy's car conversation is loaded with not-so hidden meaning. Riley tells Buffy he loves her unconditionally and she doesn't say the same back. The final revelation between Riley and Xander in the basement probably stems from this.

Guantanamo Bay;
Riley lapses back into scary goverment mode by saying he wants to lock both Xander's up and perform experiments on them (although as a psychology student I know what he means)

Scoobies to the ER;
No but Anya still licking her wounds

Missing scenes;

Apocalypses; 5,

Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1

Scoobies knocked out: Xanderx2. Giles comments on his constantly being knocked out
Buffy: 15
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 10
Will: 5
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 2
Wes: 1
Anya;1

Kills:
Buffy: one demon so 85 vamps, 29 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 4 vamps
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, ½ a demon, ½ a demon
Anya: ½ a demon
Riley; 12 vamps + 7 demons

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies: cool Xander. Willow also refers to her own evil double, VampWillow and claims she handled it fine (by shooting her with a tranquiliser gun and sending her back to another dimension to get staked?)
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 4

Recurring characters killed: 9
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara

Sunnydale deaths;
83;

Total number of scoobies: 7
Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Riley

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot: no but Anya owns a gun, a snub nosed revolver.
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara

Questions and observations;
I guess if one of your lead actors has an identical twin it seems a tremendous shame not to include them in an episode at some stage? (Terminator star Linda Hamilton is the only other actor who I can think off in this regard however, can anyone name any more?). Terrific performance from NB on all counts.
Now I heard that the original idea for this ep was a version where Buffy and Xander get zapped and he get's her powers (very similar to an old ep of Superman; Lois and Clark). She has to adjust to being normal once more and he revels in being a superhero and has sex with the entire female cast including Joyce (but except Dawn obviously!), even lesbian Tara unable to resist the ultimate alpha-male. But the power starts to drive him gradually insane which is why the Slayer always has to be a female. Now you can see where they went with this, it has elements of The Replacement in it plus Helpless, Superstar and Him. Some nice moments between Buffy and Riley too and the final scene between Riley and Xander is probably the most touching they'll ever have, Xander seems to be the confidant for all the Scoobies. Riley comments on Buffy's ice-skating film obsession, wonder what she made of MT in Ice Princess? Joyce refers to her headaches but blames them on living with 2 teenage girls rather than anything more. We get to see the Snoopydance, yay! Xander thinks his double is a robot (Ted, I was made to Love you, Intervention). Anyone intrigued to see what pure Buffy and pure Slayer might be like? (Superbimbo and a blonde version of the first Slayer?) Why do both Xanders change into the same clothes prior to the spell? Anya anticiaptes many years before her death, not that many.
Marks out of 10; 8/10
 
All round it os a good episode and it is nice to a story centred on Xander. As to the twins I know that there are some shows here in the UK that have had twins being used as subs but can't remember the shows at the moment.
 
I think NB's twin was only ever used in The Replacement. But he was great. I love Xander being a bad influence on himself. And Anya's upfrontness about a threesome is refreshing... you don't get that with a lot of women on TV.
 
I know a few girls who wouldn't mind being the 'centre of attention' for some handsome male twins but it normally takes a few shots of tequila to make them admit it:lmao:

As for straight guys the yearning for sisters/twins/triplets/mother and daughter(s) is nigh universal: erm :

If I was to pick a single favourite moment in this ep it has to be Xander and Willow, Willow remarking that when she had an evil double she handled it fine, such a clever, knowing remark and proof that the Scoobs lives are very different to the rest of us
 
Very funny episode! My kids like to watch this one over and over. My favorite part was Anya wanting to wait a day to put the Xanders back together.
 
thevikingsgirl said:
Very funny episode! My kids like to watch this one over and over. My favorite part was Anya wanting to wait a day to put the Xanders back together.
Click to expand...

How old are your kids?: erm : Do they understand WHY Anya wants to take them home?
 
- I loved, loved, loved Riley in the first scene! I can see why Buffy's friends like him so much. Did you notice how he stopped messaging Buffy when Xander started to imitate him and hurt Anya? He noticed that Xander made a fool of himself and stopped right away for Xander's sake. Plus when Xander's parents started to fight and it appeared that Xander was uncomfortable, Riley coughed and it looked to me like he wanted to pat Xander or something, it was adorable.

- Poor Xander. 🙁 19 years living in that hell, I can see how his homelife affected him: his short temper, his judgmental personality, his insecurities, using jokes to hide the pain. If Willow hadn't been his friend all these years, he would have turned into a monster way sooner.

- While I see why Anya is very anxious to move out of Xander's stinky, smells-of-urine basement, –doesn't she have an apartment of her own?- she was too pushy it was annoying. The poor guy doesn't have enough money, plus his constriction job is ending soon. Sometimes I just can't blame Xander chiding Anya, she comes off too childish at times.

- I love when the Scoobies make fun of Giles. 😀

- Willow being sweet to Spike, adorable. But then Willow is sweet with everyone. It's her nature. I loved when Spike nods to her, though 😀

- Spike cheering the demon to kill Buffy. And you wonder why the Scoobies dislike him. 😉 Stupid Toth repays Spike by ruining lamp.

- Awww, Xander pushes Buffy away and gets hit instead. One of the many times he saves her life.

- I've always thought that Xander left his confident self in high school, at least pre-The Zeppo. For a loser, he always struck me as a confident one. Maybe it all started when his friends thought less of him concerning fighting demons and vamps? And his insecurity increased when all his friends went to college and he was stuck in his parents' basement getting fired from silly jobs.

- Xander is too insecure to see that he rarely got in trouble and he helped a lot. It's enough to mention that if he didn't sacrifice his life for Buffy's, she would have been in his place right now. And he's willing to throw his life away until he remembered Anya. Demon!Xander can't have Anya.

- It just hits Anya that she's an immortal and she's gonna die soon. It's sad that none of her wishes will get granted because of their non-marriage. 🙁

- BUFFY: Riley, do you wish-
RILEY: No.
BUFFY: No? You don't even know what I was gonna say.
RILEY: Yes, I do. You wanted to know if I wished you got hit by the ferula-gemina, got split in two.
BUFFY: Well, you have been kind of rankly about the whole slayer gig. Instead of having slayer Buffy, you could have Buffy Buffy.
RILEY: Hey. I *have* Buffy Buffy. Being the slayer's part of who you are. You keep thinking I don't get that, but...
BUFFY: It's just ... I know how ... un-fun it can be. The bad hours, frequent bruising, cranky monsters...
RILEY: Buffy... if you led a perfectly normal life, you wouldn't be half as crazy as you are. I gotta have that. I gotta have it all. I'm talkin' toes, elbows, the whole bad-ice-skating-movie obsession, everything. There's no part of you I'm not in love with.

(This conversation shows just how much Riley loves Buffy, his insecurities though will be the biggest reason to ruin their relationship.)

- RILEY: (grinning) Hey, I'm well aware of how lucky I am. Like, lottery lucky. Buffy's like nobody else in the world. When I'm with her it's like ... it's like I'm split in two. Half of me is just ... on fire, going crazy if I'm not touching her. The other half ... is so still and peaceful ... just perfectly content. Just knows: this is the one. (Smiles a little, continues packing for a moment, then looks up at Xander again.) But she doesn't love me.

(This is the first guy from three who doesn't believe that Buffy loves him. It makes me feel so bad for Buffy because no matter what she does, it will not be enough.)
 
sosa lola said:
- I loved, loved, loved Riley in the first scene! I can see why Buffy's friends like him so much. Did you notice how he stopped messaging Buffy when Xander started to imitate him and hurt Anya? He noticed that Xander made a fool of himself and stopped right away for Xander's sake. Plus when Xander's parents started to fight and it appeared that Xander was uncomfortable, Riley coughed and it looked to me like he wanted to pat Xander or something, it was adorable.

- Poor Xander. 🙁 19 years living in that hell, I can see how his homelife affected him: his short temper, his judgmental personality, his insecurities, using jokes to hide the pain. If Willow hadn't been his friend all these years, he would have turned into a monster way sooner.

- While I see why Anya is very anxious to move out of Xander's stinky, smells-of-urine basement, "“doesn't she have an apartment of her own?- she was too pushy it was annoying. The poor guy doesn't have enough money, plus his constriction job is ending soon. Sometimes I just can't blame Xander chiding Anya, she comes off too childish at times.

- I love when the Scoobies make fun of Giles. 😀

- Willow being sweet to Spike, adorable. But then Willow is sweet with everyone. It's her nature. I loved when Spike nods to her, though 😀

- Spike cheering the demon to kill Buffy. And you wonder why the Scoobies dislike him. 😉 Stupid Toth repays Spike by ruining lamp.

- Awww, Xander pushes Buffy away and gets hit instead. One of the many times he saves her life.

- I've always thought that Xander left his confident self in high school, at least pre-The Zeppo. For a loser, he always struck me as a confident one. Maybe it all started when his friends thought less of him concerning fighting demons and vamps? And his insecurity increased when all his friends went to college and he was stuck in his parents' basement getting fired from silly jobs.

- Xander is too insecure to see that he rarely got in trouble and he helped a lot. It's enough to mention that if he didn't sacrifice his life for Buffy's, she would have been in his place right now. And he's willing to throw his life away until he remembered Anya. Demon!Xander can't have Anya.

- It just hits Anya that she's an immortal and she's gonna die soon. It's sad that none of her wishes will get granted because of their non-marriage. 🙁

- BUFFY: Riley, do you wish-
RILEY: No.
BUFFY: No? You don't even know what I was gonna say.
RILEY: Yes, I do. You wanted to know if I wished you got hit by the ferula-gemina, got split in two.
BUFFY: Well, you have been kind of rankly about the whole slayer gig. Instead of having slayer Buffy, you could have Buffy Buffy.
RILEY: Hey. I *have* Buffy Buffy. Being the slayer's part of who you are. You keep thinking I don't get that, but...
BUFFY: It's just ... I know how ... un-fun it can be. The bad hours, frequent bruising, cranky monsters...
RILEY: Buffy... if you led a perfectly normal life, you wouldn't be half as crazy as you are. I gotta have that. I gotta have it all. I'm talkin' toes, elbows, the whole bad-ice-skating-movie obsession, everything. There's no part of you I'm not in love with.

(This conversation shows just how much Riley loves Buffy, his insecurities though will be the biggest reason to ruin their relationship.)

- RILEY: (grinning) Hey, I'm well aware of how lucky I am. Like, lottery lucky. Buffy's like nobody else in the world. When I'm with her it's like ... it's like I'm split in two. Half of me is just ... on fire, going crazy if I'm not touching her. The other half ... is so still and peaceful ... just perfectly content. Just knows: this is the one. (Smiles a little, continues packing for a moment, then looks up at Xander again.) But she doesn't love me.

(This is the first guy from three who doesn't believe that Buffy loves him. It makes me feel so bad for Buffy because no matter what she does, it will not be enough.)
Click to expand...

I think Riley is what Xander wants to be, noticeable in The Replacement that the estate agent wants Riley to be the tennant. However Riley's confession to him at the end is heartbreaking, in the car Riley tells Buffy he loves her and she DOESN'T tell him back, that's the moment he knows
 
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