Question Buffy in 'Never Kill a Boy on the Fist Date': "Bite Me"

[JCoatsworth]

Well, I'm first gonna say, if you haven't watched the complete Season 1 yet, don't read on. Spoilers ahead!




I think that it is pretty funny when Buffy says, "Bite me," in the Bronze in the episode Never Kill a Boy on the First Date and Angel gives her a look. However, the viewers don't even know yet that he's a vampire. I watched it during a re-watch and thought it was funny, later realizing that it's actually not if you don't know the truth about Angel. Anyway, the scene seems to be shot in a more comedic way, like, if it was a sitcom, the audience would laugh.
So, what exactly is the joke? Maybe I'm blinded by the fact that he is a vampire, so that I don't see the actual joke. But maybe there isn't a joke at all.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Well given Angel's story, the line is funny. But since the viewer wasn't supposed to know yet that he was a vampire, I think it's really more of Buffy using a popular slang term for telling someone to screw off. A lot of my friends in the 90's used the phrase "Bite me".

 

[JCoatsworth]

Well given Angel's story, the line is funny. But since the viewer wasn't supposed to know yet that he was a vampire, I think it's really more of Buffy using a popular slang term for telling someone to screw off. A lot of my friends in the 90's used the phrase "Bite me".

Yes, I know the phrase as well. So you don't think that there's more to it, do you?

 

[ashleigh]

Well the fact that its being 7sed in a show about vampires is funny in itself 😛

 

[VisionGirl]

Yes, and foreshadowing. I mean, I know that Joss hadn't planned for Angel to be a vampire when he cast DB by surely by the timing of filming he knew that it would go that way.

 

[Wild At Heart]

Very interesting but I do think it was meant to be funny IMO or maybe even a little bit of foreshadowing like someone else said. It's great though because if the viewer didn't get it the first time watching because they don't know Angel is a vamp, then when you rewatch, you notice something you didn't notice before. That's just another reason why I love this show so much.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Yes, I know the phrase as well. So you don't think that there's more to it, do you?

I think it was more meant to be like "Hahaha, she just told someone to bite her and it's a show about a vampire slayer." 😉

 

[JCoatsworth]

I think it was more meant to be like "Hahaha, she just told someone to bite her and it's a show about a vampire slayer." 😉

Oh, hahaha 😀 Never thought about it that way! Thanks 🙂
I was always distracted by Angel being a vampire, I guess.

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

To me, considering that we didn't know Angel was a vampire yet, it just seems like a funny line. Once you learn the truth though, it just becomes even funnier

 

[quartermile]

I don't think I even picked up on that one "bite me" is the exact saying that I would expect the character to say regardless of being a slayer which is why I probably missed the connection. If I had to guess I would side on it be intentional foreshadowing by the writers.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

In literature, this is called "irony in retrospect". It doesn't become funny until you find out that Angel is a vampire. Mostly, irony in retrospect doesn't work because by the time the secret is revealed, you have moved on from the joke.

 

[JCoatsworth]

In literature, this is called "irony in retrospect". It doesn't become funny until you find out that Angel is a vampire. Mostly, irony in retrospect doesn't work because by the time the secret is revealed, you have moved on from the joke.

Sure, that's why I think it's funny. But that doesn't mean the joke is intended.