How the years have gone by

[nightshade]

So it's been years since I've done a full Buffy rewatch, but I'm going to do one this year. There's episodes I haven't seen in probably over 5 years, maybe even longer!

However I have the time now to at least start the watch, so after work tonight I'll get the first dvd put in and get started. I might need a little encouragement to keep watching the bad eps!

 

[Taake]

I will gladly cheer you on and watch vicariously through you!

 

[Dora]

Prior to S6 there are no real bad eps

 

[Taake]

"Go Fish" comes to mind... and "Inca Mummy Girl", not to mention "Dead man's party", "Where the wild things are", "Real me" and "Listening to fear"... No season is perfect.

 

[nightshade]

Yeah season one is solid, but from season 2 onwards there's a few I don't enjoy

 

[Ethan Reigns]

For me, the bad episodes are "Normal Again", "Ted" and "Weight of the World". But on the last watch through, I stopped at "The Initiative" because it all seemed to get bogged down at that point.

 

[badsister]

weird no one mentioned beer bad! haha

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Beer bad is where my last marathon ended.

 

[badsister]

yeah it's just i noticed usually people always name that one somehow haha. but i think for me that's gotta be Doomed and Living Conditions lmao

 

[dstaraster]

Have fun, and don’t listen to the haters 😀 All of Buffy is worth the rewatch, especially since it’s been years for you!

 

[MarieVampSlayer]

I can try and find good things about the so-called bad episodes (as many are still good even if it's cheesy good).

- Go fish : Buffy hits a guy who tries to molest her and I love that! Also, Cordy's speech to a creature she thinks is Xander is very sweet and shows another side to her personnality.

- Inca Mummy: The parallel between Ampata's life and the slayer life is very interesting. Also this is the first time Oz sees Willow and it's super cute!

- Dead's man party: Ok this one is hard but Giles both hilarious and badass in it which is worth the watch.

- Where the wild things are: There's a funny bonding moment between Spike and Anya (without the sex this time) and Giles sings!!!

- Real me: Harmony is really funny in this one and the highlight of this episode for sure! I love how she is so bad at being bad.

- Listening to fear: There's a cute moment between Tara and Willow with stars and the speech with Joyce realizing that Dawn is not hers is very moving.

- Normal Again: I actually love this episode especially the ending because we will never know if Buffy is crazy or not!

-Ted: John Ritters is amazing and the robot was inspired by the real like serial killer Ted Bundy which is quite creepy!

-The weight of the world: Spike explaining multiple times that Ben is Glory to the scoobies is hilarious! And Ben deciding to side with Glory was surprising and interesting for his character.

- The initiative: Riley punches Parker, Harmony and Xander catfights and Spike fails to bite Willow which is pretty funny.

- Beer bad: Buffy hits Parker (there is a pattern here), Willow telling Parker she's no fool and Buffy stealing the sandwich from a girl is funny.

- Doomed: Spike trying to kill himself by falling onto a stake and his speech at the end of the episode are pretty fun moments.

- Living conditions: I love how Buffy is not perfect in this episode and how she is also not really a perfect roommate to Katie. Also, that Celine Dion poster is extra funny for us Canadians.

I hope this helps you to get throught the bad episodes. I agree some are really bad but my goal here was to motivate you with funny or sweet moments.

Any other episode you don't want to watch? It's was a fun challenge to find the good in the bad

 

[sk]

During my latest re-watches, the ones done after I joined BB, I have always ended up being surprised over how good all those supposedly bad episodes are.

/SK

 

[nightshade]

Welcome to the Hellmouth

I've been making notes while watching:

• I like how one of the first shots we get is of the entrance to the library, where so much of the high school years happened
• Buffy's dreams are an odd intro to the character
• Xander and his attempt at talking to Buffy!
• Not a whole lot of town, well maybe not yet, but it's a fast developing town!
• Blue, I think Buffy made this name popular, don't loads of celebs now have kids called Blue
• Babbling Xander, we don't get that often
• One Starbucks town, we now have a Starbucks, when I first saw this I hadn't heard of it over here
• Buffy isn't very convincing when she says she doesn't care
• Hanging out with the living, yep that lasts long!
• Buffy seems to know her way around town well for someone just moved there
• Aww I love Angel, I didn't say I was yours
• Buffy, so awkward at the Bronze until she sees Willow
• Life is short.
• Umm yeah, can't tell Angel is a vampire and that Cordelia isn't one
• However Cordelia does have a phone
• Is teenage really that young, I figured when the Master said young he meant, baby all innocent young.
• Fight! fight! fight! Darla and Buffy and then Buffy and Luke.
• Prophecy time!

I'm also on the BB twitter with this, if anyone wants to join, not live tweeting as such, just a few comments here and there

 

[nightshade]

Ok confession time, usually when I do a rewatch I'll watch season one, then start watching eps I like from 2-5, maybe watch OMWF or Tabula Rasa and that's about it, season 7 is pretty much a blur, I have seen it, I know what happens, but when things happen in it I have no idea anymore! Anyway The Harvest:

• Vampires seem to overreact a lot, a small cross, some holy water, none are as dramatic later in the seasons
• Also so noisy, lots of growling noises from vamps
• I'm sure that Darla had a relationship with the Master, maybe before Angelus or after he was cursed, but something had to have happened
• A lot of trust has formed between them already, not just with Buffy's slayer secret but trusting Buffy to get Jesse back and to be able to find her own way into the Bronze.
• We already start to see a different side of Willow, one that will "accidentally" decrypt files
• So i'm a bit confused here, they went to the Bronze on the Thursday night, lost Jesse but still went to school on the Friday? Not searchig for him til the next day sounds a bit odd
• So Xander followed Buffy, did that mean he heard the talk between Buffy and Angel.
• Giles is already kinda harsh with Xander, he's known about vampires for a day or two and his best friend has just been turned into one.
• The Earth is doomed

 

[nightshade]

Witch

• Isn't being a slayer kinda cheating when it comes to trying out for activities, although I guess it didn't help Buffy all that much.
• Joyce really isn't the best at talking to Buffy in a positive way
• pom pom things, raising people, cheerleading the family business
• Do we ever have positive parental figures?
• Oh the dolls have cheerleader outfits, wonder if you could ever have bought those, don't remember
• "Maybe because they met her"
• Elizabeth Anne Allen does a great job here, doing both the Amy and the Catherine role
• Body switch, @Athena and @Taake have you done a podcast comparing the body switch here and the Buffy/Faith one?
• For all the security about Buffy leaving school the previous episode does no one notice that she leaves with the librarian this time, and more that he carried her back in!
• Willow, you may not know much about magic now, but you will quickly learn!
• Giles is such a liar, you totally know how to use magic.

 

[nightshade]

Teacher's Pet

• Does Xander really want the rockstar life with Buffy being the damsel
• Ways that ants communicate? How is that a lesson, I don't recall lessons on bugs
• Guess that was their first non vamp dead body, plus headless
• Interesting though, teacher is obviously flirting with Xander, and inviting him to her house, how would people have reacted in the ep if it was Willow and a male teacher
• I like that Xander is still there under the influence of Miss French, still jealous of Angel, still thinking of Buffy.
• I wouldn't mind a spin off type thing with back stories, like the Carlyle guy.

 

[Taake]

• Body switch, @Athena and @Taake have you done a podcast comparing the body switch here and the Buffy/Faith one?

Taake! That's me! And eh... oh... yeah... hm... we definitely talked about the body switch in season 4 I think (when we did a Faith four-parter?), I don't think we've done the Witch... because @Athena whips me whenever I suggest we do season 1

 

[Taake]

Teacher's Pet

Does Xander really want the rockstar life with Buffy being the damsel

I'll put that into the "silly teen fantasies" category (not all unlike Buffy's "I save Parker" fantasies of season 4)

Ways that ants communicate? How is that a lesson, I don't recall lessons on bugs

Me either. Maybe we went to the wrong school... actually, avoiding Sunnydale high and its high mortality rate was probably a good thing

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Taake! That's me! And eh... oh... yeah... hm... we definitely talked about the body switch in season 4 I think (when we did a Faith four-parter?), I don't think we've done the Witch... because @Athena whips me whenever I suggest we do season 1

Maybe you should have a safe word like "Owen". Or grab the whip between your hands, push back on it and have the whip handle hit her in the jaw like in "Becoming part 2". But maybe that doesn't work with a whip the way it does with a sword. With a whip, grab it. pull it towards you and give her a spanking, to hell with Swedish law.

 

[Spanky]

"Where the wild things are",

I see you've not developed taste in my absence. This is a really good episode.