In the fourth episode of the first season of Buffy, a teacher of Buffy’s actually encourages her to succeed, and then mysteriously disappears. And then what. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I hope that it goes without saying that I enjoy doing Mark Watches because it allows me to criticize a show while still actually liking it. But it’s something that’s sort of unheard for other people, and they equate criticism with a dislike of the content itself. (Fandoms, get your shit together. The two are not mutually exclusive at all.) I’m glad that “Teacher’s Pet” comes after “Witch” because it provides me with a chance to bring up this very concept.
So, straight up, I didn’t really like this episode, and I’ll get into the two main reasons in more detail in a bit. But I think most of us can look at things we love–books, television, music, etc–and find something we didn’t like in it. That’s fine, and the problem comes when people doubt our loyalty to something or start rambling about being a “real” fan of something, and then I roll my eyes so hard it causes an earthquake. Because no thank you and take your ridiculous, inaccurate, and unnecessary opinions elsewhere.
That doesn’t mean people can dislike something for the wrong reasons, or base that opinion on a misunderstanding or getting factual information wrong. I can’t tell you how many people I had to correct regarding the events of the series finale of LOST. I don’t care if you hate it; just don’t make shit up that wasn’t even there. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. When I watched “Teacher’s Pet,” I enjoyed a few moments of the episode, but the vast majority of it simply bored me. It wasn’t awful or terrible or anything. (Meaning it was not “Fear Her.” I will never stop finding opportunities to bring up that episode. I refuse to let go of that grudge, okay?) But….well, I suppose I should get into this.
First of all, let me get to what I liked: Dr. Gregory. The last three episodes have all featured someone inferring that Buffy will be a failure because of her past. lol all of u go away. How is that supposed to help her? Instead, Dr. Gregory tells her to ignore Principal Flutie and anyone else who insists on telling her that her past is all that narrates her present. It’s honestly this huge moment for Buffy, and I totally get why she’s emotional after Cordelia discovers his dead body in the cafeteria.
Secondly, Angel. Like, I have never really found David Boreanaz attractive personally, and what the hell happened to me? He puts on that smoldering look and I’m like DUDE DUDE DON’T DO THAT AROUND ME. I mean, I don’t want to marry him or anything, but he can give me that look any time he wants.
Thirdly, Willow’s adorable desire not to see Xander’s decapitated head made me shriek internally. SHIPPING THEM RIGHT NOW because seriously that was so obvious to me. She likes him, doesn’t he? I hope I read that scene right, or else I’ve just embarrassed myself in front of the whole Buffy fandom. (DON’T SPOIL ME.)
Fourthly…yeah, I don’t think I can get that far. I genuinely didn’t like pretty much other than this. Some of it rests on the fact that I’m bored by the trope of using sexual and attractive women as bait to show what evil people they are. Granted, this was only one woman and the other women in the episode did not demonstrate the same behavior at all. But it’s so common to have a woman use her sexuality specifically for the purpose of murder. (Well, I guess this episode also deals with reproduction, but isn’t that reproduction acquired through means of rape? Awesome.) The whole time, Ms. French exists to be stared at. She feeds into it, and the whole time, all I could think was GOD I AM SO BORED.
Thankfully, a lot the behavior here is followed by shrugs, laughs, and eye rolls from Buffy and Willow, who can’t understand why everyone is falling for this. It’s a neat way to have the show provide a negative analysis to how the various young men react to Ms. French, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily enough.
However, there’s a bigger reason that this all failed to have any interest for me. I don’t want this to come off as if I’m blaming Buffy for this problem, or to establish this idea that the show is this horrible because of this, or that it applies to everything that comes after. I’m only four episodes in and I acknowledge that. It’s more like…this episode just inspired a specific thought in me that I wanted to discuss at length, and this seemed like a good enough space to do so.
It wasn’t something that popped up immediately, but around the halfway mark, I realized why this was boring me so much: I’m not straight. Watching a bunch of boys hound after an attractive woman just felt so common and uninteresting to me because it’s all I ever seen in movies and television anyway.
Of course, I’ve been able to find plenty of things to relate to or identify with in depictions of straight relationships in the past. Just because I’m gay does not mean all of my relationships, sexual or not, have absolutely nothing in common with anything ever made or created anywhere. Being gay doesn’t make me special, but it does mean that there are large parts of my experience that will have no similarity to what straight people go through. I think nothing represents that better than the fact that most, if not all, of the men in this episode can openly hit on Ms. French without repercussion or being publicly shamed. And maybe that’s not something that you ever thought about! But like…unless I’m in the Castro or West Hollywood or Boystown or I get the look (omg all y’all queers can we have a discussion in the comments about the look it is my favorite thing ever), I really can’t just approach someone I find attractive. Part of that is sheer numbers: the vast majority of people I will meet are straight, and I have a 0% chance with them in any context. But part of it comes from fear, and the young men in this episode don’t have it. So I’m sitting there, watching them all volunteer to help Ms. French, and I have nothing to feel towards it aside from disinterest.
And look, I am not saying that Buffy is oppressing me or anything GOOD LORD THAT WOULD BE RIDICULOUS. But this episode is so…straight? And I can’t help but see it in almost every scene, since the writing isn’t particularly subtle. This is all about men and their sexual drive; all of it is brought out by Ms. French herself.
It’s also related to why I thought all the talk of virginity at the end of the episode was a little odd. I’m glad it was brought up, first of all, and I’m glad the characters discussed it. But everyone discusses it in this weird, virtuous way? As if they’d have made a terrible mistake if they weren’t virgins. I think the choice should be left up to the person involved, and everyone shouldn’t be shamed one way or another. But, again, me being a big ol’ gay gay who gays, virginity has a much, much, much different meaning for me. I couldn’t lose my virginity when I wanted to growing up, and, like marriage, for a long time I simply assumed it would never happen. I know that might be a strange thing to read because it’s so pervasive and common. So I don’t think Buffy necessarily gets things wrong, so to speak, but I wanted to offer up a different perspective on the concept. Those two things–virginity and marriage–were among many ideas that seemed impossible as a closeted gay kid in a violently homophobic community. I don’t know that I would want Buffy to acknowledge that; it would honestly be really distracting to appear here at all. This is more for all of you, just to give you an idea how someone whose sexuality differs from the norm can see small, seemingly inconsequential things, and then be inspired to have such thoughts. It doesn’t make you a bad person for not thinking of such things; it’s just the way society places weight on one thing over another.
Okay, enough of me gaying up the Internet! I didn’t like this episode, but it is far from being a show-ruiner. My excitement and anticipation for this show is still pretty high regardless. GIMME MORE, WHEDON.
You keep asking rhetorical questions about Buffy’s past, watch the movie.
Episode-wise, when I’m having a Buffy-fest, this is the episode I use to excuse myself from the group and cook food for the party.
Disagree. DO NOT watch the movie yet. Get through the first season at least…
Why? It doesn’t spoil anything for the show, and it has information never brought up in the show, and it’s a good movie.
huh. all my posts appear to be from two decades ago
It's really strange – on this page I see your comment as "less than 1 minute ago" even though it's been longer, but when I check your comment on the mod page it says it's 104983 weeks ago. And then the timestamp says "Submitted on: Nov 30, -0001 @ 00:00 (GMT)."
You're from a parallel universe, aren't you.
It's weird, because Kickpuncher's comment is doing the same thing, but the rest of the non-ID people have normal times.
WHERE'S PETER????
Oh, goddammit. The site's finally loading, and now we're gonna have to amber the comments. I am NOT learning new commenter personalities.
Alright everyone pack yer shit. Looks like we gotta go to Reiden lake.
For some reason I can only read "You're from a parallel universe, aren't you" in the voice of the Monty Python Pepperpot Ladies. "Ere, you're on tellyvision, aren't you? Try that round here and we'll slit your face."
Good? It was because of that movie that I refused to watch the series (until gur zhfvpny rcvfbqr, juvpu V jngpurq bhg bs n creirefr qrfver gb frr vs vg jbhyq raq hc orvat n genva jerpx, ohg vg vzcerffrq zr rabhtu gb tb erag frnfba bar, naq gura ohl nyy bs gur cerivbhf frnfbaf fb V pbhyq pngpu hc).
I like the movie because of its campiness. But I know it's not generally well-liked. And I know this because when my apartment was broken into back in the '90s, the thieves stole every single movie I had (including Power Rangers episodes) EXCEPT the Buffy movie. It was the only one left behind.
Huzzah, not the only one who suggests this. I love the hilarity of the movie, but it helps with the general slayerness info as well.
I agree on all accounts besides the good movie one. I think he should watch it… just not quite yet. Let him get a few more shows at least.
Oh, I love the Buffy movie so, so much. It's the perfect example of something being so horrible it's amazing. I used to watch it with my brother, before the series was made, and we would just laugh and laugh, and then do the end scene for hours. Ahh, good times.
I think the sooner the movie is watched the better. The show and the movies have really different takes on Buffy and the less invested you are in the show the more fun the movie is, IMO
I agree. Maybe Mark could schedule a liveblog for early January?
I think he should do it in between 1 and 2. He'll finish the season on the last Tuesday of the month (if he takes off no time for the holiday) so either do it Wednesday the 28th or do it the weekend before/after. That's my vote.
Did I not already publicly say I'd do it after season one? I swear I did! So…yes! I'll do it.
Yay!
Bit of warning, in case you haven't already been told: Do NOT read the comic that portrays Buffy's canon origin. People will probably let you know when you're safe from spoilers.
amending my previous comment (last episode) regarding buffy's origin story to echo this one– forgot to say don't read the origin yet. wait until you're done.
but movie-watching is safe after season 1, i'd say, and i look forward to it!
It's not REALLY canon, though.
I’m watching Buffy, my daughter is watching New Moon. I win!!! I’m cooler!!!
Yeah, this episode is pretty lackluster, honestly. There were probably some funny moments, but there always are. There's not much I can remember from that episode. Oh, except the stinger at the end, the old "OR IS IT?" trope. Yeah, I was moderately entertained when I was watching it, but it just kind of blended into the background of my memory for me.
I don't really think you have to be gay to be tired of the whole "ZOMG SHE'S A GIRL I'm going to follow her around and act like an idiot since I'm a guy and have clearly NEVER SEEN AN ATTRACTIVE LADY BEFORE IN MY LIFE" trope. Even as a straight guy, it really pisses me off how guys in media are nearly always depicted as totally losing all capacity for thought when they encounter a really pretty girl. I am capable of seeing a woman I find very attractive without turning into a blithering idiot, thank you very much. And it irks me how no one noticed that anything was weird about their new teacher. Like… seriously? Could she be any more obviously skeevy? Ugh.
If I recall correctly, didn’t she use pheromones to attract the boys (and supernaturally strong ones at that).
Yeah. But a flimsy explanation doesn't mean this wasn't playing into that trope. I think they tried to subvert it with the whole idea that the guys weren't under their own influence and failed. It sort of calls back to an earlier comment I made. There were a lot of good ideas at play here, but the execution didn't work out.
I think that's the point here, it's a warning about how dangerous it can be to blindly follow your sexual attraction to someone and the fact that there are people out there who will use this to their advantage to use you, control you, and get what they want from you. A lot of the monsters in this show are metaphorical for the monsters that we face in real life and how different people respond and grow from those experiences and if you keep that in mind you will get more out of the show.
I didn't like this episode either, but I think that the actors are all new and still feeling out their characters. I love the character development on this show and even the skill of the actors grows as the show goes on, it only gets better from here.
Bu, nterrq, sebz urer ba bhg vg’f hc. Gurer ner fbzr jrveq rcvfbqrf guvf frnfba (“V Ebobg, Lbh Wnar” unf tbg gb zr gur zbfg ynhtunoyl bhgqngrq guvat V’ir frra va n ybat gvzr) ohg birenyy vg’f cerggl zhpu n terng svefg frnfba (crefbanyyl, zl snibevgr F1 rcvfbqr vf “Avtugznerf”). Naq gura gur frpbaq frnfba ebyyf nebhaq naq guvatf ernyyl fgneg trggvat tbbq.
Sorry mate, reported this post for Expectation spoilers. Do not talk about when thigns get worse, better, even if you don't discuss any plot bits.
Or just rot13 everything.
Avtugznerf vf zl snibevgr frnfba 1 rcvfbqr, gbb!
My reaction to this comment was "Sporkganza's a guy? Huh." I think it's your icon 🙂
Made this mistake in the last few days. I was very nicely corrected so thank you, sporkaganza and sorry again for being weird and making assumptions 🙂
Sighhhhhhh. I really need to change it. Nobody on this site knows jack about anime anyhow, so it's not like anyone's getting it.
Edit: So I did. ….yaaaaaay
Sorry, it's my fault–I shouldn't make assumptions about gender on these here interwebs. I tend to assume most people in fandom are female unless given clues otherwise, but I should break that habit because it's not good to assume gendery things.
Also, that's not true! arctic_hare knows a lot about anime! And some other people!
I was exaggerating, I'm sure with a follower base this large there are plenty of anime-know-type peoples.
But eh, it was time for a change anyway. Had that image as my gravatar, like, forever.
I have to say, this is one of the episodes in which I don't really like the main conflict. Maybe because I am a woman and I think the miss french – pheromones – stupid boy/men isn't all that interesting. I do like the reactions of the women in the show, the eye-rolling and the proactive Buffy (I'm going to do my homework!). Also fun: calling fork-guy fork-guy. Hee. 🙂
But I am a really big Buffy fan and I love that you're getting to know this tv-show that shaped so much of my tv-loving ways.
Oh, and Giles is never not awesome, even when influcenced by stupid-pheromones.
I do like the fork-guy subplot. And I felt that it got exactly the right amount of screen time. He wasn't enough of a villain to sustain a whole episode, but he was interesting. That it inspired interactions between Angel and Buffy that resulted in him giving her his coat and her little "oh boy" at the end was also great. She's getting herself into trouble with that boy and she knows it.
I am really glad you can criticize and have a conversation about this show. Personally I found it a little weird that you didn't criticize BSG more. I mean, I enjoy seeing you love and geek out over stuff because that's fun. But I think one of the strengths of Buffy is that it's not perfect. It's flawed. And it inspires all these great conversations as people with different perspectives interact with it. I mean, there's a reason the fandom is still going as strong as it is, a reason so many essays and books have been published and college courses are taught about this show. It inspires discussion.
Also, this aired 14 years ago. From what I've seen around the internet, this fandom has matured and hit a point where we can criticize Buffy and still get enjoyment out of. At least, the sites I frequent. I'm pretty selective about my internetting, though, and tend to just stay away from things that anger me. I like my bubble, okay? It's happy and comfy in here.
That said, no, this isn't the greatest episode of Buffy ever. It's early in the show and they're still figuring things out. But as with everything, and as you pointed out, there are a few saving graces that mean I can still sit through this episode pretty much every time.
Xander: It's funny how the earth never opens up and swallows you when you want it to. (Or when Mark wants it to, amirite?)
Giles: Every day here is the same
Buffy: Bright, sunny, beautiful. However will we escape this torture?
No joke, Giles' reaction was my reaction to living in LA for 4 years. Sunny and 75 again? Can we get some snow or a thunderstorm or one of those beautifully crisp winter days? Endless sunshine bores me. Then again, some people prefer it and side with Buffy on this point.
Cordelia's whole monologue to the counselor about always looking on the bright side is genius. Buffy's look is really what sells it. I just love her aggressive "the glass is half full" attitude on full display here.
I love Cordelia's counseling session. Constantly impressed how this show can give us a completely shallow superficial bully that I love.
It works because she's genuinely healing! She's shallow, but she is looking at the positive side and not wallowing. Her positive side is just not the one we'd expect is good for someone to have.
And I agree about the weather, as someone who lives in a similar climate. Only now we get more rain and less sun, but it's still hot and boring.
Florida, huh?
Puerto Rico. It's gotten so that I appreciate the sunny days more, because then I can go outside and places don't get flooded. But what bothers me is it's still hot when it rains. You'll be sweating but it's raining and I don't like wet socks and wet tennis shoes. We are getting some less hot days with rain, and those are fine. Except for the flooding of people in some areas, which fortunately has never happened to me. .
I've always wanted to try cold weather and snow. Just for the novelty at least.
I too side with Giles on this one. Constant sunshine is dnw for me. (IIRC, there was an alternate exchange for if it happened to be cloudy and grey, where Giles would say it reminded him of home. I don't remember what Buffy's response to that was.)
I love Cordelia's monologue there too. <3
I believe it was something along the lines of
Giles: Reminds me of home
Buffy: Dull, grey, dreary. You must be happy
Yes! 😀 That was it! (I love days like that and don't find them dreary at all – quite the opposite – but then, I'm weird.)
I too love days like that. My mum puts it down to my being too English.
This is why I love watching stuff with you guys! I had no idea there was another version of this dialogue.
I'm completely the opposite of this! I live in a super sunny part of Australia and if we get more than two days of rain in a row I'm beating my fists against a window crying, "WHERE'S THE SUN!?". And don't even get me started on winter, I have to, like, put on a jacket to go outside 😮
CORDELIA IS THE BEST. Her tragedy counseling monologue really us brilliant. Charisma Carpenter is just perfect in the roll.
lol. Gile's reaction to SoCal weather was the BEST. I'm a Southern Californian born and raised, and I love it. IDGAF. I spent a couple of years living in London and while dealing with real seasons was novel for a while, I was so happy to move back somewhere where I didn't have to pile on a coat, hat, scarf and gloves when I wanted to leave the house in winter.
Charisma Carpenter is utter and complete perfection, for sure.
Regarding weather: I live in the SF Bay Area, after growing up in Texas and Kansas. Between not having days over 90 degrees like ever, and also never having to gear up for the snow (UGGGGGH SNOW, GO AWAY YOU ARE COLD) it is the best move I have ever made.
Basically: Giles, cheer up! Who wants to be cold, anyway?
I love it.
Although my problem is that while I'm at home in winter, I'm still wearing shorts and t-shirts because my mum likes it tropical in the house. I think up until the beginning of December, I still didn't bother turning the heating on when I got up in the morning – I'd just put a jumper on!
I'm with Giles too. I've only recently gotten used to brutal heat and I need to live somewhere that has seasons. I can deal with summer okay now but I will always prefer the times of year where I can wear clothes. I like clothes! Especially pants.
I'm a big fan of scarves and gloves. They make me feel like I'm halfway fashionable
Me too! AND HATS. I LOVE HATS.
I'm loving the cold weather at the moment because I'm knitting a blanket and it would be uncomfortable to have that on my lap during hot weather.
I'm torn though, because I love strappy sandals and light comfortable dresses (nylons are not fun when you are as accident prone as me), but then I love sweaters and scarfs and gloves and cold weather clothes!
They all have their place. That's why seasons are so important. Anything gets boring if that's all you get
I have to side on Giles re: the weather. I enjoy varied seasons. I've considered living in the UK – the weather there doesn't faze me except for the potential to not get as much snow on average as we get here in Canada. I like snow. I like cold weather clothes. Pretty coats and cozy scarves FTW! I live in SW Ontario and we are suffering from a severe lack of snow right now – it might be a green Christmas (*cry*). Whereas this time last year it was highway-and-city-shutting blizzards. Happy medium, please?
Seriously! I'm in DC and this time last year the Potomac was frozen. I don't think we've even dropped below freezing yet, this year
Yeah winter is coming later and later every year, it really freaks me out.
Also it annoys me because I only have jackets for the springtime and heavy duty monster coats that are good for blizzards and -20 weather, but nothing for the weather in between. Get cold already!
Yeah, it's not the best episode ever, that's for sure. But Dr. Gregory is awesome, and it's nice to see Buffy actually trying to do well in school.
And, as you said, Cordelia's monologue is utter genius.
All of that wouldn't matter if this was a well-written episode.
My wife and I are currently getting together with a friend of ours once a month and watching 3-4 episodes of Buffy, as she had never seen it before. We're in the third season, and during that time, I have skipped about 4 episodes, so as not to slow down the momentum.
This was one that I skipped. Never lose hope. You will be rewarded.
I'm doing the same thing with my friends. We've been marathoning episodes (we're currently on season 4) and at least once a season I tell them "we're not watching this episode, it's not good and doesn't really add to the overall plot"
Fb sne jr'ir fxvcrq Fbzr Nffrzoyl Erdhverq, Onq Rttf, Grq (orpnhfr V jnagrq gb trg gb Fhcevfr/Vaabprapr), naq jr'er tbvat gb fxvc Jurer gur Jvyq Guvatf Ner
V npghnyyl yvxr Fbzr Nffrzoyl Erdhverq sbe pbagvahvat gur Tvyrf/Wraal fhocybg ohg V gryy rirelbar gb fxvc nyy gur erfg bs gubfr gbb. Bu, naq V Ebobg Lbh Wnar. Gung bar'f NJSHY. Vg cnvaf zr.
V sbetbg nobhg V Ebobg, be znlor zl zvaq jnf whfg cebgrpgvat zr.
Yeah, this was one of two I got my boyfriend to skip for his first watch.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of this episode either. I don't actively dislike it, but because it comes so early in the shows run, and comes right after Witch (which was quite good), I sometimes worry that it would stop someone from continuing to watch the show. Other than that, the episode doesn't really resonate with me (except for Dr. Gregory being awesome at the beginning).
I tell people to at least get through Season 1 before deciding whether or not they like the show. 12 episodes isn't that much, and though admittedly some are not the best episodes – they were still finding their feet, there wasn't much of a budget, etc. – some are excellent. One of my favorite all time episodes (Cebcurpl Tvey) is from Season 1. Va snpg, V guvax gur ynfg sbhe ner nyy rkpryyrag.
So, yeah, not the best episode ever, but I think pushing through is good.
Good points, Mark (always welcome to seeing your Fear Her grudge surface because it amuses me). And I really hate the pervasive idea that just because a guy is a teenager (or actually just a guy past puberty) he must therefore be over-the-top lusting after women all the time. So so tired of that trope, and it’s so heteronormative to boot. I’m not saying it’s completely unrealistic, but it’s boring and overexaggerated in media and gross to watch.
So ack secondhand embarrassment at Xander’s dream at the beginning. Actually, secondhand embarassment for most of Xander in this episode. Ick.
But aww at Buffy’s teacher being encouraging in a way that’s reasonable and makes him seem like an honestly decent guy and a good teacher. Sad he’s a redshirt.
Angel, I’m glad and all you ditched the shiny jacket, but if your canon nickname is Cryptic Guy, consider TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT THE IMPORTANT THINGS YOU WANT THEM TO KNOW jfc such an annoying trope.
And that’s about all I have to say about this ep. It really isn’t a good ep, is it. So have some gifs:
Nice gifs. Even though the story isn't strong, there are some good character moments in this episode that help keep you interested in the show as a whole.
I'm kind of intrigued by Fear Her now (I'm only 3 episodes away). Now I want to know just how bad it is.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s as bad as Mark does, either. I mean, it IS pretty bad. The plot is really dumb and I hated all of the minor characters, but just watching the Doctor and Rose interact is fun and made it bearable. And I at least liked it more than the episode before it.
Though I’ll say that a small part of me will probably die inside this February when what happens at the end of the episode doesn’t actually happen in real life.
Hah, um, your mileage may vary on exactly how bad it is (I hate it less than Mark does, for example) but I don't think anyone considers it their favorite.
I like it a lot. Smart plotline, great jokes.
It's not too outright heinous, but it just commits the sin of being really dull and really… well, stupid. There are a couple good moments but mostly it's just aggressively mediocre.
I like it. I mean I don't LOVE it. But there are some character interactions that make me enjoy it.
I thought it was basically as bad as Mark made it out to be, although I was primed by knowing his opinion on it. My attitude was basically "Oh, it couldn't possibly be THAT bad!" and then it… kind of was.
oh god.
let me just preface my opinion by saying I was abused/neglected as a child so I am SUPER biased against all depictions of storylines about that. that's my #1 reason for hating it.
Oh my god, that headband Buffy's wearing! I used to have so many of those.
Haha I STILL have some! I could never figure out how to wear them, though, because they made me look like a lion. And I’d poke my eyes out trying to put one on.
I also think I still own some butterfly clips…
lol, ditto on the lion's mane. And I know I have butterfly clips hiding somewhere…
Ahhh I used to love butterfly clips. SOMEONE NEEDS TO BRING THOSE BACK.
Mine always got caught in my glasses. And then messed up my hair.
Butterfly clips, however, were quite fun. 😛
Hahahaha, me too! I never wore them very often though, because they basically were the first thing to make me self-conscious about my kind of large forehead.
Butterfly clips ARE THE ESSENCE of grade 11 for me!! Oh god…and the row of butterfly clips around the head?? I never did that one because of my face shape/hair texture but I did have a LOT of butterfly clips (all different colours and level of SPARKLE) that I used to give my hair do that certain extra bit of panache. I think I probably still have some lurking in a drawer somewhere.
I started using them after the 90s for my school's GSA's Day of Silence. I'd put it around my mouth and write on sharpie "LBGTQ Day of Silence"… and yet people would still try to get me to talk unironically. *eyerolls*
Great gifs! Buffy's WTF face in the first one is the face I make at work almost every single day. I should probably make it my email signature.
Oh, good, I was hoping someone would have a gif of Buffy listening in on Cordelia. That and principal Flutie's "heal" were the highlights of the episode. 😀
I just want to say THIS to your entire comment. Also, wonderful gifs as usual! Thank you so much for making these!
I like making the gifs! It helps that I think SMG is super adorable.
She really is. 😀
It seems every genre show from the '90s needed an appearance from the horribly untalented Musetta Vander and her weird almost-accent at some point, so at least Buffy got it over with quickly. Though it was made even worse by everyone acting like she was so impossibly attractive, when I just find her kind of weird looking.
Another big issue in this episode is all the padding, with character stating the perfectly obvious over and over, and even that flashback about the eggs, so it's very clear that this script came in short. Though my favorite has to be Giles explaining who the Master is to literally the only other people in town who already know.
"I just find her kind of weird looking."
I always felt like it was good casting cause she looks insect-like in some way.
Yeah, what's with that accent-ish thing? That bugged the hell outta me. Especially because her name was Miss French and that accent wasn't French – although admittedly that's a really silly thing to be bothered by.
Musetta Vander is South African.
She's South African, and apparently has just never quite managed to suppress that accent when trying to sound like an American, like Charlize Theron.
Darn. I thought I would've been able to recognize a South African accent. I was thinking Russian, which is obviously way way off.
What, she was actually in other things? The only other thing I remember seeing her in was as one of the sirens in O Brother Where Art Thou, where she didn't have to do anything more taxing than lip-sync a song, lol.
She also made appearances in Xena, Babylon 5, Voyager, Highlander and Stargate, hence my comment that every genre show of the '90s was required to have her.
Plus, Sindel from Mortal Kombat Annihilation, with her astoundingly bad delivery of the already awful line "Too bad you…will die!"
AHAHAHA OMG I've seen that Mortal Kombat clip on YouTube, I didn't remember that was her. LMAO. I never watched any of those shows back then, though I later saw some Voyager. Avoided the bulk of it, though. It just… wasn't very good, IMO. I prefer DS9.
Also, Wild Wild West.
She was also in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager! /nerd mode off
Whoops, Voyager mentioned! Ignore that. In other news, she really is a pretty terrible actress.
She also made an appearance in The Sentinel. Seriously, every single '90s genre show.
Oh my gosh I love O Brother Where Art Thou! (Not strictly related to the subject but…)
Me too! 😀
I still haven't seen everything they've done, but I really love the Coen brothers. There just aren't any other filmmakers like them.
Me three! All-time favorite Coen film, I think because it's just so… warm and fuzzy. They tend to have this bleakness about their films, or everything is just dryly funny, but O Brother is downright silly at times and actually ends on a happy note. PLUS THE MUSIC.
Same. I mean, not that I've seen many, but I love the silliness and the warm humor and the happy ending and the MUSIC. <3
Oh dude, so she was! I liked Christy Taylor's siren.
I thought she was Julie Cooper-Nichol at first glance, so I thought she looked weird because she wasn't Melinda Clarke.
Me too! I was just about the comment the same thing.
My first thought was "I don't remember Lady Heather being in Buffy"… so yes, seems to be an easy mistake to make.
Nandi!
I actually liked this episode on rewatch, it holds up WAY better than the first three IMO, the Witch kind of bored me the second time around.
First: I will miss you bio teacher. These are my favourite kind of teachers anywhere: the ones that look like a hardass and kind of scary at first (because they actually expect you to try) but they're also FAIR which is such a hard thing to find in a teacher sometimes.
2: I totally forgot that Flutie got a little monologue about grief and laxatives in this episode I don't even know what that was but oh God it was delivered so beautifully. Then it goes right into Cordelia monologuing about her weight loss akjdhgkzjgks
3: Buffy using the claw guy as a sniffer dog <3
4: The mayonnaise grossed me out way more than the bug sandwich. How people can eat that stuff I will never understand.
5: I really loved that there was a whole plot that centred on sacrificing male virgins for once.
I couldn't relate to any of it and I didn't really feel like I needed to. The whole thing with Xander and his goofy fantasies that he was an alpha-male hero and blahblah was inevitably going to come up on a show that is about what this show is about. I think this is like the best way that you could possibly deal with it: take all their jackass boasting and turn it on its head and expose it. Someone has to be an idiot for this plot to work, and it worked pretty well here. It gets a pretty cartoonish at the beginning but I took how rediculous it is to kind of be the point-it's not like this show isn't already playing out every american high school on tv cliche ever so it doesn't feel that over the top to me(I mean the Mean Girl is definitely a charicature too and kind of a sexist one at that.)
I'm not really at the point where I'd take pleasure in seeing anyone strangled, though, but that's just me.
The flip to male virgins was an excellent idea. Unfortunately the execution didn't quite live up to it. Did they mean to imply that Dr. Gregory was a virgin? Did insect-lady's pheremones target men, straight men, or male virgins? If the latter, why was Giles also affected? Vs gur zvqqyr, jurer gur uryy jnf Yneel. V pna'g jnvg sbe Yneel'f yvggyr nep va Cunfrf. It was an interesting idea that aimed for a good commentary and fell a bit short. But I can appreciate the idea of targeting male virgins instead of female ones.
I adore Principal Flutie. His whole flustered dialogue was a pretty superb bit of acting.
Well I assumed she just wanted Gregory out of the way to Harvest boys from science class and wasn't really interested in mating with him. I also figured that her pheremones worked on everybody (who was attracted to females) and her ability to sense who was a virgin was a separate thing.
And yeah, if I put any thought, and I do mean any, into her plan it pretty much falls apart. I mean first of all, why kidnap one boy a day from the same class giving people lots of time to notice they're missing? Why become a substitute teacher and draw attention to herself like that when she could have just picked up dudes after school? Why would you start with the killing on the second day anyways?
But I don't really have the highest standards for logics and tv, so I'm okay with all that as long as an episode is mildly funny and entertaining. I know not everyone agrees on that last point and I'm cool with that.
I think a certain amount of suspension of disbelief (beyond just "Vampires? Really?") is required for a show like this anyway. (Rfcrpvnyyl va frnfbaf svir naq frira, jubfr cybgf ner gerzraqbhfyl vyybtvpny naq pbaibyhgrq.)
And it's not just Buffy, either. I think most fiction can involve pretty convoluted plots sometimes. I mean, the entire plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire seems rather unnecessarily complex, but it certainly doesn't affect my enjoyment of the book. In fact, it adds to it, because if the end result had been achieved in a logical way, the book wouldn't have had a plot at all.
In the case of Teacher's Pet, I'm not sure the existence of a plot saves the episode from mediocrity (V fnl guvf rcvfbqr vf zrqvbper, engure guna onq orpnhfr V'ir npghnyyl frra Jurer Gur Jvyq Guvatf Ner naq Qbhoyrzrng Cnynpr), but I agree that as long as it's mildly funny and entertaining, the lack of logic isn't so terrible. There just wasn't that much funny in this episode. 🙂
I agree about needing to suspend disbelief in general.
I'm judging this episode by the standards of the first season ONLY and V npghnyyl yvxr Qbhoyrzrng Cnynpr (fubpxubeebe!) I've come to realize that I have a lot unpopular opinions as far as this show goes, especially when it comes to the silly campy episodes, and I'm totally cool with that, so it'll be interesting to talk about the rest of the show over here. And I'm also totally cool with male virgin hunting giant insects being enough to keep me going till the next episode.
V'z npghnyyl n sna bs Qbhoyrzrng Cnynpr gbb. V fcrag n ybat guerr zbaguf jbexvat ng Jraql'f lrnef ntb, fb V svaq gur jubyr cybg bs Ohssl nf n snfg sbbq jbexre vafnaryl uvynevbhf. Znlor vg'f bar bs gubfr guvatf jurer lbh unq gb unir orra gurer.
Yay, more of us!
Gur bayl guvat V qba'g yvxr nobhg Qbhoyrzrng Cnynpr vf gung gurl qrpvqrq gb vapyhqr n qrzba. V guvax vg jbhyq unir orra fb zhpu shaavre gb rzoenpr gur "erny yvsr nf ubeebe" gurzr bs gung frnfba naq whfg cynl vg fgenvtug. Ohg vg'f Ohssl, fb gurl pbhyqa'g qb gung. V nyfb yvxr gung guvf jnf gur bayl rcvfbqr gung npghnyyl pnhfrq nqiregvfref gb chyy bhg. Abg ubeebe, qrngu, frk, ubzbfrkhnyvgl. Gubfr gurzrf ner svar. Ohg qba'g znxr sha bs snfg sbbq!
"V nyfb yvxr gung guvf jnf gur bayl rcvfbqr gung npghnyyl pnhfrq nqiregvfref gb chyy bhg. Abg ubeebe, qrngu, frk, ubzbfrkhnyvgl. Gubfr gurzrf ner svar. Ohg qba'g znxr sha bs snfg sbbq! "
Unun jbj V npghnyyl unq ab vqrn naq gung whfg znxrf zr ybir vg rira zber.
Please don't say "insanely" on this site.
I don't know if she was SURE that the guys were virgins–I think that's why she went for such young guys, because there would be more virgins among them. Like, maybe she had a feeling, but she didn't know for sure until she got confirmation from Xander? Otherwise, why would she have asked him the question? Oh, whatever, this episode is not worth this amount of analysis 🙂
I assumed the killing started the day before. What's his name…Blayne? He seemed to know what was going on.
…I'm not sure why she kidnapped him if she didn't have a use for him immediately, though. How long was he going to live in the cage anyway?
I tend to think that Dr. Gregory was a casualty of convenience, not an actual target for mating.
Flutie's bit about hugging killed me. I don't remember it exactly but, "No real hugs! We're very sensitive to bad touching."
Not sensitive enough to notice a predatory substitute teacher, apparently. 🙂
Dr. Gregory didn't get mated with, I think. He just lost his head so Ms. French could access the young virgin males. Then again, there were eggs in the closet. Ohg gur rttf va gur pybfrg jrer whfg sbe gur ubeebe pyvpué naq arire fubj hc ntnva, fb gurl qba'g zrna nalguvat. Maybe she just can't help having them when she kills a person. Or she figured a nonvirgin was worth mating with to get to the goal, and virgins are just a strong preference.
And I don't think Giles is a virgin.
Right, I also doubt Giles is a virgin. I guess Ms. French's pheromones were probably just meant to attract anything with a Y chromosome.
The eggs at the end imply that Dr. Gregory was mated with. Though it's possible that they were laid but not fertilized. Or that there was, like, a virginal janitor who happened upon the scene and whose body wasn't found.
Why the heck couldn't Dr Gregory be a virgin? It's not like it dissolves when you hit twenty…
Yeah, I just don't like the stereotype. Old hardass teacher never got any.
Whereas I dislike the "clearly all true grown-ups are no longer virgins" meme. As a 29 year old virgin, it irritates me when people start implying that I'm clearly naive, innocent, and not quite an adult yet.
saying the same as a 34 year old woman. I've dated, but I've just never met a guy I find it worth having sex with
I dislike that stereotype too, but unless TVland has changed (and I watch much less TV than I used to, so I wouldn't know) the other stereotype of stuffy teachers is the one I've most ran into.
I'm a virgin myself, but the people around me want it that way for their own reasons, so I don't get shit for it. But yes, they assume not being interested meams you're not adult and have childlike innocence. That pretty much defines how I'm seen by the people I have to spend time with.
The whole thing gets a bit sticky. In general, him being a virgin would be read as "he's a scientist, he's so awkward, no one will ever have sex with him." Much like The 40 Year Old Virgin.
You can, of course, interpret it as him being asexual. But that's not where the majority of the population is going to go, since it's not explicitly mentioned. And I doubt the writers even thought about that being a possibility.
The whole thing gets a bit sticky.
…*tries really hard not to laugh because I am a mature adult tyvm*
YES. The Flutie bit was delightful.
I also don't understand how people can eat mayo. So nasty.
But… but mayo is yummy. 🙁 Especially when mixed with chili powder and lime juice and parmesan cheese and slathered on grilled corn. DELISH. <3
This is where I quote Voltaire (or the woman whose name I can't remember whose quote was incorrectly attributed to him.)
PREACH
Live crickets and mayonnaise is my favourite snack.
Yeah, count me in with the crowd that really doesn't care for this episode. When I looked at the DvD and saw this one was next up for rewatching, I just felt kind of "meh". But, thankfully it was still full of adorable and funny character moments that I could enjoy, so that's good.
I kind of flinched a little at the end when Willow said that Xander was doing the "right thing" by not having sex. I mean, she's very, very naive and innocent so I can see why she might feel like that, but since there was no one else offering a different view of the situation, it felt like more than just Willow's personal opinion. At least gur punenpgref qb yngre unir frk ba gur fubj naq ab bar whqtrf gurz sbe vg, fb V pna'g ybbx ng guvf naq fnlvat gung Wbff vf fnlvat "Ab frk hagvy zneevntr rire!" Hasbeghangryl, Natry ybfvat uvf fbhy orpnhfr bs Ohssl fyrrcvat jvgu uvz va gur frpbaq frnfba zvtug raq hc ybbxvat yvxr gung, naq V jbhyqa'g oynzr Znex vs ur pnzr gb gung pbapyhfvba.
Also, speaking of Jvyybj:
"Jvyybj’f nqbenoyr qrfver abg gb frr Knaqre’f qrpncvgngrq urnq znqr zr fuevrx vagreanyyl. FUVCCVAT GURZ EVTUG ABJ"
Vg'f shaal, V erzrzore guvaxvat gur rknpg fnzr guvat jura V svefg jngpurq guvf rcvfbqr jnl onpx jura, ohg abj nyy V pna guvax vf "Ohg lbh pna'g! Fur'f tnl!" rira gubhtu fur unfa'g rira svtherq vg bhg lrg ng guvf cbvag. V'z rkpvgrq gb frr jung Znex naq nyy bs gur pbzzragref jvyy unir gb fnl jura jr qb ernpu gung cbvag. Nygubhtu, V'z ernyyl abg ybbxvat sbejneq gb gur varivgnoyr erghea bs gur "Jvyybj vfa'g npghnyyl tnl" qrongr.
"Nygubhtu, V'z ernyyl abg ybbxvat sbejneq gb gur varivgnoyr erghea bs gur "Jvyybj vfa'g npghnyyl tnl" qrongr."
Bu tbq qba'g erzvaq zr – fb znal jnlf gung pbairefngvba pna tb jebat. Ng yrnfg V zbqrengr gur fuvg bhg bs vg.
I always took Willow’s comments about Xander’s virginity as her being really into him and trying to make him feel better about something that was obviously embarrassing him.
True, and at the same time it's worth noting that I think they'd all have been underage in California at this point, too.
Do you happen to run a site at herringjousting.com? Or rather, did you? It doesn't look like it's been updated in a couple of years.
Aaww, that's a really cute way of looking at it. I like it.
Ur'yy cebonoyl gurbevmr vg nsgre Qbccrytnatynaq.
V'z npghnyyl ernyyl rawblvat gur Jvyybj pehfuvat ba Knaqre cybgyvar jvgu zl shgher xabjyrqtr bs ure frkhnyvgl, orpnhfr V'z n yrfovna jub qvq qngr oblf va uvtu fpubby (tnfc!). Pehfuvat ba fnsr, aba-guerngravat fjrrg thlf jub lbh ernyyl ybir va n cyngbavp jnl naq pbashfr vg gb or jung lbhe sevraqf ner srryvat sbe gurve oblsevraqf? Gbgnyyl haqrefgnaqnoyr gb zr. Naq bs pbhefr Bm'f vagrerfg vf synggrevat naq ur'f fb pbzsbegnoyr naq aba-guerngravat, n crefba fur ybirf gb fcraq gvzr jvgu, cyhf cebbs gb bguref gung fur'f qrfvenoyr.
Bu, qba'g trg zr jebat, V nyfb guvax vg'f nqbenoyr, ohg V thrff V'ir whfg tbggra fb hfrq gb orvat va gur snaqbz jurer rirelbar xabjf fur'f n yrfovna, gung vg srryf bqq gb urne fbzrbar fnl gurl fuvc ure jvgu Knaqre. V qvqa'g qngr nalbar va uvtu fpubby fvzcyl orpnhfr V jnf gbb ful, ohg V qvq unir pehfurf ba cyragl bs thlf bayl gb qvfpbire yngre gung V yvxr tveyf, fb V haqrefgnaq vg. V guvax V'ir whfg fcrag gbb zhpu gvzr ba Jvyybj/Gnen ghzoyef kQ.
V guvax Natry ybfvat uvf fbhy unf n ybg zber gb qb jvgu svggvat gur ubeebe svyz pyvpur bs "fbzrguvat greevoyr unccraf gur svefg gvzr n tvey unf frk" guna nal zbeny cbvag. V zrna, vg'f abg yvxr Natry unqa'g unq frk bhg bs jrqybpx orsber. Pna'g jnvg hagvy jr trg gb gubfr rcvfbqrf gubhtu, gung'f jurer gur fubj ernyyl uvgf vg'f svefg fgevqr.
"Secondly, Angel. Like, I have never really found David Boreanaz attractive personally, and what the hell happened to me? He puts on that smoldering look and I’m like DUDE DUDE DON’T DO THAT AROUND ME. I mean, I don’t want to marry him or anything, but he can give me that look any time he wants."
One of my friends made me the BEST Christmas present. She drew me a picture of Angel with that look and had it framed.It is AWESOME, she's great artist. I will post it once I find my camera. (her Christmas present from me was all of the official Buffy companion books.)
You and your friend are awesome Santas.
Mark, someday — maybe as a post between seasons or projects — I'd love an entry from you on LOST and the finale. That would be an awesome bonus.
Saying this episode isn't as bad as "Fear Her" is certainly damning with faint praise. And it's so not wrong. This is one of the episodes that skated by when I first saw it as a teenager (with a crush on Xander to boot) but as an adult it's just so…blah. The writers did a good job of injecting some comedy, but the idea of a predatory female coming to eat our young men has been done to death.
One thing that I did really appreciate is the emotional impact on Buffy and, to a lesser extent, Willow (and to a lesser lesser extent Xander) of seeing the decapitated dead body of a teacher they liked. When they're gathered in the library, Buffy's tear-streaked face and the shellshocked way she takes the water from Giles really speak to the reality of the situation. It was a nice, small, character- and world-building moment for me.
Boo. You got this up before I could watch it. CONGRATS ON THE NEW SERVER. Actual review to come later.
This episode was really… weird, yeah. I did like it was a girl saving the guys from getting raped instead of the other way around, and smaller moments like… anything with Cordelia… but the end was so LOL I KNOW HOW TO DEFEAT YOU BECAUSE I READ BUG BIO STUFF FROM A BOOK AND IT APPLIES TO THIS EXACT SITUATION. STUDYING IS GOOD!
And re: David B, and he can give me that look any time he wants.
God, I can't stand his occasionally sexy face. I mean this in a "please let me look at you all the time again" way.
Spoilers for another show on Mark's list:
"Gurezny rkcnafvba!"
Favpxre gvzrf vasvavgl. Bu, gung’f tbvat gb or n sha gevc.
Vabevgr? V'z n yvggyr qvfnccbvagrq gung ur frrzf gb or zber vagrerfgrq va Orobc — abg jvgubhg ernfba, bs pbhefr — zrnavat ur'yy cebonoyl jngpu gung svefg.V rira jebgr hc na rvtug-uhaqerq-jbeq bhgyvar bs Tnvank'f uvfgbel hc gb avargrra avargl-svir sbe gur rcvfbqr bar cbfg, ubjrire znal lrnef sebz abj gung'yy or. V nz n qbex.
I didn’t HATE this episode but it made me pretty uncomfortable at times, which is no fun. Even though I’m not a huge Xander-and-his-teenage-boy-troubles fan, Giles, Willow, and Buffy pretty much make up for him so it all evens out 🙂 Also, this episode gave us that glorious silver shirt that guitarist was wearing! When 90s fashion comes back in style I’m wearing nothing but lilac jeans and that shirt. It will be glorious.
Thankfully, a lot the behavior here is followed by shrugs, laughs, and eye rolls from Buffy and Willow, who can’t understand why everyone is falling for this.
<img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/NB2000/LOLCats/Gifs/2mzegd2.gif">
SMG and Alyson Hannigan are so good at the silent reactions.
But yeah, otherwise this isn't the greatest episode. It is nice to see Buffy, Willow and Giles working as a team to work out what's going on with Ms French. As cheesy as it is "What are you going to do?" "My Homework" makes me giggle every time.
Wasnt really expecting you to like this episode. It has its moments, but its really… Well, boring. It's so obvious and cliche. If you thought it was good I would have been very dissappointed. 😐
Do you ever feel like you're being taunted by the amount of rot13 on these sites? I do. I just want to know what everybody is saying. And I have about 140 TV hours until I know, which is quite daunting to think about. Every rot13'd comment feels like a massive "Mwahahaha, you are not prepared for the amount of shit being real-ness."
What facts do people make up about the Lost finale? I personally enjoyed it, but I can see why some people didn't. Do they insist these facts actually happened or is it head!canon? I love incorporating head!canon into stuff.
I forgot this episode existed…and I've only watched 6 episodes. *shrug* It seems like I can skip it when I try to catch up this weekend.
Would it help if I said all the rot13 comments are people talking about really boring stuff like, uh, a recipe for pancakes that comes up later in the show. But it's the same as the one on the Bisquick box, so you can ignore it.
I gather that it's mostly people who thought everyone died in the crash and the entire show was in the afterlife.
Personally, I got it, and I still hate the show enough to have a whole Youtube series about why.
I feel bad because you were already taunted by the rot13 during BSG.
I think I'm just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I'm going to feel this way most of the time if I stick around this community, which I mean to. I took a peek at Mark's confirmed watch list and I've only seen 4 of them. I'll just have to flaunt how much I know during LOTR, I guess.
Frankly, I tend to find the switching between windows that decoding the rot13 requires kind of exhausting, and I usually just give up.
It's also harder to pretend I'm working when I spend all my time copying and pasting from one window to another.
There's an extension you can get for Firefox, it's called LeetKey. There might be one for other browsers too.
…thank you.
Or rather, gunax lbh.
Where can you get said extension?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/le…
Nice! thank you, even after 2 days it was getting to be a pain.
The one I'm using for Chrome is d3coder, which decodes a lot of other encoded languages as well. I'm likely to switch to ROT13er, though, because I only use the extension for ROT13 and all the other options on d3coder just get in the way. Both of them open up the decoded bit in a new window, which is kinda annoying because you have to close it out before replying.
For anyone who needs it, the Leetkey extension is here.
I looked for a similar extension for the Opera browser (I switched for a while when Chrome kept crashing on me so now I have four browsers), but seemingly it doesn't exist yet. Same for IE, it looks like.
LeetKey just decodes it on the page, without opening a new window. Which is fine except when you forget that what you're reading used to be in rot-13, and you're like "OMG SPOILERZ!!"
OMG, THANK YOU. I've wished that someone would invent an auto-translator, but never thought to go looking for one.
You know how TV Tropes has that thing where you can "set spoilers visible by default on your profile"? I wish we had something like that. Probably be too complicated, though.
Exactly. That's what I want. But, yeah, probably way complicated. This extension helps, though.
Funnily enough now that I finally can decrypt stuff I honestly am way too lazy to do it unless it's in a reply to me. There are enough comments to get through as it is and I just have less of an itch to talk about the future anyways. It's coming! It will come.
WELCOME TO MY LIFE. Though it was fun to go back after BSG and read a ton of comments I couldn't read before.
I think one of the best threads was a bunch of people just quoting 'All Along the Watchtower' at each other.
And now we can do it without rot13!
In fact, I think I feel a sooonnnnngggg coming on…
THERE MUST BE SOME WAY OUT OF HERE
SAID THE JOKER TO THE THIEF…
THERE'S TOO MUCH CONFUSION!
I CAN'T GET NO RELIEF
I CAN'T GET NO….
SATISFACTION
..oh wait. wrong song.
I've seen all of Buffy, and I think it would be exhausting to rot13. I'm just going to sit back, read your posts, smile knowingly from time to time, and enjoy watching you take this journey.
After you're done, if no one else has already suggested it, you should check out the website "All Things Phiisophical on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series", http://www.atpobtvs.com/ Unfortunately the write-throughs will spoil you, so you'll have to wait. But, I think you'll enjoy it.
That would be philisophical. duh
Or alternately, you could go with philosophical
THAT WAS MY FAVOURITE SITE IN 2001-03, NO LIE. BEST BUFFYSITE EVER.
(all the cool meta-ey discussion and no ship wars, who could ask for more?)
I don't know how you have time to read the non-rot13'd comments. I skim the majority. But I'm always left feeling hollow after leaving the site. I crave more. I guess I answered my own question.
The new forums going up might move a little of the rot13ing over to the spoiler threads there. Maybe.
Yeah, no, this is definitely NOT a well-loved episode. In general, you've been pretty dead on with the episodes you've loved and hated in regards to general fandom opinion, so you really shouldn't worry too much about hating on an episode in a well-love series (honestly, I think I hate "Black Market" more than "Fear Her", but that may be because I still live in hope that David Tennant will light the Olympic flame next year AND DOCTOR WHO WILL BE REAL).
I no longer find David Boreanaz attractive on "Bones", but DAMN can Angel give you the smoldering look. Even if his acting is still…improving.
David Tennant having secretly agreed to do that would make it the best Olympics ever!
Do you hear a wicked guitar riff when David Borneaz smolders?
every time
haha, Fear Her! I don't actually think it's too bad, when I watched it as a 14/15 year old all I saw was the Doctor and Rose being cute (I was such a shipper … still am, tbh *blush*) but the episode is pretty boring I have to admit and pretty rubblish plot wise.
This episode was okay, can't really think of anything else to say. The previous episodes were much more exciting though.
I like Fear Her for the Doctor and Rose being cute too! And for Rose being the one to figure things out and save the day in the end.
This is one of my least favourte episodes of Buffy ever. So I'm glad that it is over!
It has fun dialogue, and some really great character moments, but I just can't seem to get past all this million things about it that bug me. (Attractive women are evil, men can't control themselves around attractive women, rape when perpetrated against men can be played for laughs or as a weird and zany adventure, virginity exists as a tangible concept and might be noble, etc. etc.)
"That BUG me"
I see what you did thar
Mark, relax, I don't think anyone was actually expecting you to like this episode. 😀 I know I wasn't! I don't care for it either. And really, the kinds of fans you talk about are EXTREMELY SILLY. Any show that goes on long enough is going to have at LEAST one bad or so-so episode in there. Am I less of a DW fan for hating Love and Monsters or Fear Her (which, I love seeing your grudge come up from time to time, it never stops being funny)? Nope. And while we're on the topic of Lost, CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW AWFUL "STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND" WAS? Guh. I never once cared about Jack's tattoos, show. That episode, as far as I know, is universally reviled by the fandom in much the same way as the infamous "Spock's Brain" episode is by Star Trek fandom (which at least gave me some unintentional lulz).
Buuuuuuuuuut, I'm off-topic. Yeah, this is all painfully heteronormative crap that I find terribly boring too. Yawn. I liked the same things you did, though. And hahaha, I think I remember someone predicting that you would soon crush on Angel. Lastly, there is nothing wrong with gaying up the internet!
Pressing mysteries on Lost: What is the smoke monster? Who is Jacob? What does Jack's tattoo mean?
I was the Angel-crush predictor, actually. I've said it before: "Dark and mysterious and kind of a douche" describes no one if not him.
When I rewatched this episode last night, I kept looking at the time counter to see how much was left because WHY WASN'T IT OVER YET. Ugh, this episode. Not a good one. And trust me, no one is going to get upset if you criticize episodes, especially here in the beginning, when the show was still finding its feet. (Well, odds say that someone will, but they'll be in the minority.)
Anyway, as to The Look and everything you said in that paragraph: I know the look exists, I've seen it in action in films and television, but I've never seen it live and in person and was starting to think it was a myth so THANK YOU FOR CONFIRMING ITS EXISTENCE FOR ME. But yeah, I know what you mean. The only place I've ever chatted up a girl has been online. Socially awkward queer girl is socially awkward, yup. (And okay, admittedly scared as well; I live in "WEST BY GOD VIRGINIA", YA'LL.)
I do like Dr. Gregory actually encouraging Buffy, though. Teachers like him are rare.
This review reminds me a lot of my own reactions to things like this. I'm not gay, but I am asexual, and that gives me a perspective that is utterly different from the mainstream. I tend to watch things like this episode with a sort of detached fascination, trying to figure out how realistic they're being, because I have no personal experience with sexual attraction and I really don't understand what it is to experience it.
It influences how I see plots like this, but it doesn't make me hate a show or book just because it deals with sex and romance. I think it simply makes it so some plots that hinge more on sexual attraction than on emotions just sort of fall flat for me because I simply can't relate.
I guess I'm just saying that I really like the points that you bring up here; it's worlds away from my experience, but at the same time, very close.
I have the same issues. I'm glad you brought it up in response to him.
Oh, it's totally different than my experience. I'm curious; what have you ever seen on television that you DID relate to? Because it's not universal to me that depictions of heterosexual relationships do nothing for me, and sometimes I've found them to be rather strong stories.
Do you mean television relationships? I have trouble relating to anything dealing strictly with sexual attraction or lust. I relate much better to love type relationships with emotions other than wanting sex with someone, though even in those I don't much relate to the actual wanting to have sex part.
I know how much of a Roslin/Adama shipper you are, and I think that they are a good example of a romantic relationship that I can relate to. There is so much else there, so much love that has nothing to do with them just wanting to have sex, and that sort of emotion for another person is very relatable to me.
can i just post roslin/adama gifs now
I certainly wouldn't mind. 🙂
Yesterday I noticed that Dr. Gregory was giving the chemistry class. So, yay for continuity? Unless that was just in the subtitles.
LOL. THE SMOLDER. I will forever associate Angel and Flynn/Eugene now.
Vg'f xvaq bs shaal jura Ohssl gnyxf nobhg byqre jbzra naq jul gurl pna'g qngr ng gurve ntr yriry. Ng yrnfg Natry qbrfa'g unir fhetvpny vzcebirzragf. Hayrff ur unf yvsgf. Ur'f whfg jryy-cerfreirq. V'z n Onatry fuvccre gubhtu, fb.
Yeah, I don't find guys trying to impress a girl to be interesting, although it can be amusing to think how ridiculous they look. At least it's not too overtop, but Blayne's "I won cityhall" stuffed into the conversation was eyeroll-worthy.
I don't like the cliché, but not because it makes guys look bad or for your reasons, Mark. (Which in my case might relate more to depictions of girls chasing guys.) No one I've met really seems to act as if women are superior to men with regard to their sexual desires and competence as strong, mature adults; it's quite the opposite. I think it's reinforcing the common trope that beautiful women are predators who have power over men. Beauty can give a woman privilege over women, not over men. It is a part of the struggle and competition to be the most feminine, which is performance. And being with a beautiful woman is seen as necessary for success as masculine because she is a possession, something other men can't have because you're there, because you were "better." That doesn't make sense, but it's sexism so that's par for the course. It's like when tv reinforces tropes about a woman's lack of competence, when in real life women are plenty competent and relied on to be so even as people act as if they're not.
V qba'g zvaq Onatry gbb zhpu, ohg ur'f zhpu gbb oebbql sbe Ohssl va zl bcvavba. V zhpu cersrerq uvz jvgu Pbeql va Natry
Ur'f bayl oebbql orpnhfr bs pvephzfgnaprf. Qhevat gur gvzr orgjrra gurve trggvat gbtrgure va frnfba gjb naq Fhecevfr, ur frrzrq yrff oebbql. V nyfb yvxrq gurve zber yvtugurnegrq zbzragf va frnfba guerr. Guvf vf cebonoyl jul zl snibevgr Onatry zbzragf graq gb or va gur svefg unys bs frnfba gjb.
"No one I've met really seems to act as if women are superior to men with regard to their sexual desires and competence as strong, mature adults; it's quite the opposite. I think it's reinforcing the common trope that beautiful women are predators who have power over men. Beauty can give a woman privilege over women, not over men. It is a part of the struggle and competition to be the most feminine, which is performance. "
Yeah. I never liked this trope either, or (off topic but) the way it appears in Goblet of Fire. I know it's a mythological thing, but I still don't like it.
Good point about how beauty gives priveleage of women of women, not vice versa. If a straight guy or a lesbian has any sense, they'll be able to resist her "seductive beauty", you can't just say "I can't help it!" Another girl can't help if if someone is favoured because she's prettier. Unfortunately, statistical analysis of jobs show that better looking people are, on average, more successful. its just something intrinsic to human nature.
Yeah, not a fan of this one. But Willow's crush on Xander is kind of adorable. Okay, it's kind of REALLY adorable. Gosh, when Aly Hannigan turns on the doe eyes NO ONE IS SAFE.
Bbu…V ernyyl jnag gb gnyx nobhg ubj Knaqre jnf fhccbfrq gb or tnl/pbzr bhg ng fbzr cbvag bire gur pbhefr bs gur fubj ohg V *guvax* gung'f n fcbvyre. Jryy, ng yrnfg vg fcbvyf gur snpg gung ur'f abg. Naq gung cneg bs gur ernfba jul ur'f abg vf gung Jvyybj vf. Vs gung'f jebat, fbzrbar srry serr gb pbeerpg zr.
Naljnl, lrnu, vg'f snfpvangvat jura lbh gnxr gung vagb pbafvqrengvba, orpnhfr gura jung qbrf gung fnl nobhg ubj tnl thlf/yrfovna tveyf jbhyq or nssrpgrq ol Zf. Serapu? V zrna…fvapr vg'f BAYL gur thlf tbvat nsgre ure, vg'f vafvahngvat gung vg'f n fgevpgyl znyr/srznyr ovbybtvpny nggenpgvba, naq vfa'g gung orvat ernyyl vtabenag bs thlf jub whfg nera'g anghenyyl nggenpgrq gb jbzra?
V guvax gur zntvp curebzbarf pbzr vagb cynl gurer. Fur arrqf n znyr gb zngr, fb fur nggenpgf znyrf. Gung znl or ertneqyrff bs bevragngvba orpnhfr bs gur ~*zntvarff*~ bs vg, ohg V qba'g xabj. Gur fcryy ba gur wnpxrg sebz "Uvz" va frnfba frira znqr Jvyybj nggenpgrq gb…hz…V sbetrg uvf anzr…ertneqyrff bs Jvyybj orvat tnl, fb jr xabj vg'f cbffvoyr gb hfr zntvp gb znxr fbzrbar nggenpgrq ertneqyrff bs gurve angheny bevragngvba. Gubhtu fur *jnf* tbvat gb ghea uvz vagb n jbzna fb fur pbhyq ybir uvz cebcreyl…
Bu, bxnl, gung znxrf zber frafr abj. Gunaxf!
Naq gunaxf sbe gur erzvaqre bs "Uvz" va F7…yznb gung bar nyjnlf penpxf zr hc.
Bu zl tbq, 'Uvz' nyjnlf znqr zr fnq sbe vgf rkcyvpvg ovfrkhny renfher. V jbhyq unir cersreerq vs gurl unq npxabjyrqtrq gung Jvyybj unq gur pncnpvgl gb ybir naq srry nggenpgvba gbjneq zra (yvxr Knaqre naq Bm) nf jryy nf jbzra (yvxr Gnen naq Xraarql) vafgrnq bs gelvat gb fjrrc Jvyybj'f frkhnyvgl sebz gur svefg srj frnfbaf haqre gur eht va beqre gb cbegenl ure rkcyvpvgyl nf n yrfovna. Ohg gung'f gbgnyyl zr cebwrpgvat zl 'ovfrkhnyvgl renfher' vffhrf bagb gur fubj. *abqabq*
Gur bgure guvat gung znxrf zr fnq vf gung gurl arire npghnyyl grkghnyyl npxabjyrqtrq Tvyrf'f cbgragvny ovfrkhnyvgl, qrfcvgr gur snpg gung Wnar Rcrafba ng yrnfg unf tbar ba erpbeq fnlvat fur gubhtug Tvyrf naq Rguna hfrq gb unir n frkhny eryngvbafuvc naq gung Gbal Urnq naq Ebova Fnpuf ernyyl cynlrq vg gung jnl. (Abg gb zragvba, n qrzba hfrq sbe 'betvrf naq onppunanyf' be jungrire vg jnf va n tebhc bs sbhe zra naq bar jbzna.)
V pna gbgnyyl frr gung. V zrna, V unir gur rknpg fnzr ceboyrz jvgu Tyrr naq gurve gerngzrag bs Oynvar naq Fnagnan. Rfcrpvnyyl Tjlargu Cnygebj'f yvar, "Vg'f abg jub lbh'er nggenpgrq gb, vg'f jub lbh snyy va ybir jvgu" orpnhfr gung vf FHPU OHYYFUVG.
Ohg sbe fbzr ernfba V arire unq gung ceboyrz jvgu Ohssl, naq V'z abg ragveryl fher jul. V guvax vg'f orpnhfr vg nyjnlf sryg gb zr yvxr Jvyybj'f frkhnyvgl npghnyyl "punatrq," engure guna "orpnzr npxabjyrqtrq." Gur jnl V frr vg, rirelbar'f frkhnyvgl/frkhny bevragngvba vf qvssrerag, naq fbzr crbcyr qb punatr naq zbir nybat gur Xvafrl fpnyr bire gvzr. V jnf crefbanyyl arire fgenvtug, vg whfg jnfa'g hagvy V qrpvqrq gb tb gb n jbzra'f pbyyrtr gung V ernyvmrq V jnf nggenpgrq gb obgu orpnhfr gur raivebazrag jnf fb bcra gb vg (jurernf zl uvtu fpubby unq orra fbbbb pbafreingvir).
Naljnl, onpx gb Jvyybj, V ubarfgyl guvax gung ure frkhnyvgl punatrq, orpnhfr zrrgvat Gnen jnf n ernyyl zbahzragny rirag sbe ure. Fur qrsvavgryl pbhyq unir whfg punatrq gb orvat ov be cna, ohg fur whfg unccrarq gb punatr "nyy gur jnl," fb gb fcrnx.
Ohg gung'f ubj V frr vg, orpnhfr V srry yvxr gung ernqvat bs gur grkg vf ninvynoyr. Yvxr V fnvq orsber, V GBGNYYL haqrefgnaq gur cbvag bs ivrj bs gubfr jub ner bccbfrq gb vg.
"Kind of REALLY adorable" describes Willow pretty much all the time. Actually, it describes Alyson Hanningan pretty much all the time.
KNAQRE JNF TBVAT GB OR TNL? LBH UNIR OYBJA ZL ZVAQ
Lrnu, vg jnf rvgure Jvyybj be Knaqre sebz gur ortvaavat, ng yrnfg gung'f jung V'ir nyjnlf ernq. Gur Jvfu fgvyy gblf jvgu gur cbffvoyvgl bs rvgure bs gurz, jung jvgu Knaqre orvat n ovg irel vagrerfgrq va gbeghevat Natry.
Bu, ernyyl? V whfg urneq gung vg jnf bayl fhccbfrq gb or Knaqre, naq gung gurl jrer fgvyy cynaavat gb tb gung ebhgr sbe zbfg bs gur guveq frnfba. Vg jnf bayl jura gurl svyzrq gur fprar bs Jvyybj naq Gnen ubyqvat unaqf gb zbir gur iraqvat znpuvar gung gurl qrpvqrq gb chefhr gung eryngvbafuvc, naq gurl ernyyl yvxrq Naln fb gurl jnagrq gb xrrc ure jvgu Knaqre.
Ohg V pbhyq or jebat.
"But Willow's crush on Xander is kind of adorable. Okay, it's kind of REALLY adorable. Gosh, when Aly Hannigan turns on the doe eyes NO ONE IS SAFE."
I think that Willow's one of those character, like Caroline in The Vampire Diaries (Yes, I watch that show!), who is just so awesomely adorable that they can be plausibly shipped with anyone. Anyone. And it just works. You don't know why, it just does. Jvyybj/Gur Znfgre? Jvgu nyy gur snasvpgvba bhg gurer, V'q or fhecevfrq vs fbzrbar UNQA'G qbar vg.
This has probably been discussed on this site until the cows come home, but I really love that you acknowledge the fact that it is indeed possible to criticize a show while still enjoying it. It seems I can never have these sorts of discussions with my friends about shows we all love, because whenever I try to critique an aspect of it their knee-jerk response is "WHAT NO WHY ARE YOU HATING ON THE SHOW." And…they completely miss the point. Which is why i love coming on the Internet and talking with all of you fabulous people!
I watched the first eight episodes of this season all in one night, so my memories of them all blur together quite a bit. However, I do distinctly remember this episodes having a lot of "DO NOT WANT" moments. On the other hand, Angel's gaze will continue to reduce me to a puddle of blathering mush every time 😀
This is easily my least favorite Buffy episode from the first three seasons, and it isn't even that bad. Things are only uphill from this point on.
But yeah, BTVS isn't perfect, but it isn't really trying to be. Even when it's taking itself seriously, it's not taking itself THAT seriously, so it's easier not to hold the imperfections against it. I love its post-modern, self-aware humor; I think that Twilight may have even been bearable if it had taken the same approach. You gotta love it when the protagonists are actually called out on their douchey, selfish behavior, especially when epic snark ensues.
Jryy, V jbhyqa'g fnl BAYL hcuvyy sebz guvf cbvag ba. V zrna, V Ebobg, Lbh Wnar vf cerggl tebna-vaqhpvat.
V qvqa'g svaq gung rcvfbqr nf obevat nf guvf bar, gubhtu. Orggre gb or cbbeyl-jevggra naq ragregnvavat guna cbbeyl-jevggra naq obevat, V nyjnlf fnl. XD
Mark – how do you normally watch shows? Are you watching the DVDs, Netflix streaming, someone's VHS tapes from when it first aired, something else? I don't want you to be spoiled, and there are things you may need to know to be careful of, but I don't know how to bring them up, because they might be, well, spoilers. So I'll ask the mods.
mods who have seen the series – V nfx orpnhfr bs gur rcvfbqr dhbgrf gung ner ba gur QIQ zrahf jura na rcvfbqr vf fgnegrq, fcrpvsvpnyyl sbe gur hcpbzvat rcvfbqr, Natry, jurer gur dhbgr npghnyyl vf n fcbvyre. fvzvyneyl, va yngre frnfbaf, gurer ner n ybg bs guvatf gung ner tvira njnl ol gur vzntrf ba gur rcvfbqr zrahf naq rira fbzrgvzrf gur QIQ zrahf (qbrfa'g Qnja nccrne ba qvfp bar bs frnfba svir?) Vf gurer n jnl gb oevat hc n zrnaf bs nibvqvat gung?
I think Mark tends to stream with Netflix when it's available, so hopefully this won't be a problem for him.
Baiscally Mark, the DVDs (both the physical disks and the menus) can be a bit spoilery with images and quotes.
Yep, I use Netflix! Sometimes if I'm traveling, I'll buy an ep on iTunes and put it on my iPad to watch on the bus/plane.
Cool, I've been watching Buffy on Netflix too. Can we be Netflix buddies? I want to be Netflix buddies.
Netflix party!
I'll only join Netflix if they buy the right to and make more episodes of Firefly. Okay, kidding! Phew, but you should hear the talk going on about that. No offence to anyone who thinks they could, should and are the devil if they don't…
Wait, what? This is a thing?
http://bernardin.tumblr.com/post/14182869809/coul… I follow Whedonesque, and the commenters there are actually very level-headed (and I wish I could join them but their registration is closed). http://whedonesque.com/comments/27745
Can you even do that anymore? I thought they gutted the social aspect of it. 🙁
FOR THE RECORD I DID NOT DELETE MY OWN COMMENT UP THERE
spam queue I SWEAR.
I'm pretty sure he watches on Netflix. At the very least, he is without the spoilery DVD menues. Confirmation, anyone?
Don't apologize for gaying up the internet! Or, I mean, do that if you want, I'm not the boss of you, but it's not necessary! One of the things I really value about this and the Mark Reads blog is the different perspective. Thank you so much for making us think about things we otherwise might not! It helps me fix my skewed world view on a daily bases, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Yeah, I would not worry about not liking this episode. I'm pretty "meh" about it as well. I'm a ridiculously hardcore Buffy fan (my sister and I once listed every episode in order from memory and could tell you what disk of the DVDs they were each on…don't know if I could still do that, but I'd probably do fairly well) but even I will admit that there are bad Buffy episodes.This one is just frequently uncomfortable for me. Even the bad episodes have their moments, though. I must admit, I love the dream sequence. It's so over the top and ridiculous, it just makes me laugh. And I love Willow and Giles and Cordelia and Flutie and Dr. Gregory.
So, quickly, since I hadn't really posted on the other episodes, my intro-to-Buffy story! I was five when Buffy started airing, so I didn't watch it on its initial run (I started watching right after it finished). As I grew up, I remember my cousins being really into it and thinking I should watch it. I vaguely remember seeing the odd episode when I was older, but it wasn't until my cousin lent me the disc of her DVD collection with the musical episode that I finally got to it (we're a musical family, so she knew that would get me). I got the soundtrack and sang the songs a lot after that. The summer before high school, my sisters and I borrowed season one from my cousins and started watching. My little sister and I were hooked pretty much instantly, and my older sister was hooked by zvqjnl guebhtu frnfba gjb. Gur vagebqhpgvba bs Fcvxr tbg ure vagrerfgrq, ohg Fhecevfr naq Vaabprapr znqr ure n pbzcyrgr sna. Zl lbhatre fvfgre naq V qvqa'g xabj sbe fher vs fur jnf nf vagb vg nf hf, gubhtu, hagvy Cnffvba. V'yy yrg zl fvfgre gryy gung fgbel jura Znex trgf gurer. We were done six seasons by Christmas, got the seventh season for Christmas, and watched the rest of the series in two and a half days. This has been my favourite show ever since (rivaled only by Pushing Daisies due to how happy it never fails to make me, but Buffy's special place in my heart may never be triumphed over) and made me proud to be a woman for the first time in my life. I am ridiculously excited to watch Mark watch Buffy.
I'm mostly a lurker – I've done some commenting in the past (including an essay on my Harry Potter reading experience back when that first started on Buzznet) but all in all I'm pretty internet shy. I'm getting better about that, though, and what better to bring me out of my shell than Buffy? So I expect I'll be commenting a lot more. Cheers!
PUSHING DAISIES <3 I have so much love for that show too!
who doesn't? IT'S SO ADORABLE! <3
I actually know someone who thought it was terrible. WHAT. They also hated Buffy and thought the pirate episode of Doctor Who was "fantastic" and didn't like Amy's Choice, so… yeah. Just a couple examples of their extremely questionable taste.
I liked the pirate episode :c
but how do you not like amy's choice I DON'T UNDERSTAND
Well, I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't describe it as fantastic. OH ALSO THEY DIDN'T LIKE THE GOD COMPLEX AND THEY THINK MARTHA IS THE WORST COMPANION EVER.
HOW.
WHAT.
At least now you know to avoid everything they love and go for everything they hate!
Yeah, pretty much! I mean, SOME things I like/dislike overlapped with this person's, but overall I tend to pretty skeptical when they'd say they did/didn't like something (I play video games, and I have a crapton of examples where their opinions suggested usage of cactus juice).
WHAT The God Complex is AWESOME, the part where Eleven gives his speech to Amy about how much he sucks is like one of my favorite moments of that series. Martha is my least favorite New Who companion, but only by default, not because she's a bad character. (Favorite companion is a tie between Donna and Rory.) She really gets the short end of the stick. I mean, she walks the Earth for the Doctor and yet she still gets flak for not being Rose? Boo.
That's the really weird thing, they're not even THAT big a fan of Rose, AND they've seen Classic Who, so they're declaring her the worst ever in nearly fifty years of show. They think she's boring, for one thing. o_o
oh oh I just remembered more
they think nutella is overrated, and (this will enrage some people here) that Arrested Development wasn't good. (I haven't seen that show, but want to, and knowing that this taste-impaired person didn't like it is extra convincing to me.)
Sorry, that's where our common reference points end. Never tried Nutella or Arrested Development.
look i can't even eat nutella because I'm a vegan but HOLY FUCK YOU NEED TO TRY IT. oh my god.
And AD….god. I can't deal with how amazing that show STILL is.
…I may or may not have just googled the nutella ingredients to see if I could invent a home made vegan version of nutella that is equally delicious.
…and then I may or may not have googled "vegan hazelnut butter" for more ideas…
YOU MUST TRY BOTH
LIFE IS INCOMPLETE UNTIL YOU DO
Not liking Martha Jones means I probably wouldn't like them as a person. trufax.
You really wouldn't, they're pretty awful (they're one of the people I complained about over at the spoiler blog last night) in general.
WTF IS IT WITH PEOPLE AND MARTHA. Y'ALL (THE PLANET) NEED TO STOP THIS.
Arrested Development is one of the best shows ever.
I know one person who put forth a great argument for not liking Martha (basing it entirely on how RTD chose to write her post-Rose) that was really good. I disagreed, but I respected them.
Otherwise, the anti-Martha train is run by racism and misogyny and I hate it.
I think Martha is not used nearly as well as she could be. That doesn't mean I dislike her, it just means that I dislike aspects of what the writers did with her. I honestly think she could have been an excellent companion, but she was hampered by a) the being in love with the Doctor while he didn't love her thing and b) a large part of her character growth happening offstage – because she wanders the world for a year and we don't get to see any of it! So she's not my favorite, but it's not because I dislike her, if that makes sense.
I really dislike the way romantic relationships were written in seasons 2 and 3 on DW in general, but for me that is a separate thing from how I feel about Martha the character.
She's honestly my favourite of the new series and I do think it's theoretically possible to construct an argument for not liking Martha that is not offensive but about 100% of the hate she gets that I see is just so gross.
Oh, agreed. A lot of the hate boils down to "BUT SHE'S NOT ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE" which…no. I think it's legitimate to like other companions BETTER, especially as everyone will have their own favorites, but you shouldn't hate someone for not being another person.
Ugh, I KNOW. I often run into posts about how awesome Martha is on tumblr – just, like, walls of gifs and quotes of the most bad ass and beautiful of moments – and I'm all HOW DO PEOPLE NOT LIKE HER. SHE IS SO AWESOME. I mean, fine, she doesn't have to be your favourite, but howwwwwww do you feel haaaaate?
Yeah my capslock rage might be sourced from me one day doing a search for Martha gifs on tumblr and finding like 99% of the stuff in her tag to either be hate or long essays of people defending her from hate. I mean I was happy her defenders are there but dammit people I wanted pretty pictures.
HOW…. how does one not like Pushing Daisies????
IT'S LIKE CONCENTRATED DELIGHT. IT IS PIE THAT IS TV.
Every time I watch it, I just feel as though there is absolutely nothing wrong in the universe at all and everything is warm and happy, even when it makes me cry. And then I buy and eat a pie.
That's how I feel too when I watch it. <3
Yeah, it always makes me want awesome pie, but I don't know where to buy an awesome pie around me, so I end up buying a crappy frozen apple pie at the grocery store and then I am sad, so….in a convoluted way the show makes me sad. Also that it was cancelled.
Do you have a Whole Foods? They make a pretty delicious vegan apple pie.
PUSHING DAISIES! A spot of sunshine in TV Land.
V'z vagrerfgrq gb frr Znex'f ernpgvba jura jr trg gb Jvyybj/Gnen
Cnegvphyneyl gur fybj ohvyq gur eryngvbafuvc unf. Vg jnf n srj zbaguf orsber gurl jrer rkcyvpvgyl fgngrq gb or zber guna fghql sevraqf, VVEP.
Rkprcg gung vg unf Grq'f frperg vaterqvrag
Sorry, stellaaaaakris. I couldn't help myself
*flings self at desk and into bowl of mac and cheese*
Must. resist. temptation. to. decode.
It's not about pancakes, is it? 🙁
Just phgr vawbxrl fghss, ersreraprf bs trareny synvyvat, naq crbcyr dhbgvat ng rnpu bgure. No big deal. The automatic squee reactions of a Buffy fan. No meat here. Just delicious, delicious frosting.
I'm really sorry about that. It's not often I get to be a tease. But seriously and honestly, there's no meat in what's being hidden.
That’s fine, and the problem comes when people doubt our loyalty to something or start rambling about being a “real” fan of something,
Lol, I used to totally be that fan. But in my defense it was when I was 11 and first discovered online fandom! Thankfully most of us grow up. I really love discussing Buffy with people because almost every time someone brings up something I've never noticed or thought about much, which is pretty awesome considering I used to spend a fairly sizable part of my spare time watching and writing about these episodes a few years back.
So, like most people, I'm really not a big fan of this episode. There's a few funny moments that keeps it from being a total waste though.
First off. Like the last episode this was part of one of my more recent Buffy marathons. Second. I also don't like this episode.
ANGEL GAVE BUFFY HIS JACKET. Good times.
Nj. Tvyrf unfa'g pnhtug ba gb gur snpg lrg gung jura Ohssl fnlf "V jba'g qb nalguvat fghcvq." fur vf pbzcyrgryl ylvat.
I didn't like how Buffy was all like I am going to study this episode. Not that she isn't smart or anything but not like face in a book smart. It just feels so forced.
Ugh… I forgot how gross this episode was. LET ME REMIND YOU ALL I WAS 9 THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED THIS. NINE.
Ugh… If I never watch this episode ever again I'll be happy.
Woo! I finally got enough sleep and the review is up early! This is clearly a good day!
Anyway, this review exemplifies what I love about this whole blog. Mark, I love getting your perspective on these things, because you and I come from very different places, and it's so refreshing to see these episodes for the first time through the lens of someone else's life-experience.
But also, you're not wrong about this ep being pretty boring. I tried to re-watch it yesterday, and ended up tooling around on the internet, not really paying much attention. It was cool to see the woman who plays Ms French (can't remember her name) and who played Nandi in Firefly. She's been in an episode of just about every TV show ever, hasn't she? And I love that, for just a few minutes, Buffy had a teacher who believed in her. That was a good moment. I also see David Boreanaz's acting visibly improving in this episode. Did he have lessons while we were all watching "Witch"?
The thing that really bugs me about this episode (no pun intended) is where it comes down on the spectrum of virgin shaming. Those boys DO NOT WANT to be perceived as virgins, because it would impugn their manliness quotient or something, and everyone else seems to find the idea of male virginity either adorable or hilarious. I long for a time when our culture can get to a point where people's decisions to be sexual or not are their own damn business, and their choices are respected. Because "virginity" is such a bullshit concept anyway. What does it mean, really? (I read Jessica Valenti's "The Purity Myth" last year, and that book changed my fucking life! Can't wait for the documentary to come out.)
I was also a lot more disturbed by the idea of Blaine being raped by a giant bug-monster this time around, when I never really thought about that before. Get that kid some counseling, STAT!
ETA: Just one more thought. I do think it's interesting (in 1997) to do a predatory teacher episode where the teacher is female and preying on male students, when the reverse is the dominant cultural narrative.
It was cool to see the woman who plays Ms French (can't remember her name) and who played Nandi in Firefly
Actually that's two different actresses, Miss French is played by Musetta Vander while Nandi was played by Melinda Clarke.
And that exact mistake was also made on the thread under my comment about Vander. Like I said there, I think she's a really horrible actress. It shouldn't be allowed for someone with such a cool name to be that dull.
Ah, my bad. They do look very similar, though, don't they?
Oh totally, it took me a moment to work out if it was the same actress when I rewatched the episode.
Especially given that when such a situation does occur, the male victim is less likely to speak out because he suffers the "what's wrong with you that you didn't want it" stigma, with lots of "I wish she'd prey on me" comments.
I thought it was interesting that despite having a sexual ulterior agenda, "Ms. French" was portrayed as intelligent and not lacing "sluttiness" into everything she said and did.
Yeah, the narrative of "all guys want it all the time" is just as harmful in its way to men as "good girls don't" is to women.
I’m gonna be up front. I don’t like this episode. And YES, you can like or even LOVE a show and still criticize it for its faults. I got into a bit of a debate about this with someone on tumblr last night. This episode is just not good and also says some really weird things about male-female relationships.
So… We start out with Xander’s male fantasy of rescuing Buffy. We get it, Xander. You deal with feelings of inadequacy. Like idk. My issue isn’t so much that Xander struggles with feeling inadequate. That’s understandable. The part that bugs me is that in Xander’s fantasy in order for him to be a Man and a Hero, Buffy has to become weak and in need of help, you know? THIS ISN’T A ZERO SUM GAME, XANDER. He obviously has a really warped idea of what makes someone a man (namely, being able to rescue and have sex with women). I get that this entire episodes is all about how Xander’s quest to lose his virginity and become a man and how that gets him into trouble, but… I still feel like his attitudes aren’t really adequately addressed.
I just… don’t get why Joss thought this character type was cute or funny. It’s just really eye rolly and kind of gross when he has lines like where he tries to remember what happened to a teacher that went missing, but he’d gotten distracted by cheerleaders wearing short skirts. And then the new substitute walks past and Xander drools over her too. At least Willow and Buffy are appropriately unimpressed.
This episode is just kind of really… odd in how male-female relationships are portrayed. I mean, there is a lot of objectification going on with the male characters and the substitute teacher. But in the end she consumes them and female sexuality is presented as a scary and predatory thing. So I’m just really not sure what the take away message is here.
The way that virginity is handled here is really odd too because from the male perspective (Xander and the other guy down in the basement) it’s seen as bad and unmanly. But then Willow seems to want to hide behind it. IDK. THIS EPISODE IS SENDING ME WEIRD AND CONFUSING MESSAGES.
But just so this isn’t all negative, here are some things that I enjoyed: I loled really hard at Principal Flutie’s line about bottling up emotions and the next thing you know “powerful laxatives are involved”.
Cordelia’s grief counseling session also brought the lulz.
I also quite enjoyed Angel’s ~dashing and enigmatic~ schtick.
Also Doctor Gregory taking an interest in Buffy and encouraging her to be better because he knows she can be was really sweet.
Yes, I hate how in Xander's fantasy he has to make Buffy weak in order for him to be strong. Gross. I really don't know what Joss was doing with Xander here and why he thought the character would be sympathetic.
Thank you so much for this comment, I love it dearly. Xander's concept of "manliness" is just really gross and off-putting to me. Especially when I see it IRL. This one is just a really weird and uncomfortable episode that seems to be sending some pretty awful messages.
You're right, Xander's male fantasy is really warped. He's clearly got an idea that as the man, he has to be strong, and Buffy should be weaker. I wouldn't mind it so much if he became equal to Buffy as his fantasy. I mean, a couple kicking butt together? Way more appealing.
I see why he gets comparisons to Sokka, who also had to deal with feelings of inadequacy stemming from his lack of powers and concept of masculinity. But all the other characters were quick to call him out on how stupid the idea was, and he learned his lesson fairly quickly. Hoping to see similar development here.
My issue isn’t so much that Xander struggles with feeling inadequate. That’s understandable. The part that bugs me is that in Xander’s fantasy in order for him to be a Man and a Hero, Buffy has to become weak and in need of help, you know? THIS ISN’T A ZERO SUM GAME, XANDER.
Well said.
V ungr Knaqre fb zhpu! V hfrq gb yvxr uvz, ohg abj gung V'z byqre, uvf nggvghqr ernyyl errxf naq vg whfg trgf jbefr bire gur frnfbaf.
V gbgnyyl haqrefgnaq gung. Jura V jngpurq gur fubj nf vg nverq V fuvccrq Ohssl/Knaqre fb uneq naq xrcg rkcrpgvat gurz gb trg gbtrgure. Abj nf na nqhyg V ivrj guvatf fb qvssreragyl. V fgvyy pna'g trg vagrerfgrq va gur Ohssl/Natry eryngvbafuvc, orpnhfr ur'f fb fgvss jvgu ure naq vg frrzf gb ynpx vagvznpl naq pbzcnavbafuvc… naq nyy bs gung fvyyl ba/bss ohfvarff. (Vg cynlf rira jbefr sbe zr nsgre frrvat Natry gur frevrf, jura jr frr uvz oybffbzvat & bcravat hc nf Pbeqryvn/Qblyr/Jrfyrl pbaarpg jvgu uvz.) Ohg arvgure qb V svaq gur vqrn bs ure jvgu Knaqre gb or ng nyy nccrnyvat.
"My issue isn’t so much that Xander struggles with feeling inadequate. That’s understandable. The part that bugs me is that in Xander’s fantasy in order for him to be a Man and a Hero, Buffy has to become weak and in need of help, you know? THIS ISN’T A ZERO SUM GAME, XANDER."
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS. Thank you for saying this, euuugh. This is why Xander gives me all the squicky feelings in this episode, nf jryy nf sbe dhvgr n juvyr va gur rneyl frnfbaf. I have actually got a lot of hate from people about feeling this way about Xander's masculinity and inadequacy issues. (Mark, this is another one of those 'if you were a real fan, you wouldn't feel this way' pieces of bullshit that people like to pull. Euuugh.)
Vg'f npghnyyl jung znxrf vg fb vaperqvoyr gb zr gung, ol gur raq bs Frnfba Frira? Knaqre unf orpbzr zl snibhevgr punenpgre. V ernyyl, ernyyl qb abg yvxr uvz va frnfbaf bar naq gjb, naq ur tvirf zr nyy gur tebff srryvatf. Ohg gur jnl gung ur zngherf, naq qrirybcf, naq ernyyl pbzrf vagb uvzfrys — gur jnl gung ur orpbzrf unccl jvgu uvf znfphyvavgl naq jung vg zrnaf sbe uvz, naq gur snpg gung ur vf n abezny uhzna orvat, naq gur snpg gung nyy bs uvf sevraqf ner zber cbjreshy guna uvz? Gur jnl ur ybirf uvf wbo naq svaqf fbzrguvat gung ur VF tbbq ng? Tbq, vg'f whfg vaperqvoyr. Naq gur orfg guvat vf gung vg'f FGVYY KNAQRE — whfg n Knaqre jub unf tebja hc bire gur cnfg frira lrnef.
V unir arire ybirq nal bgure punenpgre zber guna jura Knaqre tvirf uvf fcrrpu gb Qnja va 'Cbgragvny' nobhg jung vg zrnaf gb or gur bar jub vfa'g fcrpvny. Gung fprar ercerfragf gur ncrk bs Knaqre punenpgre qrirybczrag.
GUVF FUBJ, LBH THLF. GUVF FUBJ.
Nyy bs lbhe ebg13 vf rknpgyl zl ernpgvba gb Knaqre, whfg jbeqrq orggre! Fb gunax lbh!
Yrtvgvzngryl tbg grnel guvaxvat nobhg gung fprar orpnhfr lrf njrfbzr punenpgre qrirybczrag vf njrfbzr! naq nyfb orpnhfr vg nhgbzngvpnyyl znxrf zr guvax bs 'Qvegl Tveyf' (V guvax, jbexvat bss bs zrzbel) jurer Knaqre ybfrf uvf rlr 🙁 Guvf fubj… Vg'f fb zrna gb zr. Naq fb njrfbzr bs pbhefr. (ohg abg guvf rcvfbqr yby)
V guvax cneg bs gur guvat gung ohtf zr nobhg nyy gur Knaqre ungr vf gung crbcyr frrz gb snvy gb npxabjyrqtr gung Knaqre jnf n grrantr obl jub jnf fnqqyrq jvgu ubezbarf naq gur phygheny aneengvir ba znfphyvavgl va gur 90'f juvyr orvat trrxl naq cevznevyl sevraqf jvgu tveyf. Bs pbhefr ur fgnegf bhg n ovg fxrril sebz bhe crefcrpgvir. Naq lrg fbzrubj ur TERJ GUR SHPX HC qhevat gur pbhefr bs gur fubj.
V ybir Knaqre, rira va gur rneyl qnlf jura ur qbrf fuvg yvxr guvf gung V qba'g cnegvphyneyl yvxr. Ur trarenyyl zrnaf jryy ohg ur'f n abezny 16 lrne byq obl gb fbzr qrterr. Uvf snagnfl jnf nobhg jnagvat gb fnir gur qnl naq or pbby naq nyy gung, naq rira vs vg frrzf n ovg fxrril gb jnag Ohssl gb or jrnxre ol pbzcnevfba, vg'f n SNAGNFL. Ur qbrfa'g npghnyyl jnag ure gb or jrnx va ernyvgl. Pna nal bs hf fnl gung jr'ir arire unq n snagnfl gung jnf n yvggyr hafrrzyl, gung jr jbhyq arire jnag gb or n ernyvgl? Cneg bs gur ernfba ur pbagvahrf gb yvxr Ohssl vf ure fgeratgu naq ure cbjre. Fb ur trgf vg jebat fbzrgvzrf, ohg ur trarenyyl zrnaf jryy, naq ur qbrf tebj hc riraghnyyl.
Naljnl. Enag bire.
Gubhtu ur qbrfa'g orpbzr zl snibhevgr punenpgre, nsgre gur uvtu fpubby lrnef V pregnvayl jnez hc gb uvz n ybg zber naq svaq uvz n ybg zber haqrefgnaqnoyr naq eryngnoyr. Fnaf 'Vagb Gur Jbbqf', 'Ragebcl' naq bar cneg bs 'Tenir' jurer V fgneg trggvat n ovt ungr ba sbe uvz ntnva. V guvax, yvxr nyy gur znva punenpgre ba Ohssl, uvf punenpgre whfg orpbzrf evpure naq zber vagrerfgvat bire gvzr (naq qrfcvgr jung fbzr fnl V qb guvax ur unf n punenpgre nep va gur yngre frnfbaf).
I agree with pretty much everything you say here. Dashing and enigmatic indeed.
I would have been waaaay more OK with a fantasy where, like, there was this one thing only Xander could do and he did it to save Buffy! It would have left so much better a taste in my mouth since yeah, then she wouldn't have been made weak at what SHE does. Just… weird.
Honestly, this whole episode is just weird to me. I don't even hate it, I just kinda struggle to… get it. At all?
Failure of Secret Identity Count:
3 + 1 (Blaine) = 4
Hardly anyone likes this episode, Mark. Don't worry.
Yeah, it's not one of the better episodes. Though it's not bad. I mean, it has the usual witty dialogue and action.
Yeah, this is one of Buffy's bad episodes. Every series has them and so of course in 7 seasons Buffy has SEVERAL. Don't worry about criticizing. 🙂
The only saving grace in this episode for me is that instead of female virgins being "sacrificed", it's male virgins. Generally it's female bodies that are shown as being in peril of violation.
Bu, Ercgvyr Obl. V yvxr gung rcvfbqr, ohg abg sbe gur N-cybg.
Lrnu, jr fubhyq rawbl guvf nfcrpg bs Grnpure'f Crg orpnhfr jr unir Gur Cnpx pbzvat hc ernyyl fbba jurer grrantr ivetva Ohssl vf chg vagb n frkhnyyl guerngravat fvghngvba (juvpu vf fubg engure rebgvpnyyl) naq gura bs pbhefr Ercgvyr Obl.
Naq V Ebobg… Lbh Wnar… Zr Onq Rcvfbqr unf anvir grra tvey Jvyybj orvat cerl bire gur vagrearg.
SO HOW'S THAT NEW SERVER EVERYONE. oh god it's so beautiful and everything is so fast and it's beautiful
I'm keeping a watch on how much memory this site uses over the next week to adjust how big I need to make it, but everything transferred over perfectly. Hopefully it shouldn't be too much extra money per month. Right now, it looks like it'll be about $40-$50 per month to keep us going.
Well, I bought your twilight ebooks yesterday to help a little bit. I'm now reading them in the train on my way to work. I can't wait to get the Harry Potter ones!
/offtopic
I'm sure you've discussed this before, but my memory is on the rocks today (don't skip lunch, kids!) — could you put up a tip jar? Or at least a "tip the new server" jar, so we can help offset the cost of our attack on the server?
If you Google "regretsy PayPal" you'll find the gruesome details of exactly why Mark does not want to put up a donate button. :/
Yayyyy! I've been holding off reccing the Buffy reviews until your server was up. Wheeeeee!
I'm jealous that all the Buffy kids get the new server, but NOOOOOO us BSG'ers were left in the dust 🙁
Kidding! Congratulations on breaking the interwebz! Well done!
There may still be episodes where we break the site. Not going to say which out of rot13, because I know that would be spoilery, but there's a couple I can think of that are likely to (Vaabprapr for one, Gur Obql for another…probably more that I'm just not thinking of at the moment).
So maybe one of the mods should keep an eye on that as well? You may know which are likely to elicit that sort of response when you watch them, though – and adjust accordingly, I guess.
Has anyone in these comments said that they quite like this episode? I don't think anyone has. Lol.
Sup?
Whoops, my bad.
Hey! did you guys know? Every generation, there is a chosen one! She alone will stand
against the forces of darkness! She… is the SLAYER.
I know because some random dude tells me this in movie trailer voice, every day.
I don't care for this episode either. I mean, I love cheese, but I got tired of the whole "high school boys ONLY WANT ONE THING" thing pretty quickly. Granted, I was never a high school boy, and did not even come to terms with my own queer sexuality until college. So yeah, almost none of my experience is reflected here.
Also, I remember even the first time I watched this, and it was just so obvious. Oh look, a new femme fatale teacher who gives lectures about the praying mantis on the first day! There's NO WAY she could be a giant bug-monster or anything. The rest was just watching the trope play out, and watching Xander make a fool of himself (but not in an entertaining "Buffy is spell-drunk and singing 'Macho Man'" way).
Things I did like:
-OMG a teacher who doesn't automatically think Buffy is a delinquent!
-Principal Flutey, insisting on talking to a counselor, and also "but not an ACTUAL hug!"
-Cordelia. Cordelia, you are amazing.
-Buffy, you spend all your free time in a library and still don't know Dewey Decimal?
-ADVANCED DEGREES IN ENTYMOLOGY AND MYTHOLOGY why was that not my major.
-"Wasn't here; didn't see it; couldn't have stopped you." Oh, how many times did I hear that from teachers~~~
I wasn't really bothered by the whole sexuality trope in this, because I realise the Buffy is playing homage to a very, very long tradition of siren like creatures that seduce guys, which makes sense in the "magic in a modern context sense". The guys being so damn forward without repercussions annoyed me, but hey, magical enchantments, what're you going to do?
It was incredibly straight, I'll admit. I think that might just be a product of the time, and even in realistic terms, the majority of the people in that school would probably be straight….I can see why you'd be disinterested. I wasn't particuarly interested. All I could think was GUYS, USE YOUR HEADS, THIS IS A BAD IDEA.
I'm really sad that one of Buffy's few supporters got om nomed, but I see why its important from a story perspective. It might have been nice to get a few more scenes with him, though. One thing that really, really bugged me was the fact there were no police around. I don't care if Sunnydale is used to all these things. A MAN WAS JUST FOUND DECAPITATED IN A SCHOOL. In any real-life environment, the place would be shut down and crawling with cops. Yet Buffy's the only one who does even a slight investigation of the dude's lab, and even she misses some pretty vital things.
Overall, this episode reminded me a lot of some lackluster kid's shows. Very predictable, 2D villain, a clear moral with the "do your homework" line that seemed rather shoved in….the only thing that showed that it was for an older audience was the discussion of sex and virginity.
Oh yeah, the lack of police. I'm pretty sure Joss or one of the writer's talked about this at least once somewhere. I think. If this were to happen irl, all the students definitely would have been sent home that day. But its usually just handwaved as "It's Sunnydale." it's a pretty lame explanation, but for some reason, I buy it…
Aw darn. Sorry for saying lame. ):
Thanks for noticing and apologizing.
And if you're interested, registering an intensedebate account will let you edit your comments so long as no one has replied to it yet. (You can also delete your comments at any time, even if there are replies.)
Aha, oh yeah, er see. On your suggestion, I went looking into doing that, when I realized, I apparently already had a wordpress account…. I just forgot I had one. It took me some digging to figure out what email was associated with my username and then I had to reset my password.. Ahah. But i'll be commenting using this from now on. So yay. (:
Yay!
But I think most of us can look at things we love–books, television, music, etc–and find something we didn’t like in it. That’s fine, and the problem comes when people doubt our loyalty to something or start rambling about being a “real” fan of something, and then I roll my eyes so hard it causes an earthquake.
Heck, Mark, you get a group of Buffy fans together, and within a few hours they'll all be trying to determine which is the WORST EPISODE EVER. We're pretty relaxed about criticism of our show. (Or at least, relaxed about there being criticism. If someone criticises the bits we like, we'll still start a flame war.)
I completely forgot to mention this, but apparently that bug costume was taken from Farscape. I mean it was left over from that show. I heard this on LJ so don't have a source.
LJ IS A SOURCE IN AND OF ITSELF.
IMDb says, "The praying mantis puppet is actually a re-use of the Na'Grath prop from the first season of Babylon 5, which used the same make-up company."
LOL, I've just been rewatching B5 so I recognized it immediately. It's decent, but it's definitely not a Henson puppet. Also, Farscape started in 1999, two years after this season of Buffy.
I WILL. I'll do it tomorrow. I wanted to give the site 24 hours to see how it handles everything before I send more people to do more things.
The true test is a liveblog. Maybe when you watch the movie after season 1 as a liveblog you can see how much this site can handle and us Buffy fans will do our best to break it (with love of course!) 😀
For me at least, the interest in the episode actually comes from the reversal of the normal situation gender-wise. The far more typical situation would be for an older male who is in actuality a monster preying on a bunch of young virgins, who would of course be female. Then, the knight in shining armor would come riding in and save them. Of course, here the knight is a girl, the evil monster is a woman, and the virgins are boys. It's a nice subverting of the original concept.
I could never register for the forums 🙁 My confirmation emails disappeared into the crack. That was way at the beginning when they were first introduced, though. Maybe I should try again?
The forum on this site that's up on the header? Or the old one?
The old one. I just tried registering with the new one and it worked! I didn’t realize it had gone through a renovation and just assumed I was FOREVER SHUNNED XD
Old forums we abandoned to the spam bots. Persistent fuckers.
That's also where the hackers exploited us! It was a flaw in the code for the old forum. SO I ANNIHILATED IT.
…I now picture an Elder Scrolls-like dungeon crawling with bots, where only the brave adventurers dare go to retrieve the Boots of Critical Thinking.
CAN WE MAKE THIS A MOD.
well the skyrim construction set isn't out yet 🙁
and lol not touching oblivion again
It's funny but whenever I think about this episode my memory is like 'Yes! That was an awesome one' but then I watch it and its mostly kind of boring with cringing moments of embarrassment. That's when I remember that it is not the episode that was awesome so much as the 10 second exchange between Angel and Buffy.
-you're cold
-you can take it
-I mean you look cold ~gives jacket~
My sister and I used to sit and just rewatch that scene over and over. Then every fifth time or so we would skip watch to the bit at the end where he tells her to keep it. ~swoon~ Because of this Angel was my first true love (I was 11).
There are a couple of moments that I love in this episode though: I love the song the band is playing at the Bronze (the first date's the worst date…) and my sister and I used to do an impression of the fork guys reaction to Miss French whenever we disliked something. Classic.
I quoted your comment about it being Okay To Criticize Things From Shows You Like to my friend and it made her very happy. 'It's Okay To Not Like Things' should be required viewing for everyone in fandom, y/y?
Good grief, I was having a really interesting discussion with my mom about The Look not too long ago. We were out, and she'd shared one with a lady in the store, and naturally that got us around to discussing the phenomenon as a whole and how The Look is, more than anything, a process of shared identity – not just for gay folks, but within ethnic groups, cultures, even *fandoms,* etc. (Example: Mom is very close to a Jewish guy, so much so that she's been mistakenly giving other Jews the Look. Confusion is had by all.) It's super fascinating to me.
I am still ridiculously psyched that *you are doing Buffy* this is wonderful, thank you, please never stop.
The Look discussion makes me sadface, cause I've never got it… I'm a straight-looking bi girl (who leans towards women) from a very small, very straight town (and now living in Japan, which is overwhelmingly heteronormative). Mark's comment about all the straight guys in this episode being able to hit on a woman without a second thought is so true, because I can't even talk to a woman I think is attractive here without feeling super predatory, as the fact I might not be looking at them platonically hasn't even occured to most people. OH SADFACE.
So I'm both really intrigued by you discussing The Look, and a little sad about it because it IS a 'process of shared identity' and I feel like I'm just defined by being Different To Straight People instead of Like Other Queer People.
I somehow forgot entirely about this episode during my rewatch so I don't have a lot of thoughts, whooops.
I think it would have been an interesting quirk if they had shown one girl that was into Ms. French, too, though I get why they didn't both on a what they could get away with on tv side and a it wouldn't work with the flipping of the preying on female virgins deal that they were trying to go for.
I did like that Buffy got to connect with a teacher, though of course he had to die a few minutes later. Still, it was a very effective way of making us care for the victim who got taken out so early in the episode as well as showing how personal this was for Buffy.
Anyway, your review was great, Mark. I watched this episode for the first time when I was pretty young and never really made the connection to my own experiences in terms of displaying attraction. So now I have all these new thoughts! It actually is interesting… they found one of the few groups of people that are not routinely punished for showing attraction to people in straight (and white, and a host of other non-oppressed groups) males and actually punished them for showing attraction to people. In a way, that actually would make the episode more interesting to me if they had played on that a little more. Maybe if they had shown a girl at the beginning being smacked down for showing too much interest in a guy and then have Buffy and Willow comment on it when they see the guys being all over Ms. French so explicitly.
"But everyone discusses it in this weird, virtuous way? As if they’d have made a terrible mistake if they weren’t virgins."
I think it was more about the macho culture that looks down on being a virgin as unmanly, even for high school boys who are below the age of consent.
Awww I love how you think Willow/Xander are cute and will make a cute ship, b/c they both are cute! Ohg, V nyjnlf gubhtug gurl znqr gur orfg sevraqf naq pbhyq arire ernyyl or gbtrgure. Gurve sevraqfuvc vf evqvphybhfyl fgebat naq gung’f jurer crbcyr trg gur uvagf bs fuvccvat gurz, ohg bapr Jvyybj/Bm trg gbtrgure naq yngre Knaqre/Pbeqryvn, V xarj gurl jbhyq nyjnlf or orfg sevraqf. Naq V gbgnyyl trg gung pbasvezngvba jvgu Jvyybj/Gnen naq Knaqre/Naln :Q Gubfr jurer zl snibevgr fuvcf!
V ebg13'q n gryygnyr "ohg" orpnhfr vg jnf uvagvat ng gur erfg bs jung lbh jrer fnlvat.
It occurs to me that if we get used to this earlier posting time for Buffy, it will make it easier to put up a Buffy post and an Angel post on the same day in the future.
God, I hope so!
By the way, is it definitely confirmed that you'll only be OfficiallyMarkWatching the crossover episodes of Angel, and watching the rest of the show unreviewed? If that's still up in the air a little bit, can I put in a vote for wanting to see your reviews of ALL the Angel episodes? Maybe you could do weekly mini-reviews of 5 eps at a time or something?
When I watched the shows I actually alternated between them for the seasons which they overlapped, using air-date order (which works for crossovers with one exception, and I'm sure someone has come up with a correct viewing order list for you already) and I found it to work very nicely. Most of the time there's no interaction between the two shows, but it means that when there IS a crossover, you get the emotional impact of the fact that you have investment in *all* the relevant plotlines and characters that are involved.
Look my only concern is time. It's not an issue of being disinterested or not wanting to. I want to. But that is like….hours and hours and hours of work to put into my schedule when I already am drastically lacking any free time. We can deal with it as I get closer to the crossover episodes, but right now I'm still sticking to reviewing only those episodes.
If I can support myself on my sites by then, I won't have a problem doing it, but I have a full time job that I work at as well.
If you can't, then watching all of Buffy at one time and all of Angel later (after a break, I'd think) is still a viable option, to do it justice.
Oh, I wasn't trying to push you or be all demandy or anything. Just wondering.
Another option would be to do alternate shows on alternate days; that means you end up doing Mark Watches BuffyAndAngel for a longer period of time, but only one episode per day.
I second @Sab3's vote. I don't think it's expectation spoilers to say I think Angel's episodes deserve attention in their own right even when they don't overlap with Buffy. I think you'll agree when you get there.
The one thing to keep in mind is that, as a rule of thumb, in Buffy Season 4/Angel Season 1 & Buffy Season 5/Angel Season 2, Buffy comes before Angel, and in Angel Season 3/Buffy Season 6 & Angel Season 4/Buffy Season 7, Angel comes before Buffy.
However, Buffy "Yvrf zl cneragf gbyq Zr" comes before Angel "Becurhf" – that's a crossover but the networks actually aired them out of order so if you go by air date you'll get bitten. (no pun intended)
To be fair to the networks, they only aired them out of order because we declared war on Iraq and one of the episodes got bumped to the next week. I think if you look up the original air dates, it actually tells you the intended air dates and everything goes in the proper order.
That's really interesting – I didn't know that! I was going off a list of original air dates that I found online somewhere, and I didn't think to go and look up the correlation of real-world events with the date of the problem eps! Thanks for the explanation!
I guess that means now I have one more thing to blame Bush for, huh?
lol DAMMIT BUSH. Y U GOTTA RUIN BUFFYVERSE.
Now I want someone to photoshop Bush's face onto the HaaH image with a RUIN ALL THE THINGS caption!
Oh, that makes sense. If "Yvrf zl cneragf gbyq Zr" had aired a week earlier, it would be a day before "Becurhf".
He might not always watch by air date. However, if he does, it's arguable how spoilery watching "Becurhf" before "Yvrf zl cneragf gbyq Zr" would be. Vf vg gung onq gb xabj Snvgu vf pbzvat gb Fhaalqnyr n srj rcvfbqrf orsber lbh frr ure neevir? Znlor lrf, znlor ab. Naljnl, vg zvtug abg or na vffhr.
People, I'm not getting the entire series to re-watch, just single episodes. And needless to say, I did not download this one…So I unfortunately have no idea what Angel's smouldering look is like (I must say, as a not-fan, I can't imagine it either). So could someone gif that?
SOMEONE OBLIGE THIS RIGHT NOW
NOT ENOUGH OBLIGING WITH ANGEL GIFS.
I'll do it if someone provides me a description/time for where in the ep it is.
He smolders a bit just after the opening credits when he takes off the jacket, and then again at the very end right before the last scene with Buffy in the classroom with Dr. G's glasses. Smoldery screencap
I've got an end-of-the-episode smoulder, if you want to try an earlier-in-the-episode one?
Hah, gotcha. And you gif-ed the part I would have at the end anyway.
Geez, Mark, you have to give us time to hit page three of the comments!
Is this a good start?
<img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/13zois6.gif">
Is this a good follow-up?
<img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/52jn2w.gif" alt="Angel smouldering" title="Snvgu is still hotter than you">
pnaabg hafrr rqjneq phyyra. gur unve. tbqqnzzvg fzrlre ehvaf nyy gur guvatf *fnqsnpr rzbgvpba*
You know, I like how David looks now. I don't know what it is. He's aged, he gained weight? But he's so thin-faced here to me, and I guess I'm not really into that. Jnvg, jung? Ohg V svaq Wnzrf fb frkl… V'z vapbafvfgrag. I guess it just looks better on David.
I prefer him bulkier, too… naq V tbggn nqzvg juvyr V svaq Wnzrf Znefgref frkl nf Fcvxr, ohg, V'z abg vagb uvz gung zhpu, orpnhfr gur 0% obql sng ybbx qbrf abguvat sbe zr (fb V fcrag zhpu bs frnfba fvk orvat irel "pbhyq lbh chg fbzr pybgurf ba cyrnfr").
I actually thought David was pretty cute back then, and I think I still do. But ur arire nccrnyrq gb zr va gung jnl orpnhfr V sbhaq uvf punenpgre (naq uvf punenpgre'f eryngvbafuvc jvgu Ohssl) fb qhyy fbzrubj. V jnf tynq gb frr uvz yrnir gur fubj, naq V qvq raq hc yvxvat Natry (gur fubj) gubhtu zber sbe gur bgure punenpgref yvxr Serq naq Jrfgyrl guna sbe Natry uvzfrys.
Fchssl nyy gur jnl.
Hoo Boy ::fans self::
Thank you! Still, the hair, not doing it for me… Although I think when I first watched Buffy when I was 16, I may have been a bit swept away. But it was a long time ago, before I knew acting ability was a required thing for tv stars…
Ok, I did watch the last episode (and quite enjoyed it) but I wasn’t in time to comment on the last review. But I’m back! To give you more ~important thoughts~ on Buffy! LIVE.
-Oooh a promising start! Buffy’s hair looks awesome.
-What Xander defeated it? Ohhh dream sequence, right?
-Yup.
-Awww her teacher is so nice! He’s doomed, isn’t he?
-REDSHIRT ALERT REDSHIRT ALERT
-The fuck? Giant…Preying Mantis? Ah w/e the guy’s toast.
-Oh Xander you idiot. Why is Willow so into you again?
-Oh great, Angel. Bet you ten bucks he just says something cryptic, eyes up Buffy and wanders off again.
-Urg he’s giving her his jacket? I’m with Xander, that’s weirdly possessive for someone you barely know.
-Y’know the fact that he’s wearing a white vest and a gold chain kind of makes him look like a 90s rapper.
-Let me guess – sexy new teacher is really a giant preying mantis? I mean, she’s wearing GREEN EYESHADOW. Of course she’s evil!
-Xander, I wouldn’t joke about the earth opening up beneath your feet of I were you. In this town that’s an actual possibility.
-I’m getting the impression Blaine might be in for the chop too.
-Poor frozen teacher dude. I bet they make everyone wear name-tagged clothes in this school just so the bodies can be identified.
-Yeah sneaking around dark parks always ends well
-OOHHH who is that? Wolverine! He’s scared of Mantis Woman anyway.
-WE HAVE TO HEAL. Oh Principal Whatsisname, how I love you.
-Buffy’s reaction face to Cordelia is AMAZING. Someone PLEASE gif that!
-Giles knew someone at Oxford called …Carlisle? OH MY GOD GILES KNOWS CARLISLE TWILIGHT AND BUFFY TAKE PLACE IN THE SAME UNIVERSE OMG OMG
-Xander’s such an idiot. Hey Blaine isn’t dead though!
-Carlisle sounds awesome. Giles has awesome friends.
-YAY in the nick of time! I was hoping for some Xander/mantis sexy tiems though.
-Wrong side of the tape LOLOLOLOLOL. I know Giles’ voice makes MY nervous system go to hell. But that’s a whole different story.
-Hmm so there are Mantis eggs in the science cupboard? What’s the betting that’s never addressed again?
So I liked this episode overall, not much to say about it. I think I’m kind of warming up to the cheesy, tongue in cheek style Buffy has going on. I also warmed up to Xander a bit more in this episode. He’s an idiot, but a loveable one! On the other hand, Angel is just annoying me more and more. The cryptic hot guy routine is getting old and I’d rather just have some info on him now. Also bothering me is their apparent need to have an ‘It’s over – OR IS IT???’ ending every episode. That’ll get old fast if they keep doing it. No major complaints though…
Wow, from reading the comments it seems everyone really hates this episode? IDK, it was pretty stupid but I think I'm still at that stage where I don't care enough about the show to be outraged/embarrassed by kind of shoddy episodes. I'm not holding Buffy to a very high standard at the moment, to be honest.
I'm enjoying it because it's a bit rubbish. I was just laughing at the giant Preying Mantis. 😀
Pfft rage shmage. I'm with you, this dumb episode is totally fine for what it is.
"Hate" is a little strong, for me at least. I just don't especially like it. If it was on TV and I was doing laundry, I'd watch it. But I wouldn't pop in a DVD for it or pull it up on Netflix.
Yeah, this is one of the worst episodes. I enjoy it for Dr. Gregory and the horrible B movie aspects, but that's about it.
Why is virginity a "noble" thing? What does it say when we judge a person for their sexuality instead of for their intelligence and compassion…
glbfhgblawrbgwrl I am SO GLAD to know it's not just me who sees really really straight things and feels this disconnect and disinterest. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of straight romance stories that I like a lot about, there are some het ships I ship enormously, but some things are just so cloyingly, unendingly straight that it gets wearing and boring. This episode is absolutely one of those things. (In the scene in the classroom when she asks who wants to work with her, I always wonder how every single person in that room is straight. And I wonder if a couple of the guys put their hands up because everyone else was, or even if the pheromone worked no matter the person's sexuality, and whether it would work on lesbians. Who knows. Maybe everybody in that room was either straight or bi. *hands*)
omg we are twins
Triplets.
straightness how does it work
This. This. THIS. Just. It's nothing inherent to heterosexuality, it's just… overexposure over the course of more than a decade starts to wear so very thin for me.
And I always, always wonder in pheromone plots like these what happens to queer women or closeted people or people who are flexible or… yeah. I overthink, basically, heh.
I don't think you have to be not-straight to find that storyline very done and very tired. I found it to be quite boring and obvious.
The film answers a lot of your rhetorical questions. 🙂
Hey look, it's an episode I saw once, got bored of halfway through, barely finished, and then never watched again. Looks like Mark's reaction lines up pretty well with what I remember of my own.
Onward!
First, I can't wait for that verification email to actually come through so I can log in. (How I managed to only think that I had created an account, I don't know. Maybe because I meant to.)
I love what you said about being able to criticize something while still being a fan. Off topic a bit but I went through this just last night when I said that the new snippet of Adam Lambert's new single did nothing for me since it took me two listens to realize that, no, that wasn't an instrumental, that was him hitting the high notes while he sang. I got quite a few asking why I suddenly didn't like him and I was sitting there wondering how they got that from me saying that I hoped the entire song was better than what that snippet gave us.
And I rambled so much I needed a separate comment for the Buffy part!
Now back to Buffy – I haven't gotten a chance to comment before (except for the all caps excitement on Twitter) and so, I have to say it now, I'm SO EXCITED that you're watching Buffy. This, more than any other show suggested, was one that I hoped you would get to. I watched it from the beginning and this show is always going to have a special place in my heart as cheesy as it may sound. But I met my best friends of the past 12 years because of this show and it used to be something my mom and I watched together. I loved having something like that that we could talk about because some of the things that she noticed were never things that I would have noticed, etc. Which is a large part of why I really enjoy reading your reviews, Mark, and one of the reasons I love this show – it's been 8 years since it ended and there are still new things to discuss!
Verification email for what? WordPress or IntenseDebate?
IntenseDebate. I was going to verify the account from work but I can't view the junk folder from there and it turns out that that's where the email got sent. All verified now though, yay!
Finally got an Intense Debate account, yay me!
I'm glad to see your comments re: criticism of a beloved show does not equal dislike of said show. Because, really, I have been a part of numerous discussions that devolved into flame wars due to that very same subject. I love Buffy: the show and the character. Does that make them perfect? No. I love my family. They are not perfect either. I think it's a whole issue where people like things to be simple: black or white, wrong or right, like or dislike. So, you can't criticize something (or someone) without being against it. So wrong!
In other news, these characters are so adorable. I had forgotten how cute Willow is in these early episodes. Her little freak-out about Xander is sweet and Hannigan really sells her vulnerability and innocence. Tvira ubj zhpu V pbzr gb qvfyvxr Jvyybj nf n punenpgre yngre ba, V'z ernyyl purevfuvat gurfr zbzragf. Sigh.
This episode is just not very good, on the whole. I'm really interested to see your opinions on the rest of the show, Mark. You are not prepared! =D
"This episode is just not very good, on the whole. I'm really interested to see your opinions on the rest of the show, Mark. You are not prepared! =D "
This! LOL. I'm so looking forward to your different thoughts and reactions to the storylines and how each of the characters develop, Mark. It's going to be so fun rewatching this with you. 😀
THANK YOU BOTH omg i am so excited to watch more.
omg
I didn't get a chance to watch this episode (I've seen it in the past, and… it's probably telling that I don't remember much about it), but I did want to say I connected a lot with what you've said about being gay and watching rather Straight Storylines. Yes, it's not like I am incapable of enjoying a straight love story, but it does often mean for me, I am not going to be terribly into a bunch of girls ooohing over a guy (though I'll acknowledge that even that, as straight woman perspective, is a lot rarer than the other way around). It's not inherently bad, but yeah, I'm not necessarily going to relate to this story and these notions of how relationships work. So reading your comments on that was really gratifying for me.
This…was not one of Buffy's better episodes. Actually as far as I know most of the fandom doesn't like it? Or that may just be my friends who've seen the show. I think about the only things I liked were the teacher you mentioned (seriously why couldn't all high school teachers be that cool?) and some of the gags like when Buffy played the recorder and instead of the sound she needed it was Giles lecturing.
But yeah, this was one of Buffy's more ridiculous "i can't believe it was allowed on TV eps". I like to think Whedon was commenting on the ridiculousness of teenage hormones but I suspect it was mostly just them trying to get a feel for the show and this was one random idea they had that they thought sounded like a good idea at the time.
"they equate criticism with a dislike of the content itself." – also known as the curse of the Internet. I swear that one line is sufficient basis for a decent psychological thesis for someone…
On the whole Ms French thing… actually there's a few bits I want to say about that. First, you have to bear in mind that this show was made in 1997 and showing gay (or lesbian) content on TV in this sort of show was a network no-no around then. Second the whole 'good looking woman who trades on their looks = evil' thing I don't really agree with as I really don't think that's the point of the episode or the series. Hell you've got Buffy, Willow and Cordy who are all pretty damn smoking hot and even the worst of them (uh, Cordy just to clarify) is portrayed in at least a slightly sympathetic light even though she does certainly use her 'there is no way you're a teenager' looks to her advantage.
Third as much as I hate to say this, there's a good reason that the trope of 'all the guys are drooling' is rolled out here. It's high school! This is pretty much how it is in real life (and that's in the humble, restrained and chaste UK!). I also have to disagree with your take on the virginity thing, but that's more because it's Willow saying it and two things you have to bear in mind: 1) From experience when you are the nerdy, shy, haven't got a hope of getting a date geek you tend to decide that not rushing into things is the right thing to do because it helps mask the crushing loneliness and 2) Willow is Xander's BFF, she knows the social pressures on teenage boys and once she's brought it up doesn't want to batter him over the head with it. Uh, so to speak.
I agree that gay allusions in 1997 on the WB would have been a hard sell, but I would like to note that in 1998 gay character Jack joined the cast of Dawson's Creek as a series regular on that same network. Will & Grace also started airing in 1998. Fb vg'f hafhecevfvat gung gur svefg zragvbaf bs pnaba ubzbfrkhnyvgl va OgIF ner gung lrne va "Cunfrf".
V guvax gur arkg bar jr trg vf va frnfba 3 jvgu Jvyybj guvaxvat Inzc Jvyybj (naq guhf urefrys) zvtug or n yvggyr tnl. (cyhf nyy gur oheavat fhorkg orgjrra Ohssl-Snvgu yby).
There was also Ricky on My So Called Life circa 1995, but that show didn't last very long. Also Roseanne had a few gay characters and there was I believe a gay storyline with a main character on Party of Five, but I can't remember when they were first introduced. Roseanne ended by 1997 though so it had to be before then.
Different network, but I'm just saying.
Didn't Roseanne herself share a kiss with another woman?
I remember an episode like that, and I think the storyline revolved around her being uncomfortable with it and Nancy sort of confronted her about that. Oh god I so want a Roseanne rewatch now.
Yeah, no, I really do not like this episode. :/ I could not name the episodes in S1 if you paid me, so I have no clear idea of which episode your reviews are going to be covering next. So when I saw this title come up, I genuinely went, "gahhh, noooo, not this one, my endless creys'.
This episode is problematic in the extreme, and honestly? Really makes me dislike Xander. He just acts so poorly towards women in this episode, as I recall, and it really got my hackles up in a big way. I suppose what I always forget is that, yes, he is a stupid teenage boy, but…. yeahhh, he's not my fave in this episode. I'm glad that this episode is done and now you can move on, because I think the whole fandom agrees that it's ass.
Also, Buffy fandom is actually quite wonderful about criticizing itself, so you don't have to be too scared there. There are admittedly camps of people who think that certain portions of the series are better than others, but in general? 144 episodes = GUARANTEED that they made some stinkers. We understand, and I think a lot of us skip episodes upon rewatching. Especially in S1, where the show was just finding its feet, no one will be angry if you find an episode problematic or annoying.
Interestingly, I really sympathized with your inability to relate in this episode because it was based so strongly around a straight experience. That's JUST how I feel whenever I watch a show that features a nuclear-style family. When there's a mum, dad, siblings, and the expectation that every other family is like that? Yeah, I immediately disassociate. It's funny, because I feel that these are both things that people tend to take for granted that everyone's experience is the same and thus we can all relate, but sometimes? We just can't. I love watching Buffy's relationship with her mum in this because it is so far removed from the kind of 'perfect' family that always made me so uncomfortable seeing on television, and I will never get over my happiness that their relationship is such a real and strong one. It's entirely expected and okay that your experiences shape the way you perceive something — in fact, it's one of the reasons these reviews are so awesome to read.
TL;DR: I don't like this episode either, Mark, no worries! Great review!
Yeah, not a very good outing this one. Part of what I think in the last few episodes has actually been a good soundtrack, the musical cues have been very obvious as well. On the plus side Xander is still pretty much an immature school boy, I think this rings reasonably true. From reading the comments there doesn't seem to be a lot of love for him but I kinda thought that was the point.
Seems to me like a lot of his views are drawn a low opinion of himself, seemingly unpopular and easily cast aside. Thus mentally he really likes seeing himself as quite alpha.
This doesn't excuse anything but I think the characterisation is good.
Just saying.
Mark, in your honor, I just submitted "Fear Her is the best episode of Doctor Who" to the "Rick Perry's Unpopular Opinions" tumblr. <3
Every time I spend a couple of days away from Tumblr, they make something awesome! Obviously I need to be on Tumblr ALL THE TIME
This is the first time I've gone over there and the ask box has been open, so I'm trying to think of as many to submit as I can! 😀
CANNOT UPVOTE THIS ENOUGH.
Was this also you?
<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw9w196Lvx1r7mf4po1_500.gif"</a>
lol no, that wasn't me. I WISH I could claim credit for that!
THIS IS THE BEST ONE I HAVE SEEN
…damn you, non-interest in Dr Who, now I share an opinion with Rick Perry D:
Well, at least you can rest assured that you'd make a better president.
Late to the party so possibly just repeating but these are the notes I made while rewatching:
– Dr (really?) Gregory! I love him so much!
– I adore the WTF looks Buffy keeps giving Blaine as he makes comments about Miss French, like 'dude, why are you talking to me?'
– LOL at the 'food' label on Miss French's crickets or whatever they were, I know it's so the audience gets that she's going to eat them but seeing as we actually see her eating them I just think it's a terrible way of maintaining her cover. The only worse thing would be to have put her name on them and put them in the staff fridge.
– Principal Flutie, never change. His whole monologue is comedy gold. Powerful laxatives indeed.
– "Where are the books on bugs?" accompanied by a grossed out look, aw Buffy you're so cute.
– I always find it strangely distracting when people swipe metal things through the air on TV (swords usually, but in this case fork-guy's hand) and they make grinding-metal noises.
– Hehehe at Giles' excuse for allowing Willow's hacking, "Wasn't here, didn't see it, couldn't have stopped you"
– Angel was looking pretty buff in this episode /shallow He sure does do a lot of smirking though.
– "Inquiring minds want to know" is one of those phrases I use frequently in every-day life.
– Willow and Buffy are so cute together in this episode, I really like how they seem to have bonded as friends, their giggling, little looks and their working together to save Xander is all so sweet.
– Giles' dictaphone tape! How else should I organise my books? Tell me!!
– Cute old lady is cute "No, I'm right here!"
"There are too many guys in your life." lol
I nearly forgot about the cute old lady! She's adorable
Yeah, not a fan of this episode, I actually haven't watched it in a while, because I usually skip it. And, watching it again now that I'm out of high school made me realise how SUPER ILLEGAL this is! I mean, a teacher asking male students to come to her house after school and supplying them with alcohol, super squick! (Although the fact that the actress looks around the same age as Nicholas Brendon made it a little better) Of course, the following turning into a giant bug and trying to kill them would probably raise some red flags too…Anyway, I don't know how I never noticed that before!
Also, with the preachy virginity stuff at the end, I thought that it was only really Willow who talked about it in a judgemental way? I sort of chalked it up to her naivete and obviously very chaste sense of values.
I also loved Dr. Gregory, for a throwaway character he actually had quite a positive impact on Buffy, making it that much more tragic when he died (although he did help Cordelia loose weight!). I love that we manage to get such a sense of his character for the short time on screen. Also showing how much of an effect positive encouragement can have.
Nyfb, va erfcbafr gb fbzr bs gur qvfphffvbaf bire ubj gur oblf jrer npgvat va guvf rcvfbqr. V guvax gung gurer'f fbzr fbeg bs onpx hc va gur znggre gung Zvff. Serapu jnf hfvat ure ohttl cbjref ba gur oblf, engure guna whfg univat gurz anghenyyl snyy bire ure, va Wraal Pnyraqne. Fur'f nethnoyl cerggvre guna Zvff. Serapu ohg grrantr oblf nera'g snyyvat bire gurzfryirf gb qebby nyy bire ure.
bgr thrhg yay bbhdy dbb ah y gua n hhyah wyyt mbnbx thsh
Exactly!
Mark, you can gay up my internet any time!
Yeah… so, I’m a straight female, and I was just as bored by this ep, Mark. Maybe you have to be a teenaged straight male in order to be interested, or maybe it’s just boring. 😛 I am so over Xander’s Manly Man issues, and every scene with him and Mrs. French was really uncomfortable for me to watch. I get that they were going for the same thing they did with Witch, namely, take an issue that teenagers sometimes have and make it supernatural. In this case, it was the virginity issue plus having a crush on a hott teacher (or the other way around, having a predatory teacher who seduces students). But the way they did it just kinda squicks me out.
I’m just glad they stuck to the “guys are losers if they haven’t had sex yet” shaming without getting into the “girls are sluts if they HAVE had sex” shaming. Like, they’re both awful, but having them both in one episode would just be too much for me, unless they did a proper critique of them. Which… they didn't, really. I mean, surprise, Blayne was a virgin all along? That’s your twist? They didn’t talk about how sex doesn't make you A Man or how virginity is a made-up concept anyway. Xander is still just as embarrassed about being a virgin at the end as he was in the beginning. Whatever. Next episode please!
Also, I share your opinion on Angel. Mmmm smoldery.
Thoughts while re-watching:
Aaand we get more of Xander having a creepy crush on Buffy. It's very telling that in his dream he wants to save HER from the vampires, instead of the other way around. Dude, Buffy is the Slayer. DEAL WITH IT. This is the episode where I'm most annoyed with Xander so far, I think, because it's ALL about his Manly Man Issues and his pathetic fantasies where he plays guitar and gets girls. SHUT UP, XANDER. At the moment I am still president of the Xander Ambivalence Club, but I think the first time I watched this I wasn't so tuned in to issues like Nice Guy Syndrome, and now that I'm re-watching it many years later I have a different perspective, and Xander is pissing me off.
This teacher with the glasses is great, which is why he is DOOMED. Thanks Joss. 🙁
OMG, THE SINGER'S SHINY SHIRT. Angel, I take back everything I said about your jacket, because THIS IS RIDICULOUS.
Speaking of Angel, it's Angel! He gives her his jacket! HOTT. Angel with a tank top! HOTT.
Look, once again this show is so dark I can't tell what's going on. And it's a fight scene! This is ridiculous. We've spent all this time building up to "fork guy" and now I can't even see his fork hand.
Mrs. French is SO CREEPY. Ugh, I can't even watch the scene where she OFFERS XANDER A MARTINI and tries to seduce him. adfks;js;jk DO NOT WANT
Poor Blayne is going to be SCARRED FOR LIFE after watching a giant mantis "mate" with someone. Good luck getting that image out of your head!
I love that Buffy comes up with the bat sonar idea. She did her homework!
Buffy's haaaair omg so cute in this last Bronze scene with Angel.
The ending with the ~mysterious eggs~ is what my roommate and I call a "Goosebumps Ending." After the kids' horror series, which would always have a thing at the end to indicate that whatever horror you THOUGHT had been vanquished COULD ALWAYS COME BACK. DUN DUN DUUUUN. (TVTropes calls it The End… Or Is It? And yes, they mention Goosebumps on that page.)
I just remembered that this gorgeous picture of Charisma Carpenter wearing a giant sweater and silver pants exists and now it's the most important thing that I find it.
EDIT:
http://www.whosdatedwho.com/tpx_2757470/seventeen…
ILU 90s
ps: that is a magazine cover from 1999 and Mark you might want to avoid clicking.
I'm more or less straight and I don't find the way people are acting relatable at all. But then I find most of how teevee high school kids are portrayed is so far away from how anyone on the planet acts in the first place so I need to do some major suspension of disbelief there in general.
omg that's awesome. and wtf is on his FACE
Haha at first I honestly thought that was Chad Michael Murray.
lololol
also something is REALLY off about this picture, what are they SITTING ON? someone photoshopped this all to hell
OMG. That issue of 17 had a great picture of David Boreanaz with that goatee in a bathtub giving a smoldering look. It may have hung on the wall by my bed for the majority of high school. I still have the hard copy, but I have no idea where to find it online. If anyone can find it, I think Mark may need to see it
ETA: I also owned that sweater (or more likely a knockoff)
Hahaha wot. Do you have access to a scanner?
The sweater looks fine and really comfy, with the pants it just looks totally out of place.
Oh god silver trousers, late 90's flashbacks. I may have owned a similarly coloured pair, except mine were more like baggy combat trousers.
I was going to say when that plastic jacket got posted that I may or may not have owned a transparent plastic purse in 1996. Who thought that was a good idea?
My favorite instances of that trope are from Manos: The Hands of Fate and Space Mutiny.
Lost in Tropes again. Much thanks must be given.
I was watching Buffy along side a friend who had never watched the series before, and I confess that I actually skipped this episode (of course she didn't know the difference) because I think this is the worst one…. I love the series a lot, but yeah, this episode is really bad.
I GET TEMPTED OKAY
I JUST WANT TO BE PART OF THE COOL CROWD
🙁 🙁
MARK
YOU ARE THE REASON WE ARE ALL ON THIS SITE
YOU ARE THE COOL CROWD
Seriously. And I promise, half of the rot13 is "I can't wait to he gets here and we get to hear his ~thoughts~ on *this*!!!"
…The other half is stuff I would have to rot13. Damn.
EXACTLY!!!
And I mean, my first post's rot13 was basically OH MY GOD I WANT MARK TO BE AT BLAH PART IN SEASON BLAH SO BADLY RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF BLAH AND I WANT TO DISCUSS IT WITH HIM!
bIghuSbe' 😀
Yeah, in general, fandom agrees this one is a flop. We are very aware of our flops, and just skip them on the rewatch! Hee
Nyfb, Ohssl irgf, nalbar ryfr rkpvgrq gb frr jung ur guvaxf bs Fcvxr vs ur yvxrf Natry fb zhpu? V ybir obgu bhe inzcver oblf, naq ybbxf sbejneq gb uvf ernpgvba jura gurl funer gur fperra.
Nf n uhtr sna bs Fcvxr, V ernyyl ubcr Znex yvxrf uvz. V'z ubcrshy orpnhfr bs jung ur fnvq rneyvre nobhg gur inzcverf orvat obevat. Naq V guvax (nfvqr sebz Natry), Fcvxr jnf bhe svefg fvta bs fbzrguvat arj naq qvssrerag, naq pbby naq… qbjaevtug onqnff.
The thing that interests me about this episode is that I think that the writers sidestepped a moral question. When Buffy captures the vamp and makes him find the insect woman, what would have happened if he hadn't attacked her? Can you stake somebody who helped you. Is she that hard core?
One other small think, your tags have Nicholas Brendon's name spelled incorrectly.
Qrne Natry,
Lbh orggre fgbc guvf Rqjneq Phyyra-vat nebhaq fbzrgvzr fbba. V qba'g pner vs lbh pnzr svefg, vg qbrfa'g znxr vg orggre.
Pbeqvnyyl lbhef,
Lnibfnhe
I did wince when Buffy said she was going to do "her homework" so the rest of the writing is just that awesome.
Why would you label a container of crickets "food" if you are trying to blend in? Follow-up: why label your food?
Hee Hee, Carlisle.
YBY JNVG HAGVY UR'F VA URE ORQEBBZ JUVYR FUR FYRRCF VA GUR FRNFBA 2 CERZVRER.
This episode squicks me out more than anything else. I mean, if it were an older male teacher/bug monster using pheremones to attract a whole bunch of virginal girls, this show would have probably been pulled off the air. Aside from a few subtle indicators via Willow and Buffy that it's supergross, this ep uses the concept of statutory rape of young men for laughs. Which: ew. And NO THANK YOU. Also, I don't find Ms. French attractive or entertaining at all, probably because for all that she's a villain she is a really passive character. I usually skip this ep on rewatches of the show, except then I have to go back and skip through to find the parts with Angel in it because men in white tanks and gold chains are …ahem… I'm usually a girls' girl, but damn.
Cordelia is amazing. She says the worst things ever, but it's so goddamn funny. (BTW she has a scale that measures in ounces? Committment.) She and Principal Flutie should just talk at each other all day long – not even hold a conversation, since neither of them really can.
It's nice to come to this site and not have it broken by the power of Buffy. Girl's got superpowers.
Ohhhh thank god it's not just me. The whole concept of 'hahaha, boys will be boys!' always gets applied to these plots, and I hate that so much, as though, 'oh, well, boys are horny and wouldn't complain'. Like, 'what a way to go!' kind of jokes- and then, haha, it's terrible because SHE'S A BUG. Like *that's* what makes it bad. Just… no. Blegh.
Yeah, I'm with the both of you on this. It reminds me of that South Park episode where they spoofed that teacher (whose name I cannot recall). Every time poor Kyle tried to convince someone that his little brother was being molested by his teacher, the person would say, "But… she's a woman! But…. she's hot!" Obviously since it's South Park, the whole thing was meant to be ridiculous, but it's a pretty disturbing mindset that just will not go away. Men can't be raped by women, because they are sex-obsessed and they always want it! Nice way to blame the victim, society. Argh.
Thinking about it, maybe the fact that she's a giant bug is a metaphor for how gross it is… except I don't ever get that vibe from the episode. More of a "sex = bad" for the teen audience, courtesy of the late '90s WB mandate.
Eh, I'm straight, in this is one of my two least favorite episodes of season 1, and in my bottom 10 for the series.
And, to ward off "not real fan" syndrome, it's my favorite show ever, and if I were to list my top 10 favorite episodes of tv ever, nearly half of them would be from Buffy, and probably 7 or 8 would be from Buffy and Angel combined.
YOU'RE NOT A REAL FAN IF YOUR TOP TEN IS NOT ALL BUFFY.
lol jkjkjk (could not resist), but i don't think anyone's gonna say you're not a real fan, nobody really likes this episode 🙂 too much creepy teacher and 'teenage boys cannot control themselves around pretty girls' and not enough Flutie banning all 'd' words and being sensitive about bad touching.
Late to the party, again. But man, this also was not my favorite.
And now, because it has to be said: David Borneaz is UNWATCHABLE. I mean, he's hot sure, but damn the man cannot act. I assume he gets better as the series goes on (PLEASE GOD TELL ME HE GETS BETTER), since he's pretty good in Bones. So I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.
Having seen a lot of Boreanaz's acting over the years, it was quite interesting watching him slowly developing acting talent…
Yeah this should be interesting. Like I said, I like him in Bones, but right now… eesh.
I hear you about Boreanaz. He does improve, if that's something you were actually wanting an answer to. I think he deserves some kind of "Most Improved" award for TV actors, because now I genuinely enjoy watching him whereas before… it was cringe-worthy.
Yes, thank you. I believe that counts as a good non-spoilery answer.
🙂
Secondly, Angel. Like, I have never really found David Boreanaz attractive personally, and what the hell happened to me? He puts on that smoldering look and I’m like DUDE DUDE DON’T DO THAT AROUND ME. I mean, I don’t want to marry him or anything, but he can give me that look any time he wants.
SO. I grew up watching Anthony Stewart Head in the coffee adverts being all suave and romantic and debonair etc etc and when I started to watch Buffy that is how I always imagined Giles being in his native environment. That is, in the wilds of England, drinking tea, talking about the weather, queuing…and that it was something in the water over there that made him not like the coffee advert.
Then ANGEL. And my little face went :O <-EXACTLY like that. And I forgot about the romantic coffee bearing hero that Giles must be when he returns to the motherland. Although obviously, now I am wondering if there's fanfic out there that inserts Giles into those adverts.
I AM SO EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO VIEW THE SITE OUTSIDE GOOGLE READER. TO COMMENT AND SUCHLIKE. So excited! And considering that I'm now going away until the new year and will probably only occasionally check in on…google reader I am going to issue a non-specific YOU ARE NOT PREPARED.
Because really? You have like 140 episodes left. 😀
Randomly, remembering the first season of Buffy always makes me think of the film Clueless. Mostly for the fashion.
lol "queuing"
You have to admit, there is something really satisfying about being in an orderly queue moving at just the right speed…
Something that's just occurred to me: Giles' friend who was driven mad by Ms. French (and I imagine that little subplot didn't help Mark's enjoyment of the episode) is named Carlisle. So that's one Twilight name in the series so far, though I don't imagine anyone would really want to keep track.
…Yeah, this episode. Don't worry, no one will ever make you watch it again.
Some people above mentioned that in each season there's at least one that they skip on rewatches, and when introducing the show to newbies. I have to admit to watching "Teacher's Pet" no more than the one time.
Be patient, Mark. You are soooooo unprepared.
Episodes I skip:
frnfba 1 – Grnpure'f Crg
frnfba 2 – Xvyyrq Ol Qrngu (Ercgvyr Obl vf ng yrnfg shaal, va cynprf)
frnfba 3 – Qrnq Zna'f Cnegl (nyy gur NATFG)
frnfba 4 – Jurer gur Jvyq Guvat Ner (nygubhtu V graq gb ng yrnfg jngpu gur ovg jvgu Tvyrf fvatvat, orpnhfr *thu*)
frnfba 5 – Bhg Bs Zl Zvaq (Evyrl'f xvaqn obevat)
frnfba 6 – Nf Lbh Jrer (Evyrl, ntnva)
frnfba 7 – Uryc
Anyone else?
V eneryl fxvc rcvfbqrf orpnhfr vg jbhyq whfg oht zl pbzchyfvir arrq gb qb guvatf va beqre, ohg vs V jnf tbvat gb…
Frnfba 1-Grnpure'f Crg
Frnfba 2-Onq Rttf. rkgerzryl cbvagyrff. nygubhtu vg qbrf pbagnva bar bs zl snibevgr GI uvtu fpubby pyvpurf jurer fghqragf unir gb gnxr pner bs na rtt gb grnpu cneragvat. V jnf FB qvfnccbvagrq jura zl fpubby unq hf hfr fghssrq navznyf. Whfg abg nf rkpvgvat…
Frnfba 3-V nterr, QZC. Vg whfg znxrf zr jnag gb lryy ng gur GI gb znxr zl Zbzzlf naq Qnqqlf fgbc svtugvat!!
Frnfba 4-Tbbqolr Vbjn. GBB ZHPU EVYRL htu V ungrq uvz
Frnfba 5-Vagb gur Jbbqf. V entr rirel gvzr V jngpu guvf rcvfbqr bire Evyrl qrpvqvat gurve oernx hc vf nyy Ohssl'f snhyg naq vtabevat uvf bja fuvggvarff. Fbeel, nagv-Evyrl ovnf vf ernyyl fubjvat urer yby
Frnfba 6-Frrvat Erq. htu. Erdhverf ab rkcynangvba V guvax.
Frnfba 7-Jrveqyl, gurer'f abar V pna npghnyyl fxvc. Vg'f abg gung rirel rcvfbqr vf na nznmvat trz, ohg gurer'f fbzrguvat va rirel bar gung V pbhyq abg zvff.
Zbfgyl nyy guvf qvq jnf znxr zr FB RKPVGRQ sbe nyy gur njrfbzr rcvfbqrf Znex vf tbvat gb trg gb juvyr V jnf ybbxvat sbe abg fb terng barf. Pna. Abg. Jnvg.
Uzz… yrg’f frr
Bar: Grnpure’f Crg, Chccrg Fubj
Gjb: Vapn Zhzzl Tvey, Yvr Gb Zr, Xvyyrq ol Qrngu, V Bayl Unir Rlrf Sbe Lbh, Tb Svfu
Guerr: Ornhgl naq gur Ornfgf, Ybire’f Jnyx, Nzraqf, Urycyrff, Gur Mrccb, Gur Cebz
Sbhe: Orre Onq, Cnatf, Fhcrefgne, Jurer Gur Jvyq Guvatf Ner, (+ nal fprar jvgu Nqnz)
Svir: Erny Zr, Oybbq Gvrf, Pehfu, V Jnf Znqr gb Ybir Lbh, Vagreiragvba, Fcveny, Jrvtug bs gur Jbeyq
V’z abg tbaan yvfg rcvfbqrf sbe Fvk be Frira orpnhfr gung’q or yvxr unys gur rcvfbqr yvfg sbe rnpu.
Vapn Zhzzl Tvey. Vg ernyyl srryf yvxr gur fubj fvaxvat onpx vagb vgf ehg evtug nsgre qvttvat vgfrys bhg jvgu gur neeviny bs Fcvxr. Nyfb, V fbzrubj erzrzorerq gur gvgyr nf gur zber jvggl "Vapn Qvaxn Qbb," fb abj rira gung ybbxf obevat.
Vf xvyyrq ol qrngu gur greevslvat bar ng gur ubfcvgny? V ungr gung rcvfbqr, gbb fpnel.
The heteronormativity in this episode is weird. I mean, ALL the boys are attracted by this woman? ALL OF THEM?! Yes, someone might argue, that the gay or bisexual students are afraid of coming out of the closet and therefore act straight, but that doesn't explain why all of them are suddenly superhorny. None of them has a girlfriend? None of them just isn't into this woman? We had two teachers like Ms. French. I (among some other women) wasn't attracted to the male one, several (straight) male friends of mine didn't think the female teacher was hot.
Our sexual orientation was never questioned. And why should it have been? It's pretty obvious that you aren't into everyone of the opposite/same/both sex(es), just because you are heterosexual/homosexual/bisexual. Why isn't even one of the guys not interested. (And laughing about his fellow males…)
_____________
Unlike many of you, I have far greater difficulties to relate to someone, who is exactly like me. Fortunately, I might add, because the number of physically disabled people in books or tv-shows is already pretty low and finding someone with my condition is nearly impossible.
That doesn't mean, that I'm not looking for it! I devour everything, where someone with my disability appears – but it always ends in disappointment. Partially, because Someone Didn't Do The Research, but mostly because I want these people to be exactly like me. So, I feel kind of betrayed, if someone is announced as "like ME", but ends up being totally different.
The only time I experience something like you, thus feeling bored or left out, is when able-bodied protagonists are at the hospital or fracture their bones. It's either portrayed as the worst thing ever or something equivalent to a paper cut. I know something about broken legs, but e.g. our favourite author of all time didn't even bother to do some research to give Bella an appropriate recovery time. (Or surgery. Or crutches…)
It seems as if I'm the special snowflake of the special snowflakes. Great. -.-
in the wilds of England, drinking tea, talking about the weather, queuing…
And I forgot about the romantic coffee bearing hero that Giles must be when he returns to the motherland.
I REQUEST THIS FIC TO BE WRITTEN ASAP PLS.
I…. I'll be in my bunk.
I had no idea this episode was so disliked in the Buffy fandom. It's actually the very first episode I saw and it totally get me hooked ! (I was 13 I think when I saw it).
OMG THAT PICTURE. I remember that taking fandom by storm. You couldn't go to any fanfic site circa 1999-2002ish without it being prominently displayed.
*fans self*
Anyone remember this pic of Nicholas Brendon?
<img src="http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/14295717582/1/tumblr_lwa3ormqpg1qzoant">
Hel-LO, Xander!
The… elitist "true fan" behaviour is something that has driven me far from internet forums. I'd love very much to mingle with like-minded people, especially Whedonites, but I don't want to be shunned for liking X character, or season. I follow a couple Whedon-related FB pages, and I'm almost scared to post most of the time because I don't want to be attacked.
Gur Qnja naq frnfba-onfuvat (rfcrpvnyyl 6 naq ba) unf tbggra gverq. V srry harnfl jura fbzrbar fnlf Qnja vf gur jbefg guvat gb unccra gb gur fubj, be nsgre frnfba 3/5 gur fubj qrgrevbengrq va dhnyvgl, orpnhfr V yvxr gurz, naq V qba'g jnag gb srry yvxr V'z jebat va gur urnq orpnhfr V qvfnterr. Fb V graq gb whfg xrrc zl zbhgu fuhg be yrnir nygbtrgure.
Honestly, my posting here is a miracle. But then, I'm super (like, SUPER) sensitive and one person's attack is another person's casual disagreement. V'ir npghnyyl uryq bss ernqvat gur arj frnfba 9 pbzvpf fvzcyl orpnhfr V'q unir ab bar gb funer gubhtugf ba gurz jvgu.
Right! Episode. Not one of my favourites. Most people say what needs to be said – and have been doing so for 14 years now – so I just like to be silly or make observations. Did anyone else think the actress who plays Ms. French was the same one who played Nandi in Firefly? She's not, but I had to look her up because they looked so similar to me. It's the eyes. Definitely the eyes. They penetrate you. All four of them.
I tend to pick on things more often if I like them a lot. If something isn't to my interest, I might give an honest critique and move on. But if I like something I pick away at it, because it's fun and generally well-meaning. You know I love something if I'm constantly poking at it in little ways, because I've taken the time to learn about it enough to know those little inconsistencies. It's not me being picky, it's just love.
You know, I love Buffy, but I have purposely avoided anything to do with the fandom for precisely those reasons (and also because I don't think that fanfic is really necessary for the show). V unir zl bja snve funer bs hacbchyne bcvavbaf (sbe vafgnapr, V'z dhvgr sbaq bs obgu Evyrl naq Qnja sbe gur punenpgref gurl ner, naq V yvxr fbzr bs gur yngre frnfbaf zber guna fbzr bs gur rneyvre barf.) Naljnl, zl vzcerffvba bs Ohssl snaqbz unf nyjnlf orra bar bs n snaqbz shyy bs ivgevbyr, fb V whfg graq gb rawbl gur frevrf dhvrgyl, ba zl bja. Hagvy abj! Orpnhfr va zl rkcrevrapr, gur Znex Qbrf Fghss pbzzhavgl vf ernyyl irel phqqyl, ununun.
V YBIR QNJA. Lbh jvyy abg or nybar va yvxvat Qnja jura jr trg gb ure. Naq V cersre gur yngre frnfbaf gb gur svefg barf fb… lrnu. unun. V qrsvavgryl unir fbzr hacbchyne Ohssl Bcvavbaf.
BZVTBQ V gubhtug V jnf nybar va ybivat Qnja!! Naq frnfba frira naq svir ner zl nofbyhgr snibhevgrf. Fb V nz jryy cyrnfrq ol guvf qvfpbirel.
Qba'g jbeel – V ybir Qnja, Frnfba 6 vf zl snibevgr frnfba naq V guvax Ohssl vf ng vgf orfg bapr gurl trg bhg bs uvtu fpubby. Nyy nobneq gur hacbchyne bcvavba genva! 🙂
I'm just selective about where I go on the internet now Buffy-wise. There are sites that cater to all opinions I think.
Abg gung V jnag gb onfu n fvgr orpnhfr V fgvyy ivfvg vg naq rawbl vg sbe bgure fubjf ohg GJBC vf cnegvphyneyl cbvfbabhf vs lbh qba'g nterr jvgu gur znwbevgl ivrj va gur Ohssl naq Natry frpgvbaf.
Crefbanyyl sbe zr gur yngre frnfbaf ner zvyrf orggre guna gur rneyvre barf – zl snibhevgrf ner svir gura fvk. V qba'g ernyyl ungr nal bs gur punenpgref, vapyhqvat Qnja naq Evyrl. V yvxr obgu Fcvxr naq Natry (gubhtu yrna zber gbjneqf gur sbezre) naq zl snibhevgr punenpgre vf Ohssl urefrys.
Phew, I was actually really nervous to read these replies, so it's nice to find that I'm not alone in my worries. I'm of a similar mind-set to lyvanna where I don't particularly hate any one character. They each have their up and down moments.
Nygubhtu, fvapr gur raq bs Frnfba 8 (V'yy ersenva sebz fnl jung unccrarq sbe gubfr jub unira'g ernq gurz), V'ir orra ybbxvat onpx naq ungvat ba rirelguvat Natry qbrf.
Fans can agree with the criticism of certain weak episodes. I have viewed the series several times and this one of my least favorite episodes. It is like a weak chapter in the best book you ever read. Herds of Buffy fans will not flock to this site to stake you for criticism. I am still jealous that this is all new to you.
Where are all the Angel/Buffy gifs from the episode? I didn't look for any because I was a. busy and b. assumed everyone would have Angel/Buffy gifs. 🙁
Meh, I never really cared for this ep either… and when I went back and re-watched the series, Xander just always annoys the heck out of me. I mean, he's got his moments where I love him again, but overall…
So happy you're watching Buffy though. 🙂 You think you love Giles and Willow now JUST WAIT, MARK. JUST YOU WAIT.
So, I've put off watching Buffy forever, know next to nothing about it, and just now caught up with you all. It seems mildly interesting so far, Buffy and Giles and Cordelia are awesome, and I guess it'll get better or something.
This episode is … idk, weird. Weirdly dull, I guess. Xander's masculinity issues are blah and his fantasy of Buffy acting like Bella Swan crosses over into creepy. I like some of the stuff other people have mentioned, and how Buffy's violence isn't really sexualized, and, uh … oh yeah, Xander going on about how incredibly attractive Angel is (but not the consequent gender-policing) but otherwise — it's just really boring.
And yeah, I'm a more-or-less asexual woman wholly uninterested in men, so maybe it's that, but an entire plot revolving around straight boys being straight and having straightly issues was not exciting in the least and I kept pausing to go off and click random TV Tropes pages. Even–risking heresy–Angel's facial expressions just seem silly to me and actually make me kind of uncomfortable. It's not that I don't ship things ever — Doctor/Romana! Harry/Luna! Toph/Aang! hell, Booth/Brennan! — but it's, I don't know how old he is, but it's too old to be skulking after a teenage girl and making Fabioesque faces at her. It feels almost like he's grooming her and I want to like him but no.
Last also: I'm totally with you on the 'not enjoying certain part of canon' =/= judging it as the worst thing ever. I mean, I'm a Star Wars fan and have issues with every single piece of canon. Even Empire! So yes, it's possible for people to dislike this and still (rather) like the series overall, and at this point I am one of those people.
Alright this isn't a comment about this episode in particular, but it is full of spoilers. So to the code!
Vf Natry orvat n inzcver, ernyyl fhpu n gjvfg? V zrna, zl sevraqf fubjrq zr gjb rcvfbqrf bs Ohssl orsber V jngpurq vg nyy, Bapr Zber Jvgu Srryvat, naq Pubfra. Svir lrnef jrag ol, be nobhg gung. Gura V cvpxrq hc gur frevrf gb ortva jvgu, naq V whfg nffhzrq gung ur jnf n inzcver gb ortva jvgu. Vf gung onq? Vqrx jul, V whfg gubhtug, Bu url. Lbh'er xvaq bs perrcl, V org lbh'er n inzcver. Naq yb naq orubyq, ur jnf.
Fb rayvtugra zr, vf vg ernyyl gung zhpu bs n gjvfg?
V guvax vg jnf jura gur fubj bevtvanyyl nverq. Vs lbh frr BZJS naq Pubfra, lbh nyernql frr fbzr inzcverf orvat abg-pbzcyrgryl-rivy. Ohg va Ohssl F1, jr'er vagebqhprq gb gur vqrn gung inzcverf ner NYJNLF rivy, fb Natry orvat n inzcver vf xvaq bs harkcrpgrq fvapr ur'f boivbhfyl abg gelvat gb xvyy nalbar.
Nyfb, Znex vf hacercnerq. V pna'g jnvg hagvy ur trgf gurer.
V thrff gung'f haqrefgnaqnoyr. Ng gur gvzr, V jnf fgvyy rkcrpgvat Fcvxr gb fubj hc naq or snohybhfyl fanexl. V zrna, jura V jngpurq vg guebhtu pbzcyrgryl.
AARGH I did the same thing, I should have known. And then I did it again for herdivineshadow's comment.
Yes! That's exactly the picture! Thank you!