Mark Re-Watches ‘Doppelgängland’ / Buffy Q&A

So, this Buffy party is going to continue on for a while beyond this post, but y’all can thank Peter for coming up with the idea that I should re-watch one of my absolute favorite episodes of the show as soon as I had completed “Chosen.” He commissioned this video from me, and once I stopped shrieking “THEY’RE BABIES, ALL BABIES,” it was undeniable that watching Buffy again would be an incredible experience.

Therefore, if anyone would like to commission a video from me to re-watch any episode of Buffy (aside from “The Body” or “Seeing Red,” since I don’t think I could stomach a public re-watch of either of those episodes), you’re welcome to purchase one here. If you do, I will also make a separate post here on Mark Watches to talk about the episode outside of the video AND so we can all discuss it WITHOUT HAVING TO ROT13 SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW OH MY GOD. (Which reminds me that I need to go back to earlier posts and read the rot13 like I always do after I finish something.)

So, first of all, here’s my re-watch of “Doppelgängland”:

Now, it’s obvious that this is one incredible and unsettling bit of foreshadowing for Dark Willow, something Alyson Hannigan manage to portray three years later in an eerily similar way. That other side to Willow really was there the whole time, suggesting that evil sort of lives below the surface of some people. At the same time, it also foreshadowed Willow’s true sexual identity. What I thought was a throwaway set of lines amounted to something more once Willow met Tara. (Tara MY HEART MY HEART.)

Truly, though, this is some of the funniest stuff on the whole show. It’s hard not to watch the scene where the Scoobies find out Willow is alive without having a giant smile plastered all over your face. Or whimpering a lot. Because my babies. Y’all, they’re so young. They’re still at Sunnydale. THEY HAVEN’T BEEN UTTERLY CRUSHED AND DESTROYED BY JOSS WHEDON YET. Oh my god, don’t you just want to scoop them all up and hug them and take them away from the big mean man who will make them hurt? THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO.

I haven’t even finished Angel yet, and it’s still hard to see Cordelia on Buffy. (I’m actually writing this today, October 26th, so at this point, I’ve only seen the first three episodes of season five of Angel.) I may actually be bitter about her character development until the end of time? Yes? Totally reasonable. That being said, my god, she changed so much from where she was here to where she ended up on Angel. She’s still my favorite character in the Buffyverse. Her and Tara! NOOOOOO MY FAVES WHY MUST YOU HURT ME SO.

On the topic of Angel, “Chosen” reminded me of how great Angel’s dynamic was on Buffy. I’m one of the folks who firmly places himself in the I REALLY LOVE THE SHOW ANGEL AND WHAT ANGEL IS LIKE ON THAT SHOW, but I also can’t deny the chemistry he brought to the first three seasons of Buffy is pretty damn spectacular. David Boreanaz is also surprisingly funny here, too, and I think that’s because his character was still in Constant Brood Mode while on the show. I don’t see Angel as the High King of Brooding that much anymore. And that’s fascinating, too! The titular characters in both these shows have a much more subtle character development than any of the rest of the cast, and it’s not until you’re able to look at the whole picture (or a great deal of the picture, in the case of Angel) that you can see how much they’ve changed.

Ugh, Oz. OZ WAS ON THIS SHOW, Y’ALL. It had been so long for me since I’d seen an episode with him that I’m pretty sure it rendered me completely unable to deal with him. Then there’s Faith and the Mayor with their super creepy but UTTERLY INCREDIBLE chemistry, and Anya meeting Willow for the first time and setting up YEARS OF DISCHORD between them, and I can’t with Anya. I’m not necessarily pleased with her ending because who is pleased by a character death? Plus, she was kind of ignored by the writers after “Selfless,” so I would have loved to see more of her before her demise. Oh god, I love Anya Jenkins and her humor and her attempt at being human and jesus fucking hell, how am I supposed to deal with a life without another new episode of Buffy? HOW?

Well, obviously I have season five of Angel, which, three episodes in is fb shpxvat vaperqvoyr naq rkpvgvat naq ratntvat gung vg srryf yvxr n oenaq arj fubj. I’ve got lots of re-watches to make (hopefully!); I’ve got The Chosen to read, which should start in the next two weeks over on Mark Reads. Once I finish Angel, I’ll start season 8 of Buffy. (I will probably read Fray, Tales of the Vampires, and Tales of the Slayers before that, though, since they won’t spoil me for Angel.) And I will one day get to the book versions of this show, where y’all will get NEW RE-WATCHES REVIEWS FOR EVERY EPISODE. oh gosh EXCITE.

So, I wanted to have a day wherein I could reflect back on the show, and Peter’s video commission provided the perfect opportunity for it. I’ll hang out on this site pretty much all day to answer any questions y’all have about my experience in the Buffyverse so far! Or you can ask things about Mark Watches. Or whatever, I don’t care. I haven’t held a Q&A in a while, and they’ve always been on Mark Reads, so have at it! While I don’t expect folks to read EVERY SINGLE THREAD MADE, do expect me to link to an answer if I’ve already answered it. Be nice and not weird. No more Villains Created By Disney, which the mods and myself are handling quite nicely in the week up to Halloween.

Also, my predictions for season 5 of Angel go up at the normal Mark Watches time, so we still have that, too!

Thank you, Whedon fans, for getting me to watch this show and traveling along with me on this incredibly long and incredibly ridiculous journey. You mean the world to me! (I’m not saying goodbye yet because we’ve got Angel and TWO SEASONS OF DOLLHOUSE HELL YES.)

Mark Links Stuff

– You can follow me on Twitter for any updates and live commentary on upcoming reviews I’m writing.
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- I’ve started reading The Shoebox Project for Mark Reads, the first fanfic “series” I’ve ever covered! Join me!