Oh, holy crap! I am super behind on this. See, the semester hasn’t even started and I’m already being ridiculous with these posts. Since there’s such little time until the next live rewatch, this will once again just be my thoughts. But remember, there’s only one more of these rewatch posts left (until if/when I watch more episodes and whatnot).
But first, I forgot to mention something in the last rewatch. There’s a line in an episode where Willow says something like “…ever since the TV started doing that snowy thing.” And I just wanted to let everyone know that that snowy thing is sort of the inspiration for this site’s name — since people always ask and also because this site’s name is the worst thing that’s happened to the world. Ugh, just the worst. But I was happy when she said it because it felt like the site’s name was slightly less awful. Anyway, moving on…
Okay so don’t hate me but, well, after nine pretty good episodes, season three has (in my opinion) sort of hit a lull. The three episodes on Monday this past week were just okay. Yes, even “Helpless” was just eh. It’s why it took me so long to finally get to the second night of episodes. But then the second night of episodes were great.
Ugh, to be honest this was obviously going to be on the “okay” side of things since it was another Angel-related episode. “Becoming” began somewhat the same way and this episode was setup familiar to that one… blegh, is what I’m trying to say here. I’m at this point where I seriously don’t know what the appeal of Angel is and how he spun-off into his own series. But from what I hear about that series, it seems like it would be more my style? I have no idea.
Anyway, so another Angel-centered episode is whatever but I am OH SO THANKFUL for the return of the Irish accent. But that’s not all, folks! ANGEL’S HAIR. Bahahahahahaa!!! OH MY GOD.
This episode dealt with Angel’s temptation to his dark side…and maybe even Buffy’s like for it. Although, I wasn’t too keen on a scene where he basically shoves her down and she cries, running up to him “I love you!!!!” Seriously. It was a bit…uh, misguided. Whatever. Anyway, this episode happened. And that’s that.
Elsewhere, Jenny in the form of a demon taking her shape returns and everyone’s heart stops just a little. Tear.
The Grade: Ugh.
This episode had Buffy slaying whilst her mom tagged along. Except, she finds two dead children and makes it her mission to be the worst. Okay, she was in a trance because of the Hansel and Gretel demon thing but STILL ugh. And how is the best thing two witches can do is turn on into a rat!? ANYWAY… this episode gets a free pass because of this face:
Bahahaaa!!!!! As it turns out, during this episode, Joyce decided she liked being a public face against the town’s tragedy. It had me wondering if she’ll run for mayor once the current one obviously dies.
The Grade: I don’t eeeee much!
Okay, I know this is probably a fan favorite given the risk and tension in this episode, but I sort of just found it — gulp — boring. Even the council makes zero sense with this test. Well, I found everything boring except for my Buffy/Giles scene! OH BUFFY/GILES, HOW YOU SLAY ME! The feels. Non-shipping feels, obviously. Just Buffy/Giles feels. Then again, I could have just been in a mood Monday night, who knows? I did watch this episode in two parts. I gotstuh watch my Teen Wolf you guys. Gotstuh.
The Grade: Important but hokey.
Okay, NOW we’re talking. At first, I was a bit irritated by this episode because we’ve already had dead jocks running around Sunnydale. Yawn. But then I realized how much more awesome than that this episode was.
In a clever series of events, Xander’s extremely subdued plot in comparison to what the rest of the gang is facing becomes the major storyline for the episode. Where Xander is up against his confidence and a bomb, everyone else is fighting off the millionth apocalypse. My absolute favorite scene is Buffy and Angel in the middle of another one of their epic, lovesick scenes when Xander just interrupts them. Ha! Anyway, good stuff.
More so, this was quite an obvious parallel to “The Wish.” Xander, who feels alienated and useless, goes off into his own storyline trying to prove his worth and uniqueness. But Cordelia continues to berate him at every chance he gets, reminding him that he’s just a minor character in the grand scheme of things. That may have been true for Cordelia, who couldn’t survive her own episode, but Xander successful navigates his episode with ease and commands it.
Oh, yeah, and he also wrestled naked with Faith.
Go Xander!
The Grade: Excellent!
I’m putting these together because it just makes sense (and because there are about fifty minutes left until the rewatch). Once again, another good episode(s). In this one, Faith and Buffy grow a stronger bond as Buffy begins to reap the benefits of being a slayer. But all of that is sort of turned on its head when Faith accidentally murders a person, who she thought was just another vampire.
Unfortunately, after an episode that showcased Xander wonderfully, he took a real backseat in these two. But his story paralleled Willow’s as well, who was feeling second in line to Faith and somewhat unneeded.
Faith’s descent into pent up anger could be interesting, but what stood out the most to me here is Buffy’s temptation towards turning, well, we’ll use the word rebellious for now. It’s a fine comparison to her character in “I Wish,” in that she could easily become that version of herself. Although, this Buffy seems more fun — more Faith-like.
At the end of the day, we know what path Buffy will choose and stick to, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the different aspects of her and who helps bring those sides out.
Creepy storyline alert: The new watcher’s thing for Cordelia… EWWWWW.
The Grade: Also excellent! I feel “Bad Girls” was the more entertaining episode that actually made me gasp out “Oh, my God” at the ending while “Consequences” dragged out a bit. However, I’m interested in the, ahem, consequences of the actions in the former episode. What will become of these new circumstances, and who’s to say Faith is wrong about being “better” than others? Anyway, interesting!
Okay and that’s my shortened, half-assed version of the rewatch recap! I promise to go all out for the next one. Let me stop there…maybe I shouldn’t really promise stuff. Oh, boy.
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I respect your passion for good grammar, which is my motivation for the following correction (I really intend not to be snippy, promise xoxo). "whom she thought was just another vampire" should be "who" (as the pronoun, though it leads off the object phrase, becomes nominative because of its place in the clause "___ was just another vampire.")
No problemo! I'm surprised you found just one error.
Here's over-simplified: If you can replace the pronoun "who" with "he," then you're good to go. If "him" (or "them") would be appropriate, "whom" is the correct choice.
I already erased my faux paux reply XD Commenting on my phone is the worst. I know about the he/him tip. Thanks!
Its always interesting to see a different point of view since a lot of people I know for some reason seem to REALLY REALLY love Amends and REALLY REALLY hate The Zeppo, while for me both are sort of okay-ish.
These two episodes have good things, like the fact that Amends is the first time Buffy does not really get to(or actually can) "defeat" a villain and Angel admits that Angelus is part of who he is. The Zeppo also gives one a point of view of Xander, which puts into perspective a lot of his over-achieving behavior in terms of scoobies. But overall both of them are . an exposition episodes that focus on exposition of stuff and less on actual enjoyment.
Gingerbread, in same way, only exists as a way to expand the lore of the show to include fairy tales, as well as to showcase that the town IS at quite huge level aware of all the weird stuff happening. Otherwise its "telegraph how those characters feel about their parents and how their parents feel about them" stuff. And while technically needed for characters to grow (Willow's mother has to be the WORST parent in history of television and Willow actually standing up against her mother, who has been dictating even how she dresses back in S1, is a huge step for her), the monster-of-the-week storyline is meh.
Consequences and Bad Girls are amongst my favorite episodes in S3. I really disagree with the "turning into her The Wish version". And while there are clear parallels between the nihilism and outcast-like philosophy of that Buffy and Faith, The Wish version seemed to be more like a weird mix between Buffy's personality, faith's social relations
and Kendra. "Do the Job, do The Job, Do the job, Do the job", kind of a deal. Someone who is more of a weapon than a person. The side of buffy that we see in "Bad Girls' is the opposite of that. Its someone who openly admits enjoying her destiny, the whole killing and slaying thing. , someone who openly admits getting off on it all, someone that is always beneath the surface of Buffy's own guilt trip and hero complex. Something that she denies even having in herself because "oh it could not be her, because its wrong".
The end confrontation between Buffy and Faith in Consequences sort of embodies it.You have those two extreme personalities going against each other, trying to prove each other wrong to prove themselves right, while in essence both Faith and Buffy are doing exactly the same thing- Faith creates this "careless remorseless Villain" idea as a coping mechanism while Buffy does the same with the cliched hero idea.
Buffy for Faith and Faith for Buffy is like a mirror of their own darker selves they deny in themselves. They are each other's very own portrait of Dorian Gray that they want to get rid of badly, hence wanting to prove each other wrong. Faith wants to prove Buffy wrong, to reaffirm her illusion of simplicity, while Buffy wants to prove Faith wrong to reaffirm her won charade.
Its an ultimate pissing contest of two hypocrites, so to say and I feel that confrontation is exactly the reason Faith went to the mayor- she felt an extreme need to fully "slip in" into the role and persona she started to build for herself. To prove Buffy wrong.
Of course, since the viewer knows that its not as simple, the show sort of raises a question - just how much of Faith is in Buffy and just how much of Buffy is in Faith? What tips the scales into one side or the other? In a way it sort-of continues the whole "possibilities" theme of this season, as Buffy is faced with all that she denies in herself and her first instinct is to reject and hide in her denial(vice versa true for faith)
And I think Consequences, especially Angel's monologue to Faith, sort of answers your question on why Angel would get his own show.
Its not really about redemption or any of the whole caring and brooding stuff(and ATS is hilariously self-aware on the whole brooding part). Its about on the layers of Angel's character and his own very Angelus-y quirks and twists in personality. "Angel" is the person that he wants to be. But far too often there's a temptation to fall back and do something in fashion of Angelus, the person he used to be. People enjoy watching suave manipulative serial-killers-turned-good characters who can easily cross a moral line if they want to or need to. People enjoy trickster main characters.
Add to that a grand destiny, good supporting character cast of misfit rejects like Cordy, who love to challenge him and point out his flaws, and a huge past baggage of Angel that could burst in in form of consequences in any given situation and you got yourself a show.
Also as I said before its not really correct to treat ATS as a separate show since its more of an extension o this show, splitting the cast into two and telling two storylines per week that interact in various ways. A story might start in sunnydale and end in los angeles or vice-versa. something that happens in Sunnydale could affect what happens in Los Angeles and vice versa.
ATS is not(just) about Angel brooding in the corner feeling sorry for all that he did. Sure there's brooding, but there's also this suave self-confident snarky self-aware manipulative bastard that Angel can sometimes be as shown in his snark at Wesley in Consequences. Someone who can ignore the law or morality of actions as long as he sees the goal as being worth the means. Someone who is old enough to outsmart and trick people and dangerous enough to be threatening for both good and bad.
But really its not just about Angel on a noir journey of self-discovery and bad-decisions. Its about a town that Buffy grew up in, its about those by his side developing as people and finding themselves, its about the other side of the whole storyline we see in BTVS, And its also about the thin non-existent line between good and evil that Angel represents.
It's not that I don't think Angel's character isn't developed enough (that doesn't even seem to be up for discussion), it's that frankly he's just boring. He brings down scenes. Episodes are better without him. It's the sad truth…well, it is for me anyway. I know people will hate me for saying that, but it is what it is. You can develop the character and add a bunch of layers but at the end of the day, there's just no entertainment value for me personally…unless he's completely bad. Obviously, people who like the Angel character and are interested in exploring the depth to his person really loved "Amends." Those people are just not me; and since I find Xander a much more interesting character, I thought his episode was better.
I said "The Wish" version but with a more Faith-like twist. In many ways, Faith is also very much about doing the job — kill, kill, kill — perhaps to a fault. And if there's one thing we know so far about "The Wish" version of Buffy is that she was very much about doing the job to a fault as well. It's what got her killed.
I think you prefer someone who is suppose to be funny versus serious. Xander is there for comic relief and where as Angel's purpose in BTVS was provide conflict/angst. You would probably like Angel more on his own because I found him funnier on Angel (despite the fact I believe Angel is a darker show). However I think Angel is really the product of a 90's hero, whereas Xander would be more appealing today's audience with his snark and comedy, if that make sense.
to make it simple:
Angel + Xander = Mal Reynolds.
my favorite funny moment from this season is from Angel and Buffy happens to be in the scene.
Angel can be very funny when he wants to. And sometimes when he does not even want to. :)
There are more than few moments in this season that are all about Angel making me lol :)
The fact that such interactions are now possible, really showcases on how they are slowly growing-out of their current angst routine and "growing up" as separate personalities, which is why I love the ATS cross over episodes so much. It really showcases how much Angel has grown as his own person, how he is becoming independent from her and how it, in a way infuriates her.
Well, quite frankly, Angel in BTVS is all about angst. Buffy embodies everything he messed up in his life by this point, but thats, iMO, why people seem to like him more in Angel - Buffy is not here and that allows him to show the sides of himself that he is unable to with her present. Also the show being very self aware of Angel's brooding nature in comedic fashion helps, I hear.
Of course Angel will never be as comedic as Xander(who is pretty much a comic relief(btw, I find it refreshing that you enjoy Xander, because during the show's original run at this point everyone and their mother hated Xander for his over-achiever tendencies and tendency to jump to conclusions), but there's more to him than Buffy angst. People do not like Angel because he broods a lot. people love everything else that separates him from all other boring vampires that brood a lot(*cough*steffie and the like*cough*), but the scenes where Buffy is not involved allow us to see a different Angel - the scene where he beats up Willy in What's my line, his snark at Wesley, his dialogue with Faith, etc.
And frankly Buffy also tends to have a change of mood and personality when she is with Angel in comparison, to let's say her and Faith or her and scoobies.
And frankly thats what I feel is the message of Buffy/Angel in this season(which was partially telegraphed by the shrink in "Beauty and the Beasts") - they love each other and all that, but at the same time, they limit each other, cause each other to make irrational decisions
I never really liked Angel as character that much. He is certainly not my favorite, but he is still somewhere up there and way above certain...other characters. He can be brooding, he can be dorky, he can be evil, he can be vicious, he can be deadpan, he can be funny.
Without going into details People seem to love Angel because he is basically male Cordelia.
The way I see Faith is that for her "there is no job" really. She does what she does because she has the power, because she is/feels superior to those who can't. Because its fun and for the lack of better word, orgasmic experience.
With Kendra it was "kill vampires, kill all vampires, kill any vampires, move on, repeat" (Wish-Buffy even wears similar plain outfit to Kendra's).
With faith I feel its more of "have fun, have fun, do whatever I want with the power I have because I can".
With Buffy its a weird version of both "I do what I have to do, its fun as hell and enjoyable, no no no no its not fun, I do it because its right, yep, totally because its the right thing to do"
Its certainly self-destructive though, while Kendra and Wish-buffy are all about shutting off their emotions and normal-Buffy is all about justifying her emotions or denying certain emotions, Faith seems to be all about going overboard with all the emotions.
fwiw, I agree with you about Angel, he never did that much for me aside from being super hot and I find some of his angst with Buffy interesting for her character. I was never that interested in his back story either. I actually liked Angel the series but more for all the other characters on that show than Angel himself (although Angel is more interesting on his show).
Alright now we're getting somewhere... when Faith is all bad is when it's best. I love Buffy wrestling with that side of herself. I love seeing how she could have turned out in the form of Faith. Faith is a great villainish character because of her parallels to Buffy. Mostly though I just like her cheesy dialogue and ridiculous make-up and anger.
not really but sorta but really not spoiler alert but kinda yeah... please please please! do not put the episode "amends" out of your mind forever. just sayin
The whole second half of S3 can be pretty much described as "HOLY SHIT FORESHADOWING GALORE" :3
I have something to say about The Wish Buffy and Kendra, Whedon stated later the reason why they were easily to kill through hypnosis (even Buffy season 1) had to do with them following orders. Faith does not.
That's not just it, though.
A lot of BTVS deals with the concepts of duality of identity and human nature.
Good and bad are just sides of the same coin, every person has something primal in them alongside the more domesticated side, etc. For Buffy, Kendra and Faith, there's a certain sense of Slayer-duality in them too - the human and the monster that make them who they are, the monster, the more primal side embodying their power of supernatural (buffy refers to it as "Anger that gives them the fire" in "what's my line")
Slayer, the more primal, animalistic side of what it is, by an idea, should be immune to such things. "newbies" like S1 Buffy and Kendra were barely in touch with their "slayer side".
Dying tipped the scales for Buffy (notice how in the first episode Giles notes that Buffy should automatically be able to feel the vampires being there, recognize them, and she seems to be instantly able to do that after the whole death thing), made her "get in touch" with all that slayer stuff more and grow stronger through the years(since S3 Buffy is clearly stronger than S1 Buffy).
Kendra never got the chance to actually be in touch with her nature, while Faith seems to embrace everything primal inside her fully, while actually ignoring the more domesticated humane side of her identity as a way to deal with consequences of her actions.
So yeah, while Wish-Buffy does have similar anti-social tendencies to Faith, its more of an insight of how Buffy would turn out if she grew up in different scenario, with different, more conservative, more controlling watcher. If she had no ties to her human life that developed her personality and identity(yet again major theme of this show).
It does help to understand why Faith turned out so mistrusting and easy to damage, though. She never had time or capability or chance to build those bonds and connections that tie Buffy down and challenge Buffy's moral choices. Buffy was always challenged by her parents, her mother, now she and her decisions and darker sides are challenged and pointed out by her friends who are catchin up on what's real and what's not about Buffy. Faith never ever had that, it seems.
In fact I'd go as far as to say that Angel is actually the first person who actually tried to directly relate to her in a correct manner, understand her, without pushing their own expectations on her.
I am just pointing out that Whedon said the reason why they were hyponotize easily and killed had to do with them being slayers who really just follow orders. Wish Buffy while has similarities to Faith is actually more like Kendra, she was just there to do her job.
Yep, completely agreed. It even has visual hints to that, considering how Wish-Buffy styles her hair, how she dresses, how she acts. Its a total opposite extreme from the Faith.
However yeah there are similarities to Faith too, in a way, namely in the social tendencies, but yet again no slayer out of three so far has been real good in social interactions.
Ah! Your recaps help me throughly enjoy this re-watch experience. There are a lot of Buffy veterans (for lack of a better term) that take this fandom really seriously (not saying there is anything wrong with that...) but it's nice to consider episodes from the perspective of a first-time watcher, and enjoy them for what they are without nit-picking every aspect. I've loved being able to say to myself: "You know what? Life is stressful, work is stressful, I'm just gonna enjoy some GOOD TV and let it be that, and nothing more."
Angel's accent. Angel's hair. ANGEL'S PORNO TASH. Hahahaha, fantastic. I totally agree with not really seeing the appeal of Angel, and personally I'm glad he got his own series (as it got rid of him!) but I can't really have an opinion on 'Angel' as a show, because I've never watched it. Blasphemy, I know.
You're killing me with the naked Faith/alligator references. Oh, man!
Definitely not the most important issue for me to have taken from these episodes, but I'm glad the issue of Wesley with Cordy has been raised! When I first watched, I thought "okay, so he's YOUNGER than Giles, but it still doesn't feel RIGHT." That said, I was a bit biased about Wesley from the beginning - with my stubborn: "No one can replace Giles, and no one can tell Faith what to do...she's so badass!" Hah.
I really did have to take a moment to appreciate that 'Gingerbread' gave us two absolute gems in relation to Joyce's consistently bad parenting:
1) "FYI, Vampires are real!" (after my daughter has just trusted me with this information) ... *facepalm*
2) MOO. Hahaha. Seriously? What an acronym! Legendary, Joyce.
FYI, for future re-watches(you will do it eventually, you know you will!) my twitter is: x__emma :P
Oh, man. That Angel graphic had me rolling. His accent and hair are truly terrible.
It's fun to view the series through the eyes of someone who's not 100% in love with it. Who can make fun of it, in a way. As for Angel (the show), it was all right, but the only season I really love was season 5. Some great eps in season 5. But then I know some people who liked Angel more than Buffy so... to each his own.
P.S. "Do you see any goats around? No, because I sacrificed them!"