So yeah. That is it. After starting in March 2017 (thanks to the 20th anniversary), I officially finished the series Jan 1st 2018.
And hooboy. Straight out the gate, I’d say it its now in my top three shows of all time (i.e. Doctor Who, Stargate, and BtVS). That’s right. It beat out ATLA. (Sorry ATLA but you never ripped my heart out like the others.)
IDK, a part of me is still kind of like “why did it take me this long to watch this show” and another part is glad, because I watched DW, SG1, and ATLA all around the same year or two of my life, and to get completely walloped by something a decade later... well it’s wonderful. Completely and truly wonderful.
BtVS & AtS Recap Master Post located here
So, starting with predictions that I made during my S6 recap...
On predictions that I made during my S6 recap:
- Spike comes back to Sunnydale and becomes tentative friendship bros with Buffy with continual underlying UST that’s never resolved again because of the attempted rape and also because none of my ships can ever be happy It was resolved. It was fucking resolved. I don’t care that they never kissed on screen and Spike didn’t believe Buffy when she said she loved him (still crying forever, Spike you idiot), there was a confession. And even before that, Buffy telling Spike that she believed in him, and that she wasn’t ready for him to leave, and sleeping beside him for those final nights. THAT WAS MORE THAN I’D EVER BEEN EXPECTING. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL (NO CHECK AND I’M HAPPY FOR IT)
- Dawn and Spike eventually work through his attempted rape and become bros again Yeah, their relationship went up in flames (NO CHECK)
- Dawn takes a level in badassery, will fight things Aside from the first episode or two when Buffy’s giving her training, Dawn pretty much got shafted when the potentials arrived (NO CHECK)
- Buffy’s perma-death/rebirth will be addressed re: slayer chain of dead slayers leading to new slayer (CHECK... SORT OF?)
- Anya stays a vengeance demon because fuck Xander (NO CHECK)
- Willow finds a happy place between using no magic whatsoever and trying to fry the earth (CHECK)
- Giles hangs out in Sunnydale again because Giles (CHECK)
- Anya stays in command of the magic shop because it’s her magic shop… even though Willow kind of destroyed it She stayed in command but the other characters stopped visiting, so... (CHECK?)
- Clem continues to have cameos because he’s Clem and he’s awesome (HELLA CHECK)
On Spuffy:
I’ve written enough about these two in my earlier posts. I might make a completely separate post where I talk gush about their development over the course of the series but yeah. In this post, all I’ll say is that I thought Seeing Red would be the official end to their relationship. I thought even with the soul, their connection would be like a giant white elephant that’d never be directly addressed again... and then I got S7, aka the giant, canon, hurt/comfort fic.
Also, I didn’t cry during Chosen, but “No, you don’t. But thanks for saying” kept playing through my head over and over and over again, gutting my heart into numbness, and then sometime during the next day, it morphed into “Quite right, too” and I was so confused, thinking where did that dialogue come from, and then I remembered:
And it’s ridiculously bizarre, since Doctor Who’s Doomsday has been a traumatic thing that’s been a scar on my heart for the last decade, so I naturally think of it as the older, original traumatic “I love you” DENIED scene, but then I look at when Chosen actually aired and Chosen came out first? So if anything Doctor Who cribbed off Buffy? (And both cribbed off Star Wars and “I know” but that one doesn’t count because there wasn’t actually a failure to communicate between Hans and Leia, just Hans being Hans.)
Oh, and then the day after I watched Chosen, as I was getting ready in the morning, I made the mistake of listening to Sarah Brown Eyes which is about a guy reminiscing about the first time he met the love of his life after she’s already died. And then the song ends with “come, let’s dance” and there’s a sad instrumental section and I STARTED BAWLING. STRAIGHT OUT BAWLING.
So, thanks BtVS for that. I haven’t done that for a fictional couple since 2008. I appreciated the jump start to my heart.
Okay, officially moving on.
On Andrew:
AKA the best reoccuring character. I loved his arc in this season, going from a comic puppet of the first evil to a still-comic, yet emotionally redemptive who can’t hide behind “i was just following other people/didn’t know better”. He was the best, and Storyteller was one of my favorite episodes
On Buffy’s relationship with Giles:
I really wish they’d had the time to wrap a bow on this, but I can understand why they didn’t. As it is, their relationship kind of ended in Lies My Parents Told Me with Buffy shutting the door on him and his tendency to decide what’s best for her. But I’m not sure they held to that? Or rather, in Chosen it was kind of back to situation normal re: Willow, Xander, Giles, and Buffy being in the final pow-wow together. Either way, I liked that Buffy stood up for herself, that Giles was finally acknowledged as fallible as opposed to the savior woosh he got at the end of S6.
On Anya, Willow, and Xander:
I feel like the three of them got kind of shafted this season? Xander didn’t really have an arc or purpose other than “fix Summers house when monsters break it”. Oh, and his convo with Dawn in Potential. I really did like the episode Potential... I just wish the whole “you still have purpose” extended past the boundaries of that episode? Which honestly is the subject of another post I’ll write, entitled Xander vs Sokka: Giving Purpose to the Powerless.
And then yeah, Willow intentionally stayed on the backburner for the majority of the season (her best moments were in AtS), and Anya... oh Anya. I understand why she was un-Vengeance Demon-fied, but I still wish she’d stayed a Vengance Demon. Mostly because as soon as she lost her powers, the show for the most part ignored her.
Which is a crime.
Actually...
On Anya specifically:
I’m gonna let some time pass before I do a “thoughts on BtVS as a whole”, but I want to say right now. Anya was my favorite surprise of the series. Every other character or major, major plot development, I’d been warned, or hinted, or inadvertently spoiled for.
Anya (aside from her name) was a complete unknown. When she appeared in S3 as Anyanka the Vengeance Demon, I thought... no, that can’t be “Anya the eventually reoccuring character.” And then she was. And was amazing. And continued to be amazing for the next four seasons.
I love Anya. She is everything I aspire to in life.
Now that I’ve talked about minute character stuff, let’s go to major S7 plot stuff:
On the Potentials:
Honestly, everything I’m gonna say is not groundbreaking thoughts re: fandom. I actually liked the potentials, but I didn’t like how there were so many of them, and how some of their actress were not that great. I didn’t like how Chao Ahn was the one who couldn’t speak English and was the butt of language jokes. They could’ve easily had a French or German-speaking potential.
On the First Evil and other villains:
The mark of a great villain (for me) is how much they reflect and/or personally tie in with the heroes. It’s why Angelus remains my number one fave BtVS villain (and why S2 is still my favorite season from a plot standpoint). It’s why I’m still super pissed that Maggie Walsh (unpowered, rigid, military-backed, older woman to Buffy’s powered, improvisational, rogue, younger self) was killed off in favor of Adam (generic evil dude)... even though I now understand it was because of behind the scenes actor stuff.
So yeah. I started off with high hopes re: the First Evil... and then got let down a bit when psychological enemy was pushed aside in favor of the Turok-han and then later Caleb. Though, honestly, I was more fine with the Turok-han than I was with Caleb. Caleb was... meh. (Sorry, Nathan Fillion.) If I had to guess, I’d say the writers couldn’t think of a good way to keep the First a constant threat without relying on minions that could physically attack the heroes. IDK.
On Spike’s soul:
Once again, this is a topic I’ve talked about before in my per episode recaps, but overall, I really like how they ended up handling it. It makes sense that he’d more easily adapt to it and wouldn’t do an abrupt personality shift like Angel because he voluntarily got his. I still hold to my S6 theory, that (if it hadn’t been for the First tormenting him) he could’ve returned to Sunnydale with no one (except Anya) being the wiser.
BUT! At the same time, it did make him a lot more mellow and self-reflective. Gave him self-doubt as well. And Get It Done and Lies My Parents Told Me were excellent episodes that showcased that.
On Sunnydale getting sucked into crater, Buffy being one of thousands of Slayers, and ending the show with a “well, what happens now”/“possibly anything” kind of feel:
I loved it. It was a great ending. And together with Spike coming back in AtS, and the comics, and whatever, it makes for a ending that fans can play around with however they want. It’s an amazing launching point for new stories, and honestly...
I’d take that open ending over a 19-years-later, “All was well”, ship-killing epilogue any day.
So... thanks, BtVS. It was one hell of a ride.
(PS: If you liked these thought posts and wanna see more inner workings of my mind, my current BtVS fanfic is over here.)
After two slow months in the desert that was Angel Season 4, I am revived by two bloody glorious episodes of Buffy (Storyteller & Lies My Parents Told Me)
BtVS & AtS Recap Master Post located here
Episode 16 (Storyteller)
Oh my god. So I started off this episode with Andrew in his recliner, thinking, “you know, this is probably going to be a filler ep. but it seems like it’s going to be damn hilarious filler ep and after Angel, i’m 100% fine with that.”
And then it was damn hilarious while being extremely character insightful and MY GOD everything AtS’s been doing wrong in its tedious soul-sucking slog is done so, so right here. Like...
Complete narrative arc within 42 minutes - check
Previous joke character gaining heartbreaking dimension - check
Emotional touch-base with supporting cast - check
Hilarious mile-a-minute jokes + ship baiting slo-mo scene - check
Resolution of an series arc/existing plot point - check
Tense interactions, sowing discontent and raising stakes for future episode (i.e. Robin + Spike) - check
LIKE HOLY CRAP THIS EPISODE WAS SO GOOD. JUST LOOK AT THIS SHIT.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. 42 MINUTES. BEAUTIFUL. SOLID. COMPLETE.
PERFECTION. GIVE ME MORE.
Episode 17 (Lies My Parents Told Me)
Okay, I confess. I went into this one SUUUUUPER SPOILED.
But it was still amazing. Like “aaaaahhhhhhhh” amazing.
So yeah. I have an unofficial fanfic “rule” which basically goes, if you haven’t finished the series and you read some detail in a fanfic that’s cool, that’s a really cool head canon the author inserted. You read the same detail in another fanifc, that’s a really cool head canon the shipping community has. You read the same details in three, four, five different fics...
Yeah, that’s future episode content you haven’t gotten to yet.
Future episode content in this case being Spike’s mum and him trying to turn her and her going Oedipal on him so he has to kill/stake her. Still not entirely sure where the name “Anne” and the last name of “Pratt” come from since I’d assumed they were going to be in this episode. (I’m guessing Angel S5 and/or comics now?)
That said, I had no idea how the episode was going to frame the flashbacks. I thought it was going to essentially be Fool For Love 2: Electric Boogaloo with Buffy and Spike talking it out or something. So for the memories to be directly linked with his trigger was cool and unexpected. And the fact that his trigger song was the song his mom used to sing him is ~heartbreaking~ omg i love it.
Also I was not expecting them to deal with the Robin/Spike drama and Spike’s trigger this early. I thought it would be like, season finale stuff and eleventh hour drama to fuck them over. And I’m SUPER happy it’s not, but also a little nervous... like, I’m keeping my guard up, just incase the First has some other diabolical plan in mind, but ugggggh, this was such a great resolution. If they dragged it out, it’d just cheapen it.
Also also, special shout out to the set designers because that cross-covered shed was amazing.
Also also also, even going in spoiled, the actual bit when Spike’s mum turns on him was AMAZING. Just the background music and the lighting and the cuts between the two scenes... it was horrifying and beautiful and James Marsters just sold it.
Also also also also, I don’t care that there are no kissing scenes in Season 7. We’ve got Buffy repeated confronted by Giles and others about her relationship with Spike and she constantly, continuously defends him, which is SO MUCH more ship affirming than plain “I hate you” kisses.
Also also also also also, yay Drusilla. Also yay at her face when she realizes William wants to bring his mum along.
Also (final also), I absolutely love the self-acceptance Spike has with himself as the series progresses. It’s fascinating to see the difference between Angel/Angelus who are so torn apart they basically disassociate with each other, and Spike who owns up to the things he did and largely sees himself as the same person with/without the soul. (Will go more into this last bit in my next episode meta re: Angel S4, episode Morpheus which I just watched and was also AWESOME.)
I can pretty much sum up my thoughts on these episodes by saying that Connor is officially, unequivocally, 100% objectively...
Okay. Okay. In all seriousness, these were probably the best crop of episodes in season 4 so far (thanks in no help to either Connor or Angel). So let’s dig in shall we?
BtVS & AtS Recap Master Post located here
Episode 15 (Orpheus)
My favorite episode of the bunch. Probably because of combined Faith and Willow power. Both of them just showin’ up to the club like “wham bam, thank you, ma’am.”
At first I thought the Orpheus stuff was going to yet more straight forward Angel flashbacks and I was like “come on, really? I am all good on the Angel flashbacks.” But then both Angelus and Faith were there to watch and it was kind of awesome.
Well, half of it was awesome. Half of it was groan-worthy.
The Awesome:
I love my Spike & Angel comparisons. I love how 100% set Angel is in his ways that his experience is the Universal Vampire Experience (TM). I love how he dissociates from his demon self enough that--not only do they have two different personalities--but Angel goes as far as to block certain memories as well. It’s fascinating. And it’s like, on the surface, it seems like he’s the “noble” one for doing this, that he’s so disgusted at his demon and the thought of being evil by association, that he’s keeping himself “above” it, but he’s really doing the opposite?
Like, to hearken back to Lies My Parents Told Me (and now I’m kinda wishing I’d done these two episode metas in the same post), if the First was in LA, Angel would have soooooo many triggers, like holy shit his team would be screwed. And Angel would never, ever face them... or at least, would never face them in a way where he assumed responsibility and accepted his actions as things that’d happened and are in the past and are therefore unchangeable, so stop letting them rule you and do you best with the things that are currently in the present.
And, it’s like, until he does that, Angel won’t ever “grow”, he’ll just get more and more self-mired in his own angst while Angelus continues to destabilize into more and more of a ticking time bomb in his sub-conscious.
Just... holy mental issues, Batman. No wonder his moments of perfect happiness only happen during sex; he’s too fractured and fucked up for them to occur any other way.
The Groan-Worthy:
So yeah. That diner scene. I didn’t get it.
Oh no, Angel fed on a human that was already dead? The horror? Was I really supposed to be as shocked and disgusted as Faith was? Like I get the need to add new scenes, but really? This was BY FAR one of the least questionable things Angel has done with a soul.
Like... why didn’t they show him palling around with Darla, Spike, & Dru again? Darla mentioned in 1900 he’d been killing murderers and thieves to put on a show of still being evil. Killing murderers is questionable, but thieves? Steal a loaf of bread, get chomped by a vampire? They could’ve done something with that.
Or, you know, they could’ve also just flashed back to this scene:
How many people died in that bout of violence? 20-30?
But no. We get “ohhhhhh noo, Angel fed on a dead guy!!!!!!11!1” and are expected to care. Like puhlease. Give me a break.
MEANWHILE BACK IN THE HYPERION
Willow coming to the rescue was great. The best thing about crossover characters/cameos is the chatter.
So yeah. Wesley & Willow’s scene was amazing. I loved how Wesley was like “you couldn’t possibly understand my pain” and Willow was all, “ummm... yeah, about that... I flayed a guy last spring.” And I think that more that anything hit home how you don’t need to be the dark & edgy, more adult version of a show to have serious shit going down.
Also I’m glad that the Willow/Fred UST was called out because through-out the whole episode I was like, “daaaamn Alyson.... you are standing in the same room as your husband and are having 9000 times the chemistry with Amy Acker than him rn.”
But all’s well that ends well and Angel’s soul is popped back in, just in time for Cordelia to come down the steps wearing an ensemble that just SCREAMS, “I AM EVIL”. Surely our heroes will notice?!?
Episode 16 (Players)
Spoilers, our heroes don’t notice.
I’ve really been snoring to death on the evil Cordy thing (mostly because I hate Connor and all of Cordy’s lines have been reduced to “but Connor! think about the baby! think about us!”), so I’m gonna focus on the Gunn & Gwen subplot. Or main plot? IDK, I liked it a whole lot better than the baby drama.
Gunn is fascinating. He’s like the Xander of the LA team, but if Xander had maintained his soldier experience/role? Although I hated the fact that the Gunn/Fred relationship drama was happening in the midst of all the other drama, I’m actually kind of glad it happened because it did/does expose key issues in both their self-perception of each other + themselves.
In Gunn’s case, namely that he’s not smart. Or rather, he’s not book smart, because Gunn is hella smart. He can think on his feet, he can improvise, he can strategize... but all that pales and his confidence wanes when put beside the others.
Because when’s the last time he had to play a part and be all sneaky? When’s the last time he gotta to devise a battle plan (Angel & Wesley are the ones always taking charge)?
This episode really took the kernel that was planted back in Supersymmetry re: Gunn accompanying Fred and trying to care about what she cares about even though he understands 0% of it vs Wesley openly being able to discuss her arguments and positions...
It’s like, no, a relationship doesn’t require both partners to understand the other’s job, but when Fred has dedicated her entire LIFE to understanding physic principles, it DOES create a gap. It’s this untouchable, unknowable part of her brain that will always be unknowable as long as Gunn remains uneducated. Which he will.
And that’s not an insult because, hell, even I’d be uneducated compared to Fred & Wesley, but it’s like...
To pull an example from my own life, I recently went on a first date that went really, really well. At one point the topic switched into movies and we literally spent the next TWO HOURS talking about movies. Talking about narrative, talking about cinematography, talking about editing, talking about film as a medium as a whole and how the best film stories are the ones that can only be told through film and it was AMAZING. And yeah, I just think of that vs other dates where I’ve asked the other person what kind of movies they liked and they’ve just said “eh, superhero movies are good i guess” or “i haven’t had much time recently for movies,” and it’s like, sure, not being passionate about movies isn’t a dealkiller, but film/tv love takes up such a HUGE part of my brain that NOT clicking with it is always going to leave a significant deadspace re: things that are frequently on my mind vs things I know I can converse about.
Yeah.
TL;DR, both Fred & Gunn deserve people that they can not only be cute and loving with, but also passionate. Like mentally passionate.
Episode 17 (Inside Out)
I hated this episode. I mean, yes. Woo Lorne, acting the bait but otherwise??
Ouch.
Like... Angel knew Cordelia was evil by the way she said “my sweet”? Really? That was your master clue-by-four? You know it’s lame when you have to do a flashback all Mr. Monk style and LITERALLY EXPLAIN IT TO THE AUDIENCE.
IDK, part of me’s just remembering BtVS S3 Enemies and how damn good THAT reveal was.
But yeah. Oh no, Connor and Cordelia run off. Oh no, Angel angst.
And then Connor just continues to be THE WORST. Like kidnap a girl and ignore the voice of his dead mom and then murder the crying girl THE WORST.
Like JESUS CHRIST. Your dad and... pseudo-nephew? Is Spike Connor’s psuedo-nephew? That’s messed up. Anyway, Your dad and pseudo-nephew at least had the No Soul Get Out of Jail Free card. What’s your excuse?
And, yes, evil!Cordy has been brainwashing him, but not to this extent surely! Like Holtz was screwed up, but he spent 15+ years instilling right vs wrong into him. And even if was swayed into confusion, CRYING GIRL PLEADING FOR HER LIFE. WHAT IS CONFUSING ABOUT THAT?
CONNOR YOU ARE THE WORST.
And then everything continues to go to shit and Cordelia gives birth to Gina Torres.
End episode apparently.
Episode 18 (Shiny Happy People)
My one complaint is that it took way too long for the ball to drop. (Not surprisingly, I had this same reaction to Madoka Magica: Rebellion--30m in of wtf dreamland vs eventual dark reality.)
But then once it did.
HOLY SHIT, FRED. I LOVE YOU.
I didn’t realize how much Fred had gotten side-lined this season until this episode and that’s a tragedy because Fred slayed it in this episode.
And omg, that one cut to Jasmine’s true face. HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, WHY THE FUCK DID THEY DO THAT. I watched this episode right before going to bed. I was not prepared for that! I was not okay with that!
Like, even now, I am too scared and revolted to scroll back through the episode and rewatch/pause that scene.
I’m just wigged.
Completely wigged.
Gah.
But yeah. Currently Fred is the only sane one and completely segregated from the rest of the cast + 99.5% of LA. How is she going to get out of this one? I honestly have no idea and for the first time in forever Angel has ended on a cliff hanger I actually get a fuck about so as soon as I hit “Post” I am headed off to watch the next episode.
That’s it for now, folks! Until next time, I’m gonna close out on my favorite line of this set of eps.
Oh man, so I never realized until you posted this just how much my shipping preferences differ from who I’d actually go out with. Which is a good thing, considering my shipping preferences…
Anyways:
Slow Burn with Spike since he’s the only one who’s not legit terrible. I’m talkin, like, 200k worth of sloooow burn.
Fake Date with Hans because LBR, even with random UST he’d ALWAYS be faking it and then we could both skedaddle as soon as the situation was over.
Enemies to Lovers with Kylo Ren since we’d be able to have hella rad lightsaber fights together. And the friends/lovers/whatever would come AFTER his mom chews him out and he’s realized how much of a punk he’s been.
So this time we’ve got one good episode and one “ugh what” one. AKA par for the course for Season 7.
BtVS & AtS Recap Master Post located here
Episode 18 (Dirty Girls)
AKA Faith comes back to Sunnydale. Also Nathan Fillion. Because Firefly getting cancelled was a thing apparently? And Joss wanted Mal on BtVS and Zoe on AtS? IDEK.
I’ll get Caleb over first.
I like Nathan Fillion. I’m not sold on his role in BtVS, especially coming in for just the final five episodes. They could’ve done something else with the First, something else with Principal Wood... like, I’d rather have Principal Wood go darkside as cliche as that sounds than have a COMPLETELY NEW one dimensional villain cluttering up screentime.
[/end Caleb thoughts (for now)]
Once again, Faith (like on AtS) had the best parts of the episode and the best parts of her best parts were her scenes with Spike. Especially the basement scene.
I mean, on the one hand, it’s probably my love for Spike talking. On the other hand, with 5 episodes left, I’m pretty much all for letting main characters who haven’t interacted with each other interact with each other. Like as long as it generally fits in with the plot GIVE ME ALL THE FANSERVICE YOU CAN. REFERENCE BACK TO THE BODYSWAP CHAMPAGNE POP. REFERENCE BACK TO SEASON SEX. REFERENCE ALL THE REFERENCES.
But then, of course, they go and attack the Wine Cellar/Villa/Whatever and things go to shit and Xander loses an eye (which I’ve been spoiled for back since I saw the cover of the first comic of Season Eight, which was like... back in March or April? damn it’s been a long time since I started watching).
And you know, I was totally fine with that battle and how terribly the Scoobies ate it. It’s good when Buffy goes up against a villain she can’t physically punch into submission...
And then the next episode happened.
Episode 19 (Empty Places)
What the hell.
I get it. The writers want to bring Buffy down to her darkest point right before the series finale.
But what the hell.
Buffy is not the kind of person to charge into a place, get a whole bunch of people killed, and then champion charging RIGHT BACK INTO THAT PLACE. Like, the writers were trying to make the case that she’s always been wreckless like that, but she HASN’T. Well, not since Season 1 anyway.
Angelus? Waited until she had Spike as her hidden, backstabbing ace before she made her move.
The Mayor? Pulled every single graduating student into her battle plans.
Adam? Used weird Captain Planet-esque heart/body/mind/something spell.
Glory? Used Buffybot + the hammer + general strategizing.
Dark Willow? Well... Dark Willow kind of snuck up on everybody and it was a last minute thing so... yeah. No time for planning on that one.
The point is. Buffy has never been the “run in with no plan” kind of person. And so while I KIND OF get her running in the first time, it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE to argue for it a second time. Other than, you know, to trigger the mutiny. Which is lazy writing.
And, like, if the writers really wanted to go with the mutiny, they could’ve at least thrown in a couple lines like:
Buffy: Okay, I know we can’t go in directly but surely there’s some sort of spell--
Willow: I’m not using magic against the First. It’s thrown everything I’ve ever used against it right back in my face.
Buffy: Fine. Schematics then. Xander, you can find blueprints, right? See if there’s some kind of hidden entrance?
Xander: Buffy...
Buffy: Or we create a diversion. Half of us fake an attack on the school while the other half--
Some slayerette: No!
[insert rest of mutiny here]
Basically, don’t just have Buffy argue for another brainless frontal assault. It’s not something she would do, and because of that, made the episodes entire climax feel wishy-washy.
It WAS however nice to see Buffy trusting Faith and trusting her ability to lead in Buffy’s place.
Also Spike and Andrew. As I mentioned. Four episode left. Give me ALL THE FANSERVICE YOU CAN.
FAN SERVICE
Which... yeah.
Fan service.
Next episode = Touched.
I have seen spoilery screencaps.
My body is ready.
(Until next time!)
(PS: I’ve already started writing fanfic over at EF. My descent is complete)
I don’t know whether to hate or love AtS for inevitability causing me to drag out episodes. On one hand, it’s preventing me from binging Buffy to the end. On the other hand... it’s preventing me from binging Buffy to the end. (With only seven episodes, I need to ration that shit out like a fine wine.)
AtS is finally getting better again though, so... yeah.
BtVS & AtS Recap Master Post located here
Episode 12 (Calvary)
Can I still say I called it when I guessed through literally everyone last episode as the potentially, secretly evil backstabber? Cordelia was my first guess, so... yeah. I’m saying I called it. And since this is her final season, I’m going to guess she’ll be evil for the duration of the season and ultimately die/reascend/whatever.
And I honestly don’t know whether I’m even somewhat okay with Cordy being evil, because, yeah, it explains the wet blanket acting complaints I had against her character this season, but... eh. Still not feeling it.
Anyway, pour one out for Lilah Morgan.
You were great, Lilah. And I should’ve known something terrible was going to happen the second I realized you were the only amazing character I was enjoying in the episode. Because that’s what AtS is doing now, I guess--killing off the only enjoyable people.
I’m hoping she comes back in some capacity because she’s pretty much the sole face of Wolfram & Hart at this point. And they’ve brought back Darla and other peeps... The great thing about this universe is that even perma-death doesn’t always equal perma-death.
Episode 13 (Salvage)
How do you get me to love a character I previously hated their first go around? Fuck up every single other character until they’re the only one left with snark and teeth, apparently.
Hello, Faith. So fucking glad to have you back. (Although, okay, I admit I was starting to like Faith a lot more during/after the bodyswitching episodes, so... yeah.)
How much did I love Faith this episode? Let me see...
- laying the slayer smackdown over a paralyzed Los Angeles
- her continually evolving relationship with Wesley; after the events of S3, he is pretty much the perfect person to be her Watcher now
- getting the offscreen down-low on the various members of Angel Investigations, and then being all “okay, yeah, you’re this person; you’re obviously this person”
- snapping at Connor for being a brat and getting him to STFU
- fighting the Beast until she literally can’t anymore
- as she’s barely able to move, swinging a chain at the window and nearly dusting Angelus with the sun
Overall, four for you, Faith Lehane. You go, Faith Lehane.
Of course, meanwhile in creepy!Cordelia-ville we have the continuation of the Cordelia/Connor subplot which BREAKS THE THERMOMETER IN TERMS OF CREEPY with surprise baby. Like holy shit, I have read and even written some fucked up shit in my lifetime, but this is the most fucked up shit I have ever had to endure. It is not okay. I would rather watch Seeing Red five more times again than have to watch that the ending scene again.
Eeugh.
Just... eeugh.
Episode 14 (Release)
I don’t have as many thoughts about this episode since it’s mostly a thematic continuation of the previous episode.
I will say, I loved the scene between Fred and Angelus.
I couldn’t give two craps about Connor angsting about the no-demon-violence spell affecting him. (YOU’RE THE CHILD OF TWO VAMPIRES. WHAT DID YOU FUCKING EXPECT?!?!)
Cordelia telepathically messing with Angelus would’ve been great, but her evil “voice” needs some work? IDK, it’s lacking in emotion. I had the same complaint about dark!Willow, so maybe it’s just me.
And it ends on a dramatic bitey cliffhanger, but I assume Faith will be okay because she’s in future episodes + the comics, so... yeah.
Next up in my recaps, I’m flipping back over to the Buffy side of things for Storyteller and Lies My Parents Told Me. I’m thinking the latter episode is going to be the episode I’m thinking about and oh my god, I’m so excited.
i feel like i’ve finally become an official “Musical Theatre Fan” in regards to “Musical Theatre Fan Problems”(TM). i saw the premiere of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion two months ago and i really want to listen to the soundtrack but there isn’t an official cast recording yet and there’s no guarantee that there will ever be one
i really want to listen to “Love is Bullshit, Baby” again
and the song Romy and Michele sang during the montage where the high school reunion is getting closer and closer but they still haven’t found new jobs/boyfriends yet
