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Wacky Watches: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

The Freshman - I think this episode is pretty good. It captures Buffy's feeling of being at College and find it weird pretty well! Sunday is a decent one off villain. Xander is helpful! Giles has sex! Riley's in it though...

City Of - I'm putting Angel titles in italics to avoid confusion! This is a decent first episode. The opening scene (WITH SAWYER) does a good job of telling you who Angel is. Of course Doyle then goes and lists everything that's ever happened to Angel and it's a bit awkward. Cordy is still like Buffy Cordy but maybe seems a bit softer and more willing to do good which is good! The mystery of the phone call Buffy received in the last episode is solved. Lindsey looks really young. This seems like it could be a good series.

Living Conditions - Urgh. The first bad episode since Gingerbread. It was a good run. It's just boring? Like Buffy having an annoying roommate who is really a demon is fine. But not enough actually happens with it so we just get 40 minutes of the roommate being annoying and Buffy acting crazy. There's some funny lines and the cast are good as always so it's not as bad an episode of a bad tv show would be, but by Buffy standards this is poor.
 
Please remember to tell us how each Buffy episode relates to the central season 4 theme of people finding and defining their IDENTITY thank you and god bless
 
Well the demon girl in Living Conditions wanted to start a new life with a new identity as an annoying roommate who loves Cher so that's a thing.

Also I forgot to mention how terrible the vamp faces looked in City Of.
 
And Sunday destroys Buffy's high school identity symbolically by breaking her class protector umbrella! The Freshman is basically saying "you're in college now, you can't be who you were in high school."
 
Lonely Hearts - We meet Kate for the first time. She's a lonely police lady. Could her and Angel have a romance in the future or something? Maybe! The story is a fairly standard "demon transmitted through sex" thing. It's okay.

The Harsh Light Of Day - Harmony's back! She's a vampire! Spike is back too and it turns out teaming him up with Harmony is a really good idea as they're hilarious together. Buffy has sex but the guy turns out to be a jerk. It's not as bad as the last time she had sex and the guy turned out to be a jerk, but it's still sad. And Xander and Anya have sex. There is sex in this episode and people being sad after sex. This is a good episode.

In the Dark - Spike! Oz! It's a crossover spectacular! I like the bit where Spike is commentating on Angel at the start. And when Oz and Angel talk and don't say much. This episode is fine but not super memorable? Because when Spike shows up in season five I never think to myself "oh yeah he was in season one as well!"

Fear, Itself - Watching this back I of course thought of this as "the haunted house one" but our heroes don't actually get to the haunted house until like 25 minutes in. NOT SAYING IT'S BAD though it builds well and there's lots of memorable stuff here like Giles with a chainsaw and Anya dressed as a bunny and who doesn't love the "actual size" joke? Nobody, that's who. Probably interesting that Willow's fear is magic going wrong.
 
I Fall to Pieces - I've watched so many standalone monster of the week episodes of tv shows over the years that I wonder if they've just spoiled me and I won't be able to enjoy episodes like this ever again. Or maybe this episode just isn't very good. That's possible too. There's a stalker guy who can detach his body parts. It looks silly. There's a line where Cordy says about Doyle "You're smarter than you look. Of course, you look retarded" that really kind of shocked me? I mean maybe it was more acceptable to say "retarded" in 1999 but it seemed out of chracter for Cordy's more softened character and even if she'd said it in season one of Buffy I probably still wouldn't have liked it. This is a bad episode.

Beer Bad - This is an episode that often gets mentioned as one of the worst ever so I think people react against that and say "ACTUALLY IT WAS QUITE GOOD." But really, this isn't good. It's a comedy episode but it isn't very funny. Not much happens (and coming not long after Living Conditions makes it more annoying.) Buffy acts all lovestruck about Parker when he's obviously a jerk but I'm that's realistic so I won't complain about that bit. But then there's lots of scenes of characters talking like cavemen, then they turn into cavemen and Willow's all "men are bad!" and hey this is pretty unsubtle! Even as a caveman Buffy still acts like a hero so there's your identity theme anyway. Episode bad.

Rm w/a Vu - So I was just complaining about episodes of Buffy where not much happens and this is a pretty slow paced episode of Angel...but I like it. Why? Probably because Jane Esponsen wrote it and she actually knows how to make this type of episode good. It's quite funny, Cordy gets good stuff to do, Doyle's probably the best he's been so far (he never really becomes a great character) and it's sad watching Dennis be bricked up in a wall. "Phantom Dennis" is a funny name!

Wild at Heart - So it's over for Willow and Oz. She was right that he could have come up with a better way to stop Veruca killing people than offering her sex to lure her into a cage. Alyson Hannigan is very good at Willow. I felt bad for her. Oz has always been a solid guy so it's sad watching him fuck up. This episode is sad. It's pretty good though! When Maggie Walsh talks about the "wild dogs" in front of Buffy does she already know Buffy's the Slayer and she's tipping her off? I can't actually remember. Riley is still showing up, by the way. They're limiting him to just a scene or two per episode which is smart. Here he saves Willow from being run over. Isn't he a great guy! We should all like him! Also the episode starts with Spike's monologue being intterupted by the army guys which is funny!
 
I love Rm w/a Vu. One of the like... 5, 6 good S1 episodes of Angel?

Did you notice how Oz exploring his identity as a werewolf was more important than his relationship with Willow?
And how beer Literally transforms you into another person?
 
Sense And Sensitivity - I don't mind Kate when she's interacting with Angel and she does fine with the "emotional" scenes in this episode, but I don't care about her cop buddies and I'm not interested in an episode mainly set in her police station. The best scene here is when her dad is still a dick to her at the end even after everything that happened. The creepy Wolfram and Hart guy (Lee, I just looked it up) appears for the first time and the actor's pretty good at being creepy. But this isn't a good episode.

The Initiative - After a slowish build Riley is now heavily featured. It's really pretty jarring when we start getting scenes from his point of viewing talking to his friends (and holy shit Graham is wooden as fuck) about Buffy being "beddable" or whatever. Like I guess we're supposed to be starting to like Riley now and be interested in what he thinks but he's still pretty dull. Even after the big mid-episode twist where he turns out to be one of the army guys and Maggie Walsh is his boss. ON THE OTHER HAND I do care about Spike and all his scenes here are great and especially Spike interacting with Willow. That is always good (at this point anyway!) Spike can't bite anymore and what does that mean for his identity? I like the Xander/Giles scenes too and how they feel kind of left out and Xander's mom offering them fruit punch. Good episode.

Bachelor Party - This reminds me a lot of an episode of Grimm, which is probably because of David Greenwalt being heavily involved in both shows. There's some funny lines here but again it's not a particularly good episode. Also having the villain from Buffy's 'Anne' playing Doyle's ex's new man here is a bit distracting (the actor is good though AND YEAH I KNOW HE WAS IN FIREFLY TOO.)
 
CaptainWacky said:
Spike can't bite anymore and what does that mean for his identity?
Click to expand...

What a good question! What does it mean to be a bloodthirsty murderer that can't murder? Are you suddenly a moral being if you're outright incapable of committing moral acts? Is the chip preferable to a soul? After all, a chipped vampire cannot kill, whereas an ensouled one has the choice to kill or not. These questions are interesting, and will also be explored in season 4 of Angel.
 
I should have mentioned the slow motion Xander/Harmony slap fight that was good.

Pangs - It's the Indian one! It's pretty good! Lots of funny lines and Spike begins his new role of being a smartass prisoner of the Scoobies. Angel shows up but Buffy never sees him so is it pointless...

I Will Remember You - Buffy follows Angel to LA (she's lying about being there to see her dad, right?) and Angel becomes human! This is a good episode. I like the sad Buffy/Angel love music. Does that have a name? Angel has to live with the memory of how good it would be to be human and have lots of sex with Buffy.
 
Something Blue - This episode is funny but also it has a lot of foreshadowing! Willow is hurt and turns to magic. Things go wrong and other people nearly die. D'Hoffryn is interested in Willow. Buffy and Spike are in love! Also Spike's in the opening credits now and for some reason I thought that didn't happen until later and it's probably stretching credibility a bit that they haven't just stake him yet.
 
Hero - Well, goodbye, Doyle. It's typical of Joss to make him likable and make you think "maybe Doyle could be a good character with more episodes like this!" then kill him. Although I guess it wasn't actually planned that he'd die so soon and Glenn Quinn's personal problems forced their hand. Buffy Wiki isn't sure. It's a shame we never see The Scourge again. This episode is good. The part with them rewatching Doyle's "is that it? Am I done?" video at the end is genius.

Hush - So this episode is great. I can't see anyone disliking it. Not only do you have all the silent acting scenes, the Gentleman are just great one shot villains with an amazing design. I'm impressive that Joss never brought them back (unlike SAY Doctor Who where the Weeping Angels keep coming back every year.) Tara appears! She holds hands with Willow to do a spell but also lesbianism. Buffy and Riley find out about each other and it's done in a good way where Riley isn't annoying! Xander shows Anya how he feels. And the lecture hall scene with the drawings and the wanking. This is the best episode (DISCLAIMER: I'm not officially saying this is my favourite episode.)
 
"When you stop talking, you start communication" - something they say in the director's commentary over and over again.
 
Parting Gifts - This one's pretty good! Cordy is funny when she's trying to get rid of the visions by kissing everyone and at her audition. Wesley appears! He's a rogue demon hunter! He's still funny! I seem to remember people hated him at first because he's NOT DOYLE but really he's better than Doyle. It was pretty obvious the empath demon was really evil though.

Doomed - Eeeeeh. Not so great. Buffy/Riley scenes where they actually talk to each other aren't all that interesting. He's just dull. I know he's supposed to be a nice guy and the opposite of Angel in a lot of ways, but they could have made him more fun! Percy shows up again and calls Willow a nerd but it doesn't really go anywhere. I mean they go back to highschool at the end but just say something like "it's weird to be back at highschool!" rather than do anything interesting with it. The Spike wanting to die then finding out he can hurt demons story is fun at least.
 
Somnambulist - It's Hawkeye! In Angel! And he's kind of over the top! He's a vampire sired by Angel and Angel sees his killings in dreams because of reasons I guess. Kate finds out about Angel being a vampire. I don't ship Angel and Kate but their interactions are better than Buffy and Riley's. This episode is okay but I feel they do similar episodes later which are better.

A New Man - It's a Jane Espenson episode so it's funny. Like, really funny. There's lots of good quotes. Like "We thought you were a myth"/"well, you were myth-taken". Which Riley doesn't laugh at because he's a plank of wood. And demon-Giles chasing Maggie is hilarious. I enjoy Ethan's scene with Giles where they get drunk too. I think Ethan was having a good time but he just turned Giles into a demon anyway for a laugh. It's a shame this is the last time we see Ethan (and that the actor died.) But this episode isn't just funny it's actually a really good Giles-centric story as he feels left out being an old guy who's friends with a bunch of teenagers (which is a bit weird let's face it) and with Buffy getting closer to Maggie (although I don't think the show does a great job of showing Buffy getting closer to Maggie but I don't blame this episode for that.) There aren't enough Giles episodes. THIS IS VERY GOOD.

Expecting - This isn't good. It's the mystical pregnancy one. Because every show needs one of those. It doesn't do anything interesting with the mystical pregnancy. I do like Wesley becoming part of the group. But this is bad. At least Cordy will never have a mystical pregnancy again now that they've done it once!

The I in Team - This is where the Initiative arc goes off the rails. Buffy is invited down to the underground lair for the first time. Buffy acts kind of dumb in the first half of this episode as she doesn't seem to understand why she shouldn't trust the Initiative (despite the good scene with Giles in the previous episode) and then she says dumb things to embarrass Riley in front of his army friends. Then her and Riley have sex and it isn't very hot (I do like her being happy Riley's still in bed after unlike Angel and Parker.) Then Maggie really quickly decides she has to kill Buffy and sets up a really half-assed plot to do so. Like did she really think two demons with axes would be enough to beat the Slayer? She's dumb. Then she dies. And really I don't think Maggie worked all that well as a character. The show tells us that Buffy is getting closer to her but we don't really see it in their scenes together. Maggie only found out Buffy was the Slayer the previous episode. Buffy doesn't seem to feel betrayed or anything when Maggie tries to kill her. What is the story with Buffy and the Initiatve trying to say anyway? Buffy thinks the big science lab is cool for about five minutes but the berayal is so rushed that I can't tell what they were trying to do. It feels like they shoved several episodes of plot into this. Maybe because the Maggie Walsh actress wasn't available and they had to rush through her plot. Anywyay, the episode is okay to watch but a pretty big mis-step I'd say. Willow/Tara and Spike scenes are good.
 
She - Ah yes, the famous "really really bad" episode! It actually starts off good with Angel imagining what it would be like to dance and Wesley being invited to join the team officially. Then the plot starts. It's like something from Star Trek season 3 but worse. Marti "I'm not good at metaphors" Noxon writes (with David Greenwalt TO BE FAIR.) It's like female genital mutilation but also men catch on fire if they touch the women because men are bad or something. Bai Ling is a bad actress. This is bad.

Goodbye Iowa - This is about on the same level of the previous Buffy episode. It's not bad, but compare it to the plot heavy episodes of season 3 where you had awesome character development going on for Faith (and everyone else) and the Mayor being a great villain. Here we have Riley on drugs and Adam inserting floppies into his chest.

I've Got You Under My Skin - This is an improvement! Wesley had been very much a bumbling fool so far but here we get hints of his dark past with his father. It's another standalone but it's more interesting than most of the others this seaon and has a pretty brutal twist at the end.
 
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