The best of ‘Homecoming’ for me was the Buffy & Cordelia stuff, and the fact that David Greenwalt wrote and directed. I get the feeling from the way he writes/treats the characters that Greenwalt really loves these kids and cares about their relationships. I love how he writes conversations amongst our Scoobies.

We finally meet the mayor they’ve been foreshadowing for-ever. Fun character while still being scary. Whedon’s big-bads do usually get loads of layers and Mayor Wilkins is a big old onion. His relationship with Faith is so creepy/funny. Slayerfest ’98 is kinda genius. Xander and Willow share their first kiss and begin their several episode fling. I like seeing them together, smooching, but I hate the episode when Oz and Cordy catch ‘em. Great ending to the episode, just when you think the Homecoming Queen tie is B and Cordy- it’s neither. Bazinga!

‘Band Candy’ is one of my absolute faves, mostly due to Tony Head’s portrayal of a young Giles. Messing up his hair in the mirror, accent all thick and slang-y, total disregard for authority. Love him. Snyder’s fun, too. Joyce is not one of my favorite characters but I like her it this. Forget about the demon and what the Mayor is up to (stealing babies to sacrifice to the big snake demon), and this is just a fun episode. I love how at one point Buffy has traded in her usual Scoobies to sleuth with Giles, Joyce and Snyder!

Notes:

Buffy (to Giles): Why do I put up with this?

Giles (blindfolding B for training): Because it is your destiny…and because I just bought 30 “cocorific” candy bars.

Angel was shirtless in this episode, reminding me how skinny Boreanaz is now on Bones. I like him better a little thicker.

Willow and Xander play footsies under the table in class. Just wrong, guys.

Snyder (at the Bronze and under the influence): There are some foxy ladies here tonight.

And I’m back. I’ve been watching, just not blogging- I’m behind about a dozen episodes. These two I watched in November, took a break, and have been watching a ton in the past week. I’ve committed to doing this entire re-watch, and I want to, but I think I’m going to start general blogging as well. So if anyone is still reading (I know a few are, I get a count of my visitors), I’ll link to my new endeavor  in a few days.  Meanwhile…

The first of many terrific episodes in Season 3. I am really, really enjoying this season. ‘Faith, Hope, & Trick’ introduces, well, Faith, (Scott) Hope and (Mr) Trick. I’d forgotten what the Hope stood for. That was a forgettable Buffy-boy. The dialogue in this episode is brill, written by the excellent David Greenwalt.

Willow to Buffy: Do that thing with your mouth that boys like. Oh, I didn’t mean the bad thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing you do… (to Oz): You’re supposed to stop me when I do that.

Oz to Willow: I like when you do that. (ah, yeah, so don’t we!)

Of course, this episode works so well because of the introduction of Faith. Just about the best Whedon character ever. Eliza Dushku is at her best as Faith. (Really, I love her, but she should stick to this type of character.) Faith gives us “B” (for Buffy), “5 by 5″, and a new view of slayer as a hot mess. A hot, sexy, irresistible mess (just ask Xander in ‘The Zeppo’.) According to IMDB, Faith was in just 20 episodes of BtVS (hard to believe so few), but the impact is huge. Riley Finn was in more episodes. Who? (I kid, I kid.) I love the arc given to this character and it’s rewarding in the last season (and in Angel) to see her grow and redeemed.

Oh, and there’s the part when Angel returns from 100 years in a hell dimension. OMG!

‘Beauty and the Beasts’ is pretty blah in comparison. It’s another social issue-y episode about abuse. We get some Faith and Angel, but not enough. And I watched it two months ago, that’s all I’ve got.

Season 3, it’s Season 3!! I love Season 3.

But I wasn’t loving Anne. Too serious. Too social-issue-y for me, especially for a season premiere. I mostly enjoyed the Scoobies trying to slay without a Slayer. Willow has more self-confidence for sure, that I liked. But for a Joss-penned episode, I just wasn’t feeling it.

Dead Man’s Party…well, who doesn’t love a good zombie story! It’s still feels too sad but the last scene with Buffy & Willow calling each other names…lovingly…puts us back on track. “Bad Seed!” “Witch!”

Favorite Quote:

Giles (to himself): “Unbelievable. ‘Do you like my mask? Isn’t it pretty, it raises the dead.’ Americans.”

NEXT TIME ON BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER- FAITH!!!

It’s been a month since I watched these; so much tv to watch, so little time to do this rewatch! Yes, I shouldn’t have started it right before the new season. Have I already admitted that? Hmm.

Wentworth Miller hotness in ‘Go Fish.’ I didn’t watch ‘Prison Break’ but I can certainly appreciate the hotness. Case in point- Xander in a Speedo.

‘Becoming’ was written and directed by the Jossmeister. So it’s undeniably good. Also, when Joss writes, people die. Slayers die. Buh-bye Kendra.

During Part 1, something made me write this in my notes-

Buffy=Harry

Willow=Hermione

Xander=Ron

Think about it.

Part 2 is exceptional. We have an alliance between Spike and Buffy; Angelus torturing Giles (love when Angelus takes Giles’ glasses and cleans them like Giles does when he’s nervous); Miss Calendar; the reveal to Joyce that Buffy is the Slayer (love that Spike was there for it); Willow doing bad-ass magic; and Buffy sending Angel with his newly restored soul to hell. An excellent season finale and set-up for Season 3, arguably the best season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As you can see, I’ve been very busy hanging out with Xander, Cordy, and Spike and have fallen behind on my blogging. Buffyfest was Awesome!! I met Nick Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, and James Marsters. I attended panels for each of those three as well as panels with Amber Benson (Tara), Mercedes McNab (Harmony), and Clare Kramer (Glory). The panels were Q&As and the actors answered tons of fun questions about working on BtVS. James Marsters is a musician and also did a short acoustic set of his music. He was so freaking charming he made me fall in love with him…just a little.

I’ve watched eight episodes since I last blogged, but I’ll just catch up on a couple now.

The demon in Killed By Death was one of the scariest Buffy badies for me, right up there with the Gentlemen in Hush and that creepy thing that was eating Willow’s stomach skin in the beginning of Season 7. When Der Kindestod is using his tentacle eye socket thingys to suck Buffy’s life force, he has this nasty drool. Scary and gross.

Xander to Angelus (at the hospital): “Take a walk, overbite.”

Xander to Buffy (after nearly being denied snacks by Joyce): “Your mom’s trying to bogart the cheesy chips. What’s that all about?”

I Only Have Eyes For You was mediocre. A few fun things-

Snyder mentions the Mayor, and reveals that he knows about the Hellmouth.

Beginning of Willow’s journey into witchcraft.

Spike can walk!! I remember when the show originally aired how stoked I was to see that he could walk and that he was plotting against Angelus.  Poor Spike just wants his Dru to himself!

I’m behind on my blogging but I have been watching Buffy, I’ll update in a day or two. Just wanted to mention Buffyfest, happening this weekend at New England Comic Con in Boston. Panels, autographs, and photo-ops with James Marsters (Spike), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Charisma Carpenter (Cordy), Amber Benson (Tara), Mercedes McNab (Harmony), and Clare Kramer (Glory). I hope there is some good banter and “back in the day” talk. Should be fun, will keep ya posted.

In an interview on the DVD, Joss (jokingly) says that this is a message to his actors- “Be very good or I’ll kill you.” He’s also telling the audience…I may kill your favorite character. Don’t get too attached.

I wasn’t looking forward to watching this episode. As good as it is- and it is great, and as much as I know Jennie has to die to make it a great episode, I just don’t want her to. At this point I just wanted Buffy to send Angel to hell. Then I watched. And I loved. And I cried, a bit- mostly at Willow’s reaction to hearing of Jennie’s death. And at the touching scene between Watcher and Slayer at the end. I love the narration from Angelus, and how he’s watching outside Buffy’s house to witness her grief. Now we know that Angelus isn’t just a bad guy who slept with a girl and then changed. Angelus is evil and must die. Or have his soul restored at the last minute…oops, too late.

This episode is so good, I should keep a list throughout the re-watch of my faves and try to rank them in the end. I’m thinking Passion makes the top…10? 20? What are your faves?

The next two eps are stand-alone-ish, then the excellent two part season finale.

Notables-

Xander calls Buffy “Watcher’s Pet.” That should have been the title of an ep.

One of the best Willow moments from the series: her fish in the envelope. I love how she pulls them out and the look on her face.

Angelus calls Spike “Rollerboy.” Love it.

Willow: “I want smoochies!”

Phases is a classic, the episode Oz becomes wolf. It makes us love Willow even more that she still wants Oz, even though he’s a werewolf and tried to eat her. I wish Oz had stuck around longer in the series, but then we never would have had Willow and Tara, so no. As a cute digression…Alyson Hannigan is on Twitter and Seth Green just joined. Aly tweeted- “Hello @SethGreen ! I’ve missed you so.” And Seth tweeted back- “@alydenisof I’ve missed YOU!” Aww. Willow and Oz.

Funnies-

Willow: (reciting Xander’s phone #) “1-800-I’m dating a skanky ho!” Will had some great lines in this ep.

Giles was so excited about researching werewolves. “It’s one of the classics!”

Larry coming out to Xander. Great scene. What happens to Larry? I think I remember him helping at Graduation.

BB&B has Valentines’ Day, the return of Amy, and a love spell gone wrong. Giles supposes that Amy botched the spell, and Cordy’s heart necklace used in the spell actually protected her from rabidly obsessing over Xander, unlike the rest of the female population. I think the spell went wrong because Cordy was already in love with Xander. It’s a fun episode, watching Buffy, Ms Calendar, Willow, Joyce, etc, throw themselves at Xander. Buffy is turned into a rat, like Amy will be in a future episode. “We have to catch the Buffy rat!”

Best line:

Angel: (giving Dru a human heart for V Day) “I found it in a quaint shop–girl.” Ha!

Next up, Passion. I am sorta not looking forward to this one. As great as it is, it’s a sad one.

I’d love it if anyone wanted to watch along. Get the complete series on Amazon for about $180, single seasons around $25. Through the end of the month the first season is available on hulu, second season in October, etc. If you have Netflix, all seven seasons are available on Instant Watch. If you have an iPhone, iPad, or a Touch, you can watch anywhere, like I did today at work. How cool is that?

http://www.hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer

Two great episodes, especially Innocence; a pivotal episode in the Buffy mythology, directed and penned by Whedon and full of delicious dialogue. The title obviously refers to Buffy’s virginity and her naive notion of having a vamp for a boyfriend. Angelus takes both of these from her. I think it also refers to Angel’s innocence, his soul, taken from him by Buffy. I was struck by the difference between David Boreanaz’s Angel and Angelus, compared too with his later portrayal of Angel. Angel is whiny and emo and too serious. His face is often pained. Kinda like Edward Cullen. (Twilight reference. Sorry.) Angelus is physically confident and funny and there’s an openness about him. Nice acting work by David. The later version of Angel (maybe post-Connor) is somewhere between Angel and Angelus, pained and cocky.

Willow and Oz are pretty adorable in these episodes. They have a nice interaction in Surprise talking about their first date. Willow has a moment as she walks away, chuckling “I said date.” In Innocence, you can see on Willow’s face the moment she falls for Oz. She wants him to kiss her to make Xander jealous (she caught him snogging Cordy), but Oz senses this and talks about “Willow kissage” and how he wants to kiss her but he can wait until it’s right. Le sigh.

The judge/mall/rocket launcher scene was fun. I’m looking forward to the Spike/Dru/Angelus triangle from now to the end of the season.

Fun quotes:

Willow to Xander, after catching him kissing Cordy: “Remember? The ‘We Hate Cordelia Club’ of which you are the treasurer?”

Angelus to Buffy, post-coital: “You got a lot to learn about men, kiddo. Although I guess you proved that last night.” Ouch.

Cordy, post-Judge-go-boom, told to pick up his pieces: “Pieces? We get the pieces. Our job sucks!”

Angelus: “You can’t kill me.” Buffy: “Give me time.”

How do you guys like the new home for my re-watch? I’m still playing around with the theme, widgets, etc, but I kinda love it. Maybe I’ve finally been bitten by the blogging bug.

Not much for me to say about these two very stand-alone episodes. I loved John Ritter, grew up with him as the lovable Jack Tripper on Three’s Company, which makes it uncomfortable to see him as Ted. I hate Ted. My skin crawls whenever he calls Buffy “little lady.” And I wanna slap Joyce like nine times in this episode. The best part of Bad Eggs is Cordy and Xander attached at the mouth. And another appearance of Danny Strong as Jonathan. I didn’t realize how often he showed up just to be random student put in danger and saved by Buffy. Glad he stuck around as long as he did. One of my favorite eps is the Jonathan-centric Superstar. Speaking of Strong, he is currently on Mad Men, a show I am in love with. I kept pausing this past week’s episode to bask in its goodness, and cuz I didn’t want it to end. Watch it!

Next up…Buffy’s 17th birthday. Spoiler: it does not go well.

I love gettting background on Giles, wish it was more and peppered throughout the series. I know the “Ripper” project never happened and maybe that’s where his story would have gone. This episode was sexy Giles-centric with his unshaven scowl-y face and open collar, moodier lighting, messy hair…whooah, it’s it getting hot in here! The flirty, fighty, foreshadowy Xander & Cordy was fun, too.

What’s My Line introduces us to the work of Marti Noxon, who will have a hand in a gazillion Buffy and Angel episodes as writer &/or producer, then make her mark in some of my other faves, like Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Mad Men. Poke around online and you’ll see that a lot of fans who don’t like seasons 6&7 blame her executive producing. There is also criticism for her work on subsequent shows- she goes in, wrecks characters/plots with soap opera-y drama, then gets the boot. I wasn’t crazy about the doom and gloom in Buffy after Willow brought her back in S6, but still loved the series right to the end. And I’m really happy with the writing in What’s My Line, Pts 1&2.

Observations:
I think this is the first time the gang is referred to as the “Scoobies”, Xander to Cordy right before bug guy.
Cordy and Xander start their make-out sessions at the same time Willow and Oz start talking.
Buffy has a stuffed pig named Mr Gordo.
Oz got shot! Forgot that one.
Dru & Angel strapped together on the altar was hot.

Quotes:
“I’m Kendra, the Vampire Slayer.” WTF?
“You’ve been a very bad daddy.” Dru to Angel

“Three more seconds with you and I’m gonna…”
“Gonna what, coward?!”
“Moron!”
“I hate you!”
“I hate you!”
-and then Xander and Cordy exploded into make-out session

Cordelia: “When it comes to dating, I’M the Slayer.”

Reptile Boy-
Meh.
Too much make-up on Willow.
Shirtless Xander

Halloween-
Larry! Doesn’t he end up being gay? Yes, and he admits it to Xander?
Great reaction from Giles when ghost Willow walks through the wall into the library.
Did I say Giles? I mean RIPPER! It was great getting a glimpse of Giles’ past and a hint that it is a dark past. Wish it had been fully fleshed out in the series.
Overall, a fun episode.

Lie To Me-
Excellent cold open with Dru and Angel. I found Dru annoying during the run of the series but now appreciate her. Loved Angel having to tell Buffy what he’d done to Dru.
This is another Whedon written & directed, but not one of my faves. I wonder if Joss wrote himself into the vamp-groupies a bit, if he romanticized vamps as a teen.

Speaking of vamps, I’m off to watch last night’s True Blood! Did anyone catch the Rolling Stone cover? Hot!

I’m a bit behind, not watching as quickly as I would like. This’ll be short…

Neither SAR nor IMG are favories, but at least IMG introduces Oz. Didn’t expect to see him for a few more episodes. Jonathan is also introduced, as he is the unnamed student the mummy girl almost kills.

It’s easy to see at this point that the Whedon/Greenwalt eps are my favorites. School Hard introduces Spike and Drucilla, Spike kills the “Annoying One” and moves in as the Big Bad. I love Spike but I just can’t be afraid of him. His journey through this series and Angel, like Cordy’s, is one of my favorite.

Buffy: “Giles, I’m 16 years old. I don’t wanna die.”

Both of these episodes, season 1 finale and season 2 premiere, were written and directed by Joss and my gods does it show. Real drama, emotional cues from music, the snarkiest of banter, and (in Prophecy Girl) a roomful of dead kids with blood smeared on a tv screen. Screams Joss. As I go through the rewatch, I’m really looking forward to seeing which writers wrote what and figuring out my favorites. I’m aware now of the core group and what else they’ve done, but didn’t pay much attention when the show was airing.

Quotes & Stuff:

Master: (after he makes the ground shake) “What do you think? 5.1?”
Master: (to Buffy) “Oh good. The feeble banter portion of the fight.”
Master: (to B, after he’s killed her) “By the way, I like your dress.”
Buffy: (to Giles) “You’re the watcher. I just work here.”
The Anointed One: (about Buffy) “I hate that girl.”

Cordy saves Willow and Jenny!
I like my Buffy super confident and B post-death kicked ass. Snark in the face of danger.
From the cold open of When She Was Bad, I did not remember the Xander/Willow almost kiss, interrupted by vamp.
Buffy grinding on Xander = WRONG. They’re like brother and sister for crying out loud.

Not a ton to say about these two. Maybe I stayed up too late to watch (went to bed last night at 1:30!), but I didn’t even write down any memorable lines. Nightmares has some slightly scary moments but the big bad is an asshat baseball coach? Is this the only time we see vamp-Buffy? It can’t be, right? But I can’t think of another. We do get to see Xander shirtless. Not bad, Nick. He’ll look even better in season 2′s Go Fish in a Speedo.

Out of Mind is the first we see Cordy teaming up with the Scoobs. I love her progression from total bitch to reluctant demon fighter bitch. Think about how she starts out and where she ends up on Angel. Great, great character development over what, 7ish seasons between the two.

Anyone ever paused on the open book at the end of this episode? If you do, you’ll see that under the chapter “Assassination and Infiltration” is not instructional text but the lyrics to “Happiness is a Warm Gun” by the Beatles. Neat.

Xander: “For those of us in our studio audience who are me- you guys are saying that Moloch is in this computer?”

Unfortunately, Xander, that’s exactly what they’re saying.

The only thing that makes any sense in this episode is… Jenny Calendar!!! Love her.

Buffy: (teasing Giles) “Into every generation is born one who must run the annual talentless show. You cannot escape your destiny.”

Lots of fun in The Puppet Show, including Xander playing around with Sid the dummy and the hysterical Oedipus ending. And, the introduction of my favorite principal…you know him, you love to hate him…Principal Snyder! Played by the incomparable Armin Shimerman. He’s guest starred in dozens of tv shows and played Quark on ST: Deep Space Nine.

I was thinking about these two episodes today and how they reminded me of a recent short-lived show, Reaper. Demons (and demon hunters) in computers and dummies would be just the right camp for Reaper. I loved the strong lead, Bret Harrison, with his own band of Scoobies. Given more time and a well-told mythology, Reaper could have grown into a great show like Buffy. Makes sense that the creators of Reaper were scooped up by Joss to work on Dollhouse.

I have almost nothing to say about The Pack other than it made me mad and Xander was evil. Bad hyena-possessed Xander.

Also, notice how they glossed over the fact that the other hyena-delinquents have to live with the memory of EATING THEIR PRINCIPAL ALIVE. Ew.

I’m not too schmoopie (screw you spell-check, it is a word) over Buffy and Angel. I like them as a tragic couple, love the Angel ep when Angel is human and they’re together, but the only couple I get schmoopie for is Willow and Tara.

I totally forgot that Angel dusted Darla this soon and she’s gone until Wolfram & Hart bring her back.

Do you guys have any favorite couples from the series (or Angel)?

Buffy: “Clark Kent has a job, I just want to go on a date.”

I remembered the entire plot for the Anointed One in this episode and nothing about Emily Dickinson-reading pretty boy Owen. Huh. This ep gets it right, with mythology/big bad story and a fun B plot about Buffy trying to date. Buffy and Giles have their first of many real heart-to-hearts.

Stuff I wrote down:
Cute dresses on Buffy in the past two eps.

Owen refers to unknown lunch food as “Soylent Green”!

Button- I’m the Slayer, ask me how!

“If the Apocalypse comes, beep me”, which made me think- Cell phones and texting must make slaying with the Scoobies much easier.

Cordelia’s first comment about Angel- “Hello, salty goodness!” HA!

Buffy: “You’re my Xander-shaped friend!”

Witch was never a favorite of mine. It’s too early in the character development for a mediocre plot. And I don’t like it when Buffy is in mortal danger and needs to be saved by someone else. I like my Buffy at 100%. I do like it when bit characters like Amy are brought back with larger roles, as often happens in the Buffyverse.

Teacher’s Pet. *sigh* And here begins Xander’s attraction to demon chicks. I’m really enjoying Nick Brendon in these early episodes- his comic timing is perfect for this dialogue. Later in the series I like Xander less, maybe watching back-to-back will change that. BTW, Xander’s middle name is LaVelle? Turned on subtitles for that spelling. Joss says that there is a bit of himself in all of his main characters, esp Xander, who is over and over in the series concerned about being “inadequate” and “less than a man.” Makes me wish I’d known Joss in high school.