|
Post by William the Bloody on Aug 18, 2003 2:43:45 GMT -5
Written by Dave Greenwalt Directed by Bruce Seth Green Air date: 3/24/97
Xander falls for a beautiful substitute teacher who is actually a She-Mantis intent on mating with, then decapitating, virginal boys.
|
|
|
Post by beccaelizabeth on Jun 27, 2004 19:38:30 GMT -5
Watcher's guide-
Xander fantasizes about being a guitar god, impressing Buffy with his amazing musical talents. Of course, we later learn that GIles did actually play guitar in a rock band in his youth, and Oz is lead guitarist of Dingoes Ate My Baby. So, clearly, guitar is the hot instrument of the moment.
From the original teleplay: Buffy: Dr Gregory didnt chew me out of anything. He was really cool. But Flutie showe dhim my permanent record. Apparently, I fall somewhere between Charles Manson and a really bad person. Willow: And you can't tell Dr Gregory what really happened at your old school? Buffy: I was fighting vampiers? I'm thinking he might not believe me. Willow: Yeah, he probably gets that excuse all the time. Cordelia: (just arriving) Here lies a problem. What used to be my table occupied by pitiful losers. Of course, we'll have to burn it. Buffy: Sad, you have so many memories here. You and Lawrence, you and Mark, you and John. You spent the better part of your J through M here.
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Jul 13, 2004 18:54:47 GMT -5
Random thoughts . . . . . * What's the deal with Xander and bugs? Mantis lady, bug man, eating bugs for Dracula. It doesn't help that I always confuse the clip of him waking up in class when Buffy tells him he's drooling with the Dracula snatch and eat bug thing. * We've had banter between Buffy and Angel before, but this is the episode where it first seems acknowledged between them that they are actually flirting. * You know, Xander's come back to Blayne's line in the lunch room is actually pretty good. No one else in the show seems to think so, not even Xander, but I thought so. (Blayne: "I came in first. Guess that's what they call natural selection." Xander: "Guess it's what they call a rehearsal!") OK, it's not Noel Coward, but for a spontaneous come back - rather smart. Or maybe I just like Xander a lot. * It was a very effective idea to have Buffy and the audience learn that Miss French is something icky by having fork guy be afraid of her. Sort of how it is scarier to not show the reavers but just let us see other people's reactions. Also smart to shoot the fight between Buffy and the giant praying mantis in silhouette and wall shadow. 'Cuz good as the bug monster outfit was, (and it was pretty damn good - the mantis is a perfect choice for giant bug demons as their costume shape will work very well on a person), it had the potential to look awfully goofy in an actual fight. The bug spray and bat sonar are a brilliant touch. * Lots of LOL moments in here, but one of my favorites is Principal Flutie and the healing counseling. Hee hee! I just love Flutie. Of course, we're gonna get a true gem in Snyder, but ya gotta admire Flutie's fabulous mixture of bumbling obnoxious caring, fear of lawsuits and just plain goofiness. Lola More thoughts later, I'm sure.
|
|
|
Post by Queen E on Jul 13, 2004 20:18:21 GMT -5
Random thoughts . . . . . * What's the deal with Xander and bugs? Mantis lady, bug man, eating bugs for Dracula. It doesn't help that I always confuse the clip of him waking up in class when Buffy tells him he's drooling with the Dracula snatch and eat bug thing. * We've had banter between Buffy and Angel before, but this is the episode where it first seems acknowledged between them that they are actually flirting. * You know, Xander's come back to Blayne's line in the lunch room is actually pretty good. No one else in the show seems to think so, not even Xander, but I thought so. (Blayne: "I came in first. Guess that's what they call natural selection." Xander: "Guess it's what they call a rehearsal!") OK, it's not Noel Coward, but for a spontaneous come back - rather smart. Or maybe I just like Xander a lot. * It was a very effective idea to have Buffy and the audience learn that Miss French is something icky by having fork guy be afraid of her. Sort of how it is scarier to not show the reavers but just let us see other people's reactions. Also smart to shoot the fight between Buffy and the giant praying mantis in silhouette and wall shadow. 'Cuz good as the bug monster outfit was, (and it was pretty damn good - the mantis is a perfect choice for giant bug demons as their costume shape will work very well on a person), it had the potential to look awfully goofy in an actual fight. The bug spray and bat sonar are a brilliant touch. * Lots of LOL moments in here, but one of my favorites is Principal Flutie and the healing counseling. Hee hee! I just love Flutie. Of course, we're gonna get a true gem in Snyder, but ya gotta admire Flutie's fabulous mixture of bumbling obnoxious caring, fear of lawsuits and just plain goofiness. Lola More thoughts later, I'm sure. Damn you, Lola. One of my least favorite episodes, and now you're making me want to rewatch it! Sigh.
|
|
|
Post by Rachael on Jul 13, 2004 22:08:31 GMT -5
Pretty sure I never watched this episode all the way through after first-run, and now I remember why. But: The most fun for me is that bug-lady has my sister's name. Natalie French. Makes for so much fun with the teasing. Buffy loses the first supportive authority figure in this episode - unless you count her dad, and then it's the second. Angel seriously needs to learn to be less cryptic. I'm now certain that the obscure visions from the PTB were his punishment for his dealings with Buffy in the early days. Okay, the Mantis Monster: just about the stupidest Buffy monster ever, IMO. First: What kind of monster, when pretending to be human, swivels her head around 180 degrees in full view of students? Even if nobody but Buffy saw it, it was still very dumb. Next: she mates with humans? Okay, I'll let that one slide, 'cause, fantasy television. But: the bat sonar - I'm gonna have to disagree with Lola here. The bat sonar is really implausible - makes no sense to have a nervous-system shutting down response to the noise a predator makes. Evolutionarily very unlikely, and even if it were true - well, she's not actually a praying mantis, she's a praying mantis-like monster. Hey, they opened the door for the actual science, with Buffy using science to figure out how to kill the monster. Also, praying mantids do NOT lay eggs first, then mate. Mate first, often eat the head of the mate, then lay eggs. Okay, so biologist-girl didn't like this one so much. But. . .the end scene? With Angel? Oh, jeez, the smile. And the flirting. What, did he later lose all those skills, because in this episode he's just a killer flirt.
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Jul 14, 2004 5:35:37 GMT -5
Pretty sure I never watched this episode all the way through after first-run, and now I remember why. But: The most fun for me is that bug-lady has my sister's name. Natalie French. Makes for so much fun with the teasing. Buffy loses the first supportive authority figure in this episode - unless you count her dad, and then it's the second. Angel seriously needs to learn to be less cryptic. I'm now certain that the obscure visions from the PTB were his punishment for his dealings with Buffy in the early days. Okay, the Mantis Monster: just about the stupidest Buffy monster ever, IMO. First: What kind of monster, when pretending to be human, swivels her head around 180 degrees in full view of students? Even if nobody but Buffy saw it, it was still very dumb. Next: she mates with humans? Okay, I'll let that one slide, 'cause, fantasy television. But: the bat sonar - I'm gonna have to disagree with Lola here. The bat sonar is really implausible - makes no sense to have a nervous-system shutting down response to the noise a predator makes. Evolutionarily very unlikely, and even if it were true - well, she's not actually a praying mantis, she's a praying mantis-like monster. Hey, they opened the door for the actual science, with Buffy using science to figure out how to kill the monster. Also, praying mantids do NOT lay eggs first, then mate. Mate first, often eat the head of the mate, then lay eggs. Okay, so biologist-girl didn't like this one so much. But. . .the end scene? With Angel? Oh, jeez, the smile. And the flirting. What, did he later lose all those skills, because in this episode he's just a killer flirt. Oh, I wasn't saying the sonar was great 'cuz it would really work (wouldn't have the foggiest idea about that) just the bug spray and the tape playing the wrong thing and then getting knocked away and they have to scramble, etc. etc. made for a very funny fight scene. Very dorky (especially the bug spray). Love the flirting at the end. We don't get to see enough flirty Angel. I mean, knowing the possible consequences, I understand why not. But still. Major drool sigh killer flirting. Cryptic to the point of "can we stake him now?" - but cute, cute, cute! Lola
|
|
|
Post by SpringSummers on Jul 14, 2004 6:50:47 GMT -5
Oh, I wasn't saying the sonar was great 'cuz it would really work (wouldn't have the foggiest idea about that) just the bug spray and the tape playing the wrong thing and then getting knocked away and they have to scramble, etc. etc. made for a very funny fight scene. Very dorky (especially the bug spray). Love the flirting at the end. We don't get to see enough flirty Angel. I mean, knowing the possible consequences, I understand why not. But still. Major drool sigh killer flirting. Cryptic to the point of "can we stake him now?" - but cute, cute, cute! Lola Angel: Very seductive to our Buffy, in so many ways. Sort of like Miss French to Xander. I thought this ep was heavy on the foreshadowing of what would end up happening between Buffy & Angel. Some of the imagery . . . virginity - mate once, then die - if I ever get around to analyzing this ep, I'll take a closer look.
|
|
|
Post by beccaelizabeth on Jul 14, 2004 10:33:12 GMT -5
This one starts off with the Xander dream sequence. Buffy, hair all curly and dressed in shiny red, backs off from big scary vampire. Xander, dressed all in black, charges in to save the day. Everything is red lit and glowy. Buffy isnt wearing a cross, just a random shiny. When Xander throws the stake it ends up somewhere in the vampire's side, not the heart. Even in dream sequences he's a little fuzzy on where the stake goes (see where he holds it to threated Jesse). Matching black guitar, being really cool and showing off... I dont have the sound on. Its all too silly. But I dont have much room to talk. I mean if the whole world could see my nightly marysue of doom I'd look pretty silly too. Real world. Buffy hair not curly. Light blue top on Buffy, dark blue on Xander. He is wearing a ring on each hand, right little finger something chunky and complicated, left index finger also something chunky. Different rings than last week I think. Which would mean Xander owns four different shiny rings. Jewellery guy. Neck chain still there, probably with the round dangly he's been wearing so far. Also a green top showing underneath the blue. See this is part of why I figure Xander's terrible clothing is not of his own choosing. In his dream sequences he doesnt dress like that. So I rather figure he has to choose from a bunch of crappy clothes bought for him, probably from charity shops. Um, theres a fine line between empathy and projection- in high school guess where my stuff got bought? I had like one nice outfit and a whole bunch of stuff that cost less than my lunch, didnt fit and often had holes in. Had to make the best of a strange selection of stuff. So, my take on Xander's bad clothes. Buffy is wearing a little short skirt, light blue to match her top. We see her in skirts a lot in season one but later theres more trousers. High kicking in mini skirts not so practical. Actually more practical than high kicking in long skirts, but still. Xander's top has yellow stripe and either brown or very dark red stripes. Then we see willow and she's in yellow and red. Buffy matching Xander, Xander matching Willow. All very colorful. I like Buffy's boots. Big tall boots. Buffy is mostly light so far. Light blue, white, those colors. Gets darker in other seasons. Teacher guy has glasses about the same shape as Giles, but also big clunky frame glasses. Why change glasses? Well he is about to demonstrate that he is one teacher who sees Buffy differently. *shrugs* kinda reaching. Maybe the round glasses belong to the actor and he didnt want them smashed. Shirt is blue with stripes and tie is burgundy with square patterns. He has a watch on. The blue and the dark red teacher colors like Buffy and Xander. But the thing is with half a dozen basic color words then its pretty easy to have everyone wearing the same colors. So I dont know how useful these notes ever are. I liked the darkened room with the light box in it. Nice and dramatic and a good reason to not be sunshiney in the middle of a school day. The song- don't eat just play with your food- funny. Music is easily ignored but on this show always well chosen. Xander's top however is not well chosen. I've seen curtains that ugly but not anything that someone actually wore. This episode establishes Xander as a character rather than a sidekick. Geek male, uncool, not fitting in anywhere but really wants to, sex obsessed... its really difficult stuff, edgy and not seen on other teen shows /sarcasm. But the whole 'and therefore going to get eat by older woman' part is... well, actually not that new neither. But a little more literal than usual. Xander rings again, left middle and right little fingers. One arm round each of his girls. I'm still thinking rings=connections as the only significance I can find. Willow has one ring on left middle finger, hand prominently over Xander's heart. Guess who she is connected with? And the sorta brown top kinda matches some of the stripes on Xander. Buffy doesnt match Xander. Mostly she is wearing black. So then Angel turns up. Lookit, all color coordinated again. And his jacket will match her outfit. "He's a very attractive man." See Xander notices these things. About other guys. Okay, mostly about other guys he thinks Buffy is interested in, so its probably a comparison thing, but the slashy perspective is so much more fun... Angel with the chain round his neck still. And wearing the vest that shows off pretty much everything. I'm not hating it but really, is anyone believing that isnt on purpose? Angel dresses up pretty at this point. Showing off for..? Next morning she is still wearing his jacket. No crush there I pretty much loathe that little dress she's wearing. I'm just saying, if that was the fashion, I'd... well, wear black with a hint of red. Or back a few years, army surplus for cheap durable waterproofing. But anyways, its just difficult to get contrast with Buffy as pretty fashion girl when she too looks like she's wearing curtains. The boots are the same as the previous school day. Giles, same jacket as always, nasty checked shirt, stripy tie that I'm pretty sure is one we havent seen before (and how obsessive am I that I'm planning to gather screen caps specifically to compare his ties?) and something wooly with buttons that may be another cardigan. Cardigans are just not good garments on a guy. Same case kind of clutched under one arm. I dont recall him ever dangling it, he's always kinda hugging it. Some days in almost teddybear fashion. Today not quite hugging self, just kinda keeping it close. His hair is sort of fluffy. Not precisely tidy. Everything else buttoned down but the hair just does its own thing. Looks like the towel dry and go hair care plan. Except you know someone had to do everyones hair really carefully because its TV. I like his little complain about the weather bit. Its so cartoon Brit. Xander with the nasty brown velour top. ucky. Now he looks like sofas, only not padded. Funny Xander loss of speech skills on seeing the new teacher. Musetta Vander has been in all the coolest shows. She turns up, she is suspected of being evil, and whether or not she is she ends up dead. Its a really consistent pattern. Which is kinda funny. And look, she's wearing black and white and a little short skirt. Evil! Eeeeevil! And, er, dressed in the same colors Angel was a minute ago. Okay, so possibly ex evil. (I'm feeling kinda cranky today. I'm thinking this is showing up in the comments just a teensy bit. Also, I dont like this episode.) Quite a lot of this episode is a Xander's eye view. The slow motion walk here, the dream sequence, and later when he's partly seeing through the disguise to the bug lady beneath. Or its a view of Xander. Unfortunately for him it all adds up to make him sort of extremely teenage boy. Mantis lady's body language is all wiggly and leaning forward and very direct. Deliberately sexy. *looks at 'wiggly' as a technical descriptive word* Okay, I need a better vocabulary. Xander's ring today has a coffin on it. Funny. I think it might be one of the ones where you can see through the dark enamel to the skeleton/corpse inside, like alchemy gothic make. The guy who shows the Mantis lady in has a red and yellow jacket with a D on it. Why D? And whats with those letter jackets anyways? American TV show people wear them and obviously it signifies something about them but I lack the context. Is it the guy equivalent of the cheerleader outfits? Willow's one ring still the same. Buffy's three rings match the colors in her dress. Two on the left, one on the right, just little plastic things. Kid rings, not expensive grown up rings. And yet the hand that puts the glasses on the table wears a metal and black stone ring that looks more like one of Xander's. oops. Without the jacket she is wearing a vest and showing off a whole lot of skin. Why is mantis lady dressed so much like Angel? They have a lot in common if you dont mind looking at Buffy/Angel from the viewpoint of its icky. Older guy, like *hugely* older, and Buffy makes comments about wonder why they'd date a kid later. Predator, both of them. Scary. Not what they seem. Kill their partners after sex? Whole lot of too much in common. Now I'm wondering how come, first time I watched these, I never picked up on the icky. Because I was all 'Angel, dreamy, sigh' about it. Today Buffy's hair is all curly but rather untidy. Gee I wonder what order they filmed this in? I'm mostly not listening to this episode. If theres good lines I'm missing, that would be why. "Quiet good looks coupled with a certain smoky magnetism." so, I'm laughing, but I'm also agreeing. Except for not yet with the magnetism. Like severely. "The younger man is too dumb to wonder why an older woman can't find someone her own age" and yet Buffy never applies this thought to Angel, and neither did I, and now I look back on this and I'm wondering how I missed the comparison cause its screaming at me. Cordelia's nasty black and white patterns dress. Also matching Angel and predator lady. Which rather suits her. Meow. Cordelia screaming yet again. Do you think she hurt her voice doing that? Cordy stares and backs away. The Scoobies naturally dive in to get close. Buffy stares and looks for details. Willow looks, looks away, peeks out the corner of her eyes. Xander, the manly man, gets one look then covers his eyes and looks away.
|
|
|
Post by beccaelizabeth on Jul 14, 2004 10:33:43 GMT -5
Giles' wooly layer has no sleeves. So, button up vest, not cardigan. Phew. Still wearing the consistent and always bugging me ring. If it does mean connection to Buffy then its no surprise its always there. Also watch. Both on his writing hand. If I wear things on my writing hand it bugs me. "He was a civilized man. I liked him." serious face Giles. Rarely expresses a like or dislike. Very rarely about other people. Everyone is all shook up by the death. They get less shakeable later. I think the next time we see them sitting around looking all shocky is when they think it's Willow who died. Not sure though. We've had the shocky sitting in the first ep and now in the fourth. So, because all our people care about dead guy, we care too. With the number of dead bodies that accumulate on this show that caring thing can get to be a problem. But they managed to make him likeable right quick. Buffy has the teacher's clothing memorised. I mean I know I noticed, but I only had to remember for five minutes. Buffy noticed and then remembered for overnight at least. Says "the last day we saw him", not yesterday, so it could have been longer. Giles shakes his head a lot talking about the Master. Uncertainty and disaproval I think. huh. In the background when Giles goes to get a newspaper some random person walked past the Library window. woah, there's life out there! Giles: Please promise me you won't do anything rash? Buffy: Cross my heart. So what does she do? Buffy doesnt seem to feel promises to Giles or lying to him has much weight. So basically she sees him as an authority figure not a friend then. Pony tail Buffy is serious work Buffy. She's a lot jumpier about this patrol stuff than they get later. No revision, no crisps, lots of sneaky. But also more awkward. Theres pauses between each move, not the flow she gets later, let alone the matrix style art from toward the end. I'm pretty sure the guy with the bottle that warns her she shouldnt be out is the guy that says police later. I hadnt previously noticed that. Lack of paying attention. But, Police are out at night hunting for an attacker, like they were actually competent or something. Thats a first and only. Fork guy is all leather pants and shiny black shirt. Do you think he cut it trying to put it on? Is a very familiar bad guy look. I do like use of scary thing getting scared to make it extra scary. New day, new clothes, familiar conversation. Buffy: Yes, I lied, I'm a bad person, let's move on. She really doesnt get it does she? Independent is one thing, this dismissive attitude is another. Huh, guess I stopped empathising with the teenage rebellion thing. When did that happen? I mean I'm only 26, it wasnt that long ago. But I'm 26 and much more aware of how bloody suicidal a lot of teenage behaviour is. Buffy in white, little top with her middle showing, carrying Angel's coat. Giles in tweed, button up thing that does not appear to be wooly so I will call a waistcoat, stripy shirt and unfamiliar tie. All the ties are different patterns but they seem to be mostly darkish red and sort of gold. The waistcoat may be green, the shirt stripes look more grey now but later look red like the tie. He is carrying a folder in the same fashion he carried his bag. Holding stuff close like that, makes him look sort of tight and controlled. Pulling in, all the time. First view of the inside of his office. So far we can see file cabinets, folders, stack of trays full of paperwork, unlikely plant with anglepoise lamp pointed at it (lord knows it would need extra light in there, hence the unlikely), blinds pulled all the way up, an interesting brown box with smiley curves on it, and a bell. One wonders why exactly he has a bell. I mean schools and bells do go together, but why would the librarian need one? He fiddles with folders, pulls out draws, has a mug full of drink. Always interacting with his surroundings. And the moment from the credits, slightly surprised concern, then curiousity. Which expression precisely is in the credits? One of these from this conversation but I dont want to rewind to get precisely which minute right now. Giles grin when thinking of Mantis lady. Love seeing him happy. But then he catches himself and does the dissaproving frown at himself. Calls her common! Well, he has the accent to be not common himself, but polite people dont call people common. Snippy Giles. But 'common, extremely well proportioned' is funny. Its like Giles is being all frowny because she is pretty and he has noticed. Like that isnt allowed and reflects poorly on her. Not a nice moment. Principal Flutie has a wedding ring. Which just makes the whole hyena thing sadder. "Because there's no touching, this school is sensitive to wrong touching." Giles and Buffy and personal space? But I guess no touching. Sensitive to wrong touching but not actually noticing when teachers invite students to their home to get very wrong touched. Cordelia's entire speech there is totally classic Cor. I mean, bright side... But also, Cordelia does go through a whole lot of trauma this season. Its easy to laugh at her but if she was a different kind of person she'd have just ended up a nervous wreck after all the scream inducing things that happen. Xander is wearing the exact same outfit as at the beginning of the episode. Stripy jumper over green. So, less than a week between rewearings? Is that like his good outfit right now?! (Yes I know its more likely they filmed them on the same day and he didnt get changed, but ooc is not good reasons). Xander pretty. Something about that looking down at the paper moment, just pretty. Bad touching! look! Bad! Buffy today is wearing yellow and white. Mantis lady is wearing yellow and white. I lack theory as to why. I mean they're both scary to scary things, but aside from that *shrugs*. Willow in the blue with stripy top. That top somehow manages to make her look completely flat chested. Its offputting. Willow pretty but incredibly young. "Where are the books on bugs?" Cause she lives in here, but she doesnt know how to use the actual books yet. I like that Giles has the big stack of books. He always does the work, not pulls it out of thin air. Which handily also gives them time for the bad things to work instead of just see it stake it.
|
|
|
Post by beccaelizabeth on Jul 14, 2004 10:33:58 GMT -5
Mantis lady with the body language that irritates me and is all flirty. Blah. ick. The head tilt down and away, then looking back out the corner of her eyes. Eesh.
Bill and Ted guitar moment. Excellent ;D
Green nail varnish. Sort of amusing. Bug colors. (Really, really gross food.) Green and yellow eyeshadow. Matches her nails and outfit. Eyeshadow does something clever to make her eyes a neat shape. Er, watch me lack vocabulary again. I'm just noticing it cause I want that trick. I dont think it would work on me though.
Theres shoulderpads in the dialogue. Is there shoulderpads in the clothes? Watch me be clueless and not notice.
"Bugs and fairy tales" I love Giles voice when he says that. Especially knowing what ASH usually speaks like, big contrast. He just pours the posh and condescending into that line.
"Entirely legal" funny and also, Giles is worrying about that? For a living he trains a girl to go out and stab beasties. Yet he perceives that side of things to be entirely legal. But about this he worries. I read in a lot of Ethan fic the law vs chaos comparisons. Mostly they have Giles embodying law. Sometimes though they have him be a fellow child of chaos. I think he is a chaos child, because look what he does to prophecy and the like, but he's trying very hard to cover it up. So, concern about law, but not so much sticking with it. "Wasn't here, didn't see it, couldn't have stopped you." More telling lies. themey or funny?
Xander accusing Buffy of jealousy then 'and what kind of a girly name is Angel'. Theres stuff about being manly and what it means and what it doesnt mean in this ep. And that Xander is concerned about these issues.
Little black dress. Xander eyeline. Okay, so I was staring at the exact same area when she was bending over, but one the camera was too so we were meant to and two I didnt have my mouth hanging open. I think.
Stripy Xander jacket, and green shirt. Green for jealousy, green for untried newbie.
Feeding alcohol to schoolkids, so naturally theres badness. And passing out. And sexual molestation. Just like with the giant snake later. So, predator women want to take men's heads and giant snakes want pretty girls. This show is so subtle.
Xander keeps flashing back to his Buffy fantasy. Thats whats on his mind even with pretty lady all over him. Kinda sweet. In the middle of disturbing stuff.
Rings, coffin and lumpy thing. I think they have been consistent all episode. But now also another on the left hand. Three rings. Coffin and fairly plain one on left index and middle, lumpy thing on right little. Coffin ring first seen when he first meets mantis lady, so I'm wondering if it will disappear after she does. Deadly connection. (I'm almost sure the rings are just randomly shiny. And yet.)
Spooky scary basement. Trapped in a basement Xander. echo.
"Now unlock his cell unstrap him and bring him to the telephone immediately." lol saying such lines with such authority 8)
Willow about Xander "adorable smile" she was so sweet about him then.
Bug lady mating description- How did he see her do it when he is the first guy she took home?
Giles desk- dancing Shiva I recognise, I think. Other items not so much. Figurines from lots of different places in lots of different styles. Little decorated boxes. A pin board with some group photos on it. I want to know more about who those people are. A little clock. An odd curvy thing looks kind of like a stone claw with a hammer bit, got no idea what that could be for. A pen in a fancy base. A lyre shaped paper holder, musical instrument, looks like bars with the outside ones curvy. Is that a radio on the left? Black thing with shiny dial on the right. Yet another optimistic plant. Something up the back on the left could be a vase, round with a neck bit, but also looks vaguely like the magic gourd from way later. Many many random folders. Calendar on wall. Something in a frame on wall. Desk tidy full of bits and pieces. A much larger pinboard with newspaper clippings I think, more group photos, sketches, famous picture I think of that crazy artist guy with his ear cut off and bandaged. Giles' leather case leaned up under the pinboard.
"Well, n-no, you weren't right about your mother coming back as a Pekinese" Lol "Yes... Ta! Bye now!" 'Ta' means thankyou, so fits here, even though it is rather informal for Giles and the conversation. But somebody complained in Angel season 5 Spike was using it to mean bye, and said they needed ASH around to correct them on this stuff. Well, also seems to be used for bye here, and him saying it. So, the confusion.
"murdered in the Cotswolds" Cotswolds again! She mantis predation, Watcher retreat, location of the Deeper Well. Convergence of bad things. Like Cleveland? Does the Deeper Well act like another hellmouth and give off bad vibes, therefore get watched by senior and respected Watchers? Or does Joss just like the word? ooc, not a useful reason. But more likely.
Giles being encouraging. Buffy being in charge. This is why Wesley didnt fit, he tried to step in to Buffy's place in the powe structure as well as Giles'.
The 'charge to the rescue' bit goes wonky. Why? I mean story wise, did they just need to fill in more time or did they actually have a point with putting fork guy in the same story as mantis lady and having the confusion part?
I giggle at "I'm coming" cause I'm just that juvenile.
So looking for fork guy in the sewers is going to take less time than banging on doors?!
Giles just stands there and lets Buffy fight.
Xander's first experience of bondage by a date. Later, First Date, tied to a wheel. Any more?
There are some huge problems with the bat sonar concept. Like, a little hand held tape recorder having the necessary recording and playback frequencies? So I ignore it. Ignoring it a lot.
But how on earth could the tape end up on the wrong side? Giles would have to take it out and turn it over. And its got Giles voice on it, so its a device he uses for his own note taking (never ever again though, always with the paper notes that we see). So its technical ineptitude like we'd expect from dread machine Giles, only also evidence he uses the thing. Doesnt track. Dumb moment.
Standing there talking to the bad thing, stupid. Kill first, gloat later.
background music at the Bronze again appropriate. And back to Buffy meeting Angel. In the episode about creepy age gap relationships. "Looks better on you". Flirting muchly. Angel pretty.
Ending, creepy with no payoff- boring. And unusual for this show.
This episode was weak. And icky. But has some useful in it, mostly in a Buffy/Angel way despite his very brief presence.
|
|
|
Post by beccaelizabeth on Jul 14, 2004 11:14:55 GMT -5
* You know, Xander's come back to Blayne's line in the lunch room is actually pretty good. No one else in the show seems to think so, not even Xander, but I thought so. I like it. Its just smart enough to be plausible, delivered with perfect teenage boy machismo. Angel seriously needs to learn to be less cryptic. I'm now certain that the obscure visions from the PTB were his punishment for his dealings with Buffy in the early days. lol, love the theory I think maybe he hadnt talked enough to be in practice at effective communication. I mean what he says does relate to whats going on if you happen to be sharing a brain with him. This is a problem I'm way familiar with cause autistic brother. Cryptic happens because he seems to think you can watch the movies in his head just like he can. But is he flirting on purpose? Also, later, he'd spent a hundred years in hell. Which would make anyone severely out of practice. Plus he gets scared of actually getting anywhere. Dorky fight scene, yes, but I'm not counting that a good thing.
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Jul 14, 2004 20:04:57 GMT -5
<snip> See this is part of why I figure Xander's terrible clothing is not of his own choosing. In his dream sequences he doesnt dress like that. So I rather figure he has to choose from a bunch of crappy clothes bought for him, probably from charity shops. Um, theres a fine line between empathy and projection- in high school guess where my stuff got bought? I had like one nice outfit and a whole bunch of stuff that cost less than my lunch, didnt fit and often had holes in. Had to make the best of a strange selection of stuff. So, my take on Xander's bad clothes. I think we are sharing the same brain here, 'cuz this is the exact thought I had. We see his outfit in his fantasy and it looks very cool and good. So, I figure he knows what he could wear, but doesn't have access to stuff like that. Very appropriate. It's all the little things we see and hear that show us how much Willow is in love with Xander. Like the lovely little look she gives him when he closes her science book in the scene where he tells them the teacher guy is missing. And the way she clings to him at the Bronze. Always gotta listen to the words a band is singing in a Buffy episode. 'Cuz it will always reflect the themes somehow. First lines we hear in the real Bronze scene (rather than dream Bronze scene), "The first day's the worst day; It's hard to know just what to do." Yup. Yep. Joss takes the sterotypes and shows us the truths behind them - stretches them to really peel back all the layers. It really does amaze me the places that Joss is willing to go. For example, I can think of few shows that would have been gutsy enough to give us season 6. Very, very appropriate. ;D Ever so much more fun. Yep. 'Cuz they'll never be friends. They'll be in love till it kills them both. They'll fight, and they'll shag, and they'll hate each other till it makes 'em quiver, but they'll never be friends. When there's a whole web site devoted to Spike's head tilts, including little video clips of them, and most of us have gone and looked at them at least once (if not many times, sometimes just to cheer oneself up) - well, let's just say you're in good obsessive company. LOL! Letter jackets - high school status symbols. Means you "earned" a letter for being on a team or reaching some level of skill, usually sports related. Here it is meant to show that Blayne is a popular, high-status, high school guy. You can earn letters for cheerleading. 'Cuz now you have the hindsight of what is to come. Plus, they wrote and filmed it to be all romantic and so on. Because that will make the following events have so much more impact. Lola
|
|
|
Post by beccaelizabeth on Jul 14, 2004 22:01:28 GMT -5
Always gotta listen to the words a band is singing in a Buffy episode. 'Cuz it will always reflect the themes somehow. First lines we hear in the real Bronze scene (rather than dream Bronze scene), "The first day's the worst day; It's hard to know just what to do." Yup. Superfine: Already Met You The first date's the worst date It's hard to know just what to do And I take you to dinner You don't eat, you just play with your food And there's something familiar About every word you say It's hard to believe it's happening again I already met you And I already met you You're like my last girlfriend Yes, and the girlfriend I had before her www.buffyonline.de/btvs/superfine.htmso, Buffy meeting Angel again, like his last girlfriend at all? Little, blonde, strong... Xander meeting bug lady, well theres a lack of previous girlfriend but this is like an omen. Mantis lady is unfortunately his type. Aggressive, makes all the moves, wants him for his body. Kind of Giles' type too actually. thanksyou, useful information I previously lacked, doing the mini happy dance.
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Jul 15, 2004 5:35:04 GMT -5
Superfine: Already Met You The first date's the worst date It's hard to know just what to do And I take you to dinner You don't eat, you just play with your food And there's something familiar About every word you say It's hard to believe it's happening again I already met you And I already met you You're like my last girlfriend Yes, and the girlfriend I had before her www.buffyonline.de/btvs/superfine.htmso, Buffy meeting Angel again, like his last girlfriend at all? Little, blonde, strong... Xander meeting bug lady, well theres a lack of previous girlfriend but this is like an omen. Mantis lady is unfortunately his type. Aggressive, makes all the moves, wants him for his body. Kind of Giles' type too actually. thanksyou, useful information I previously lacked, doing the mini happy dance. Thanks yourself for the song words for first lines and stuff - 'cuz they're even better than I was thinking! Lola
|
|
|
Post by Lola m on Jul 15, 2004 14:34:59 GMT -5
<snip> "He was a civilized man. I liked him." serious face Giles. Rarely expresses a like or dislike. Very rarely about other people. Everyone is all shook up by the death. They get less shakeable later. I think the next time we see them sitting around looking all shocky is when they think it's Willow who died. Not sure though. We've had the shocky sitting in the first ep and now in the fourth. So, because all our people care about dead guy, we care too. With the number of dead bodies that accumulate on this show that caring thing can get to be a problem. But they managed to make him likeable right quick. Yep. One of the first examples of Joss making us care about a character we’ve just met and then having them die. (Jesse is probably the first.) I noticed: Buffy is actually crying. (‘Cuz she really liked this teacher. They did a nice job in the one brief scene of showing him to be a good teacher – he spotted that Buffy is smarter than she seems. Told her she “thinks on her feet” and he expects her to do well. Kids, heck - people in general, will usually live up or down to your expectations.) Xander is borderline hysterical (‘Cuz he just saw a decapitated body and is still adjusting to the implications of monsters and demons and vamps, oh my.) Giles looks concerned and serious. (Like you said, Giles just doesn’t usually express himself like that.) Willow – now Willow is interesting. She’s . . . sad. Not crying like Buffy sad, and not ew ick OMG we just saw a body. She’s sad and then immediately moves to “we’re gonna find out who did it and stop them”. It’s like early “resolve face” Willow. But she is improving in each ep we’ve seen so far. Yes, she screws up the final staking, but fork guy would have kicked her ass if this was first episode Buffy. Yeah. I kind of snorted at the nice touch of ignorance and hypocrisy there. I just loved Buffy’s face as she listened to Cordy. But you’re right. We really are given the opportunity to see more layers of Cordy than I thought in these first eps. We can see she isn’t quite settled yet into her niche of popular girl, and that she is anxious about that. And she does have a lot of stuff thrown at her but doesn’t fall apart. Oh yes. Yep. Research mode gives us lots more plot than just “see monster, kill monster” and so is lots more interesting. Also, another “intuitive slayer Buffy” bit here when she puts together various slightly suggestive things and jumps to – hey, insects! Lola
|
|