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Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This show has magic shops. Has anyone here ever seen one? I mean obviously such a thing wouldn't have real magic but maybe some Spencers-like gimmicky thing that caters to tourists and "wiccans?"

If you mean in the real-world, then yes, I have. I don't think it explicitly called itself a magic shop, but it had lots of stuff for wiccans in it.
 
This show has magic shops. Has anyone here ever seen one? I mean obviously such a thing wouldn't have real magic but maybe some Spencers-like gimmicky thing that caters to tourists and "wiccans?"

If you mean in the real-world, then yes, I have. I don't think it explicitly called itself a magic shop, but it had lots of stuff for wiccans in it.

Oh, that's what GKE meant. Ok, now I feel stupid for not getting it. Yeah, I've been to a store that used to have Wicca-ish stuff in it: lots of incense and figurines and books and music and the like. It was kinda fun; I do enjoy the smell of incense.
 
Anyone know what the hell happened between seasons 3 and 4, and then again after the 2nd episode? Because I watched the 1st episodes of 4 last night and the first two were terrible. Dialogue was painfully lame, fight scenes were bland and boring, plots were completely silly- not in a fun silly but stupid silly- a lot of contrived nonsense, even for a show about contrived nonsense. They were like season 1 episodes, but without the charm or a good excuse for cheap production or being new.

And then the 3rd episode brings everything back to normal. You wanna say it's because Spike was there and he's cool, but Spike's presence doesn't explain why the dialogue is sharper when he's not on camera, or why the fight scenes are good again (though I must say that they may have gotten even worse at hiding the fact that there's a stunt double for Buffy. There was close-up of the double's face in profile view and everything).

Harmony the vampire- brilliant. And not just because we got to see her in her underwear (quite impressive actually), but as a great comic foil for Spike. I mean, who hasn't wanted to stake his whiney girlfriend through the heart?

At this point I'm not quite sure what they're trying to do with Giles- Buffy walking in on him jogging, having a girl over, etc- like they're trying to shoe-horn in some new aspects to his character, maybe for some purpose that will pay-off later.

The only good thing about the first episodes was the teaser ending that showed some army type guys capturing a vampire. Might we finally start seeing a payoff to the earlier reveal that the feds do stuff with evil magic?

Buffy has sex for the 2nd time and is again punished emotionally. What the hell.

Xander getting laid = comedy gold, every time.
 
Oh, best line of the series thus far: Sunnydale, a place that has witnessed some truly spectacular kickings of my ass.
 
Harmony the vampire- brilliant. And not just because we got to see her in her underwear (quite impressive actually), but as a great comic foil for Spike. I mean, who hasn't wanted to stake his whiney girlfriend through the heart?

I do think that Harmony becomes a far more interesting character once she becomes a vampire, and it's fun to see her return as a vampire since we saw her being bitten by a vamp during the Graduation Day battle. And there's a scene between Harmony and Xander later in the season that I find absolutely hillarious.

At this point I'm not quite sure what they're trying to do with Giles- Buffy walking in on him jogging, having a girl over, etc- like they're trying to shoe-horn in some new aspects to his character, maybe for some purpose that will pay-off later.

For Giles in season four, a lot of his character is about what is he if he's not his job. With him both expelled from the Watchers' Council and no longer school librarian since the school's done been blown up, what does he have left? Turns out, really not much.

The only good thing about the first episodes was the teaser ending that showed some army type guys capturing a vampire. Might we finally start seeing a payoff to the earlier reveal that the feds do stuff with evil magic?

Something more or less around about like that, yeah.

So how have you decided to go about watching Buffy and Angel?
 
For Giles in season four, a lot of his character is about what is he if he's not his job. With him both expelled from the Watchers' Council and no longer school librarian since the school's done been blown up, what does he have left? Turns out, really not much.

"gentleman of leisure"

So how have you decided to go about watching Buffy and Angel?

Keep watching Buffy until my Angel download completes, which at this rate should be next week.
 
I rather like the first episode of S4; Sunday wasn't bad for a monster-of-the-week, and Xander's timely return always warms my heart. But on the second episode, I am right there with you.

Welcome to season 4, which had some of the best and some of the worst.
 
I rather like the first episode of S4; Sunday wasn't bad for a monster-of-the-week, and Xander's timely return always warms my heart. But on the second episode, I am right there with you.

Welcome to season 4, which had some of the best and some of the worst.

I had no problem with the villain or the plot of the first episode- it's more the rhythm of it, and the look of things. This show works because the total is greater than the some of its (often quite stupid) parts, and when it's not "clicking," it can feel really off. By the middle of the 2nd show I'm thinking "why am I watching this crap again?" and then the 3rd episode comes in and I'm like "oh, right." I didn't even think that harshly about what were really worse episodes- context, and so forth.

This is a long shot, but does anyone watch Friday Night Lights?
 
The joke at the end of the Halloween episode that Giles should have read the description under the picture of the goblin- "actual size"- was cute. But this show has a habit of taking one-off moments and making them relevant later (who would have thought Anya would become a regular character after she first appeared?). I wonder if this is harbinger of Giles being off of his game due to him going stir crazy with nothing to do, and he'll make some horrible mistake later. That would make for some good drama.

Cave-buffy was hot as all hell for some reason. Gellar looks so gosh-darn cute when she's scowling, like at the very end of opening credits as the camera pans up to her holding a Marxist hammer and sickle while leading a workers' revolt.

Then I watched the painfully melodramatic Oz and Willow break-up episode. I liked it more for what it set up then as its own episode. The Veruca character was ridiculous to watch, and I laughed at how all the men were entranced by her absurd singing (and how the band had a drummer but it was clearly electronic or synth percussion). Oz is gone and I don't care.

Willow is now a witch growing in power and hurt. Things will happen, obviously. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if she manages to blow up Sunnydale.

Really the best thing about the ep was Hannigan herself. Though not as bad, the way that Hannigan is way more effective than Green in their big emotional scenes together reminds me of Gellar and Boreanaz. This show would be crap if the core 4 actors weren't so damn good.
 
Really the best thing about the ep was Hannigan herself. Though not as bad, the way that Hannigan is way more effective than Green in their big emotional scenes together reminds me of Gellar and Boreanaz. This show would be crap if the core 4 actors weren't so damn good.

So very, very true -- although I think a lot of the other actors grew into their roles, too.
 
Just got done minding a 10-yr old boy whom I instructed to watch less television and eat better. Now to start a near-weekend long Buffy marathon with a Portuguese sausage meal and a couple of Sam Adams' summer ale. The most fun thing about being an adult bachelor is the unbridled hypocrisy I can practice.

Live blogging!

And in this cold open, the TA is talking about Buffy from afar with his loutish friends, thus telegraphing the idea that he will be her next love interest.

Spike wakes up in a cage and I blurt out, "would you like to play a game?"
 
...and a couple of Sam Adams' summer ale.

I had some of them earlier this week. It's been Budweiser's Golden Wheat for me this evening during the USA-Ghana game (and now that the US lost, and I'm out of beer, I've moved on to brandy mixed with diet Pepsi because it's the only booze I've got left). Every Sam Adams I've ever tasted is good, so you get a hat tip of good choice from me.

And in this cold open, the TA is talking about Buffy from afar with his loutish friends, thus telegraphing the idea that he will be her next love interest.

Riley Finn. And yeah. Lots of people dislike Riley; I'm not one of them. I think a lot of people had trouble getting over Angel, for some reason. To me, it's just illogical for anyone to be expected to stay with whomever they were in love with in high school, Buffy included.
 
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Riley Finn. And yeah. Lots of people dislike Riley; I'm not one of them. I think a lot of people had trouble getting over Angel, for some reason. To me, it's just illogical for anyone to be expected to stay with whomever they were in love with in high school, Buffy included.

Well as you know I found Angel unbearable so I'm not gonna have that problem.
And of course he appears in the cold open as I type this... wow

I just realized the narration that opened the first couple of seasons is gone. Good, it was stupid.
 
So, you're on to the Thanksgiving episode "Pangs." You'll find a bit of crossover between this episode and a couple of episodes of Angel, one very minorly and the other more so, and while the latter more connected episode is a really good one, it's not required viewing for continuing onward with watching Buffy. Though such a statement isn't exactly true much later in the season.
 
So, you're on to the Thanksgiving episode "Pangs." You'll find a bit of crossover between this episode and a couple of episodes of Angel, one very minorly and the other more so, and while the latter more connected episode is a really good one, it's not required viewing for continuing onward with watching Buffy. Though such a statement isn't exactly true much later in the season.

Well, 10 episodes in and my Angel season 1 download is at 91.9%. The race is on!

Hush was indeed one of the best episodes so far- a perfect little 43 minutes of TV.

One thing everyone and the internet told me when I started watching is that even the bad episodes have good moments in them. I don't know, maybe that was true before and will be true later, but for season 4 it seems like an episode totally blows or is good, and so far, it's the former. But Hush was perfect- even the "monsters of the week"- the Gentlemen- looked pretty freaky cool. Credit to them for doing a show that usually relies so heavily on dialogue on mute.

Giles' slide show was just beautiful.

So Spike is now a major character and a wacky mascot. Good for a few laughs but... really, it's too ridiculous that they even let him live.
 
Ah, yes, Hush. It usually ends up in most people's top ten list of episodes of all time. It's got a great idea and it's got a great soundtrack. It's fun that they could pull off an episode that's at least half no-dialogue.

As for Spike being kept, I guess the feel they can control him since he's be-chipped and can't hurt any humans and they hope to be able to use him to get as much information as possible on the Initiative. But their thinking, "Oh, he can't hurt anyone" does cause them to let their guard down too much, but you'll see that eventually. ;)
 
From wikipedia:

The actors who portrayed The Gentlemen, led by Doug Jones, had experience performing as monsters previously and they were professional mimes, giving them a grace, especially in their hand movements.

See- mimes do have value.
 
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