Buffy: Dirty Girls (SPOILERS)

Cafe Society
1

…Okay. Rather dark for Buffy. But not a bad show. Pacing was a little off at times, but I give it a strong 8.8 - 10.

Caleb was well done. Also, it was nice to hear a good inspirational speech. Poor Xander.
Now, why can Caleb kick so much ass? Why did the First need the prehistoric vampire? (Possibly Caleb was busy doing evil things elsewhere for the First.)
And dammit, fuck the messages for the kiddes. I want someone to start carrying a gun. When the bad starts talking, you blow him away. Or just notice that it is a trap and drop an explosive device down there. Bah. The Scooby gang was stupid, and got their collective asses deservedly kicked.

Nice interactions between Faith and Spike. Dammit, when will us guys have Willow wandering around unclothed for no reason?
I am very curious to see how Caleb will die. Buffy can’t just overpower him, as she did the Neandervamp, because that would suck. From the asskicking he gave (and received) I doubt that they will just let him get shot or blown up.

Heh. It would be really funny if Willow just levitated him a foot above the ground and left him there. Kind of hard to hit people when you can’t move towards them.

Oh, yeah. I was apparently the first Doper to see this ep. Woo.

2

How did you manage to see it before the rest of us? I occasionally see Dopers posting plot synopsises (sp?) before the episode “officially” airs, and I’ve always wondered how.

3

The chief “message for the kiddies” I get from Buffy, Batman, et al., is that being an impractical holier-than-thou who won’t use a gun is stupid. Maybe not what the writers intend, but it comes through.

4

Lissa, two ways:

  • Some stations in Canada air the episode on Mondays.
  • People swipe it off the Wildfeed, which is the satellite distribution system to all affiliates.

The rules on this board prevents me from going into details, which I would never do, anyway. Let’s just say that I can’t see that this is breaking any laws or copyrights and that no filesharing software is involved.

You won by an hour, robertliguori, but I’ll post my own toughts before reading yours.

[spoiler] Robert beat me because I’m just going through the motions with Buffy. I had the episode about the same time he did, but Boston Public was on TV and I slouched on the couch. I wasn’t all that excited about a new episode. Especially from seeing the truly cheesy trailer. C’mon, UPN, Playing George Michael’s Faith and hearing “Cuase you gotta have Faith, Faith, Faith…” How lame was that?

I was also annoyed in the beginning. “Previously on Buffy…” ran for 1.37.

Then a man came to town. A preacher. With a thing for Dirty Girls - hence the title of the episode. All are sinners, born dirty. The Preacher - Caleb, played by Nathan Fillion from Firefly - has a message for Buffy.

So the episode takes off. The story derails pretty soon with an annoying flashback about Faith, delivered by storyteller Andrew. It was fun the first time, now it’s lame. And do we really need to know Faith’s backstory?

Anyhow, things pick up as we go along. Lotsa good sexual tension 'tween Spike and Faith. Maybe I should become a shipper for Spaith… I never really saw Spike going for the Buffster. Willow, sure. Anya, too. But never Buffy. With Faith - it sparks.

I was wondering for a while about Dawn’s and Faith’s reactions to each other, seeing they never met. But of course, they share the same false memories.

And two thirds into the show, things really pick up. Yikes. Didn’t see that coming. Or that. Or that. Very violent and kinda gory too.

So the big mystery we’re left with is what Caleb is. Besides a preacher.

Best line in the episode (Spike): “Angel’s as dull as a table lamp”
Not the show, though, IMO.

[/spoiler]

5

Going through the motions
Walking though the part
Nothing seems to penetrate my heart…

Sorry. I had to.

Also, the Xander dream sequence and the aforementioned fake flashback both went on too long. I grouped this into the poor pacing. OTOH, there wasn’t much that could really happen, given that the episode had to end with Caleb utterly kicking the Scoobies’ asses in no time flat. Ergo, they needed to waste time.

Oh, yeah, other thing. I really hope that the ring burn they photographed on the neck of the one SIT just means that Caleb is a serial killer. IMHO, a serial killer who can Glory-punch Buffy is inherently scarier than any evil demonic backstory.

Also, I just realizing that branding someone with a ring that you are wearing must really hurt.

6

I read the script for this and it was pretty bad—so bad, in fact that I haven’t bothered reading or DLing the wildfeed.

FTR, I hate Spaith and I hope and pray that Spike beats the shit out of her before the finale.

7

Don’t tell me I’m the only one who was 100%, absolutely, completely blown away by this episode. Sure, the first bit was a little slow, but the last half more than made up for it. I’m almost glad the show has been cancelled, cause I can’t take much more of this.

MAIN CHARACTERS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HURT LIKE THAT!!!I think I gasped audibly. It was a very nice touch that Spike was the one to save Xander. We’re going to lose them all before the show ends, aren’t we?

8

Hmmm…mixed feelings about this one. Stuff I liked, stuff I didn’t.


I love the character of Caleb, what with him being so mysterious. He’s kinda like when Glory first showed up, how we didn’t really know what she was, but not so annoying. I hope that he turns out to be just some guy who The First duped into casting some spell on himself, or drinking some potion, or other whatnot to become uber-powerful. If he were just a demon, well, that’s lame. And Xander getting his eye out? Two comments: Ewww, didn’t need the close up of it, and I don’t approve one bit and now I want Caleb to die a nasty, horrible death. Though I am sorta glad a couple of those SIT’s I didn’t like kicked the bucket (though the one I hate the most only got a broken arm.)

9

Is anyone else getting a “who cares?” attitude? I read the Wildfeed this morning, and in all honesty, the eppy read well, but I am just so very tired of waiting and waiting for something to actually happen. That, and all the BS that the network has been shoveling out lately. “Next week on Buffy, an episode from Season 6!, followed by an all new episode, then back to 3 more re-runs!”

Yes, I will be glued to the couch, regardless of what I just said.

10

I’m a bit confused, Pepperlandgirl, because not too long ago, you wrote:

Seing that this is one of those five episodes…
robertliguori - glad you caught that! :smiley:
Ohhh, and I forgot -

Xander’s dream. Yikes. That was really, really terrible. And it was so very obvious that it was a dream

11

IMHO, an explanation would ruin it. PLease, JW, keep Caleb as a preacher who kills dirty girls and can knock the Slayer flat on her ass without trying. If Caleb’s powers are external, then they may be duplicated or removed. Mind you, a serial-killer Buffy with Slayer + Caleb strength would be cool.

Any non-spoiler people wanna take bets on how Caleb bites it?

Possibilities:
Buffy kills him.
Willow kills him.
Willow fights him, gets a lecture from a fundamentalist serial-killer preacher about homosexuality, gets ass kicked non-fatally, loans magic to Ripper, who fights Caleb to a standstill till Xander shows up with a rifle. After all, you only need one eye to use a scope.
Andrew downloads a bomb recipe off the Internet.

Other possibilites?

12

Gaspode, the final five arc is good. The things they start in 18 are built upon in the next 4, and I enjoy the story.
That doesn’t mean I’m particularly fond of Dirty Girls.

13

My husband wants to know what happened to Olaf the Troll God’s hammer. Maybe they could use it on Caleb.

14

So, like, Spike is seen not wearing a shirt in this one, right? 'Cause I’ve gotten to the point that the only reason I bother watching anymore is to use James Marsters as eye candy.

15

::whimper:: The Red Sox preempted Buffy… It was going to be the first one I could watch in months … ::sniff::

16

Oh. My. F’ing. Gawd.

Eeep.

::sitting in corner for a bit::

17

One word:

Xander!!!

OMG…

18

Anyone else find it oddly ironic that this episode was sponsored by Acuvue, the contact lens company?

(Or was that only on the station I was watching?)

And can someone tell mewhich Slayerettes died?I don’t have cable and the bunny ears made the screen fuzzy. Hard to tell.

19

Well, at least they only introduced two new characters this episode. That nicely balances out the reduction in slayers-in-training (if I was paying enough attention, which I probably wasn’t).

20

Y’all who got preempted by sports events: stay up late! Buffy may come on after the sports are over.

Fucking a, man! Fucking a! Best Buffy this season, IMHO. (Well, excepting Conversations with Dead People). Pepperland, I couldn’t disagree with you more about Spike and Faith as a couple: they’ve got all the sparks and sexiness that Spike and Buffy lacked.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Daniel