One thing I have to say… lots of fans on the WB talkback pages and on the BtVS fan site are saying that they hope that Dawn manages to bring Joyce back to life. Please, please, please, don’t do that. It would make this episode trite and meaningless. The whole thing about it is that it was personal, it was natural, and there is absolutely nothing Buffy can do about it. She can’t fight it and she can’t get revenge for it. As much as Buffy deals with death, she’s never had to deal with something like this. To have Dawn suddenly begin manifesting powers and bring Joyce back would just cheapen it incredibly. I really hope that Joss is smarter than that. (Goodness, what am I saying!!! Joss is the master, obviously he’s smarter than that.)
No offence pldennison, but I’d hardly say Joyce’s was “barely-glimpsed”.
I thought I heard it on Tuesday, so I went back looking for it yesterday. I could be wrong, unfortunately I won’t be around my tape again until next week.
I will now admit to my first error though, I was writing my quote of what I heard several minutes after the fact. It is likely that what I thought I heard was “Emma, you’re sweet”
seriousart, thanks for posting that excerpt. I so wanted that passage for my quote file.
– Bob
It’s gonna be at least three more weeks before we get another new episode. I hate that. I hate reruns. We have to wait for three weeks to see if Hank shows up, or Angel, or what happens with Spike and the Buffy fem-bot… Ugh. I hate reruns. Really, really hate them.
I on the other hand am cursing seriousart for posting it. Just reading it, I’m in tears again.
Well that’s fair. I suppose I can’t make a perfect judgement since I’ve been missing so many episodes and haven’t really been able to follow it…but still, it’s a matter of opinion. In the early years, for me at least, it used to be like, YAY! BUFFY’S ON!! 
Now it’s like, yay, Buffy. ;> But I still love the show, I just miss the old atmosphere and the old characters. And if there’s one thing that /really/ irks me about these newer Buffy episodes…it’s Spike being all wussy. I mean, he used to be WICKED evil and fearsome, like the big arch-enemy. Now he’s all softened up…it’s just, wierd like that.
A great post for a great show such as BTVS won’t die.
I hadn’t started watching until last season, so I have a question: What was with the scene with Joyce and Giles and the “band candy”? I know that was the name of an early episode but I’ve never seen it. Were they involved at one point?
Anya sometimes bugs me because you would think such a well-travelled and ancient being, one who had to disguise herself countless times to pull off revenge schemes in every culture in history, would know EVERYTHING, not nothing, about human customs. But Emma pulled it off beautifully. And Anya knows something that we first saw in “The Replacement”: she’s now mortal and it’s going to happen to her.
I’ll be very interested to see what happens when Hank, Buffy (and Dawn’s, sort of) father shows up. If they make him suddenly evil and uncaring, that’ll be very very annoying. At the very least, if they want to keep Dawn on the show I hope they explain how a father would not get custody of his young daughter while his under-21 other child is living alone with no visible means of support.
But that’s next time. This week was for the Scoobies, and they did it beautifully.
McKenna - “Band Candy” was the name of an episode two season ago. The plot was about Ethan Rayne (who you may remember from last season’s “A New Man” - he turned Giles into a demon) using magic candy to turn the adults in town into teenagers. Not physically, just mentally and emotionally. Under the influence of said candy, Joyce and Giles … did the deed so to speak. Hence the reference.
Lots of people loved “Band Cand” but it was not one of my favorites. Great performance by Armin Shimmerman though.
I liked the glimpse it provided of The Young Giles. And I liked a remark Joyce made which went something like, “It’s like it was all a dream, you know? Growing up, having a kid. Now everything’s back like it’s supposed to be.”
Re Joyce’s death, I, too am wondering what will happen when Buffy’s dad shows up. Or will some reason be found for him not to show up?
I agree that the vampire fight scene at the end served to demonstrate how life (such as it is) goes on, even after something as catastrophic as the death of a loved one. I also thought it served to show how physically drained Joyce’s death left Buffy - to get this vamp off her sister, she has to haul with both hands and all her strength, instead of just spinning him around with one hand like she usually does.
I really hope this episode is at least nominated for an Emmy. I’ve been following the show since the beginning (or near it) and this is hands-down the best episode I’ve seen.
You keep dreaming, Pipeliner. The Academy is notoriously myopic, and would never nominate a science fiction/fantasy show for an Emmy. It doesn’t matter how good it is.
The worst episode of Buffy is still better than the best episode of Ally McBeal, but which one has more Emmys (or nominations)? It’s frustrating, but whattaya gonna do?
What I do is not look to Emmy wins as barometers of quality, because they’re not.
Nothing to do with anything important, but was this episode the first time Buffy has dusted a vamp by decapitation? I know it’s been stated either on Buffy or Angel that it’s a way to destroy a vampire, alongside staking, but I don’t think I’ve seen them do it before.
It may be a pipe dream, but if you don’t have a dream, how’re you gonna have a dream come true?
I thought the same thing when I saw the decapitation - I know it kills them, but I couldn’t recall Buffy ever chopping one of their heads off before.
Actually, she’s done it a few times, though it’s usually easier to stake them.
One that comes to mind is a fight (BIG fight) at The Bronze in an early episode (The Vamps had taken The Bronze over), where Buffy used the symbal from the drum set to decapitate a Vamp at a distance.
Actually, B5 was nominated for, and won, at least 2 Emmy’s (though they were for effects and makeup). X-Files also has been nominated for Emmy’s, including Best Dramatic Series. So it’s happened. It’s just rare.