Doublemeat Palace was the first episode I watched when it aired, as opposed to in reruns. I watched the first 3 seasons of BtVS over the winter break in S6. It was very confusing. I didn’t see the first half of S6 until after I watched all of the first 5 seasons and most of season 7. I can’t even believe I lived in a time when getting access to previously aired episodes during the off-season and before the DVD release was so difficult. It seems unreal.
I actually didn’t hate Doublemeat Palace. It was gross, but still pretty entertaining. It was just one of those high-camp moments, kind of a throwback to Season 1. But I don’t consider it a terrible episode.
For instance: it has Giles singing “Behind Blue Eyes”. That scene alone makes the ep bearable.
Olive, what were your thoughts on Tabula Rasa? It sometimes gets overlooked as it is the very next episode after Once More with Feeling, but in my opinion it is one of the top 5 best episodes of the entires series.
IMO it loses major cool points for that ridiculous sharkhead.
Yeah, the shark is a little silly. Other than that, though, I also think Tabula Rasa is one of the finest episodes.
Aww, I like the shark head guy. He’s a loan shark - you can tell because *he’s literally got a shark head!
And* his teeth clack when he talks!
*Tabula Rasa *also had several callbacks to Restless. Spike’s suit, for instance, and a few others I can’t quite remember.
I loved Tabula Rasa. Definitely showcases what Buffy does best - makes you laugh hysterically for 40 minutes and then crushes your soul in the last 5.
I will be swiping this quote for future use.
I’m watching Buffy from the beginning to end for the first time too. I just finished the season two finale. I’m kind of glad I stuck with it. The first season was kind of boring, maybe even bad but the second season, especially the vampire related episodes were great. The second season’s finale was absolutely epic.
Xander seems kind of stupid and a bit of an asshole, Cordelia is a little dumb as well. Oh and Buffy isn’t all that interesting either.
And what’s with the principal? I’m guessing I’ll find out in the third season, but they made it clear that he’s up to something.
Spike and Drusilla are very interesting and fairly badass.
Giles is great but a little clueless at time.
I like Willow too although her smallness weirds me out a bit sometimes.
A lot of times, I find myself wondering why they don’t call each other on cell phones but then I remember we’re in 1997 and 1998.
Yeah, it’s funny in the S1 episode Never Kill a Boy on the First Date when she says “If the apocalypse comes, beep me” as she holds up her pager. A pager?! What is this, the frickin’ stone age?
It’s also funny to see all the super high-waisted pants in the early years.
**UNBOXED SPOILERS Buffy Season 6 **and **Angel Season 3 **to follow…
Man, we are whipping our way through this season… just finished 17th episode of either show.
Dead Things
Older and Far Away
As You Were
Hell’s Bells
Normal Again
I was thinking about Season 6, and I really like it. Maybe not as much as Season 5. I was trying to figure out why I think it’s inferior to Season 5, and the only real answer I can provide is that it contains no real story arc. I mean, things are happening, but they don’t seem to be building toward anywhere. It’s all just random chaos. But it’s chaos that interests me and makes sense.
Dawn is starting to really be in need of a bitchslap. She whines constantly about how Buffy is never there knowing full well Buffý’s the frickin’ slayer and has to hold down a job to pay the bills. She complains and overreacts and constantly takes everything personally. Grow up, little girl.
I must say I like the new and improved Riley Finn. He seems taller and less like a little puppy dog. I liked how he sort of redeemed Buffy’s faith in herself long enough to break it off with Spike. Sam is fun.
Hell’s Bells was just sadness. I guess you can sorta see it coming, in retrospect, but it’s still tragedy. I hope those two find a way to work it out, whether Anya becomes a vengeance demon again or not.
And… Normal Again. I liked it. I didn’t love it. At first I was like, ‘‘Really? Buffy in an insane asylum? That’s so original.’’ but then I thought they kind of put an interesting twist on the old clishé, namely that she struggled with temptation to be the crazy girl rather than the slayer. And I like the implication that she was sane those three months she was dead, that ‘‘heaven’’ she experienced was actually sanity. I also was not overly impressed with the script of this episode. A lot of totally unnecessary exposition.
I’m not really clear why this episode pissed so many people off. It never definitively answered the question which reality was real. Personally I’m comfortable with them each being different, equally valid realities.
Which brings us to Angel, a world where Wesley is quickly outpacing Angel for ‘‘Broodiest Character’’ award.
Provider
Waiting in the Wings
Couplet
Loyalty
Sleep Tight
Forgiving
It’s all about Connor, man. I gotta say this season of Angel rocks. The demands on the actors seem to be increasing exponentially and they keep nailing their parts.
If during Buffy Season 1 someone had leaned over and whispered to me, ‘‘Angel is going to fall in love with Cordelia’’ I think I would have fallen off the couch in hysterics. Yeah, good one, imaginary spoiler person! Like that would *ever *happen.
Yeah, well, it did, and equally incredible, I buy it.
The return of Groo, both hilarious and tragic. I couldn’t help but feel as all this shit went down that a lot of this mess may have been avoided if Angel hadn’t sent Cordy and Groo on vacation. For one thing, as soon as Angel went on the warpath Cordy might be able to slap some sense into him. I don’t know what it is about revenge that turns Angel into a giant asshole, but dude has some emotion regulation issues. Maybe if I had a vampire baby I’d understand.
Oh, and you’d think with all this serious shit happening to her friends Cordy might have had, ya know, a vision? Thanks, TPTB, ya jerks.
Wesley definitely got the shaft here, considering he spent three episodes bleeding to death right across the street from his home. I knew Angel was going to do some dick thing to him in the hospital room the moment he stepped in the door. Though I gotta say, the fact that he left him alive should mean something to Wesley. If Angel had really wanted to kill him you know damn well he would have.
Angel Season 3… good stuff. I can’t believe we’re only four episodes away from the end of each season. Seems like it’s just flying by.
IMHO, it irritated me because it set up the possibility that none of what we’re watching, that the characters we’ve grown to love, was “real” within the show’s own universe. And if the characters don’t exist even within their reality, why am I bothering to watch this show?
And you are just getting to the part where Angel gets awesome. It really picks up soon.
I would call it an emotional arc, rather than than a narrative arc.
Yes, this seems be a common complaint. For me, though… she’s a realistic teenager. These are all things one might say to a real teenage girl as well.
Yup… everyone gets their dose of tragedy this season, even the “comic relief” characters.
Yay, now we can finally talk about the DS9 comparison I dropped way upthread. Did it remind you of Sisko as “Benny Russell,” or was it just me?
You answered your own question. That sort of uncertainty doesn’t sit well with others.
Another one of those crazy “imaginary spoilers” eh? Try telling that to someone who’d just seen Wes on Buffy for the first time. 
“Waiting In The Wings” rocked! The ladies got to dress nice (and undress nicer!), the guys looked sharp, River got to dance…a wonderful episode. Right up to the end, when it triggered all the stuff that happened over the next 4 episodes.
Wes’s character arc across both series is truly amazing.
And I enjoyed “Normal Again” quite a bit. It’s* all * just a TV show! One of the best, but not “real.” This fact does not upset me.
The growth of Cordy and Wesley is one of the things that I love about the shows. It was done so extremely well, in such an interesting and believable way. Just compare Cordy with Harmony, and you can readily see how far she has come.
:smack: Never noticed it was her, though to be fair, I watched Angel before Firefly.