Buffy re-watch: Never Kill A Boy On The First Date and learning to love kale

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In this post – containing spoilers – I continue my Buffy re-watch. And between my thoughts on Season 1, Episode 5, go off on a tangent about kale and Soylent Green.

In this episode Buffy dates romantic Owen and we see the emergence of the Anointed One. I don’t get it when people say, “you have to get through Season 1 before Buffy gets good”. Even just the first minute of this episode is fab TV and sets the tone and style for many more happy hours of Buffy viewing to come. As for example, the funny moment when Giles pops his head up over a gravestone and provides a biting critique of Buffy’s slaying technique.

Buffy: I’m Buffy and you’re … history. Giles: Poor technique…

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Buffy re-watch: Teacher’s Pet, what have we learned?

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 4: Teacher’s Pet is not known as one of the strongest of Buffy episode, but it has it’s moments. Spoilers? Count on it.

Buffy’s dreams – usually prophetic – often feature in Buffy. Alternatively Teacher’s Pet opens with a dream by Xander, in which he saves Buffy from a vampire, she is grateful, attracted to him and he plays a guitar solo. He wakes to Buffy saying, “you’re drooling”, as he has nodded off in Biology class. Continue reading →

School holidays, no Buffy?

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In this post I digress on the joys of parenting, including doing youthful things before moving on to the burning question, what age can Buffy the Vampire Slayer be safely watched by our nerd offspring?

Yay, it’s the school holidays; a time that for parents may fill us with dread and joy, sometimes simultaneously and in equal measure. A time we may have mixed feelings about. A time which will surely have ups and downs between ice cream, days outs, boat trips, tantrums and going just plain stir crazy. For some, a time to juggle childcare with work commitments. I am fortunate to have most work confined to term time or be do-able at home, (not by accident, but by design and for obvious reasons…) Continue reading →

The Witch – mothers, brownies and cheerleaders

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Continuing my Buffy re-watch with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 3: The Witch. In this post I will be looking particularly at the theme of mother-daughter relationships which the episode explores. Spoilers? Of course.

In previous episodes Giles foretold that Buffy would face supernatural threats other than vampires, and by episode three the show fully embraced this “monster of the week” format. Although Buffy has accepted her role as slayer, she also wants normal and safe activities in her life, and so is planning to try out for the cheerleading squad, much to Giles’s disdain. We then see a bubbling cauldron and a doll with a cheerleader uniform on, not a good sign. Continue reading →

The Harvest – or whatever happened to Jesse?

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Continuing the Buffy re-watch with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1, Episode 2: The Harvest. Will there be spoilers? Why, yes, of course.

So much for two episodes a week … This week I had a total set back due to being sucked into a hell of PC blue screens of pain. Damn those dread machines. But I am back, and normal service will be resumed. So where were we?

Left on a cliff hanger, that’s where … Buffy about to get bit by Luke, but it’s ok, he is suddenly repelled by the large cross on the necklace which Angel handily gave Buffy earlier. Phew, Buffy is able to get out of the crypt in time to stop other vampires feeding on Willow and Xander. But where’s Jesse? Buffy repeats his name as the theme tune rolls, which is so familiar and comforting. I know exactly the moment to look away – because spiders – yuck. All the main characters are accounted for in the credits, but not Jesse oh dear, that’s worrying…

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Welcome to the Hellmouth

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Spoilers… do I really need to say?

The first post from my Buffy re-watch adventure, not a blow-by-blow account exactly, but some random reflections and thoughts…

So here I am watching Welcome to the Hellmouth. Of course it is often noted that Joss Whedon wanted to turn around the stereotype of the helpless blonde girl who is killed in the opening scene of a horror movie, by having a young woman who would be strong and fight back.

What always struck me is that in the opening scene of this first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is that the stereotype is turned around in a different way.

We see a nervous young blonde woman who looks like she is about to become the victim of a predatory guy, who has brought her into the school to make out in the dead of night. Surprise, it’s actually Continue reading →

Buffy Re-watch

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So, a lot has been written about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Many volumey texts, much insightful theory and commentary. Last week was no exception, when on the 20th anniversary of Buffy’s first TV airing, the show quite rightly received a lot of attention and acclaim. Some of my favourites were Lizo Mzimba noting Buffy’s lasting influence on TV and film, Russell Dornan making fascinating connections between Buffy and the Wellcome Collection and stars of the show including Anthony Stewart Head and Felicia Day contributing to the discussion of Buffy’s lasting legacy. So I am left wondering, several days late to the party, shoddy as usual, is there anything left to say? Well who am I kidding, of course there is; there is always more to say about Buffy.

I want to go back to the beginning, and then all the way to the end again. Continue reading →