Earshot
I remember this being a lesser episode, but the word online is that it's good. Let's check it out ...
... (after watching it) Yeah, that was good. Much more than I remembered. Earshot is an episode that takes its time and lets us hang out with the characters, rather than rushing along with the plot. I also felt a sense of fear for Buffy - that this telepathy could be really bad for her - and I felt that despite (a) having seen the episode already, and (b) still feeling my prior comments about how threatening the lead character's life doesn't work for me.
So, the thing that was different for me here was the idea that being driven mad by telepathy could actually change Buffy. And it occured to me that in long-running TV shows with established lead characters, change can equal jeopardy. Hypothetical example: you can't kill off Jack Bauer in 24, but you can change him so that he's no longer operating from motives that we'd sympathise with.(*)
(*) I know. They'd just change Jack's character back within 2 or 3 episodes, or reveal that it's an elaborate bluff ... but man, a series of 24 where Jack is the bad guy? And we're following him? That'd be spectacular. And probably the end of the show.
The episode also really illustrates that Buffy is a hero, by showing her as crippled by the telepathy but still compelled to help, and it has a great reveal at the end about the killer. Top marks: not essential to the main plot of Season 3, but excellent television.
Choices
I remember 'Choices' as being a really strong episode, with a locked room setting that's one of my main memories from this season. Let's see how it stacks up to the idealised episode in my mind ...
... ah, it's a bit different. The locked room setting takes up maybe 5 minutes, a far shorter portion of the ep than I remembered.
'Choices' features some great little moments: Faith's look of hatred towards Willow; the Mayor as a well-intentioned, yet evil truth-teller; and a great payoff for Willow's floating pencil trick. And at the very end I thought they were going to have an upbeat finish ... but no. The script had to decompress itself through 2 scenes, but it managed to get to a downbeat place eventually. Yay! Or yay-ish. The sense of dread and the maudlin tone of Season 6 is not entirely unknown to this show.
A good ep, and very clearly belongs in the main plot of Season 3.
The Prom
I remember this being pretty good, but it turns out that The Prom is a fracking great episode that delivers a huge emotional payoff for setting the show at high school for three seasons. What this episode has in common with 'Earshot' is that it's not afraid to humanise the characters, to take time to reflect on their relationships.
It's also a big Buffy-Angel (BAng) episode (and it makes me realise that Season 3 is partially about resolving the BAng relationship so that both characters can move on.(*)
(*) Two asides: The first is that having watched the spinoff show Angel, I can see how 'cooped up' Angel feels hanging out in Sunnydale. Moving to Los Angeles gives him a more epic quality that I really like.
... Secondly, Angel has just spent several hundred years being tortured in a hell dimension. It always occurs to me that the time he's spending in Sunnydale during Season 3 must feel like a dream, like a fantasy that the hell demons are using to torture him and that'll be yanked away at any moment.
Graduation Day
It's a well paced war movie of a finale, and I don't have too much to say about the plot - other than it's good, and it weirdly makes me regret not going to my own graduation.
There are many fantastic moments in it, but most notable for me is that I totally buy the Mayor's paternal attitude towards Faith now. What started as a comedic characteristic that came completely out of the blue is completely sold by the way they talk to each other and the Mayor's genuine rage when he finds out what Buffy and Faith have been up to. There are also beats that are mirrored and developed in later seasons (Buffy quitting, Buffy going to war).
Basically it's an excellent two-parter that first sets up a smackdown with Faith, and then a war with the Mayor, and neatly wraps up three seasons of story-telling.
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Showing posts with label buffy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buffy. Show all posts
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Buffy: The Turning Point
Bad Girls
A great episode that contains two strong choices that I think are wrong.
First up: Buffy and Faith are fantastic together when they're having fun - they kick arse and then celebrate in a way that feels liberating, sexy and a bit dangerous. It's fantastic to watch them enjoying themselves to what they do best ... and naturally it can't last. In fact, it doesn't last more than about 15 minutes of screen-time. Now I get that happy characters are dull characters; I get that you have to bring the conflict. But it strikes me that you could've stretched this change in Buffy towards being a bad girl for at least one more episode, and used Willow's feelings about being displaced as a friend (and the Scoobies' concerns about Buffy's transformation) as a source of conflict. So, yeah, I wanted to see the two female leads actually have fun for a while.
Second: I do not buy Faith's line at the end ("I don't care.") Sure, it's harsh and sets up some good conflicts down the line. But it feels forced and inconsistent with the character we've been watching. I seem to remember this gets deconstructed in later eps (especially in Season 4), so I'll withhold some of my judgment for a while.
This is also the episode that confirms the Mayor is the Big Bad, introduces Wesley Wyndham-Price and begins his epic character arc, and really strongly showcases the Buffy-Faith relationship. Pretty essential stuff.
Consequences
So, I as I was saying, I really wanted to see more of Faith and Buffy working together as Slayers who are good at their jobs and enjoy life ... and this ep sort of didn't give me that but after a while I didn't mind.
What starts as a placeholder episode (we know Buffy is going to tell Giles about the murder eventually) ends as an intensely action-packed mini-feature film filled with lots of story and character development.
It kicks off the Angel-Faith plot that crosses from here over to Angel and then back to Buffy again.
It has an AMAZING moment between Xander and Faith.
It finishes with a bold twist. If I didn't know better, I'd say Faith was going undercover.
Playing Faith as being in denial is a good choice, and alleviates quite a few of my worries from Bad Girls. I still don't fully buy Faith's reaction to the murder, or her psychology, but Consequences gives me enough to get by.
There's also a really nice shifting focus between who the villain is: The Mayor or Faith.
An excellent episode, vital to the main line of Season 3 (and featuring a great moment where Giles holds the idiotball that made me yell at the screen).
Doppelgangland
Basically, this is 'just' an excellent mistaken-identity farce. A spotlight episode for Willow that features two well-motivated versions of her character initiating their own plots and bouncing off each others. The multiple sources of pressure on Willow to conform and obey lead to her desire to be rebellious, which (at a writers' level) motivate the arrival of her doppelganger from Dark Sunnydale. It's a big episode for Willow that shows her as the go-to wicca for serious magic, and illustrates again that she's good at whatever she does, whether that be computer hacking or being a vampire.
A great episode, but only essential-ish. There's some Faith-Mayor developments that feel a little too rapid to me, especially when the Mayor raises the subject of what to do about Willow. There's only 6 episodes till the end of the season and it feels like things haven't really gotten moving yet.
Enemies
I don't have much to say about this episode. The opening scene provides a good illustration of why the Buffy-Angel relationship won't work, and the rest of the story follows that through in a covert yet interesting way.
The episode is based on a tension of 'When will Buffy find out that Faith is evil?', but because the whole story is based on a deception which I remembered from my previous viewing, I felt little sense of jeopardy.
Coupled with that is realisation that while the Mayor's paternalism towards Faith is a great character trait, it's feels cosmetic - there haven't been enough on-screen events between the two of them for that relationship to have been earned. I'm also finding Faith's characterisation to be all over the place, and I'm looking forward to watching the essential episodes of Season 3 to find out how it all tracks when you string the key episodes together.
In all, this episode is essential for a few plot reasons, but I found it kind of irritating.
A great episode that contains two strong choices that I think are wrong.
First up: Buffy and Faith are fantastic together when they're having fun - they kick arse and then celebrate in a way that feels liberating, sexy and a bit dangerous. It's fantastic to watch them enjoying themselves to what they do best ... and naturally it can't last. In fact, it doesn't last more than about 15 minutes of screen-time. Now I get that happy characters are dull characters; I get that you have to bring the conflict. But it strikes me that you could've stretched this change in Buffy towards being a bad girl for at least one more episode, and used Willow's feelings about being displaced as a friend (and the Scoobies' concerns about Buffy's transformation) as a source of conflict. So, yeah, I wanted to see the two female leads actually have fun for a while.
Second: I do not buy Faith's line at the end ("I don't care.") Sure, it's harsh and sets up some good conflicts down the line. But it feels forced and inconsistent with the character we've been watching. I seem to remember this gets deconstructed in later eps (especially in Season 4), so I'll withhold some of my judgment for a while.
This is also the episode that confirms the Mayor is the Big Bad, introduces Wesley Wyndham-Price and begins his epic character arc, and really strongly showcases the Buffy-Faith relationship. Pretty essential stuff.
Consequences
So, I as I was saying, I really wanted to see more of Faith and Buffy working together as Slayers who are good at their jobs and enjoy life ... and this ep sort of didn't give me that but after a while I didn't mind.
What starts as a placeholder episode (we know Buffy is going to tell Giles about the murder eventually) ends as an intensely action-packed mini-feature film filled with lots of story and character development.
It kicks off the Angel-Faith plot that crosses from here over to Angel and then back to Buffy again.
It has an AMAZING moment between Xander and Faith.
It finishes with a bold twist. If I didn't know better, I'd say Faith was going undercover.
Playing Faith as being in denial is a good choice, and alleviates quite a few of my worries from Bad Girls. I still don't fully buy Faith's reaction to the murder, or her psychology, but Consequences gives me enough to get by.
There's also a really nice shifting focus between who the villain is: The Mayor or Faith.
An excellent episode, vital to the main line of Season 3 (and featuring a great moment where Giles holds the idiotball that made me yell at the screen).
Doppelgangland
Basically, this is 'just' an excellent mistaken-identity farce. A spotlight episode for Willow that features two well-motivated versions of her character initiating their own plots and bouncing off each others. The multiple sources of pressure on Willow to conform and obey lead to her desire to be rebellious, which (at a writers' level) motivate the arrival of her doppelganger from Dark Sunnydale. It's a big episode for Willow that shows her as the go-to wicca for serious magic, and illustrates again that she's good at whatever she does, whether that be computer hacking or being a vampire.
A great episode, but only essential-ish. There's some Faith-Mayor developments that feel a little too rapid to me, especially when the Mayor raises the subject of what to do about Willow. There's only 6 episodes till the end of the season and it feels like things haven't really gotten moving yet.
Enemies
I don't have much to say about this episode. The opening scene provides a good illustration of why the Buffy-Angel relationship won't work, and the rest of the story follows that through in a covert yet interesting way.
The episode is based on a tension of 'When will Buffy find out that Faith is evil?', but because the whole story is based on a deception which I remembered from my previous viewing, I felt little sense of jeopardy.
Coupled with that is realisation that while the Mayor's paternalism towards Faith is a great character trait, it's feels cosmetic - there haven't been enough on-screen events between the two of them for that relationship to have been earned. I'm also finding Faith's characterisation to be all over the place, and I'm looking forward to watching the essential episodes of Season 3 to find out how it all tracks when you string the key episodes together.
In all, this episode is essential for a few plot reasons, but I found it kind of irritating.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Buffy: Heading towards the middle of Season 3
More mini-reviews, this time with the occasional listing of specific act breaks
Lover's Walk
The episode that convinced Joss Whedon that he could mine more dramatic potential from Spike - by protraying him as a drunk, hilariously love-lorn emotional sap/psychopath. It's great comparing the scene of Spike trying to convince Willow to cast a love spell with the scene in Season 4 where he's failing to bite her - Willow as the terrified confident of a confessional Spike is a fun dynamic, and I can see why they revisted that well.
This episode starts building up the question of what going to happen after high school finishes, as Buffy begins to realise the future is wide open to her. A tremendously entertaining episode that finishes on a low point for everyone. It's not key to the overall story of Season 3 though.
Act Break (AB): Spike decides to use Willow.
AB 2: Spike captures Willow and Xander. Wants Willow to cast a spell on Dru.
AB 3: Spike shows up at Buffy's house. He has a heart to heart with Buffy's mum.
AB 4: Spike is under threat, and Buffy and Angel have to protect him. Although I'd argue that the real act-out comes when Cordy gets impaled by a pole.
I enjoyed how the reactions to these act breaks (when we cut back from commercials) are unexpected and reveal character.
The Wish
An episode that ties off quite a few of the romantic subplots from the first third of the season and sets up a new status quo. Cordy's wish doesn't create a subtle alternate reality, but it's a nicely handled one - it feels logical, and it's portrayed in broad strokes that feel appropriate and convey a lot of information.
Amends
Boy, I remember this as a weak episode. And in a way it is - it creates this false jeopardy that Angel was brought back to kill Buffy (*), before swerving into the more believable territory of Angel wanting to destroy himself. The result is pretty damn sappy, but not as bad as I remembered it.
(*) Cos they're totally going to kill off Sarah Michelle Gellar's character halfway through the season, right?
Amends also demonstrates that this show does NOT ignore the emotional reality between the characters. Take a look at the scene where Giles meets Angel for the first time since he's back - Angel killed Giles' girlfriend, and the show tackles that head-on. This emotional continuity is a vital part of the 'watching a novel' effect I'm talking about.
Gingerbread
I remember this as an effective little story, although (like Amends) it's not essential to Season 3. It's a nicely-developed mob-mentality horror story. It also features the transformation of Amy into a rat that becomes so important in Seasons 6 and 8.
I'm beginning to really lock in to the idea that the reason Buffy is so satisfying to rewatch is that the real plots happen in the sub-text of the episode.
Helpless
This felt like a significantly deeper episode to me; a great combination of schlock (suddenly defenceless slayer hunted by vampires) with introspection (what is Buffy without her powers? What is the exact nature of her relationship with Giles?).
I'm impressed by David Fury (the writer of this ep; he later moved to 24). The episode is filled with nice transitions between scenes, and scene endings that are odd, skewed, and quiet. There's also a extended pre-teaser intro that really drew me in to the episode.
This is a Buffy/Giles episode - the presence of other supporting cast has been significantly reduced. Buffy has to deal with Giles' betrayal; the father-daughter vibe between them is more deeply explored (and the conflict between Giles' role as a Watcher and his relationship towards Buffy as a human being is fully brought out into the light). It also ends with a big plot development for Giles - something I'd completely forgotten about.
A good, more serious episode that I think will be pretty important to the rewatching of Season 3.
The Zeppo
I can remember reading that a lot of fans were angry about this episode - presumably because it undermines the reality of the show but undercutting the epic Buffy/Angel love story and the seriousness of preventing the apocalypse. Me, I think that's hilarious.(*)
(*) In particular, check out the music cue when Xander leaves Buffy and Angel alone about 32 minutes into the ep.
This episode is supposedly about Xander's inadequacy, his search for coolness, and generally trying to find his identity in the group. I'd say at a meta-level, it's really about giving us, the audience, a reason to care about Xander by throwing him into an episode that gives him a mega-dose of 'worthiness as a protagonist', making him someone we want to watch.
It doesn't hurt that it uses a whole 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead'/what's-happening-backstage structure to tell a series of funny jokes. It also doesn't hurt that Xander and Faith have a couple of scenes together (and check out that impressive 5 seconds of silence as he leaves her motel ... that is some rare stuff in TV, to just watch a character process what's happened to them).
Finally, I'd say check out Xander's costuming. Compare his super-geeky sweater and shirt in the first scene after the title sequence to how he's dressed in the final scene. As with The Wish, it's overt but clearly makes the point about Xander's transformation.
... Now, on to the heart of the season. Episode 14 (Bad Girls), here we come.
Lover's Walk
The episode that convinced Joss Whedon that he could mine more dramatic potential from Spike - by protraying him as a drunk, hilariously love-lorn emotional sap/psychopath. It's great comparing the scene of Spike trying to convince Willow to cast a love spell with the scene in Season 4 where he's failing to bite her - Willow as the terrified confident of a confessional Spike is a fun dynamic, and I can see why they revisted that well.
This episode starts building up the question of what going to happen after high school finishes, as Buffy begins to realise the future is wide open to her. A tremendously entertaining episode that finishes on a low point for everyone. It's not key to the overall story of Season 3 though.
Act Break (AB): Spike decides to use Willow.
AB 2: Spike captures Willow and Xander. Wants Willow to cast a spell on Dru.
AB 3: Spike shows up at Buffy's house. He has a heart to heart with Buffy's mum.
AB 4: Spike is under threat, and Buffy and Angel have to protect him. Although I'd argue that the real act-out comes when Cordy gets impaled by a pole.
I enjoyed how the reactions to these act breaks (when we cut back from commercials) are unexpected and reveal character.
The Wish
An episode that ties off quite a few of the romantic subplots from the first third of the season and sets up a new status quo. Cordy's wish doesn't create a subtle alternate reality, but it's a nicely handled one - it feels logical, and it's portrayed in broad strokes that feel appropriate and convey a lot of information.
Amends
Boy, I remember this as a weak episode. And in a way it is - it creates this false jeopardy that Angel was brought back to kill Buffy (*), before swerving into the more believable territory of Angel wanting to destroy himself. The result is pretty damn sappy, but not as bad as I remembered it.
(*) Cos they're totally going to kill off Sarah Michelle Gellar's character halfway through the season, right?
Amends also demonstrates that this show does NOT ignore the emotional reality between the characters. Take a look at the scene where Giles meets Angel for the first time since he's back - Angel killed Giles' girlfriend, and the show tackles that head-on. This emotional continuity is a vital part of the 'watching a novel' effect I'm talking about.
Gingerbread
I remember this as an effective little story, although (like Amends) it's not essential to Season 3. It's a nicely-developed mob-mentality horror story. It also features the transformation of Amy into a rat that becomes so important in Seasons 6 and 8.
I'm beginning to really lock in to the idea that the reason Buffy is so satisfying to rewatch is that the real plots happen in the sub-text of the episode.
Helpless
This felt like a significantly deeper episode to me; a great combination of schlock (suddenly defenceless slayer hunted by vampires) with introspection (what is Buffy without her powers? What is the exact nature of her relationship with Giles?).
I'm impressed by David Fury (the writer of this ep; he later moved to 24). The episode is filled with nice transitions between scenes, and scene endings that are odd, skewed, and quiet. There's also a extended pre-teaser intro that really drew me in to the episode.
This is a Buffy/Giles episode - the presence of other supporting cast has been significantly reduced. Buffy has to deal with Giles' betrayal; the father-daughter vibe between them is more deeply explored (and the conflict between Giles' role as a Watcher and his relationship towards Buffy as a human being is fully brought out into the light). It also ends with a big plot development for Giles - something I'd completely forgotten about.
A good, more serious episode that I think will be pretty important to the rewatching of Season 3.
The Zeppo
I can remember reading that a lot of fans were angry about this episode - presumably because it undermines the reality of the show but undercutting the epic Buffy/Angel love story and the seriousness of preventing the apocalypse. Me, I think that's hilarious.(*)
(*) In particular, check out the music cue when Xander leaves Buffy and Angel alone about 32 minutes into the ep.
This episode is supposedly about Xander's inadequacy, his search for coolness, and generally trying to find his identity in the group. I'd say at a meta-level, it's really about giving us, the audience, a reason to care about Xander by throwing him into an episode that gives him a mega-dose of 'worthiness as a protagonist', making him someone we want to watch.
It doesn't hurt that it uses a whole 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead'/what's-happening-backstage structure to tell a series of funny jokes. It also doesn't hurt that Xander and Faith have a couple of scenes together (and check out that impressive 5 seconds of silence as he leaves her motel ... that is some rare stuff in TV, to just watch a character process what's happened to them).
Finally, I'd say check out Xander's costuming. Compare his super-geeky sweater and shirt in the first scene after the title sequence to how he's dressed in the final scene. As with The Wish, it's overt but clearly makes the point about Xander's transformation.
... Now, on to the heart of the season. Episode 14 (Bad Girls), here we come.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Buffy: The first third of Season 3
Being home with the proto-flu has given me a chance to watch about a third of Buffy Season 3.
Buffy is the show that really started my second phase of thinking about how to write for television. Working on my own show was really like boot camp for TV script-writing. Watching Team Whedon, on the other hand, gave me an opportunity to reflect on a completely different approach. Most notably:
These first seven episodes have played like an overture to the season, gradually moving sub-plots into place - and when I say "gradually", I mean they're not afraid to let crucial characters drop out of entire episodes while they establish other stuff that's going on. That other stuff includes:
It's amazing that by the end of episode 7, the heart of Season 3 has yet to be even hinted at. Sure, Buffy and Faith have had a bit of a well-motivated smackdown in Revelations, but Faith's descent into the dark side? The Mayor's paternal relationship with her?
The characterisations have established that these could be plausible, but even so, they're not even a possibility yet.
Anne
The first episode of Season 3 focuses on Buffy's new life after running away from Sunnydale. The central question is 'What will it take to make Buffy go back home?'. Watching Whedon escalate the pressure on Buffy (to the point of trapping her in a hell dimension, just as Angel was) is fun. And the episode totally delivers on its two obligatory emotional beats: (i) Buffy embracing the fact that she can't run away from being a slayer, and (ii) her reunion with her Mum.
Dead Man's Party
An unusual episode, explicitly dealing with the gang having to reknit itself, and learn to trust each other again, after Buffy's long absence.
This one felt far less solid to me - in fact, I stopped watching it at one point (when Buffy's friends start planning something for her during an emotionally difficult time, without asking her if it's something she'd like). Sure, I could interpret that moment as the friends trying to ignore the fact that the situation is emotionally difficult. Unfortunately, it really felt like "Full House Syndrome" - the inability of characters to learn and grow during the course of a TV series.
Faith, Hope and Trick
A really complicated episode developing several subplots, including Buffy moving on from her relationship with Angel, and ending with the kick of a major character returning to Sunnydale.
Beauty and the Beasts
Man, this episode totally features my favourite shot ever of Oz in werewolf form - I love the way he bounds through the halls of the school; it feels genuinely inhuman.
By this point, the show is firmly re-establishing its style of using the A-plots of each episode to advance the bigger picture plot. This is what I mean when I talk about Joss Whedon's voice - not the phrasings he uses for writing dialogue, but the idea that episodes aren't about beating the monster, or even about facing what the monster represents. Episodes are incidents in the broader 'novel' of the season, and the plot of that novel is moving relentlessly forward, sometimes extremely subtly with each episode.
Homecoming
Weird to describe an episode that features a competition called "Slayerfest 98" and a rocket launcher as more of a character piece, but there you go. Great to see Cordelia get a hero moment.
Band Candy
Way more fun that I remembered - I was actually a bit nervous about rewatching this one (much like the upcoming 'Amends'). Sets up a great little run of character moments in future episodes between Joyce and Giles, and outs the Mayor as a bad guy with supernatural connections - but that's really a minor part of this episode, and I'd say it's not totally clear what his status as a recurring villain is at this point
Revelations
A great episode that deals with bringing the news that Angel is 'alive' to the group: news which puts Faith and Buffy into real conflict for the first time. I like episodes like this - where characters who like each other are strongly opposed, and that opposition comes from well-motivated reasons that have been developing for a while.
Yes, I like drama.
Buffy is the show that really started my second phase of thinking about how to write for television. Working on my own show was really like boot camp for TV script-writing. Watching Team Whedon, on the other hand, gave me an opportunity to reflect on a completely different approach. Most notably:
- a strong focus on using the act breaks to twist or invert the situation
- using the main story to develop and comment on a character's emotions
- telling a coherent season-long story almost totally inside the subtext of the episodes; it's a story that's invisible to a person who watches just one episode, but cumulatively it's quite epic in scale and makes a season of Buffy feel like a novel.
These first seven episodes have played like an overture to the season, gradually moving sub-plots into place - and when I say "gradually", I mean they're not afraid to let crucial characters drop out of entire episodes while they establish other stuff that's going on. That other stuff includes:
- Willow and Xander develop feelings for each other
- Angel returns from several hundred years being tortured in a hell dimension;he's in a bestial state
- Faith, another slayer, arrives in Sunnydale and develops a complicated relationship with Buffy
- The Mayor is slowly (very slowly) introduced as a character (*).
It's amazing that by the end of episode 7, the heart of Season 3 has yet to be even hinted at. Sure, Buffy and Faith have had a bit of a well-motivated smackdown in Revelations, but Faith's descent into the dark side? The Mayor's paternal relationship with her?
The characterisations have established that these could be plausible, but even so, they're not even a possibility yet.
Anne
The first episode of Season 3 focuses on Buffy's new life after running away from Sunnydale. The central question is 'What will it take to make Buffy go back home?'. Watching Whedon escalate the pressure on Buffy (to the point of trapping her in a hell dimension, just as Angel was) is fun. And the episode totally delivers on its two obligatory emotional beats: (i) Buffy embracing the fact that she can't run away from being a slayer, and (ii) her reunion with her Mum.
Dead Man's Party
An unusual episode, explicitly dealing with the gang having to reknit itself, and learn to trust each other again, after Buffy's long absence.
This one felt far less solid to me - in fact, I stopped watching it at one point (when Buffy's friends start planning something for her during an emotionally difficult time, without asking her if it's something she'd like). Sure, I could interpret that moment as the friends trying to ignore the fact that the situation is emotionally difficult. Unfortunately, it really felt like "Full House Syndrome" - the inability of characters to learn and grow during the course of a TV series.
Faith, Hope and Trick
A really complicated episode developing several subplots, including Buffy moving on from her relationship with Angel, and ending with the kick of a major character returning to Sunnydale.
Beauty and the Beasts
Man, this episode totally features my favourite shot ever of Oz in werewolf form - I love the way he bounds through the halls of the school; it feels genuinely inhuman.
By this point, the show is firmly re-establishing its style of using the A-plots of each episode to advance the bigger picture plot. This is what I mean when I talk about Joss Whedon's voice - not the phrasings he uses for writing dialogue, but the idea that episodes aren't about beating the monster, or even about facing what the monster represents. Episodes are incidents in the broader 'novel' of the season, and the plot of that novel is moving relentlessly forward, sometimes extremely subtly with each episode.
Homecoming
Weird to describe an episode that features a competition called "Slayerfest 98" and a rocket launcher as more of a character piece, but there you go. Great to see Cordelia get a hero moment.
Band Candy
Way more fun that I remembered - I was actually a bit nervous about rewatching this one (much like the upcoming 'Amends'). Sets up a great little run of character moments in future episodes between Joyce and Giles, and outs the Mayor as a bad guy with supernatural connections - but that's really a minor part of this episode, and I'd say it's not totally clear what his status as a recurring villain is at this point
Revelations
A great episode that deals with bringing the news that Angel is 'alive' to the group: news which puts Faith and Buffy into real conflict for the first time. I like episodes like this - where characters who like each other are strongly opposed, and that opposition comes from well-motivated reasons that have been developing for a while.
Yes, I like drama.
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