watcher1006

I thought I'd put in my two cents on this topic that's been gathering dust for a year and a half. I like Michelle Trachtenberg, I think she was a good child actor in the show and elsewhere (like in Harriet the Spy) and I wouldn't mind seeing her again somewhere, even though she's nearing her mid-thirties by now. But the way they introduced her into the Buffyverse was the main flaw of Season 5, IMO. The whole season revolves around the sisterly tie between Buffy and Dawn (think S5 Blood Ties), and to have Dawn be a device of some vaguely defined "monks" undermines that connection. Surely the creators could have introduced Dawn in another way to make everyone really viscerally FEEL the bond between Buffy and Dawn? Through Season 5 I couldn't stop feeling that Dawn was somehow a fake. And as for the mythology, do these monks really have the ability to enfold the Key inside a human form complete with a SOUL? Seems like a GOD-like power. I didn't like the idea that all of the characters of the show would thereafter have a different "memory" of all of their own lives from Seasons 1-4 than we would as viewers. New characters are typically introduced into a long running series to help revive them and to create new channels for stories, but Dawn's introduction felt clumsy and contrived to me.

I have some thoughts about this episode but for the moment I just want to say that

Indeed. It's not just that people get introduced out of the blue with no explanation. It's also that when they appear you can never know at what point in time those people are existing. Past, present, future...jump jump jump! This show has always depended on the mechanism of time jumping but after four seasons it's getting a bit tiresome for me. It starts to feel too gimmicky. Enough with the ahas!

Yeah, it may reflect badly on Randall but really it seems like the writers forgot all about Miguel in this episode. Was it at all mentioned at any time why husband Miguel wasn't on the trip? There could be plenty of reasons why he wasn't there but it seems like an explanation or a scene involving a discussion with Miguel was in order. Randall may be a councilman now and Beth is doing her thing with the studio but would a 9 month stint in a clinical trial really depend on Kevin's show biz money? Randall was making a pile of money before before he quit the business world. If that has all been squandered and if the whole thing did depend on Kevin and Randall was presuming his brother would pay for it then double shame on Randall.

Xander wasn't best bros with any of the major male characters on the show but I found his relationship with Spike much more entertaining to watch than that with Angel. Chemistry between actors doesn't always mean portraying a friendship, it's more varied than that. As for Jesse counting or not, it depends on the meaning of "count". Yes he was brought in and dispensed with quickly at the beginning of the show. I only brought him up because those first two episodes showed that Xander could have had real male friends, had the writers chosen to go in that direction with him. They did not, no more than they did with Xander the skateboarder. The first season was naturally focused on his relationships with Buffy and Willow. Now in Season 7:

Do they have any time to explore the lives of Beth and Randall's children further this season? The season is rapidly drawing to a close. I don't know about Randall's therapist. Seems to me it isn't an ideal relationship with a patient to hold back on what she knows about him for a good part of the first session. But maybe she can help him come to grips with his control issues. I do love CS&N "Our House".

Of course there was Jesse at the very beginning.

Hard to say who should and shouldn't have been invited. Think of Danny Strong, who was with the franchise from the unaired pilot, dropping in occasionally through to the last season of the show. Of course Jonathan was never what you'd call a fan favorite. Indeed, if it's true that David Boreanaz wanted Nicholas Brendon out of the shoot, it's puzzling that he would have so much authority.

I don't automatically reject a relationship between Xander and Willow, my main problem with it in Season 3 is with how it was written following the big betrayal in "Lover's Walk". The writers just turned off the romance between them. Yes, Xander and Willow were horrified at what they had done and wanted to undo it ASAP, but it's not as though such feelings just vanish. Oz delivers two brilliant pieces of dialogue to Willow, the one in "The Wish" about "Leave me alone-you betrayed me-I need to think things out" and then the second in "Amends" about "Here's the thing-I still have feelings for you". Some of the most believable lines in Buffy that people in the real world can relate to. At the least, Xander and Willow should have talked out where they were at with their feelings toward one another and how they would go forward, rather than having their romantic feelings dropped from their relationship. I'm just a little surprised at the negative comments about S6 "Once More With Feeling" given how popular it was at the time. I was initially wowed and amazed at the whole thing and have grown less enthusiastic about it over time. I suppose that it was an enormous ego trip for Joss Whedon. He spent a prodigious amount of energy on the episode in a season where he'd stepped aside as a primary showrunner. It was a very expensive episode from what I hear and Marti Noxon was left with some budget constraints for doing the rest of the season.

But it might have been about the mother... It seems to me that Ashley Williams' Victoria character who came on to the scene mid-season 1 might have ended up as the mother if the show hadn't caught on and was going to end at the end of the first season. By the way IMO the character of Victoria was ruined by the show going on way too long. They bring her back late in the series as someone who Ted ends up disqualifying because she's too messy? Doesn't seem to fit a career cook who would likely be compulsive about her kitchen. I remember one of the creators making a remark late during the show's run about how they'd goofed, ruling out Robin as the mother from the very beginning of the show. A lot to comment on in your post but I wanted to say this: as the show went on I started wondering watching the Barney character whether Carter Bays and Craig Thomas thought misogyny was funny. He acts outrageously but I don't know if it's just that Neil Patrick Harris is such a good comedian or what but he hardly ever gets called up on any of it.

HIMYM started out as a solid sitcom with a great cast that really pulled off the ensemble well. But it was way too limited a premise - how long could they drag out the question of who the mother was? Even in its fine first season I thought this could go on for two seasons - maybe three. Instead it went on for nine and by last few seasons the writers were scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. It was AWFUL. I could only look in occasionally on the show during the last two seasons, watching the episodes where I’d heard that something real might happen. And I watched the miserable series finale. Really miserable, a travesty. It’s really too bad when they have a TV show that starts out with a really bright and creative idea and then they try to stretch it out season after season because the viewers keep tuning in. Over the past decade I can think of other examples such as Once Upon a Time, Sleepy Hollow, Empire, and possibly This Is Us (remains to be seen). I had a lot of fun watching HIMYM in its early seasons. There were several Buffy- and Angel-verse actors who made guest appearances on HIMYM - Alexis Denisof, Harry Groener (the Mayor), Tom Lenk, Amy Acker and whomever else I’ve missed. But I resent the show for ruining Alyson Hannigan for me. I’m not a fan of sitcoms, I only tuned in initially because she was in the cast and I liked her character at the beginning. As the show went on and on the tired writing made AH’s character Lily Aldrin ever more insufferable. Finally she became unwatchable. I still love Willow from Buffy but unfortunately when I see Alyson Hannigan on TV nowadays she brings late show Lily to mind more than Willow. I should have quit HIMYM earlier.

I have some problems with this Willow-centered episode and what they did with her. For example at the end, does Willow have no remorse for the chaos she unleashed when she tried the spell with Anya? She made a totally innocent young woman either die or turned into a vampire and nearly unleashed a "Wish" style takeover of Sunnydale. Her flippant dialogue with Buffy at the end after having Percy suck up to her seems out of place, but I suppose Joss was just having fun with the character. As for Cordelia, I don't know if the writers of the series really knew what to do with her after her breakup with Xander. Here she seems to largely revert to her early Season 1 persona. Of Cordelia's stint in the late Season 3 episodes I like her in "Gingerbread" but she's not too prominent otherwise. I guess it was time for Charisma Carpenter to move on.

I wonder how much of Jenny Calendar's story they created between her introduction in Season 1 and her exit in S2. In Season 1 "Prophecy Girl" she demands that Rupert Giles explain what is going on then professes that she doesn't get the part about Buffy being the Vampire Slayer. Later on, it seems that Jenny was in the know all the time. A lot of fans criticize Xander for being a jerk or having his own agenda or whatever in his conviction that they had to do away with Angel. It always seemed to me that Xander had the most logical, understandable reaction in the whole group given the dangerous situation they had on their hands. I think it's puzzling that Giles would have so quickly gotten over his rage over Jenny's death in "Passion" to support the idea of trying to save Angel.

I also hoped Sophia Bush might be a recurring character and was let down at the end, although the romance did seem rushed and impulsive. Judgement, Kevin, judgement, you've been down the impulsive road before. I liked how she mentioned she was from Chicago, a nod to Sophia Bush's long stint on on Dick Wolf's Chicago franchise.😊 I am also tiring of constant flashbacks to Jack and Rebecca early days. I suppose there isn't too much more they can do at this point to keep Milo Ventimiglia in a major role on this series.

Yes indeed! This show is far from perfect but it treated a Down Syndrome story with balance and sensitivity. It was great to see Dr. Latham. And Dr. Abrams got to show a human side when he asked Jordy's father to let him know when his son skates again so he could see him. I don't get April. She couldn't bring up her fertility issues with Ethan? Perhaps he's been pressing the baby thing too hard with her but if they can't talk honestly about the matter then they don't belong together. Dr. Marcel doesn't know what he's getting into... I hope Will Halstead really has written finis to his relationship with Natalie. Enough already.