Sarah's Sober Second Thought Series: Initiative Rituals

[Primetimer]

Season 4 finally gets it in gear -- with a few exceptions.

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[trog]

LOVE the slapfight gif!

[Clearlyhere]

The Overhead projections are the best. The fight where Riley looks so pleased even though he broke the wrong thing best #2.

[EricJ]

Pangs gets points from me for setting up one of my favorite lines in "Once More With Feeling." Other than that, not so much.

[Chaos Theory]

As much as i liked Willow and Oz; Willow became infinitely more likable when she switched teams(as you put it). Just like Xander did when he was paired with Anya. Maybe taking the will they/won't they completely off the table helped a smidge.

[Lindsey]

"You made a bear! Undo it, undo it!" is still the second most quoted Buffy line in my house. It can be relevant to the conversation or not. Either way it's funny.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

What's the most quoted line?

[kalamac]

I remember being annoyed that Buffy was being bitchy about Willow taking so long to get over Oz, when she had moped for episodes about one-night-stand Parker.

[Kalliste]

I remember being annoyed that Buffy was being bitchy about Willow taking so long to get over Oz, when she had moped for episodes about one-night-stand Parker.

YES! Willow had just lost what she considered, at the time, the love of her life but Buffy had been used in a one night stand and obviously that is just soo much worse. Poor little Buffy...

I really hated that so much :P

[harrie]

Okay, but had Buffy ever been rebuffed before?   I guess you could count Ford (betrayal, but not really romantic) and Scott (right? in high school for a couple episodes); but even when Scott and she parted, it was because she was spending a bunch of time with naked, freaked out Angel, IIRC.  So Buffy might not have been mooning over just a one-night stand, but also realizing that not everyone's going to fall in love with her just because she likes them (harsh light of day, indeed).  That's common sense to most people; but Buffy has been pretty sheltered, romantically.  She may technically be an adult, and have experienced some wild stuff, but she's still learning in some areas; and the arts of romance and empathy might be two of them.  I'm willing to cut her a break on this one.  

[KAOS Agent]

Willow almost got herself killed while wandering around in a fog about Oz. I can see where that might cause Buffy to be more harsh with her about dealing with things. Buffy was mopey, but she didn't walk out in front of traffic. No one wanted Willow to die or get seriously injured. Plus, it got to a level where Willow was getting drunk and using magics well above her head to try to deal and almost got everyone killed, so you know, Willow needed something other than coddling and sympathy at that point.  

[Dianthus]

The Gentlemen are, IMO, the creepiest of BtVS's Big Bads. Also, when Spike flashes that two fingered salute, he's flipping off Xander, Brit style. Ironic that it became part of the opening credits montage. 

 

Here again, I have to disagree with you, Sarah. Something Blue is one of my favorite eps. The thing about Willow's will-be-done spell is that it can only work with what's already there. Giles doesn't have good eyesight anyway, so he goes blind ("can't see anything"), Xander is kind of a demon magnet, and there's an attraction between Buffy and Spike.

 

OTOH, I totally agree that Marsters is a treat! It's hard to be terrifying, sexy, pathetic, and sweet all in the same scene, but he pulls it off with ease (the scene with Willow when Spike finds out he can't 'perform'). Say what you will about plot protection or selling out, I can't imagine the show without him.

[bluesabriel]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has some questions (especially at this point) about whether or not her switching teams felt believable. It never as true to me as I wanted it to and I don't know if that's because I never really liked Tara (I found Amber Benson to be a pretty weak actress, overall). The later knowledge that it wasn't ever supposed to happen in the first place doesn't help, either, though it does explain some things. (Everything that happened with Willow later, including Tara getting shot, was all supposed to happen . . . just with Oz. )

[mad_typist]

I'm sort of torn on the Tara question. On one hand, I didn't think Amber Benson had great chemistry with Alyson Hannigan, and probably wasn't the strongest actress in the bunch. On the other hand, Tara's character was central to some of my favorite episodes/moments in the series, so when the chips were really down, Amber Benson actually did a decent job. See: every moment Tara gets in "The Body" both with Willow and Buffy, the look of defiance in Tara's eyes right before Glory lobotimizes her, and the one moment of true heat she ever had with Willow when they all lost their memories in "Tabula Rasa" and were about to kiss in the tunnels.