S01.E01: Welcome to the Hellmouth

[Lisin]

So it begins!!

 

From Wikipedia:

Quote

Buffy arrives in Sunnydale and is not happy to meet her new Watcher, Rupert Giles. A mysterious "friend" offers guidance, but Buffy resists her destiny until Willow and Jesse are abducted. Buffy saves Willow from an ordinary vampire, but loses track of Jesse in a confrontation with Luke, the Master's vampire vessel.

 

I didn't watch Buffy Season 1 when it first aired, so I was spoiled as to the reveal in the first scene but even knowing what was going to happen I still love it so much. I love that Joss made you think that the guy was going to be a bad guy and then it ends up that the "helpless" girl is the danger. Aside from that, this episode is fun, it leaves you wanting more enough to get you to episode 2 at least. I also have always been a fan of Balfour so I get happy (and sad) to see him. He must have a great agent. He's in everything.

 

Watching this now the thing that strikes me more than any plot points or acting choices is the clothes. THE CLOTHES!! We actually dressed like that guys! This shit is awful. It's almost too distracting. I was introducing a friend to the show and she couldn't pay attention because everyone was wearing something hilarious in every scene. Man. It's always either a bare midriff or a business suit. Seriously Buffy looks like she's going to a job interview at a bank half the time and I remember wearing stuff like that. To high school. Like a full freaking suit but the skirt was way too short. Alias has the same thing, it's like Sydney's stomach is allergic to being covered up for too long. 

[Guest]

Everybody looks so fresh and young.  I still have them in my mind from the later seasons and seeing them now is somewhat of a shock.

[Wilowy]

I don't know if I have a weird body or what but minis like that always acted like they wanted to be belts on me. I could NOT sit down without risking it running up and gathering around my waist, or the zipper in the back always spinning around to the front when I wasn't looking. 

 

Stupid minis. 

 

Also Buffy's cutie-pie chubby cheeks! 

 

@Lisin if your friend wants to laugh more, remind her that ASH used to do a lot of his takes sans pants. xD

[Valny]

Are you going to keep a running total of all the times Giles gets bopped in the head?

[Sarah D. Bunting]

 

Man. It's always either a bare midriff or a business suit. Seriously Buffy looks like she's going to a job interview at a bank half the time and I remember wearing stuff like that. To high school.

 

Hee. Sometimes it was both: blazer/skirt set with cropped short-sleeved sweater. Damn you, '90s.

[ElleMo]

I starting watching this as a 20-something single gal and am rewatching now with my Middle Schooler (yikes!).  My biggest pet peeve of the show is that Xander has this close friend Jesse, who dies, and he is never, ever mentioned again.  I know it's a silly thing to harp on, but still it bugs me.

Hee. Sometimes it was both: blazer/skirt set with cropped short-sleeved sweater. Damn you, '90s.

And yet, it was still much less embarrassing than the 80s

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎19‎/‎05‎/‎2014 at 5:24 PM, Lisin said:

So it begins!!

 

From Wikipedia:

 

I didn't watch Buffy Season 1 when it first aired, so I was spoiled as to the reveal in the first scene but even knowing what was going to happen I still love it so much. I love that Joss made you think that the guy was going to be a bad guy and then it ends up that the "helpless" girl is the danger. Aside from that, this episode is fun, it leaves you wanting more enough to get you to episode 2 at least. I also have always been a fan of Balfour so I get happy (and sad) to see him. He must have a great agent. He's in everything.

 

Watching this now the thing that strikes me more than any plot points or acting choices is the clothes. THE CLOTHES!! We actually dressed like that guys! This shit is awful. It's almost too distracting. I was introducing a friend to the show and she couldn't pay attention because everyone was wearing something hilarious in every scene. Man. It's always either a bare midriff or a business suit. Seriously Buffy looks like she's going to a job interview at a bank half the time and I remember wearing stuff like that. To high school. Like a full freaking suit but the skirt was way too short. Alias has the same thing, it's like Sydney's stomach is allergic to being covered up for too long. 

Yeah, such a shame we didn't get to see Jesse in CWDP, I especially liked Balfour in Six Feet Under, one of many Buffy alumni we see there over the years.

 The clothes are pretty scandalous but in the first few years as the show established itself it pretty shamelessly exploited the beauty of its' female stars, there wasn't copy of Maxim or FHM without one of them on the cover in their skimpies. 

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=buffy+girls+magazine+covers&FORM=HDRSC2

On ‎19‎/‎05‎/‎2014 at 11:52 PM, CuriousParker said:

Everybody looks so fresh and young.  I still have them in my mind from the later seasons and seeing them now is somewhat of a shock.

If you look at the 20 year reunion it's amazing how gorgeous everyone still looks, even KS who is still MILFY as hell.

https://www.cbr.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-cast-reunion/

On ‎20‎/‎05‎/‎2014 at 12:09 AM, Wilowy said:

I don't know if I have a weird body or what but minis like that always acted like they wanted to be belts on me. I could NOT sit down without risking it running up and gathering around my waist, or the zipper in the back always spinning around to the front when I wasn't looking. 

 

Stupid minis. 

 

Also Buffy's cutie-pie chubby cheeks! 

 

@Lisin if your friend wants to laugh more, remind her that ASH used to do a lot of his takes sans pants. xD

Yeah, SMG looks a lot fuller in figure in the first season and it suits her, by season 5 she's painfully thin, especially in 'Family'.

On ‎20‎/‎05‎/‎2014 at 4:13 AM, Valny said:

Are you going to keep a running total of all the times Giles gets bopped in the head?

Don't worry, I did that in my reviews

On ‎03‎/‎06‎/‎2014 at 1:30 AM, ElleMo said:

I starting watching this as a 20-something single gal and am rewatching now with my Middle Schooler (yikes!).  My biggest pet peeve of the show is that Xander has this close friend Jesse, who dies, and he is never, ever mentioned again.  I know it's a silly thing to harp on, but still it bugs me.

 

And yet, it was still much less embarrassing than the 80s

 

Yeah, that's such a TV cliché, CC is even worse, losing multiple boyfriends but ignoring the fact next ep.  

WTTH

The Good; Great opening scene, straight from every slasher flick ever but with a Joss twist. Brian Thompson is an excellent villain with a real sense of menace about him as anyone who saw him on the X-files can tell you. He plays a very similar role in the excellent Fright Night pt2. The Master is pretty OTT but like Darth Vaders first appearance in Star Wars you really get the sense this is the baddest guy in the universe and no mistake.

The bad; not much although it's early days yet. The one thing they could have improved upon is putting Eric Balfour in the opening titles, when you don't see him it's a big clue that Jesse isn't going to make it

Best lines; Instantly fell in love with Giles when he states that "You didn't hone". Also a good one from Xander when he recovers Buffy's stake "All I can think of is that you're building a really small fence"

Observations and questions; And here we have the REAL Willow although we'll never again see her so nerdy, from now on she dresses more like Cassandra from the movie. We also never see Buffy wear either her Jehovah Witness dress or her PVC number which is a shame on both counts. Nonetheless both Buffy and Cordy dress scandalously in these early eps, obviously going for the ratings. Darla is also lovely although she really does look too old for her outfit outside of Playboy's College Girls ('College' being Playboy speak for 'schoolgirls who turned 18 yesterday' or 'strippers who once took a night class'). But everyone looks SO young. SMG is a little more voluptuous and DB is a lot thinner and it suits both of them. We see Buffy's vamp sense again but it now seems more based on her fashion taste than cramps, perhaps it's more intense just after a Slayer inherits her powers? Presumably Aura who has the dead guy in her locker is the same girl who calls Cordy in the Angel ep 'Rm w/a vu'? (Do the Cordettes stay constant or do they change over time?) Cordy has a mobile phone! We won't see one of those again until season 1 of Angel and the Sunnydale Scoobies won't have them until season 7. Another point against Normal Again, Buffy doesn't want to be the Slayer and is trying to leave her past behind her. Presumably either the council or PTB arranged Joyce's job in Sunnydale? Buffy/Cordy fancy James Spader presumably for Pretty in Pink (although that's an 80s film when Cordy and Buffy would both have been toddlers). You wonder what they thought of him in S&M fest 'Secretary' although considering what both get up to in later seasons maybe that would be OK with them (or they'd like him MORE?). Still I guess Buffy is over her Christian Slater phase? Who's John Tesch?

7/10

[Loandbehold]

3 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Who's John Tesch?

The devil.

[Joe Hellandback]

19 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

The devil.

But he doesn't show up until season 3!

[Joe Hellandback]

9 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

And yet Sarah pulls all of those clothes off. Xander on the other hand...just awful.

 

We don't even know the official story on Jesse's death/disappearance. Did he have a family that missed him? I get that they didn't want to start the series with all the characters grieving for five episodes, but they could have at least referenced him throughout the series.

 

Eric Balfour also changed so much after his guest appearance in Buffy. Later on, he didn't actually look like a nerd anymore. Would have been really nice if he had appeared as the First in the final season. Wonder if that was ever actually discussed. Would have been a nice way to give Xander something to do in season seven. Balfour was really good on SFU.

 

David Boreanaz is such an awful actor in the first few episodes. Interesting that he has been the most successful cast member with an impressive 20 years of being a series lead on network television.

 

I think the pilot did a great job at introducing the world of Buffy. Too bad that two-hour-pilots are such a rare thing these days.

You must remember Xander was SUPPOSED to look lame until CC sorts him out later, as she comments in BBB. Same with Willow, we never see her as nerdy again, probably because of Buffy's influence. 

 Yeah, both Nic and David aren't that great at acting but they get better. I would argue that Alysson is actually the most successful alumni with HIMYM and her success with the American Pie movies. Then again SMG's movies earned half a billion dollars? TV has changed in the interim in some ways a modern series wouldn't have had the luxury that Buffy did,. 

[Halting Hex]

On 5/27/2018 at 4:50 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

SMG looks a lot fuller in figure in the first season and it suits her, by season 5 she's painfully thin

Supposedly a director in late S3 called her "fat" (the who in the what in the how) and it had a negative impact.  And Joss was long past protecting her by then.

Heck, Sarah even puts on a few pounds in the months between the filming of this episode and The Harvest (once the series got picked up and went to a regular schedule).  You can see it most obviously in the library scene where Buffy suddenly flashes back to getting grabbed by Luke from behind; there's a bit less Buffy in that flashback (from this ep) than in the surrounding Harvest footage.

On 5/30/2018 at 3:14 PM, Joe Hellandback said:

Xander was SUPPOSED to look lame until CC sorts him out later

Not sure about this; it might simply be a function of the teeny-tiny budget they gave S1 costume designer Susanna Puisto.  There's a reason why the clothes at Ross Dress-for-Less come so cheap, you know.

On 5/27/2018 at 4:50 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

Buffy/Cordy fancy James Spader presumably for Pretty in Pink (although that's an 80s film when Cordy and Buffy would both have been toddlers)

Cable had HBO/Showtime/Cinemax even then; Spader's classic roles (including Bad Influence with Christian "Balthazar" Clemenson playing his brother) were presumably in heavy rotation.

On 5/27/2018 at 4:50 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

Who's John Tesch?

John Tesh.  Former blond news talking head, turned Entertainment Tonight co-host, turned "serious" composer of seriously boring "atmospheric" music.  All over Adult Contemporary Radio at the time.  Yeah, I'd say Cordy's got him pretty well-pegged.  But as she admits, that was pretty much a gimme.  (I wonder if her mom, who never gets out of bed, just vegs out to Sunnydale's local "lite FM" station?)

[Joe Hellandback]

9 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Supposedly a director in late S3 called her "fat" (the who in the what in the how) and it had a negative impact.  And Joss was long past protecting her by then.

Heck, Sarah even puts on a few pounds in the months between the filming of this episode and The Harvest (once the series got picked up and went to a regular schedule).  You can see it most obviously in the library scene where Buffy suddenly flashes back to getting grabbed by Luke from behind; there's a bit less Buffy in that flashback (from this ep) than in the surrounding Harvest footage.

Not sure about this; it might simply be a function of the teeny-tiny budget they gave S1 costume designer Susanna Puisto.  There's a reason why the clothes at Ross Dress-for-Less come so cheap, you know.

Cable had HBO/Showtime/Cinemax even then; Spader's classic roles (including Bad Influence with Christian "Balthazar" Clemenson playing his brother) were presumably in heavy rotation.

John Tesh.  Former blond news talking head, turned Entertainment Tonight co-host, turned "serious" composer of seriously boring "atmospheric" music.  All over Adult Contemporary Radio at the time.  Yeah, I'd say Cordy's got him pretty well-pegged.  But as she admits, that was pretty much a gimme.  (I wonder if her mom, who never gets out of bed, just vegs out to Sunnydale's local "lite FM" station?)

S3 SMG fat? Only by Ally McBeal standards! 

[Halting Hex]

20 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

S3 SMG fat? Only by Ally McBeal standards! 

Well, she'd been driven off of Monday night by Ally's success, so…

Cool note for this episode:  we meet the main cast in exactly the order they're listed in the credits.  After the teaser with Darla and the guy from CSI: Big Apple, we see Buffy waking and going to school, and then Xander skateboarding into the stair rail, and then Willow talking to Xander, and then (after the Buffy/Flutie scene), Buffy and Cordelia meeting in class and finally (after the water-fountain face-off between CC and Willow) Buffy wandering into the library and finding out that "Anybody [Giles]'s here", indeed.  Gellar, Brendon, Hannigan, Carpenter, Head.  Just as it reads while Nerf Herder is playing.

It's not the order that Buffy herself encounters her castmates (she meets Cordelia before she meets Willow, and Willow's actually the last one she speaks to), but it's nice and orderly from our p.o.v. 

[Joe Hellandback]

6 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Well, she'd been driven off of Monday night by Ally's success, so…

Cool note for this episode:  we meet the main cast in exactly the order they're listed in the credits.  After the teaser with Darla and the guy from CSI: Big Apple, we see Buffy waking and going to school, and then Xander skateboarding into the stair rail, and then Willow talking to Xander, and then (after the Buffy/Flutie scene), Buffy and Cordelia meeting in class and finally (after the water-fountain face-off between CC and Willow) Buffy wandering into the library and finding out that "Anybody [Giles]'s here", indeed.  Gellar, Brendon, Hannigan, Carpenter, Head.  Just as it reads while Nerf Herder is playing.

It's not the order that Buffy herself encounters her castmates (she meets Cordelia before she meets Willow, and Willow's actually the last one she speaks to), but it's nice and orderly from our p.o.v. 

And when the peal off for the final battle they do the same in reverse?

[Halting Hex]

Well, in 

Spoiler

Chosen

, Buffy does separate from Giles before she leaves first Willow and then Xander, yes, but

Spoiler

by that time, Hannigan has the final position in the credits and ASH has been reduced to "special guest star" status, not to mention that Carpenter isn't even on the show any more (and that we're skipping past Caulfield, Trachtenberg, and Marsters)

, so the comparison there is strained at best and IMO rather falls to the ground.  But good catch, anyhow.

[SosaLola]

* The opening scene is remarkable. I love the twist in which we were meant to believe that the girl is helpless and innocent and then all of a sudden it turns out she’s neither. From the very first scene you get a clear picture of the show’s messages and themes: no more blonde damsels in distress. These blondes are vicious and strong. It’s interesting that both the heroine and main evil vampire – excluding the Master – are blonde females. 

* One of my biggest problems with S1 is the lighting. The scenes are too dark you can barely see what’s happening. 

* I love how 90s S1 is! The hairdos, the clothes, Xander’s skateboard – which we will never see again – picking actors older than their characters to play them; It’s so obvious how not-16ish Nicholas Brendon and Charisma Carpenter were, they’re older than their own characters by 10 years! It’s not just them. Even the extras walking down the school halls are even older than NB and CC. On the other hand, SMG and AH can pass for 16 year olds.

* I understand that Joyce’s parenting skills are questionable, but I felt for her when she said, “Don’t get kicked out.” She’s going through a lot with the divorce and her daughter being labeled a troublemaker and moving to another town and starting everything over… Buffy’s problems and pain will always be greater and makes us forget about those around her who face a difficult time as well. 

* I love Xander’s entrance! His life story is depicted by that entrance. He goes through life carelessly, disregarding others’ annoyance and discomfort, get blinded by his feelings for Buffy. His thoughtlessness of others and careless acts always end with a bang! And no one notices but Willow. 

* Xander dislikes math, doesn’t do well in math, a recurring theme and we will discover by S3 that he’s a slow learner when it comes to this subject. I love how constant the show is about this. Just like Buffy’s dislike of history. 

* Jesse! The show’s biggest missed potential story! The sight of him makes me sad. The first guy friend Xander is going to lose. 

* Cordelia being helpful and nice to Buffy, I don’t know if it’s her inner goodness that shows on rare occasions in those early seasons or if it’s because she sees potential in Buffy to be a Cordette. After all, Buffy is from LA. 

* I love how it’s established from the very beginning that Sunnydale is a very small town and yet it seems to have one of everything. 

* From the red circle on the missing boys in the newspaper, Giles is already researching and preparing for Buffy’s arrival. 

* Giles’ excited grin when presenting the Vampyre book to Buffy! Hee!

* Giles met Buffy at 10: 25 a.m.! 

* Aphrodisia is the weirdest name I ever heard of. And then there’s a girl named Blue. What’s up with Joss and weird names?! I have to ask, was Alexander Harris the first to be called Xander or was there someone by that name before? It became very popular after Buffy. 

* I love the whole Xander tossing his bag at Jesse. They seem to be so at ease with each other. I wish Jesse stayed alive for one more episode just to explore his friendship with Xander – heck that could have easily happened with flashbacks after his death. 

* Buffy seemed weirded out by Xander in their first meeting, perhaps because Xander was very awkward around her. She seemed okayish with Cordelia, probably felt right at home with her. But she was so taken back by Cordelia’s harsh comments toward Willow and I think that’s why she was excited to meeting Willow officially – after knowing she was the smarted girl in school. 

* “Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? ( end of S2 ) For losing all of my friends? ( Empty Places ) For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? (Her mother, Owen, and almost everyone who isn’t a Scooby) Go ahead! Prepare me.”

Poor Buffy.

* Xander knew that vampires existed at 12:30. 

* I like snarky Angel and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It clearly shows that they’re not sure what they’re going to do with Angel yet. “I don’t bite” IMO clearly indicates that he was supposed to be a human. 

* Okay, that’s been bugging me for a while. “Where would Willow go?” And Xander thinks, “Cemetery!” Really?

* Xander closing his eyes, feeling a bit nauseated, when Buffy stabbed the vampire with the stake! I LOVE that they will keep Xander’s inability to stomach violent killing/corpses throughout the show. 

* I just can’t take how they’ve written Darla in this episode! I keep cringing every time she talks. 

[Halting Hex]

5 hours ago, SosaLola said:

I understand that Joyce’s parenting skills are questionable, but I felt for her when she said, “Don’t get kicked out.” She’s going through a lot with the divorce and her daughter being labeled a troublemaker and moving to another town and starting everything over

Frankly, this line infuriates me.  I mean, could you show a little concern for your daughter's mental health, Joyce?  Moving is traumatic enough for kids, but in case Joyce hasn't noticed (and she probably hasn't), Buffy's friends are DEAD.  There's a reason Cassandra doesn't come by the house any more, you know.  Where's her support for her daughter's grieving process, never mind what uprooting like this means for Buffy?  Instead, she's basically blaming Buffy for the move and the associated difficulties, which she'll get explicit about in

Spoiler

Witch

.  Given that Buffy is already blaming herself for the divorce

Spoiler

as we find out in Nightmares

, this is exactly what she doesn't need.  As Joyce herself will say later on,

Spoiler

"Great parenting form.  A little shaky on the dismount."

I'll take a lot of people's side against Buffy as we go through the series (even Joyce's once or twice), but the incredible lack-of-support here really grinds my gears.  But JMO.

[SosaLola]

Since I haven't seen the movie, I'm not sure about the details here. What I do know is Buffy being accused of burning down a gym, and that Buffy confessed to it. Joyce does not know all the facts because Buffy wouldn't give them to her, so I understand Joyce's anxiety.  

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎26‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 8:00 AM, SosaLola said:

Since I haven't seen the movie, I'm not sure about the details here. What I do know is Buffy being accused of burning down a gym, and that Buffy confessed to it. Joyce does not know all the facts because Buffy wouldn't give them to her, so I understand Joyce's anxiety.  

You should see the movie if only for curiosities sake and see the prototypes for the Sunnydale characters (and to try to spot Seth Green as one of the vamps). Although personally we could accept that she burnt it down offscreen.

[Halting Hex]

Watching this one, I notice the newspaper in the Library with Giles (presumably) having circled the picture in the "Local Boys Still Missing" article.  But actually, two of those kids look rather scrawny to be vampire-bait, the blond viking on the right being the only exception.  Be funny if the "disappearances" had nothing to do with vampires, and the kids had just blown town or something.

Also, it's a nice act-ending surprise when the dead kid's body falls out of Aura's locker, but why did Darla bother to stuff him in there, anyway?  She was long gone by morning.  Did she go around the locker room looking for an unfastened locker to stuff him into?  And btw, Aura, this is why you lock your locker…it's in the darn name, after all.

Actually, it looks as though Darla schlepped the poor kid's corpse for a bit, at that.  When they break into the corridor, he tells her that from "on top of the gym…you can see the whole town".  That sounds as though the gym is a different building from the one they're in now.  Just drop the kid in a closet, Darla, girl.  If you're not bringing him back to the lair to share with the Master, why bother to haul him, at all?

[Joe Hellandback]

7 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Watching this one, I notice the newspaper in the Library with Giles (presumably) having circled the picture in the "Local Boys Still Missing" article.  But actually, two of those kids look rather scrawny to be vampire-bait, the blond viking on the right being the only exception.  Be funny if the "disappearances" had nothing to do with vampires, and the kids had just blown town or something.

Also, it's a nice act-ending surprise when the dead kid's body falls out of Aura's locker, but why did Darla bother to stuff him in there, anyway?  She was long gone by morning.  Did she go around the locker room looking for an unfastened locker to stuff him into?  And btw, Aura, this is why you lock your locker…it's in the darn name, after all.

Actually, it looks as though Darla schlepped the poor kid's corpse for a bit, at that.  When they break into the corridor, he tells her that from "on top of the gym…you can see the whole town".  That sounds as though the gym is a different building from the one they're in now.  Just drop the kid in a closet, Darla, girl.  If you're not bringing him back to the lair to share with the Master, why bother to haul him, at all?

Maybe she liked the idea of some poor co-ed getting the shock of her life?

[Loandbehold]

14 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

And btw, Aura, this is why you lock your locker…it's in the darn name, after all.

We had to take our locks w/ us when we left the gym. Too many students to allow us to keep a personal locker. I wonder how many students attended SHS. And it would be interesting to compare the number that began the year and how many were able to end it still breathing.

[Halting Hex]

So, I've seen selections from this one a couple more times (YT is throwing a lot of fresh "reaction" vids at me) and one thing I noticed is that when Buffy "attacks [Cordelia] with a stick" and then CC says she has to call "everyone I have ever met" and pulls out her cell phone, not only is it not a smartphone (obviously), it's not even a flip-phone; it's the old cordless handset type and Cordelia is actually having to telescope out the antenna, so that she can get a signal.  

Damn, it really is 1997 back then, isn't it?

[Joe Hellandback]

Just watched Aftershow Reactions review of WTTH and it's hilarious, she's so shocked by Darla biting the boy and totally fooled by

Spoiler

Angel not being a vampire

She also questions that Buffy was the show that introduced the term 'Big Bad' which I thought it was. One thing, Darla has the first line in the series, I always thought that was Joyce. 

[Halting Hex]

Nope, the teaser is just Darla and the boy.  We don't see a Summers until after the credits.

And, among the various reaction vids I've seen so far, everyone is shocked by Darla being a vampire.  The spoilered thing is about 50/50, from what I've seen.

8 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

She also questions that Buffy was the show that introduced the term 'Big Bad' which I thought it was.

It is.  It's just that we're so old ;) and Shan's so young, it's hard to understand that she's been hearing the phrase her whole life, and didn't know that this show (which aired before she was born) was the original source.

Ironic that,

Spoiler

Spike, the only character to declare himself "the big bad", is only the prime antagonist for eight episodes [2.03-2.10]

and then never again.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Halting Hex

[Halting Hex]

Seeing Buffy get the "coolness quiz" once again, I'm remembering that for a good long time we had to reassure posters that, yes, James Spader was a Big Deal, wayyyyy back in the past.  (Although his star had already started to go into remission by 1996.)  These days, with The Black List in its 5th season and Joss having made Spader the voice of Ultron, it seems a less-obscure random reference.  Even if Spader's main market isn't teenage girls, currently.

Why is Giles tapping Buffy on the shoulder (okay, the shoulder strap to her bag, but still), exactly?  Are the British opposed to introducing themselves to people with a discreet cough, or a "Hello" or something similar?  There's really no reason for Giles to assume Buffy's deaf; he might try speech before getting (slightly) physical here.

(Unless Giles had just spent the previous few seconds checking out Buffy's ass and was afraid his voice would be a little squeaky just then.  Hey, it probably gets lonely in that Library, after all…)

[Halting Hex]

Yet another new reactor (Joseph Harding of TheTrophyMunchers, who actually did this episode twice, as he abandoned the project for over a year and has only now restarted it) and this time through I'm noticing "Xander.  Is me." and how that probably goes on the "things you probably don't need to actually say" pile, as I've discussed in other threads.  (Which, if you're new to the series/this forum, you don't need to go hunting; you'll get there, eventually)

I mean, unless you're randomly prone to just saying "Xander" when someone introduces themselves to you, it's a fairly good guess that you're introducing yourself in return.  Although it would be amusing if somebody did just randomly say "Xander" for no reason…an oddly-specific case of Tourette's, I suppose.

And, to be fair, Xander had just made the "can I have you?" gaffe, so anything that's not quite that cringeworthy represents safer ground, I'll allow. But still, it's not as if "Is me" added a lot to the conversation.

Meanwhile, Joseph has set the land-speed record for declaring Willow to be his favorite (or "favourite"; he's a Scot) character, as he did it pretty much when Willow turned to face Cordelia at the water fountain.  And he replies to Cordy's "guy magnet" gibe with "why not? She's way more attractive [pun?] than you", so he's definitely on Team Willow, quite firmly. And this without apparently recognizing Alyson Hannigan from any other work; the only one he does that with is Balfour, aka "the guy from 24".  Although he thinks he recognizes ASH; he just can't place him.

Spoiler

Sadly, unlike Xander (Is him), Joseph does not remain "constant in [his] affections".  By Teacher's Pet, he is pretty fervently more interested in Buffy (and Giles and Angel) than anyone else, quite possibly because Awkward!Xander is notably rubbing him the wrong way.  And I guess Willow's getting guilty-by-association, or something. 

But then his tolerance for them bounced back during NKAB, so there's still hope.  I'm currently waiting on his video for The Pack, and wondering what he'll make of Xillow in that one…

Xander!  (Sorry, spontaneous random Tourette's again.  Carry on.)

Edited February 28, 2019 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

Hasn't your Mommy told you no to talk to strangers, Willow? Not to mention going with them anywhere. That's the basic thing I knew since I was probably 5 or 6. And I wasn't such a shining intellectual

Spoiler

and one of the best students at my school back in the day

like you are, sweetie.

Going for a walk through a cemetery (!) late in the evening with a guy you barely know following the (bad) advice of a girl you barely know - that's too much even for a 16-year-old. How could you make it to your 16th birthday having such muffled survival instincts, Will?

Even if there was no Hellmouth beneath Sunnydale and that Thomas guy wasn't dressed so oddly and loved sunbathing instead of blood-drinking (thus rendering Buffy's slaydar useless), things might still have turned very bad for our favorite redhead. Rapists or kidnappers do not need hellmouths to commit their crimes, after all.

Anyway, thanks for the tip, Buff.    

[Halting Hex]

On 12/11/2018 at 12:57 PM, Loandbehold said:

On 12/10/2018 at 10:10 PM, Halting Hex said:

And btw, Aura, this is why you lock your locker…it's in the darn name, after all.

We had to take our locks w/ us when we left the gym. Too many students to allow us to keep a personal locker.

Interesting, but a rewatch shows that the lock is in the locker door, and Aura's working the combination before she opens it and reveals the corpse inside.  And all the unused (presumably) lockers are closed and secure; it really does seem as if Aura is paying the price for carelessly leaving her locker unfastened the day before.

Unless vampires have super-hearing and Darla used that to listen for the tumblers in the lock and to pick the lock that way.  But that's more for the "that seems like a lot of work" pile, IMO.

[Halting Hex]

On 2/18/2019 at 4:36 PM, Halting Hex said:

These days, with The Black List in its 5th season

Correction:  apparently this is S6.  

(What do I know?  I've never seen it.  Nor the spinoff, which apparently vanished quite quickly.)

[Halting Hex]

Yet another another new reactor: Mark Ward, an English Dr. Who fan.  Mark's not terribly spoiled

Spoiler

(he knows that Angel gets a spinoff and that Spike is the name of a prominent character)

and he seems nice, although I'm less fond of his spoiled friend, Sebastian, who should really put some pants on.  (Those powerful shins that his shorts show are a bit distracting, visually, IMO.)  Sebastian should learn to be less forthcoming; when Mark seems to be foundering, Seb is glad to supply an answer, when a large part of the appeal is how clueless the newbies are, I'd say.

Still, it was a decent review, most notable for Mark noting that when Willow tells Thomas that the ice cream place is in one direction, DeBarge-vamp claims he knows "a shortcut" and leads her in the opposite direction.  As Mark notes, shortcuts don't lie 180° away from the regular route.  I hope for Buffy's sake that geography isn't one of the classes she's having Willow "catch her up" on.

[Halting Hex]

So Mark Ward has a reaction video for 1.02 (spoiler! Sebastian still hasn't put on pants! And his holding a stuffed teddy bear over his private parts [and presumably the shorts he has covering them] is either cute or really, really disturbing…I haven't decided which, yet) and as Sebastian has yet to learn to shut his gob, he's giving the episode titles for both parts of the two-parter…and apparently Mark hadn't been paying attention before, because this is the first time he's heard the word "Hellmouth".  And it's pointed out that the word itself is actually never said in this episode.  (The Mysterious "Friend" says "you're standing at the mouth of Hell…and it's about to open", but that's as close as we get.)

I mean, don't get wrong, I'm very glad that the pilot has an actual title instead of just being called "Pilot", but it's a little strange that the title introduces us to a concept the show itself has yet to specify.  Never noticed that before.  Hmm.

[Joe Hellandback]

TV Sins did this ep and he makes some good points;

Maybe even funnier is this;

Really starting to get quite bizarre when you now have reaction videos to reaction videos, In the 80s there was a band called 'Pop will eat itself' and this is beginning to remind me of it. 

[Halting Hex]

A clutch of new reactors out there (unsurprising, given that COVID-quarantine is a spur to such indoor activities) and it's always fun to see fresh perspectives.  I particularly liked the girl who was checking to see if the SHS that Buffy gets dropped off at was the same school where Darla bit the boy the night before.  It's a fair cop:  Buffy's arrival is before we get the "a one-Starbucks town" and "we don't have a lot of town here" exposition dumps.  No reason there couldn't be multiple high schools.  (No reason there still can't be.)

That was the vid where I noticed that, in the "gosh, it really IS 1997, isn't it?" sweepstakes, Cordelia's having to telescope out her cell phone antenna might not be the undisputed champion, after all.  When Principal Flutie rips up Buffy's transcript, that might be just symbolic.  (No wonder the kids don't call you "Bob", Bob.  Nobody likes a drama queen.)  But then he re-tapes it…cute bit, but why?  Is the show trying to tell us that that particular page is irreplaceable?

Because honestly, you think that even at this point, the school might have digitized the files, and Flutie could just print out another hard copy, rather than busting out the Scotch Tape.  Apparently not, though.  Sheesh.

Spoiler

(Yes, we see digital student files in I Robot, You Jane.  Apparently Jenny went hard on their asses to bring them "Into the 20th Century.   With three whole years to spare." 

Or is this why she was hired in the first place?)

And then there was the girl who wondered why Buffy's vamp-dar didn't ID Darla as a vampire, apparently having not fully appreciated the Buffy/Giles Bronze conversation where Buffy reveals she hasn't "honed" that part of her power and is pretty much cheating by using the vampires' outdated wardrobes for identification purposes.

Now obviously, this is plot-convenient, since it lets Buffy spot Thomas in his "carbon-dated" outfit and rush to save Willow, without being distracted by Darla, and thus leaving Jesse vulnerable.  But beyond that specific instance, it's a good idea for Buffy not to have that power in an episode where Buffy's meeting a lot of characters for the first time, and a certain air of mystery is useful.

For example, that particular reactor thought that the mysterious "Friend" in the alley was a vampire.  Until he gave Buffy that big cross, of course.  If Buffy can know immediately, one way or another, that scene won't play.  If she could know for sure that Mr. "Gorgeous, in an Annoying Sort of Way" was human, he wouldn't have to convince her by saying "I don't bite" and giving her the cross.

And of course, if he WAS a vampire and Buffy could tell that right off, they might never have had any conversation at all.  Swing-stake-poof might be exciting, but it doesn't exactly leave much room for follow-up. So Buffy's being a bit of a slacker allows for useful ambiguity.  Good writing, then.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Halting Hex

[Joe Hellandback]

I love Alley Box's reaction where she goes "I don't know much about this show except it stars the actress from Scooby Doo". How times have changed, soon it will be "That lady who runs the health food line".

[Halting Hex]

Yeah, it's still weird to see people call Aly "the girl from How I Met Your Mother".  I loves me some Lily Aldrin and HIMYM went two seasons and 64 eps longer (and was on CBS, not two networks that have since been merged), but still.  I would have thought Willow was the iconic character there.  Although one of the other new reactors called Aly "the girl from American Pie", so there's that.

Just as long as they don't start calling her "Penn & Teller's host", I suppose.

That HIMYM-referencing reactor called SMG "Daphne from Scooby-Doo" and her co-reactor spotted Julie Benz as "Rita from Dexter" just by her voice, which was cool.  Neither of them reacted to Boreanaz in the guest credits, though, which is surprising, given how assiduously he's worked to keep his name in various credits since.  (DB is above the title in SEAL Team, no less.)

Nobody nailed Balfour as "the guy from 24" this time around, which is a bit of a change from the last clutch.  Sic transit gloria Milo Pressman, and all that.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Halting Hex

[Halting Hex]

One of the reactors referenced above saw the end of the scene where the "friend" smirks off into the darkness, leaving Buffy frustrated, and joked, "She's going to become Buffy the HIM Slayer."

Spoiler

Well, it takes two seasons and it doesn't last, but Our Girl still gave it a decent effort in 2.22, anyhow.  So, partial marks for prescience, then?

 

[Joe Hellandback]

Let me ask a question, according to IMDB The Harvest aired on March 10th 1997 but WTTH is supposed to have aired on 30th December 1998? Huh?

[Halting Hex]

One assumes somebody has entered the date of a repeat airing.  IMDb doesn't exactly have stringent quality control.  (The 1997 date for the original airing of the two-part premiere is correct, though.)

[Halting Hex]

Quote

BUFFY'S MOM:  And honey?  Try not to get kicked out.

Geez, that's a little negative, isn't it?  Even if Buffy's on a short leash (given her previous history, which Mr. Flutie discusses later), I think it would be hard to get bounced based on one day's actions.  Presumably, unless she sets Flutie himself on fire, there'll be at least a whiff of a second chance offered.  Take it easy, Mom.

[Halting Hex]

Quote

BUFFY (in the library):  Is anybody here?

She spots the newspaper on the counter, starts to read it.  A hand taps her on her shoulder strap and she turns.

Reveal GILES.

BUFFY (to herself):  Anybody's here.

GILES:  Miss Summers?

BUFFY (surprised):  Good call.  Guess I'm the only new kid, huh?

GILES:  I was told you were coming.  I'm Mr. Giles. (small beat) The librarian here.

Odd that Giles opts for discretion here, since clearly he was about to say "Watcher".  I suppose that's for the best, but then he leaps to conclusions immediately afterwards by hauling out the VAMPYR book.  Does the man in tweed lack impulse control?

Spoiler

Certain fic archives would argue that, given Giles doesn't yet have Buffy across the long table and her miniskirt up above her waist, he's controlling his impulses just fine.  But still.

Not From The Episode:

Quote

GILES:  The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon.  Days, possibly less.

BUFFY:  Oh, come on!  This is Sunnydale.  How bad an evil can there be here?

GILES:  Have you not met Cordelia?

[Halting Hex]

A new reactor recognition:  the guys at Target Audience (I'm enjoying their Star Trek reactions) dipped their toes into the pilot and spotted Nick Brendon as "the guy from Coherence".   (Which was apparently a low-budget but highly-praised sci-fi flick in 2013.  And here I sat through Relative Chaos  for the guy.  Gotta keep up.)  So that was a new one.

Also watched this ep with a female reactor who turned out to be too spoiled for my taste, but who really had stars in her eyes over Julie Benz being "Rita from Dexter".  Apparently, for some people, that's a very big deal.

Nobody remembering HIMYM and spotting Aly, though.  I'm bummed for Lily's sake.  (My Avengers reactors all know Cobie as "Robin", so clearly some people remember that show, but…)