Joe Hellandback August 14, 2018 Share August 14, 2018 The Good; Everything with demon Giles but I also adore the scene where Giles and Ethan get drunk together. The Bad; Couldn't Giles just write 'I am Giles' on a big piece of paper? Or is the point that he's too embarrassed? Best line; Walsh; "We thought you were a myth" Buffy; "Well you were myth-taken" Knocked out; Giles comments that he has a tendency to get knocked on the head. Jeez!; Mucus! Kinky dinky; Giles comments that Ethan and Giles are older than him and 'Not as attractive'. Riley says that he likes it when Buffy is in charge. Calling Captain Subtext; The whole Giles/Walsh scene and him scaring her later. Willow and Tara's rose magic session is filled with Sapphic hints. Giles calls the Initiative commandos 'nancy' Giles thinks Ethan is telling him he's very attractive. He's actually talking to the waitress but I know what we all thought for a moment. Guantanamo Bay; The Initiative are tapped into the emergency telephone system and Riley has a key to open every shop in Sunnydale. He also has the power to haul Ethan off to indefinite detention at the end of the ep. Again this is all pre-War on Terror, Joss appears pretty prescient. Spoiler Where's Dawn? How did she and Joyce celebrate Buffy's birthday? Missing scenes; Loved to have seen this; Waitress (looking at Ethan's note) "You're not Roger Moore!" Ethan; "Yes I am. Tell her Ripper" Giles (drunkenly) "What? Oh, he's not Roger Moore" Apocalypses; 5, Riley comments that he needs to learn the plural Questions and observations; Unfortunately the last time we'll see Ethan Rayne although he does return in the comics. Very nice to have a Giles-centric episode as we haven't had one in a while. Riley has personally killed 11 vamps and 6 demons. According to Boo's figures however here's the rest of the scoobs. Kills: Buffy: 74 vamps, 26 demons, 5 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon Will: 4 vamps Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, a demon, a demon Anya: a demon As Buffy birthday's go this one is actually pretty successful? But does anyone really ever get surprise parties like that? I heard that Robin Sachs is actually an expert martial artist and that Peter O'Toole's wife left her husband for him. Anya still working on her humanity, Buffy refers to Riley as her boyfriend for the first time. First hints of something sinister in the Initiative. Tara back, yay! Byebye to Giles' Citreon. Magic shop again. We already see that Buffy won't blindly follow orders like Riley will. The motel Ethan stays in looks the same one as Faith used to stay at. Marks out of 10; 7/10 Link to comment
lembergwatcher August 16, 2018 Share August 16, 2018 Quite funny episode to watch I must say. Among my favorite moments: Giles "interrogating" Xander and Willow in the crypt after accidentaly finding out who the mysterious demon hunters were and that scene where Demon!Giles chases Professor Walsh down the street, scaring her shitless. For a woman whose nom-de-guerre supposed to be Merciless Bitch of Death, her reaction is... weird... 1 Link to comment
Halting Hex August 17, 2018 Share August 17, 2018 On 8/14/2018 at 1:37 AM, Joe Hellandback said: Robin Sachs is actually an expert martial artist and that Peter O'Toole's wife left her husband for him. Unfortunately, Robin isn't anything these days, having passed on in 2013, just four days short of his 62nd birthday. Far too soon. But yes, he did briefly (1979-1981) marry the former Mrs. O'Toole, Sian Phillips. 7 hours ago, lembergwatcher said: For a woman whose nom-de-guerre supposed to be Merciless Bitch of Death, [Maggie's] reaction is... weird... That's "Evil Bitch Monster of Death" to you, pal. And to be fair, Walsh didn't choose that, that's "the name my TAs call me and think I don't know about". Apparently, Riley is real good at coming up with the nasty names behind people's backs, both with Walsh and Spoiler with his off-screen "ass-face" about Spike in S7. They grow them sneaky in Iowa, it seems. Or perhaps that's part of the commando training? Link to comment
Joe Hellandback August 18, 2018 Author Share August 18, 2018 On 16/08/2018 at 10:11 PM, lembergwatcher said: Quite funny episode to watch I must say. Among my favorite moments: Giles "interrogating" Xander and Willow in the crypt after accidentaly finding out who the mysterious demon hunters were and that scene where Demon!Giles chases Professor Walsh down the street, scaring her shitless. For a woman whose nom-de-guerre supposed to be Merciless Bitch of Death, her reaction is... weird... Yes, I had quite forgot that scene, funny but you still feel for Giles, so left out of the loop, especially after his confrontation with Walsh, very much 2 parents arguing over a gifted daughter. On 17/08/2018 at 6:07 AM, Halting Hex said: Unfortunately, Robin isn't anything these days, having passed on in 2013, just four days short of his 62nd birthday. Far too soon. But yes, he did briefly (1979-1981) marry the former Mrs. O'Toole, Sian Phillips. That's "Evil Bitch Monster of Death" to you, pal. And to be fair, Walsh didn't choose that, that's "the name my TAs call me and think I don't know about". Apparently, Riley is real good at coming up with the nasty names behind people's backs, both with Walsh and Reveal hidden contents with his off-screen "ass-face" about Spike in S7. They grow them sneaky in Iowa, it seems. Or perhaps that's part of the commando training? I did know that, I wonder is that why they Spoiler killed him off in the comics? Link to comment
lembergwatcher August 19, 2018 Share August 19, 2018 Here's another thing bothering me: Giles is kinda not that old, quite, you know, good looking and pretty darn smart. Sunnydale isn't totally a shithole of a town. Therefore I find it hard to believe he was unable to find one or two friends of his own age. Because why on earth is he so eager to accept Ethan's invitation and drown his sorrows in the company of a guy who proved to be dangerous and unpredictable on three separate occassions? You don't mind drinking with Ethan 'The Chaosbitch' Rayne, Rupert? Then why are you so shocked after looking at the mirror the next morning? Explicit case of adults being capable of poor choices (and they say Xander is stupid...) Link to comment
Halting Hex August 19, 2018 Share August 19, 2018 True, even if you posit that Giles and Ethan were more than "old friends" (5 guys, 1 Dierdre…I'm just saying) and Ethan is a particularly persuasive Bottom Boi ("Ooooh, Ripper, you're hurting me!"), it's a town of 38,500. That's enough town for a "gentleman of leisure" to find someone to share his leisure time with, I'd think. Link to comment
Joe Hellandback August 27, 2018 Author Share August 27, 2018 On 19/08/2018 at 9:13 PM, lembergwatcher said: Here's another thing bothering me: Giles is kinda not that old, quite, you know, good looking and pretty darn smart. Sunnydale isn't totally a shithole of a town. Therefore I find it hard to believe he was unable to find one or two friends of his own age. Because why on earth is he so eager to accept Ethan's invitation and drown his sorrows in the company of a guy who proved to be dangerous and unpredictable on three separate occassions? You don't mind drinking with Ethan 'The Chaosbitch' Rayne, Rupert? Then why are you so shocked after looking at the mirror the next morning? Explicit case of adults being capable of poor choices (and they say Xander is stupid...) He's an old friend and Giles is feeling vulnerable so why not? I doubt he made other friends outside the Watchers, it would be very hard to explain his life? Link to comment
lembergwatcher August 27, 2018 Share August 27, 2018 1 hour ago, Joe Hellandback said: He's an old friend and Giles is feeling vulnerable so why not? I doubt he made other friends outside the Watchers, it would be very hard to explain his life? Giles and Ethan were friends in their younger days. But after everything we saw in Halloween, The Dark Age and Band Candy (i. e. after almost getting Rupert and his friends killed) Ethan was the last person to have a nice friendly chat with. If he made friends with Buffy & Co Giles was able to find one or two of his age among Sunnydale residents. And there was no need to explain too much or even tell about the Council. Link to comment
lembergwatcher October 17, 2018 Share October 17, 2018 One interesting detail caught my eye recently. After waking up in demon's form the first person Giles goes to happens to be non other than... Xander. The reason for chosing Xander - the one Giles disregarded the most among the Scoobs (and the one with no power) - is still a complete mystery to me. Why not Willow or Buffy? They have always been Giles' favorites after all. And they got special powers unlike the Zeppo boy. How exactly could Xander help Giles in such a situation? Change him back? And sometimes I do wish Giles remained in that demonic body for the rest of the series. Why? Because he treated Xander like shit. Spoiler Because he treated Willow rather poorly in the subsequent seasons. And because I'm evil, that's why. Link to comment
Halting Hex October 17, 2018 Share October 17, 2018 (edited) 18 hours ago, lembergwatcher said: Why not Willow or Buffy? Probably because they lived on campus and Giles figured he might be spotted at Stevenson Hall; the "basement of debasement" offered easier access. Also, Giles knew the Initiative commandos were apparently based near the school (see his conversation with Buffy in Doomed) and now that W/X have told him that Riley is one of them (earlier in the episode), he's had his hypothesis confirmed. Probably figured he had better things to do than get chipped first thing in the morning. Edited October 17, 2018 by Halting Hex 1 Link to comment
Melancholy October 17, 2018 Share October 17, 2018 Also, Giles didn’t want Buffy to know that he got himself into this pickle precisely because she’s Watcher’s Pet. He’d rather embarrass himself to Xander than Buffy. Link to comment
Joe Hellandback October 26, 2018 Author Share October 26, 2018 On 17/10/2018 at 1:27 AM, lembergwatcher said: One interesting detail caught my eye recently. After waking up in demon's form the first person Giles goes to happens to be non other than... Xander. The reason for chosing Xander - the one Giles disregarded the most among the Scoobs (and the one with no power) - is still a complete mystery to me. Why not Willow or Buffy? They have always been Giles' favorites after all. And they got special powers unlike the Zeppo boy. How exactly could Xander help Giles in such a situation? Change him back? And sometimes I do wish Giles remained in that demonic body for the rest of the series. Why? Because he treated Xander like shit. Hide contents Because he treated Willow rather poorly in the subsequent seasons. And because I'm evil, that's why. An interesting point, perhaps because he realises Xander is also a screw up? When exactly did Giles mistreat Xander and Willow? Link to comment
Halting Hex February 12, 2019 Share February 12, 2019 Along the lines of uniquely "This being Sunnydale and all…" -type lines that I was discussing in another thread, a small shout-out to this episode's pearl from when they're looking in the books to identify the demon that "kidnapped" Giles: Quote XANDER: Okay, that's a giant vulture. I'd have mentioned if it was a giant vulture. Yes, one usually would assume that, should a giant vulture appear, it would be mentioned. But ("TBSaA…"), sometimes you have to dot those particular "i"s around these parts. 🙂 Link to comment
lembergwatcher February 18, 2019 Share February 18, 2019 (edited) If Doomed happened around Christmas time while A New Man began with Buffy's birthday celebration (end of January), what took Spike so long to (finally) move out of Xander's basement?.. I mean, he doesn't need any special protection (at least, from Sunnydale's demon community) at the moment... Edited February 18, 2019 by lembergwatcher Link to comment
Halting Hex February 18, 2019 Share February 18, 2019 I just want to know how they worked the schedule so Xander and Anya could have their copious "alone time", what with Spike not being able to give them any privacy during the day. Yes, they could go to Anya's place, but that runs the risk of Mrs. Harris coming downstairs and noticing that there's a strange man in her basement. And he's not just visiting Xander, he lives there! (Bamp-chicka-bamp-bamp?) "You earn your keep or you don't get kept"—Xander to Spike, Doomed. So Spike's a kept man now, is he? Sheesh, it sounds as if Xander and Willow might have something to tell each other, at this rate. Only difference might be that Spike did something more than float a rose at him… Demons to the left of me Demons to the right Here I am! Stuck in the middle but…oooooh… Link to comment
lembergwatcher February 18, 2019 Share February 18, 2019 Maybe Xander told Spike to hide in the closet or whatever and keep it quiet while he and Anya were shacking at her place. Link to comment
Halting Hex February 18, 2019 Share February 18, 2019 Or Xanya could simply wait until evening and send Spike out for a stroll while they "stay in". But Anya's not so good about the waiting, it would appear. So there's that. Link to comment
lembergwatcher March 19, 2019 Share March 19, 2019 Love the "interrogation" scene. Although some whips and chains would've been quite helpful I guess, not just light in the face, since we've got Ripper here, right? OK, lemberg, calm down and get your mind out of the gutter... What I can't understand though is how on earth could Spike find out about Professor Walsh being in charge of the whole thing (or maybe I don't know something yet)? Link to comment
Halting Hex March 19, 2019 Share March 19, 2019 Well, it's been about five weeks since Spike found out about Riley being in the Initiative (remember, there's chronological gap between Hush/Doomed being before midterms and this being on Buffy's birthday week), so I guess he had time to pick up the information from Willow and/or Xander. The fact that the Three Musketeers went over a month without getting around to cluing Giles in bespeaks how far off the radar the Swingin' Watcher-Pad has fallen, though. And after he let Buffy use the place for Thanksgiving…kids! No sense of gratitude, grumble mutter… Link to comment
Halting Hex March 19, 2019 Share March 19, 2019 On 8/14/2018 at 4:37 AM, Joe Hellandback said: The Bad; Couldn't Giles just write 'I am Giles' on a big piece of paper? Or is the point that he's too embarrassed? Aside from the fact that he'd probably crush any writing instruments by accident, Fyarl!Giles can probably only write in Fyarl, that being another aspect of the spell. Link to comment
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