S04.E14: Goodbye Iowa

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; Some great acting from Marc Blucas as Riley comes apart. Love Buffy's rallying speech in her sushi pyjamas and Riley recognising Spike.

The Bad; A pretty dull episode in many ways, Adam is a stupid enemy. I always said that the more Joyce in an ep the better it is, well, the more Adam in an ep the worse it is. The idea that he had a floppy disc player in 2001, really! (although apparently the US Air Force still use them today!) Also the little boy he kills is the dumbest kid ever.

Best line; Anya; "He was GI Joe for one night, it wasn't as if he was in The Nam"

Character death; Byebye another Initiative scientist and some poor MP

Shot; No but Riley threatens one of Willy's patrons with his pistol.

Jeez!; Cutting the demons arm off, nice!

Kinky dinky; Trying to remain inconspicuous Xander tries to kiss Buffy.

Calling Captain Subtext; Buffy, Willow and Anya spend the night in bed together. Amazed if the slashficcers didn't make great play of that! Upon seeing the Initiative Xander asks if he can have sex with Riley too. So, why does Tara ruin Will's demon hunting spell? One day we'll find out. Spike comments that Buffy has tragic taste in men, foreshadowing indeed.

Guantanamo Bay; The Initiative are very brazen, charging around in Humvees, guns blazing. Buffy hits Willy but at his own request, Popeye Doyle style, the last time he'll be seen in the series.

Scoobies to the ER; Riley goes cold turkey and gets stabbed.

Apocalypses; 5,

Questions and observations; Giles still has his Mark of Eyghon tattoo, you'd think he'd want rid of it? In the scene where Riley and Buffy meet at the murder site the camera goes very funny in places, going octagonal? Spike says he has a cousin who married a Privlops demon but like most of what Spike says he's probably lying.

Marks out of 10; 6/10 Adam is going to drag the scores down for the rest of the season.

[Halting Hex]

The idea of Spike's cousin drives me nuts.  Is this an actual cousin of his who got vamped, or a metaphorical cousin from the Order of Aurelius?

I get that they want Buffy to be wearing the kerchief so Riley can be holding on to it at the end

Spoiler

(even though in the very next episode, Doug Petrie will mock Marti's dramatics here ["It felt as though I was holding onto a part of you" "It's the scarf part of me"])

but damn, does she look silly in that thing.

George Hertzberg does a fine job with some of Adam's so-bad-it's-good dialogue ("I am a kinematically-redundant biomechanical demonoid"  "Nice to meet you, I'm Jessica" [/not the actual line in reply]), but the problem here is they've swapped a symbolic and thematic antagonist (the entire US government, and the basic concepts of technology versus the supernatural) for Just Another Big Scary Guy, and Buffy knows how to fight those.  I mean, we see her using Xander's military knowledge in this very episode; just swing by the army base and pick up the LAWS rocket again and boom!  Bye, Adam. 

Spoiler

I mean, once he has functional command of the Initiative, things are somewhat different, but we're six episodes from that happening.

And while Marc Blucas gets deserved props for his acting and his stunt work (he appears to do the fall when Adam smacks him himself [I assume that's a wire job]), Riley loses brain points for stepping into Polgara-skewer range when he's aiming his pistol.  Er, "ranged weapon", Spud?  Look it up.

The less said about Spike, the better.  James's having to take off to film The House on Haunted Hill results in the awkward blocking of the first scene (no Spike in any shots of the other Scoobs, no Scoobs in any shots of Spike) and then his being sent off into that idiotic "demons don't hurt demons, so lay off or we're gonna kill you" plot at Willy's.  Jesus, just give James the check and save him for when you can actually use him. We can skip Spike for one week, I swear.

Mediocre at best, right down to the piss-poor rendering of Giles's Eyghon tattoo.  Even "Can I have sex with Riley, too?" can't save this one.

And yes, Anya's "Wagnerian snoring" should totally have been the result Buffy and Willow's ministrations.  May have been, actually; just because Rupert knows a thing or five about m/m/m/m/m/f orgies (damn, poor Dierdre must have gotten so worn out) doesn't make him an expert on f/f/f, I suppose. ;)

[illdoc]

11 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Giles still has his Mark of Eyghon tattoo, you'd think he'd want rid of it?

Maybe there was some sort of magical/demon component in inking the tattoo on Giles/Ethan and can't be removed by "ordinary means". The tattoo Ethan puts on Buffy in The Dark Age didn't have that component (or her "slayerness" prevents the magic from taking hold?) and that's why she can get it removed. Or maybe the tattoo is just a reminder to Giles of "the folly of his youth" or that "spells have consequences", "avoid black/dark magic", etc and that's why he keeps it. After all, Eyghon seems to be no longer a threat.

[Halting Hex]

14 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Also, floppy disks still existed in 2001.

Also, this is 2000.  [/nitpick]

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎18‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 5:38 PM, Halting Hex said:

The idea of Spike's cousin drives me nuts.  Is this an actual cousin of his who got vamped, or a metaphorical cousin from the Order of Aurelius?

I get that they want Buffy to be wearing the kerchief so Riley can be holding on to it at the end

  Hide contents

(even though in the very next episode, Doug Petrie will mock Marti's dramatics here ["It felt as though I was holding onto a part of you" "It's the scarf part of me"])

but damn, does she look silly in that thing.

George Hertzberg does a fine job with some of Adam's so-bad-it's-good dialogue ("I am a kinematically-redundant biomechanical demonoid"  "Nice to meet you, I'm Jessica" [/not the actual line in reply]), but the problem here is they've swapped a symbolic and thematic antagonist (the entire US government, and the basic concepts of technology versus the supernatural) for Just Another Big Scary Guy, and Buffy knows how to fight those.  I mean, we see her using Xander's military knowledge in this very episode; just swing by the army base and pick up the LAWS rocket again and boom!  Bye, Adam. 

  Hide contents

I mean, once he has functional command of the Initiative, things are somewhat different, but we're six episodes from that happening.

And while Marc Blucas gets deserved props for his acting and his stunt work (he appears to do the fall when Adam smacks him himself [I assume that's a wire job]), Riley loses brain points for stepping into Polgara-skewer range when he's aiming his pistol.  Er, "ranged weapon", Spud?  Look it up.

The less said about Spike, the better.  James's having to take off to film The House on Haunted Hill results in the awkward blocking of the first scene (no Spike in any shots of the other Scoobs, no Scoobs in any shots of Spike) and then his being sent off into that idiotic "demons don't hurt demons, so lay off or we're gonna kill you" plot at Willy's.  Jesus, just give James the check and save him for when you can actually use him. We can skip Spike for one week, I swear.

Mediocre at best, right down to the piss-poor rendering of Giles's Eyghon tattoo.  Even "Can I have sex with Riley, too?" can't save this one.

And yes, Anya's "Wagnerian snoring" should totally have been the result Buffy and Willow's ministrations.  May have been, actually; just because Rupert knows a thing or five about m/m/m/m/m/f orgies (damn, poor Dierdre must have gotten so worn out) doesn't make him an expert on f/f/f, I suppose. ;)

Spike lies a lot! I liked the scarf, very Fred from Scooby Doo. Took me a long time to recognise James in HOHH, whatever happened to Lisa Loeb?  

[lembergwatcher]

I absolutely love Willow with her arms around that stuffed animal :) Probably, Xanders present from the days of their sleepovers or watching "Charlie Brown" together. I can't help it, there's some nostalgic feeling every time.

And congratulations, Harris, you finally have three most important women of your life in your bed ;)

[Halting Hex]

So do we think Willow picked up the stuffed animal when she went to the dorm room to get the red flannel pjs, or is that actually Xander's "dog"?

[lembergwatcher]

15 minutes ago, Halting Hex said:

So do we think Willow picked up the stuffed animal when she went to the dorm room to get the red flannel pjs, or is that actually Xander's "dog"?

Maybe it's Xander's "dog" Willow used to cuddle while visiting the Harrises' residence back in the day. But the first version of yours is quite credible too IMO.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎08‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 12:33 AM, lembergwatcher said:

I absolutely love Willow with her arms around that stuffed animal :) Probably, Xanders present from the days of their sleepovers or watching "Charlie Brown" together. I can't help it, there's some nostalgic feeling every time.

And congratulations, Harris, you finally have three most important women of your life in your bed ;)

I love the middle picture, as if Buffy's just suggested something, Anya's keen but Willow's not so sure. 

[Halting Hex]

10 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

I love the middle picture, as if Buffy's just suggested something, Anya's keen but Willow's not so sure

"A threesome?  I don't know, Buffy, we just started dating…isn't this a little soon?  Plus, I don't know how I feel about doing it in Xander's basement…I mean, she is technically his girlfriend, and all that…"

"Relax, Will…Xander's already dropping hints about having sex with Riley, so it's not like he could object to sharing Anya."

"Oh. Okay, then."

[lembergwatcher]

5 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

A threesome?

Foursome. It's Xanders basement after all. Meanwhile Giles can go for a walk or search for Riley (the potential bottom boy).  And those pajamas are totally unnecessary.

[Halting Hex]

52 minutes ago, lembergwatcher said:

And those pajamas are totally unnecessary.

Hard to argue, but it is the WB, not Skinemax.  At least Buffy's "yummy sushi" pjs and Willow's red flannels are incomparably cute.

God only knows what Anya is wearing, though.  No wonder Emma's practically in hibernation.

And, as I said, Xander's busy finding his niche:

Aw, baby…of course you can. Like them Teutonic, huh?

[lembergwatcher]

He joked.

[Joe Hellandback]

9 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Foursome. It's Xanders basement after all. Meanwhile Giles can go for a walk or search for Riley (the potential bottom boy).  And those pajamas are totally unnecessary.

Hell no, I think the girls would be much keener on daddy (as WTWTA) and he's already there. 

[lembergwatcher]

So Buffy says the gang should go into hiding in order to avoid capture by the Initiative while stressing they have to find shelter anywhere but Stevenson Hall. Nevertheless, Buffy and Willow manage to somehow sneak back into their dorm room and grab those seductive pajamas. Ok, Buffy probably borrowed that "yummy sushi pajamas" of hers from Anya, but the one Willow put on is very reminiscent of the thing she wore in Something Blue. Looks like Willow either decided to risk it all and make a visit to the dorm or she and Xander had a sleepover down in the basement - the one we know nothing about - between Doomed and Goodbye Iowa...

Edited February 18, 2019 by lembergwatcher

[Halting Hex]

15 minutes ago, lembergwatcher said:

Buffy probably borrowed that "yummy sushi pajamas" of hers from Anya

Nah, Buffy specifically calls them "my yummy sushi pajamas" and while Little Miss Ego might be willing to claim borrowed clothing as her own, somehow I don't think you live a long life (even by Slayer standards) if you start taking Anya's property and never returning it.

I suppose the girls might have made a quick stop at Stevenson 214 to pick up enough clothes for an extended stay in Xander's basement.  But if they didn't want to risk even that, they probably could have sent Anya; "ex-demon" paranoia aside, there's no reason for the soldiers to be looking for her going into the building, and it's not as if they're set up right outside B/W's door, after all.

Maybe that's how Anya earned her doubtless cuddlesome place in the middle of that bed…

[lembergwatcher]

11 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

I don't think you live a long life (even by Slayer standards) if you start taking Anya's property and never returning it.

Oh come on... Anya's "ability" to physically hurt someone, let alone kill, is equal to chipped Spike's inability to bite or beat humans so far.  Her connections or extensive knowledge of the demon world serve no purpose in this regard either. Yes, Anya can hurt someone's feelings with her stupid remarks but other than that?

Since Doppelgangland Anya made zero attempts to get her demonic powers back thus proving herself to be highly incompetent and useless as a "vengeance demon", i.e. demonstrating D'Hoffryn was 100% right to kick her skinny ass out. I don't understand why do Buffy and the rest take her seriously or even tolerate her.

11 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

and it's not as if they're set up right outside B/W's door, after all.

And why not? Keeping B/W places under survelliance 24/7 should have been the first thing for Maggie to do after her failed attempt to get rid of Buffy. Instead of going to her "kiddo's" room to lament and threaten she was supposed to take measures in order to solve her Slayer-shaped problem immediately. JMO, of course.

Edited February 19, 2019 by lembergwatcher

[Halting Hex]

I suppose it could have been Xander, rather than Anya, who made the flying visit to Stevenson 214 to grab some clothes for B/W (he's certainly more willing to do it than she would be, and he'd probably know to grab Willow's "dog" out of sentiment), but the Initiative troops have seen him (albeit only briefly in The Initiative), and I don't know exactly how thrilled Buffy would be to have Xander packing up some of her undergarments, even perfectly innocently.

[lembergwatcher]

Quote

Xander: I'm guessing the mad scientist isn't too keen on the fact that the entire scooby gang knows that the Initiative is up to no good.

If the mad scientist is really aware of the "entire Scooby Gang" knowing what the Initiative is up to and Riley Finn isn't dead or court-martialed, then I guess it's no wonder

Spoiler

the projected failed miserably.

Why would the US government hire someone as incompetent as Professor Maggie Walsh, who can't make her own subordinates or some "unwanted witnesses" keep their mouths shut, to run the government project of the extreme importance?

Was it something like:

Quote

Riley: Professor Walsh, I hate to say that, but not only my girlfriend Buffy knows about the top secret government project's existence and the like, but a bunch of her goofy friends too. 

Maggie: Yeah, whatever.

?