S05.E19: Tough Love

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; Good scenes between Buffy and Dawn, excellent battle between Willow and Glory

The Bad; If you're a Tara fan it's pretty gut-wrenching

Best line; Minion; "Begging your pardon and begging in general"

Jeez!; Glory brainsucking Tara is awful although Clare Kramer gives a great performance describing the madness (which of course Glory experiences it too). Anya's racism against the French is also a bit much (and surely Anya is actually Swedish, yah?). Willow spits on Glory.

Kinky dinky; Glory bathes in front of her minions but blindfolds them.

Captain Subtext;

Tara and Willow have their first fight. A lot of people disliked this but couples fight, straight or gay, everyone has arguments. Willow refers to lesbo-street cred, she tells Tara that she's the only woman she's fallen in love with (again, bi rather than gay?). Implying that Tara has had gay lovers before? Anya offers to let Willow sleep with her admitting this sounds a lot more lesbian than she intended. Glory gives lots of little hints of lesbianism when she's 'holding' Tara's hand. Lovely scene at the end where Buffy and Willow are with 'their girls', Will kissing Tara and Buffy stroking Dawn's hair.

Guantanamo Bay; Giles tortures Glory's minion. With the same trick Angelus played on him?

Scoobies to the ER; Poor Tara, brainsucked.

Apocalypses; 5, Glory asks did anyone order one?

Scoobies in bondage: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 5 Will: 3 Jenny: 1 Angel: 4 Oz: 1 Faith: 3 Joyce: 1 Wes: 1 Xander; 1 Dawn; 1 Scoobies knocked out: Buffy: 16 Giles: 10 Cordy: 6 Xander: 8 Will: 5 Jenny: 2 Angel: 6 Oz: 3 Faith: 1 Joyce: 3 Wes: 1 Anya;1 Kills: Buffy: 96 vamps, 32 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon Will: 6 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: 1vamp + a demon Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons Buffybot; 1 vamp Spike; 1 vamp and 1/2 a demon

Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 6 Giles: 3 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 10 Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce Sunnydale deaths; 89; Total number of scoobies: 6 Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Xander demon magnet: 5(6?) Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula? Scoobies shot: Giles: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 4 Riley; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost: Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes? Cordy: 1? Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?) Angel: 1;Buffy Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?) Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley Xander: 2; Faith, Anya Willow: 2;Oz and Tara Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore

Questions and observations; You feel so bad for Buffy having to quit school and so bad for Ben being fired. Glory likes aspects of this dimension, changing her tune (because of Ben's influence?). The scenes with Buffy and Dawn over Dawn's truancy are heartrending, the terror they feel at the prospect of losing each other. Can't Dawn go to Aunt Arlene? Once again Tara says she fears Will's magic. Buffy's 'Things change' line may be from Batman Returns? What do people want petrified hamsters for? Marks out of 10; 7/10

[Halting Hex]

As I once called it on TWoP, "the episode that everybody hates but me".  Yes, Buffy acts like a bitch.  Yes, watching the Summers girls fold laundry is not exactly electrifying television. And yes, the idea that the "hobbits with leprosy" can just walk around in daylight and peep into Buffy's house with nobody spotting them is beyond silly.

But Giles acts like a friend to Willow (which is pretty much the only time you can say that in the Dawnverse; again, Kirshner seems to have missed the "only Tara cares about Willow" memo), Glory getting loofahed is a hoot, the park bench scene features fine work from Clare Kramer, Amber Benson, and composer Thomas Wanker (none of whom are my usual favorites), and I love the whole "floating Willow of Revenge" fight scene and subsequent Buffy-rescue.

I also enjoy the "Lesbian Street Cred" argument scene.  Even if it does have one notable flub:

Quote

WILLOW: Well, I took Psych 101. I mean, I took it from an evil government scientist who was skewered by her Frankenstein-like creation before the final, but I know what a Freudian slip is. 

Er, no.  Buffy tells Riley in Hush that they're almost done with the semester (when he fibs about "papers", she notes that the final exam is all that's yet to come).  And that's months before Maggie Walsh meets her end.  It's after Buffy's January birthday in A New Man.  Indeed, when Buffy goes to her first Initiative meeting in The I in Team, she and Maggie note that Buffy is no longer a student in Maggie's class.

This foreshadows Willow

Spoiler

claiming in Flooded that she slept with Riley "last semester", when the Spud caught the chopper to Belize before the end of 2000, which was the previous year.  (As confirmed not only the still-ongoing pre-Holidays sale seen in Into the Woods, but also by Riley's absence from the Christmas flashback seen in The Body.)   Once again, Willow confuses events that would have occurred in December with the spring semester.

Is this why Willow

Spoiler

never graduates, because she thinks semesters are twice as long as they actually are and thus only shows up at class half the time?

She might wish to look up the meaning of the word, in that case.

Or is she so into "being Jewish" for Christmas that she completely blocks December out of her mind?  Or should we say that Willow's apparent inability to recall what month it is shows a subtle case of PTSD because she's still mourning the death of Jenny Calendar? Hmmm.

Edit note:  Auto-"correct" turned "Lesbian Street Cred" into "Lesbian Street Crew".   Apparently, the board thinks that Willow and Tara's relationship is sponsored by MTV…

Edited August 30, 2020 by Halting Hex

[Joe Hellandback]

9 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

As I once called it on TWoP, "the episode that everybody hates but me".  Yes, Buffy acts like a bitch.  Yes, watching the Summers girls fold laundry is not exactly electrifying television. And yes, the idea that the "hobbits with leprosy" can just walk around in daylight and peep into Buffy's house with nobody spotting them is beyond silly.

But Giles acts like a friend to Willow (which is pretty much the only time you can say that in the Dawnverse; again, Kirshner seems to have missed the "only Tara cares about Willow" memo), Glory getting loofahed is a hoot, the park bench scene features fine work from Clare Kramer, Amber Benson, and composer Thomas Wanker (none of whom are my usual favorites), and I love the whole "floating Willow of Revenge" fight scene and subsequent Buffy-rescue.

I also enjoy the "Lesbian Street Cred" argument scene.  Even if it does have one notable flub:

Er, no.  Buffy tells Riley in Hush that they're almost done with the semester (when he fibs about "papers", she notes that the final exam is all that's yet to come).  And that's months before Maggie Walsh meets her end.  It's after Buffy's January birthday in A New Man.  Indeed, when Buffy goes to her first Initiative meeting in The I in Team, she and Maggie note that Buffy is no longer a student in Maggie's class.

This foreshadows Willow

  Hide contents

claiming in Flooded that she slept with Riley "last semester", when the Spud caught the chopper to Belize before the end of 2000, which was the previous year.  (As confirmed not only the still-ongoing pre-Holidays sale seen in Into the Woods, but also by Riley's absence from the Christmas flashback seen in The Body.)   Once again, Willow confuses events that would have occurred in December with the spring semester.

Is this why Willow

  Hide contents

never graduates, because she thinks semesters are twice as long as they actually are and thus only shows up at class half the time?

She might wish to look up the meaning of the word, in that case.

Or is she so into "being Jewish" for Christmas that she completely blocks December out of her mind?  Or should we say that Willow's apparent inability to recall what month it is shows a subtle case of PTSD because she's still mourning the death of Jenny Calendar? Hmmm.

Edit note:  Auto-"correct" turned "Lesbian Street Cred" into "Lesbian Street Crew".   Apparently, the board thinks that Willow and Tara's relationship is sponsored by MTV…

Or the roads commission?