S06.E04: Flooded

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; Special marks to MT for her wonderful acting when Dawn gets soaked, cracks me up every time. Love Buffy at the bank and the Nerds rear their heads. Wonderful Buffy/Giles scene.

The Bad; Why does the demon need the Nerds help to find Buffy? How can Warren appease them by offering Buffy's address, it's not like she's that hard to find.

Best line; Dawn; "That's a weird place for a horn" (adopting Willow's bashful virgin shtick)

Women good/men bad; Warren shows his true colours, giving the demon Buffy's address. Warren, Jonathon and Andrew are prepared to sacrifice each other to the demon.

Kinky dinky; As well as 'Chicks, chicks, chicks' one of the Nerds ambitions is 'hypnotise Buffy' and turn her into their 'willing sex bunny' a staple of some of the creepier fanfiction out there (The Erotic Mind Control Archive anyone?) Jonathon thinks Buffy is hot. Andrew seems to fancy Christina Ricci but Warren refuses to build him a robot version. Willow hints she slept with Riley.

Apocalypses; 6 Buffy says that saving the world is something she's good at unlike finances

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; 3

Scoobies knocked out: as Giles comments he knows he's back in America when he gets knocked unconscious. Buffy: 16 Giles: 11 Cordy: 6 Xander: 9 Will: 5 Jenny: 2 Angel: 6 Oz: 3 Faith: 1 Joyce: 3 Wes: 1 Anya;2 Dawn; 1

Kills: 1 demon for Buffy Buffy: 96 vamps, 37 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 5 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god. Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon Will: 6 vamps + 1 demon +1 fawn. Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, 1 a demon, Anya: 1 vamp and 1 a demon Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons Spike; 3 vamps and 2 demon Buffybot; 2 vamps Tara; 1 demon

Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 4 Anya; 1 Dawn; 1

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: 7, Giles back, Dawn helps with research for the first time but doesn't help with the demon fighting so we'll not include her just yet. Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Spike, Giles

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

Spike; good or bad? Spike 'jokes' about killing the Scoobies.

Dawn in peril; I figure at least 4 times so far.

Dawn the bashful virgin; 1

Questions and observations; What the hell is 'The gorilla thing' the nerds want to do? Buffy tells the security guard that guns are never useful foreshadowing 

Spoiler

the events at the end of the season as do Willow's hints to Giles that he shouldn't annoy her.

Anya's idea of charging for Slaying is silly but couldn't Buffy rob the vamps/demons as well as killing them?

So, big question, what do Buffy and Angel get up to during their reunion? Well, not sex as Angel keeps his soul but you wonder? Dawn is now 15, the same age as Buffy was before she became the Slayer. She compares the supernatural to sex as she says that if she doesn't learn it from Buffy and co she'll learn it all on the street. 

Spoiler

Jetpacks are one of the Nerds aims which they'll eventually achieve.

Giles comments that there are others who can bring back the dead as we see from WR&H in 'To Shanshu in LA'. Dawn wears another number t-shirt.

Marks out of 10; 6/10 good enough but not great

[Loandbehold]

8 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

As well as 'Chicks, chicks, chicks' one of the Nerds ambitions is 'hypnotise Buffy' and turn her into their 'willing sex bunny' a staple of some of the creepier fanfiction out there (The Erotic Mind Control Archive anyone?) Jonathon thinks Buffy is hot.

Why doesn't it surprise me that Jane Espenson co-authored this episode. I have no idea why she believes date rape is such a joke (see "Superstar").

 

8 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Anya's idea of charging for Slaying is silly but couldn't Buffy rob the vamps/demons as well as killing them?

That's a lighthearted shot at Angel Investigations. Charging people a fee for rescuing them.

[Jack Shaftoe]

If only Giles owned a business that could hire Buffy and could use a Slayer to keep the demonic type of "customer" away. Nah, better have Buffy suffer from contrived financial problems that could have been easily solved

Spoiler

until they magically disappear a season later.

I would like to say something more about the stupid Willow-Giles confrontation but it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure, so I will just say that this is one of the worst scenes in the entire show.

Giles not allowing Willow to use a locator spell is also incredibly stupid. Par for the course for that season, though.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Jack Shaftoe

[illdoc]

2 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

but couldn't Buffy rob the vamps/demons as well as killing them

How many vamps/demons carry money?????

[Halting Hex]

The episode that convinced me that "my show" was irreparably broken and would never recover.  

Spoiler

Sadly, I was absolutely right.

 I don't know which is worse, having Doug/Jane abuse the audience's affection for Giles to shit all over Willow (shove your "rank, arrogant amateur" crap up your tweedy ass, G-man!) or having Buffy outside on the porch, smiling at Spike's "joke" about "thinning the herd".  Because Spike has never tried to kill Willow and Xander, nuh-huh! No reason to be offended at all about a mass-murderer suggesting he murder your friends, nope!

(To be fair, Buffy did just let Spike stroll off at the end of Lovers Walk, too.  So maybe she's never given a shit about Spike trying to kill W/X.  But even so.)

17 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

As well as 'Chicks, chicks, chicks' one of the Nerds' ambitions is 'hypnotise Buffy' and turn her into their 'willing sex bunny'

 

8 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

Why doesn't it surprise me that Jane Espenson co-authored this episode? I have no idea why she believes date rape is such a joke (see "Superstar").

So nice to see that Jonathan "learned his lesson", no?  Once a rapist, always a rapist.

8 hours ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

I would like to say something more about the stupid Willow-Giles confrontation but it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure, so I will just say that this is one of the worst scenes in the entire show.

Amen.  I "love" the eight (yes, I've counted) "I'm an egomaniac!!" indicators they put in Willow's mouth there.  Including the incredibly awkward "maybe the word you should be looking for is 'congratulations'" that's there so Willow can't be asking Giles to say "thank you", which would be far more natural.  And which would require Giles to admit he was in fact grateful.

Have to "love" Giles upbraiding Will for "violating the rules of magic".  Well, at least she wasn't summoning demons for freaking orgies, Eyghon-ophile.  Or, more recently, who approved that enjoining spell that led the Primal Slayer to attack you all in your dreams, again?  Just checking.

8 hours ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

Giles not allowing Willow to use a locator spell is also incredibly stupid.

Hey, if it's such a bad idea to have Willow do the spell…then have the other witch do it.

Or do it yourself, Rupert.

Or have Anya, who's been doing magic for 1000 years, do it.

Or Spike, who invoked Elligor.

Or Buffy, who did the Cloutier Trance.

Or Dawn, who's made of magic and probably has a natural aptitude for it.

Or fuck, let Xander give it his best.  There are eight goddamn people in the room…at least have somebody try.

But no, spells are bad now! Bad Willow, bad!  

Spoiler

Sorry you have to die, Katrina and Tara and Warren and Rack and Jonathan but what are human lives against

our brand-new "magic is bad and Willow is bad and Willow wanting to do magic is really, really, REALLY bad" bullshit paradigm?  Oh fuck me long and hard.  Seriously.

Also, the Dawn jokes sucked and the "finances" plot made no sense.

Marks: 1/10, for the Buffy/Giles reunion, although he really needed to wear a nicer shirt.

But otherwise, utter filth.  One of the five worst episodes of the series, easily.

Edited October 6, 2018 by Halting Hex

[Jack Shaftoe]

Quote

Amen.  I "love" the eight (yes, I've counted) "I'm an egomaniac!!" indicators they put in Willow's mouth there.

And adding insult to injury, this is followed by Giles stopping Willow from casting the locator spell with merely a look. After so many anvils about Willow's obsession with magic and power going to her head, we see that all it takes is one look from Giles and Willow obeys, even though in this particular case her suggestion was perfectly reasonable and Giles's objection was utter nonsense. Consistent characterization, what's that?

This is also another consequences of Willow's increased powers - the writers had to come with increasingly silly excuses for her to not, well, literally wave her hand and have the problems disappear. Of course, they want to have their cake and eat it too in this regard as well - in Bargaining we see the Scoobies struggling to keep Sunnydale safe even from run of the mill vampires and demons, despite having on their side not just Willow but the Bot, Spike, Tara, Xander and Anya. But at the same time the narrative insists that Willow's powers are super dangerous. For my money, the big spike in Willow's magical powers in season 5 should never happened.

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎05‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 5:51 PM, Loandbehold said:

Why doesn't it surprise me that Jane Espenson co-authored this episode. I have no idea why she believes date rape is such a joke (see "Superstar").

 

That's a lighthearted shot at Angel Investigations. Charging people a fee for rescuing them.

I don't think Jane thinks it a joke but this is a bunch of wayward teenage boys, this is how they WOULD think. 

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎05‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 6:04 PM, Jack Shaftoe said:

If only Giles owned a business that could hire Buffy and could use a Slayer to keep the demonic type of "customer" away. Nah, better have Buffy suffer from contrived financial problems that could have been easily solved

  Hide contents

until they magically disappear a season later.

I would like to say something more about the stupid Willow-Giles confrontation but it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure, so I will just say that this is one of the worst scenes in the entire show.

Giles not allowing Willow to use a locator spell is also incredibly stupid. Par for the course for that season, though.

The idea is that Buffy can't keep relying on handouts from Giles, she has to learn to stand on her own two feet.

Spoiler

How does she solve her financial problems, well, maybe she went and looted Racks place or she got a job at Spearment Rhino or the Council stepped in having been embarrassed that they never saw DarkWillow coming. But the obvious solution is Giles did help out, he realised they needed help until mid season 7

I like the Willow/Giles scene, shows how much she had grown. 

On ‎05‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 8:49 PM, illdoc said:

How many vamps/demons carry money?????

A few must I suppose not to mention jewellery?

[Jack Shaftoe]

Quote

The idea is that Buffy can't keep relying on handouts from Giles, she has to learn to stand on her own two feet.

What handout? Giles left, the Magic Box could use another employee and I was only partly joking when I said it needed protecting from more violent "customers". Plus, even giving Buffy money in exchange for nothing would hardly have been a handout since Giles received a salary from the Council largely thanks to Buffy and could live perfectly well without said salary. The whole thing is yet another ridiculous contrivance, following the "let's pile some misery on Buffy" idea, rather than "let's write an interesting story".

[Loandbehold]

3 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

I don't think Jane thinks it a joke but this is a bunch of wayward teenage boys, this is how they WOULD think.

It's not the first time. There's Jonathan in "Superstar." Also, the listing of "Chicks, Chicks, Chicks" is what's amusing and something immature teenage boys would think. Making someone their sex slave goes beyond the pale and is not something most teenage boys think ("hey, isn't rape cool"). It was totally unnecessary for the story. It was up on the board for the "joke." If Jane didn't think it was funny, she shouldn't have written it, or been party to it. 

[lembergwatcher]

On 05.10.2018 at 11:02 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

the Nerds rear their heads

One of the worst seasons apparently needed such pathetic excuses for villains as those shitheads aka The Trio. That was almost like allowing Eric from Some Assembly Required

Spoiler

to become the Scooby Gang's main antagonist and evade retribution until the final eps of the season.

Sad. Very very sad.

[Joe Hellandback]

20 hours ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

What handout? Giles left, the Magic Box could use another employee and I was only partly joking when I said it needed protecting from more violent "customers". Plus, even giving Buffy money in exchange for nothing would hardly have been a handout since Giles received a salary from the Council largely thanks to Buffy and could live perfectly well without said salary. The whole thing is yet another ridiculous contrivance, following the "let's pile some misery on Buffy" idea, rather than "let's write an interesting story".

But one of the metaphors of the series is that Buffy has to grow beyond her parents and that's what we see. 

19 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

It's not the first time. There's Jonathan in "Superstar." Also, the listing of "Chicks, Chicks, Chicks" is what's amusing and something immature teenage boys would think. Making someone their sex slave goes beyond the pale and is not something most teenage boys think ("hey, isn't rape cool"). It was totally unnecessary for the story. It was up on the board for the "joke." If Jane didn't think it was funny, she shouldn't have written it, or been party to it. 

But as you observe look what Jonathon does in Superstar? I think it's purely credible, just have a look at adult fanfiction?

15 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

One of the worst seasons apparently needed such pathetic excuses for villains as those shitheads aka The Trio. That was almost like allowing Eric from Some Assembly Required

  Hide contents

to become the Scooby Gang's main antagonist and evade retribution until the final eps of the season.

Sad. Very very sad.

But again, that suits the metaphor, the Scoobs grow up, the Nerds refuse to. Also remember a 

Spoiler

one off villain from season 3 will become the big bad for season 7. 

[Loandbehold]

7 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

But as you observe look what Jonathon does in Superstar? I think it's purely credible, just have a look at adult fanfiction?

Which is my point. Jane Espenson, on at least two occasions, had zero problems w/ date (or other types of) rape and thinks it's just a joke. As for reading fan fiction where teenage boys joke about raping girls for fun, no thanks. And, it's treated as a joke and not a serious character flaw. Hard pass.

[Halting Hex]

I should point out that this episode gives us our only Buffy/Willow scene in the first eight episodes, with Will bragging fibbing about her hookups with Riley and Angel.  Would be worth a point or two, except that SMG plays Buffy in the same dead way she's playing her all season long, normal human emotions not allowed.  So, skip it.

And also, my "memories" of these episodes are inalienably linked to all the Willow-hatred that was soaking the internet at the time.  (She might as well have killed the Baby Jesus as that fawn in Bargaining.)  From the Spike-worshippers who saw the Scoobies as an obstacle to the Spuffy bliss they craved (as Spike himself put it in Spiral, he and Buffy should just have taken Dawn on their own and left the others to go rot), to those who had been spoiled for the big plot of the season and thus

Spoiler

saw Willow's every action as "proof" of her upcoming turn to evil

and beyond that, the Whedon-fanatic assholes who therefore were claiming that

Spoiler

this was some brilliant longterm character arc for Willow and "you could see it all along", yada-yada, Joss is SUCH a genius, let me lick his bunghole, etc.

The fact that Mutant Enemy had done everything short of hire a skywriter to announce that

Spoiler

Tara was going to die

sure didn't help, either.  Yes, they tried to claim it was a secret and mystery, but FFS,

Spoiler

Amber still wasn't in the fucking credits, so when they said "a Scooby" will die, it wasn't hard to guess which one.

This led to Willow getting the blowback

Spoiler

for getting to live when the saintly ex-girlfriend bites it AND also confirmed the anti-gay feelings of the homophobic portions of the audience

, which again, worked against her.

So basically, every week was "take a shit on Willow week" with pseudo-intellectuals writing treatises on Spike's "redemption" and claiming "oh, no, I'm a lesbian, this TOTALLY isn't about how sexy James is, I swear!" and how Joss was "challenging the narrative" (by stealing from earlier, better seasons in the cheapest, most pandering ways) and how this was all some grand plan (except the shitty execution, which was all Marti Noxon's fault, of course).  It was a fucking toxic time to be a fan of the show, and I'm sure I hold it against these episodes in a way that somebody who just burned through them on DVD in 2011 or whenever might not.

But even so. They still suck.  And no, Joss, I will never believe that the Trio was you "making fun of the writing staff" rather than deliberately spitting in the face of the fans of your fucking shows and calling us all pathetic losers living in our parents' basements.  (I had a very nice one-bedroom apartment, thank you very much.  Just so you know.)

Fucking obnoxious elitist pricks.  I hope he and Espenson both suffered major injuries fighting for the right to try crawling up Marsters's asshole.  God, I seriously hate this shit.  And it's only been seventeen years…

[Joe Hellandback]

On ‎09‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 5:52 PM, Loandbehold said:

Which is my point. Jane Espenson, on at least two occasions, had zero problems w/ date (or other types of) rape and thinks it's just a joke. As for reading fan fiction where teenage boys joke about raping girls for fun, no thanks. And, it's treated as a joke and not a serious character flaw. Hard pass.

But it does work in context, we are dealing with the darker side of human nature. 

On ‎09‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 11:09 PM, Halting Hex said:

I should point out that this episode gives us our only Buffy/Willow scene in the first eight episodes, with Will bragging fibbing about her hookups with Riley and Angel.  Would be worth a point or two, except that SMG plays Buffy in the same dead way she's playing her all season long, normal human emotions not allowed.  So, skip it.

And also, my "memories" of these episodes are inalienably linked to all the Willow-hatred that was soaking the internet at the time.  (She might as well have killed the Baby Jesus as that fawn in Bargaining.)  From the Spike-worshippers who saw the Scoobies as an obstacle to the Spuffy bliss they craved (as Spike himself put it in Spiral, he and Buffy should just have taken Dawn on their own and left the others to go rot), to those who had been spoiled for the big plot of the season and thus

  Hide contents

saw Willow's every action as "proof" of her upcoming turn to evil

and beyond that, the Whedon-fanatic assholes who therefore were claiming that

  Hide contents

this was some brilliant longterm character arc for Willow and "you could see it all along", yada-yada, Joss is SUCH a genius, let me lick his bunghole, etc.

The fact that Mutant Enemy had done everything short of hire a skywriter to announce that

  Reveal hidden contents

Tara was going to die

sure didn't help, either.  Yes, they tried to claim it was a secret and mystery, but FFS,

  Reveal hidden contents

Amber still wasn't in the fucking credits, so when they said "a Scooby" will die, it wasn't hard to guess which one.

This led to Willow getting the blowback

  Reveal hidden contents

for getting to live when the saintly ex-girlfriend bites it AND also confirmed the anti-gay feelings of the homophobic portions of the audience

, which again, worked against her.

So basically, every week was "take a shit on Willow week" with pseudo-intellectuals writing treatises on Spike's "redemption" and claiming "oh, no, I'm a lesbian, this TOTALLY isn't about how sexy James is, I swear!" and how Joss was "challenging the narrative" (by stealing from earlier, better seasons in the cheapest, most pandering ways) and how this was all some grand plan (except the shitty execution, which was all Marti Noxon's fault, of course).  It was a fucking toxic time to be a fan of the show, and I'm sure I hold it against these episodes in a way that somebody who just burned through them on DVD in 2011 or whenever might not.

But even so. They still suck.  And no, Joss, I will never believe that the Trio was you "making fun of the writing staff" rather than deliberately spitting in the face of the fans of your fucking shows and calling us all pathetic losers living in our parents' basements.  (I had a very nice one-bedroom apartment, thank you very much.  Just so you know.)

Fucking obnoxious elitist pricks.  I hope he and Espenson both suffered major injuries fighting for the right to try crawling up Marsters's asshole.  God, I seriously hate this shit.  And it's only been seventeen years…

I really never thought of the Buffy writers as 'elitist'? That they're Bill Mahler or something? 

I don't think you should watch the rest of this season, I honestly think your head might explode, Scanners style! Maybe you should just join us for s7?

[Halting Hex]

Who says I'm watching?  I'm only remembering.  But, in the words of

Spoiler

Robin Wood, "Once you see it, you can't unsee it".

So the memories are always there. But many of these episodes I've only ever seen the once.  

(I think this is an exception, though, as it was being rerun on January 1st, 2002, which was the first day that DirecTV included local UPN stations in its packaging.  So I looked to see if a clear picture had improved things on the original high-interference "rabbit-ears" airing.   I could see the fight better, but so what?  And that was it for "no more full copper re-pipe!" for me)

[Joe Hellandback]

11 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Who says I'm watching?  I'm only remembering.  But, in the words of

  Hide contents

Robin Wood, "Once you see it, you can't unsee it".

So the memories are always there. But many of these episodes I've only ever seen the once.  

(I think this is an exception, though, as it was being rerun on January 1st, 2002, which was the first day that DirecTV included local UPN stations in its packaging.  So I looked to see if a clear picture had improved things on the original high-interference "rabbit-ears" airing.   I could see the fight better, but so what?  And that was it for "no more full copper re-pipe!" for me)

Amazing, I don't think I've ever talked to someone who ever watched the show once, I think Buffy is one of the most rewatchable shows out there, practically wore out my DVDs

[Halting Hex]

I've watched plenty of the episodes plenty of times.  "My show" has received dozens of viewings from me.

But the only DVDs I own are S1-S4 (although the entire Chosen Collection fell into my hands online last year).  So the likes of

Spoiler

the Dull!Willow episodes and almost all of S7

only got one go and, in many cases, that was one more than IMO they deserved. 

Spoiler

(After Lies Joss Whedon Told Me, I resolved to only watch certain portions of the remaining episodes.  I've never seen the Spike/Andrew scenes in Empty Places, or the Anya/Andrew scene in End of Days…and I never will.)

I know there are people out there who feel compelled to do the whole series, 1-144, each time through.  Not I, bwana.  Why waste time in Season Sux when I could be savoring S2, yet again?

[Halting Hex]

Quote

WILLOW:  Last semester…I slept with Riley.

Uh, no, you didn't, Willow.  Last semester took place in the spring;  Riley was out of here before Christmas.

(Even if one ignores the airdate on Into the Woods, the Magic Box is specified as holding a holiday sale in that episode.  And the Xmas flashback in The Body is post-helipad.)

So unless Willow was teleporting down to Belize on the weekends, that story doesn't hold much water.  (And if Willow had been getting some Iowa-loving in 2001, why should Buffy care?  She and Riley were broken up by then.  Buffy might be upset to learn that Willow was cheating on Tara, but that's about it.)

I guess it's both halves of Wiffy that "suck at undercover", after all.

Spoiler

Yes, nitpicky.  But come on…this is the only B/W scene in the first eight episodes of this season.  If they don't feed me, I'll gnaw on anything.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

Willow wanted to lighten up her resurrected best friend's mood. She didn't bother with historical accuracy.

[Halting Hex]

It's not hard to write/say "last year" instead of "last semester".  It's two syllables shorter and half as long to type.  It's just Willow being stupid (or, more accurately, Doug/Jane being sloppy).  Feh.

[Halting Hex]

So I'm watching I Ship It, the CW musical series originally (and still somewhat) set in a package-shipping chain store, and Ella (the delightful Helen Highfield) has gone on to work at her dream job, as a Writers' PA for the fantasy series "Superstition" (seems to be a witchcraft-laden version of The Vampire Diaries, AFAICT).

And the middle-management type that Ella has to report to hates the fans of the series, thinking them all obsessive kooks and psychopaths, and "proves" this to her by having her listen to the voicemails on the "superfan" line, which becomes a musical number where various "fans" are indeed repulsive and insane and…

…well, I'll never know, because that's where I quit the series, right then.  (In mid-song, in fact.) So, watching television means I'm insane and have no life and I'm dangerous to "real, normal" people, but I'm supposed to keep watching your show, anyhow?  Yeah, fuck you, good-bye. 

Would that I had had the brainpower to quit this show right here, when they pulled the same "attack the audience" bullshit, with the unveiling of "The Evil Nerd Trio".  Fuck you, Jane/Doug/Joss. I mean, I would have missed one good episode…but just the one.

(Unspoiled newcomers may think they know which episode I'm speaking of here.  They'd be very wrong.  I hate that one. [Of course, even knowing of that episode's existence, never mind its popularity among some fans, means one isn't "unspoiled" per se, but even so.])

Seriously, is this some sort of "negging" going on?  Insult the audience and they'll want to make you love them more?  I mean, I'm sorry, but I don't believe "negging" actually works.  People don't like being insulted, so they leave.  A few possibly-invented anecdotes about "I scored with this hot chick by pretending she was ugly" aside.

And so I've left I Ship It, I should have left BtVS,  and I will (hopefully) never speak to my mother ever again. (I'd check the Social Security records to see if she's dead, but fuck that.  Who needs the trouble?  Not I.  Even if it means I can't do a happy dance from knowing for sure.)

That said, of course this has absolutely nothing to do with…

(Bye, all. Which, granted, is probably just lembergwatcher and Joe Hellenback [and perhaps some lurkers] at this point, but still.  It's been fun.  Or rather…it was.)

[lembergwatcher]

2 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Bye, all. Which, granted, is probably just lembergwatcher and Joe Hellenback [and perhaps some lurkers] at this point, but still.  It's been fun.  Or rather…it was

Wow... Well, that's truly sad to read. ☹️Bye. But come back... once in a while...