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tori_reviewsThe BB&B review is a bit shorter than I like to have it stand alone, but not by much and the Passion review deserves to stand on it's own, so I'll put this up alone.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x16 – Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
This is another episode that, while I know I’ve seen it a couple of times in the past, I didn’t have a clear memory of how I felt about it. I’d say it’s mostly good, but I also can kind of tell why it didn’t stand out in my memory.
It hit me pretty strongly in the last 10 minutes or so of the episode, that this was really a making-time story before the plot does anything more. We’re given the idea that there is going to be a face-off with Buffy and Angel, but this plot is distracting from it for now. They do intersect a little, but once the spell takes effect, there’s not a lot more of Buffy dealing with what’s going on with Angel.
Considering where it’s going, I think I’m glad we got Jenny as just a regular player in one more episode before what happens. If she was off screen too long then her return next episode would signal that something big was going to happen to her since she hadn’t been seen in a couple eps. But by having this one, it normalizes her presence a bit more, so that the rug gets pulled out that much harder next time.
That said, I really don’t remember how Jenny and Giles get from where they are this episode to where they almost are next time. I kept expecting something this time, and some version must be done next time, of Buffy telling him that she isn’t the police of how he feels; Buffy won’t have Jenny be part of the team yet, but Giles can talk to her and figure out if he can forgive what happened. If I turn out to be right about that I don’t actually get any credit since it probably lives somewhere in the back of my memory, but I can’t recall if I remember it as of now.
Spike continues to be useless, as if he wasn’t supposed to be here. Although it is still hard to imagine this plot without him for Angelus to compete with/dominate over. But if I’m supposed to feel sorry for Spike, I really don’t. Of the three vamps, Dru is my favorite, although DB does seem to have a bit better handle on Angelus in this one, at least he’s embracing the over the top performance that is clearly not what he’s been doing as Angel.
The need to remind the audience who Amy is, since she hasn’t been seen since 1x03 makes for some clunky dialog. It tries to act like the Scoobies have seen Amy since then (which would make sense in general), but the awkward dialog actually makes it seem a bit like they haven’t. That said, part of me would rather have this than previouslies that just tell you the last time you saw a character and who will be important this time. Especially since it doesn’t prevent there being awkward dialog about why the character hasn’t been seen since.
Is it just me, or does this love spell seem super easy to cast? I feel like it would come up more often with how easy it seems to be. And considering how powerful it seems to be…that seems pretty sketchy. Because Xander hadn’t meant to do anything…rapey with the spell, at least not consciously; and once he realized what had made the women around him start acting different, he didn’t try and take advantage of the situation. But the probability of something rapey happening with the spell is pretty high.
I think part of the reason I was surprised to realize during Innocence that Willow’s feelings for Xander hadn’t been so out in the open before, is that now they kind of are. Buffy lays it on him pretty thick at the end, that Willow is in a different place that anyone after the spell. This episode makes it clear that they remember what happened under the spell, even if most people are looking for any way to rationalize it without pulling back to the magic vail. But Willow has the hardest job of anyone being sure what was the spell and what was her. It could be argued that maybe a little of it was true for Buffy (at least the main girls have existing relationships with Xander), but the balance is pretty weighted toward it being the spell that she was acting on. And I do wish we saw more of how Xander and Willow get back to solid ground.
I can’t decide if I should have feelings about something towards the end or not, but I might as well mention it. Because they undo the rat-Buffy spell before undoing the love spell. Maybe undoing spells has to be a last in first out thing, or it’s somewhat reasonable that they don’t know what dangers Buffy is facing as a rat so the need to undo it is higher. But…the mob seems a bit more dangerous (it’s pretty amazing no one kills each other trying to get to Xander). And yet I can completely see Giles prioritizing Buffy over Xander, Cordy, and the rest of the city. He’s got some pretty strong feelings going on there, that are doing things to my shippy feelings.
What am I shipping?
This is easily the best Xander/Cordy focus we’ve had so far. I obviously have a lot of feelings about Willow/Xander. And at some point I should come up with something to say about Willow and Oz than that they’re cute, but they are pretty cute.
Even discounting the way Giles is clearly freaking out over Buffy being a rat, their scenes dealing with the threat of Angel are still showing some good partnership. I do love their partnership.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x16 – Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
This is another episode that, while I know I’ve seen it a couple of times in the past, I didn’t have a clear memory of how I felt about it. I’d say it’s mostly good, but I also can kind of tell why it didn’t stand out in my memory.
It hit me pretty strongly in the last 10 minutes or so of the episode, that this was really a making-time story before the plot does anything more. We’re given the idea that there is going to be a face-off with Buffy and Angel, but this plot is distracting from it for now. They do intersect a little, but once the spell takes effect, there’s not a lot more of Buffy dealing with what’s going on with Angel.
Considering where it’s going, I think I’m glad we got Jenny as just a regular player in one more episode before what happens. If she was off screen too long then her return next episode would signal that something big was going to happen to her since she hadn’t been seen in a couple eps. But by having this one, it normalizes her presence a bit more, so that the rug gets pulled out that much harder next time.
That said, I really don’t remember how Jenny and Giles get from where they are this episode to where they almost are next time. I kept expecting something this time, and some version must be done next time, of Buffy telling him that she isn’t the police of how he feels; Buffy won’t have Jenny be part of the team yet, but Giles can talk to her and figure out if he can forgive what happened. If I turn out to be right about that I don’t actually get any credit since it probably lives somewhere in the back of my memory, but I can’t recall if I remember it as of now.
Spike continues to be useless, as if he wasn’t supposed to be here. Although it is still hard to imagine this plot without him for Angelus to compete with/dominate over. But if I’m supposed to feel sorry for Spike, I really don’t. Of the three vamps, Dru is my favorite, although DB does seem to have a bit better handle on Angelus in this one, at least he’s embracing the over the top performance that is clearly not what he’s been doing as Angel.
The need to remind the audience who Amy is, since she hasn’t been seen since 1x03 makes for some clunky dialog. It tries to act like the Scoobies have seen Amy since then (which would make sense in general), but the awkward dialog actually makes it seem a bit like they haven’t. That said, part of me would rather have this than previouslies that just tell you the last time you saw a character and who will be important this time. Especially since it doesn’t prevent there being awkward dialog about why the character hasn’t been seen since.
Is it just me, or does this love spell seem super easy to cast? I feel like it would come up more often with how easy it seems to be. And considering how powerful it seems to be…that seems pretty sketchy. Because Xander hadn’t meant to do anything…rapey with the spell, at least not consciously; and once he realized what had made the women around him start acting different, he didn’t try and take advantage of the situation. But the probability of something rapey happening with the spell is pretty high.
I think part of the reason I was surprised to realize during Innocence that Willow’s feelings for Xander hadn’t been so out in the open before, is that now they kind of are. Buffy lays it on him pretty thick at the end, that Willow is in a different place that anyone after the spell. This episode makes it clear that they remember what happened under the spell, even if most people are looking for any way to rationalize it without pulling back to the magic vail. But Willow has the hardest job of anyone being sure what was the spell and what was her. It could be argued that maybe a little of it was true for Buffy (at least the main girls have existing relationships with Xander), but the balance is pretty weighted toward it being the spell that she was acting on. And I do wish we saw more of how Xander and Willow get back to solid ground.
I can’t decide if I should have feelings about something towards the end or not, but I might as well mention it. Because they undo the rat-Buffy spell before undoing the love spell. Maybe undoing spells has to be a last in first out thing, or it’s somewhat reasonable that they don’t know what dangers Buffy is facing as a rat so the need to undo it is higher. But…the mob seems a bit more dangerous (it’s pretty amazing no one kills each other trying to get to Xander). And yet I can completely see Giles prioritizing Buffy over Xander, Cordy, and the rest of the city. He’s got some pretty strong feelings going on there, that are doing things to my shippy feelings.
What am I shipping?
This is easily the best Xander/Cordy focus we’ve had so far. I obviously have a lot of feelings about Willow/Xander. And at some point I should come up with something to say about Willow and Oz than that they’re cute, but they are pretty cute.
Even discounting the way Giles is clearly freaking out over Buffy being a rat, their scenes dealing with the threat of Angel are still showing some good partnership. I do love their partnership.
