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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 20-22
“The Yoko Factor” etc.
September 4, 2009 - 12:09p.m.
“The Yoko Factor”
The first fifteen minutes of “The Yoko Factor” is like the Inglourious Basterds of Buffy episodes, offering six long, winding, evenly paced conversations, punctuated by a quiet interlude and a kitschy-but-oddly-moving musical number. And though the chatter ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 17-19
“Superstar” etc.
August 28, 2009 - 12:08p.m.
“Superstar”
I’d like to thank all of you who suggested I pay special attention to the opening credits of this episode. I never skip the credits, but I don’t always watch closely either, and if I hadn’t ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 13-16
"The I In Team," etc.
August 21, 2009 - 01:08p.m.
Note: Since this week’s episodes are more tightly serialized than usual, I’m treating them as two two-parters, and writing about them in two hunks.
“The I In Team”/“Goodbye Iowa”
Joss Whedon’s sure got a thing for ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 13-16
“The I In Team” etc.
August 21, 2009 - 01:08p.m.
Note: Since this week’s episodes are more tightly serialized than usual, I’m treating them as two two-parters, and writing about them in two hunks.
“The I In Team”/“Goodbye Iowa”
Joss Whedon’s sure got a thing for ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 10-12
“Hush,” etc.
August 14, 2009 - 12:08p.m.
“Hush”
Following up with what I said last week about Buffy almost becoming a different show with The Initiative in play, here we have “Hush,” an episode unlike any other, with a lusher score and some of the most genuinely ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 7-9
“The Initiative,” etc.
August 7, 2009 - 12:08p.m.
“The Initiative”
I’m glad we got this episode out of the way so that now I can stop talking obliquely about the strange uniformed commandoes stalking the campus of UC Sunnydale, and can just call them “The Initiative.” I ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 4-6
“Fear Itself,” etc.
July 31, 2009 - 01:07p.m.
“Fear Itself”
The only real knock against this fourth episode of Season Four is that it’s been done before on Buffy. The Season One episode “Nightmares” (which I gave a “B+” to back when I was still passing out ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 4, episode 1-3
"The Freshman," etc.
July 24, 2009 - 12:07p.m.
“If someone could just wake me when it’s time to go to college, that’d be great.”
That was Buffy’s line in the final scene of Season Three, but it also describes my attitude through most of my ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 19-22
“Choices” etc.
July 10, 2009 - 12:07p.m.
“Choices”
As the school year winds down, our heroine finds herself faced with a simple question: What the hell is she going to do with the rest of her life? Hence the title of this episode: “Choices.” And Buffy’s ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 16-18
“Doppelgangland” etc.
July 3, 2009 - 12:07p.m.
“Doppelgangland”
After the Xander-defining showcase of “The Zeppo,” it was high time for Willow to grab the spotlight. I know from my past Buffy-related reading (including the comments on this column) that “Doppelgangland” ranks right up there with “The ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 13-15
“The Zeppo” etc.
June 26, 2009 - 12:06p.m.
“The Zeppo”
What does it mean to be “cool?” That’s the question that runs throughout “The Zeppo” a fan-favorite (and now me-favorite) Buffy episode that in and of itself kind of defines what "cool" is. The episode is ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 10-12
"Amends," etc.
June 19, 2009 - 12:06p.m.
“Amends”
While researching last week’s post, I happened to notice that “The Wish” originally aired in December, and I wondered to myself whether Buffy had ever attempted a full-on Christmas episode. Then I remembered making note of some Willow ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 7-9
"Revelations," etc.
June 12, 2009 - 10:06a.m.
“Revelations”
Out of all the people in Buffy’s immediate slayer-circle, who’d have guessed that Faith would be the one with the least to hide? But you can’t have an episode called “revelations” unless there's something to ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 4-6
“Beauty And The Beasts,” etc.
June 5, 2009 - 12:06p.m.
“Beauty And The Beasts”
“Beauty And The Beasts” begins with a lot of light-hearted conversation about various characters’ relationship statuses. Willow’s looking after Oz while he’s in his werewolf state, but she’s put blankets on his cage ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 1-3
"Anne," etc.
May 29, 2009 - 01:05p.m.
Welcome back, Buffy-philes! Apologies for the whole “I’ll be back blogging Season Three in December” thing that I promised at the end of last summer. I somehow forgot that the last month of any given year is traditionally a ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 3, episode 1-3
“Anne,” etc.
May 29, 2009 - 01:05p.m.
Hey, welcome back, Buffy-philes! Apologies for the whole “I’ll be back blogging Season Three in December” thing that I promised at the end of last summer. I somehow forgot that the last month of any given year is traditionally ...
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 2, episode 21-22
"Becoming"
August 21, 2008 - 11:08a.m.
"I want it over with." -Buffy Summers
Ever been in trouble? I mean, like, really in trouble? Like maybe you're on the verge of failing a class, or you've broken something irreplaceable, or you've inadvertently caused an ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 2, episode 18-20
"Killed By Death," etc.
August 14, 2008 - 10:08a.m.
Welcome back, Buffyphiles! Sorry again for the week off, though I confess I appreciated the brief respite from feverishly tapping out notes on Buffy and sorting through them for deeper meanings (or at least examples of awesomeness). Then again, I ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 2, episode 15-17
"Phases," etc.
July 31, 2008 - 10:07a.m.
"Phases"
Next to vampires, there's probably no monster more ripe for use as metaphor than the werewolf. Both I Was A Teenage Werewolf and Teen Wolf use werewolves as a metaphor for the horrors of puberty in boys–pimples ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 2, episode 11-14
"Ted," etc.
July 24, 2008 - 12:07p.m.
"Ted"
I have one major qualm with "Ted," a generally entertaining MotW episode with some solid emotional underpinnings. That qualm is this: Even though Buffy's innate sense of danger sets off alarm bells when her mom starts dating the ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 2, episode 7-10
"Lie To Me," etc.
July 17, 2008 - 12:07p.m.
"Lie To Me"
"Lie To Me" has one of Buffy's best cold opens to date, beginning with a young boy hanging around a playground at night, waiting for his mom to come drive him home. Drusilla emerges from the ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 2, episode 4-6
"Inca Mummy Girl," etc.
July 10, 2008 - 12:07p.m.
"Inca Mummy Girl" / "Reptile Boy"
I want to start this week by returning to something I wrote last week. When I said I had qualms about Buffy's surliness in Season Two's balky first episode, I didn't mean ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 2, episode 1-3
"When She Was Bad," etc.
July 3, 2008 - 12:07p.m.
"When She Was Bad"
You guys warned me last week that the Season Two opener was a rough one, and man you weren't lyin'. In theory, "When She Was Bad" has a fine premise: Buffy comes back from spending ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 1, episode 10-12
"Nightmares," etc.
June 26, 2008 - 03:06p.m.
"Nightmares"
Last week, I noted that the problem with "I Robot, You Jane" was that the episode had about a half-dozen potentially good ideas, and wasted nearly every one of them. This week, with "Nightmares," we have the case of ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 1, episode 7-9
"Angel," etc.
June 19, 2008 - 01:06p.m.
"Angel"
In my first Buffy blog, I mistakenly referred to Angel's past (as an ancient bad-to-the-bone vampire who cleaned up his act after some gypsies cursed him with a conscience) as having been revealed in the series' second episode ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 1, episode 4-6
"Teacher's Pet," etc.
June 12, 2008 - 01:06p.m.
"Teacher's Pet"
This week's trio of episodes is fairly Xander-iffic, starting with Episode 4, in which Xander develops a crush on substitute teacher Miss French, who turns out to be a giant praying mantis in disguise. She bites ... -
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 1, episode 1-3
"Welcome To The Hellmouth," etc.
June 5, 2008 - 01:06p.m.
When Buffy The Vampire Slayer debuted in March of 1997, my wife and I were living in an apartment that didn't have The WB as part of its cable package, so even after I started to hear through the ...
