A mixed bag in last night’s episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (as opposed to the 100% rock solid kick-ášš “Smallville.” Holy COW was that a hëll of a show.)
New slayers have been showing up through the expedient of walking in the front door, so spending a whole episode searching for one seemed to stretch things out. Also, the First’s stronghold seems to be in Sunnydale because of the Hellmouth: He’s capping slayers worldwide and he only just now notices there’s one in his backyard?
I had very little problem when the notion of who and how slayers get called was nebulous backstory. Now that it’s become front and center what the show is about, the mechanics of it (or lack thereof) are starting to piss me off.
And…wait. If Buffy dies, a slayer is called? Since when? Buffy’s death activated Kendra, Kendra’s activated Faith. At this point, Buffy’s death shouldn’t be able to activate a toaster oven because the line of succession runs through Faith. If that’s not the case, we’ve got a big honkin’ question: What happened to the Slayer who must/should have been activated when Buffy died fighting Glory? There should be at least one more Slayer wandering around out there. Now who knows, maybe that’s a plot point they’ll get to. But if *I’m* asking these questions, why the hëll aren’t Buffy and pals?
The scene kicking off Act II with the “discovery” of Dawn’s status was just absolutely endless. Would that they’d trimmed it by two minutes so we could see the Wannaslays going head to head with the vamp in the crypt. A major test for them and we see them chatting about it afterward? Whatever happened to the fundamental writing precept of “show, don’t tell.”
Still, the episode was largely worth it for that final scene with Dawn and Xander. I kept waiting for him to refer to himself as “the Zeppo.” Still, whereas last season’s Dawn pity-party seemed unfounded (your sister’s back from the grave! Be happy and shut up!), this season’s similar go-around comes across as far more justified, especially since Buffy promised she was going to be working more with Dawn and suddenly is treating her like out-of-fashion shoes.
And we didn’t have to spend an episode trying to catch Giles touching something.
Now “Smallville” on the other hand–if you’re not watching the following hour on the WB, you are screwing yourself. The show’s firing on all cylinders, and last night’s episode brought a lot of simmering plot lines to a full boil. Everything from Jonathan Kent’s frustration with his wife (I’m sorry, but he had a point; you just don’t blow off your anniversary celebration to work on a Sunday) to Clark’s slo-mo vault from the Daily Planet rooftop (and the guest appearance of comic book’s Maggie Sawyer) just worked as you sensed you were watching something truly mythic unfolding.
PAD
PAD
• 
As Dawn made the
COMMENT: “Maybe that’s your power: You see.”
It hit me.
See = Watch.
Hmm.
Xander Harris… Watcher.
Should be interesting.
That may have been the best episode of Smallville yet… But Smallville at its best can’t compete with 24 this season. Thank God for the Sunday afternoon “Easy View” (and VCRs for that matter.=))!
I know that a couple of seasons ago Joss Whedon stated in an article, interview or something that each Slayer can only spawn ONE other slayer when she dies. Of course, this has never been mentioned in any episode, so it might not be canon. I do feel that the writing is getting very sloppy. They aren’t obeying their own rules. Now they are trying to say that slayer training is instinctive? I just groaned when the new SiT easily fought off the Bringers and then staked the vampire. I know that she didn’t fight them for more than a few seconds but still. If they can’t get their act together I almost hope that this is the last season of Buffy. Almost.
Fazhoul
Marti Noxon specifically said in an interview that only Faith’s death could activate a new Slayer. Of course, what she says in interviews isn’t canon, but if it’s not true, then someone on show should be talking about finding the other Slayer that was called when Buffy died in Season Five. Based on what we’ve seen on the show only, we’ve either got a continuity error or a big plot hole that’s not being explained.
Corey
Has there ever been in mention made of the Slayer just previous to Buffy? What happened to her which allowed our girl to be “activated”?
It’s a safe bet that she died.
There was a novel that included the slayer before Buffy, The Book of Fours, though of course the novels are non-canonical.
Still, Joss and co. have occasionally used stuff from the books in the show (I believe both Jonathan’s and Anya’s last names were first introduced in The Sunnydale Yearbook before they were heard/seen on-screen, for example), so there is a chance that if they do a story about the Slayer just before Buffy, they may use some details from that novel.
davidh
I’m a relative newcomer to Buffy. A buddy of mine had urged me to watch it for years, so I finally gave in and watched last season’s final episode. Big mistake, as I immediately recognized the plot as a takeoff on the X-men’s “Dark Phoenix” storyline from 20+ years ago and was suitably unimpressed.
Fortunately, I gave the show another chance this season, and became a legitimate fan after the episode spotlighting Anya. As a newbie, I’m been catching up on backstory by taping the nightly reruns on FX. Sometimes this works to the detriment of the current season, however.
Take last night’s offerings, for instance. I had a chance to watch the season ender for Year 2 just prior to the new episode. What a difference. The older episode had humor, characterization, a fast-moving plot and brilliant dialogue; all the cast members had a chance to shine, Spike in particular. In contrast, the new episode barely advanced the overall story, and the characters all seemed so lifeless. It seems so out of character for Buffy to be making “let’s rally the troops” speeches; maybe I’ll feel differently once I watch seasons 3-6 (does she grow into this role?).
The episode picked up in the second half with Dawn and the new slayer in the high school, and Xander’s talk with Dawn at the end saved the show (nice call by Travis on the possibility of Xander becoming a Watcher; it’s such a great idea that I hope the show’s writers think of it). But there’s definitely something from the earlier seaons that’s missing here…the dialogue doesn’t seem as sharp, the pacing is glacial (it doesn’t help that, over halfway into the season, the Big Bad is still so undefined) and the actors almost look bored at times. What do you longtime viewers think?
BTW, if they ever make a Hellblazer movie, I vote for James Marsters in the role of John Constantine.
I’m new to this blog (so new, I don’t know what “blog” means). I’ve seen the entries about Buffy and skip right over them (don’t watch much TV except Smallville, which brings me to my next point…)
Why haven’t you been commenting on Smallville (a great show) or even Birds of Prey (a lousy show). Both are comic book related, and your insights/reviews would be welcome (as something more than addendums to Buffy entries).
Personally, I’ve been very impressed at how much they’ve done right with this show, and mined some great material in the early years that I’ve never really considered. Adding Cloe, bringing Lex to Smallville and making them friends (a twist on the early Superboy books), and making Jonathan Kent a pridefull, stubborn jáçkášš as responsible for pushing Lex over the edge as Lionel (another great addition). The funny thing about Smallville is the characters are INTELLIGENT and oddly, Clark seems to be the least so, and most naive.
Good show, indeed.
Well it really doesn’t suprise me that the scooby gang havn’t thought of why Buffy’s last death didn’t spawn a new slayer. They’ve always seemdd to be a little slow on the uptake when it comes to major plot points. At least it seems that way to me.
I do agree fully with the comment on Xander. Ever since Oz left he has easily been my favorite male character. Because of the fact that he’s just a normal guy, no powers, nothing. Yet he still jumps right in to any fight ready to defend his friends. Let me ask you. Who’s more heroic. The gal(Buffy) who jumps into a fight knowing their chances of survival are dámņ good, or the guy(Xander) who jumps into a fight knowing full well he’s probably going to lose the fight and his life. Xander is the man.
I noticed the Zeppo parallels as well. In fact, as they started their heart-to-heart, I quipped to my husband, “Zeppo, meet Gummo” (yes, I know Gummo came first!)
Xander as watcher I’m not so sure about. For all his talk, he hasn’t been so demonstratively observant in the past (frex, last to notice Willow & Tara).
HOWEVER, this did remind me of the episode where they all dreamed, the one which introduced the notion of First Slayer. In that episode, it appeared that Giles was training Spike to be a watcher, and now here he is testing all the little slayers (though did anyone else wonder why he wasn’t feeling major pain when he was gripping the slayerette and she said it hurt?)
“Hmm.
Xander Harris… Watcher.”
I’m afraid there’s prob’ly a bit too much of the fancy book learnin’ involved for this to happen. Xander hasn’t ever really shown the affinity for the reading. Dawn, OTOH…
And Smallville rocked! I got the distinct impression that the entire incident was a Lionel Luthor set-up. I mean, he pretty much dared Lex to bug Luthorcorp’s offices (“Hire an exterminator!”). There didn’t seem to be any good business reason for him to have to be in the office that day. I bet he wanted to catch his son in the act of corporate espionage…
“Mr. Green?” Like, the color of “meteor rocks?” Heh. Cute.
Yeah, Buffy’s a dead end as far as the Slayer Line-of-Succession goes, and yes, after a season and a half now, no one, not even Giles has considered looking for a newly activated slayer? Or was it more of a “behind the scenes”, Buffy’s friends can’t find another slayer following her death, Giles deduces that Faith is the only one who can “perpetuate” the Slayer Lineage now, and then they all agree to never even think about it again….
Plodding is the word we’re looking for for the pacing, and while I can see that yes, Buffy said she’d pay more attention to Dawn after Season 6, I’d say an emergency on the level of “The First” (well, more like the threat of what the First’s minions can do, since old firstie himself seems pretty impotent and is an idea only-guy) gives Buffy good reason to concentrate on training more troops, although at this point she should really be trying to contact Riley and the “New Initiative” if she needs “normals” as troops to train…
And Xander’s speech at the end, it almost makes up for him leaving Anya at the wedding at the end of Hëll’s Bells…
Re: Lis’ comment on Spike’s lack of pain when gripping the Slayer-in-training.
I read elsewhere (oh, alright, it was at the E! Online site) that Spike’s chip will be malfunctioning in future episodes. Maybe this is the first indication of that.
Lis, I think they established in a previous episode that Spike’s intent makes a difference on when the chip kicks in… He wasn’t really going to HARM the S-I-T, even if he was causing her pain.
Re the Big Bad being undefined at midseason: As has been pointed out here elsewhere, at this point in some previous seasons we hadn’t even met the arc villain (Season 4 is a standout here).
I think part of what’s been affecting this season (and some of last) is that, now that Buffy’s an adult, it’s harder to find outwardly-imposed events in her mundane life to wrap stories around; how many earlier episodes were kicked off by a school event of some sort? (Talent show, field trip, swim team, cheerleader tryouts, etc.) (Also, the supernatural-as-a-surrogate-for-the-teen-issue-of-the-week structure works a lot better with teenagers.) Essentially, life in high school (and college) brings with it a structure that the adult working world doesn’t. This is true in real life, after all, so it’s even more true in this sort of fiction…
In fairness to last night’s episode, I seem to remember Buffy saying “My death could make one of you the Slayer” (emphasis mine), not that it would (and Dawn can’t be blamed for worrying about Buffy in any event). I don’t think it’s worth getting bogged down in worrying about one minor rhetorical point right now; people speak imprecisely all the time, after all. (If Buffy does somehow spawn a new Slayer they had better deal with it, but let’s cross that bridge when we come to it…)
Re Spike’s chip: they already established it wasn’t working earlier this season when he was siring those vamps.
Yeah, but when Spike punched Xander so he could go walkabout, it hurt him. I don’t really count his actions while working for the First as under his conscious control.
Incidentally, y’all know that the First Evil has her own online journal. Check out http://www.livejournal.com/users/thefirstevil/ It’s really quite funny.
ABout the Slayer Line: I don’t think Buffy and her pals read Joss’ notes to the fans, so I doubt they’d definitely know that the line goes through Faith.
Also, in last season’s finale, she wondered why another slayer wasn’t called when she was talking to Giles.
I agree with everyone on Buffy’s slow episode last night.
And Smallville just gets better and better. The casting on that show (especially the adult characters) is phenominal.
Bobby
Bobby Nash
Writer @ Large
I’ve watched Buffy since the beginning. I skipped pretty much all of last season because the Buffy/Spike thing got so old so quick, but I had thought to take it up again when this new storyline came along. Something killing every one of the potential slayers and the Watcher’s Council? COOL!
So I watched last week and enjoyed it. But this week’s just didn’t cut it. Now, I’ve never heard of the writer but those lines Buffy was giving the SiTs were darn awful! Actually 75% of the dialogue was awful.
Faith has to be the line of succesion. It really makes no sense any other way.
And finallly, wasn’t there a dark haired SiT last time? The one who Buffy confused with Eve? Its like she just disappeared!
All in all, the show needs new blood or David Fury back, either one.
Col
ON SLAYER LINAGE —
I think Buffy and friends do know, but they don’t want to scare the new girls about Faith just yet — similar to how they used telepathy this season.
ON XANDER’S READING
He sure was research boy by the time he graduated from Sunnydale. He only lacks confidence, not ability. I thought for sure that the first season in college would find him as a library assistant at the university so he could get FREE TUITION and take classes part-time.
ON SMALLVILLE
Yes, adults with flaws, young people with flaws. Lex taking amoral and illegal decisions, but not quite evil (yet) in my opinion. Fun connection with the actor who plays Lionel Luthor has often played more than one personality or character in the same program/movie. He played twins with different personalities in a movie, and in Brimstone he played THE DEVIL and AN ANGEL. Based on the idea of whatever the first celestial type/arch-angel type you saw as a human, you would see all others in the same form.
If I’m not mistaken Jeph Loeb current writer of Action comics and Batman wroote Smallville so I’m not shocked at the episode kicking ášš.
(and I second the request for peter to gives his thoughts on smallville)
I recall Joss saying at San Diego a few years back “At this point, the Slayer line runs through Faith, so she, not Buffy, would have to die to call a new slayer…unless we come up with a *really* good story.”
Or, as Laura Anne Gilman puts it “Joss lies, trust Joss”.
One thing bothered me a lot about Dawn in this episode. Dawn is told by a mundane that she’s trapped a vampire inside a locked classroom in the high school. Dawn’s response to this is to 1) not get back-up. 2) not get any sort of weapon, even the most basic Mr. Pointy Piece Of Wood. 3) Go to the classroom with only the mundane. 4) Unlock the door and walk in.
Um, Dawn, it’s your intelligence on line one, please pick up. I mean, what was she expecting to do other than what happened, namely have the vampire attack her and, if not interrupted by the Bringers, kill the two of ’em? I can see Dawn thinking she could take down a basic vampire…when armed. But not without any means of killing it.
Actually, related to that, would’ve been nice if Buffy had mentioned to the SITs that powerless Xander has “clocked more field time” than most Watchers and has killed double-digit vampires by himself.
Re: Smallville. Two questions about last night’s episode. One, how come Lex doesn’t even blink an eye when he and Jonathan arrive in Metropolis, after having gotten there as quick as possible by chopper, and find Clark already there? Second, why’s Martha hiding the octagon rather than telling Clark and Jonathan about it? One theory on Usenet is that the latter relates to the secret that Ryan the telepath told her he knew she had, and that we didn’t see what happened the last time the octagon was inserted between the ship glowing at Martha and it flying over the cornfields.
I really liked last night’s Buffy. The conversation between Xander and Dawn was the best. Xander was always my favorite character in the series. It’s always nice to see him get some decent screen time.
As for Smallville, I’m really starting to lose interest in this show. I don’t really know why. I wish they’d just skip to Clark finding out about his Kryptonian heritage because you know that’s what they’re building to.
In truth, I had to tape both these shows. I was watching American Idol for an hour and a half. A classmate of mine was a contestant but they never showed her on screen. At least the local news filled me in that she passed the audition. I wish I had known that before I started watching.
Yeah – I’m mostly agreed on all of your comments about Buffy – at this point, I’m not sure I’d be watching if I hadn’t invested so much time over the past couple years following it. Not that I’m not entertained fairly regularly, but the show’s glory days (ouch) are obviously behind it.
About the Slayer lineage – maybe the writers have considered this, but it’s not something the Scooby gang or even the Watchers knew. It was established last season that Buffy’s death was special and non-natural – that’s why it was “OK” to ressurrect Buffy but not Tara and all the other various dead people. Maybe they believe that the Slayer succession was just sort of thrown for a loop by the whole thing. Also, Eliza Dushku is supposed to be appearing as Faith in Angel during February sweeps – and I know Whedon wanted to bring her back on Buffy for a bit. It’s not impossible they’d deal with the whole thing then…
As for Smallville, I’ve been enjoying it tremendously. The casting is spot on, and the characters are believable. I still think it takes itself too seriously upon occassion, but that’s a minor quibble. I’m a big fan of the Clark/Luthor relationship, and find myself waiting to see how that dynamic will change as Clark matures, and Lex is further challenged by his father and his business. And Christopher – amusingly, my Mom had the same idea last night regarding the Lionel Luthor set up.
Anyway, to follow up to my own posting.
As of right now, Giles (if that’s who he really is) is the last Watcher that we know of! And why would Xander need a stuffy British education to be a watcher? Who says the first watcher’s were all that educated?
How come every time I say the word Watcher, I want to say Uatu?
Anyway, no more watcher council. No more watchers. The next watcher is someone who should be experienced with the undead, demons, jackel spirits and all sorts of good stuff.
In short… Xander.
My Opinion, of Course.
Travis
(Another idea of mine is that the principal is a Watcher incognito… but that’s me)
To answer Tom on —
Dawn — she thought since she was chosen, it would all work out. But she’s a regular teen with strange experiences and perspective — not the strange abilities and destiney that she and the others thought.
Martha Kent –
Her family is together — if Clark finds out more about where he came from, maybe he will be compelled to leave to find out — and maybe never return.
But, yeah. I’m just about ready for the costumed part, too.
Since the show established Metropolis is in commuting range (though not easy commuting range), maybe about 3 hours or less by car from Smallville, maybe they can do summer internships and college without losing the Smallville part of it.
Reading over the postings made me think of some things. Dawn would jsut go with the new kid because Dawn is kind of dumb and all the weapons are back at the house she just SNUCK out of. Wouldn’t want to run back there! Joss has said the line goes thru Faith but then again what does that mean? Heck, George Lucas had Luke and Leia smooching it up between Star Wars and Jedi until her thought up the idea of them being related (if it was HIS idea). All that matters is what’s on screen. I, too, would have liked to have seen the SiT’s fight the vamp. And their skills are “inherited” or genetic or whatever as shown in the Movie and implied elsewhere in the series. The Watcher’s job is to train how to best maximize those skills. Anyway, that’s my 3 1/2 cents worth.
First of all, I think Buffy made that claim in order to make the possibility of one of nthem being a future slayer much more realistic. She was lying flat out, she knows it, but they don’t. Just rumors about Faith, really.
Yeah, Dawn not being chosen was a surprise, but proof that the show can still deliver twists on occasion. Take that, internet speculation!
Smallville just aired here… Kind of disappointed that Clark didn’t REALLY leap a tall building in a single bound… But I wanna know how Lionel got the disk, what was in that file, what he has planned for the rocks, and ESPECIALLY why Martha’s keeping secrets now. This show’s definitely got some mysteries building… But what I wanna know is… is Whitney REALLY dead? We saw an explosion, and they CLAIM there’s a body… but we don’t see it, so the door’s still open. What do you think? Alive or dead? And if dead, WHY did the writers kill him off?
All this talk about Buffy’s second death, but I’m getting a feeling her first one will end up playing a bigger part. That big eye last week said that an anomaly in the Slayer-thingy was what opened the door for the First to be doing this stuff, right? Well, Buffy’s dying at the end of Season Five wasn’t really a big anomaly. After all, it was the second time around.
My guess is that the big problem came from the first time Buffy died, when the Master bit her and dumped her in the pool of water. After that, there were two Slayers. When there’s supposed to be one. Anomaly. Not good.
And then there’s the fact that the death was part of some kind of ceremony. Whatever the Master took out of Buffy changed him, allowed him to walk out of the church. We’ve only assumed he was the only one who changed. Buffy said she felt “different” right afterwards, but they were kind of busy, and put it aside. And the next time she showed some odd behavior, in “When She Was Bad,” it was chalked up to PTSD or some such. And it was never spoken of again.
The First, as Buffy, said this was about power. It just never said whose.
Anywho, end of wild fanboy speculation. As for the episode, all my thoughts have been said: the ep dragged a bit, not showing how the Slayerettes took out the vamp in the crypt was cheap, and Xander is Da Man.
You know, I’m beginning to feel bad. The only Buffy episode I disliked was ‘As you were’ which felt wooden and rushed to me. Basically, I’ll have the idea that it entertained me, made me laugh. It’s good.
But maybe I caught some foreshadowing here- Andrew’s line about Dawn being part of a line that heralds back to Eve. Which Eve? The one that was the First Evil in disquise or the Biblical Eve?
And Angel… If the rumors are right, seems to me that they are taking parts of Revulations. (mispelling, but God will forgive me)
Actually I took the “Buffy has to die for Dawn to be called” comment as a, well,…
…a typo.
As for an in context explanation, Dawn and the others were pretty rattled when that line was said, so it’s not hard to imagine they got confused.
However, I agree that the last couple of years the writers have dropped the ball on a lot of plot points.
Buffy’s dead and being impersonated by a robot? So why the very conspicuous grave…? Magic is addictive? Since when? The Ubervampire is unkillable? Unless you just try harder, apparently…
That said, BTVS is still better than most of the stuff on TV these days.
And tonight’s ANGEL kicked áršë.
Here’s a repost of my comments about the latest Smallville, originally posted on Tony’s board. I just have to add the following to what’s below: Martha hiding the disk must have something to do with Ryan asking about her secret. That’s brilliant. She doesn’t want Clark to find out about his past, cause then he might leave.
Oh my! That was an outstanding episode of Smallville. Definitely the best of the season, and the first episode of the season that is entirely “story arc” with nary a monster-of-the-week to be found. Since I’ve always favorite the plot-based elements of Smallville over the monsters, I’m very happy. Let’s do the rundown again:
Clark: Shares the most screentime this episode with Lex. A superb performance from Tom Welling. He tries to intercede on his parent’s behalf and gets rebuffed by his father. He has the best scene of the episode – a running jump from the top of the Daily Planet (!) that almost looks like flying! Guess what – Clark just leapt a tall building in a single bound!
Lex: The star of the episode. The best actor on Smallville. They keep giving Michael Rosenbaum more screen time, and he steals just about every scene. This wasn’t quite the “Lex goes bad” that the previews hinted at, but it was close. This whole thing was Lex’s fault, and it very nearly got Martha and Lionel killed. Judging by next week’s preview, he may be sorry that Lionel escaped the building alive.
Jonathan & Martha: Finally, an episode that gives them some screen time and some good dramatics to play off of. Great pathos going on here, as Martha’s job with Lionel threatens to drive a wedge between their family. Jonathan can get pretty pìššëd øff – he’s nearly killed people on a couple of occasions. Has any of this temper been inherited by Clark?
And why in the world did Martha bury the disk instead of giving it to Clark to use on the spaceship and/or the cave from Skinwalker? She doesn’t want Clark to find out about his past? Is she afraid she’ll lose him? Curiouser and curiouser!
Lionel: The first episode to feature Lionel with any sort of role at all in quite some time. What a bášŧárd! He’s got a closet full of kryptonite and a file on Clark! How much does he know, anyway? He’s been present for quite a bit of super-power action, but he hasn’t seen any of it.
Lana and Mr. and Mrs. Small: The plot with the Small family was kinda interesting. Is Mrs. Small right? Is Mr. Small really going to discard Lana after awhile?
Lana only had a few lines, but they were memorable ones. Clark and Lana are getting closer and closer. They’re not fighting anymore, there’s no more Whitney, even Chloe’s out of the picture. Speaking of which…
Pete & Chloe: Who?
Other than the huge drawback of not featuring two of my favorite characters, I was very impressed by this one. Fears that this season might be a letdown among many fans just might be history.
This is great! I brought this exact same point up here weeks ago and it was brushed aside completely! Revenge is mine! HA HA HA HA HA HA…what? oh, yes, okay, I’ll stop.
Maybe there should be three slayers. Maybe there should be four, if Buffy’s heart actually did stop for a second on that operating table when Willow removed the bullet. Maybe.
There are too, too many pre-slayers – focus gets diverted. Also, just because Dawn wasn’t “called” doesn’t mean she’s out of the running. They like to tease the plots on this show. Give you a taste, take it away, and give you more later, when you least expect it (see: Willow possibly turning evil last season.)
Here’s the thing I was wondering about – Did Buffy actually release Spike at the end of last week’s episode – if so, how did she find him?
If it was the First, having finally figured out how to impersonate Buffy, and fool Spike, why did Buffy not ask Spike where he has been all this time? She didn’t seem to know about his injuries when she was on top of him, but she would have seen them in the cave, right? I’m afraid I am a bit confused.
The fact that Clark beat a helecopter to Metropolis was alarming.
And Angel REEEEALLY kicked ášš tonight.
Seeing as I’m usually at work on Tuesday nights, I don’t usually get to see Buffy. Last night I just happened to be home, so I watched. In the end, I think I’m going to have to adapt my theory on Star Trek to fit Buffy too…”even mediocre Buffy is better than the alternative”
As an aside (and the real reason I’m speaking up at all), rumor has it that Xander may just be jumping ship to Angel after Buffy concludes. The last rumor I heard was a few days ago, so it may have been debunked already…don’t really know. However, if it’s true, then my guess would be that he’s NOT trying to restart the Watchers. (BTW, has anyone ever paralled the Watchers from Buffy, and the ones from the Highlander series?)
Yes, Dawn thought she was a potential…but she also knew she was not at Slayer levels of strength and skill no matter what. And even Buffy rarely goes up against a generic vamp without some sort of weapon…and if she does, she quickly improvises one from what’s at hand. I reiterate that Dawn was brain-numbingly stupid to knowingly and with multiple minutes of premediation while *not* in a crisis situation walk into a locked room containing a hostile vampire without *any* attempt to arm herself with a pointy piece of wood first.
I think Buffy was using the “my death” speech to avoid mentiong her death(s)/Kendra’s death/Faith’s going bad to the already nervous SIT.
I found this site a few days ago. It has massive ammounts of information and it has a quote from Joss saying Buffy’s death will not activate another Slayer.
http://www.atpobtvs.com
All this talk about Giles possibly being the First because he hasn’t touched anything has prompted me to post this:
I was watching the 3rd season of Buffy on DVD recently and got to the episode “Amends”. What surprised me in this episode was the fact that The First was able to make physical contact with people. It has been stated this season that it is not able to do that, but in “Amends” there are several scenes where, as Jenny, it caresses Angel while speaking to him.
The reason this surprised me so, is that everyone at ME has always been very careful about continuity and this seems such a glaring mistake. Especially since they have made such a big deal out of how The First cannot touch anyone this season.
Any thoughts?
Actually, he leapt FROM a tall building… which bothered me until I thought about it a bit more and realised this was brilliant. If he had jumped from the ground to the roof – leapt a tall building in a single bound – we would have had horrible Six Million Dollar Man flashbacks. There really isn’t all that much interest in going UP. Coming down, sure, and here going across was great. The only nagging problem I have is why someone who is invulnerable is afraid of heights? Something left over from when he plunged to Earth in his spaceship, perhaps?
As for Whitney, let’s hope he’s dead. He and the monster-of-the-week are always the weak points of the show.
And good point, Tom. Did Martha see a holographic presentation by Jor-El – and discover that his plans for Kal on Earth aren’t as benevolent as the comic book Jor-El (in my head I’ve always seen Jor-El expecting Clark to remake the world in Krypton’s image with himself as King). I might want to keep that from my son as well. OR were the race memories intended for implantation into Clark implanted on her instead???? Though, to be fair, whatever the secret is, Ryan agreed with her keeping it and wasn’t to freaked out about it…
Don’t watch Buffy so I can’t comment… but, I love SMALLVILLE.
PAD, why don’t you talk about this show more often?
Also, I was a little shocked by the hiding of the disk bit… Something tells me that in a couple of episodes it isn’t going to be in the flour jar anymore. I don’t remember the Ryan episode. What did he say to Martha?
Also, the refined meteor rocks was amazing… Somehow I think that Lionel is no longer blind or has partial sight. He knows something that he isn’t telling people as evidenced by the contents of the office safe. Perrhaps he wants to make Clark into his errand boy?
Well, can’t wait till next week when Lionel gets shot.
Personally I think that there’s a “Problems with Buffy” bandwagon and everyone seems to be jumping on just for the company. Though it’s been said a thousand times, here we go, Dawn ran to kill the vamp without help or weapons because 1.) Despite being scared that she (thought) she was a potential the truth is that the idea wasn’t merely appealing, but it was empowering. 2.) She’s a teenager, teenagers are impulsive and in Dawn’s case, feels the need to prove herself. 3.) Dawn has in the past shown that she doesn’t always think before she acts. Regarding the Buffy finding Spike thing, in a previous episode they found where Spike was, I forget how, but said that they couldn’t rescue him with the Ubervamp running around and guarding the cave. So when she finally killed him, she went straight there and rescued Spike. It’s not that Buffy didn’t KNOW about Spikes wounds when she sat on top of him, it’s just that when he complained she wanted to look at them to probably try to help. Boys just don’t take care of themselves. I don’t know what, if anything is going on with Spikes chip, but personally I didn’t really think the whole arm twist thing looked painful or serious. I thought the whole, Dawn is the new potential thing was just too easy, so I’m glad it turned out to be not true. But I think it’s not a dead subject. If they keep the show going without Buffy then I think Dawn will probably be the next Slayer. As far as the past couple seasons being not as good as before, I think it’s not that they aren’t as good, but that they are just different. Look at what all has happened to Buffy and her pals since high school. Tons of deaths, broken hearts, non stop evil threats, a sister that came from no where, change of sexual preferences, mom dies, evil best friend, watcher moves to another country, Slayer has to find a job, boy vamp takes up unhealthy love obsession with slayer, rape attempt, slayer dies a few times then gets brought back to life a few times and on and on. I mean, not only is Buffy the slayer, she’s practically a mother with a house to run. It’s understanable that Buffy and gang aren’t as funny as they used to be. They’re now adults with responsibilities who just lead way hard lives. I think the show is still rocking, it’s just got a different feel to it right now. You kind of have to evolve with the show in order to appreciate it. Hëll last season I practically cried at the end of every episode and the seasons before I couldn’t stop laughing. I think by the end of this season, all of these things that are quesionable will work themselves out.
Re: Slayer succession —
I almost see Buffy as being a “post-Slayer.” Faith is the Slayer, but by a fluke, Buffy’s still breathing. That’s a good thing, since the Slayer is in prison. Buffy kept her powers, and maybe that power being spread too thin is what allowed the First to come back.
Xander would make an interesting Watcher, but I think Dawn is more likely to take on the role. It would be odd to see a Slayer and a Watcher be about the same age… or, if they could get Eliza Dushku back for a season or two, have a Slayer be older than the Watcher.
Re: Smallville —
Someone made the comment that Pa Kent is pushing Lex toward his destiny almost as much as Lionel is, by never believing in him. I can see that. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy — “If they’re going to believe I’m evil no matter what I do, I might as well be a villain.”
I can also see Clark one day realizing that Pa was right all along about Lex. It’s going to happen. I just can’t shake the feeling that Chloe’s lifeless body will be cradled in his arms when he has this realization.
Oh, and it’s a shame more of the anti-gay crusaders don’t read comic books. It would’ve been amusing to watch them lobbying for a boycott of the WB for “forcing lesbians into our homes” by having Maggie Sawyer show up in this episode. 🙂
*hits head*
I didn’t even catch that Maggie Sawyer was the police officer in Metropolis. Nice reference to DC continuity!
(On the other hand, isn’t Maggie in Gotham these days?)
YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!
Every week I come to this blog hoping to see PAD talk about Smallville, and every week he talks about Buffy instead! I was worried that he didn’t even *watch* Smallville, which was killing me.
So consider this another vote for the weekly Buffy chit/chat to become Smallville chit/chat instead… or at lesat split it up as was done this week!
I don’t have much to add myself about this week’s episode since everybody’s said it all. But I’ve been enjoying reading it. Whoever it was who first brought up the possiblity that Martha saw something that frightened her when the ship powered up… thank you! I was wracking my brains trying to figure out why she was hiding the disc, and what — if anything — this had to do with Ryan’s words about her “secret”… and that makes perfect sense as an explanation!
And yeah, Jonathan really *is* doing his best to make Lex become a bad guy, ain’t he? Sure, he had a point when it came to Martha blowing off the anniversary, but as was said… the Lex thing is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Reminds me of when the savage Hulk used to say, “Everyone calls Hulk a monster! Fine! Hulk will start *acting* like a monster!”
(This was of course in the days before PAD came along and completely ruined the Hulk by making him gray and crafty…)
On the other hand, Jonathan isn’t completely wrong about Lex. Lex was probing into Clark’s powers in the first season, and now he almost got Martha killed.
Ah… what a great show.
Jason
(P.S. About the “ruining the Hulk” thing… gotcha!)
Why is we expect fictional characters to be omniscient? Anytime a person says something in fiction, we assume they are saying the absolute truth, unless we have reason to believe they are intentionally lying. Real people make mistakes, and often state things as fact when then they’re actually mis-informed. Why can’t fictional characters do the same?
It’s been stated on the show that what happened with Buffy and there being two Slayers has never happened before. As such, there’s no way for Buffy or the Scoobies to know whether or not Buffy dying multiple times would trigger a new Slayer or not. The fact that no one seems to have been called by Buffy’s second death, and Joss’ comments that the line runs through Faith now makes pretty clear evidence to we the audience that Buffy’s death won’t call a new Slayer.
The Scoobies don’t seem to know this. Remember, after Buffy died, they had to deal with not only the loss of a friend, but trying to keep up the fiction that she was still alive and battle the hordes of baddies, it’s unlikely they had time to wonder where the new Slayer was.
Buffy may or may not know whether or not she is part of the line anymore. Perhaps she was speaking the truth as she knows it to the SiTs. Perhaps, as others have suggested, she was simplifying for a group of scared and nervous girls who don’t need to know that there’s another Slayer who went psychotic and is now serving jailtime for murder that’s really the one who has to die in order for one of them to be called. (Wow, that sentence was a mouthfull*g*.)
As far as the First touching Angel in “Ammends” I see that more as a mental sensation on Angel’s part, rather than the First actually taking physical form. Note that no one but Angel saw the First in that episode until Buffy confronted it in its cave. She was messing with his head, and as such could make him feel like he was being touched. Or it could be the Harbringers doing their chanting thing let the First touch him.
As far as the uber-vamp is concerned, I think any “unkillable” statements were characters exaggerating, as real people tend to do, in the face of a grim situation. I don’t recall Giles ever calling it unkillable, just very powerful. Though beheading really seems be the fall-back solution to any “unkillable” monster. (Barring that one demon on Angel. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m holding your head!” Great scene, that.*g*)
All in all, I agree that the most recent seasons haven’t been as good as earlier ones, but I’ve still be entertained this season.
As far as Smallville goes, great stuff. Though I too wondered where Pete and Chloe were (though I guess I’d rather not have them than the obviously-tacked on token scenes with them in some episodes) and Martha hiding the disk worries me as well. I’m really wondering if next episode is going to be the breaking point between Clark and Lex. (And I think whoever writes the previews for Smallville should be shot. How many times have we been told “Lex goes evil” or “Clark’s secrets are revealed”? I’ve honestly lost count.*g*)
My guess is that the big problem came from the first time Buffy died, when the Master bit her and dumped her in the pool of water. After that, there were two Slayers. When there’s supposed to be one. Anomaly. Not good.
I think that this is the problem, too — the first death, not the second. We had too much angst over the second death last season, it would be much better if the problem has been going on for 6 years instead of just one.
Perhaps what they need to fix it is to consolidate the slayer power into one person? (Buffy, Faith or Other?) Perhaps that is why the First tried to get Willow to kill herself — perhaps Willow will be able to, through magic, perform whatever spell it is so that there is only one slayer again.
It would be very interesting if we find out that the slayer is supposed to be twice as powerful as Buffy/Faith are now — and that is because their power is split somehow. What would be the consequences of that kind of boost of power?
Now, of course Buffy was the only slayer the first season, so she would have had all of the slayer power at that time (no split) but she was also a very young, very new slayer who hadn’t reached her full potential or full power. It has been obvious that she has gotten stronger and smarter over the years — if she had Full Slayer Power (assuming there is such a thing) what would that mean?
It is nice to see that there’s still so much interest in BTVS. I gave up on the show during season four, but am always pleased to see it retains its ability to keep the audience guessing. I find Gilmore Girls far more entertaining than I ever found Buffy, and it’s a great lead-in to Smallville, which, as everyone has agreed, really rocked this week.
Didn’t the Daily Planet building look absolutely superb?
I can also see Clark one day realizing that Pa was right all along about Lex. It’s going to happen.
Oh, Jonathan is right about Lex. But the fascinating thing is, so is Clark.
There’s only one drawback about “Smallville”–it can’t possibly segue into the Superman we all know.
Why? Because in the original comics, Lex and Clark knew each other in their youth, yes. But the Clark with glasses/Superboy dual identity was already in place.
In the world of “Smallville,” the first time an adult Lex sees Superman close up, he’s going to say, “Clark…what’s with the tights?”
At the *very* least, the “Smallville Universe” Superman better wear a mask.
Notice how Clark always sports primary colors of blue and red? I love that.
PAD