The Mega-Super-Ultra Buffy/Angel Episode Guide

[anais.jude]

I'm not  abig fan of season 1. I wasn't hooked on the show until prophecy girl. I will be back to discuss when fearless leader gets to it.

[Ortega]

For the time being, instead of writing a summary, i'll just post the actual episode from Hulu.com

Episode 103 - The Witch

http://www.hulu.com/watch/88/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-the-witch#x-0,vepisode,1

My Review:

  The first non-vampire story of Buffy.  Interesting, yet kind of hacknyed.  Being a male, i guess i don;t get the whole cheerleading thing, but we see here that Whedon is pretty much making the case of "High School is Hell", and a school on top of a hellmouth pretty much makes that statement a literal fact.  I could have done without the Party Jam '96 music.  Anyway, a decent episode, but nothing to write home about ( or write on a message board for that matter), and the only thing of big importance is the introduction of Amy, who will in voluntarily become a rat in Season 3, facilitate Willow's decent into darkness in season 6, and go all Lizzy Borden in Season 8.

Again, not yet have I been won over yet, and at this point, i'm still not exactly hooked.

[Ortega]

Hulu Episode

http://www.hulu.com/watch/57/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-teachers-pet#x-0,vepisode,1

Episode 104 - Teacher's Pet

One evening at The Bronze, Xander suavely saves the Slayer from a menacing vamp, then mounts the stage to play his guitar solo and "kiss her like she has never been kissed before." He is rudely awakened from this beautiful dream to find himself stuck in the hell known as biology class, and Dr. Gregory is about to call on him.

The only teacher who believes in Buffy, Dr. Gregory, is killed by a monster. The substitute teacher, Natalie French, turns every boy's head, and seems to have a thing about insects, especially the praying mantis. Buffy and Willow just roll their eyes.

Angel shows up at the Bronze, warns Buffy that somebody wants to rip her throat out, gives her his jacket, and vanishes again.Buffy's attraction to Angel becomes apparent when she wears his jacket at school. Cordelia finds the headless body of Dr. Gregory in the cafeteria locker. The Scoobies try to figure out if there is a connection to the Master, but don't rule out that there is a second monster about. Buffy goes into the park and confronts a vampire who has a large claw in place of a right hand. The fight is interrupted by the police, and the vampire flees. While in pursuit, she sees the vampire come up behind Miss French, who just stares at him. To Buffy's surprise, the vampire bolts in panic.

The next day, Buffy is sent to a counselor to help her get over seeing the dead body. This makes her late for the surprise test that Miss French gives the class — a test where she helps Xander with a question. Buffy looks through the window in the door, and Miss French turns her head 180 degrees to look at her. Later, Miss French asks Xander over to her house in the evening to work on a project.

Back in the library, Buffy figures that Miss French must be a praying mantis, and convinces the others. Buffy tries to warn Xander, but he brushes her off, saying that she is just jealous.

Miss French welcomes Xander with a drink, a fire in the fireplace, and a tight dress. The drink knocks him out just when she turns into an insect. Xander wakes up in a cage next to another student who tells him how she mates — deadly. Willow calls Xander's mother and finds out that he isn't home. Buffy gets Giles to record bat sonar, while Miss French chooses Xander to be her next victim. When the remaining Scoobies visit the house where Miss French is supposed to live, they find a nice old woman who is the real Ms. French, but retired in 1972. To quickly find Xander, Buffy tracks the one-handed vampire, who is so scared of the she-mantis that he knows just which house is the right one. Buffy breaks through the window when the mantis is about to mate with Xander. She slays the insect, using the bat sonar to weaken it.

Buffy, in Angel's jacket, later meets him at the Bronze. He tells her to keep it, and Buffy is obviously smitten. The last scene shows Buffy putting Dr. Gregory's glasses in his closet, but not noticing that there are she-mantis eggs attached to the bottom of a shelf.

My Review:

                Semi-decent episode.  Not all that great, but nothing to get excited about.  Here we see Xander begin his bad luck luck of being a demon magnet.  Again, the writers are still trying to hide Angel's identity, and i still want to punch him.   Though i will say that here you see the core group of the Scoobies start to gel.  I'm not hooked, but i'm interested enough to continue.

[Ortega]

Sorry i've been remiss on this little project, personal things and whatnot got in the way, but back to it, and possibly an episode a day.

Hulu Episode Link

http://www.hulu.com/watch/70/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-never-kill-a-boy-on-the-first-date

Episode 105 - Never Kill a Boy On the First Date

The Master reveals a ancient prophecy about an Anointed One, a great warrior of the Master, who the Slayer will not know, but will lead her into Hell"

Buffy finally gets a date—sensitive hunk Owen shows an interest in her. To Giles' exasperation, all Buffy can think about is impressing him with an uncharacteristic interest in the American poet Emily Dickinson. In the school cafeteria, Buffy has to fight off Cordelia to sit at one table with Owen, but it is worth it. He asks Buffy out on a date to The Bronze that very evening.

However, Giles has found out about the prophecy from the symbol on a ring they found in the cemetery. He is convinced that the Anointed One will rise that night, and so despite Buffy's protests, they spend hours sitting on graves waiting for a vampire to rise. None does, however, and though Giles is certain that his calculations are correct, he calls their stakeless stake-out quits. Buffy rushes to The Bronze, only to see Owen dancing with Cordelia. Crushed, she leaves without trying to talk to him.

At the same time, in a bus on the way to Sunnydale, a man stands up and begins to lecture the other passengers on God's judgment, quoting prophecies. Suddenly, a vampire walks in front of the bus, causing it to crash. Other vampires swarm the wreck, attacking the passengers, including the religious man.

The next morning, Owen asks Buffy out on another date that night and even gives her a pocket-watch so that she doesn't miss it this time. Buffy jumps at the opportunity, while Xander is left to stew in his jealousy.

When evening comes, Giles shows up at Buffy's house, waving a newspaper that shows five people died when the bus crashed, among them the suspected murderer Andrew Borba, the man who was quoting prophecies. Buffy insists on going to the Bronze, though, so Giles decides to check the Sunnydale funeral home himself. Unfortunately, there are vampires present to get the Anointed One, and they trap Giles in a room. Xander and Willow have followed him, though, and run back to The Bronze to get Buffy.

There, first Cordelia, then Angel tries to come in between Buffy and Owen. Finally, Xander and Willow managed to get her to come to the funeral home by pretending to be a couple that wants to do something daring on a double date. When Buffy figures out what has happened, she tries to dump Owen, but unfortunately, he tags along. Even worse, he is present in the funeral home when Borba rises as a vampire. In the fight, Owen is knocked unconscious. Buffy, angry that he has "killed [her] date," kills Borba by sliding him into the furnace while still alive, or rather, still undead.

The next morning, Owen is extremely excited about what they have been through and wants more — this is what he likes about Buffy, he says, and almost being killed made him feel alive. She realizes that there is no way that she can have a relationship with him; sooner or later, he will get himself killed. With a heavy heart, she breaks up with him.

Giles tries to comfort her by telling her what a burden it was for him as a ten-year-old to find out his destiny was to be a watcher when he would rather have been a fighter pilot — or possibly a grocer. Both agree that at least the Master will be unhappy, too, because the Anointed One was destroyed.

But in his underground lair, the Master is overjoyed as he welcomes the real Anointed One — not Borba after all, but a young boy who was on the bus with him.

My Comments

  All right, good episode, with vampires in our Vampire Show.  Though, i thought Borba as the generic Crazy Killer Dude was a bit cliched.  An a nice bit of character development for Buffy, with the realization that due to her "occupation", she really won't have what could be considered a normal relationship.  I thought , even though i really hated Xander's infatuation with Buffy a bit tiresome, that the scene in Buffy's room as she's trying on clothes for the date was classic Xander." .......You're not bothering me..." .  And i enjoyed the scene in the Bronze when Angel, and then Xander and Willow try to ram it into Buffy's thick skull that it's slayerin' time, without letting the other person in on her secret. 

Overall, enjoyable episode, and i want to punch Angel a bit less.  At this point, the show is starting to grow on me a bit, but i'm not exactly won over yet.

[anais.jude]

I find we are similair on our Buffy season 1 tastes. More please!

[Ortega]

Hulu Episode Link

http://www.hulu.com/watch/73/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-the-pack

Episode 106 -  The Pack

It's a terrific day to be out of school, except that Buffy and her Sunnydale High classmates are technically on a field trip to the zoo. A gang of four kids taunt and terrorize other students, and when one boy does not have the courage to tell Principal Flutie what they have done to him, they "reward" him by taking him with them to the Hyena House even though it is under quarantine. Xander follows to help him, whereas Willow and Buffy are stopped by a warden. He warns the two girls that the animals, fresh from Africa, are said to have special powers. They can even call your name.

In the Hyena House, the hyenas take a flashy-eyed look at the gang of four and Xander. Their eyes flash in return. Only the original victim is spared. None of them notice that they have been standing on a magic symbol of some kind.

Xander is now part of the gang, and his behavior has changed: he is insulting, cruel, tends to scratch himself and smell people. Even more ominous, the school's new mascot piglet Herbert tries to flee when it smells Xander. During dodge ball, Xander hits Willow with an excessively hard throw. The game ends with Buffy the last remaining member of her team and Xander, the gang of four and the victim from the Hyena House on the other side. Instead of attacking Buffy, the pack goes for the boy until Buffy steps in. Later, Xander tells Willow in front of the laughing gang that he won't be needing her help any more and is happy he won't have to look in her pasty face ever again. Buffy watches the exchange, but when she confronts him, Xander walks off with the other four, still laughing. Guided by their noses, the five pay a visit to Herbert's cage. Xander suggests lunch and the piglet squeals in terror.

Giles shows no inclination to believe anything is wrong with Xander except that he is a 16-year-old boy. His attitude changes when Herbert is found, eaten. After checking his books, Giles warns that they could be dealing with a case of possession. Buffy runs to find Xander, and finds the piglet's cage totally demolished. Xander jumps Buffy, pins her to the floor and tries to assault her sexually and he asks Buffy if she like Angel more than him. Buffy knocks him unconscious with a desk and locks him in the book cage in the library.

When Principal Flutie finds his pig dead, he knows that the original gang of four are involved and calls them into his office. There, they kill and eat him.

Returning from a teacher's meeting to the library, Giles tells Willow and Buffy about what happened to Principal Flutie. Giles and Buffy go see the zoo warden who tells them that he is not surprised by the possession and knows about the magic involved, but is not sure how the students were affected: he hasn't been able to figure out the ritual. Giles supplies the missing information: a predatory act is required, like when the original four students tormented the boy.

Meanwhile, in the library, Xander tries to sweet-talk his way out of the book cage, but Willow sees through his ruse. The other four pack members break into the library, free Xander, and then all five hunt Willow through the corridors of the school. Cornered in a class room, she is rescued by Buffy and Giles. The five turn away from Buffy, and find an easier target, a family in a car. Buffy drives them off there, too, and offering herself as bait, lures them back to the Hyena House where the warden in full war paint is supposed to perform a reverse of the possession spell with Giles' help. Giles realizes that the warden had tried to call the power for himself, but couldn't figure out how until he learned about the predatory act from Giles. The warden knocks Giles unconscious.

Willow reaches the Hyena House before Buffy, and the warden ties her up and puts a knife to her throat, telling her it is the "predatory act" that will trigger the ritual and save the boys. Buffy arrives with the others close behind, and stops in when she sees Willow in peril. The pursuing pack knocks her down, and the warden uses this predatory act to shout a spell that pulls the animal spirits from the five students into himself. His eyes flash and he tries to bite Willow. Xander, freed of the spell, sees Willow in danger and tackles the warden. In the fight, Buffy knocks the warden into the hyenas' pen, where he is eaten. The gang of four flee. When everything is over, Giles staggers in.

The next day, Xander tells Willow and Buffy he does not remember anything, and they shrug the whole episode off with a smile. Giles, walking up to him from behind, points out that he cannot remember reading anything about memory loss during possession in his books, but promises to keep the embarrassed Xander's secret.

My Review:

Dumb Episode Alert!..I REPEAT: DUMB EPISODE ALERT!!  This is not a drill, people, We are at moronic Defcon 5.  MOVE YOUR ASSES!!

Seriously, there's so much going wrong with this episode, starting with the "bully" gang.  Now i'll admit i was very much a nerd in school, and i've endured my fair share of taunting from fellow students, and i have to say, the caliber of bullies in Sunnydale High are quite low indeed.  Not one thing about them was threatening or intimidating.  Its like the runway models at an Isaac Mizrahi show decided to go to High School and taunt the freshman.  Also, Xander is many things, but what he isn't, is intimidating.  Every time He, and the other members of the Hyena Demon Spirit Gang came on screen acting all....Hyena-y.. i couldn't suppress the laughter.  And that's another thing, HYENA DEMONS???  REALLY??  Taking a look at the credits for this epi., it seems that This was another episode not written by Joss, and it fuckin' shows.  Throughout Season 1, we'll be subjected to this low-grade X-Files bullshit a few times. so steel yourself for them.  And who didn't see the Zoo Keeper being the dastardly villain coming a mile away. 

Overall, stupid episode, and the only reason to watch it, is to see Prinicpal Flutie get eaten, which will make way for Principal Snyder.  Played by the unforgettable Armin Shimmerman(QUARK!!!!)  I swear, even without the makeup, he still looks like a Ferengi.

[Ortega]

Question for the two or three people keeping tabs on this thread:  Since there are Hulu episodes available for Season 1-3, should i bother with a plot synopsis, or just get straight to the review?

[Tripe]

Hmm assuming the others keeping tabs are like me then we already know the synopses.

I like reading them but if you wanted to skip them I suppose you could do that

[Ortega]

i suppose i'll keep them, or possibly keep them spoiler'd.  I hate taking up all that space.

[Drusilla]

I think I'll wait for the season 2 reviews... not that season one didn't have some charm.. after all it got me hooked, but season 2 is when the series began to ramp up.

[anais.jude]

I don't need the synopsi

[TeamRAD]

Question for the two or three people keeping tabs on this thread:  Since there are Hulu episodes available for Season 1-3, should i bother with a plot synopsis, or just get straight to the review?

Straight to the review, Preacher-man! 

I'll jump in when "Prophecy Girl" rolls around and claim residency within the thread from then on out.

[Ortega]

OK...since i'm providing the Hulu links, i'm forgoing Synopsi for a while.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/69/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-angel

Episode 107 - Angel

  "Hey!  I wonder what this episode is about?"

   In all seriousness, this was a very good episode.  It finally does away with all the Mysterious Guy crap, and lays it out on the line.  Out of the entire group, Xander is probably the only person who had a responsible and realistic reaction to the big reveal.( Kill Him!.....Or punch him then Kill him!)  Understand that my initial reaction of wanting to punch Angel in the face was that he had no weight behind the mysterious brooding.  He was just another asshole in black clothes, with "nancy boy hair gel"  and a permanent scowl.  The revelation that he's a vampire, and used to be one of the worst, actually gives the character a bit of emotional weight. and therefore i no longer want to punch him.  Its too bad that we get another appearance of Darla, portrayed by the delectable Julie Benz, only to have her staked at the end of the episode( but don't worry, She'll be back.)  Now, again, me being male, maybe i don't understand the whole bad boy attraction, but after Buffy found that Angel used to be a kill crazy vampire, she still contemplated dating him.  Look, i found Darla to be pretty damn hot(and the addition of the catholic school outfit, sizzle-sizzle), but once i find out she has a kill count number bigger than  a phone book, that's pretty much a deal breaker, Soul or No Soul.   And i found Darla whipping out the pistols to be a bit cliche, and a bit cheap, and it seemed the only reason she shot Angel was to show to the audience what a bullet does to a Vampire: "Bullets don't kill vampires, but they hurt a hell of a lot."(Though later in the fourth season of Angel, he says that a gunshot felt like a bee-sting, but that's just me being a bit nerdy.

Anyway, a very good episode.  It finally delves into the mythos of the show, adds a bit of a twist to stated facts, and is overall entertaining.  At this point in the experiment, I'm actually engaged in the story, and i feel the need to keep watching.   Too bad, the next episode is a huge headslapper........

[Ortega]

Since the Mafia game is over(for me at least), i think this pic is a good choice for an avatar for this thread:

[Drusilla]

I remember when that episode first aired and everyone wanted to know what the big secret behind Angel was... to me it was obvious "Vampire duh." Seriously in a universe where vampires exist and we never see the guy in daylight really not much of a stretch. Aside from that I'm going to have to agree that it was a very well done episode, and I shudder to think about what would have happened to Buffy if was aired on the Fox network.
I also don't understand the appeal of Angel, but I get the bad boy thing. Spike was more my guy, and I found that he had more going for him as a character than Angel, imo.
Can't wait for more reviews.