This week, it’s the redemption of Riley Finn! He returns to Sunnydale for a mission with his cool new wife, causing Buffy to take a hard look at her life and decide what needs to change. On Angel, we’re sick of this story and the show has a villain problem, but damn is Wesley fantastic, right?
This week, it’s another Buffy birthday episode! She really should have learned to stop trying to celebrate by now. But really, it’s Dawn who needs a celebration, as her feelings of neglect and loneliness lead to the Scoobies getting trapped in the Summers house with a deadly demon…and Clem. On Angel, Gru is in L.A. to woo his princess, but Cordelia fears getting close will cost her the visions she’s fought so hard to keep. And Angel is basically a petty bitch about the whole thing, of course.
It’s a heavy theme this week, as both Buffy and Angel grapple with the idea of consent as men try controlling women through magical means. In Sunnyvale, the Trio’s latest plans lead to murder, and Buffy grapples with her involvement with Spike and her feelings about her resurrection. In L.A., the ballet comes to town Angel discovers the dancers are the same he saw decades ago. The gang uncovers the wizard behind the show, but not before the group rearranges romantically, under spell and for real, with heartbreaking results for Wesley and Angel.
Is “Doublemeat Palace” a terrible episode of TV? Or is it just a weird episode of Buffy? Why is the tone so strange? Why is the pacing so slow? It’s got a horror movie vibe but something just doesn’t work about it for us. In “Provider,” Angel’s quest for money scatters the team and leads to a risky situation for Fred.
This week, Buffy gets a haircut! That’s really what makes this episode memorable, right? Otherwise, we have to remember Buffy acting out of character and everyone basically being terrible, or the cartoon villains that makeup the Trio. Is it working? We aren’t sure. On Angel, its the episode we’ve been expecting for oh, two seasons now, as Cordelia gets made a part demon for her birthday, after seeing what life would be like had she never been given her visions. It’s all a bit rushed but she floats now, so we’ll allow it. Also, Cordelia’s show reel was delightful!
This week, we can’t remember if Allie has ever seen either Aliens or the Aliens episode of Community, but we landed on “maybe.” In Buffy news, we get treated to an after school special on addictive magic use. We like the story, but it’s overt on the nose lessons really don’t work for us. On Angel, we get a slight uptick in quality as our hero adjusts to his first 24 hours of fatherhood while trying to keep the various factions hunting his son at bay. What can we say, we love a twist!
This week, we are talking about “Smashed” on Buffy, a.k.a. the one where Buffy and Spike smash a house. But we don’t have to talk about that. We can talk instead about how cartoonish the Trio seem with their freeze-ray, or the messed up dynamic between Spike and Buffy, or Amy the rat leading Willow even further down her dark path to villainy. And then we can talk about the smashing. On Angel, we have a slight uptick in quality as Darla finally gives birth, and all the different interested parties close in on the gang. Holtz allows Angel a brief respite from the chase and Darla makes the ultimate sacrifice. We disagree on how affecting it is.
We start to confront the idea of Willow as villain this week, as she takes her use of magic to reckless levels in her attempts to keep Tara happy. Hilarity ensues, but also a reckoning for Tara on Willow’s treatment of her. On Angel, we are getting a little tired of the flashbacks, as we know by now that Angel and Darla used to be bad, and unfortunately this episode spends a little too much time making that point yet again. But in the present day, Darla goes into labour and all the demons and lawyers in L.A. are trying to get their hands on the child and find out what his purpose is.
We’re a little out of order this week, talking first about “Offspring” on Angel. Darla finally arrives in L.A. and tells Angel he’s going to be a father, and Holtz arrives in the 21st Century. And that’s enough of that! Because! This week we also FINALLY made it to “Once More With Feeling” so let’s sing about it! There are trash fires in Sunnydale so you know it’s basically one of the best episodes of TV ever? YES. Go forth and enjoy.
This week, we have to talk about Willow. But first, it’s Halloween in Sunnydale! Dawn proves why you should always just stay home and watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Anya is thrilled when Xander finally announces their engagement. And then Willow heads to the dark side. Blerg. On Angel, as usual, the social message is a little hit or miss, but it’s a great Cordelia episode and we feel for Wesley. Poor man just has some bad breaks coming to him.
Adulting, gross!
Ginny’s finally excited to talk about both episodes this week! Is “Life Serial” a nuanced take on toxic masculinity? We think it’s accidental, but it works super well 18 years later! Also, Buffy’s friends should definitely be paying rent, right? On Angel, Fred makes a decision to stay in LA and be part of the team, and we meet her charming parents.
This week on Buffy, Giles puts Willow in her place, Buffy must confront adult responsibilities, and we meet a trio of nerds up to no good. Basically no one seems to be thinking things through very well. On Angel, the gang runs up against an old man eager to relive his younger days, and Angel’s cockiness lands him in an ineffectual position.
This week, we ask the important question for this season: “Am I going to hate Willow?” What we really mean is that, though this Buffy season as a whole tends to get a less than enthusiastic response, man are they really laying some good groundwork here from the very start. On Angel, it’s a real one for the Angel universe as the team must confront their own relationships with each other, and Gunn seems to finally have to choose between his old life and his new one.
This week, Buffy’s friends realize their spell worked, and Buffy has a rough transition from the grave back to life. In LA, Angel and his team must find out what is causing Cordelia’s visions to manifest physically before one kills her.
We talk about the premieres of Season 6 of Buffy and Season 3 of Angel. On both shows, our heroes are dealing with the death of Buffy. The Scoobies go in to dark magics in order to bring back their friend, and Giles makes a choice about where he needs to be. Angel faces down a former friend and wrestles with knowing he survived Buffy’s death, and Fred struggles to venture out of her room. To be fair, she has taco delivery so, why leave?
This season, Buffy and her friends continue to find that growing up isn’t all that easy, and grapple with the aftermath of Buffy’s death and resurrection, Willow’s increasing reliance on and exploration of magic, and shifting relationships. A trio of evil nerds also show up to really show that slayer who the power is in Sunnydale. On Angel, Cordelia wrestles with her increasingly painful visions, Angel deals with surviving Buffy’s death and impending fatherhood, and a vampire hunter from Angel’s past arrives to LA, with dire consequences for the entire Angel Investigations team.
It’s a long one this week, but it’s “The Gift” so we know you’ll forgive us! It’s a treasure trove of metaphors as Buffy makes the ultimate sacrifice and the show grows up. We also chat about getting in the holiday spirit and “There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb,” and it actually has some cool parallels to “The Gift!”
The places are getting set for the finale, but we have timeline questions about Buffy, and Buffy’s reactions and fear in the face of Glory feel a little forced to us, but we are ready to see what it all leads up to, especially after noticing all the ground work being laid for Season 6! On Angel, we love the symbolism of the title for once, as everyone finds out the dark reflection of the Pylea sunshine and princess-making.
This week, we chat the joys of plane travel and Waco, TX, before getting into “Spiral” and “Over the Rainbow”. First up, we seriously question the Knights of Byzantium and whether they detract from the success of Glory as a villain, and discuss Ben’s hard choices and bad decisions. On Angel, we are enjoying watching the gang in the daylight after they all travel to Pylea, though this trip is just getting started.
A lot happens on both shows this week! On Buffy, how much of a father figure is Giles supposed to be? Willow learns the wrong lessons from a fight, and then, Glory finds the wrong key, with bad consequences for Tara. On Angel, as portals open across LA, the gang is struggling to find happiness with their current lots in life, and the Host comes to Angel for help tracking down a demon.
This week, what we did on our Buffy breaks and proper sun care! Meanwhile, Buffy deals with the question of whether she can be the slayer and still love, and we think the show is trying to retcon some questionable writing around Riley’s exit, but overall it opens some questions and themes that will take us into the next season as well. Spike proves his loyalty to Buffy and Dawn, and Glory starts her hunt for a human key. The Buffybot is still gross, but we like her fashion choices! On Angel, we say goodbye to Lindsey for now, and we can start to ship Cordial and Angel.
