I’ve been watching this string of episodes – second half of season three, first half of season four – while in Jersey watching my brothers while my parents are on vacation. My almost-fourteen-year-old brother Luke is watching with me. In some ways he’s a much better BtVS-viewing partner than either of my parents or my boyfriend were. He asks too many questions but genuinely seems to like the show a lot, while my dad and my boyfriend each liked maybe half of the episodes, and my mom liked “The Pack” and only “The Pack.” So far he says that Buffy’s his favorite character, and Spike and Willow are tied for second. Boy’s got good taste.


S4 means no more Angel! Yay! I love the guy, but NOT as Buffy’s boyfriend.
It also means no more Cordelia. Boooooooo.

The Freshman: The high points are the Monet/Klimt tallies, Xander’s Dadaist pep talk, and, “Are we gonna fight, or are we just gonna have a monster sarcasm rally?” I truly adore that line. The rest? I fell asleep.

Living Conditions: I think this episode is funny but in a very un-Buffy way. I feel like I’m watching some supernatural sitcom that just happens to also star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Kathy should’ve stayed on the show – having a demon roommate who’s not into killing and really just wants to go to college would’ve been interesting, since this season attempts to explore issues relating to demons and their supposedly black-and-white evil nature.

The Harsh Light of Day: All men just want one thing and women are their victims. Victims of sex. Except for Spike being hot as hell, I have to give this one a mighty *Yawn.* I’m feeling Anya, but not Xander/Anya. Oh, and it’s always fun to watch Buffy and Spike having sex with each other fighting each other. Notice how the campus, packed with students, is all of a sudden vacant of students once they start to fight? Kind of a metaphor for their relationship – when they’re interacting with one another, the rest of the world ceases to exist. It’s beautiful, really.

Fear, Itself: Very funny and effectively creepy. I like it. It’s even better in hindsight; Buffy may be able to squish the fear demon underneath her foot, but all the characters’ fears that manifested come back to get them later on. With Oz, it’s in two episodes, and Buffy, Willow, and Xander all have to deal with fears of abandonment, inadequacy, and invisibility for the rest of the series. And can I just say that I *love* Aly as bratty, jealous Willow. “We found the stairs! *Buffy* didn’t find the stairs, no sir!”

Beer Bad: You know, I really don’t think this one is very funny. People have proudly declared that their unpopular BtVS opinion is that they LOVE “Beer Bad,” and I’ve heard it so often that I really think disliking it is the unpopular opinion. I don’t dislike it, and I laugh at certain points, particularly at “Nothing can defeat the penis!” But if I have to pick an ep where people act silly because of magical properties in something they ate/drank, I’ll take “Band Candy” over “Beer Bad” any day. Oh well. At least Xander gets three great lines – the aforementioned penis one, “Excuse me, Mr. I spent the sixities in an electric Kool-Aid funky Satan groove,” and “That’ll give them the time to ponder the geopolitical ramifications of being mean to me!” Oh, and I think Buffy thumping her chest and saying, “Buffy strong!” is completely adorable, and I love that she has hero fantasies that involve saving the lives of the men she likes. So there are quite a few moments that amuse me, but overall I find it dull.

Wild at Heart: Oz’s taste in women has gone DOWN. Veruca sucks. Really good performances from Seth and Aly, though. I’m going to pay close attention to pinpoint when Aly becomes a congested mouth-breather because her acting in early S4 is good.

The Initiative: People have pointed out the Riley/Spike parallels before, so I won’t comment on that except to say that I get absolutely giddy when Riley doesn’t recognize Buffy in the dorm hallway but Spike totally does. Willow and Riley are also adorable together and so should have hooked up. Riley can’t be in a relationship with a woman who’s physically stronger than he is, as we’ll soon see, but I think he could handle, even enjoy, being with a woman who’s his intellectual superior. Actually, Riley might do the impossible and interest me in this rewatch; he’s giving me thoughts about the nature of chivalry and “gentleman”-like behavior and prescribed gender roles. Oh, and Xander and Harmony’s slap-fight doesn’t in of itself bother me – I think it’s a pretty funny parody unlike a certain ZEPPO – but the string of humiliating moments for Xander is hard for me to handle.

Pangs: Oh, poor Angel, I am so feeling your pain about stalking Buffy. I’m glad you’re hiding to keep from “distracting” her, because she’s such a silly overemotional little girl. I love that both Giles and Willow call him on his behavior, and annoyed that they both eventually agree to keep Angel’s presence a secret from her. It’s rather fitting that Xander, always the most honest about his feelings for Angel (*too* honest), is the one to spill the beans. Oh yeah, and there was also Thanksgiving.

Something Blue: Tee hee. Aww, JM and SMG are clearly having so much fun. I'm also smiling at the memory of watching this show with my boyfriend; I think he laughed for about five minutes at, "Stop whatever you're doing - you smell like fruit roll-ups." Anyway, I used to get super-annoyed with Willow for moaning and whining all over the place, but then I remember how I acted after I got dumped by my college boyfriend after going out for a total of five weeks, how obnoxiously upset I was, and Willow's starting to look like the picture of stability and rationality in comparison, so...yeah. Then again, I never complained that my friends weren't being good enough listeners or that people weren't understanding my pain, nor did I cast a spell that fucked all my friends up, so there's also that. Basically, I think the show does a really good job of portraying breakups and how they affect people's friends - you feel bad for the other person, you can listen to them endlessly up to a point, but then you reach the breaking point where oh my GOD if she mentions Oz/Parker/Angel ONE MORE TIME I'm going to get stabby.

Hush: I’m always intrigued by Tara the first time I see her. I wonder how long I’ll like her this time around. As for Buffy/Riley, I like their first kiss a lot – fitting that they can have chemistry as long as there’s no actual talking between them.

Doomed: My brother, after watching the second scene in which Riley and Buffy talk and he makes all these assumptions about her life: “He’s disrespecting her. He doesn’t even know what she does or what being the Slayer means.” *sniff* I am just SO proud of him. (None of my viewing partners have commented on that before, but to be fair, my dad's eyes glazed over anytime Riley was onscreen, and my guy...I couldn't subject him to this episode or the goodbye in iowa, I love him too much). In other news, the scene between Willow and Percy used to just annoy me, but knowing that the writers were actually considering making him Willow’s next love interest and didn’t…well, I mourn for the possibilities.





Now I'm sad. "A New Man" is a delight, but The I in Goodbye Iowa is coming up and I don't waaana waaatch it.