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shapinglightOn with the re-watch, and today it was a good one.
Never Kill a Boy on the First Date might have one of the most unwieldy titles in the history of TV episode titles but it's a good episode and lots of fun too. We learn loads more about Buffy herself, though admittedly some of that is with the benefit of hindsight. We also see further developments in the Giles/ Buffy relationship.
As far as the plot itself goes, it's an arc episode, since it contains the Master and his band of not very merry vampire religious fanatics (they're like a bunch of born again anti-Christians, and Andrew Borba would've been a perfect recruit if he'd survived his encounter with Buffy). The vampire minions may still be very annoying but the Master himself has lightened up a little, though he still hasn't quite found his wicked sense of humour – and though the episode advances the season arc nicely, I still found myself wishing Spike and Dru would hurry up and arrive.
The mislead with Borba/Colin the Anointed One is clever and the scenes in the funeral home are fun. Giles has some spectacularly good lines and Buffy still looks very pretty and sweet, though her little-girl mini-dresses are awful! Joyce, what were you thinking?!!!
Angel is still mostly in cryptic mode, though he does snap out of it at one point when Buffy introduces Owen as her date. The look Angel gives Owen (and that actor is wa-ay too old to be a schoolboy) manages to be not just jealous but quite threatening. With hindsight, we (or I) can almost hear Angel saying, there was a time I used to eat little boys like you for breakfast. However, then he spoils it by just looking dumb – and why on earth doesn't he go and help Buffy this time? I guess we have to assume Angel really is that scared of the Master.
Xander's crush is still ongoing, and still irritating, but not as bad as in Teacher's Pet, and Willow is just cute.
As usual in BtVS, the best part of the episode is the interaction between the characters and what we learn about our heroine, here through the medium of her brief relationship with Owen. On the face of it, it's hard to understand what Buffy sees in Owen (and even harder to see what Cordelia sees in him, unless it's just that he's good-looking and he's a challenge because he's not interested in her). He really doesn't seem like her type. He's broody, he's morbid, he keeps himself to himself – hmm, who does that remind me of?
Okay, so I guess with hindsight, we can see that Buffy is attracted to mysterious, handsome older boys who don't have any friends. In other words, like many teenage girls, she loves the romantic broody stereotype, although when she's actually out on a date with Owen, she's obviously bored by his self-absorbed morbidity.
Certainly, compared to Angel, Owen is a safer option if Buffy wants to indulge her inner romantic. However, her attraction to him then meets the brick wall of her Slayerhood, as she realises there is no way she can have a relationship with Owen and keep him safe from harm.
In other words, despite Xander's wishful thinking and attempts to promote himself as a prospective match, she can't date ordinary boys.
This is a hard lesson for Buffy to learn, and her interaction with Giles in this episode all revolves around this realisation. Giles wants her to concentrate on her duty, but in face of her desperate wish to have a normal teenage life, he caves and permits her to go on her date with Owen. In spite of the rather long-sufferingly sarcastic way he talks to her, he's obviously deeply fond of her already and wants her to be happy.
Their last little conversation together where he tells her about his own boyhood wishes for his life (to be a fighter pilot, or possibly a grocer, rather than a Watcher) and how they also came to nothing in face of inescapable duty and then goes on to praise how well she's doing as a Slayer is very sweet.
Poor Buffy – and poor Giles too.
Other stuff
The vampire minions shrinking back from Giles's little crucifix are rather silly, mostly because of the daft growling noises.
Xander's tweetie-pie watch! Heh! Likewise, Willow clocking Owen brooding for forty minutes straight. :Is impressed: That's practically up to Angel standards.
Best lines:
Loads to choose from
Buffy, after Cordelia has barged her out of the way to sit with Owen: Boy, Cordelia's hips are wider than I thought.
Giles: When I said you could slay vampires and have a social life, I didn't mean at the same time.
Never Kill a Boy on the First Date might have one of the most unwieldy titles in the history of TV episode titles but it's a good episode and lots of fun too. We learn loads more about Buffy herself, though admittedly some of that is with the benefit of hindsight. We also see further developments in the Giles/ Buffy relationship.
As far as the plot itself goes, it's an arc episode, since it contains the Master and his band of not very merry vampire religious fanatics (they're like a bunch of born again anti-Christians, and Andrew Borba would've been a perfect recruit if he'd survived his encounter with Buffy). The vampire minions may still be very annoying but the Master himself has lightened up a little, though he still hasn't quite found his wicked sense of humour – and though the episode advances the season arc nicely, I still found myself wishing Spike and Dru would hurry up and arrive.
The mislead with Borba/Colin the Anointed One is clever and the scenes in the funeral home are fun. Giles has some spectacularly good lines and Buffy still looks very pretty and sweet, though her little-girl mini-dresses are awful! Joyce, what were you thinking?!!!
Angel is still mostly in cryptic mode, though he does snap out of it at one point when Buffy introduces Owen as her date. The look Angel gives Owen (and that actor is wa-ay too old to be a schoolboy) manages to be not just jealous but quite threatening. With hindsight, we (or I) can almost hear Angel saying, there was a time I used to eat little boys like you for breakfast. However, then he spoils it by just looking dumb – and why on earth doesn't he go and help Buffy this time? I guess we have to assume Angel really is that scared of the Master.
Xander's crush is still ongoing, and still irritating, but not as bad as in Teacher's Pet, and Willow is just cute.
As usual in BtVS, the best part of the episode is the interaction between the characters and what we learn about our heroine, here through the medium of her brief relationship with Owen. On the face of it, it's hard to understand what Buffy sees in Owen (and even harder to see what Cordelia sees in him, unless it's just that he's good-looking and he's a challenge because he's not interested in her). He really doesn't seem like her type. He's broody, he's morbid, he keeps himself to himself – hmm, who does that remind me of?
Okay, so I guess with hindsight, we can see that Buffy is attracted to mysterious, handsome older boys who don't have any friends. In other words, like many teenage girls, she loves the romantic broody stereotype, although when she's actually out on a date with Owen, she's obviously bored by his self-absorbed morbidity.
Certainly, compared to Angel, Owen is a safer option if Buffy wants to indulge her inner romantic. However, her attraction to him then meets the brick wall of her Slayerhood, as she realises there is no way she can have a relationship with Owen and keep him safe from harm.
In other words, despite Xander's wishful thinking and attempts to promote himself as a prospective match, she can't date ordinary boys.
This is a hard lesson for Buffy to learn, and her interaction with Giles in this episode all revolves around this realisation. Giles wants her to concentrate on her duty, but in face of her desperate wish to have a normal teenage life, he caves and permits her to go on her date with Owen. In spite of the rather long-sufferingly sarcastic way he talks to her, he's obviously deeply fond of her already and wants her to be happy.
Their last little conversation together where he tells her about his own boyhood wishes for his life (to be a fighter pilot, or possibly a grocer, rather than a Watcher) and how they also came to nothing in face of inescapable duty and then goes on to praise how well she's doing as a Slayer is very sweet.
Poor Buffy – and poor Giles too.
Other stuff
The vampire minions shrinking back from Giles's little crucifix are rather silly, mostly because of the daft growling noises.
Xander's tweetie-pie watch! Heh! Likewise, Willow clocking Owen brooding for forty minutes straight. :Is impressed: That's practically up to Angel standards.
Best lines:
Loads to choose from
Buffy, after Cordelia has barged her out of the way to sit with Owen: Boy, Cordelia's hips are wider than I thought.
Giles: When I said you could slay vampires and have a social life, I didn't mean at the same time.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-01 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-01 07:31 pm (UTC)Heh! Especially, given what Darla had taken to wearing.
I still think his fear of the Master seems a little excessive, given how cavalierly he treated him when he didn't have a soul. Maybe they had another encounter after Angel was souled and something nasty happened?
Or maybe Angel just has a healthy fear of religious fanatics?
no subject
Date: 2008-03-02 09:29 pm (UTC)At least, the powerful ones who can fight back. Fighting back just totally messes up his well-known thing for nuns! *eg*
no subject
Date: 2008-03-03 12:55 pm (UTC)Heh! Perfectly true.