PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A SPOILER-RICH ZONE

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A SPOILER-RICH ZONE. If your diet requires you to dine on television spoiler-free ... good luck with that.

REVIEW ARCHIVES

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Well This is Just...Neat





Episode 2.6: Halloween. Original Airdate 10.27.97




"On Halloween, Buffy and her friends patronize an unusual costume shop where customers turn into whatever costume they are wearing."










Zelda's Thoughts:



  • OH THANK GOD A GOOD EPISODE.
  • Ahahaha throwing a gord at the vampire, then a pumpkin = Zelda laughs. I do love me some slapstick.
  • Again, why does Snyder want a juvenile delinquent watching children? What is his deal? This could backfire horribly on him.
  • Hi Larry! Who woulda thought you would get used so much on the show after this episode?
  • "A black eye heals, Buffy, but cowardice has an unlimited shelf life."


  • Buffy and Willow planning to steal Giles's journals is so freaking adorable I could die. "Most importantly, it would be wrong."
  • Also I LOVE Willow's face in the window ======>
  • "Do you stuff your own shirts, or do you send them out?"
  • I love this episode. So cute and funny. UNLIKE FRIKKING REPTILE BOY.
  • Aww Buffy wanting to be a princess. Very sweet.
  • "Still, I think I'd prefer being able to vote."
  • "You're never gonna get noticed if you keep hiding!" = Willow's valuable lesson of the week. Of course, Oz noticed her anyway, so ... that kinda disproves that theory.
  • More evidence that Spike is a modern vampire = having his minions videotape Buffy. Also more evidence that Spike is a stalker.
  • "Do you love my insides? The parts you can't see?" Dru's and Buffy's insecurities are the same.
  • ...Xander has a toy gun in a public school. Xander gets expelled?
  • "Is mister I'm-the-lead-singer-I'm-so-great-I-don't-have-to-show-up-for-my-date-or-even-call gonna be there?" // "Yeah, you know, he's just going by Devon now."
  • ZOMG THE CHILD'S A DEMON. Yay. I love this show:

Child or little person in make-up?  You decide.



  • Xander's onscreen gunswap was pretty well done.
  • Hah. Buffy faints.
  • "She's not Buffy." // "Who's Buffy?" // "Oh, this is fun."
  • Man, I love so many things about this episode. But SMG's attempt at an accent is not one of them.
  • I love it. The dialogue is so sharp in this episode.
  • "Mrs. Summers? Good, she's gone." Of course she's gone. Joyce is never home. [Worst. Mom. Ever. -Blog Gods]
  • Methinks this is the start of Cordelia having a thing for Xander.
  • "Well, this is just ... neat." I love you Spike.
  • Yay it's the Buffy/Xander/Willow picture again!
  • "I'm just meant to look pretty, and then someone nice will marry me. Probably a Baron." It's kind of cute because she's not exactly what a noblewoman of the time would be like, but she's exactly like what Buffy was imagining a girl like that would be like (a princess with no responsibilities) without fully examining the scope of it.
  • So...the vamp who gets into the house is clearly not a real vamp because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to get in without an invite. I hope Angel didn't kill him.
  • OMG Giles's reaction to Willow walking through the wall:
Thanks V for this gif.  Read Coincidence & Leprechauns.  Link is =====>


  • "I'm a ghost!" // "The ghost of what, exactly?"
  • Spike already has new minions ... tiny demon children. Boy works fast.
  • "Hello Ripper." GASP GASP GASP
  • "It's strange, but ... beating up that pirate gave me a weird sense of closure." d'aww.
  • And Angel carries Princess Buffy, because she is utterly useless. And in this episode I gain a tiny bit of respect for Angel, because he's so clearly annoyed at what a useless doily she is.
  • OMG Giles is a badass and beating the snot out of Ethan eeeeeeeeeee. I guess he is a good sparring partner ... just maybe not against a supernaturally strong slayerperson. Then he calmly cleans his hands with his handkerchief. Of course he STILL won't clean his freaking glasses, but I guess we can't have everything.
  • Big props to the whole cast btw for this episode - good work and range all around (accent notwithstanding).
  • Yay! Buffy's back.
  • "You know what? It's good to be me." We all learned that lesson, yes?
  • And Spike runs away again. He's really good at that. Now he'll live to snark another day.
  • So this time everyone remembers what happened during magic fun time ... how will this get explained to the entire freaking town?
  • Aw and yay, Willow's got her swagger.
  • Not a shenanigan - Oz is driving a European van and they haven't moved the steering wheel over yet.
  •  "Who IS that girl?" THEIRLOVEISSOTRUE
  • Shenanigans! "I hated the girls back then, especially the noblewomen." Yeah, that's just because you were such a drunken lout, they wouldn't give you the time of day. He says he wanted someone "interesting." That's not you, Buffy. That was Darla.
  • "Be seeing you." Yay! More Ethan to come!
Daniel's Thoughts:

  • I think this might be the first time I've noticed that the majority of vamps Buffy fights in the opening sequences are men.  Actually I think they all might be men. Odd, that.
  • I like that Cordy & Angel actually at least somewhat get along, preparing for his spin-off. [Ew. - Z]
  • I love love love Willow & mischievous plan to get the watcher's diary.
  • Shenanigans!  "Who is she?"//"It doesn't say":




Umm...does so.  It's Sarah...something


  • I love that Cordy still doesn't know that Angel is a vampire.
  • Cordy: "When it comes to dating, I'm the Slayer."
  • "You're a cat"//"That's just my costume" Hee.
  • I had the same note as Zelda - it seems like this is the first time Cordelia shows a bit of interest in Xander.  I think it's the gun.  Chicks dig guys with big...guns.
  • Such great dialogue in this episode and the actors sell it.  Really good back & forth.
  • It's Ethan Rayne!  Star of "Chaos Bleeds", an awesome Buffy video game.
  • Shenanigans! When Giles tells Willow to leave, after a few seconds you hear a door open and close.  This is awful on so many levels.  Someone in some meeting made sure to say they had to add a sound effect and no one at all thought this was a mistake since Willow is a freaking ghost??
  • I love the "Be Seeing You" note that Ethan leaves for Giles: An obvious reference to the cult series The Prisoner, a surreal British series that paved the way for shows like Buffy.




Well played, writers.  Well played.




Crossfire!

Daniel: We need a crossfire.
Zelda:  But we agree on everything.
Daniel:  But we need a crossfire.
Zelda:  No, we don't.

Favorite Lines:


Zelda;  "It's not a demon, it's a car." // "What does it want." // "Is this woman insane?" - Willow/Buffy/Xander
Daniel: "She couldn't have dressed up like Xena?" ~Willow




Arc/Continuity Stuff:


  • Cordy's dating Devon again.
  • Larry's first appearance! Not yet gay.
  • Halloween is supposed to be quiet time for vampires. This is rarely actually true in Sunnydale.
  • Cordelia still doesn't know Angel's a vampire. Even after they tell her he's one. Several times.
  • Ethan Rayne's first appearance.
  • Giles's nickname is Ripper. BECAUSE HE USED TO BE ALL DARK AND STUFF AND WAS FRIENDS WITH ETHAN RAYNE.
  • Drusilla has prophetic visions.
Stats:

Voiceover - Giles
Dead Humans - 0
Dead Undeads - 1
Giles Unconscious - 0
Giles Cleans His Glasses - 0
Buffy Breaks a Door - 0
Evil Reveal - 1 (Ethan)
Unevil Reveal - 0
Shenanigans Called - 3
Apocalypse Called - 0

12 comments:

  1. I just need to pop in here and give a "CANGEL FOREVER!" in response to Zelda's misguided "ew!"

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    Replies
    1. Meh, as long as he leaves Buffy alone, he can date whoever he wants.

      Delete
    2. That's a good point. Go to it, Angel!

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  2. God I love the Halloween eps, except for season 6. This one is probably my favourite because of all the role reversals going on, Willow having to take charge, Xander getting to be tough, Buffy being weak, and it was so much fun to see. I love the Scoobies so much in the earlier seasons.

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  3. So what exactly is your problem with Angel and Cordelia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a collection of things, but the main crux is that I felt both characters needed (and sort of got) a huge transformation in writing to get to the point they wanted to get them to, and frankly, I didn't think either actor was up to it. The result of that being, I didn't buy the character growth. I think CC is fanTASTic at playing Cordy on BtVS. I think, once they started rewriting her on AtS, making her a "champion" full of righteousness, the actress simply wasn't up to it (not to mention she lost most of her funny), and I didn't buy it. And I've never had much patience for DB in general anyway.

      Also I really didn't think they had much chemistry. The whole thing felt forced, the writers pushing toward a fixed thing and trying to write the show toward that, rather than letting relationships grow organically and honestly. I thought the dynamic between Gunn and Wes, for example, was much more organic, real, and interesting.

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    2. I agree with EVERYTHING Zelda just said.

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    3. And then the next season of Angel came along and made no sense had her spoiling Angel's Spoiler and then she got pregnant with what a god or something, but then the verdict is still out on whether it really was cordelia or just an imposter or if someone was using her body, idk the whole forth season of Angel was a mess

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  4. Yeeah, Angel was too busy hitting on his employees and chilling with whores to notice noblewomen.

    ... Not sure what that says about Buffy. :(

    I will also add Cangel is lovely, but Dangel is best. ;)

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  5. Cordelia and Angel could have had an actually healthy relationship! Best pairing on both shows!!! They were both mature (at the time the feelings happened) and Angel was actually happy! Like, "Hey I'm going to actually smile and do fun things today" instead of being sad and mopey. Angel and Buffy together is toxic, they claim to be happy... but I'm not seeing it. Plus before Angel realized he liked Cordelia I made a TON of Angel suicide jokes... because honestly he wanted to kill himself... like every episode he suggested something like "Don't kill this innocent! I will die their place!" It got annoying...

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    Replies
    1. Oh and lastly I couldn't find this blog for the longest time and I'm so happy I found it again.
      You guys do some good work here.

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