Buffy Rewatch: She Saved The World. A Lot.

Season 5 comes to its brilliant, devastating conclusion in "The Gift".


"She's a hero, you see. She's not like us."


And there you have it.

Xander proposes to Anya. Giles kills Ben. Spike has one of his greatest moments, and then his greatest failure. Willow continues her impressive growth as a witch and saves Tara. And Buffy sacrifices herself to save Dawn and the world.

Buffy Rewatch: Carry That Weight

Glory looks for, and finds, the Key as we set up season 5's endgame.


"You've carried the weight of the world on your shoulders since high school. I know you didn't ask for this. But you do it."


Let's just quickly recap the show putting the pieces in place before the fifth season finale.

In many ways, "Forever" is a more traditional episode dealing with the death of a character than "The Body" was. "The Body" was about shock, but "Forever" is about grief. It's not a great episode, but it has great moments. Angel appears, and has a couple of lovely scenes with Buffy. Xander and Anya have a very nice post-sex chat, where we see Anya really start to grow up. And, best of all, there's a brief moment of Giles listening to Cream and no doubt reliving his and Joyce's "Band Candy" shenanigans. (It's a great moment of private grief, and so very Giles.)

Buffy Rewatch: Mom? Mom? ... Mommy?

A few thoughts on "The Body", the landmark episode in which Buffy's mom dies.


"We're not drawing the object. We're drawing the negative space around the object."


"The Body", for good and bad, is unlike any other episode of BUFFY. Its subject matter - the shock of Joyce's death, as felt separately by Buffy, by Dawn, and by the rest of the Scoobies - allows writer/director Joss Whedon to experiment with structure, tone, direction, and editing. Often, this works. But not always.

Episode 31 - One Order of Scandal, Hold the Olivia Pope.

Episode 31 and we have a guest host! Amy's off galivanting in Europe so we brought in previous guest host Becca Gross.  She chose the theme of Hollywood Scandals, giving us a chance to revel in the dirt of Hollywood past.

Joe's chosen "The Cat's Meow" as the movie, which is a "semi-true story" about a murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.

Randy's picked Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers with Lionel Friedman. It's a dishy account of one man's sexual adventures, and the others he helped arrange, in the Hollywood of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Show notes

Intro Music: "TMZ" by Weird Al Yankovic (YouTube)
Exit Music: "Private Eyes " by Hall And Oates (YouTube)

• Becca and Joseph have been watching and enjoying Arrow, which keeps getting better in it's third season.
• Randy and Joseph talked a bit of the new USA show Benched, which shows some fun potential and is a good showcase for Eliza Coupe.
• Joseph recommended the new podcast I Was There Too, where Marr Gourley talks with actors who were in the background of classic film scenes. The first episode has Paul F. Tompkins talking There Will Be Blood, which is a great start.

On the next episode

Amy's back!  Randy had the theme for this time around and we'll be talking Creating Art.

• Amy chose the 2012 movie Ruby Sparks (Available for digital purchase, but I got it from the library). Paul Dano (coincidentally, from There Will Be Blood, accidentally creates a living person from his novel and things go weird.
• Joseph chose the 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (Project Gutenberg link).  Randy is happy it's a short novel this time.

Where to find the podcast itself and us

Listen at Podomatic

Subscribe and rate us at iTunes 

We are also available on the Stitcher app.

Our Twitters:

Joseph
Amy
Randy
Our guest host Becca Gross

Buffy Rewatch: All Dressed Up In Big Sister's Clothes

The Buffy Rewatch continues, with the eight episodes before Everything Changes Forever.


"So here's how it's gonna work. You're gonna tell me everything you know. Then you're gonna go away."


Let's check in with some key characters of this part of season 5.

Glory

So, we find out that Glory's a god. And that she is sharing a body with Cute Intern Ben. Glory's trying to find the Key to use it to open a portal to hell. Ben's cleaning up her messes. The Knights of Byzantium want to find and destroy the Key to stop Glory. There's a lot going on.

Buffy Rewatch: The Darkness

Let's talk about the first seven episodes of season 5.


"Do you know what a Slayer is?"
"Do you?"


Season 4 of THE WIRE. Season 2 of JUSTIFIED. Season 1 of VERONICA MARS. Season 2 of ALIAS. These are some examples of legendary seasons of great TV show, in which top-notch stories and top-notch storytelling elevate the series and the medium of television itself. (Yes, that's hyperbolic, but come on: season 4 of THE WIRE!)

But for me, the best season of television of all just might be season 5 of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.

Episode 30 - Shake over ice, strain, and serve with garnish

Episode 30 was deemed to be the "Cocktail" episode by Joe. Alas, this does not mean an in-depth exploration of a middling Tom Cruise movie.

Amy chose as the movie, "The Blue Gardenia" from 1953 starring Anne Baxter and directed by Fritz Lang. Baxter has a night to forget to remember after consuming SIX Polynesian Pearl Divers at the Blue Gardenia supper club.

Randy selected Rebecca Barry's "novel in stories" Later, at the Bar. It "tells the sad and funny tales of the forlorn denizens of Lucy's Tavern, a gathering place and watering hole for the hapless, lonely, and lovelorn."

Show notes

Intro Music: "One Mint Julep" by Ray Charles (YouTube)
Exit Music: "Manhattan (Cha Cha)" by Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra from the album Cugi's Cocktails which is entirely made up of songs inspired by potent potables.

• Joe's just finished reading and liked Gutenberg's Apprentice.
• Randy's wowed by "We Are The Best!" a Swedish film about three girls forming a punk rock band
• In the film we watched, Nat King Cole's performance of "The Blue Gardenia" is used repeatedly. See a clip of him performing in the film on YouTube.
• Fun fact: In "Django Unchained" the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio orders a "Polynesian Pearl Diver" at one point. This almost certainly is a deliberate homage by Quentin Tarantino to Fritz Lang's film. One intrepid blogger has made and drunk the cocktail.

On the next episode

Amy's gallivanting across Europe (well, just the Netherlands and Poland, really) so Becca Gross will be guest hosting in her stead. Becca got to pick the theme and went for "Hollywood scandals."

Joe's chosen "The Cat's Meow" as the movie, which is a "semi-true story" about a murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.

Randy's picked Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers with Lionel Friedman. It's a dishy account of one man's sexual adventures, and the others he helped arrange, in the Hollywood of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Where to find the podcast itself and us

Listen At Podomatic

Subscribe and rate us at iTunes 

We are also available on the Stitcher app.

Our Twitters:

Joseph
Amy
Randy
Next week's guest host Becca Gross