patriarchy – Insect Reflection

But You’re Just A Girl (Helpless)

Buffy holds a bottle of holy water as she looks defiantly at Kralik.

The test that Buffy undergoes in this episode – in which she is stripped of her powers, locked inside a house, and forced to fight a mentally unstable vampire – is named in the script as The Cruciamentum. Giles describes it as “an archaic exercise in cruelty”, and it’s difficult to think of a descriptionContinue reading “But You’re Just A Girl (Helpless)”

I Hate It When They Drown Me (Go Fish)

Guillermo Del Toro’s 2017 masterpiece The Shape of Water – a film built around the love story between a human woman and the “monstrous” Amphibian Man she finds a kindred spirit with – closes out its runtime with a shot of two lovers submerged beneath the water, and a poem that the narrator tells usContinue reading “I Hate It When They Drown Me (Go Fish)”

You Don’t Get It – You Killed A Man (Ted)

Buffy looks at Ted's dead body from the top of the stairs.

This episode opens with the gang lamenting how quiet the town has been since the apparent deaths of Spike and Drusilla (a topic I swear I will get into come the Surprise essay), and Buffy enjoying her brief reprise from the trials of the supernatural. Of course, this is Buffy, so no reprise can lastContinue reading “You Don’t Get It – You Killed A Man (Ted)”

This Is Just My Outfit (Halloween)

Willow, Buffy and Xander stand in the street

“Do you love my insides? The parts you can’t see?” Drusilla asks Spike this question early in the episode, and it lays out the theme pretty clearly. This is an episode about hidden selves, about duality. It’s about taking a look at the characters’ Inner Selves – the parts we can’t see – and comparingContinue reading “This Is Just My Outfit (Halloween)”

All Men Are Beasts (The Pack)

Xander stares at Willow from inside the library cage.

The Pack starts off as a simple episode about bullying and social cliques. It shows us a group of bullies (never seen before and never to be seen again), and another newbie that they pick on – the nerdy and shy Lance. They get infected with a hyena spirit (as you do), and Xander joinsContinue reading “All Men Are Beasts (The Pack)”