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)”
Tag Archives: rupert giles
I’m A Teen, I’ve Yet To Mature (Band Candy)
There are few demographics more underrepresented in Buffy the Vampire Slayer than Adult Female Characters. As a coming-of-age story, the bulk of Buffy’s cast is understandably made up of Adolescents, who carry on their stories as Young Adults as the show moves on past high school. Beyond these characters though, the show finds time andContinue reading “I’m A Teen, I’ve Yet To Mature (Band Candy)”
When I Look Into The Future, All I See Is You (I Only Have Eyes For You)
My love must be a kind of blind love. I can’t see anyone but you. Are the stars out tonight? I don’t know if it’s cloudy tonight. I only have eyes for you dear. The moon may be high. But I can’t see a thing in the sky. I only have eyes for you. OnContinue reading “When I Look Into The Future, All I See Is You (I Only Have Eyes For You)”
No-One Ever Dies and Everybody Lives Happily Ever After (Passion)
Part One: The Body “Sorry, Jenny. This is where you get off.” There is a moment in the timeline of every piece of media – every show, book, film series, comics run, radio play – where it declares its relationship to death. Sometimes this happens in the opening seconds. You put on an episode ofContinue reading “No-One Ever Dies and Everybody Lives Happily Ever After (Passion)”
Instead, You Go All Dumbledore On Me (The Dark Age)
The final scene of Lie To Me left us with a promise of increasing complexity for the show – and increasing adult awareness for Buffy – as we head into the second third of season two. This promise is brought into reality through a process of deconstructing the mentor figure – and parental figure forContinue reading “Instead, You Go All Dumbledore On Me (The Dark Age)”
This Is Just My Outfit (Halloween)
“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)”
I’m Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, And You Are? (Prophecy Girl)
Death has been coming for Buffy all year. It has stalked and preyed on the fringes of her life – in a teacher’s chalk, in Luke bearing down over her in a crypt at the end of Welcome to the Hellmouth, in the prophecies of the Anointed, in The Master hurling her into her grave, in Giles’ sad eulogy, in her dead lover, returning to her now, and bringing with him the omen of her doom. It is now written – in the ink of the Pergamum Codex, and in the clack of Joss Whedon’s typewriter. Tomorrow night, Buffy will face The Master, and she will die.
We’re All Trapped Inside His Wacky Broadway Nightmare (Nightmares)
Fear is in the mind. This is the hypothesis put forward by The Master at the start of this episode, as he wraps his hand around the cross he so innately fears. And he’s right, of course. What is any emotion but a series of electrical impulses, hammering away at our synapses? The Master reaches the conclusion that if it is in the mind, then it is therefore something that can be controlled – mastered, as his name would imply. That is an idea that is a little harder to prove, and the rest of the episode is dedicated to discussing: is this true, or not?
Dates Are Things Normal Girls Have (Never Kill a Boy on the First Date)
If you’ve been active in the Buffy fandom at any point in the last twenty years, you’ll know that there are a few big questions that come up in fan spaces at least once every month to be endlessly debated. Topics that are litigated and re-litigated and re-re-re-re-ligitated until everyone who has participated in themContinue reading “Dates Are Things Normal Girls Have (Never Kill a Boy on the First Date)”
Insect Reflection 