Angel and Spike are in this limbo, where you can't say with honesty that they chose to be evil or that they had full agency over their actions, but the show still holds them accountable and gives them redemption arcs. Faith, on the other hand, is never a different person. She gets explanations for her behavior, but no magical shenanigans to excuse her (for the most part).

Consequently, it's why I find her dynamic with Buffy more compelling as well. Because it has to deal with all the emotional ramifications, fully. At least in theory, since I think the show kind of wasted Faith.

Don't get me wrong. I think Angel's arc is good. I think the Angelus storyline is very compelling. The abrupt change works wonderfully. But afterwards, it kind of lacks. And Spike having humanity whislt being evil is interesting, not really a redemption arc. But for me, the show kind of drops the ball once he has a soul.

Those crossovers were always a highlight. 😂

I think one of the reasons why I like Buffy so much is because there isn't a permanent character that I hate with a burning passion. I have watched a lot of teen shows, and whether it's Dawson's Creek, Gossip Girl, or The Summer I Turned Pretty, etc., there has always been a character I extremely disliked, and I don't really have that with Buffy. While Riley and Xander annoy me, they both have some redeeming qualities, and Xander makes me laugh. I just love the Scooby gang, and Buffy is one of my favorite main characters of all time.

I was reading some comics and came across this Bronze coffee mug. I would love to have one ($8.99!) But I'm sure they cost a kidney and are as rare as hen's teeth these days. Still pretty cool, though.

I have before compared two scenes from these episodes: Angel confesses to Buffy about torturing Drusilla into madness and Spike confesses to Buffy about torturing (and presumably more) girls "Dawn's age". I know the circumstances are wildly different. Buffy is older and already knows all about Spike and the hard facts of life.

But the scene in Never Leave Me stretches my believability. I don't believe someone, no matter how compassionate, would react the way she did, which is, with an immediate motivational speech without a blink of an eye, or the slightest discomfort. Maybe someone that works with criminals. Not someone that has beaten herself up over sleeping with a criminal.

I'm sure someone can say the contrast is because Buffy has matured, and her world is no longer black-and-white. I disagree, I thought she reacted pretty maturely at Angel's revelation. She didn't blame him or dwelt on it. She knew she got what she asked. She was momentarily shaken. That is pretty realistic for me, regardless of age. I might have the wrong idea. I have never been in the situation where someone I love has a murdering torture filled past. But I didn't take emotional detachment to it as maturity.

This is a long shot because the pictures are super blurry and I can’t find any clearer, but does anyone have any idea who is in this poster?

Edit: it’s Blink 182, you guys are amazing! Thank you!

Wanted to share my thoughts & get other people's perspectives. Does anyone else think that, deep down, they were attracted to one another & it wasn't really explored? I think the love between Buffy & Angel was so strong that it affected Buffy & Angelus as well but neither would admit it. Angelus hated Buffy for making him feel something for her in his heart. Everyone has a dark side & I think Buffy's was drawn to him. He's still apart of Angel & imo she loved all of Angel. Look at what we got between them: innocence, passion, i only have eyes for you. They never stopped thinking about each other even though they were on opposite sides. IIRC, Willow tells Buffy something along the lines of "you're still the only thing he thinks about."

For Buffy, I would say Xander. While most people do give him his props for preventing the apocalypse in S6, there's a bit of a tendancy by some fans to dismiss him as useless most of the time in spite of him being instrumental in stopping multiple threats like the Master and the Judge as well as the amount of times he's successfully saved another character despite his disadvantages as non powered being. I suspect this is partly because he's not as well liked as other heroes in this fandom.

For Angel, I would say Gunn for similar reasons. Despite not being a powered being, he still risks his life to fight vampires and unlike most of the team in that series started from altruism rather than guilt over anything terrible he'd done. He also saved all of LA in the first episode of ATS S5 but no-one seems to talk about it. Unlike Xander, I don't think this is because fans dislike him but more because he's never really as prevalent as Angel, Cordelia or Wesley.

i just received my copy of the complete series brand new from ebay, and i have no doubt that i received a genuine copy. the discs look great and i can tell it is dual layer and not bootleg. the only issue is that it won’t play on my xbox series x. i tried a couple different dvds as well as a blu ray, and they played completely normally. i tried a power cycle and reinstalled the blu ray app with no luck.

i also have a dedicated blu ray player, and when i tried the buffy dvd in that it worked normally. the menu is animated and behaved as expected, and special features played normally. at this point i have to conclude that it’s a strange issue with my xbox, but want to check if anyone has had this issue before.

for what it’s worth, it is the correct region.

Am I the only one who thinks the Buffy fandom is pretty terrible when it comes to preservation and archiving?

There are barely any dedicated Buffy fansites left, and the Fandom wiki is missing tons of information. It's hard to find decent archives of promotional photos, photoshoots, original logos, merchandise, or even something as basic as a complete guide to all the DVD editions released over the years.

For example, almost every European country had its own DVD artwork and packaging. Some of the late 90s French releases had gorgeous cover art, yet there's practically nowhere online documenting any of it.

And that's just the official stuff. Think about all the rare promotional material, magazine scans, old website graphics, and fan-made resources that have disappeared over the years.

I also feel like things got worse after the Joss Whedon controversy, when a lot of fans seemed to distance themselves from the franchise and some longtime fansites shut down. I can't help wondering how much material was lost in the process.

For a show with a fanbase this big, a 30-year history, and so much visual material, you'd expect a much stronger preservation community. Instead, so much of its history is scattered across dead websites, broken links, and personal collections.

It's frustrating because once that stuff disappears, there's no guarantee anyone will ever recover it.

Good thing they're cute

I was watching Halloween the other day and we have the fun interaction between the gals where Cordelia doesn't believe that Angel is a vampire, thinking Buffy is scared of having her as competition, and later just plays along with highborn Buffy thinking he's a vampire.

By... Surprise? she seems to be up to speed, without any more on screen moments to explain the change.

So!

What's your headcanon? Did the Scoobies sit her down and explain they weren't trying to scare her away from Angel, he really is a good vampire but not to trust any others? Did Angel take her to one side and explain and perhaps fang out to prove it? Did Giles tell her (and did he use more words that the others would have, and a globe?)?

I recently started watching for the first time ever so no spoilers please.
I’m almost done with season two and… why do the jump scares actually get me? Not sure how horrible props, costumes, and old ass effects from the 90s are getting me, but it makes me laugh every time (after I scream) I have to play on my phone while I watch because I genuinely get spooked. Idk maybe it’s my genz brain.
On S2 EP18 as I type this :D