Such an underrated monster of the week episode and very disturbing seeing Neighbor Dan from Charmed as a kidnapper.

Myself and /u/dicksinsciencebooks have arranged a fan meet up! London, England, Brompton Cemetery, what three words location ///lies.pasta.healers

THE SLAYER | Fan art I did. It's not really set at any point in the series, taking elements from across the show. I worried that I rushed this artwork, but at the end of the day it was an experiment.

When the show was on I didn't watch it. But I was a Montessori teacher, Upper Elementary, which means a 4th - 6th grade mixed classroom and I swear they were all Buffy fans. All the girl's had a Tara part in their hair. The boys loved "Out for a walk, Bitch!" We even had a Xander in class.

I can't recall why, but I was looking at one of the boys, over my glasses, waiting with a dubious expression, when he got all excited and told me I was just like Giles! After that, a good portion of the class referred to me as Giles.

Of course, since I hadn't watched the show yet, I didn't realize what a huge compliment that was. Now I treasure the memory.

So, has anyone else gotten a nice Buffy centered compliment?

Some observations from my rewatch:

I like that Once More with Feeling turns the stereotype of a musical on its head.

- In a lot of musicals the “I want” song is about wanting adventure or something new. Buffy just wants to WANT to be alive. This is further accentuated by the overture, with Buffy staring at her alarm clock while the rest of the house is in motion. Then at the magic box you have Giles going to work and Xander and Anya wedding planning. They are all “going through the motions” of their day, but Buffy is the only one really noticing it as unpleasant.

- None of the characters sing about something happy, except Tara. None of them are happy at this point in the story. It really sets up the tone of the season well.

Giles is constantly interrupted in this episode, either by the rest of the Scooby gang or by musical numbers happening in the street. This is an effective way to illustrate what Giles is feeling at this point in the season. The Scoobies are more than capable of taking over his role as watcher and he’s not just unnecessary, he’s “standing in the way” of their growth.

Buffy shows multiple times that she is depressed, and only Giles seems to notice something is wrong.

- She does her normal rallying speech in I’ve Got a Theory, but she’s flat emotionally. There’s no passion behind it. Giles calls her out on it a couple of times.

- Giles leaves because he’s trying to get her to snap of it. He thinks tough love will help Buffy. Obviously it doesn’t and she actually REALLY needed him to lean on, but I do think backing off on doing everything for her was a good call.

- Buffy has no idea if Dawn got off to school ok. She has the same attitude when Dawn gets kidnapped. She leaves it up to Giles. She’s completely mentally checked out from things that used to matter to her.

Something to Sing About

- My favorite number by far in the whole episode. It’s such a unique way to reveal Buffy secret.

- Buffy doesn’t just reveal where she was, she reveals how much she resents her friends for bringing her back. Probably because she feels like it means there is never any escape from her responsibilities. Hell she might be worried they’d drag her back again if she died again. She feels like a player on stage being forced to perform.

- Spike as Buffy’s lifeline. He’s the only one for several episodes who makes her feel anything. This is the start of that. The curtains close on a kiss god knows 😉

So anyways, I think this episode is brilliant. I always have.

There isn't a vampire I do not like. But OG Darla from the first season is so good. Julie Benz was the first woman vampire in the Buffy-verse. And its not a lie, she IS the first vampire on the show. She had to learn how to talk with the prosthetics and makeup. She was a mirror image of Buffy just had less screen time; she had the wit she had the one liners... she brought guns to a stake fight. Perfect vampire. I really wish we could see her grow out of her role in the first season and not be thrusted into her spinoff role in Angel. When watching Buffy for the first time I could not get over how good she was. Thoughts?

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4A2jHNFCsHJB79id91rivF?si=_bdl9aeVRVCInMQCS8IMSQ&utm_source=copy-link&pi=SKFt0hFHQjize

Does anybody please know what comic book is this scene of Angel crushing an handgun with his hand from?

https://imgur.com/Iyr4Nds

Even though I’ve been a fan of buffy my whole life, I’ve only recently interacted with the fandom. I keep seeing people saying that buffy started many common tv tropes.
The only one that really comes to mind is Tara dying, hence the start of the bury your gays trope. What do y’all think? Cause I understand the story arc, but I can’t help but think it was kind of to the detriment of the lgbt+ community? Or has there been instances before/after buffy that you think may have influenced this?