House of R - ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Season 4 Rewatch (Part 1)

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

Mal and Jo have enrolled in UC Sunnydale and are ready to continue their ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ rewatch!  This time they’re breaking down the first half of Season 4 (through to Episode 12, “New Man”). They talk about the new and returning characters, the college setting, and the lack of a “big bad.” Plus, they give out some superlatives!(00:00) Intro(04:38) Opening Snapshot(48:50) SuperlativesHosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna RobinsonProducer: Carlos ChiribogaStudio Production: Jacob CornettSocial: Jomi AdeniranAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So welcome back to House of Ar. I'm Joanna Robinson. That Bedectin Giles is the beautiful Mallory Rubin. And we're back in Sunnydale for college. It's Buffy Season 4. It's the stay-in-glot that gets us every time. We're here to talk to you about the first part, the first half of season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Did they cancel the reboot plans? Yes. Does that mean we're going to stop our rewatch plans? No, Mallory is a completionist, so we're going to do it all. Yeah. And we're going to get into it right after this. Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activio yogurt today for two weeks and see if you feel a difference.

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Watch only on Prime. Quick programming reminders. Yes. So what we have coming up here on the feed is we're going to be engaging with one of my favorite Star Wars characters. My guy, Mal. That's right. It's getting it not only his own show, season two already greenlit. I know.

It's exciting. It's all happening for me. Shadow Lord time. Let's go. So we'll be engaging with Mall next week. Thrilled. We'll also do the second half of this Buffy watch next week. That's right.

And then we do have, if I, can't remember to forget you. We have Memento plans. We're doing a Nolan, another Nolan dive into Memento. So that is all coming up on the feed. I don't know how can folks keep track of all of that. What do you think? I would just recommend following the pod. Why not? Yeah. Let's do that. Follow House of Ar on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. You can watch full video episodes of House ofar on Spotify. Incredible stuff. You can also, of course, watch full video episodes of HouseFar and the Midnight Boys, Pugh, on the Ringiverse YouTube channel. while you're at it, follow us on social media because we've got brand spanking new handles.

Hell yes. At House of OurPod on Instagram and TikTok and, of course, continue to follow the Ringervverse on the social media platform if you're choosing. While you're at it, you've put your phone in your hand to follow At House of Our Pod. And you're like, should I send them an email? Is the inbox open? Guess what it is?

It's always open. Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. Send us your mall shadow lord. thoughts? Your horny, horny, Maul thoughts. All of them. All of them. Send us your Buffy Season 4, Part 2 thoughts. Send us your ongoing

and Christopher Nolan rewatch thoughts. Send us thoughts on anything that might be coming later in the... Is it still spring? Spring, summer? What season is it? I don't even know. Spring and summer? When you heard that Mall's Shadow Lord would not only be the sensuous vocal stylings of one Mr. Sam Whitwer

as per usual as Mall, but Wagner, the like... The cast is... Amazing. Absolute goat. And then Richard Iowade, like, our favorite droid is here. So, like, thrills. Honor, deleted.

Don't mind saying that I'm really enjoying the show. We're having it last. We'll get into it next week. Okay. Here are the plans. Yes. Ongo. Buffy Season 4.

We're doing episode 1 through episode 12. How did you decide to divide the season, Joanna? I don't know. It was a vibe, and I felt it. Yeah. It's sort of always somewhere between 10 and 12. Yeah, there we go. We decided to divide it.

Before sort of like the big bad really gets going in the second half, it seemed like sort of a natural divide for me. So we're starting with the freshman season four, episode one, up through episode 12, New Man, which is a Giles episode. And I want to make sure. Why is it? Because like in the back half, a lot of other stuff is happening. And I wanted to make sure that we had some room to focus on the Giles episode, episode 12. Appreciate it. You're welcome.

That's a gift for me to you. Thank you. You're welcome. I feel seen. I feel known. I feel understood. And as usual, I found plenty to say. celebrating on the child's front. Plenty. So we'll do our general discussion. We're going to talk

a little bit more deeply about the episode Hush. One of the all-time gray buffy episodes is in this chunk. So we're going to be talking about that. And then we'll get into our categories and superlatives. I can't wait. I'm thrilled. And we both remember to bring our mugs. We did. On my very season four appropriate mug. I know. Why are you not drinking blood from a straw? Tune in for part two. We'll see what I can do. Do you think I can make Make the, if I crumble weed abics in there, which is canonically something that Spike enjoys doing. That's right. Crumbling the weedabix into the blood.

Do you think I can then get it up a straw like with the weedabixy chunks? Maybe if you use like a boba straw, you know, like a wider straw. Great, great plan. Yeah. All right, stay tuned. Let's give it to go. Okay. Let's go now to our opening snapshot.

All right, so Buffy Season 4 debuts October 5th, 1999, two days after my birthday. Wild. and runs through May 23rd, 2000. And as I've told you before, this is the only season of Beth and Vampire Slayer I did not watch live. For the same reason I never watched Sopranos, I was a freshman in college.

And in our dorm, we didn't have, we didn't like watch TV. We played like Mario Party in the common room sometimes or Mario Card or Super Smash Brothers, but we were not watching TV together. Were you writing your name on your hard-boiled eggs? I'd never put a hard-boiled egg. in a mini-fridge.

And rolling it. Or milk. Can you imagine having milk in your dorm mini-fridge? It's a move. Only if you're a

coffee drinker, I think, are you allowed to have like creamer of some kind in your mini-fridge in your dorm room? I'm trying to remember what I kept in my mini-fridge because I did have one.

But I feel like all the food I had in my room was like microwavable soup. It was Easy Mac and like Red Bull or like equivalent, you know? Yeah, I had like a lot of chips and crackers

and cookies and fruits. snacks and soup that I could heat in 30 seconds or like cup of noodle stuff. Candidly, my diet has not changed much in the ensuing decades. But I don't know that I ever kept a true perishable. No. In my dorm room fridge. No, I think we kept like, yeah, drinks and then Easy Mac or whatever, like, things that will not expire.

And then mostly we were in the dining commons, like, freshman year. Yeah. They don't do, they do like a little bit of dining commons stuff in here. Parker has some notes for Buffy on how to maximize. Your dining hall use. Yeah, the fur of the broken handle and the proeer machine. Great stuff. Yeah. I have a lot of fond memories of the Syracuse dining halls. Chicken and biscuits was a real favorite of mine. Delicious. Wow. We did not have anything like that. Man. Did you have late night? So we had this thing called late night, which is like, so there were like the normal hours of the D.C.

And then they would close. And then from like, I don't know, 10 to midnight or something like that, it was just like, I think the sad salad bar was still there. And then it was like pizza and hot cookies. And that was like, you. You know, and then, like, Froyo. I see. So you could, like, go and just, like, if you felt, like, kind of munchy, you could go get pizza and hot cookies. The hot cookies at late night. Oh, that's amazing. At the UC Davis, D.C. They were, like, so popular.

You had to get them at, like, the exact right time. It was really, really good. That was how the donuts and my freshman year dorms in Syracuse were, like, get them early, target them early. But I always like the omelette bar. You could get some, like, eggs made, put some cheese on and wonderful stuff. I didn't mean to start by just talking about dining halls for 10 minutes, but it is part of the fun of watching. college show. How many dining halls did you have on campus? Many, I assume, or no. So we had, there were like four residential housing sort of pods.

Okay. Three were on campus and one was slightly off campus. And there was a dining common for three of those. Okay. So there were two on campus and then one slightly off campus. Interesting. Because one of my notes on the Sunnydale experience here is that they seem to be running into each other all the time. The campus feels much smaller than I'm. And the D. I think they should. Very small. Yeah. Yeah.

It's like a, well, because then, so our man plan, you could use in the dining commons, but then there were also like a couple other places on campus, you know, where you could use your credits also to get other things on campus. Absolutely. We had many dining halls like that are, that were kind of associated with certain dorms. You sort of learned over time. That's what I mean. What the better food was.

Ours was the best one. So I didn't, we didn't stray. You didn't need to wander. Yeah. You didn't need to wander. I have a lot of memories of the Sadler and Livingston Dining Hall at Syracuse for a freshman and sophomore year, boy. And then seeing the coffee cups, that kind of like, you know, signature, yellowy brown color cup with the little silhouette of a coffee cup with the pipe of steam coming

out of it that people were walking around with. I was like, man, this ported me back in such a big way to going to get any underground cafe because one of my favorite coffee shop at Syracuse was people's place underneath the basement of the church, go down there for like 99 cent Moka Java. Delightful. That place is the, I think the one location that looks most like college to me in this season. We're going to talk about sort of like the look of this season and how it's a big departure from the first three seasons and stuff like that. But yeah, one last thing I want to say on dining commas.

Yeah, please. So we had a policy where you were not allowed to take food out of the dining commons, right? Because you would like swipe your card and that was like one meal. So you like swipe in. Eat all you can when you're in there. But you're not going to take anything out. They didn't want you to do the Parker, fill your pockets and put stuff in Ziplocs. It's an advanced technique, but you did.

Well, I didn't, but like that often, but I knew a guy once who put an entire bunch of bananas in the hood of his hoodie. It just sort of like slipped it into the fabric and stuff like that. And yeah, people just got really good at like sandwiches and all sorts of stuff. Needs must. Needs must. You do what you can. All right. So I didn't watch this live.

I sure I caught up before because then ever after that, like season five, season six, season seven. You were watching in real time. I was watching real time in, like, off-campus housing, and I made all of my roommates get into Buffy, and it was like a whole thing. So I'm sure I caught up over the summer between season four and season five. But not on the Sopranos. Not on the Sopranos. But that might be why this is, spoiler alert, my least favorite season of Buffy, perhaps because I was not watching it live and having that sort of like week-to-week experience. But also there's just like a lot of changes which we'll talk about and a lot of like, I just think it's like in this similar.

And thematically it works. There's some significant changes, cast departures. We'll talk about all of that. But like you're finding yourself freshman year of college. The show is really finding itself in its post-high school identity. Because like high school is hell is the logline of the first three seasons. And so what is your show when you no longer have that framework? We're still in school.

But it's not the same. Charles isn't in the library. Zander's not even on campus. You know, like what are you going to do? Joyce, we hardly knew you this season. I miss Joyce. Yeah, there's a lot going on. There's also no true season long big bad.

Again, we'll talk about sort of the big bad of the season in the back half of this. Yes. But like, I think that's a huge mistake. I think it was like it's a tried and true formula and they will go back to it for the last three seasons. But this is one season where they sort of experimented. It almost feels like they didn't know. They were like figuring out real time exactly.

what they wanted to do with who are the antagonists this season, et cetera. What do you think? Yeah, maybe we'll get into that more in the second half, but I was curious to ask you about that, like how much of the design for Riley and Walsh and the initiative and what Riley is going to? Because, you know, you've obviously seen this all a million times. I have seen all of season four.

I haven't seen beyond it yet, but if watched all of season four, we're going to do these two parts a couple days apart. And Mallory texted me, and she was like, Trinna is Riley a regular from here out out? I got some notes. And I was like, no, he's not. I've got some notes. But I think there are some interesting aspects to what unfolds with that group, the presence of the initiative and that some of the figures inside of it.

But, you know, we're coming off the mayor. An Alzheimer. It's just incredible stuff. So, yeah, that's a notable downturn. I think I am inclined toward a we have now gone to college and the coming of the age story has. changed for sure, but like in a way that feels very true to something you as a viewer or reader or whatever, you know, the method of the story you're consuming is, like a something that you can latch onto as a part of your own like evolution when you're a young person. And that point of life where you feel like you're an adult for the first time, but you're like, are you, is such an interesting time of life. So a lot of the, we're in college now stuff actually really worked for me, though I did find myself missing. like a core germ of DNA, like the soul and heartbeat of what high school represented in those more formative younger years. But college is formative in a different way.

So I think that like, you know, Buffy struggling to adapt. And Willow having her footing right away was so interesting. I think the first two episodes really nil it. Freshman in living conditions, which is just sort of like, do you even fucking belong here to Buffy in freshman and living conditions? the like, what if your roommate was a little demon? Like, that's a great high school as hell translated to college sort of moment. I think those first two really sort of get that going.

And then we're just sort of a little bit scattershot for the rest of the year is what I think. So, yeah, I agree with you. The entire look, I was talking about the look. The look is more like polished and much, much brighter than the first three seasons in Sunnydale High were just like visually, the color palette.

That's part of that is to do with like we're moving into the 2000s, like the styles are changing. The cool colors are like these bright blues and teals and pinks and oranges and stuff like that. But I also think there was a conscious effort to make, because the angel spin off happens and the angel spin off, which you haven't seen, but is very much like an L.A. noir detective angel sort of thing. So really to make a contrast, I feel like they were like the gritty, dark angel. And the like, Sunny, you see Sunnydale, California, like, lip gloss and blonde hair of Buffy. And that, like, and the show will be that kind of like more candy-colored brightness for the rest of its run. And to me, the first three seasons are locked in my head is like, this is the palette of the show. And so it all, it all looks like a little wrong to me.

But it looks like a higher budget more expensive, like in a way that I think a lot of people who bump on the sort of 90s cornyness of the first three seasons, I think sometimes they like the later seasons because they just look a bit more polished and expensive. But for me, I'm like, I miss the funk. It's like watching Doctor Who,

and I'm like, Dr. Who should look kind of shabby and weird. And when you give them too much money, it looks wrong to me. So I don't know. What did you think of the visuals? I, so I've watched so much sports over the course of, I've actually never,

I think I've been to USC once, for screening and UCLA, maybe never. I've been to Westwood and like near UCLA, but I don't know that I had ever like walked across campus, but the second I saw it, I was like, I've watched enough sports. They're filming this at UCLA. I can recognize the kind of architecture.

This is really interesting and fun. I like a college quad as a setting. I think that, like, again, the coffee shops and things like that were interesting. The moments where they go back to the bronze are, I was like, wait, is this supposed to be a place that looks like the bronze or the bronze? And of course, they say they're at the bronze. So I was, you know, we're going down. It's the ongoing mystery of what is the bronze. It really was an interest. It explained actually some of the alcohol being served at the bronze. So understand that this was a place that college students would

be frequenting. So yeah, I don't know. I think like I, I like the, we're out on the quad. We're walking around campus. This is what our lecture hall looks like. The world is going to show you kind of like one lecture hall, et cetera. I do like the lecture. After Hall said. Yeah. I, as is often the case with a college set show, the thing that struck me the most about the new visual escape was just the astonishing size of all of the dorm rooms. Absolutely ludicrous. At least with Riley, there's the cover of like he's in a house, right?

But the kind of lambshading with Kathy and Buffy's like, oh, it's nicer than I thought it would be when we're first seeing the dorm room there was amusing. Oz's room is an all-timer. All-timer. How? How? How? I have a lot of questions about Oz this season. So many of them. Remarkable stuff. What I love, I mean, so one of my favorite things that happens, this is, this is in my, one of my runners up in the categories, but I'm fine to talk about it here. One of my favorite bits in the freshman was the poster conversation of the vampires house. Really good. Climped or Monet. Great stuff. But like, beyond that, right? Like, Buffy's room, there's the, like, chocolate poster on the door. Yes. And then Riley has one that's just like balls. Great stuff. Yeah.

Really great banal, like, dorm deck going on there. I love that. And I do like, you know, we get this great moment where we go in. It's almost like we're at the Citadel and in Westeros where we see this. Oh, the library. Like how huge it is. Yeah. Kind of a cruel side shot from Willow at Giles' high school collection, rude.

Giles takes a lot of shit this season. He's really going through it. I'm here to comfort him if he needs it. I do like this. I think Olivia is keeping him busy, though. Boy, is she? Big fan. I do like how often we are at Giles's apartment or in that courtyard. On the one hand, it is inherently like less logical as the high school library as a meetup, but also it makes more sense somehow than trying to like conduct your secret business in a public space. And the way that they would shift because he's like, I'm on my fun employment into, you know, a gentleman of leisure into, oh boy, like, I feel really neglected and out of sorts. And like, will anybody remember me and what is my place in all of this journey? Which I found quite compelling to watch. The idea that even amid the ebbs and flows of like has Buffy remember to tell Giles about Riley and the initiative and things like that, very sad, they're like, that's home base for us now.

Like, wherever Giles is is home base. I love that part of it. I thought that the Zander basement, you know, mom's basement fuckpad was just kind of like instantly iconic to me. You know, the spike being tied up in the armchair and he's like, I don't want to be like three feet away from Zander and Anya like pumping away on like, just that the laundry, you know, the boxers like hanging to dry on the clothesline behind them all that's great. She's like your mom said to add the fabric softener when the timer goes off.

Incredible stuff. I will say, I think it's a really. real missed opportunity not to have the Spike and Giles show continue for more than it does in this season. Them being roommates is like top tier comedy for me. So I'm mixed on season four. It's my least favorite season of the four I've watched so far because even though the episode quality in season one is very uneven, it's just like it's your first exposure to Buffy. It's an all-time thing. I reserve the right to hate one of the later seasons more than this. It's possible. We'll see. No, I still was very fond of it and enjoyed it. It was interesting. We'll talk about this one.

we go through our categories, but this was like, on the one hand, it was some of the easiest category picking because some of the fields weren't as crowded. Yeah. But on the other hand, sometimes I had a harder time, like identifying most emotional moment. There weren't the clear, like, three or four, oh my God, how will I pick between these? That was the hardest one for me. Yeah, like, it was a subtle field. I think this first half too. Yeah, for sure. But I laughed a lot, and I was quite taken by some of the evolutions that people were experiencing not only individually, but inside of the dynamics, and the Giles spike pairing and the Spike Xander pairings in particular were extremely good.

Rivening to me? Like, I just loved, loved both of them. I don't know if you know this about me. Incredible Spike's stretch. James Mercer has chemistry with everyone. Just amazing. He just does. With Anya, with everyone.

Some crumbled up weed abics. Anything. It's all really good. Okay. So let's talk about the changes. So the angel spinoff happens. We get some crossover. You haven't watched any of the angel episodes despite there being.

Did you? No, I didn't. We're not going to talk about them. Yeah, I don't know how to navigate this because I think we had, I had felt like the right thing to do was just to wait till after the show. Yeah. Because I don't like to really ever, even if I've seen and read something a thousand times, just like go to one place, I kind of have like, it's just, I got to do it all.

Yeah. But to consume it for the first time by just like cherry picking an episode here or there because it's the crossover, I think wouldn't feel true to how I like to consume a thing for the first time. So I want to watch it all, and I think it feels prohibitive to watch the entire, like, whatever entire parallel season there is with whatever stretch we're covering at a given time. That said, because Angel appears and pangs here and, you know, is referenced a couple times outside of that. And then, spoiler for anyone who's watching this, but hasn't seen the back half of the season yet, and is consuming it in real time with the pods. He's coming back.

I did feel especially that second time around, like, uh... I'm missing a little. I felt okay about it, but I'm like I'm missing a little bit of something that would make this a more complete crossover event, which is, of course, what crossover events are designed to do. This is, this season, I would say, is the most heavy crossover that we get between the seasons. It lessons after this. And then especially after, it's after season five that Buffy moves to a different network entirely. so then they're on two different networks for the remaining two seasons of Buffy.

So then that's like they can't really cross over. There's one Angel episode that I considered sort of asking you to check out, which is the one right after Pangs. Right. So Angel shows up in Pangs inside of season four and Buffy doesn't see him. And then it is clear that she has gone to see him in the episode after. That is, I will tell you, one of the best episodes of television ever. Certainly, I think the best Angel episode That makes me not want to watch it out of order

I understand, but like I I know how you are and I felt like if I pushed you to watch that, you would then just like make yourself watch all of Angel and I don't want you to do that. How many episodes into the beginning of Angel is that? Is it like, let's see, if, you know...

Is it single digits or is it like... Yeah, I think it's like the ninth episode or something like that, probably, either ninth, because Pangs is the eighth episode of Buffy. Okay. Something I think about. Yeah, okay. We get the phone call on the Cesar

in premiere and you don't see who's on the other end of the line. But if you watch Angel, you see Angel make that call. It's Angel on the other side. You see him make that call in the Angel series premiere. In episode three, a harsh light of day ends with like, let's send Oz to LA. So Oz is in an episode in the dark, you know, where he takes the gem of Amara to Angel and stuff like that. So there's that crossover. So is Angel then wearing that ring for the rest of time? Tune into Angel to find out. And then you're like, that would be a great device if Angel's just like a day walker now. And then the crossover with Pangs and then the episode I Will Remember You, which again

is like one of the best episodes ever. Okay. So another, so we're going to get to the cast stage as a second. I've been doing this thing as we go through talking about like the new important creative voices that are added to the show. There isn't really one the season. And I would say until we get to like Drew Goddard, there isn't really one for the rest of the show.

Like the people that we've talked about, Marty Knoxon, Janice, Spenson, Doug Petrie, like all these people, that's the core crew as we go forward. I did want to highlight Tracy Forbes, who is only on this season. Okay. She writes three episodes, two of which are considered some of the worst episodes of Buffy ever, and then one of them is like one of the greatest episodes this season. So she wrote Beer Bad, which if you go on IMDB is the lowest ranked episode of Buffy. Beer Bad.

Astonishing episode of television. Something I found out while doing research for you. this that I didn't know is that apparently that episode was made in conjunction with this program with the Clinton White House where they were trying to get like anti-drug and anti-drinking messaging into television. So Warner Brothers like commissioned this episode in order to like be in compliance with that or whatever. And then because the cause of the distress was supernatural and not actually the beer, they like

didn't get the advertising credit that they were like angling for from the White House. So then just this terrible episode exists for no reason, honestly. So, you know. It did make me want a frosty, a frosty pine of black frost. I got to be honest. Foamy. FOMY. When I will say, when Chilis and Sandler looking around, they go in Buffy's dorm and she's like,

drawing park her and like lipstick on the wall and then spinning in the chair, made me chuckle. And I liked across the season in different forms. I like the, um, uh, the skewering of. of various versions and shapes and manifestations of like a college snob. You know, somebody who thinks they have it all figured out. It's like the beer bros. This is a real goodwill hunting.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Mean to Xander for being a townie, et cetera. Not a high quality episode. I think this is where I learned the term townie was like Xander's experience this season is what helped me understand what that was. Interesting. Zander, all of Zander's many jobs, it's, I thought this was like actually a very compelling

Zander season. On it. Yeah. Actually, I think this is maybe like the best Zander season. Actually, I think. I was surprised how much Zanders showed up in my categories, actually.

And also Beer Bad is in my categories, nonetheless. Amazing. Can't wait. Something blue. Just a genuinely great episode of television. Fantastic episode of television. Wonderful.

And then this is in the back half, but where the wild things are, which you did text me after you watched that episode, and we'll talk about it when we get to the back half. But Tracy Forbes, here and gone very quickly. quickly in the Buffy, but left her mark with Beer Bad, one of the worst episodes of Buffy ever, and Something Blue, genuinely one of my favorite episodes of Buffy. All right, something blue

is great. Let's talk about some cast changes. I'm going to call this the problematic, well, first of all, how much are you missing Cordelia? How much are you missing Angel as you go into this season? So at least with Angel, we got a fix. I do miss Cordelia quite a bit. I think there's an energy in the group dynamic that she provided that felt utterly specific and distinct. And it's just, you know, it was a great performance and a great character and some of the kind of like sharpest writing, her barbs and were joined her. So I found myself missing Cordelia quite a bit, even though I think I agreed with your characterization of like the backside in season three not being the most rewarding part of watching her character arc. I'm curious to see what she's up to in Angel. Angel, I miss, of course.

I think it was helpful to be able to have a couple moments. I'm, like, glad that Buffy has a opportunity to explore other things romantically and other people romantically. And I think the way that Buffy talked about that across the season, you know, like, I like my evil, how I like my men. Evil. Great line. One of my runners-up for best line. That was really funny.

And just sort of like the way that Riley at first seems like not, spoiler, at first for Buffy, not always for me. Not interesting because he's so normal. Normal. He's so Normcore. You know, I like seeing Buffy like think about what she wants and why. and assess what draws her and why and like who is appealing to her and why and conceptually moving Angel out so that there's room for that for Buffy and also for him to have his own story which I've of course yet to consume I think feels right for this part of the story I will say the people who filled that space

can't hold Angel's bloody fangs like no Riley sucks he's like absolutely terrible and The Parker stuff was, I thought, like, effective. Oh, I think Parker's great. Because, yeah, it's very, like, your... You heard it here first. I love Parker. No, but I love that storyline. Yeah.

It's a great storyline. That's real, like, I'm exploring my sexuality in college and, oh, no, you know, what has happened. Yeah. Harshlight of Day, I think, is, like, a really good episode. But, yeah. Riley, who's, like, now I know in terms of age gaps, him being her TA is nothing compared to an angel who is hundreds of years older than her. Sure. Yeah.

But I'm still like, you're. her TA, my guy, actively her TA, this sucks. We're coming off Wesley and Cordelia, so it didn't make quite as hard, but yeah, it also felt like I was kind of like why is Riley a TA? Right, because he's an undergrad.

Yeah. Well, and just like, but what even story purpose? That, it makes, it feels like maybe another bit of evidence for what you're hypothesizing earlier of like how much did this story change over time. I'll dig into that a bit more before we do part two. But yeah, and if... Because he and Walsh working closely to

together as part of this larger initiative, like, set up and cover makes sense. Yeah, yeah. But Riley's, like, intellectual involvement in, like, academic pursuits really vanish after a few episodes. It really does not read as intelligent at all, unfortunately. Oh, my guy. I like Mark Bluckus a lot who plays Riley as a person. I'm a fan. Here's what Joss said about sort of swapping in Riley.

Okay. Quote, The loss of Angel actually made things easier because of at new places to go. This is a lot of what you're saying. What had become tough was bringing new changes out of that relationship. By season four, we were into mission statements. What we said was this is the first year of college. The first year of college is about being able to do whatever the hell you want and completely lose yourself, trying on new identities and changing, exploring sexuality, exploring freedom, just screw your boyfriend all day long, which Buffy did do for a while. So, you know, I do love that. I like Parker

a lot as Angel methadone. And then there are some parallels, which I'll talk about sort of like when we get to my categories that I think are really poignant and effective. Riley, I just think, is a complete flop as a character. On the other hand, in order to fill the Cordelia gap, we have, I would say,

the combination of Anya who... iconic. Incredible. Emacoffield. Like, so smart of them to pick up Emma Cofield from season three and bring her into season four. She's not a series regular until season five,

but that's just a contract thing. She's basically a series regular this season. She's just not in the opening credits. She will be. But, like, Anya and her bluntness, it's a different kind of bluntness, but she just says the thing, which Cordelia would often do, right? For sure. And then Spike and his cruelty is, like, also sort of a Cordelia fill in.

So I think those two things combined are trying to provide. And I think Spike and Anya, who, again, are just, like, integral to the back half of this entire show, are two of the greatest. Like, Riley, flop. Yeah. Spike and Anya, 10 out of 10. No, no. No, no. It's genuinely no. It's really fantastic. Probably my, I mean, I do again, so on brand, think this is a really fun giles stretch. But I think Spike and Anya were my favorite part of these episodes. I will say, like, I think this is maybe my favorite Sarah Michelle Geller performance yet.

And it's just... Sarah gets, like, her comedy chops are really good this season. Yeah, amazing. I mean, she's obviously been great since day one. But she is just incredible to watch. And this is an interesting time for Buffy. on her journey of discovery. So I was quite taken with Buffy, but I'm just so uninvested in Buffy and Riley

that that became like something I was less enthused about. Yeah, I really agree on Parker. And I like to just specifically with how that storyline went, but more generally the idea that like Buffy is coming out of the stretch with Angel of like, okay, what if the guy that I'm in love with and drawn to is a vampire, that's tough, right? Not a great life. You hate when it happens.

But also like, what if the guy? this guy's just a piece of shit. Yeah. Right? Like, you don't have to be a vampire or a demon to be an asshole or to be a problem. And I think it's, like, important, actually, for Buffy to confront that. That's a really fun thing that Buffy, that the show Buffy will just, like, occasionally dip into where it's just sort of like, and what if it's not supernatural?

Right. What if it's just a terrible person or a horrible tragedy or whatever the case may be? Yeah. Which feels really crucial. Spike enters the scene with a plot device that I can never be mad at, which is this inhibitor chip. It's incredible. He's neutered against humans, but he can hurt demons. Great stuff.

Comedy, incorporation into the Scooby Gang. Like, this is the best thing that's ever happened to me personally and to television in general, I think. I found every second of it mesmerizing, and I would like every Star Wars order 66 inhibitor chip plot to be recut to feature Spiking. Okay, great. I love that. And then another problem I have this season, I'm not a huge Tara fan, but we can talk about that a little bit more in the back half. Interesting. Okay.

I'm interested to hear why. And then, Oz. Tell me everything. I'm calling this the problematic writing off of Seth Green, right? Yeah, fill me in. So Seth Green had movie contracts. So we talked about a little bit in season three. Like, Oz would disappear a little bit in season three.

His film career was kicking up even a bit more, and he needed time off. And contract-wise and conversation-wise, they just, like, couldn't make it work. And so they just, like, it was supposed to be a season. I mean, honestly, I did not want a season-long Love Triangle arc with Veruca, a character. I do not enjoy. Oh, my God. Horrible. But maybe if they didn't speed run it, it would have been better.

I don't know. But, like, they write off Oz with this sort of infidelity plot. And then his, like, I can't control the wolf. I need to be alone. I need to figure my stuff out. The more the line is. Absolutely devastating. You know, goodbye.

And then Oz is gone and he will be back in for, you know, an episode in the back half of the season. Then he's gone. Oh, no. From the show. That's curtains for Oz. That's actually horrible. And that, you know, and that's not true of most of the other characters who, like, come and go on this show.

So it just feels really like, and this is not the first or the last time you'll hear about Joss Weed and Pettyness. But this just feels like a really, like the way they wrote him off just feels like a little, like they're pissed that he wanted more than their show. And so they're like, okay, well, kind of character assassinate you on the way out because I don't mind an infidelity plot in general. I think it was done really well with like Xander and Willow previously and stuff. that I firmly do not think Oz would ever cheat on Willow. I just, I don't believe it. And so I hate the way that this ends. It really bothers me because I love that character and I love that relationship. But I don't mind, you know, as we've talked about on shows before, like, when we were talking about stranger things, we're like, every relationship that you form as a

child or a high school or whatever, like cannot last your life. So the fact of that, like, Oz and Willow break up, I'm not upset about. Like, high school sweetheart's breaking up in college, like, what a classic story sort of thing. But the way it's done and how rushed it feels. And then he's just unceremoniously gone. Just really bums me out. Because I love Oz. I love Oz, too.

I was thrown by his rapid exit. And then, you know, I was so happy when he came back and then really thrown when he, spoiler for the second pod that we'll do in a few days, was gone again. Yeah. But it's interesting because I think that in terms of the infidelity part, I have room for the The Wolf and the man and where is the line and like the fact that he is doing something in that state that he would not do when he is in control of his faculties and his desires and can make like a conscious decision about what he wants. And I think there's something interesting too there

about what is stronger like the base instinct or the deliberate choice. you make to say this is a person I love and want to, like, want to be with and want to nurture. Yeah. I thought the one moment that tipped it for me was actually, and like on the one hand, this is human and people are, I have a lot of like room for that too. But when he was like, yeah, remember what it feels like? I'm like, would Oz do that? I don't know.

I don't know. Terrible. I also, this is just a larger note. I don't think Oz would be as into frat. While Oz and Willis, I don't think we're going to frat parties. I just don't. The party scene Just like you're going to parties

They're going to cool parties I don't think they're going to frat parties And like when I was Like when I was a kid watching like college based stuff I thought the only parties were frat parties But that's just kids That's just not the case And you can go to college and not go to any frat parties

And still go to a lot of parties and have fun So when like Oz is like dialed into the frat scene I was like what the fuck is this? Yeah I don't agree I was fascinated to see what How the kind of relationship to partying on campus unfolded

And like a little moment where, oh, they think that Willow is, who's been, you know, struggling to process what has happened with Oz. It's like, oh, cut loose on the dance floor. And then they realize she's drunk. She's got like a bottle. You know, stuff like that felt very you're in your late teens. You're moving into your early 20s. Alcohol is a part of your life. Like, what role does it play in your life?

I was fascinated by how often they're like, we're going to this frat tonight. I think that this being a group of people where there's like a varying. I loved when Willow ran into Percy and there's that great. And like that's a setting where something like that can happen. And I loved the like, oh, hey, oh, Percy Rosenberg. And then the crushing, like, way that she feels when she overhears him saying, like, I don't go for nerds. And then she's like, I know we have more important things to talk about. But when the scoobies are all together, she's like, why is he still thinking of me like the way I was in high school and like feeling pulled back into.

needing to kind of distance herself from something that part of the journey of this show is like embracing who you are, right? So all of the different settings that they dabble in, I think, are like useful to some extent to like put them in a different context and then see who they're reacting to or exposed to. But I was just like, man, they go to a lot of frat parties. I will say one of my favorite episodes and my favorite Halloween episode is Fear itself that is in this stretch. And I think the way in which that engages with everyone's insecurity. that you're talking about. I think that is really well executed. So I love that episode,

and I don't mind that that's in a frat house. But in general, it's just a lot of fratting up. Kids, you don't have to do it. Last not least before we get into Hush, Petter Pascal is very briefly here. Incredible. As Eddie, who loves of human bondage, among other things.

It's a safety blanket. Is wearing the most iconic 1999-2000 jacket, that sort of like black collar. I don't know what the name of it is, but it's just like, Every guy I knew had that jacket. Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah.

They've never gone away, really. So I knew I had seen pictures of Pedro and Buffy, and I knew he was in it at some point, but I didn't notice. Maybe I had seen that it was season for, but I was like, oh, my God. Oh, my God, here he is right in the beginning of the season. And then shortly thereafter, he was gone. Yeah. Eddie, tough. I love the way that they talk about each other, though, because, like, you know, Pedro is often asked about this experience,

and he talks about, like, how nice Sarah was to him and how they, like, how she really showed him a lot. of things on the set of this. And then Sarah is also now, you know, she's doing her like promo for like, like, Ready or Not Too or whatever. And she's like, she's like, they're like, Petter Pascal and Buffy. Oh my gosh. And she's like, yeah. She's like, actually, he was barely in the show, but like we really, really liked him. And they're still kind of, I just love that. Two charisma bombs, you know. Absolutely. All right. Let's talk about Hush. Written and directed by Joss Whedon. This is, so there's three episodes as we've mentioned before. There's three episodes that everyone considers the great episodes of Buffy. They're in four, five, and six. And

it's not my ranking, but it is the sort of like universally agreed upon ranking. And I would say I think this usually comes at number two. Okay. After once more with feeling? No. And is that three? That's three. Okay. Got it. And I think. I think that's how the ranking usually goes. Okay. This is only 17 minutes, famously, a quiet episode, only 17 minutes of dialogue. Josh Whedon has said sort of one of, you know, we talk about that sort of like the Buffy language, the Whedon sort of patter. Yes. And Weedon has said that he was sort of a little tired of that patter being sort of named as the main thing Buffy had going for it. So he's like, guess what?

I can do it without that. I can do a story without all of that jabber, jabber back and forth. So only 17 minutes of dialogue in this episode. Ironically, the only episode of the entire Buffy series to be nominated for an Emmy Award for Writing. And it's also got a cinematography nomination. You knew this was a hyped up episode. Yes, I did. Yeah.

Did it fulfill your expectations? How did you feel about it? I thought this was dynamite. It's just so great. I texted you right after I watched it. And you were like relieved because you were maybe a touch. not worried or doubting that I would think it was great, but like, oh, has it been?

Overhyped. Does it have such a hold on the public consciousness? Because, like, you know, and I still haven't gotten to the body or once forth a feeling. But, like, I know that those are episodes that are waiting for me. And I know some of the others as well that, you know, I'm looking forward to in anticipating. Double meat palace. Double meat palace. Which is interesting because I didn't know that about, like, innocence or passion or some of the previous ones

that have just gripped me so fully. So I think this is really the first one at that top, top, top tier of not quality and excellence. Because I think it is that, but I also think those other episodes are that. But the first one where I was like, I'm about to hit play on something that people consider an all time, not just episode of Buffy, but episode of television and like a formative viewing experience in their lives, right? So that was thrilling and exciting. And there's always a like, is something overhyped? Can it possibly measure up to that level of hype no matter how good it is? It did. I thought this was so excellent in like, and just a microcosm of everything that Buffy does, not just well, but like an extraordinary capacity. The, I hadn't timed it, but the 17 minutes of dialogue thing is, I mean, what a formatively interesting thing to do and choice to make and the way that the story choice here, the gentleman coming in and robbing the town of their voices. so that they can't scream when they're trying to harvest their hearts, then manifest structurally, and in terms of how these scenes are staged. And even I was so interested to watch it, like, a second time around with the captioning on, and not get the captioning as their mouthing to each other.

And, like, you can decide if you're trying to lip read along with them. And I think they make it very easy for you to do that, but also they're miming, you know, Xander boobies. It's just, you know, it's incredible. So I just thought it was so clever and creative and really, like, elevated in terms have a concept paired with the execution, thought that was great. It's also scary. Like, these villains are harrowing. It's so good.

Their faces, like, they're haunting the way they're floating through town. They're, like, dissent-esque minions who scared the shit out of me. You know, I have, like, PTSD from creatures that move like this, horrible. We didn't have said that the way that they float is based on nightmares that he has had. I'm like, of course. You can tell that this came from something deep. Yeah. Rimal nightmare.

Yes. And then taking, like, the story. you know, Buffy has another dream and there's like the lyrics and we're, okay, the clues and it's setting up and did this, is this a prophetic dream or just another mystery of your mind? Like, all of that is there. I also just thought that this was one of the funniest episodes of the show to date. It's also a very sexy episode and in a few different ways. It had everything.

It was just a perfect brew and the perfect alchemy. I, maybe when we finish the watch, we'll do like, you know, a few, like, quick top tens for, like, you know, funniest moments, most of, some of our categories, but first. the whole series or something, episode rankings. I don't think to this point, in a show that is hysterical that has me in stitches all the time, I have laughed harder than I did during the overhead projector scene. I was in tears, like, Buffy, like, it's just incredible. It's incredible.

Please put that. Well, I was like, man, Zander, Angel must really be working with something because she's going from, like, here up to her shoulder, like, miming the steak. And they all think she's doing like a jerk off things. I'm like, okay, well, that's good for Angel. Now you know some information about. Good for Angel. Or does that make you want to watch the spin off more?

It sure does. Okay, great. Yeah, that is an iconic, absolutely iconic moment. Also, I texted you about it. You immediately had the gift to you up to send me, which, like, of course, never doubted you for a second. I want to share this, like, this little thing I have that my pals, Kristen and Jenny made for me and for a lot of other people who was sort of like, this is when they did their series.

finale live show and they made these for like some of the people who had like worked on the podcast. This is the Buffy Wool Patrol tonight. But it's me because you can see their little glasses. This is like a prize possession of mine. I think it was such a cute idea. Absolutely. Beautiful. Very important to me.

I love that. I was like, oh, I have random Buffy props that I can bring in. I love the fairy tale theme that comes back in. We've talked about this before with like, you know, in fear itself and helpless. we have those twin sort of Little Red Riding Hood moments for Buffy. We had gingerbread. We had the Hansel and Gretel stuff. And so I love this like very, you know, you get a lot of folklore.

You get a lot of demons and stuff like that. But when Buffy engages in fairy tale, I think that's always like a really fun thing that they do. This episode, which is the highlight of the season and the highlight of the series, is followed by one of the worst episodes, doomed, which was written three credited writers. It's tough on an episode. Marty Knox and David Fury, Jane Aspenson, wrote it famously over a weekend in a rush because someone else was supposed to write the episode and I believe he was like on his honeymoon and so they just dashed this together. Interesting. Really tough.

Yeah. Another fun fact about this episode, Mallory, and I am curious if you would like it more or less if they had done this is that initially the plan was to have Buffy and Riley have sex for the first time in this episode because Joss was like we could do that without dialogue for a while and people might be more. I think there was a fear of, like, are people going to, like, tune out because there isn't any talking? How can we keep them engaged? You know, all that sort of stuff like that. And he's like, oh, if we put in a sex scene, you don't need talking during the sex scene, and we could do that. And then he's like, maybe it's a little early for them to get into that inside of the system. Let's just have them fight in a clock tower instead and kiss.

And kiss. Yeah. I think that was the right decision to not do that here because it's just one of those things where the episode is so perfect. It's like, you know, the idea of introducing any other element. This is one. I think also, as much as you and I are aligned on Riley, I think the like mutual reveal for Riley about the inside this episode is really good. Agreed. Yeah.

Agreed. I think else you want to say about Hush specifically. I mean, we have such great Olivia Giles stuff in Hush that I don't need any, any Riley or anyone else, frankly. Yeah. Yeah, I just thought this was great. It was such a delight to finally see it and understand. why it means so much to people. It's just wonderful. Can't wait to keep going.

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All right, we're going to start with favorite line. Okay. Do you actually have a pick, like a winner? Because as usual, I was very undisciplined and have like a cluster of contenders but not a winner. So do you want to go first? So we have our category, which is like funniest moment. Yeah. And so I...

That was my easiest thing. of the other five. So then I challenged myself to pick something that wasn't funny. Oh, you know what I mean? Just for no reason other than like- I've got a lot of category bleed. Yeah. And there's no problem with that. So I'm going to pick from freshman, Zander, this is not a funny moment. Zander earnestly saying when it's dark and I'm all alone and I'm scared or freaked out or whatever, I always think, what would Buffy do? I'm going to cry. What would Buffy do? You're my hero. That's a beautiful moment. Just like a really good. really important Buffy Vampire Slayer moment.

I love that scene between them. That's so great. When they remember that Zander is the quote unquote heart of the group, like it can really, really hit. And like, I mean, we haven't mentioned this, but like watching this after Nicholas Brendan died, like, you know. Very, very, very painful. Really painful.

And it's like, you know, it doesn't change my critiques of the character of Zander. They still exist. I'm not going to pretend that they don't. But, like, that guy had, like, a really tough. life and like watching everyone's everyone in the cast or talk about it and navigate their own complicated feelings about him. But Alison Hanigan's tribute, which was a reference to something that happens in season six, like really, really got me.

And it's a moment of the show where like Xanderas the heart is like so important. And so this was like a, sorry, I didn't think I would get emotional about it. This is like a pre-echo of that moment in. of this episode. So, yeah. You were the first person I thought of. Yeah, I got a lot of text messages from people. Sorry, I didn't mean to do that.

What's your line here? Or some of your picks. Let's see. Okay. I have a few. Also from the freshman. Buffy. Buffy's intellect has celebrated many times across this season.

But I do think one of the truest and purest continuations from high school to college in terms of Buffy's relationship to her academic pursuits was Buffy just like forgetting to sign up for classes. So it was starting off at the freshman and Willow is helping Buffy like go through the course catalog and identify contenders. It's like, oh, well, an introduction to this. Do they have an introduction to the modern blurb? It's like incredible. That was amazing. I also liked one of the goons and Sundays crew is like, are we going to fight or they're just going to be a monster sarcasm rally? That was great. Harsh light a day. We're going to celebrate Harmony momentarily, but I loved when Buffy finds out that Harmony is a vampire and says, Harmony is a vampire. She must be dying without a reflection. That was great. Very good.

The initiative when Riley seeks out Willow for advice on how to court Buffy. Willow giving a lot of comfort to men inside of that episode. Yeah. And he says something about his honest face, which I'll come back to to ridicule in another category. Put a pin in that. But her response is, I've seen honest faces before they're usually attached to liars, which I just thought was sick. I'm really good. I love that.

That was awesome. I already mentioned in pangs when Buffy says I like my evil. I like my man evil. Very good. Something blue when Willow is assuaging her guilt by baking them all cookies and says, well, baking lifts about 30% of my guilt, but only 7% of my inner turmoil. That felt like I could just a great bottom of Buffy the Vampire Slayer line. And then the line I greeted you with today, Ethan and a new man, episode 12.

It's the staying gloat that gets me every time, just an iconic Ethan moment. love him. We'll talk about him again. I also say, you know, the sort of like the, in the vein of, like, the worst person you know makes a good point. When Parker's talking about choices, like, it's bullshit, but we like when Buffy engages with this theme ever since, like, lie to me and stuff like that. So, like, this is every time the show is talking about choices, what choice did you have, Oz talks about, you know, I didn't have a choice, but of course he did. Like, he could have told someone, all this sort of stuff like that. So, like, thinking about, Buffy saying previously, you had a choice. You didn't have a good one, but you had a choice,

you know. And so I was reminded of that. All right. Best villain of the week. So I feel like it's almost for this pod, season four, part one, non-gentleman edition, non-hush edition. Because that would just clearly be my pick. I would agree with you. I do want to shout out Doug Jones, who's like the alpha gentleman. Doug Jones, incredible, like, you know, you know, has done this kind, like, this is who you want. Oh, my God. If you're unfamiliar with his work, shape of water, you know, hocus pocus, hellboy. Like, Doug Jones has just really been doing it in suits for a very long time.

Yeah. So, like, all of the guys playing The Gentleman are great, but he is, like, you can tell it's him. Yeah. His hand movements are just like, yeah, just like so good. Incredible. So, like, that's the pick. Sure. I do have a runner up, though.

I will go with... Okay, so this is where I wanted to celebrate fear itself a little bit more. Okay, great, yeah. Because I thought that episode was wonderful. So good. Really creative. I really agree with what you said earlier. The way that the...

You know, because everything is like literalizing inside of this experience. The haunted house is coming to life. And so the jelly eyeballs become actual eyeballs. You know, the toilet plastic spider becomes an actual spider, etc. But the way then that all of their anxieties and doubts come to the surface there, like Xander, feeling invisible and like a member who has been like left behind inside of this group of people who are moving forward with their life. Willow feeling like, I'm not your sidekick, Buffy.

Like, I can do my own thing, right? I can make the decisions. I can lead us. But also her like fear of her magic. Yeah. Yes. Can she control it? Can she control the magic that, you know, the knock from Buffy about like, you're just kind

like 50-50 with your spells? And this is a through line of this season for Willow assessing the magic and the draw. And there are various moments, not just in this episode, but across the episodes of like, is this the right moment that you should try this? You know, Giles coming in and saying, like, your power's not focused right now. And she's like, oh, I can't do magic because I'm in pain. Like, I thought that was all really interesting across the season. So seeing a glimpse of that here, also with Willow and Oz, his fear of hurting her or someone by turning into the wolf, you know, seeing the scratch mark on her hand.

Even though as you're watching it, you know that, like, there is a supernatural thing of foot and it's not going to stick. It's terrifying to see that happen. We're watching on an episode out knowing that he was. will leave so soon. And when she says, like, don't leave me. Yeah. Oh, God. Yeah. Horrible. Yeah. Really intense. Buffy's fear of abandonment, right? When, you know, the scene with Joyce and they're talking about her father. Daddy issues. Yeah. Everything with Parker. Hank Summers. Eternally, I have notes for you. Incredible stuff. But Hank and Absentia, really, this season, making an impact. So not like the mark of Gaknard and little mini, like,

short king who got stomped in terms of the physical manifestation. of him. But the way that that magic affects our group, I thought was incredible. And it will come up in another category, no surprise. But this villain of the week gives us a like

need to watch it in private and then have a cold shower Giles with a chainsaw sequence that was one of the most powerful things I've ever seen in my life. Very important. So that's my pick. I'm going to pick. I really like the freshman. I'm going to pick Sunday because the...

Good one. Good one. The move that Sunday makes to when she breaks the umbrella that Jonathan gave Buffy... Outrageous. That's one of the worst things that anyone does on this show, full stop. I think it was so smart for them to do that because she's like, what is this dumb toy? All of us at home are like, you know, like, how fucking dare you? But also, like, your high school identity doesn't matter here. You know, you have to let go of childish things or whatever the case may be.

I just like... Really good. For that moment alone and her great vampire goons, which are all... They're all really fun. Like, Sunday and her and her hench, I would put in. Wouldn't have minded them sticking around a little longer. Gone too soon. Gone too soon.

You know, Ethan's eligible in a number of categories today, but just another... Me too. Just another opportunity to say that I never mind seeing Ethan Rain ever. All right, best fit tougher category this season than in some Because that's why we have worse fit this season We do. I will say I really like in general the way Zander is dressed this season

Which feels very true to 18 year old into 19 year old boy Who's figuring things out in like what would be your freshman year of college He has like some of the kind of like Oh, we're experimenting like the kind of like cable knit vest over the like salmon undershirt thing. A lot of Adidas track pants. I do feel about Spike in Xander's shirt. Incredible.

And the shorts, just amazing stuff. But Spike is my actual pick. Even though it's not really a new look for Spike yet, we'll get to the new looks for Spike. Very funny when he's like under the tarp. I'm part boy. Yeah. Incredible. But just the trench coat, the red button down.

So we get the pop a color. That's the iconic spike. Yeah. The black tea. And, you know, we've seen the boots, the jeans, the belt. We've seen Spike in some tight jeans. But these gray jeans that he's wearing in the beginning episodes here, I am going to put, and this is from me a real honor to say, because I take this seriously,

I am putting these jeans that Spike is wearing the kind of charcoal gray jeans in the Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams Gene Bulge Hall of Fame. The way that those are Huggin' Spike is... That's, like, your highest honor. Yeah. It's impactful. Okay. So that's my pick.

That's so funny that you pick that and not, like, the shirtless spike content really gets pumped up this season and it will continue a pace. I can't wait. I can't wait. James Marsh is like I did not work this hard to keep my shirt on. I'll tell you how much right now. I like when Harmony is, like, drawing on his back. Yeah.

Good stuff, good stuff. I'm going to give it. So this isn't to honor my pal, Kiti, Rich, who, had a great Project Hail Mary tweet where she posted a photo of Sandra Healer and she says something like hot coastal granny summer

she was just like talking about all the knitwear that she wears in that. So Buffy has this gray sweater and beer bad that I think is just like very strat-esque like very hot coastal grandmother summer. So as a fan of knitwear, I was just really into it. I love this. Two follow

ups on the knitwear front. Have you seen the Fox Cardigan, Ryland's cardigan from Project Hill Mary, has become like a knit your own sweater sensation that the pattern is out there. It already existed. The pattern is like, in order to buy, you have to spend like $90 just on the pattern. Is that true? Well, they did not know that. They're only selling it in kits. I've looked into this. They're only selling it as a kit, because I was like, can I buy this for Mallory or something like that? I love to knit, as you know, I've lost, I used, I actually used to know how. I haven't done it in years. I never got to a

sweater point. Yeah, I sent it to my stepmom who is, I would say, an expert knitter and like routinely make sweater, so I sent it to her. And I was like, check it out, sort of secretly hoping that she'll make it for me. She should. I'll follow up. Um, no, I was looking into it. I was like, can you buy it? You have to spend that much money just for the bat. But they're only selling it as like a kit, so they'll send you the yarn and the pattern. So like, so like, but it's not like great yarn. It's like, I think it's like, I think it's acrylic yarn. So I don't know. I still feel like, I admire the hustle. Yeah, of course. Because the non-fox version of that pattern is like five bucks or something like that, which is more in the same.

Capitalize on the moment. But yeah, but they're just sort of like, no shame in the game. We know we got a winner, so we will make you spend for it. I'm excited to see everyone's, you know, hand-knit box, sweaters. Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. If you've been knitting Project Hill Mary Cardigan in your own time at home, send us, we'd love to see. Speaking of beautiful sweaters, obviously, I will once again celebrate Giles in this category as well.

And I was confused, you know, in part because of this shirt that I got before I was. I had really, you know, we talked a little bit last season about seeing a little bit of the like, oh, Giles has started to incorporate some, you know, after the rift with the Watchers Council. He's got like a kind of like loose fitting seemingly like Eddie Bauer or fleece thing. What's going on here? I'm getting used to it. Okay. I knew a lot of sweaters were coming, but I didn't know to what extent. Do that gesture again. Zander. Oops. I just have to say.

I am a fan. We've texted a lot about Giles' fashion journey. It's a thrill to me to see him wear jeans in a sweater, and I am particularly enthusiastic about a gaspid aloud when I saw him wearing the turtleneck in the bushes with Xander in episode 7. But I was a brief glimpse in his little kitchen there in something blue, episode 9, the cream rollneck sweater when he calls Willow. He's like, you were supposed to bring the truth serum.

What's up? It's just not the color I am accustomed to seeing him in. He was a lot of like olives, a lot of grays, a lot of browns. I just love to know that he's experimenting. Okay. You know? Experiment is not just for freshman in college, but also for post-library librarians. Gentleman of leisure.

Yeah. Similarly, I'm also going to say Olivia, wearing. I guess Giles is short of nothing else, but it's very tailored. So like a very tight Giles button down and nothing else. Just showing out like she looks fantastic in it, but also just the implications are great. And then he comes out in his bathrobe. Yeah. Spoiler.

This will be coming up in another category. Okay, great. Worst fit, a.k. Dear God, what were we wearing? I honestly think the early aughts are some of the worst fashion that's ever existed. That is something I will die on. So let's leave Spike wearing Xander's shirt out of it. I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to have.

run through with some things. Okay. On the hair front, this is not really a fit, but I'm just going to say Sunday has some incredible insane 2000s hair. It's 1999, but like the like tiny twist thing. Great. Tara's zigzag part also on the list. Very of the moment. Giles though, his hair is kind of back on trend. He's got a little bit of the like mini mullet thing going that like, I mean, you know, Giles, Paul Meskell, Jacob, Lordy, Austin Butler, what's the difference? Yeah. I ask you. Same same. To me nothing. Same same. So many shirling jackets on Willow and Oz, just a lot of them. Yes. Buffy and her terrible tiny bandanas in living conditions in wild at heart. And then so many peasant blouses, ponchos, and backless shirts secured with ties. Just like, I just think really it's just like some heinous shit going on here at UC Sunnydale. What do you want to, what do you want to shout out? I will toss out, as I guess my pick, the horrifying moment where Giles had to in a new man wear Ethan's clothes,

even just for a moment at the motel that was harrowing, that was disturbing, and it shook me to my core, as it shook Giles to his core. But I just appreciated the number of times across the season where somebody inside of the story remarks upon the fashion. So like our girl Sunday in the freshman insults Buffy's clothes to her face and then, later is like those jeans with the little patches just mocking her. Part of what she's mocking is the fashion. You never thought that Buffy would be on the other end of something like that. When Veruca and Oz... Post-Cordelia. Yes, for sure. When Veruca and Oz go to the laundry room to Thieve, to swipe some clothes

from the other students and Veruca's like, the kids in the storm need fashion one-on-one in a big way. And then Oz puts on this just like gigantic, oversized outfit. that was amusing. And of course, Buffy's reaction in hush, too, the, like, little Giles was drawing up her in like a frock, basically. Yeah. And she's just like, you know, she's like, great stuff. Yeah. Great stuff. All right. We have lost Cordelia. I did not put Oz on the list here. We're changing this category to Rapid Fire, Best Anya, and Harmonyism. Yes. Just a quick, I mean, you've already mentioned that you enjoyed her, but like, were you surprised that Harmony got like this kind of role this season? I had no idea that this was coming.

So this was a genuine surprise to me. You know, painful, obviously, to see the way that Spike behaves and how he treats her. Horrible. I liked when she stood up for herself at the end. And it's like, I'm brilliant and beautiful and you're mean. And then pulled a steak out. And he's like, you keep that in our bed. I got such a kick out of harmony and her various interactions with different people.

In episode three, harsh light a day, two contenders. Then I have one from the initiative. She just wants to go party, she wants to eat. Spike is like, I have a tunnel to dig. I'm trying to find an important relic. He's like, you know, right, there's your meal. This one tastes funny. Take me out. Spike says he's perfectly fresh. And Harmony says, I think I had a math class with him last year and I didn't like him then much either. It's incredible to me. Very good. That was hysterical. And I absolutely loved. I was dying when they make their way up into the crypt. And, you know, Spike thinks that he has identified what he is seeking and pulls this necklace off the skeleton. Of course, we will see that Harmony has the ring. But when she pulls it off the skeleton and she's like, ew, like, you're too good to work a class? Just iconic. Absolutely incredible.

And then I liked when she was discovered with burning the pile of Spike's possessions. My fire? Yeah, right. Like, I'd listen to the sex pistols. Just incredible stuff from Harmony. Great stuff. Here's my Harmony situation. Uh, is Antonia Banderas a vampire?

No. Oh, can I make him a vampire? No. Wait. On second thought, yeah. Go do that. Take your time. Do Melanie and the kids as well.

So Dakota Johnson's here in this, in this season of Batho Vampire Slayer. And then, like, inside that same scene, she's like, if I don't have, like, she's like talking about her heartbeat. And she's like, if I don't have the heartbeat, why am I covered in all of these veins? And then seduce Sims, great stuff. Blondie Bear. all iconic stuff. On the Anya front, I believe you, we both have a clip, so would you like to start with your clip?

You know what mine is. Do we have the same clip or did you pick a different? Different, but I would like to, I would like everyone to enjoy your clip. Let's see it. I think it's the secret to getting you out of my mind. Putting you behind me. Behind me figuratively. I'm thinking face to face for the event itself.

Just one of the most amazing scenes in the show to date. This is from Harsh Light of Day. The Juicebox squeeze. Coming back to that one in another category. That was every moment of this exchange and this sequence was incredible. Basically every moment with Anya across the season is incredible. I'll share some runners up after you share your pick. But this initial, like, I can assume a standing Friday night date and mutual recognition of prom night as our dating anniversary and Xander's the rapid journey here from.

Because, like, I didn't know, you will recall from our last pod, I was like, man, these Zandt. our Anya moments are like incredible. And I didn't know until you said like, Ania's going to be a big part. And I was so, I'm like, oh my God, we're going to get, but you could feel in real time that there was magic there, right? So it's no surprise that they brought this back. But to be right back in that dynamic, it's just incredible. And that clip, this specific, like there's, you know, like, young people, Anya, obviously a bazillion years old is a demon. But like, you know, two young people figuring out how to navigate each other in their relationship.

But she's just so. I'm going to tell you exactly what I want and how and when and why. And there's like the pace and the cadence and the clip of how she delivers these lines. It's hysterical. I just love it. Blunt, bossy, and sex positive, the Mallory Rubin story. I feel like this character is built in a lab for you. I do.

I love her. Can we play my clip, please? I have a friend who's coming to town, and I'd like us to be alone. Oh, you mean an orgasm friend? He does mean an orgasm, friend. He does. And he says, like, it's the most disturbing way you could have put it. Thank you so much.

Once again, I stand with Anya. What else you have runner up for Anya? So I, in episode eight, Pangs, when she's watching Zander, waiting to watch him dig. Oh, yeah. She's just like so fucking horny. I mean, this obviously all of these pigs basically could have also gone in the horny. In the horny and the hornyest moment category. There's a lot of crossover between Anyasms and hornyous moments.

but I want to see Xander dig and then she's not rippling at all and soon he'll be sweating. I'm imagining having sex with him again. It's like incredible. And then when she goes to wake him the next day because he's not at work and she was looking for him

and he's just he's very ill and we're about to find out that he's got magical syphilis. She's like, you're pasty and wet and disgusting. Just everything she says is incredible. On the magic syphilis front from Pangs I have Zander saying can we come rocketing back to the part

about me and my new syphilis and she says, it'll make you blue. I'm insane, but it won't kill you. The smallpox will. Incredible. Great stuff. I also loved in that same episode the way she described Angel.

So this is Angel. He's large and glowery. It's like, yeah. And yeah. This is also another, you know, many of these are shared, Anya and Zander celebrations. I got such a kick out of in episode nine, something blue, and she's recounting her vengeance demon recruitment. because the hot friend is back courting willow. And Ani's like, I've been dumped.

I was miserable doing a few vengeance spells, boils on the penis, nothing fancy. It's like, yeah, I got a coffee today. You know, boils on the penis, nothing fancy. It's just amazing. I don't like to spoil things for you, but can I tell you we are going to get an Anya origin story episode? Oh my God.

What season? How long do I have to wait? I can't wait. I think it's six. It might be five, though. I'm thrilled. I simply can't wait. That's incredible.

I don't know. Before, oh, you mean an orgasm friend, which was, of course, on my contenders list as well, right before that exchange in front of Giles and Spike, Anya and Zander are arguing. And Ania's like, this isn't a relationship. You don't need me. All you care about is lots of orgasms and Spike. Like, from the couch and Giles is like anywhere. But here, and Zander's like, okay, remember how we talked about private conversation? just why this is Zander's best season, I think, is because, like, so much of his stuff is with Anya.

Incredible. Anya in her bunny suit, in fear itself, incredibly good. The Anya bunny stuff will be an ongoing runner. And then in hush, Anya's let's fuck charades that she does for Xander is, yeah, incredibly good. All right. The next category is also a new category. We're calling this Riley's most exasperatingly dull moment. Boy.

So I'm going to tell you mine. Okay, I'm excited. Comes off the heels of actually one of Riley's best moments, which is punching Parker in the face. Uh-huh. Yep. But then when Forrest, also a character I don't really like, asks him about it, he goes, this is in the initiative. He's like, I didn't like hearing him talk about Buffy that way. Well, I guess I like her.

I guess I like, I fell asleep while he was talking about that. Oh, my God. I just think all of the exchanges between Riley and Farley. about Buffy are like, I mean, yeah, oh, I will say it was pretty funny when Horace was like, yeah, she's cool and she's hot, she's dead bitch, she's all the temperatures and that made me chuckle, but mostly it's just like, God, this guy is such a snore. The Willow Riley stuff is kind of good, like when he's, when they're at the party and he like gets them to cut the dickensate my baby music, music, and.

her talking to him about like what Buffy's dressed for and stuff like that. Like some of that stuff works. But that's kind of the only time that Riley works for me this season. I think that's why this is an appropriate framing, exasperatingly dull moment. Because I think Riley, the idea of Riley is interesting to me. It's just the execution. Yeah. Like the idea of this like kind of like Captain America type like, you know, oh, he's in so many

ways the ideal and what mysteries is, what secrets are waiting for us to discover about him and for Buffy to discover about him. But he has like a, and I think there are some aspects of this that are, you know, I assume, intentional and deliberate in terms of kind of like interrogating his righteousness, they are. Like we get to in doomed, you know, a lot of these conversations that they have that Buffy and Riley have about their compatibility, you know, the viability of even pursuing it and everything that is fueling that from Buffy's side. We understand very deeply from Riley's side less well.

Like, it's an interesting idea that people who are fighting the same battle in a different way, what would that look like? Yeah. But I just, I find Riley to be just so boring and like, uninteresting. Just on interesting. Just like really tough. And I mean, this is why we go out of our way to constantly praise Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, Captain America. Because it's not this. It's a very hard thing to make compelling and interesting, just like a good guy.

Or, like, Peter Claffey is dunk, you know, like, just like a guy who's got an honor code and, you know, and that's just like usually so boring. And when you have someone who really figures out to make how to make that interesting, like, I'm always, that's why I talk about Steve Rogers all the time because, like, it's so against my favorite type. I love a spike and a Jamie and a Sawyer and a Frank Langdon and whatever the case may be, you know, like a problematic guy and a redemption arc. That's what I'm here for. And Riley's just sort of like, I'm just a guy. And I'm like, I'm so bored. And I really wish I like do more. Again, Mark Bluclius, I like you as a person.

He's innocent. We're on an incredible Frank Langdon group chat right now. And we'll leave it there. But it's been riveting. Is it Dr. Frank drug user? Dr. Frank drug user. Incredible stuff. I think that the, for those reasons,

Riley actually saying things about himself out. out loud are the greatest sins and, like, worst offenders for me. So what do you have? In the initiative, episode seven, that conversation with Bill, just sort of hoping you'd think I'd have an honest face. I'm like, the person on the other end of that is going to say. While he's actively lying. Lying, I know.

And again, that's like a good example, I think, of where there's something there that's really interesting. It's like he is actually living this lie in this secret life and disqualive. and deceiving other people, but walking around championing. And Buffy will, of course, call him out. Like, are you even from Iowa? He's born and bred. Okay.

I thought, I was sleeping. bemoaning his such a cheesick failure to Willow later, which is pretty funny, but like, you don't understand. I'm good at things. That's what I do. Work hard. Apply myself. Get it done.

Very tough. So episode nine, something blue. This was very emblematic to me. This is during the picnic. And he's like, you know, you don't love to drive. You don't love driving. Let me tell you what it feels like to ride and oh, the power. And like any other character of Buffy, you'd be like, I want to like fuck this person now.

And Riley, I'm like, he doesn't even realize until the very end that this is like, could be hot. It's like tragic. Absolutely tragic. Really tough. Just really, really, really tough. It's such a good, it's such an emblematic thing for me. Okay. Because like, okay.

Obviously, I think James Marshes is an incredibly attractive. person, but I think what, like, clearly. Yeah, I mean. Yeah. But you do. But this is my issue with like just casting for hunks because like you need more than just like, Mark Lucas is a good looking guy. That is a, that is like genuinely keep his mouth shut.

That's a hunk. Yeah. He can wear a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and a 90s haircut. I am so beyond board. And I'm just like, you need something more than that. And when like, you know, YA shows or all these sorts of. things like that, just like go for the, you know, best looking guy because they're like, that's what girls want.

I'm like, no. Yeah. They want like someone interesting. And like, you know, for all of my, like, I have some critiques about David Borianas, but like Riley makes Angel look like. I mean, I love Angel and I live Angelous, you know, and all that sort of stuff like that. But like, this makes even Angel's like worst moments look like the best thing I've ever seen on television when compared to Riley.

I think that like Buffy being in an. era of her life where she's not even necessarily on a true base level like I want a nice guy but actually like I need to convince myself that I want to try a nice guy as a story beat I'm compelled by but there's a difference between like Riley is nice a little suffocating and clingy I would say

but it's like I walsh a character I like even less than Riley Tuss. Child's getting hammered me like that fish boy There's just like incredible stuff, all of it wonderful. But I did like when in episode 12, she ribs him for how he's talking about Buffy because he's like, she's the true soul I've ever known. Oh, no, spontaneous poetic exclamations. Lord spare me college boys in love. Very amusing.

This is why this season is so tough for me. Like, Maggie is a character I should really like, like a kind of me. smart woman is like usually something I really like and she sucks. I hate it. Yeah, not a good character. All right. Best fight scene. Yeah. What did you pick here? I've got a couple options. The Mr. Pointy spin move in Freshman, which will be part of the opening, like, whenever I see an opening credits moment, like, and that's just like, that's an iconic gif. That is just like an iconic moment of Buffy fighting there. People like to make fun of Buffy versus Spike in Harshlight of Day because you can very clearly see their stunt doubles, but I kind of like that fight, so I don't know what it is about me that I really like that fight. I liked that fight too.

You know, I had some notes from Spike on the tactics, given that it all came down to like, I can just take this right off your hands. It's like, okay. Yeah, and this is the first, I think this is the first season that I'm, you know, I'm watching this on Hulu that, though I, as I told you, recently discovered that Adam had all of these DVDs, just added all. This is the first widescreen on the streamers now and not, as we briefly discussed, mistakenly, yeah.

But so, you know, the camera quality has improved. You're closer in, but the stunt doubles are so much more apparent. It's like a little distracting. Also, it's like a daytime vampire fight, which is unusual and just like really tough for the own stunt double frame. So I think I have to give it actually to Harmony and Zander in the initiative. Okay. Which is not, it's the best, even though it's, like, terribly bad. They're, like, weird little slap fight.

I'm just, like, a big fan of. I just love it. That's a great one. So, doomed, not an episode I enjoyed, but I did like when Spike realizes that he can attack the demons without the debilitating pain. And it's like, that's right. I'm back out of a bloody animal. Great stuff. And in a more tender way, Buffy, you know, Giles has spent all.

of a new man, feeling cast aside, discarded, irrelevant, then literally turning into a demon. Some hysterical spike Giles stuff, and that sequence was like, no, and you're not speaking English, but like, I can understand you. Yeah. The fight when Buffy goes to like avenge Giles and she is fighting Giles without realizing it and it's like, this is for Giles. And he's like, croaking out as a demon for me. And then she stabs him and the green goo comes out and his eyes go wide. And she can recognize that it's him and no one else, I mean Spike could hear, but nobody else could recognize him. Alexander doesn't recognize him when he was, you know, over him in his

basement bed. And then Giles asked her later, like, how did you know it was me? And she says your eyes. So that was very sweet. Oh, I love how you turned this category into a sweet child's moment. I can't help myself, truly. Right, this is not the horniest season. That is yet to come, I would say. Exciting. This is among the horniest seasons. So there's a lot of options here for hornyest moments.

Yeah. I just have to be myself and say, give it to Buffy and Spike in something blue, where they're just like all over each other. And especially as a reprieve from the absolute, like, pile of Elmer's glue that is Riley Finn. tough. Sarah Michelle Geller and James Marsters have just like incredible explosive chemistry and whether they're

I think I told you the story but like my someone in my family in a very like hey at the holidays what is Joanna into and someone my parents were like she likes Buffy

got me like a Buffy fan magazine which is like the most like sweetly misguided like I'm not a fan magazine kind of person, but I did read it. And it was about, it was all James Marsters and Emma Coughfield and just sort of like them talking about joining it. And what James Marster said is like, I realize that in order to get screen time on this show, you have to either be kissing or killing Buffy.

Like those are the two things sort of thing. And so like the meal he makes out of his opportunity here in something blue was like a calculated thing from Marters to be like, this is going to matter to my career. So I'm going to go for it. And he like absolutely kills it. Also the lead up to that which will come up again in my categories, but her taunting him in the bathtub and all that sort of stuff like that is also, I think, incredibly horny. Yeah, agreed.

Also one of my picks, obviously. I, you go from inside that same episode, something blue. Riley, during the picnic, talking about, you know, revealing that he had, like, practiced how he was going to navigate this with Buffy and then saying something like,

it's like an oral exam. And again, not realizing. that this could be a sexy thing, and then you get to the spike and bumpy, and you're like, how is this in the same episode? We've talked about this before in other contexts with other stories, but like, I'm just, so I love a well-executed, we tested it without doing it. Choice in the story. Maybe you see characters hook up in a dream before they're hooking up for real,

or there's something inside of a supernatural circumstance where characters who, like, can't be together are outside of that circumstance for a minute. So allowing us and the characters to fully luxuriate in the undeniable chemistry between these two performers and characters in a contained way was so brilliant and so riveting. All of it was hot.

I thought that in particular, Buffy like curling up on Spike in Giles' Eames, you know, I love an Eames. Yeah. you put Spike and Buffy on top of it. My God, could I be more in? Just incredible. I thought that was fucking great.

Loved it. And this was also where I was going to come back to the juice box. The juice squeeze, yeah. Everybody's hooking up in harsh light of day, right? Zander and Anya, Spike in Harmony, Buffy and Parker, etc. The premature ejaculation via juice box when A Zander turns around and sees Anya naked is just like all-time stuff. I thought that was absolutely incredible. I loved it.

I will say I'm putting all of my Giles, Olivia, moments, into my daddy category because I just, it would have just been more Giles. You can't contain them. You can't deny them. So I'm saving all that for another space. Restraint. I know, I tried. Significant restraint. I tried. I'm really proud of you. Thanks. You're welcome. What else is horny? I mean, there's a lot of horny stuff. I, oh, you met the, the Anya. Sander. That was great. Oh, you know what I liked on the Riley Buffy front? In episode 12, when Riley's posting about his 17 kills, right? 11 vamps and 16 minutes. And then like, Walsh and Riley, like, how about you for Buffy?

And it's just like a parallel, like, I don't want to tell you my number. Yeah, you know, which was like, oh, well. But also, like, it's that, it's that. It's the body count thing, but it's also the, like, like, you know, a young woman being like, can I be better or stronger than my boyfriend at things, you know? I mean, that's also watching them spar and she just kicks his fucking ass. Yeah. Just destroy them.

and he's like, give me a week. Okay. Sure, sure, buddy. Also, Horny, also in episode 12, Willow and Tara, they've had the, like, hand-holding electricity moment previously in Hush, and then we're working a spell. We're working a spell involving a rose. And here are some of the things we're going to say. Oh, God.

Start out slowly doing what. I mean, Tara and Willow. Oh, we're going to float the rose. Then use the magics to pluck the petals. one at a time. It's a test of synchronicity. Our minds have to be perfectly attuned to work as a single delicate implement.

Anytime we're talking about the petals of a rose, moving slowly. I think Tara, like, you know, I got to give it to Tara. I think she has some game in Hush when she's just like, you're so powerful. You're so special. Oh, yeah. You know, like, she's working it.

I'm feeling it. You know? Feeling it. All right. Most 1990-19-200 thing. Some good conclusion. In this stretch, man. Tough pick. What are you going with here? I have a few contenders. In honor of our pal Kathy. I'm going to give it to the use of Do You Believe in Life After Love by share.

This is my first pick as well. My sister went on spring break in, I think, 99 or something like that. And she was in like, I don't know, somewhere in Florida or something like that. And she was like, they played. Like before this episode, she was like, they played, do you believe in life at like next door on? a loop. And I wonder if one of the Buffy riders was also in that hotel in that spring break because they were just like, Kathy being like at share time. Incredible. The way she keeps going back over to the CD player to like re-up the track and Buffy's reactions. That's that's my first pick as well. And also in the Kathy front, her, she has like the classic of the era IMac, you know, the color bubble I mac, the G3. So that's that's very just like you see that. You remember where you were. I personally. Interesting. So I did orange. I did the laptop and I spent my. I'm very just like, you see that. You remember where you were. I personally. I was lime green. Interesting. Interesting. I did the laptop. And I spent. Oh, the clamshell. Yeah. Yes. And I spent a good portion of my bat mitzv money on it.

And then because I really wanted it, I had to have it. And then realized that because Baltimore County public schools at that point were not on max. They were on PC. So it wasn't compatible with anything. Very shortly after I had to sell it. And it was a real like, my parents were like, now you understand, like, how hard it is to earn a dollar. The value of money. And I was like, it was my going away to college.

Like my, it was my like, you're going to college. We're going to get you this computer. But it was very much like, I want the lime green. IMAQ and and I got it. Kathy has like the blueberry, the classic. Yeah,

she's got the like, yeah, the purpley like magenta-y. Oh, the magentae one. The blueberry one was like the default, like whatever, but I really wanted the lime green

because limberine was like a very of the moment color. Does it make you think a Zoolander right away? Yeah. The files are in the computer. What else was? Oh, so I texted you about this,

but I love park. So Parker has like Jesse in before sunrise, classic 90s boyfriend hair, which is back. Get served Instagram Reels all the time right now about. It's fantastic. Why did it ever go away is, I think, the question. But the 90s hair is back, the middle part, you know, he has this vintage 90s boyfriend hair.

It's amazing. You're like, I love this. In the moment you would have said that, revisiting it now, you think that. And then after they have sex and he's like, oh, I thought, sorry, I thought you understood. The part moves. It's a different haircut. Evil side part. Evil side part, Parker.

I love that. I thought that was great. I like the piece sign sweater that Willow's wearing in Pangs. That took me back to when The Ringer we did 99 Music Week a while ago. And a bunch of people from the Ringer shared photos of them from 1999. And mine was me wearing like a hemp necklace, holding up a piece sign and holding a candle that's in peace. I was like, yeah, Willow, yeah. Oh, we were great.

We were great in 1990. Oh, and you know, I feel like the pick actually has to be, especially because recently we were talking, I can't remember what a pot, we were talking about some, but I had confronted, I had seen an Instagram real about how kids now don't know what an overhead projector was, and I was like, I've never felt so fucking old and dead in my life.

Oh, Stranger Things. Yes. So to be back here. Yeah. This is, with love and respect to the stranger things, the best use of an overhead projector. Giles was prepared. And all of media.

Okay. Great stuff. Well, he wasn't, he wasn't. That's true. His transparent. That's true. Backwards at first. Okay.

Giles' most dad moment. Boy. There are a lot of them. So usually I do something tender here. And I have a tender thing or two. But my main, like, dad moment is, and it's one of my hero, Giles' moments, in fear itself. When he opens the door in the poncho and the sombrero and he has all the candy and he's just like really excited about his Halloween decorations. That is a very dad moment.

So good. For our guy, Giles. I did. The Pancho the Sobrero is just like, all time. Wild stuff. All time moment. I did really try to, like, look at what was in his candy bowl.

I was so curious. It's, you know, it's not like a high-res shot. So, but I, you know, think you can see a decent amount based on just recognizable rappers. It's a little too. I would have liked to see Giles experiment a bit more. But I was like, is that $100,000? Oh, okay. Yeah.

Crucially, though. They're not. white size. They're full-sized candy bars. Hell yeah. Giles is always packing a full-size. Always. What's your philosophy? Oh, no, I've been here. I know what Halloween candy you get. Never mind. I've seen it. I've seen it all.

You know that year-round we keep a full slide-out shelf at our pantry. I just think I actually think full-sized bars are incorrect for Halloween. But I think fun-sized is way superior to a mini. Like, fuck a mini. Sure. But like a fun-size. more than one. If it's fun size, sure.

You get a couple. And it's like variety. Right. But like here's a snickers. And I'm like, I could get all snickers any time. Here's the thing. If you had gone to Giles's, you could have taken 10 full-size candy bars because not a single soul went there.

And he was sitting sad boy with a growing pile of rappers. And I would once again like to offer my services in many respects to Rupertiles. I would like you to time travel back to Halloween, 1999. go comfort him and then join him on his chainsaw adventure. I mean, gladly. Anything? What do you want to? Dad, I had a lot, I didn't have one clear winner this time.

Like, I have some other times for dad moment, but I had a number of moments that felt worth at least just quickly toasting. In the freshman, we've already talked about this, but I just loved the, like, gentleman of leisure. The idea that he was referring to himself as the gentleman of leisure when everyone else is like, isn't that British for being unemployed. It felt very dad-coded. Um, Buffy in living conditions, she, she's trying to avoid Kathy.

So she's hanging out in the courtyard. I love living conditions, but once again, it really bothers me whenever we return to like the nobody believes Buffy that something supernatural is going on. That is silly. Yeah. That is silly. That is silly. I mean, I guess I wouldn't know how to respond specifically to the toenail thing, but in general, I think I would be ready to believe Buffy at this point. He comes back from his run

And he's sweaty and just gassed And she's like, you run and he's like, and jump and bend And occasionally, like, real dad vibes Let's see, pangs Oh, when Angel's back Giles going into like dad lecture mode With Angel about Buffy, very dad, very dad core I'm glad that you're watching out for her

But I feel I should remind you that she's not helpless And it's not your job to keep her safe And then Angel, of course, is like, Snyers anymore. Tough. Tough feedback. Tough feedback. And Giles saying, it's not fair.

You know that's what she'd say. You can see her, but she can't see you. I liked that. Let's see what else. I have one from something blue. Yeah. Yes. My Vofi goes, I'm not crazy, and I know that you probably don't approve.

My father's not that far away. I mean, he could. But this day is about my family, my real family. And I would like you to be the one to give me away. And Giles being like, oh, oh, Buffy. That's so. Oh, for God's sake. This is nonsense.

sense. But like he's genuinely touched. The Buffy's like, walk me down the aisle. I wanted to be you. Fuck you, Hank Summers. That's my next picture. It's great. It is amazing. It's such a highly comic stretch of that episode to give us a real like just little burst of heart there. I love that. And then everything in a new man. Giles at her surprise party.

People keep bringing him plates of cake and then he's sitting by himself. And then he hears about Walsh for the first time. He's like, why don't you invite her? And Buffy's like, she's like 40. She wouldn't be hanging out with these kids. Also, I was like, damn, I'm turning 40 this year. Like, is 40? Oh, no, I feel like my whole life is ahead of me. I'm going to thrive.

But also, Mallory, are you going to an 18-year-old birthday party at a college dorm? No, you're not. I've yet to be invited. No, you're not. I'm probably not. Don't go to any parties. Don't do that. It's weird.

It's like sweet that Giles is. It's fun. Giles should be there. It's, you know, whatever. But at the same time, like, maybe, like, we have a different celebration with Giles. You know? Yeah. Yeah, like the equivalent of their Thanksgiving, which is like the Scoobies,

plus Spike tied up in a chair. We'll come back to that. You are definitely going back to that. I have no doubt. This is the same episode of New Man where Giles, we see him feather dusting his books. And he like, sensational. In his mouth. He sure does.

So it could have also gone in most daddy moments. The way that he reacts to learning that everybody but him knew about Riley being part of the initiative and everything. Spike, Spike knew, Professor Walsh, that fish wife. And then when he is in his cops and in his feelings with Ethan. incredible. The world is past as my. Someone snuck in and left us a couple of has-beens in our place. What am I? I'm an unemployed librarian with a tendency to get knocked on the head. Like, it is interesting actually to see him kind of interrogate where he is in his life and what is nice. And I'm curious. Like, how long will he stay in this kind of state of limbo? It's tough for, like, for those of us who like Giles being like very specifically integrated into the plot. But I do like making this writer problem. text where it's just sort of like, Giles isn't the school librarian. So what is his place in the show now? Zander isn't going to UC Sunnydale.

So like what is his place in the show now? He's trying to figure out what his career is. And like, Giles is like, I don't know who I am because the writers are like, we don't know either. We used to have you so tidily incorporated into the plot when everything revolved around high school. But now, you know, again, once again, Joyce just like left out in the fucking win. Joyce barely here.

I know. Sad. Sad. Those were my dad picks. I'm gonna make you feel better now. Jiles' most daddy moment. I believe you have a clip for this. Let's just... An embarrassment of riches.

Uh, Jalz does to live here, right? He does? Hmm. He appears. Rupert, you have a guest. Buffy, hello. Is this a bad time? No.

Okay. Hmm. For a moment one. I literally one of the first things I texted you about one of the first things that we were texting with Rob about

on our group chat for moment one I knew that Giles was undeniable you did walking sex oozing sex waiting for him and Jenny

you are on the right side of a pile of books minute one and then there was a lot right away you know watching what was unfolding between him and Jenny

Obviously, band candy, one of the thrills of my life, the gift that keeps on giving. But he sends most of season three, like, mourning, Jenny. This to me was a really important moment for the show to acknowledge something that is undeniable. Which is his sexual ferocity. To quote my favorite forgotten HBO comedy, this guy. fucks. This guy fucks. This guy fucks. Why are we waiting around to find out if Giles is going to fuck? This guy

fucks. And the idea that Olivia is there, stunning. Right? And she's like, oh, I couldn't pass through without looking up old Ripper. And you're like, oh my God. Oh my God. The bathrobe, the easy grace and comfort around each other. Then later in hush when she comes back. Took a side swipe at baseball movies in terms of the planar. I didn't love that, but

otherwise, Olivia has my heart. They talk for 30 seconds. Then she's like, literally says, that's enough small talk, don't you think? Let's fuck. Not that we needed confirmation that Giles is great in bed, but there it is, right? We already had it. More than once with Joyce, right? Put to the car. We knew. We get to see them a couple times in bed together, naked. I loved the glimpse of like his arms around her and they're holding hands. They need to be touching each other. Wonderful. One of the best moments in this show so far for me is later in hush.

The gentlemen have already let loose their carnage. The apocalypse, not an actual apocalypse, we'll get there. Again? That was great when all three of them were like, again. Another shot of Olivia and Giles naked cuddling in bed. So they're just fucking their way. The town being quarantined. Fuck your way through it.

You know what I mean? In the state of crisis. And I'm like, I get it. I get it. So I have some runners up, but that's the, to me and the obvious pick for daddy moment. It's just, he's undeniable. He really is. I think there's only one answer.

It's different than yours, but we have a different relationship with Giles. And I believe it's Giles with the chainsaw. The chainsaw is my next runner up. Great jacket in that scene, too. Incredible jacket. And the way he handled. snap heft? I felt, again, like it answered questions I didn't need to have answered because I knew the answer in my heart, but I'm like he is used to, hmm. I wish I had had a prettier laugh response

to that because I know that's going to be one of the quote cards is you saying, handle that heft and then it's just going to be me like ugly laughing at you. Yeah. Just incredible stuff. I also enjoyed when in something blue, Spike is in the bathtub and he's begging for telly and he's like, Passions is on. If you miss it all, and Giles is like, do what? Lick me to death.

I'd like to try. That's in my, that's in my funniest moments. I would like to try. Timmy's down the well. Oh my gosh. Passions is on and Timmy's down the well is iconic. Incredible stuff.

Down the bloody well is iconic. Daddy moment too when Oz like raves about the record collection in Harsely Day, you know, get to see the Velvet Underground. That was wonderful. And then, you know, we always,

we can't break our streak of celebrating Giles being really violent in the most daddy. category. So in a new man when he sees Ethan and is like, you have no idea how much thrashing you is going to improve my day. Pretty hot. It didn't improve your day. It sure did. Great. Sure did. All right. Abrupt mood swing into the When Willow Cries We Cry category. And I have a clip. Don't you love me? My whole life. I've never left anything else. That's my pick too. Painful. I mean, earlier also in that same episode. I don't really like that episode.

I love that scene. That like goodbye scene is incredibly well done by both Seth Green and Allison Hanigan. You know, Willow spends a great chunk of this part of the season like demolished, depressed, destroyed. But not actively crying as much as she does in this episode. And that just like, don't you love me anymore? My whole life. Oh, God. You know, like I just absolutely guts.

me. I, not my favorite episode either. I do like the way inside of it, Willow's paranoia and suspicion, but ultimately it's not paranoia because it's very well-founded and justified, man. I knew, yeah. Like, the way that she's watching Oz watch Veruca at the gig. And, like, for us at home, prior, previous episodes, when they pass each other in the quad, and they're like, oh, my God. And Verac is like, you knew what I was. Yeah. Okay. They can, like, smell it. other, fuck. The moment where Willow is talking about the Oz blushing behind his ears and says to Buffy, like, that's only for me.

Heartbreaking. So you're building toward this point. And then when she finds them entwined and naked in the cell, and we get that, you know, him calling back to what she did with Zander. And like, I thought that when she said you wanted her like in an animal way, like more than you wanted me. Like more than you wanted me, it was so heartbreaking. because he's been pushing back against everything that she said to that point and challenging it,

but he's kind of like just silent there because there is something about what exists between them. And that's part of what he'll say is like, I don't know where that line is anymore. But yeah, that moment, like, don't you love me? It's just devastating. And then in something blue a few episodes later, when she sees that his room is empty. And she's like, oh, oh, he's, I thought, I kept telling myself. You know, she's going. He's like dropped out of classes.

Yeah, she's going up to Walsh and Riley after class. And it's like, I didn't hear you say his name in Roe. call. He's not gone. And then the room being empty, there's something about it that she, like, has to accept at that point. And then it kind of, the crushing wave of grief just hits her again. And she says to Buffy, I feel like I've been split down the center. And half of me is lost. It's just really sad. Especially, like, when you combine it with one of my favorite scenes is, like, her talking in her sleep, right? And he says, like, come back to me, you know? And then she, like, fake, like sleep talks.

It's just like incredibly sweet. Okay. Let's just swing the pendulum back once again. And this is a triple header category that I'm calling Spike's hottest moment, funniest moment, and most Spike moment. It's just a chance to celebrate Spike as much as possible. And I'm not ashamed. I gave you two Giles categories for the last few seasons because I love you.

And here we go. It's a triple category for Spike. Let us start, please, with my eclip. A bear. You made a bear. I didn't mean to. Undo it. Undo it.

Spike in pangs. Tied to that chair. Yeah. Just taking arrows. I'm like, I'm like, watch, wash so hard. And then a bee goes, a bear, a bear, you made a bear, undo it is honestly, I think one of the funniest things that ever happens on Buffy. I love it so much. What's your, you have a clip too, I believe.

I do. I do. Yeah, let's just, let's, let's enjoy this. Comfy, I'm chaining a bathtub drinking pig's blood from a novelty mug. Doesn't rate huge in the Zaggart's guide. Incredible. Such a good scene. I'll put that under of the three buckets, most spike.

That felt like a real most spike moment. So mine was my funniest moment, a bear, bear on do it. My most spike moment is the like sort of like the big, watch your mouth, little girl. You should know better than to tempt the face. that way because the big badd is back and this time and then he gets, I'll get electrocuted and captured by the initiative. So that combination of like Spike being like, I'm the biggest baddest to be immediately undercut by this like physical comedy moment to me feels like the most spike thing. Because like, you know, Spike is so cool and will like show up to Sunnydale and run over

the sign and just sort of like all the sort of stuff like that. But then like Drusilla leaves him for a chaos, you know, like just like all this shit happens to him too because he's all. also a loser. Like, he's so cool and he's also a loser. It's the best. I really love because he was so fully incorporated in this really clever way into the Scooby circumstance in the stretch of episodes. How many times he has the opportunity to basically say a version of that where he's like, this is like the group of people who keeps fording my every movie. That's really wonderful. Yeah. I had a couple Pangs nominees in my most spike category as well, even though obviously my pick was from something blue with the mug and the straw and that amazing line.

Just the stretch one, he's tied to the chair and he's like, I came to you in friendship. Well, all right. See the hatred, but I've got useful information. And I feel like I'm being mistreated the way he kind of is working his game. And then immediately, like, why don't I just say exactly what the thing is out loud in the span of two seconds? It was just really wonderful. And there are so many great spike moments with, like, food or drink. or, you know, he needs the blood. But I think my favorite crowded field was, I wouldn't say no to a brandy.

Just a small brandy. And he's like quiet in the back as they're arguing. Incredible stuff. And then, you know, he's at the table and like, oh, lay off you all had a fine meal. But me an entire siege, you'd think one of you would bleed a little. Just like lamenting his circumstances. So good. Did you have any other hottest spike contenders for that bucket? It's from that same scene in something blue when when Buffy is. taunting him, right? They're talking about like, Jalell's like, until we're sure you're, and Buffy's like flaccid.

So he's like you're one step away, Missy. And Buffy goes, Giles, help, he's going to scold me. And then he's just like growling and like going against the chain trying to like kind of bite her, but also, and she's like, um,

and he's like, you have your Zaget's line. Yeah. And then she's like, I'll look at my poor neck, all bare and tender and expose. All that blood just, pumping away and Giles's like oh please

Giles is like get a room essentially you know and just like Giles make her stop like it's very horny and funny at the same time

really good he's like lunging to try to get to her neck is incredible very good everything with Buffy and something blue

is incredible I also thought it was pretty hot to watch him you know with the t-shirt like in the tunneling stretch in our

I mean I'm just like working the digging equipment his sex life with harmony is abusive and also extremely hot.

Yes. Also, in terms of funny moments. Funny. Funny in conjunction with something disturbing is like in the initiative when he attacks Willow in the dorm room and you're like, Jesus Christ. And it is like shot like a sexual assault scene. Like it is like very harrowing. But then cut to he cannot bite her. And they have this like genuinely very funny back and forth about like performance.

And he's like it's never happened before. And then she's like, it's me, isn't it? I'm not the kind of girl that men's want to bite. And he's like, no, I thought about it. He's like, you're wearing that fuzzy pink number. You know what I mean? Like, it's a really good exchange. Maybe you were nervous.

I felt all right when it started. Yeah. That's all really good. In that same episode on the funniest front when he, again, this spike harmony, very fraught, but when he returns and he's like ripping off these nicknames for her, Mentholi. A little petite crem-crimplei, my little mentholated pack of spokes. That's a little pack of smokes.

So good. That killed me. That was so funny. Oh, in harsh light of day, I loved when he's like, they're still trying to dig up. And he's like, it's definitely the cryptor. And I'm not keen on dialing into so much. And then in the Buffy spike fight scene out in the light of day when he's like boasting, you know, a sun beaming down in a nice non-fatal way.

Can't wait to see if I freckle. Also in something blue when he's like, when they're talking about their wedding and he was like, registered to Mr. or misses a big pile of dust. That's incredible. The Wheatabix thing with the blood gives it a little texture. Just incredible. I liked it in a new man when he's moving out of Xanders and he's like taking the radio and Zander's like, what the fuck dude?

And Spike's like, and you're what? Shocked and disappointed. Evil. I'm evil. He's the best. Yeah, he is the best. Also the, again, another like giffable, perhaps opening credits, but definitely Gippable is like when he's tied to Zander's in Hush, when he's tied to Zander's chair and he just like flips him off.

That's an iconic spike moment. He's just genuinely the best. It's an incredible performance. And one of my favorite TV characters and one of my favorite performances of all time. I hope he never goes away again. I would not spoil that for you. Okay.

But speaking going away again, I will spoil this. Best guest star? Yeah. This is the last Ethan Ray episode. No! We never see him again, and so I can only assume the initiative killed him. I don't know.

What? I'm just choosing to believe the initiative fucking killed Ethan Rain. This is the last Ethan Rain episode. Calamity. What the fuck? Absolute calamity. No.

I know. Darth Vader. I had no idea I'm despondent. Yeah, Robin Sacks, we honor you. Oh my God. Well, he was my pick anyway. Yeah. Why?

I know. There should be an Ethan Rain episode every single season. Yes. I agree. The fuck. All right. I have one more category today

where we can honor him once more, actually. Great stuff. Best, this is a new one. Best college is hell. Yes. Metaphor.

Yeah. I think we've talked about all of it before, but like, you know, in general, Buffy's struggling to adapt as Willow and Oz are like in their element, you know, very effective. But my pick here is Kathy in episodes one and two. Your roommate is an actual demon needing to like, and I, my college roommates are like to this day, my best friends in the world. So I got very lucky and I have a, what's the worst thing you ever did as a roommate, though? Like what's the behavior where you're just sort of like, I wouldn't do that now if I. We're living with someone. I'll start. Yeah, tell me. This is not in college. I think I got along very well with all of the people. And I shared a room with someone every single year. Like, even we lived off campus, I, like, shared a, I slept in a twin bed and shared a room with a friend of mine all through college.

But the, what was I going to say? Oh, when I left college, my first place that I lived in San Francisco, I once wrote a post-it note from the point of view. of the sponge. Oh my God. I know. This is like, I'm so embarrassed. Like,

I can tell the story because I know this is like one of the worst things I ever did. Being like, please like ring me out after you use me. Like, well, they are breeding grounds for bacteria.

I mean, you definitely need to do that. But also you definitely don't need to write a post-it from the point, like from the, in the voice of the sponge being like, ring me out or I'll get all manky. I'm going to the other way with this. I'm going to try to sit home with Adam.

The sponge. Granted, does he do all the dishes? He does. So do I get to comment? Probably not. But will I? When do you touch the sponge? That's my question.

I don't like to look at it and see it and no. And know that it's waterlogged. I just, at the time, I did it. Incredible. It was directed at the guy that I was living with that I liked the least. But the other guy lived with who I, like, adored. He was like, Jordan. That was not the move.

And I was like, oh. And he was like, this is terrible. And I was like, okay. I learned something. You are a, you're a creator. You're an artiste, and you were writing even then. Look at that. A creator.

Just discovering your craft. Okay, now you have to share something you did. It doesn't have to be as genuinely terrible as the posted story. That's a good question. Let's see. So like freshman and sophomore year, I lived with Lena, both years, Angel, hottest person alive, just a absolute dime, gorgeous milk show. Lennah is an incredible name.

She's the best. We saw each other in L.A. when she was out here like a year or two ago, and I was like, you're still the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life. I don't know that I ever did anything bad to her. She had a very vibrant social life. There's no story. Just like she's incredibly hot. This is real.

This is real. I would simply not eat a friend in the wild moment from you. I'm trying to think. And then sophomore year. Go home and write a post it to Adam and take a photo of it. So I don't know. Sophomore year. So Allison and Suzanne were roommates, freshman and sophomore year on the same floor as us.

And then I became very good friends with both of them and then kind of like force them to become friends with each other. We're all still friends to this day, book club members. So the three of us lived together junior year on South campus. I don't know that anyone did anything really terrible then. Never mind. Let's just move on. It's not, it's not, does Mallory remember how hot and not. her roommates were. That's not the prompt. Fuck.

We all had a nice house together. Alice and I went to London together. And senior year. It was great. And scene. If you're one of Mallory's roommates, I'll tell you a dorm room. You can email me at Hobbes and Dragons at gmail.com. I'm sure they have plenty of stories. I'm trying to think of like, you know, what was everyone's like sock in the door handle code and did everyone abide by a thing? I don't know. All right, this isn't anyone doing anything bad. It's just an embarrassing story. I'll share this with you. Bless you. Okay. So this was, let me think about

which side of which side of the room was my bed on. Okay, so this would have been freshman year. Can visualize it. Leno was not home. I was alone. And I was asleep. And I heard a noise

and I got really scared and I was like someone is in the room. And I'm like going to stay as still as I possibly can and think, is there a way that I could, like, make a move for the door and run to Allison, Suzanne, who are across the hall? I'm panicking. I'm, like, I'm trying to kind of maintain my breathing. I'm an asthmatic, right? I'm like, I know Lano's not coming home. Like, she's out. She's at a party. I'm alone. And I'm mustering the courage to just turn and quickly make a move to the door.

And I turn, and it is a balloon. wrestling against. Not a wrestling balloon. Yeah. And then, so that was fine. That's a, that's a little. I'll also say, that's a great story. Yeah.

I will also say, one time when socky bombing and threw up on my floor and, like, really couldn't properly account for the laundry after that, if you would like that story as well. I liked that better than the wrestling balloon. Thank you so much for that. Fresh year, we also broke into, our friend Dan, who's not married to my freshman roommate, Nicole.

I presume they're still married. And we just stole a bunch of his stuff and then we all dressed up as him and like including his now wife, Nicole. And we all just like, there's just photos of us just like all wearing his clothing and we stole his guitar and we stole all this stuff. That's something we did. And also we broke into our friend Raj's room who married my other roommate. There's a lot of marriages that came out of that dorm floor.

Married my other roommate, Emily. We were going to Raj's room and we cleaned it. Okay. Real girl prank stuff where we're like, we're going to, and then like took a photo on his bed and now like clean room. And that is like a very cherished memory of mine. I don't know why we thought cleaning someone. It was just disgusting. We cleaned it.

I did always, that was a fun, you know, thing in college when you're going to someone else's room and you see what's there. I have a vivid memory of going to. His name shall remain private. I won't share it. And he hadn't this like. very visible box of ribbed condoms on his dresser top and like, you know, kind of clearly wanted everybody to know that he had them yet there because he was like, he's like, I'm ready ladies. I'm using condoms or like I can, I could use condoms. Well, I was so, I was just like,

ribbed. And he's like, and my friend, we still all joke most of those days. Like, for her pleasure, Mallory. Could not have said for her pleasure. I swear to God. For her. For her pleasure, Mallory, the way he said it. I was like, college, what a special time. Last night at least on the college's hell metaphor, I will just add, what if the ROTC were like a scary militarized secret cabal of, you know, monster hunters or something like that. Yeah. Roommate snoring in the sleep, cutting toe nails onto the floor, labeling the eggs, one. Yeah. What if the ROTC were a shadow cabal too? Yeah. Okay, great. Funniest moment.

I have a clip. I know you do. Let's watch it. If you're listening to this instead of watching it, this is the aforementioned Buffy jacking off slash steakstabbing from Hush moment. Incredible. Very good. Zander miming the boobies after Willow was saying like hearts. Also hysterical.

But miming a steak and everybody thinking that you're doing a jerk off thing. What if we jacked them off? Yeah. What would beat the gentleman? What if we just like jacked them off? Incredible stuff. The cuts to everybody's faces. Just absolutely. Perfect.

Very good. I also have a clip. Let's play it. Spike and I are getting married. How? What? How? Three excellent questions.

What are you looking at? The man I love. Can I be blind too? Can I be blind too? Is so good. is the reason for that clip. But like the three question thing is really funny. Oh, my God.

I will say, incredible. A bear, bear, you made a bear undo it. And can I be blind to are like two of my most treasured jokes from this season. I think they're so good. That's so funny. I also like in that same stretch when Childs is, you know, he's losing a sight. Yeah.

But he's still through the power of sound and proximity bearing witness. Yeah, I can hear that. Yeah. And he's like, you know, here's that. Because Spike doesn't want Buffy. you mentioned Angel and Buffy's like, why, when you're making sweet love to me, are you going to think of Drew?

And Jalz's like knocking over his scotch and they're kissing and he's like, I can hear the smacking! Stop that right now. That's all just great. Oh, man. This is where the Klimt versus Monet dorm room poster tally.

That was hysterical. Really great. The Scooby's, they're amazement that Jiles has a TV and his like public television. Great. Got to admit a little disappointed, Oz says.

And then Willow's like, maybe it doesn't work. It's like art. Zander turns it on. Look everyone, we have vital work to do. Okay, yeah. Jal says a TV is a really, really good one. I will say also, Oz revealing his God Halloween costume

when we get Willow's Joan of Arc thing, close personal relationship with God, and then he just has the, like, God name tag costume. Zander's reaction to that, because he's like, I wish I thought of that before I put down this deposit. Really good. Oh, on the Gilesander front, too,

I texted you about this, but when in the initiative, he's in Zander's basement pad and snacking, and there's an open, already just open, no chip clip, bag of Doritos, and Giles picks it up and takes a bite, and he's like, and puts it down, and it's hysterical, but it's like, is it because he thinks he's never had a Dorito before and he thinks it's revolting? Doritos are delicious, or because it's been open and stale. But then when Zander's mom calls from downstairs, like, do you want you for a punch? And you think Giles is going to be like, fuck that Dorito. Fuck your mom's true punch.

And he's like, it's a raspberry. This is great. I love it. Buffy knocking Oz and Zander's head together in living conditions. Extremely good stuff. Very good. The actual size gag and fear itself. Yes.

Incredibly good. Really good. Beer bad. Here it is. Okay. It belongs in this category. Fantastic. When Giles is giving Zander shit for serving Buffy beer.

Yeah. And then Zander's, like, refers to Giles' Ripper Days as Electric Kool-Aid Funky Satan Groove. Like, who spent all the 60s in Electric Kool-Aid Funky Satan Groove, right? And then, Giles was like, it was the 70s, actually. Yeah, that's amazing. But, like, I thought electric Kool-Aid Funky Staten Grove was very good. Love it. How about you don't have a rice or all of the-pinks?

Problematic episode. Very. Extremely funny. I do have. So amusing moments. I have, when Jalel says, well, that's good. But this is why I think we should all keep a level head in this. And Willow says, and I happen to think mine is the level head.

And yours is the one things would roll off up. That's really great. It's very good. When Anya shows up with a near-death zander, and it's a very intense circumstance and Buffy's just like, you didn't bring rolls? Yeah, Buffy's whole like, I got to have the perfect Thanksgiving. Shit is so good. And then when Angel shows up and he grabs Willow and Willow's like, oh, Angel, you're evil.

You're evil again. He's like, I'm not evil. I'm hearing out Buffy is very, very good. I also love when Willow wonders if there's a spell that could help to rectify this situation. And she's like, there was a potion. Graves it. Sage, salt, onion. And Buffy's like, that's a stuff.

It's really good. Very amusing. Yeah. Peng, tough episode in many ways. The Shumash, we honor you, but also just like. And like, I think in their 1999 way they were really like trying by like giving Willow the voice of like, you know, blah, blah. but then also the depiction of the Shumash is just undercutting whatever their intention was.

So maybe that should have been the most 1990 thing. But maybe. Maybe. Yeah. Last time to mention Ethan, I guess. Yeah. I can't tell you how hard I laughed? Because Giles is like, again, trying to contribute.

So he's like, oh, there's a thing happening. Let's go. We don't need Buffy. Zander Willow. Come on. Right. And they go into the crypt. And he's looking.

He's like, oh, man, maybe the initiative got here first. So he leaves. And then Ethan emerges from the show. shadows to like speechify. To monologue. Yeah. And then it puts his head back in. He's like, someone there?

It was like, a bonger, I thought you'd gone. It was hysterical. And in that same episode in the great Spike and Giles in the car sequence, you know, they've come to their arrangement. I did Google the inflation of what would do $200, but said very much. Spike could pass for more, which obviously is the joke. And Spike is like, you know, he's looking in the mirrors. And he's like, picked up a tail.

Giles is like, it's just a little one. It hurts when I sit. Incredible. It's a funny stretch of episodes. I really think season four is like among the funniest. It just doesn't have that balance of like the funny and the point in which brings us to our last category which is most emotional moment, which is usually full of opportunities, but it's really tough here. So I'm going to give it to what I think is really good in the harsh light of day is all of the angel parallels, right? like Buffy wakes up alone.

Oh no, but he's back. Right. But, you know, it's just like once again, like she sleeps with someone and then there is this abandonment, which is, you know, underlined for her and fear itself and by spike and harsh light of day and all this sort of stuff like that. But it's just like all those like traces of angel and traces of surprise and innocence that trauma that still lingers with Buffy here I thought was, you know, like, again, like Parker is a really good. He looks, I think, actually more like Xander than he looks like Angel. But it really does. It is this like, you know, what if Angel but an ordinary dude just sucks? And also, now we're starting for most emotional moment, but like, I will say,

it'd be or bad when Willow's talking to Parker and he's like feeding her the lines. And then she's like, did you really think I'd fall for that? Really good. That's really good. Really good Willow moment there. On the parallels front, right down to the red sheets. Yeah, the red sheets. Oh, I know.

Incredible. I know. Okay, I have like a very small, maybe this will even seem strange as a selection, but it did really hit me and it felt like, okay, yeah, I've had moments like that. People have moments like that. And so it made me feel very just like connected to reflecting on the passage of time. Back in not a great episode 11 doomed after they're leaving, because they've been walking through the schools of their dilapidated high school,

still there, right? And then they're walking out. They're leaving. And Zander's like, it's weird being back, isn't it? And Willow says, yeah, everything seems so small. Like, how many moments have you? I remember so vividly, like, the first time I went back to, like, my elementary school when I was in middle or high school or, like, camp, you know, the day camp I went to when I was a kid.

And I'm like, in my mind, this was gigantic. Or, like, driving. We lived in a different house. And I remember, like, going into a neighborhood that we lived in when I was really little. And in my mind, I was like, I was like, I was. I remember, because it was like the last house that my parents lived in together before the, before the, and I have these memories in my mind of my dad, like under this tree, this willow tree, like throwing a ball near. It was gigantic in my mind. I'm like, oh, my God, this is all so small.

So that's just really, I like moments like that. Yeah. Like, we have moved into a different phase of your life and these things that take on this like titanic proportion in the, the scape of your memory. Like, that's not what they were, but they feel that way to you. So it was one beat, but I thought that hit. That's season four, part one. It's a great pick. Can't wait for part two.

And Mirades. Her two has some terrible shit and also some great returning faces that we're very excited to see that we wanted to make sure we had space to feature. So very exciting. I'm pretty sure most people who are listening to or watching this have already seen back half of season four, but just in case you haven't, I will keep that vague. But I'm excited for it. There's some like bangers in. the back half, and then there's also some of the worst shit that Buffy has to offer. So a real mixed bag situation.

Thank you, Mallory Rubin. Thank you, my darling. My darling angel. Thank you to Carlis Chirboga for all of his work on this episode. Always. To Jacob of the entire Sycamore team for all of their troubleshooting on, you know. Incredible, Jacob, C.T. Yeah, C.T.

Everyone here is really coming through. And we'll be back. Part two with some mall stuff. That's right. With some Christopher Nolan. Yeah, what a time to be us. See you soon. Bye.

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