Group lists have all now gone out for the 4th annual Whedonverse Swap! Every participant in this year's swap should have their group recipient list at this time. If you signed up but didn't receive the email, please let us know asap.
So it's time to get crafting on those ornaments and remember to ship out by Dec 5th (we recommend even earlier if you're outside of the US or shipping outside of the US, so that everyone gets the packages in time for the holidays). If you still have questions refer to the full details in the original post hereor email us at buffyfest@aim.com. Happy swapping!
A big "thank you" to all the participants. Some of the fabulous crafters in the swap are affiliated with the following websites and blogs: http://serenityscreeningvan.blogspot.com
Dark Horse has finally announced what so many have been waiting for, their Whedonverse Comics are going Digtal! Simply log on to Digital.DarkHorse.com or download the app to create an account to get cracking. Full press release and release date schedule below.
BUFFY, ANGEL, AND DOLLHOUSE COME TO THE DARK HORSE DIGITAL STORE!
JOSS WHEDON’S BEST-LOVED CHARACTERS ARRIVE ON YOUR iPAD, iPHONE, AND LAPTOP!
The wait is finally over, as Dark Horse and Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products announce the arrival of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse and Angel in the Dark Horse digital store! As rave reviews and support for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 and the all-new series Angel and Faith continue, casual and hardcore fans will now be able to experience previous Buffy, Angel, and Dollhouse comics on all-new platforms! Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse are licensed through an agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products.
Now, fans are encouraged to head over to Digital.DarkHorse.com to download issues of all three of these titles today, with multiple issues available for purchase! Fans can now download the first twenty issues of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #1-20, as well as Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9 #1,2 &3. “This marks another important turning point in Dark Horse’s digital initiative,” said Dark Horse president and founder, Mike Richardson. “Joss Whedon’s incredible characters have become some of our most popular, and now fans from all over the world can see them like they never have been seen before!”
“Our history with Dark Horse has been incredibly successful, giving fans of these characters all new ways to enjoy their stories,” said Jeffrey Godsick, president of Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products. “This transition opens a whole new chapter in our relationship and will give readers an exciting opportunity to experience the comics on some of the hottest digital platforms." Going forward, Dark Horse will release a mix of new and backlist titles weekly. Stay in the know on all of your favorite titles, and sign up for the Dark Horse Digital newsletter at https://Digital.DarkHorse.com today!
**Updated release dates**
11/16/11
Buffy Season 8 #1-20
Buffy Season 9 #1, 2 & 3 11/23/11
Buffy Season 8 #21-25
Angel #1-9
Angel & Faith #1 - 3 11/30/11
Dollhouse one shot and #1-5
Buffy Season 8 #26 - 30 12/7/11
Buffy Season 8 #31- 35 12/14/11
Buffy Season 8 #36-40
If you'd like to join the dozens of people who will be creating and receiving Whedonverse themed ornaments this year, follow the instructions below before midnight tonight! We'll be sorting the groups immediately and you'll receive your list of recipients tomorrow.
If you're not sure what this is, read full details here. To sign up for the swap, send an email with the subject "MERRY WHEDON" and the following information to buffyfest@aim.com:
- name
- address
- email address
- your website or blog (if you have one)
- whether your are willing to ship internationally
2 in a row! Yes that's right, 2 showdowns in a row. That's because I tried to catch up before last Friday's Supernatural and failed. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's because you missed the first 6 entries of this here blog series, known as the "Season Seven Showdown." It's where we're trying to determine if Supernatural's seventh season is going to go down the same dark path that Buffy did in it's seventh season. So far, most signs are pointing to "Yes" and yep, that's a reference to this week's episode so let's get to it!
Supernatural Episode #7 - "The Mentalists" Episode Synopsis:
After being estranged for a few weeks off camera, the brothers reunite in the "Psychic Capital of America" where seers, psychics and spoon benders are being murdered.
The Deets:
Episode begins with a psychic having her throat sliced by a Ouija Board Planchette during a seance. I never knew that thing was called a planchette! Guess I'm rusty on my Ouija. Dean goes to investigate in the half smurf blue run-down classic car he swiped and bumps into Sam, who's also working the case in this psychic themed town known as Lily Dale. Fun side fact: Lily Dale is a real life town in New York State with real life founders Margaret and Kate Fox (villiannesses of this episode), being known for their psychic talents. It really is the most psychic town in America and almost everything and everyone referenced in this episode are true! Creeepy.
So the boys are together again in their hot FBI suits, not that Sam's happy about it since he's still upset about Dean killing Kaylee. They know that all of these townfolk are phonies and buffoons, but there must be someone with real power behind the killings. After an awkward moment in a hippy dippy restaurant where someone recognized them from their doppelganger's murderous spree a few episodes back, they meet Nikolai Lishin, a spoon bender who later gets killed by his own cutlery.
So Sam and compare notes and learn that both Imelda Graven and Grandma Goldy (the planchette victim) both owned the same necklace. Thinking we have a cursed object on our hands, they visit Goldy's granddaughter Melanie, who's a local celeb as well, but doesn't really believe in all this psychic business. She uses the skill of reading body language and can immediately see that Dean and Sam are having brotherly problems. Anyway, she says a local store owner named Jimmy Tomorrow inherited it and when they arrive at said store, they are informed that the necklace is actually an "Orb of Thessalay." Poor Jenny Calendar. I'd like to point out that this seems like both a Buffy and an Angel reference. It not only shares the name of the famous soul-binding object from the Buffy series as a whole, but also because this Orb turns out to be a "made in Taiwan piece of crap", much like "made in China" piece of crap that Angelus blindsides Fred with in the Season 4 episode "Release". Just saying!
So the boys bounce back to Melanie's to tell her that ghosts are real. Skip to a Miss Cleo-esque performer giving a "reading" with a fake islandy accent. Shorlty after, Miss Cleo has a real life premonition of her own death, so Melanie pops by with Dean in tow to help. It's then and there that we finally meet this episode's villianness who is captured on Miss Cleo's surveillance video. It is Kate Fox, famous psychic who along with her sister is honored in the local museum and real life town founders. At the Museum, the curator pulls Dean aside and says he has a message from an "Eleanor or Ellen". The message is "If you don't tell anyone how bad it really is, she'll kick your ass". How bad what is? The Kaylee guilt? The worry over Sam's Lucifer hallucinations? Losing Cas? What already?!
You know, this whole business about Dean being a mess of life, or whatever, is really getting draining. WTF are they even talking about? I mean specifically? They better get to a point because the writers aren't really showing us anything here, either blatant or subtle. People just keep saying Dean's a mess, but is it really more than what we're normally used to seeing?
Aaanyway, the boys burn Kate's bones but that doesn't do the trick. Turns out that particular villianness wasn't the bad guy after all. Back at Miss Cleo's apartment, she's being attacked by another ghost, which forces Melanie to call the boys back for help. They tell her to grab some salt and iron pokers and stuff, but it's all for naught as Margaret Fox, who is the real villianness, decapitates Miss Cleo anyway. Next morning, the boys go to burn Margaret's bones in broad daylight, which Dean doesn't like at all...but the bones are gone. Jeez this episode is complicated. So Dean finally puts 2+2 together that everyone who was killed was supposed to headline a festival and unfortunately for Melanie, she'd be the natural next replacement. After visiting Jimmy Tomorrow at the store again, Sam is sent on a wild goose chase to a Lamaze class after which HE finally puts the 2+2 together than the REAL, real villianness of the episode is actually Jimmy Tomorrow, who as it turns out has some kinky ghost relationship with ghost Margaret.
So Sam goes to Jimmy Tomorrow's apartment and after a scuffle, finally finds Margaret's bones in his bed! But what? This episode is random and weird. During this whole thing Dean is doing his damn best to try and to protect Melanie from ghost Margaret at her place, but man is Margaret putting up a fight. Finally, back at Jimmy Tomorrow's apartment, Sam is forced to shoot Jimmy dead. It's in self defense, but I get the feeling that this is the moment where Sam realizes Dean was right to kill Kaylee or whatever. Anyway, Sam burns Margaret's bones and the bed they were resting in, and Dean and Melanie are finally safe.
In the end, Sam basically forgives Dean for killing Kaylee, despite the fact that Dean said earlier in the episode that Sam was "acting like a little bitch" over it. It was kind of rude, imo, but Sam's all understanding and stuff. He puts his bags in the trunk of the stolen smurf Blue run-down classic car and off they are again, to save people and hunt things. You know, the family business.
Well, I didn't really love this episode like so many others I know did. I actually thought it was kind of boring. Another kind of funny monster-of-the-week with nary a Leviathan in sight. The reconcilliation of the brothers was underwhelming at best. Sam agreed that Dean is right about Kaylee, but I'm still not sure that I do or that I even care. Maybe I would care more if they'd introduced Kaylee earlier in the show, I don't know. Either way, the Kaylee arc seems to have begun and finished with a fizzle, hopefully we can move on to the amazing pace the season started with now.
Buffy Episode #7 - "Conversations With Dead People"
In this music video-esque opening, a band plays at the Bronze and a title card reads: November 12, 2002 8:01 PM. Over the dreamy ballad, we see Buffy walking through a graveyard, Spike sitting at a bar, Willow falling asleep at the library and Dawn coming home to an empty house. When a hand finally forces itself through a fresh grave, the song ends and Buffy says "Here we go."
Here we go indeed, for this is a fan-favorite episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's not in my top 10 (or even 20, 30) but it's definitely a good one...especially in this season.
After the opening credits, we see Jonathan and Andrew for the first time since the events of season 6. They're driving back from Mexico, where they've been hiding out. They've also been having nightmares featuring this season's lame-ass tag line "from beneath you it devours" but Andrew has BabelFish style mistranslated it in "Mexicoan" to "It eats you, starting with your bottom." Ha! See? Even the writers think it's stupid. Meanwhile, Dawn's at home doing things a 10 year old would do rather than a high-schooler such as singing songs about Anchovies and blowing up marshmallows in the microwave. She's also on the phone with her friend, during which a thumping sound is heard followed by strong wind that blows through the front door, nearly knocking Dawnie on her ass. She runs to try and shut the TV, going so far as unplugging it, but it stays on. Creepy! Things start exploding, electronics are turning on and off and Dawn nearly takes an axe to a radio when she hear's her dead mom's voice coming through. Double creepy.
Back at the library, a recently dead Cassie just walks on in purple streaks and all. She sits across from Willow and tells her she's speaking to Tara from the other side. Willow tears up and I don't blame her, but this bitch is acting shady from the door.
In the graveyard, Buffy's fighting the freshly risen vamp at when he suddenly stops mid-fight to make with the pleasantries. Turns out, he's actually Holden Ward from SHS. They reminisce a bit (it's right then and there that we find out that Scott Hope is gay!) when his face turns back to human and she schools him on the vamp, slayer, chosen one scenario. Unfortunately, Buffy's cell phone is by a tombstone so she can't hear Dawn's desperate call for help. She's being attacked all over the place and makes a connection with Joyce, who she believes is in danger.
Joanthan and Andrew are breaking and entering the new Sunnydale High. Poor Jonathan thinks they're on a mission for redemption, but Andrew has other plans. You see, he's been communicating with Dead Warren who's pulling the strings so they will become Gods. And it's this episode that seals the deal of the character of Andrew for me. Tom Lenk may play him with charm and grace but the fact is, he's pretty evil and shouldn't have been rewarded for it. To make my point, it's very sad that Jonathan says here "Do you think they'll really let us join their gang?" in reference to the Scoobs, when in actuality Andrew's going to kill more people and still be the one to get to undeservingly join the Scooby Gang. I'm just not very forgiving with regards to the character of Andrew.
Aanyway, Willow's full blown crying at this point in the library, as Dead Cassie tries to calm her down. At the same time Holden "psych 101s" Buffy about relationship issues, her superiority complex, etc. They finally get somewhere, focusing on how poorly she treated Spike all while allowing him to take her over completely. It's at this moment of vulnerability that Holden smashes her in the face with a tombstone statue and successfully bites her! Not many can say they did that. Flash to Dawn who sees her mother in the spot where she dies, all creepy and white eyes and begging for help. The demon or ghost or whatever it is is trying to kick Dawn out of the house, but she stand strong, refusing to leave her mother.
Then it's quick scenes, Buffy and Holden are back to their in-depth conversation about Buffy's relationships with vampires, Spike is walking down back from the Bronze with a girl he met, and Cassie tells Willow she can't ever use magic ever - good or evil. She passes on Tara's message that she's not going to be ok, that she's going to kill everybody.
After the commercial break what's left of the Evil Trio are digging up something in Spike's former residence, the School's basement. Jonathan hopes that "Buffy will be able to destroy it" and reveals to Andrew that he actually misses High School and all of the people that were in it. Andrew poo poos all over this, saying that nobody cares about him...but Jonathan's having none of that since he still cares about them and that's why he's there. At this, the camera reveals a huge symbol in the subfloor of the basement.
Dawns casting a spell against the evil and while it looks like she's succeeding, I swear she's throwing regular ole' glitter around. Back to Buffy who's telling Holden that she feels beneath her friends and family, and better than them at the same time. Superior. He actually helps her a lot, explaining that it's ok to feel alone just like everyone does. They decide to resume the fight when Buffy mentions Spike again. Holden stops her mid-sentence and reveals that it was Spike to sired him! Flash to Spike biting the girl, Joyce telling Dawn Buffy won't be there for her and Dead Cassie telling Willow to kill herself.
In the final moments Andrew guts Jonathan over the symbol and Buffy finally drives a stake through Holden's heart, all set over the same music from the opening scene. Well done. And hey, is this the only episode that Nicholas Brendon wasn't in?
How do the eps compare?
Well, we have dead loved ones reaching out from the other side (Ellen/Faux Tara). Besides that, they are pretty different except, of course, for still with the "where the eff is Cas/where the eff is Giles." I'm going to keep mentioning it until it changes. Bastards.
Mini Battles!!:
Best Eighties referencing quote: "Think, Mcfly" - Andrew vs. "Geraldo'd" - Dean - Winner: Buffy
Best Orb of Thesulah/Thesulay: Winner: Buffy
Best Episode Villains - Ghost Margaret vs. The First - Winner: Buffy
Final Ruling:
This is one of the few times that The First was actually scary and not a head-scratcher or a total parody of itself. The creepy-calm tone of "Conversations" is also part of what made it fantastic to watch. So much so that compared to "The Mentalists," you'd think Seasons Sevens were good for a series. So Buffy's taking it again!
Will Season 7 of Supernatural tank like Buffy season 7 did? Before you get yourself all up in a huff listen, Buffy's coming up in this race. It won the last 2 in a row! Shocking. But I just want to make something very clear: if Buffy wins this thing at the end that doesn't mean that we took a time machine and fixed all the problems that were Potentials and Uber-vamps and all that shit. All it will mean is Supernatural did something very, very wrong. Sorry to break it that way.
I also want to mention that long time tweep @TheGingerPire said way back when we first started this showdown, in reference to these episodes: "I know SPN is going to beat the episode "Him". If it doesn't I will lose all faith in the show. lol." Fear not, Ginger friend.
I'm behind 2 weeks, so let's get cracking on this Episode 6 Showdown!
Supernatural Episode #6 - "Slash Fiction" Episode Synopsis:
The boys pull a Pulp Fiction and start shooting up the joint, but alas it's just their evil Leviathan twins taking a murderous Season 1 tour across the country. Also, Bobby almost makes sexy time with Officer Jody, but ends up giving the Leviathan tied up in the basement a sudsy bath and then chopping his head off. Poor Bobby.
The Deets:
This week's episode starts off with 2 hot boys shoving all the patrons of a bank into a vault and brutally murdering them via machine gun. I'm oddly conflicted because of their hotness and all. Let us not forget that Jensen Ackles was on a little show called Dark Angel playing both a hot killer and later a hot hero, with the exact same face. They like to mess with my morals, these shows.
Aaaanyway, the boys kill everyone and wink at the security camera while doing it. Next, the surprisingly calm versions of Sam & Dean are hanging out at the cabin while Bobby tortures that Cheese-loving Leviathan that James Marsters zapped last episode. Unfortunately, nothing's working and the dude's just working our boys' last nerve by letting them know of the bank murder. See, it wasn't our precious boys who did the killing, it was more Leviathans who doppelganged them by swiping some of Sam & Dean's DNA at some point this season. How Cheese-loving Leviathan knew that I'll never get....wasn't he in the back of the Impala all night? Plausibility Strike 1.
Either way, Bobby's very annoyed when he hears the boys want to go and confront the unkillable, untortureable monsters with their cute faces head on, but sends them to see an old frenemy anyway, Frank Devereaux, for an assist. See lunatic Frank is going to give them some new identities for a fee, but they have to ditch all of their fantastic Rock & Roll aliases from over the years and Gasp! The car. This makes Dean so sad. Frank also gives them a map detailing all of the spots that LeviaSam & Dean have hit so far and it turns out to be a pattern of Season 1 episode spots in order. Fun!
Enter two FBI agents hot on the trail of LeviaSam and LeviaDean. End Scene. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the cheese-loving Leviathan pisses Bobby off so much that he lops his fricken head right off. That shut him up real quick. Bobby's onto something, but he's interrupted by a rapping at the door courtesy of Sheriff Jody Mills. How the hell she found them when the monsters and FBI agents couldn't I'll never know. Plausibility Strike 2. Aww, she likes him! Jody and Bobby make with the googly eyes but he takes a break to go decapitate Cheese-fan once again, since his head magically crawled up his body and re-attached itself. Plausibility Strike 3. Eh, that's ok.
Then the hilarious happens. The real Sam & Dean, driving a stolen hoopty since the Impala had to be stashed, try to find some tunes on the radio to calm Dean's nerves. Sam lands on a radio station playing "All Out of Love" and quickly makes with the kibosh since he knows his brother is a classic rock only guy, thank you very much....but Dean tells him to leave it. As soon as Sam gets distracted enough what with the maps and such, Dean seizes the moment and starts lip synching the hell out of that bitch. I mean he's reeeaally getting into it and it's hysterical. Side note: Actress Kim Rhodes who plays Sheriff Jody tweeted about the script "The only thing re: Air Supply was "He's into it." There ya have it" confirming that the scene was all Jensen Ackles, baby. That's some improv for ya!
So the boys figure out that the next spot on the Leviathans list would be that burger joint Dean loves in St. Louis. We see that the Leviathans are already there eating said burgers with disgust and bashing every little thing about the real Sam & Dean's personalities. Before the real Sam & Dean can get there, Bobby tells them what we already know: the Leviathans already shot up the place and ruined the day. Dean doesn't even get his burger, poor thing. So they re-route to Iowa where they finally end up getting busted by the cops for their doppelgangers killing spree.
Meanwhile, the cheese-fan that Bobby's been torturing all episode got a piece of him and is now wearing Bobby's face. He's really psyching him out too as we learn some tidbits about Bobby's past. His father was a drunk and an abuser, yadda yadda yadda. And buwhat?! This episodes interesting but a little complicated, no? Anyway, just as Bobby's about to lop that head off once again, a lucky twist of events occurs. Seems Sheriff Jody is cooking and cleaning upstairs (strange) and some sudsy mix that contains Borax drips through the floorboards to burn the skin right off the Leviathan's body. At this discovery, Bobby plants one right on Jody's lips. Cute!
The boys are now jailed in Iowa. Dean manages to get a phone call and Bobby quickly informs him of the Borax/Head Lopping discovery. The sheriff of that town thinks Dean's a psycho killer, of course, but gets a glimpse of the doppelgangers who are just now joining them and realizes that something Supernatural is afoot. He trusts Dean and releases him...off to find something containing Borax, stat. Unfortunately for Dean, his doppelganger has already reached Sam and blurts out what Dean has been guiltily keeping secret - the killing of childhood demon-sweetheart Amy Pond at his hands. At this point, Dean has Boraxed and decapitated both doppels and for saving his life, the sheriff agrees to cover the whole thing up and fake their deaths once again.
To wrap things up, Sheriff Jody leaves without any sealing the deal with Bobby. Around the same time, the FBI agents that were tailing the boys reveal themselves as more Leviathan and kill the sheriff that helped the boys in Iowa. They call Edgar's boss who's a high-profile business man type, Richard Roman, to confirm the Winchesters are still alive and it's at that point that we're treated to an unexpected visit by Crowley! Yay! He wants to make a deal with the new order now that Cas is taken care of (where are you Cas!!) but Richard Roman is having none of it. In fact, he tears our favorite king of hell a new one. So Crowley skidaddles all pissy, not that I blame him.
In the end, Sam let's Dean know how he feels about his brother's betrayal. And by "Let's Dean know" I mean he kind of looks mildly perturbed and then walks off calmly. What the hell kind of break up is this? What happened to the great, screaming angst rages, full of emotion and brotherly turmoil on this show? Eh, at least the episode was very entertaining and moved things along. I would've loved it if this episode came directly after Ep 3 with some adjustments.
Buffy Episode #6 - "Him"
Grr to "Him". And double Grr to "Him" following the ray of sunshine that was "Selfless". See this is what I'm talking about when I rant about Season Seven Demise. Eh, let's get to it:
Everyone and their mother is angry at Spike for trying to rape Buffy and it's a leeetle uncomfy to watch, just saying. Fact is, the basement is making Spike mental so he's living in Xander's closet from now on.
Later at school, Buffy and Dawn are chatting on the school bleachers when Dawn gets hit with the love whammy by some dude in a letter jacket. Because she's already madly in love, Dawn makes a total ass out of herself, trying to get this boy named RJ's attention when he's talking to his jock friends. Then she makes an even BIGGER ass of herself the next day, when she falls all over the floor in Buffy's outdated Season 1 cheerleading uniform during tryouts. Ugh. I feel like I'm being tortured. This is Buffyfest. I want to like my show and instead I'm being tortured. Starting to get flashbacks of the first time....
Forgot to mention the 2 painfully thin girls fighting off a demon named Buffy and Anya. Wow, the weight thing seems way more jarring to me this time. Anyway, turns out D'Hoffryn isn't too happy about Anya's resignation from the demon business after all and there aren't enough sandwiches on set.
Later, Buffy and Xander are on the other side of the bathroom door where Dawn is flipping out. Buffy, seeing her cheerleading uniform cut to shreds, goes to confront Dawn but ends up trying to console her major freak out about knowing RJ's soul and all this crap. So much so that she pushes RJ's teammate down the stairs for replacing his spot on the team, or whatever. This gets her in trouble with Principal Wood, but earns her points with her precious RJ.
At the Bronze, everyone is still bitching about Spike. Also more icky, unintentional early Xawn, due to the fact that she's over there acting like a big ole' "slut-bag hussy." Buffy bitches, Dawn storms off and has a cat fight with a jealous girl outside. Back at the house, shades of Ringer as Buffy shadily manipulates Dawn into thinking she's come on too strong....but it's really because Buffy's been hit with the whammy too. Oh brother. "Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered" this is not. Next day Buffy proves how true that statement is when she seduces and eventually makes out with RJ. At school. Where she's on faculty as a counselor. Dawn catches them and it's on.
What happens after this is so gross I wish I could just stop here. In a nutshell, Xander tries to console Dawn, Xander goes to find Buffy, Xander finds Buffy GRINDING RJ on top of the still life in the art room with her shirt falling off. Poor Buffy's character...I can't.
At home, Dawn rips Buffy a new one over what's she's done and Buffy all "he's my lover" and Anya, Willow and Xander have had just about enough of this as I have at this point. They point out the spelliness of it all, which of course the Summers sisters deny. While the unaffected Scoobies do research, they learn that RJ's brother has a link to all this. So Xander and Spike goes pay the brother a visit and find that he's kind of lame. Once inside, Spike notices that the brother, Lance, is wearing RJ's jacket in a photo and it's revealed that the jacket comes from a long line of desperate losers trying to be popular with the ladies in high school.
Back at the Summers home, RJ stops by and hits the remaining females with the jacket whammy. Now everyone is fighting over the kid and Buffy's particularly annoyed about Willow, since she's gay. At one point Anya notes that"His physical presence has a penis," but Willow's down with working around it. Dawn's pissy, what the hell else is new, and Buffy insists that everyone must be under a spell but her. They're all fighting and while trying to prove who loves RJ more the following list is made:
- Anya is going to kill for RJ or rob a bank or something
- Buffy is going to specifically kill Principal Wood for RJ
- Willow is going to magically gender re-assign him.
- Dawn is going to kill herself for RJ
Now we get to probably the only real funny part of the episode (at the expense of our heros performing murder, suicide and other heinous crimes, but still.) A 70's style quartering of the screen showing what the girls are up to, complete with Buffy holding a humungous weapon that I don't know the name of. Rocket launcher? When Xander and Spike find out what's happening, they thwart Willow's castration spell to Hecate and decide to stop Buffy next. So we see Principal Wood is cozy at his desk listening to a CD and when Buffy turns to blow him to bits, Spike flies out of nowhere, tackling her to the ground. They both come back into the window frame, Buffy on Spikes back. Then Spike runs away with the weapon with Buffy on his tail. All while Wood is obliviously turning the pages of his appointment book. Heh.
So the whole gang gets to Dawnie, who is lying on train tracks, just as the train's arriving. Buffy saves her in the nick and flips out on her, saying "No guy is worth your life, not ever." They all finally realize they're under a spell. Next scene, Spike and Xander make with the planning and funnily tear the jacket off RJ using their hands and that is all. Another funny moment, I'll give it that. They burn the jacket. Dawn feels stupid and turns out, Anya actually burglarized a bunch of places. The End! Thank the gods.
How do the eps compare?
Well, they both kind of showed our main characters "Not as themselves". Story wise, on one hand you have an episode that advances the plot, albeit only slightly, and gives us an answer on how to kill the big bads of the season, Acathala Stylee. On the other, we got a slightly funny but still dumbass spell-of-the-week episode that degrades all of our favorite heroines and makes Buffy look like a desperate, predatory cougar at the ripe young age of 21. Digging out her ancient cheerleading uniform didn't help.
Also, still with the "where the eff is Cas/where the eff is Giles." Blerg.
Mini Battles!!:
Best Throwback: Buffy's Uniform vs. The Winchester's Season 1 tour - Winner: Supernatural
Best Episode Villains - LeviaSam and LeviaDean vs. The Girls of Buffy - Winner: Supernatural
Best Final Scene: Sam sleepily storming off vs. Anya buying ice cream with stolen money. Winner: Buffy, by a teensy bit
Final Ruling:
Not much to say here, the Leviathans are back and so is Crowly. Buffy disturbed me greatly. It's going to Supernatch.
Fans of Buffy's season 9, do you have burning questions for head writer extraordinaire of the season Andrew Chambliss? Like is Willow going to crack and go "black eyes of evil" even in a world without magic? Is Buffy pregnant with a demon (or human) love child? Will Spike and Buffy just make out already? And what in the hell is up with Xawn? Ask all this and more at the live Twitter Chat taking place tomorrow Nov. 10th at 9am Pacific Time/12 pm East Coast.
Not only that, but Dark Horse will be giving away 5 copies of Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9 #1 signed by Georges Jeanty during the chat.
Holy smokes! Is it really that time of year again? We're happy to announce the 4th Annual Whedonverse Holiday Ornament Swap. Wooo! We're so excited to do this every year and have witnessed such amazing Whedony Holiday creativity. See for yourself the several hundred photos of festive craftiness from years past:
Wasn't that awesome? If you're new, this event is about crafting 4-6 Holiday ornaments with a Whedonverse theme and sending them to 4-6 different recipients. In return you will receive 4-6 completely different handmade ornaments from around the globe to adorn your tree or Holiday Ritual Object of choice. As you can see from the photos, you really can make them out of anything: Wood, knit, sew, paint, draw, sculpt, paper craft, recycle old ornaments (earth friendly!). It's all about imagination!
If you'd like to join us, sign-ups begin right now and will end one week from today, November 15th at 11:59 PM U.S. EST. And please be willing to go through with this entire thing before signing up! Deadbeats ruin the holiday fun. Here are the guidelines in 6 easy steps:
1. Sign up for the swap by sending an email with the subject "MERRY WHEDON" and the following information to buffyfest@aim.com by November 15th.
- name
- address
- email address
- your website or blog (if you have one)
- whether your are willing to ship internationally*
2. On November 16th you'll receive an email from us containing the addresses and email addresses of 4-6 swap participants for you to send your ornaments to. (Again, you will have access to each others home addresses, as well as email addresses. Please contact each other with any questions, disputes or praise.)
3. Design and create the multiple Whedon themed ornaments!
4. Package your ornaments well - especially if you create anything fragile. (Note that most international shipping requirements do not allow for any plant life or food type stuff.) and send one ornament to each person on the list of 4-6 other swap participants in your group by Monday, December 5th.
5. Sit back and relax as you wait to receive 4-6 lovely Whedonverse ornaments in the mail!
6. Then, share photos of the ornaments you make and receive by uploading to the swap flickr group here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/buffyfestholidayswap. You will need a flickr account to upload photos, which is easy to set up.
*A note on international shipping: Please only select international shipping if you are willing to ship at least 2-3 of your ornaments overseas. Take the cost of shipping into account when you design your ornament. Lighter and more compact ornaments are cheaper to ship.
What we have here on this glorious Monday are here the two covers for Angel & Faith#7! Variant with Faith in picture by Rebekah Issacs and regular with Dru by Steve Morris. And that's right, we're excited to confirm exclusively that Dru is going to be part of Angel & Faith #6-9! She'll first appear in #6. Cannot wait!
Angel & Faith #7 is on sale February 29th, 2012.
Solicit Text:
Horrors across the London landscape have led Angel and Faith to a certain hot new vampire in the underground scene . . . Drusilla. She is back in her homeland and feeling better than ever!
While Angel indecisively deals with Dru, Faith must sort out an unexpected guest of her own who promises to rile up her inner turmoil with fun-filled stories from the past.
Angel & Faith series writer Christos Gage (Avengers Academy) and series artist Rebekah Isaacs (DV8) are bringing the blood and the pain!
Drusilla returns to the Buffyverse!
Executive produced by Joss Whedon!
Angel returns to Dark Horse!
Follows the events of Buffy Season 8!
Update: The Drusilla cover has been updated to reflect the final draft, via Steve Morris.
First off, thanks to all of the creative Whedonites who entered the vidding contest and to Dark Horse for trusting us with such a task! The vids were all fun, but Dark Horse decided some were so good that they did the unprecedented and picked 2 recipients of fantastic prizes!
The top dog is getting an INCREDIBLE prize pack full of some of the best and rare collectible stuff out there. We're talking the entire collection of the Buffy Season 8 trade-paperbacks, a hardcover of Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Tales, aBuffy the Vampire SlayerLunch box, a signed copy of Buffy Season 9 #1 25th Anniversary cover from Georges Jeanty, a very special Buffy/Angel & Faith Trifold - signed by Joss Whedon, Andrew Chambliss, and Jo Chen AND a 7' tall amazing Buffy Banner! Whew! Without further ado, the Grand Prize winner is:
Erin Gabbard and her PrimEVILution Cosmetics ad!
This vid is awesome. I totally lol'ed when she said "we have surgeons from all 5 dimensions" with the photo of Scott Allie, Sierra Hahn, Joss Whedon and everyone else shown. Hysterical. Check it out below:
And because The Gomez Twins did such an amazing job with their high quality vid and original song with kick-ass vocals, Dark Horse decided to go rogue and give them a runner up prize! They won a signed Buffy #1 and some fab Buffy barware. Check their vid out below. Congratulations to both winners! Enjoy your Buffy loot :)
This week's showdown is coming in a bit late, so let's get right to it. For those just joining us, we've been asking ourselves the question: Since the shows are so similar, will Season 7 of Supernatural go down in flames like Buffy season 7 did? We've been comparing the shows episodes week-to-week to find out just that.
Before I even start this week 5 comparison, I have to point out that this is a very special showdown event as we have some major Whedon royalty throwing themselves into the mix here. That's right, both James Marsters & Charisma Carpenter turned traitor and finally made their much anticipated "Buffy Reunion" appearance in this season's Supernatural! They join an amazing 18 other Whedonverse actors who have done Supernatural! 20 crossovers in total...incredible.
Supernatural Episode #4 - "Shut Up, Dr. Phil" Episode Synopsis:
People are dying in a town called Prosperity and it's all because James Marsters can't keep it in his pants. See he and his witchy wife, played by Charisma Carpenter, are having a "War of the Roses" type separation and the boys need to stop it asap. There's jogging, bees, and in the end, Spike bags a Leviathan, so Sane!Sam and Drunk!Dean just let him and wifey go to kill more innocent people.
The Deets:
Episode starts off with major gore set in a hair salon, of all places. Bitch gets electrocuted by a hair dryer, poor thing, complete with bloody pieces of scalp and all. Dean explains to Suddenly Sane!Sam, who is sweaty having just come in from a jog, that this and other events are taking place in Prosperity, Indiana. He knows this because he drunkenly googled "Freaky Accidents" at 8 am and is generally (and hilariously) unhappy at Sane!Sam's new attitude about fitness. Side note: Jared Padelecki shared an amazing gem via The Twitter this week about this very scene. I have to interrupt this current showdown to share:
Hysterical. That outtake right there boosted this episode up a point for me! So where was I? Oh yeah, the boys put on their best FBI handsome and go check out the freakiness currently taking place in Prosperity. Dean ends up finding gold coins at both the hair salon and the construction site where a worker took it in both eyes via nail gun in a port-o-jon. Ugh. Sam later learns that there is a connection between all of these "Freaky Accidents" - all the vics were all in on a real estate venture at one point in addition to tonight's special guest #1, James Marsters! ::applause:: He's still alive, so they go pay him a visit.
Upon arrival, they are greeted with a bust sculpture of this, Mr. Donald Stark...and honestly the thing doesn't look anything like Marsters. I thought it was an asian man when I first saw it. Someone in props needs to be fired. Or at least be given a stern warning in this economy!
Anyhoo, they question Don in his office and since it's fairly obvious he has a wandering eye from the way he's ogling his bouncy blonde administrative assistant, it should come as no surprise that Sam finds witchcraftery up in the man's closet. Turns out Don's wife is a witch and she's pissed. When they leave they notice some dead foliage ala "Amends" and Dean deduces that she can “literally kill off everything around her just by PMSing at it”. And I'm sorry, Supernatural, but degrading period jokes? Really? That was lame. The point this episode made from that outtake just got taken away. Moving on.
So the boys jump in the Impala and head over to...Charisma Carpenter! Yay! Sam's trying to distract her character, Maggie, while Dean pokes around inside her apartment and finds witchy stuff featuring her next victim pinned on a board. Yep, next thing you know the bouncy blonde assistant is eating cupcakes filled with hearts and choking on her own blood. Man this episode is disgusting. Lucky for the bouncy blonde that the boys arrived just in time to find what Bobby mentioned is a Romanian Coin and stop the spell. After questioning her they learn that she's not actually banging her boss at all, it was only the bitchy blonde from the top! So they go back to Don's workplace where they witness Don's bust statue exploding with fury after an argument he had with Maggie involving her friend Sue. Things are not going well for the Starks.
Later, Dean's in this week's motel room about to enjoy a delicious pie when Sam slams some stinky chicken feet on the table. Yum! They needed feet for the potion recipe Bobby gave them to stop Maggie. And speaking of the devil, Don is lurking outside the charity auction she has been meticulously preparing for all day, but looks like things aren't going to go the way she planned because Don just magically decapitated Sue with an Hors d'oeuvre tray. See he's a witch too! The boys arrive on the scene just in time and oh! I forgot about the Leviathan that's been tailing them. I'm happy to report this episode features our Big Baddies once again. I missed them.
When the boys decide to take the witches down over at Maggie's apartment, chaos ensues. The chicken foot spell goes badly and the next thing you know, not only are the witches NOT ding-dong-dead, but Maggie is flinging Sammy up against a wall and setting a swarm of bees after Dean's hot face. Lay off the face, Charisma. With this, Sam decides to play marriage counselor and help the Starks work out their issues. It works! There is some nice chemistry between the Whedon Alums here in this scene, followed by some very awkward kissing. Honestly, I decided to rewind and watch it twice just to check it out and I'm sorry I did.
In the end, the boys go back to the motel room and get jacked by the Leviathan creeping in the room. And just when it looks like the 2 main characters might end up in the back of an ambulance for the second time, Don shows up and zaps the Leviathan right in the ass! Well, on the head, actually. He also retrieves the Romainian Coin Maggie stashed there to kill them with, thus saving them twice in one minute! Honestly, Marsters really is a good actor. Convincing in everything I've ever seen him in. I think I say that objectively and as a non-Whedonite, but who can say, really? Anywho, he instructs them to drop the Leviathan in a bottomless pit because the spell will only last a few days. So they chain him up, throw him in the back of the car and that's pretty much it. It was a fun time.
Buffy Episode #4 - "Selfless"
Ah "Selfless". The shining star in an otherwise dark period of the Whedonverse. It's got a B-side from "Once More, With Feeling" for crying out loud! Why couldn't the rest of Season 7 be like this one?
As Willow discovers that Anya had some frat boys butchered at the request of a scorn wisher, we get a fantastic peek into the past of Anyaka - or Aud rather as her name was then. Unfortunately we also get the black eyes of evil and a short glimpse of big-bad Willow. Until the day I die, I will never understand why - oh why - they did this to this character. But enough about that because there's another character to be annoyed with: Xander, who is worried about Anya's sadness as he well should be since he left her at the alter!
Sjornjost, 1890. Olaf, the troll we see in Season 5's "Triangle", is actually Aud's husband at that time. Aud is charitable and an amateur bunny breeder, of all things. The hilarious dialogue in this scene pretty much explains that even then, Anya had her signature strange way of speaking. Olaf says, "Your logic is insane and happenstance like that of the trolls" for he is not yet a Troll himself. She loves him, you see, but is afraid he's cheating. He responds with loving words such as "Your hips are small and narrow like a Baltic woman from a more arid region." Ha!
Flash to present day Anya, scrubbing blood off the walls at the scene of the crime. Even though the vengeance world is praising her, she's feeling guilt and regret over this latest massacre. Meanwhile, Buffy is trying to get Spoike the eff up out of the basement already, as the fricken Hellmouth is down there. That's pretty much all we see of him this episode.
Next thing you know, we're back in the past and Olaf has turned into a Troll, running around scaring the village people. Someone yells "Hide your babies and your beadwork!" Hee! It's then that Aud gets a visit from the very cool D'hoffryn. Turns out Aud is a very powerful witch and he's impressed by her revenge tactics. He says she is really "Anyanka" and she will help wronged women punish evil men.
Buffy's balancing a pencil cup on her head in her Guidance Counseling office (real professional) and oh yes, this is the beginning of Buffy's braid period. Cute! Willow calls and fills her in on the frat boy murder, but not on the Ayna factor. So Buffy and Xander take a walk through Season 7's favorite set, the forest, and kill the spider demon that was summoned for the vengeance gore. Back at the house Willow finally lets on that it was Anya's doing and Buffy decides that she has to kill her. Xander's shocked and appalled, accusing Buffy of black-and-whiting a gray situation. He yells that if it's a demon that she's say "boning" then it's different. And this is where the pent up anger over Xander's Season 2 message of "kick his ass" finally comes out. Buffy says "I loved [Angel] more than I will ever love anything in this life and I killed him", explaining that this thing with Anya is no different. So she grabs a sword and heads off to slay Anya.
Meanwhile, Willow summons D'Hoffryn with the coin he gave her back in Season 4. Nice callbacks in this episode all around. They exchange pleasantries and he compliments her, saying the flaying of Warren was "Water cooler vengeance" and that "Floyd has a sketch of it on his wall." Ha! Vengeance demons in a corporate cubicle environment! Meanwhile the fight is on betwixt Anya and Buffy with Xander in the middle trying to break it all up. But in the end, Buffy drives that sword right through Anya's chest and we flash back to....
The night of "Once More, With Feeling"! Sure, Anya's sporting a wig that's a tad different from that magical day, but no worries. Fact is, we're just so lucky to get this post-Musical bonus track which features Anya singing about the marital bliss that being Xander's "Mrs." will bring. Oh and we learn Anya's full name! Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins (lame-ass maiden name) Harris. The song's a delight and Emma Caulfield sings it well, but it gets cut short as we flash back to: Anya being impaled by Buffy's sword. She awakes though because duh! Everyone knows you need to smash a vengeance demon's necklace first in order to kill them.
Enter D'hoffryn in a blaze of lightning, the big drama queen. He notes that the scene looks like "someone slayed an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog" and who wrote this jewel of an episode? Have to check my charts. Ah, the very talented and handsome Drew Goddard. So D'hoffryn lays the whole thing out as follows: if what Anya wants is to take it all back, then the price will be the life of a vengeance demon. She agrees and just as we brace ourselves for Anya's demise, Halfrek arrives all smiley upon seeing her best friend. D'hoffryn kills her without even blinking, much to Anya's dismay. He goes for the hurt over death every time...so Anya's out of the vengeance business and her best friend is dead. When she says it should've been her, D'Hoffryn quotes this season's tragic tagline: "From Beneath You, It Devours"...basically sealing the deal on Anya's death in the series finale. In the end, Anya leaves and Xander goes out to try and console her, but she decides to make her own way in the world as a human with tears in her eyes. Well done, everyone.
How do the eps compare?
Vengeance is the theme of this week! Both episodes feature a little witchcraft, substantial carnage and a whole lotta man-bashing vengeance. Not to mention seeing James Marsters in both. How weird is that?
Mini Battles!!:
Best Witch-Bitchiness - The Starks vs. Black-Eyed-Willow - Winner: Supernatural
Best Flashback to "Once More, With Feeling" - Buffy (Song: "Mrs.") vs. Supernatural (none) - Winner: Buffy
Best Episode Villains - The Starks/Leviathan vs. Anya/Spider Demon/D'Hoffryn - Winner: Buffy
Final Ruling:
This was a little difficult for me. I actually think "Shut Up, Dr. Phil" was funny and these guys crossing over definitely confused me. Still, as fun as it was seeing Charisma & James together again, this is clearly the best Buffy episode of Season 7. I knew going into this week that beating "Selfless" would be tough and I was right. If Supernatural had kept that hilarious out take in, it might have had a slim chance...but I'm giving this to Buffy. Straight up.
I woke up to some chaos today! Joss Whedon has managed to take a bunch of Whedonverse alum and film a whole entire movie under the world's nose, all while The Avengers and Buffy Season 9 are underway! The film? Shakespeare's (or Shakespeare inspired?) Much Ado About Nothing - "A film by Joss Whedon based on a play", as the website states. And how we all slept through this, I'll never know. Upon rising, my reader was going nuts, people were emailing (thanks Chris!) and it's all over the press!
It all started with Nathon Fillion, the kook, tweeting something about having to speak Shakespearean some weeks ago. He and Fran Kranz then tweeted again yesterday, pretty much confirming everything and linking to the film's website...currently a placeholder with photo and list of cast. Oh and Buffyfest fave and she of the lack of last name vowels, Shawna Trpcic, is doing costuming! The Whedonverse alum listed are as follows:
Amy Acker (Fred/Illyiria, Angel)
Alexis Denisof (Wesley, Buffy/Angel)
Tom Lenk (Andrew, Buffy/Angel)
Nathan Fillion (Mal, Firefly - Captain Hammer, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog)
Sean Maher (Simon, Firefly)
Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson, The Avengers)
Reed Diamond (Laurence Dominic, Dollhouse)
Ashley Johnson (Caroline/Hayden Leeds/Wendy, Dollhouse)
Fran Kranz (Topher, Dollhouse)
Riki Lindhome (Cheryl, Buffy/Angel)
Trent from Pink Is The New Blog actually got to participate in the film. His friends were in a few scenes and he played an extra. Must have been awesome for him as he is a big-time Buffy and Whedonverse fan himself.
We can only assume that this all stemmed from Whedon and the Shakespeare readings/parties he has at his home. This is how the character of Illyria came about and probably other ideas over the years as well. It looks like Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker play the lead characters in this project (shocked that there is an absence of Summer Glau here). Shakespeare's original version of Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy about two pairs of lovers: Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. Benedick and Beatrice both talk a mile a minute and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. Claudio and Hero, on the other hand, are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another.
Exciting! Now how long before Joss goes all purple on Whedonesque and gives us some more info?
Dark Horse teamed up with us for a contest of epic proportions! Battling for a prize pack like no other, contestants created videos inspired by Buffy's Season 8 and 9 comics and the results are in! The big news is EVERYONE WHO ENTERED IS ADVANCING TO THE NEXT ROUND! That's right, all contestants who submitted entries and met the criteria will have their videos viewed by Editors Scott Allie & Sierra Hahn, who will then decide the Grand Prize Winner of the following amazing prizes:
Are both Buffy & Supernatural doomed to the same fate? Will I regret believing that Supernatural won't go down the same path as Buffy during it's Season Seven? Well hope is dwindling fast, that's all I have to say. Starting today though, I'm going to put a poll up so that you, the reader, can also weigh in on this Season Seven Showdown. Now let's get into episodes #4.
Supernatural Episode #4 - "Defending Your Life" Episode Synopsis:
In a very Season One-esque fashion, ghost car & ghost dog turn out to be the handiwork of Egyptian God Osiris. He's preying on the Guilty, you see, and leaving red dirt from the floor of his court-in-an-apple-farm-barn all over town. No seriously, RED DIRT is a serious plot point. There's also nary a single Leviathan in sight and Sam's hair and chops are at an all time whoa.
The Deets:
I'm just going to say it right off the bat - I'm not happy. And waiting until Thursday to write this has just made it fester even more. What happened here in just 2 weeks?
So, this convoluted episode starts off with a reformed drunk who drunkenly killed a girl 10 years ago getting smashed to death himself by what seems to be a killer car. Next, a former dog fighting ring host gets offed by a killer dog. Then, a paroled murderer runs out into the middle of the road and nearly gets run over by the boys. All of these events are accompanied by the accessory of red dirt.
RED DIRT
The boys, dapper in their FBI looks, argue a bit about the validity of this case. See Dean doesn't feel too guilty about bad people getting murdered and this brings me to my first problem: the way this episode paints Dean's character as the guilty one of the family. Some people don't agree with me, but I think this episode is strangely re-writing Dean's character. More on that later. Anyway, Dean doesn't want to follow up on Drunk Dude's past because it requires him visiting AA and he "gave up AA for Lent" to which Sam responds "We're not Catholic!" Hee! But that's the other problem with this episode. Dean's a drunk too! They've been punching us in the face with it for several episodes now and I think it's time we do something with that plot line. It would be far more interesting than red dirt, I'm just saying.
Anyway Dean decides to investigate the bar Drunk Dude was last seen at (no surprise there) and we meet Mia, who I swore was at least in on this episode's evil. She isn't, but the dude eavesdropping is. Later, the boys speak to Bobby whose 5 minutes of screen time is for exposition only. He explains that the Monster-of-the-week is Osiris, Egyptian God of Guilt. So they better haul ass because Dean's is usually really sad about all the pain he's caused and NO HE'S REALLY NOT. That's Sam you're talking about Bobby! Later, Dean's waiting to meet with Mia whom with he made a date and giving himself a pep talk about his own hotness...which isn't really necessary honey and I'm sorry to interrupt again but really, what the hell is going on here? The Dean I know is hot and he knows it, he's a bad-ass demon hunter and knows it, and usually sleeps pretty well at night as stated in Awesome Episode 1 of this season. He's been this way at least since season 4 onward. Again, it's Sammy that has all the emotional issues and torment. If the writers need it to be backwards this season for whatever reason, can't they think of something that feels natural instead of just pretending it's always been so? I'm annoyed.
Long story short, Osiris gets to Dean and he's tried in the Red Dirt Court. At this point in the game, Sam's settled into Season One mode by turning on whatever attorney skills he learned while at Stanford. The first witness called is Jo who died an respectable death. To bring her back this way, full of scenes from the past reminding us...it feels a little cheap. Sam then takes the stand and has a little trip down memory lane himself. It's this point that I realize we're kind of having a "flashback show". I'll admit, all the callbacks were nice, but it made the already upsetting ep feel even more like filler. What was entertaining about this though was we got to compare Sam's hairstyles over the years. At least that's something?
"This whole thing is like an episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse". Not even close, buddy.
Next on the stand is Dean. Osiris taunts him but all this "calling of the next witness" business is really just Osiris' way of making Dean squirm over whether Sam is going to find out about Amy Pond, who he killed behind Sam's back just last week. We don't actually ever get any hard evidence that he feels guilty over it, though...just that he doesn't want Sam to find out. I guess Osiris sees into Dean's soul, or whatever, because he's sentenced to death...but instead of doling it out right there, Osiris decides to let the boys go and figure out a way to kill him. Stupid.
Later, Bobby calls with more expo, telling Sam that they need to find a ram's horn and stab Osiris with it. Easy peasy because the Jews use it on holiday and there's a temple right down the block. Quick flash to Sam getting caught by the Rabbi who says "I'm guessing you're not here for Bar Mitzvah lessons." And scene.
Dead Jo (in a fashionable mlitary jacket) pops by to kill Dean. She tells him he basically shouldn't feel guilty about anything at all whatsoever...even Amy Pond, I guess? Meanwhile, Sam kills Osiris and saves the day because he's the only one that did any work in this entire episode. The next day, the boys have a heart-to-heart but Dean never even fesses up about Amy, the one thing that I thought WOULD get wrapped up in this episode. So I guess that's going to get unnecessarily drawn out. Matter of fact, this episode didn't advance the plot in any way whatsoever. The only thing we learn is that Sam doesn't feel bad about anything anymore because of his stint in hell. The end.
Oh Supernatural, I have so many questions. Like what the hell is up with Sam's wall? I thought it was going to be a world of chaos and agony that no human could withstand? Is this really what we're doing with it? And why has there been no mention of the death of Cas? Can we see at least a minute of conversation about that?
Buffy Episode #4 - "Help"
Buffy, Dawn and Xander exit a few coffins where they were hiding waiting for a freshly sired Grandma-vamp to rise and vent about their problems: Willow's reform, the season's big bad and Buffy's first day of counseling the students tomorrow. Buffy then stakes the Grandma, which will probably put the kibosh on the funeral.
Next day, Xander and Willow bash on this season's tag line "From Beneath You, It Devours." Yeah, it always sucked. Then leave it to Xander to compare Willow's plight to hammering a nail, but Willow's more concerned about going all "black eyed baddie and cracking her friend's skulls like coconuts." That's a problem. A season 6 problem, so let's move on, ok? On the bright side, Willow's hair is looking fabulously ginger today. She shines like a copper penny in the sunlight in front of Tara's grave and damn if Alyson Hanigan never had a bad cry day on the set of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Girl knows how to work.
Meanwhile at school, Buffy's dressed kinda less than appropriately and having trubbs with the slew of kids she's counseling. She meets a bunch of students including some douche bag who is just trying to get out of class followed by Cassie, played by Azura Skye, who says she's going to die next Friday. Buffy's understandably freaked and sends Dawn to do some social recon, has Xander check her medical records (yeast infections, thanks for the info!) and asks Willow to check her LiveJournal where she finds some emo poetry. Willow then admits her own early internet experiences which included "Doogie Howser Fanfic." HIMYM shout out! Or was it Doc Horrible she was shouting out? Both work for me.
Flash to: a bunch of dudes in red robes doing a spell. That's never good.
It's Friday and Buffy visits Spike-Crazy-In-The-Basement. He reveals there's evil down there and it's him. He starts punching himself in the face for hurting Buffy, but that's not what Buffy's looking for so she makes towards the door. He wants her to stay with him but she walks off anyway. Later, Principal Wood is doing locker checks and locker #281 turns up some evidence. Then physically threatens the student. Batting a thousand here, Buff! Turns out, the culprit is the douche bag from earlier. We see him and his buddies in their evil red robes conjuring a demon for some kind of get-rich-quick scheme. Buffy's there, undercover in her own red robe and even though she stops the sacrifice of Cassie, the demon still appears.
Enter Spike who saves the day with a torch then kicks the douche bag's ass even though his chip is going off all over the place. Cassie says to Spike "She'll tell you, someday she'll tell you." After, the demon bites the douche bag then explodes. Despite Buffy's efforts which include catching an arrow when a booby traps sets it off straight towards Cassie's face, Cassie dies anyway.
The ep kind of ends with a whimper-downer. Back at home, Buffy's wearing a brown Juicy Couture velour track suit (which my friend Kris and I have dubbed the "poop suit" for years now). She informs the gang that Cassie had a heart irregularity. Buffy's feeling guilt for not saving her, but Dawn says it's not her fault. What we don't ever find out is what the hell happened to the douche bag who got bit by the demon and the rest of the red-hooded crew who attempted to murder a girl. Oh season 7. You so crazy.
Mini Battles!!:
Sam's Season 1 hair vs. Sam's Season 7 hair = SEVEN!
Willow's Season 1 hair vs. Willow's Season 7 hair = SEVEN!
Best Episode Villain - they were seriously both so, so lame. Did Buffy's demon even have a name? I guess the villain was the Douche Bag.
How do the eps compare?
I mean, there's a guilt factor... but it's not that strong in Buffy. Honestly, I think the only thing these episodes proved is that Season Sevens are way better for hair than any other season.
Final Ruling:
I'm giving this one to Buffy. I don't remember liking "Help" as much as I do now, but I think what's happening is some kind of Season Seven chemical reaction in my brain. I have no expectations at all for this season of Buffy (having hated it the first couple of times) and therefore every episode seems that much better. OTOH, Supernatural is finally feeling the effects of Michelle's challenge in the first place, which was that I will regret ever giving this season hope because the letdown will be that much greater. Plus, Azura Skye has a soothing voice.
A big "thank you" to all the participants. Some of the fabulous crafters in the swap are affiliated with the following websites and blogs:
