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oh ehm gee wrote:

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Oaf wrote:

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Hint: Although you're very close to the answer, I'm talking about a character that appeared in this specific episode...

Noticeably different actress playing Wood's mom?

Ugh. I really wish I could update this thread on a daily basis. I'll try my best to not leave it untouched for long periods of time like I did this week.

You'll notice that the title had changed, due to Mikester's dominance in the passing week's riddles. This week - same thing. The poster to answer the most riddles would have the questionable honor of making an appearance in the ever-changing title of this thread next Saturday.

If you'll go to the first post, you'll see that I've put a list of the episodes ranked so far. I'll update this list weekly for convenience.

My 62th least favorite Buffy episode of all time:

Season 3, episode 3.

Written by David Greenwalt.

Just when Buffy begins to get back in the thick of things, a new slayer named Faith (don't they have people names in the Buffyverse?) comes and takes away everything that Buffy owns. Or it could be that Buffy is acting like a spoiled brat.

Season 3 was packed with information-filled and plot-moving episodes. 'Revelations' was one of those, and so were 'Bad Girls', and 'Enemies', and 'Choices', to name a few. But the episode which managed to scram the most into one hour of television, maybe in the entire seven-year run of the series, is 'Faith, Hope and Trick'.

Let's see what we have cramped in here:

• We get introduced to two new baddies: Mr. Trick and Kakistos. One of them gets offed by the end of the episode, even though he's a vampire so old his hands are cloven (what the fuck?). The other will later join this season's villain in his efforts to be villainous.
• Buffy is allowed back in school. Buffy is back in school.
• Faith, a new slayer, is introduced. At first she's fun loving and free spirited. Then she's psychopath for no reason. Then the reason is revealed- it's because the villain we just met killed her watcher, which we've never met. Then she in running-away, broken-spirit mode. Then she finds the strength to fight back. This is a character we know for thirty minutes - just to make that clear.
• Buffy has issues with Faith arrival, 'cause she's "stealing her life". She then realizes it is Faith who's fucked up, not her. Great resolution.
• Throughout the episode, Giles tries to milk information out of Buffy, regarding the show-off she shared with Angel in last season's finale. In the end, when she admits he got his soul back before she… sent him to hell, Giles admits to Willow he only questioned Buffy so she could get the release she desperately needed.
• That said release causes Buffy to give up on Angel, only to have him come back from the dead, as a cliffhanger.
• So we have Faith, and we have Trick, and that's only two thirds of the title, right? Well, the third part is Hope, Scott Hope, who becomes a new love interest for Buffy after she so-called got over Angel in about two seconds. Time will tell how much of an influence Scott would have oner Buffy's life. Clue: none.

So that's six separate plots right there, and even if some of them are connected, it's still a whole lot. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that everything happens all at once? Well, both.

It's good, because there are episodes with zero plots taking place, so at least things are interesting. Plus we get introduced to one of the best most complex characters in the series, Faith. She leaves her mark from the second she appears on screen. If Kendra served as a nice anecdote, Faith is the actual thing. She works, and she has a great first appearance in "Faith, Hope and trick".

It's bad, because how are we supposed to care about any of this stuff when it literally flashes before our eyes?

I hate love interests that have no personality and their only purpose is to occupy our dateless heroes. Riley is the prime example, of course, but there's also Kennedy (who has a forced personality, which I guess is slightly preferable to having no personality at all), Parker (whose one and only trait is assholism), Olivia, and of course, Scott Hope. Why did he have to exist, anyway? So that Buffy could sort of, but not really, move on after killing Angel? Not enough of a reason.

The "Faith steals Buffy's life" plot is also rushed and not really cohesive. It has nothing to do with anything, it's done poorly (oh my god, Faith is eating Buffy's dinner - this is terrifying!), and it gets resolved without really getting resolved. The solution is that Faith isn't really stealing Buffy's life, becsue she's too fucked up to deal with her own life. Explain to me how that's logical in any way.

And worse of all: Faith storyline is the definition of out of the blue. Her conflict doesn't hit the mark, because they haven't been established. Later in the season, we would care about the inner struggle she has the ability to experience like no other, but right now, she's running from an instant-villain who killed her instant-watcher, which causes instant-issues to our instant-slayer - and it all comes to an instant-resolution by the end of the episode. How convenient. And how non-established and unsatisfying to the viewer.

But honestly, the bad is not too bad, due mostly to characters who work well together and by themselves.

High point: Joyce doing the dance of Joy in Snyder's office after it's established that Buffy is not too cool for school after all. "I think what my daughter's trying to say is... (sing-song) Nyah, nyah-nyah-nyah, nyah." Joyce is awesome in this scene, unlike most of her appearances in the first few seasons. Too bad that the season in which she starts being awesome full-time - season 5 - is also the season in which she kicks the bucket.

Low point: the drama surrounding Faith that seemed to come out of nowhere. This is an actual sentence that comes out of Faith's mouth:

"I... I was *there* when he killed my Watcher, and I saw what he did to her... what he was gonna do to me. I tried to stop him, but I... I couldn't. And I ran."

And these our words of encouragement Buffy throws Faith's way as she's confronting her worse enemy:

"Faith! Don't die!"

I'm not kidding. This is an actual sentence from the episode.

Quality Quote:

BUFFY: Oh, the [vampire] that nearly bit me mentioned something about kissing toast. He lived for kissing toast.
GILES: You mean 'Kakistos'?
BUFFY: Maybe it was taquitos. Maybe he lived for taquitos. What?

Riddle: There was only one other episode in BtVS history that introduced these 3 ingredients:

• A new slayer
• A new seasonal villain (Mr. trick wasn't the main villain, but still)
• A new love interest.

What was this episode?

ncassaro wrote:

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Oaf wrote:

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oh ehm gee wrote:

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I agree with the write up on FHT. Way too much, way too fast. They could've scrapped Beauty and the Beasts for it, I think.

Riddle answer: Lessons?

Or in a far more interpretive manner:

Spoiler [+]

Fool for Love? New slayer (Chinese slayer who died/Nikki), new seasonal villain (Buffy's "death wish", compounded by Riley splitting, Joyce dying, Dawn, and the whole Glory drama, culminating in The Gift), new love interest (Spike)

Nope. It's kind of a trick question. The answer would be obvious once you figured it out.
I'm gonna stop before I spill too much.

Welcome to the Hellmouth?

That's it. One point for ncassaro.

About Joyce - when I'll get to episodes like 'Anne' and 'Bad Eggs' I'll explain why I mostl didn't care for her early on.

Myopics, I guess the reason I didn't relate to Faith's watcher story is that it was pre-made - she came to sunnydale with a sob story ready at hand (and kind of a lame one - I'm troubled because an old vampire killed my watcher. Not very creative) instead of earning a sob story throught the season, like she later accomplished. It undermined everything Faith was about and turned her into a cartoon.

And Mikester, would you say there are enough decorations surrounding your nic in the title?

My 62th favorite Buffy episode of all time:

Season 1, episode 10.

Written by David Greenwalt.

Strange things start to happen when the nightmares of Sunnydale's residents come to life. It's all linked somehow to a boy in a coma.

I might have ranked this episode too high. Looking back, in terms of episode quality, season 1 doesn't really compare well to the rest. But still, the episode worked tremendously, probably due to it revolving around such a primeval and powerful subject.

There's really not a lot of layers to "Nightmares". Everyone's worst fears happen, and it scares the shit out of them, and then it stops. But the nightmares chosen for each of the characters are really spot-on. Willow's stage-fright, Giles inability to read, Buffy's vampirism - it all makes perfect sense and is handles flawlessly for the most part.

I also liked the reason for the whole thing. Billy's causing it all because he's stuck in his own nightmare - and it shows that evil in its purest form is mankind (the coach is a douchbag, kinda like Survivor Tocantins' Coach). It's a nice change from the season's "There's a giant praying mantis" or "Everyone turns into a hyena". Here, everything that happens makes no sense, but at least the supernatural wackiness comes from completely natural human emotions.

I guess I don't have anything else to say about the episode. Except that clowns are the devil, and thus Xander's fear of them is completely justified in every sense of the word.

High point: The scene where Buffy's dad tells her it's all her fault was heartbreaking.

Low point: The Master's lecture to the annoying one about fear, and stuff. So corny.

Quality Quote:

XANDER: Hey, guys, was there any homework?
WILLOW: We're doing active listening today.
XANDER: Cool! What's active listening?
WILLOW: That would be the homework.
BUFFY: Chapter five? Active listening? Where you put on your big ears and really focus on the other person?
Wendell: Ms. Tishler demonstrated it yesterday.
WILLOW: With you!
BUFFY: She was wearing that tight sweater?
XANDER: Oh, the midnight blue angora! See, I was listening.

Riddle: name two nightmares the gang is having in this episode that come to life again later, one on 'Buffy', and one on 'Angel'.