What I like about it: It's just a really fun episode, especially with how unashamedly OT they get with it towards the end when Xander is being chased by a desperate mob, and being hit on by Joyce, Jenny, and Drusilla. Plus Buffy the rat was a really fun way of handling Sarah needing time off for Saturday Night Love lol, I loved her scene with Oz when she turns human again
What I don't like about it: Well this is probably the obvious answer, but it's dated horribly in terms of how it judges Xander's character. Cordelia is flattered when she thinks that Xander cast a love spell to force her to love him, and the episode ends on Xander winning Cordelia back because of that, while Buffy actually thanks Xander for doing the right thing in not taking advantage of one of his close friends when she was under a love spell
Favourite line: Spike: 'Why don't you rip her lungs out? It might make an impression'. Angelus: 'Lacks poetry'. Spike: 'Doesn't have too. What rhymes with lung?' Or maybe Angelus's' 'I guess I really *did* drive you crazy'
Best performance: Nicky Brendon did a nice job with this episode
A scene/idea from it that's particularly interesting to me: The most interesting part of this episode to me is probably the relationship dynamics actually. We have Buffy outright say that Xander could do better than Cordelia, and Xander acknowledge that the girl he really wants is 'unavailable', and then he completely blows off the spell to Amy as no big deal when he's under the impression that Buffy is finally taking an interest in him. Basically the episode is pretty explicit on Cordelia being Xander's second choice, so I find it interesting that the episode ends on a supposedly happy note of Xander and Cordelia reuniting, even though I'm not convinced that Xander's feelings for Cordelia were ever that strong. Even after their break-up, it's mostly about him being angry and humiliated at how it's affected his place in the social pecking order at school, rather than the show portraying him as genuinally heartbroken in the way that we saw in say Prophecy Girl when he was moping and listen to sad music. It makes me wonder how much we're supposed to take the ending on face value as a ~happy ending~ and a relationship to root for, or if the writers still had Xander/Buffy endgame in mind during season 2
Something I would have changed to make the episode better: I'm not sure this would have made the episode better exactly, but I would have had Xander work harder to win Cordelia back. I'd have her freaked out at the mindless mob chasing after Xander, and 'that's what you wanted to do to me', and Xander explain his true intentions with the spell were to punish Cordelia. It felt like there was an honest conversation missing in their reconciliation, just Cordelia taking it as flattering when she assumed that Xander was planning a love spell to win her back, and gosh how romantic
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rosecarmine
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Date: 2017-02-05 08:12 pm (UTC)What I don't like about it: Well this is probably the obvious answer, but it's dated horribly in terms of how it judges Xander's character. Cordelia is flattered when she thinks that Xander cast a love spell to force her to love him, and the episode ends on Xander winning Cordelia back because of that, while Buffy actually thanks Xander for doing the right thing in not taking advantage of one of his close friends when she was under a love spell
Favourite line: Spike: 'Why don't you rip her lungs out? It might make an impression'. Angelus: 'Lacks poetry'. Spike: 'Doesn't have too. What rhymes with lung?' Or maybe Angelus's' 'I guess I really *did* drive you crazy'
Best performance: Nicky Brendon did a nice job with this episode
A scene/idea from it that's particularly interesting to me: The most interesting part of this episode to me is probably the relationship dynamics actually. We have Buffy outright say that Xander could do better than Cordelia, and Xander acknowledge that the girl he really wants is 'unavailable', and then he completely blows off the spell to Amy as no big deal when he's under the impression that Buffy is finally taking an interest in him. Basically the episode is pretty explicit on Cordelia being Xander's second choice, so I find it interesting that the episode ends on a supposedly happy note of Xander and Cordelia reuniting, even though I'm not convinced that Xander's feelings for Cordelia were ever that strong. Even after their break-up, it's mostly about him being angry and humiliated at how it's affected his place in the social pecking order at school, rather than the show portraying him as genuinally heartbroken in the way that we saw in say Prophecy Girl when he was moping and listen to sad music. It makes me wonder how much we're supposed to take the ending on face value as a ~happy ending~ and a relationship to root for, or if the writers still had Xander/Buffy endgame in mind during season 2
Something I would have changed to make the episode better: I'm not sure this would have made the episode better exactly, but I would have had Xander work harder to win Cordelia back. I'd have her freaked out at the mindless mob chasing after Xander, and 'that's what you wanted to do to me', and Xander explain his true intentions with the spell were to punish Cordelia. It felt like there was an honest conversation missing in their reconciliation, just Cordelia taking it as flattering when she assumed that Xander was planning a love spell to win her back, and gosh how romantic