STORYTELLER; the rehabilitation of Andrew

[joxerlives]

STORYTELLER

The Good;
The wonderful Andrew in the kitchen fantasy sequence, all the straight to camera stuff and Spike's conceit towards the camera. The hilarious 'We are gods' sequence complete with unicorn. But who cares because the Cheese Man from Restless is back!

The Bad;
Do we really believe that Andrew can read an ancient demon language and yet doesn't bother to translate what's on the knife? Wouldn't the Invisible Girl be a useful ally against the First? Or does it matter as the Bringers are blind anyway? Andrew says that Buffy has no steak knives, so what did she stab the Queller demon with?

Best line;
Andrew (describing Dawn); "Bubbly and sweet with a hunger for fun and a smile that lights up the room"

Women good/men bad;
Possessed Wood refers to Buffy as a whore for screwing Spike

Jeez!;
According to Willow's research Greek cookbooks like to use goat's tongues. Let's hope the Supersizers don't get around to ancient Greece, I doubt even Sue and Giles could eat that (Giles Coren that is, not Rupert Giles). Exploding heads too although that's just implied.

Kinky dinky;
Buffy apparently dreams of running for the bus whilst naked. Oddly whilst much of this ep confirms our suspicions of Andrew as gay he glosses over cute but unconventionally pretty Amanda in the kitchen scene for the blonde bimbo whose name he doesn't even know, a very hetero male thing to do. Anya is suspicious as to what Andrew is doing by himself in the bathroom with a video camera. She suggests that the rest of the Scoobies just masturbate in there. Anya and Xander get it on once more, in Spike's bed in the basement! Revenge for Xander having to put Spike up in his basement and closet? Anya comments that she's a 'spitfire' in bed whilst they both agree that this was an act of closure and comment that it's a shame Buffy took Spike's chains down. Dawn wears a remarkably revealing top, showing her now formidable cleavage off to to all.

Captain Subtext;
Willow and Kennedy kissing and totally ignored by Andrew? Hmmmmmm? The Playboy test for heterosexuality (enjoying the thought of 2 or more women together)and he failed it completely. Guess the pair got over the events of 'Get it done'. Andrew also thinks that the tension between Woods and Spike is sexual in nature. Note Spike is topless in Andrew's kitchen fantasy. Andrew also admires Xander's skill with his hands 'Extraordinary' and implies that he thinks Jonathon is cute. In his fantasy Andrew has Warren commenting he's good-looking. Andrew and Jonathon share a bed together whilst on the run. Andrew says that Jonathon promised to buy him a 'burro', Spanish for ass (hopefully the hooved kind?)

Guantanamo Bay;
The Scoobs don't hesitate to threaten and rough Andrew up.

Scoobies to the ER;

Missing scenes;

Apocalypses; 7, Buffy says that there are 'hundreds upon hundreds' Turok-Han in her vision implying tens of thousands. Ok, if they got out it would be bad but against 6 billion humans armed with all our technology would it really be the end of the world?

Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 9
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 4
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 3
Dawn; 4
Spike; 3

Scoobies knocked out:
Buffy: 21
Giles: 12
Cordy: 6
Xander: 16
Will: 10
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;7
Dawn; 5
Tara; 1
Spike; 2
Kennedy; 1

Kills: two vamps killed by Buffy
Buffy: 123 vamps, 62 demons, 6 monsters, 10 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demons, 2 humans/1 god.
Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn+1 human.
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1½ a demon, 2 humans
Anya: 1 vamp and 1½ a demon
Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 9 vamps and 7 demons+1 human
Buffybot; 2 vamps
Tara; 1 demon
Dawn; 1 vamp + 1 demon
Kennedy; 1 human+1 vampire
Amanda; 1 vampire
Woods; 5 vamps and 2 demons

Scoobies go evil: Wood possessed by the seal. Buffy says she never went evil but she did try to kill everyone in Normal Again.
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 4
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 4
Anya; 1
Dawn; 1
Buffy; 1
Spike; 1
Wood; 1

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 1
Will: 6
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 4
Tara; 1
Dawn;1
Spike; 1
Anya; 2

Recurring characters killed: 14,
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina, Tara, Quentin Travers, Chloe.

Sunnydale deaths; the poor student whose head explodes Scanner's style
105

Total number of scoobies: 30 or so, going to add Andrew to the mix
Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Spike, Giles, Kennedy, Molly, Vi, Rhona, Amanda, Chao-Anh, Wood, Andrew plus an indeterminate number of potentials, at least a dozen or more.

Xander demon magnet: 6(7?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya, Lissa (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot:
Giles: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 4
Riley; 1
Buffy; 1
Tara; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Buffy: 4 confirmed; Angel, Parker, Riley, Spike. 3 possible, Dracula+RJ+Shadowman's demon(?)
Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?)
Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca
Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley
Xander: 2; Faith, Anya
Willow: 2;Oz and Tara
Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore
Spike; 2 Buffy and Anya
Anya; 2 Spike and Xander

Dawn in peril; 14

Dawn the bashful virgin; 9

What the fanficcers thought;
The erotic adventures of the nerds a staple of much slash fiction.

Questions and observations;
The invisible girl at school is reminiscent of Marcie in 'Out of sight, out of mind', as Joss said it's all about getting back to the first season. Buffy also refers back to The Witch in that everyone hates the cheerleaders and to Amanda's loathing of the marching band in Potential. Unless someone can correct me the last appearance of Warren and Jonathon in the series. The poor piglet is still running around, I'd always assumed the Turok-Han ate it. Suprising that Buffy still let's Amanda and Dawn go to SDH. Note that Jonathon just wants Buffy to stick to her car if she's supermagnetic but Warren more viciously wants sharp things to fly at her. The flesh coloured plaster joke rather reminds me of Bloom County, one of my favourite comic strips, anyone else remember it?
Where do people always get flaming barrel's from? Is there a picket line at SDH? Good thing Buffy had Spike's chip removed or he wouldn't have been able to fight the students. We see how The First forms it's Bringers. The important thing of course is that Andrew doesn't cry tears of pain or fear but of remorse, he's sorry for what he did. Andrew refers to Xander as the heart of the Slayer machine just as he was in Primeval. Can anyone tell me what exactly Andrew mouths to Amanda in the kitchen after he says 'Not you sweetheart'? Buffy mentions running to catch a bus in one of her dreams although she doesn't know where it's going and indeed she does in Chosen (but not whilst naked). Andrew refers to buying the sacrificial knife from a weapons dealer who also sells collapsible swords (like Wes has on Angel) and poison arrows (like Faith used on Angel). Be sure to watch to the end to catch the GrrrArrggh demon singing "We are gods!"
Last appearance of Warren and Jonathon although Adam Busch plays a VERY Warren like character in an episode of Terminator; The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Marks out of 10; 8/10 Andrew comes into his own.

[Randi Giles]

One question I always had about this episode is the scene where thestudent is talking about how his head was going to explode from all the things he was doing. Then later while Buffy is talking to Wood he explodes all over the window. An dthen Buffy said he should have had that foot rub. Was this supposed to be another reference to season one. The way they showed it may it seem so to me and if so what episode was it referenceing. I'm still lost on this one.

BTW - Andrew rocked this episode.

[zamolxis]

Jan 2, 2010 20:00:51 GMT -5 Randi Giles said:

One question I always had about this episode is the scene where thestudent is talking about how his head was going to explode from all the things he was doing. Then later while Buffy is talking to Wood he explodes all over the window. An dthen Buffy said he should have had that foot rub.

Buffy was the students counselor so she should had counseled that girl and eased her pain or something, not making pointless remarks. For me it shows Buffy's failure at her job.

[henzINNIT]

The "seal the seal" story was lame in this, and what happened to "it's always got to be blood"? I found the tears concept somewhat craptastic. It was nice for some Andrew material but I wish it was around a stronger story.

[joxerlives]

Jan 3, 2010 10:59:22 GMT -5 zamolxis said:

Jan 2, 2010 20:00:51 GMT -5 Randi Giles said:

One question I always had about this episode is the scene where thestudent is talking about how his head was going to explode from all the things he was doing. Then later while Buffy is talking to Wood he explodes all over the window. An dthen Buffy said he should have had that foot rub.

Buffy was the students counselor so she should had counseled that girl and eased her pain or something, not making pointless remarks. For me it shows Buffy's failure at her job.

Buffy's job is pretty much a joke but she's not bad at it, she helps the girl becoming invisible or the kid who's worried about his brother, she helps Amanda. She can't save everyone but she's ok, she deals with the horror through her humour

[Darth Rosie]

I don't think Andrew was rehabilitated in this episode. It's just the beginning of his road to redemption.
One scene I always loved was when Andrew babbled about how beautifully Xander repairs the house, esp. the windows, and in a small corner you see Willow and Kennedy making out. Hilarious.

[joxerlives]

I think they'll never just come out and say whether Andrew is gay, bi or straight, they'll leave it ambiguous, Xena style. Ignoring 2 beautiful women kissing is a pretty strong sign though

[Darth Rosie]

Feb 9, 2010 5:20:14 GMT -5 joxerlives said:

I think they'll never just come out and say whether Andrew is gay, bi or straight, they'll leave it ambiguous, Xena style. Ignoring 2 beautiful women kissing is a pretty strong sign though

It seems to me that they have since heterosexualized Andrew, in Angel as well as in the comics.

And yeah, giving us only such a small glimpse of Kennedy and Willow: a deadly sin.

[joxerlives]

In fairness in Storyteller Andrew ignores cute Amanda for the blonde bimbo Slayer behind her when filming, a very hetero thing to do

[wytchcroft]

I often get nervous when the story comes second to the characters - even though that's a strength of Whedon's shows, yes it's all about the characters, without the right underpinning things tend to fall apart somewhat.

But here, ironically in Storyteller, i couldn't care less - this is simply one of my favourite episodes, it hits the emotional beats right on the money every time even at the very end it's so well judged.

And it's a laugh riot too! Not only does Tom Lenk just crack me up by breathing but also the moments he doesn't own, like bored Willow at Buffy's speechifying, the stuff at buffy's school/job.
Just great.

[joxerlives]

Yeah, Andrew really comes into his own here, you could never imagine him becoming a scoob up to this point but from now on it seems obvious

[juniorwatcher]

This episode for me is when Andrew first became a Scooby in my eyes. One of those on the road to redemption. And I believe Willow and Rona were right about how they think that they might need a record if they do save the world. Kennedy forcing her way into the gang is really annoying though i don't have any personal qualms when it comes to her.

[joxerlives]

In fairness Kennedy is a take charge gal as Willow finds out

[slayerthorn]

I wasn't fond of this episode. It seemed like not much of the episode was actually needed and the tear thing didn't make sense to me although I loved seeing Buffy say she was going to kill Andrew.

[ciska]

Jan 3, 2010 11:13:01 GMT -5 henzINNIT said:

The "seal the seal" story was lame in this, and what happened to "it's always got to be blood"? I found the tears concept somewhat craptastic. It was nice for some Andrew material but I wish it was around a stronger story.

blood is life, and they used blood to open the seal, but then nead some different and good, to closed it with

[ciska]

i don think andrew is gay, he just kinda childish, and then he grow up and get his eyes open for girls in angel

[wenxina]

ciska: Please don't double post. Use the "Modify" function to edit your posts if you want to change, or add anything to an older post.

[ciska]

i will ;D thanks