BAND CANDY; thoughts and reviews

[Saturn 5]

Band Candy

The Good;
The more Joyce in an episode the better it is. She and Ripper and all the adults are just hilarious. Also lovely to see Ethan Rayne (I always figured that if Giles was to die he would reform and become Buffy's new Watcher). Love to have seen Buffy's dream but that would be probably beyond the SFX department. Altogether fabulous.

The Bad;
Lurconis looks a bit lame but certainly better than the preying mantis. It rather spoils the suprise of Ethan Rayne being the villain when Robin Sach's name is in the opening titles

Best line; Buffy (as Joyce produces the cuffs) "Never tell me!"

Wheldon Cliches;

Character death;

Shot; Giles threatened with a gun and uses it on Ethan but no shots fired

Tied up; Ethan and possibly Joyce or Giles in handcuffs

Knocked out; for once Giles stays conscious but knocks out a policeman

Women good/men bad;

Kinky dinky; see Tied Up. Personally I always thought that Joyce and Giles had had sex on the hood of the police car but maybe that's just me?

Calling Captain Subtext; "Wanna swap?" What a shame we never got to see an Oz/Cordy relationship (not even in any fanfic I've ever read) I mean Cordy has dated plenty of guys in bands before? Also when Xander says he wants to marry Miss Barton (always had a thing for older women) Cordy replies "Get in line!"

Guantanamo Bay; Buffy beats up Ethan for information

Questions and observations;
Joyce and Giles drink that awful Khalua stuff (or however you spell it) Could Joyce be the slutty pumpkin? (a prize to whoever can recognise THAT reference!). Whoa Summers you drive like a spaz! Nice to see that Buffy isn't necessarily good at everything, always annoyed me about Xena that she was brilliant at everything even if she was a demi-god (except cooking and music but Joxer and Gabby could each do both for her). Ethan obviously has a few reservations about what he's doing to judge by his expression when Trick kills the worker. Joyce like's 70s singer Juice Newton who's big hit was interestingly "Angel of the morning". Whenever I see a green 4x4 nowadays I always think 'the Geek machine' or 'The Joyce mobile'. You do feel pity for teenage Snyder, he apparently did Tae Kwan Do which is SMG's martial art. What happens to Ethan? They tie him up but then what? You can kill vamps with a pencil? Their skin must be a lot softer than human.
Buffy refers to the 'Real World House' another modern reference she wouldn't know if she was really a mad girl in an asylum. According to the Sunnydale High Yearbook the Band Candy raised $600,000 for the band.
What does Dawn do as Joyce revisits her youth? Xander and WIllow, awwww. Buffy drives without insurance or a licence. But she spends her life walking around with offensive weapons so breaking the law should come naturally to her. No Faith this week, she's not even mentioned. Love the Mayor/Trick scene at the end, once again Harry Groener is subtly threatening (not what he says, how he says it) whilst Todd Freeman gives a great performance, trying to be cool and offhand but obviously scared witless. Love the reference to Death of a Salesman.
Need you ask? 10/10

[gumgnome]

This episode is comedy gold, and based on the last few reviews given, it's clear that S3 is well into its stride now. The episode is far too entertaining for this complaint to get in the way, but I do feel that the Lurconis plot-line is a pretty thin excuse to allow the main storyline of the adults acting like children. Fair enough, they need to get some babies for the feeding of Lurconis, but surely there are more practical ways than making adults act like teenagers? The episode also contains a terrible piece of writing, when Giles remembers that Lurconis can be found in the sewer somehow, and then the next thing we know, Buffy, Joyce and Giles are in the sewer in the exact location that the sacrifice is about to take place! Highly improbable.
However, who cares? The moments we get are priceless!

In "Earshot" we do find out that Joyce and Giles had sex on the hood of the police car. Twice.

I agree that I find it hard to believe that Giles drank Kalua in his ripper days....

I always find it pathetic when vampires are staked with pencils, as also happens in "Choices" and "All the Way" (by Dawn no less).

Good point about using recent pop culture references to debunk the "Normal Again" hypothesis. There must be a slew of lines in Sunnydale which make it impossible.

Snyder is the greatest highlight of this episode for me, and acts more akin to his behaviour in real life if rumours are true...

Best line:
SNYDER: Whoa, Summers! You drive like a spaz!

[buffyfan21]

Band Candy is one of my fave eps from S3. Joyce and Giles as teenagers is priceless! As previously stated, any ep with more Joyce is always a plus! It's fun to see a different side to her personality. Always great to see more Ripper as well. Anytime he and Ethan cross paths it is always interesting. Also interesting to see what teenage Snyder was like.

Saturn 5, if I'm not mistaken, slutty pumpkin is a reference from "How I Met Your Mother" (love that show!). So, what's my prize?

[Saturn 5]

Yep, well done, your prize is that I consider you to be LEG-EN-DA-RY!

[buffyfan21]

Sept 7, 2009 5:21:05 GMT -5 Saturn 5 said:

Yep, well done, your prize is that I consider you to be LEG-EN-DA-RY!

Haha, awesome! ;D

[willow333]

Band candy is a great episode. Definately one of the more comical ones. The Joyce/ Ripper interaction is priceless. Not to mention the backlash from this episoed that we see even before Buffy finds out about them having sex. Such as Joyce not wanting Giles over for Christmas, etc. Hilarious!

[Saturn 5]

Yeah, they drop the hints then Earshot settles the matter