Buffy ep by ep; FAMILY (Tara's secret comes out)

[Saturn 5]

FAMILY
The Good;
The wonderful face off in the magic shop at the end and the too beautiful scene where Tara and Willow dance on air.
The Bad;
My Name is Earl aside rednecks get a hard time on US TV and this is no exception.
Best line;
Will "See that's where you're the dummy"
Women good/men bad;
Hugely misogynistic, the whole family lying to their womenfolk to keep them enslaved. Donny threatens to beat his own sister, Xander threatens to break him into pieces if he tries (and this is why we love Xander!). We learn for the first time that Hank is in Spain 'living the cliche' with his secretary. According to Buffy Hank now 'bailed' on the Summers girls.
Jeez!;
The demon's sores are icky
Kinky dinky;
Tara calls Willow a 'vixen'. Riley meets Sandy the vampwhore at Willy's. Of course Sandy is the poor girl Vampwillow bit at the Bronze in Dopplegangland which is some pretty damn brilliant continuity. Spike and Harmony have sex but he's secretly thinking about Buffy. Buffy promises Riley 'outfits' in return for his help, looks like Xander and Anya aren't the only ones who like to play dress-up? (The Duchess and the Highwayman? The Strict Headmaster? Princess Leia in the gold bikini?)
Captain Subtext;
Maybe it's just me but I always thought there were hints of attraction between Buffy, Glory and her Key? It starts here with Buffy describing Glory as Cordeliaesque (and one day Cordy too will be a hell-goddess). She also says that she's 'exciting and new'. Tara's mega-cute story of Miss Kitty is obviously Dawn once again. Spike saves Buffy for the first time.
Guantanamo Bay;
Scoobies to the ER;
Missing scenes;
Apocalypses; 5,
Wheldon Cliches (with kind permission from Boo)

Scoobies in bondage:
Buffy: 8
Giles: 4
Cordy: 5
Will: 3
Jenny: 1
Angel: 4
Oz: 1
Faith: 3
Joyce: 1
Wes: 1
Xander; 1
Dawn; 1

Scoobies knocked out:
Buffy: 15
Giles: 10
Cordy: 6
Xander: 8
Will: 5
Jenny: 2
Angel: 6
Oz: 3
Faith: 1
Joyce: 3
Wes: 1
Anya;1
Kills: one demon each for Buffy and Spike (does the 3rd just run away?)
Buffy: 86 vamps, 30 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot
Giles: 5 vamps, 1 demon
Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon
Will: 4 vamps
Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human
Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie
Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans
Xander: 5 vamps, 2 zombies, ½ a demon, ½ a demon
Anya: ½ a demon
Riley; 12 vamps + 7 demons
Spike; 1 demon (now in the service of the Scoobies)

Scoobies go evil:
Giles: 1
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 1
Angel: 1
Oz: 1
Joyce: 1
Xander: 3

Alternate scoobies:
Buffy: 6
Giles: 3
Cordy: 1
Will: 2
Jenny: 2
Angel: 3
Oz: 2
Joyce: 2
Xander: 3

Recurring characters killed: 9
Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara

Sunnydale deaths; Harmony kills the poor sales clerk
84;

Total number of scoobies: 7
Giles, Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Tara, Riley

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?)
Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

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

Notches on Scooby bedpost:
Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes?
Cordy: 1?
Buffy: 3 confirmed; Angel, Parker,Riley, 1 possible, Dracula(?)
Angel: 1;Buffy
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
What the fanficcers thought;
Once read an interesting one where Tara's family were actually Texas Chainsaw Massacre types and by the end whilst they'd been wiped out the Scoobies had lost everyone except Willow, Tara, Dawn and Riley. In the follow up story Willow and Tara ressurect Buffy 'Bargaining 1&2' style and she discovers Dawn has become become a cross between Lara Croft and Ash from the Evil Dead series (but still with both hands). Meanwhile Faith defeated the First and shared her power with the Potentials but was presumed to have perished in the collapsing the Hellmouth. But whose is that gorgeous female hand holding a scythe breaking the surface at the Sunnydale crater...?
Questions and observations;
Of course an unknown Amy Adams plays cousin Beth, hasn't she done well since! Riley comments that a lot of young people are experimenting with shortness nowadays. Well HE certainly isn't! Dawn thinks only losers drink alcohol but seems to have a great time during her first visit to the Bronze. Contrast Tara now to the girl we first meet in season 4 her stutter is gone. When her family come back so does it. Looking at SMG exercising in this ep you really believe she could be a Slayer, her athleticism is incredible. But she's TOO THIN, like Courtney Cox in some of the later seasons of Friends. Prefer the way she looks in season 1. Just me or do the demons look like clowns? Clever shot when Riley is in Willy's Bar, we think it's Spike at first.
Marks out of 10; 7/10

[Tea - Total]

Great episode to show the scoobies and Tara on unity of a family.
I thought the demons make up were excellent,
and when spike was trying to help Buffy and Buffy didn't notice because he was invisible because of the spell that was funny.
7.2/10

[Randi Giles]

LMAO. I can actually see how Tara's family was compared to Texas Chainsaw Massacre types. This is actually a nice Tara centric episode...not that there's many of them. Thank goodness that stutter is gone. I liked the fight scene with Spike and Buffy. Who am I kidding I like all their scenes. It kind of sucks for poor Riley. Angel left alot of space to fill. Like the ending I think this episode and the last scene was another nice step in Willow and Tara's relationship.

[The Girl In Question]

I like this episode, but it's more of a guilty pleaure to me. For me, I did not understand how at the beginning the Scoobies went from "We barely know her" to "She's family." I just didn't buy it. I didn't see the transition at all. While I enjoy the episode very much, that always bugged me. And yes, I always thought those demons looked like clowns o.0

[Randi Giles]

Nov 14, 2009 16:27:23 GMT -5 The Girl In Question said:

I did not understand how at the beginning the Scoobies went from "We barely know her" to "She's family." I just didn't buy it. I didn't see the transition at all. While I enjoy the episode very much, that always bugged me. And yes, I always thought those demons looked like clowns o.0

I have to agree with all of this, but I will assume that Buffy and everybody was just trying to take up for her for Willow's sake. And you know who would want to watch a girl get dragged away by a family like that. Lol.

[Saturn 5]

Tara grew on the gang but she had always kept them at arms length due to her secret. When that was revealed they could finally accept her. Dawn loves her to bits already, they care for her because Willow does and they're always going to stand up for what's right