Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep: 08

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title:  Shadow

Original Air Date: November 21st 2000

“Just once I would like to run into a cult of bunny-worshipers.” – Xander

So after a strong start to the series this episode starts to see things get bogged down in issues facing the group distracting from the outside threats we’d no doubt rather be seeing. As such a large portion of the episode is based around Buffy handling her mother’s illness as she undergoes a CAT scan while trying to also deal with Glory’s latest plan to locate “The Key” by casting a Sobekian transmogrification spell.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep:07

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title:  Fool For Love

Original Air Date: November 14th 2000

“Look, I realise that every Slayer comes with an expiration mark on the package. But I want mine to be a long time from now. Like a Cheeto.” – Buffy

Last week we got to learn the background for Tara who this week is noticeably absent throughout and with no reason given for were she might be we can only assume that her family must have succeeded in carting her back home to the farm. Still the history lessons continue as following a failed patrol which leaves Buffy being stabbed with her own stake she decides to find out how Spike killed two Slayers in an attempt to avoid a similar fate to her predecessors.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep:06

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title:  Family

Original Air Date: November 7th 2000

“You’re in a magic shop, and you can’t think what Tara would like. I think you’re both profoundly stupid.” – Giles

Its funny to think that we’ve now had Tara in our lives for quite awhile now and she’s never had the focus instead relegated to the background and general arm candy for Willow, while the projected an almost permanent aura of being the series pixie dream girl. Thankfully someone decided it was time to fill in some major holes in her backstory as here we get the first (and sadly last) Tara-centric plotline.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep:05

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title:  No Place Like Home

Original Air Date: October 24th 2000

Vampire – “I’ve always wanted to kill the Slayer.”

Buffy – “And I’ve always wanted piano lessons. So really… who’s surprised we’ve got this unexpressed rage? But honestly, I think I express mine better. Tell you what… you find yourself a good anger management class, and I’ll jam this pokey wood stick through your heart.”

So after last week’s misfire of an episode its great to see this episode getting things back on track if perhaps at the same time serving as something of an info dump as we get several big moments through the episode including the introduction of the series big bad “Glory”, Giles reopens the Magic Box, Joyce gets more sick and most key here we find out the truth about Dawn. it’s really a jam packed episode.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep:04

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title: Out of My Mind

Original Air Date: October 17th 2000

“I so don’t want to deal with Spike right now. The guy is really starting to bug me in that special “I want to shove something wooden through his heart” kind of way.” – Buffy

So after the run of great episodes this season has had so far it kind of comes to crashing halt this week as Riley finds himself suffering the side effects of his time with “The Initiative” which has now left him on the verge of having a heart attack while also unable to feel pain. However it soon becomes clear that Buffy is not the only one concerned for his health as the “The Initiative” try to also convince him to see their surgeon and get his health issues fixed. Elsewhere seeing an opportunity to get the chip removed from his brain Spike kidnaps the surgeon.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep:03

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title: The Replacement

Original Air Date: October 10th 2000

“Well, if this guy wants to fight with weapons, I’ve got it covered from “A” to “Z” – from Ax to … zee other ax.” – Buffy

If ever a reminder that the show’s best episodes were often the ones which fell out of the main plot for the season then this would certainly be it, let alone a reminder that just because Buffy might be the lead it doesn’t mean that any of the other group members wern’t just as capable of carrying an episode as seen here with this Xander-centric episode.

After Buffy is targeted by the demon Toth, Xander finds himself with a mysterious double who appears to be living his life better than he is. Unable to tell if his double is evil Xander now is left trying to find a way to convince Buffy and the other Scoobies that he’s the real Xander.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep:02

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title: Real Me

Original Air Date: October 3rd 2000

“You’d think a Slayer’s house would have more weapons!” – Anya

One of the issues for any long running series is how to bring new viewers in when your already deep into the series length let alone how you can grab them without them having to play catch up ib the previous four seasons. This issue however is something that the show runners perhaps unwittingly manage to do with this episode shot from the prospective of Dawn.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:05 Ep:01

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title: Buffy Vs. Dracula

Original Air Date: September 26, 2000

“Oh, good show, Giles. Uhh… at least you didn’t get knocked out for a change” – Giles

So after the mixed results of the diversive season 4 we have a chance to tidy up some of the chaos as we rejoin the group in something of a down period as they hang out on the beach, where the only slaying being done is to the football Buffy is tossing back and forth with Riley. At the same time Willow shows off some of her new control over the elements as she uses her powers to light the barbecue because that’s not an abuse of power or anything. Still its during these opening scenes its established just how restless Buffy has been as she lays awake at night, sneaking out to slay a vampire before being able to finally sleep.

While the previous seasons have opened to Buffy being in transitional state and usually struggling to deal with the events of the previous season, so its something of a change of pace to see her happy for a change. Of course this being Sunnydale it can’t last as the peace is disrupted by the arrival of the legendary vampire Dracula. Okay Okay this might sound like a crappy cash in but here somehow it works here despite the episode not originally being written to feature Dracula as they envisioned just a generic evil vampire for Buffy to face until writer Marti Noxon suggested Dracula which when Joss Wheldon realised that the rights to Dracula where in the public domain was more than happy to change the story to give us this legendary showdown.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 4 Wrap Up

Posted on by Elwood Jones

So here we are at the end of another season and what a diversive season this one has been which was the general opinion going into it, with some fan regarding it as the worse while I proclaimed it my favourite.

Revisiting this season in a more critical frame of mind it unquestionably has been clear this time round how many ups and down this season has had as we essentially saw the group being divided as Buffy, Willow and Oz headed off to College. Xander hit the road and Giles celebrated his new unemployed status by hooking up with old friends and giving us the occasional musical moment. Unquestionably it was a transformative season and perhaps because of the division these various life paths caused with the group that it failed to sit with some fans who perhaps would have preferred more of the group mentality we got with those first three seasons.

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Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:04 Ep:22

Posted on by Elwood Jones

Episode Title: Restless

Original Air Date: May 23, 2000

“It’s a shame that I never got to tell you how happy I am that you were eaten by a giant snake.” – Xander

So while last week should have in a normal world been the finale to this forth season as we saw Adam vanquished but strangely this episode was the one which they choose to end the season on and in doing so causing the show to fall into the same trap as “The Walking Dead” were the season ends one later than it should have.

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