Tuesday TV Thoughts

[yendi]

Spoilers aplenty:



Buffy:

Okay. The good -- all of the acting was top-notch, especially in the final scene. And the moments with Andrew were great (especially his writing "Breakup Sex" on the board). And Clem, of course.

That's about it.

Plot-wise, this episode stalled. Other than Andrew and Spike discovering that Buffy has a secret weapon she doesn't know about, nothing happened until the final five minutes. That's fine in March. But with three episodes left, I'd like things to move forward.

As for the final scene, great performances, terrible writing.

They needed a reason for Buffy to be on her own. Fine. But let's have it make sense.

Anya gives this speech about Buffy never earning anything, and no one (not even Buffy herself) disagrees? She hasn't shown that she's earned it week after week? Giles lets her walk, even in light of their recent crap? Dawn kicks Buffy out? Buffy, in character, should react by kicking the rest of them out, dammit!

I liked the very last moment, between Faith and Buffy, but the set-up was just wrong.



Smallville;

Not a bad episode (and it gets bonus points for having Clark as a flamer). But another one with dumb character actions (the whole Clark/Chloe dynamic right now is just unbelievably stupid, and Lana's not-stepmom is just ludicrous), and a Kryptonite villain of the week. Whatever. The good parts all pretty much revolved around Lionel. *shrug* Here's hoping for good stuff during sweeps (like a scary kid ghost, or something).



Gilmore Girls:

The best of the three shows. But still kind of annoying on some fronts. Let's be blunt. The only really exciting storylines this season have revolved around Paris and Lane. And Paris has now been relegated back to two-minute comic relief. Fortunately, the Lane storyline is coming to the forefront (and painfully so, for her). I was almost in pain watching her call her mom. She's one of the few characters who's been real for the entire season.

Jess and Dean are still annoying. And since they both have pilots next season, we can count on both of them being gone within weeks, which is a good thing. Maybe Dean can come back as Young MacGyver and build Rory a good boyfriend out of Jess's head and a rubber band.

The Max storyline is just silly. And it seems like the other boyfriend must have also gotten another job, since they're doing nothing with that plotline.

And Luke, in the midst of what could be an interesting relationship plotline, is getting used for c-plots. Ditto Suki and her pregnancy.

Jess flunking out of school was gratifying.

The WB promos implying that Jess was going to rape or near-rape Rory were not.

Still, it was the best damned show on the air last night.



Tonight, Angel, the show I've enjoyed the most over the last month or so.

Comments

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

I had real issues with Buffy last night too. Like - she gets thrown through a window and it knocks her out cold? In the past she's been thrown, spine first, onto a gravestone and bounced up to keep fighting. And then we get Faith needing the help of the slayerlings to take on three human cops? Um ... ok.

Yes, the kicking out of Buffy scene was forced, although I liked Faith's jab "... learn their names ..." And why did Giles let the slayerlings go to the Bronze with Faith, who he doesn't like, when he got pissy with Buffy for going out on a date because there was an apocalypse at hand?

And if the whole town knows there's an apocalypse coming and is fleeing in droves, why haven't the armed forces been brought in? Yah, they'd be useless against the First, but somehow I can't see the rest of the country doing nothing with this happening (nor with LA blacked out and swamrming with vampires, but yah ...).

Ok, done bitching now. Loved the scene with Spike and Andrew on the motorbike, loved the look on Principal Wood's face when Faith informed him she's good at reading people too, and am wondering what next week's episode will be named ... "The Everybody Gets It On" episode. Heh.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Buffy: I agree it felt very weird having Buffy suddenly kicked out of her own house. It was just coming out of nowhere!

Smallville: Apparently in the previews you get a clear shot of Clark's butt. But they heightened the flames for the episode. Yeah, the step-mom's an idiot. As for Clark/Chloe/Lana, *pfft* I just try to ignore it. They really all just need to get over themselves, but it's part of the conflict of the show to have them all unhappy about each other. If he'd just tell Lana and Chloe, they'd all be happier.

[redcrowstudio.livejournal.com]

I for one am looking forward to the next Buffy spinoff: Spike and Andrew wandering America on a motorbike, going from town to town and helping folks, and learning important lessons on the way (like how they make those onion petals). A few episodes in, they come across Clem and his red VW beetle, and he joins the posse too. During sweeps, Oz and his van will guest-star.

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

OZ!!!!

*bouncebounce* I'm all for this idea!

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the Christmas episode when Riley drops down from a black helicopter to help the others out in a soup kitchen.

[ocean-song.livejournal.com]

yeah, buffy pretty much blew. No one was really in character. I know they need to tie up all sorts of ends. Maybe they are setting it up for a Faith spin-off? In any case, mostly yawn. Andrew was pretty hilarious. Even Spike was underacted and fairly boring. Kind of reminds me of last time, after Glory scrambled Tara's brains and everyone was downtrodden and nothing much happened for a bit. Am VERY much looking forward to next week's show. Hot and Bothered at the Hellmouth. mmmmm...

[stevenglassman.livejournal.com]

I have little to say this time around. Buffy was a lackluster episode. And I loved jerel's comment about the sweater Giles was wearing: "From beneath you it devours, mate." Heh.

As for Smallville, I was hoping for him to be more, well, super in this episode. I thought that this close to the end of the season, they'd show him starting to mature into his current known set of powers. He really needs to be more inventive than his current Hulk-Smash repertoire. "Oh look, a bad guy! I'll throw him at a wall!" They almost had it, too. He did the standard bending steel around a bad guy. But then he blew it by once again, merely throwing Tim Allen's kid into a wall. A wall with steel pipes, woo.

Not looking forward to a Lana-centric ghost story. ::snore:: Let's hope the episode is not flavored the way the scenes-from-the-next plays it up.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

If this episode wasn't a clear sign to Rory that they're BOTH losers, I don't know what would be. That girl can be dense sometimes.

[toratigris.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the scene where they all turn against Buffy came right out of the blue. Last episode Xander was all, "You have to trust Buffy, she's earned it, she cares about you all more than you know," and this week he's not even willing to hear her out? Yeah, he lost an eye from her bad judgement call, but what, she spends years getting it right, and she's wrong once and they just give her the boot? I didn't buy it at all. I would totally buy it from the SiTs, they haven't been that supportive all along, but from Willow, Giles and Dawn? And to put their trust in Faith? She may have been working on the redemption thing, but even reformed Faith has not been demonstrated to be the most mentally or emotionally stable person. Which makes me wonder if this is actually a set up of some sort. The writing on Buffy isn't usually that sloppy. Especially for an episode as crucial as one of the last four in the whole seven-year series.