Buffy Reviews

Band Candy

Character - by Jenny68

    Jenny68 gives this ep 3 eh's out of 5.
     Buffy's preparing to take the SAT's. She's a little ticked that Giles and her mother have her on such a tight schedule. She has no time for other things like taking care of Angel. Of course she gets caught because Giles and her mother practically conspire against her. Her mother still figures she might run away again, so she's under extra watch. It's nice to have the continuity, especially since it pertains to the ep's storyline. Another issue that keeps on coming, is the driving thing Buffy wants to do so bad. Every season Buffy asks and her mother always turns her down. Of course some of that is Buffy's fault since she flunked the written. (hey.... Prophecy Girl deja vu? *g*)
     Notice how Buffy and Cordelia are right back to normal? Yay...
     The game of footsie under the table in study hall show Willow and Xander still have the forbidden attraction going.
     Now the episode goes to hellmouth. Because of the candy bars, the adults start acting like their back in their teens. This is really cool to watch, because we've all wondered what Giles was like when he was a teenager. No ugly suit, no glasses, smoking cigarettes, and disregard for authority. Notice the accent is stronger and the language is a little different. Joyce is layed back, and obviously has some attraction to the bad boy Giles. Her tone of voice is a little annoying after a while though.
     I thought Snyder was annoying as his usual self, but he is even more so as a `teenaged' Snyder. As soon as he sees Buffy and Willow at the Bronze, he decides to make them his friends. You'd think he'd remember this when the effects of the candy wore off ..... he willingly tagged along with Buffy, his favorite worst student. Nevertheless, it becomes obvious with Snyder's really strange behaviour that he wouldn't have had many friends when he was younger, so the tie-in to Buffy's group of friends has reason.
     So, when everything was said and done....did Giles and Joyce share more than smoochies? Buffy doesn't think so, but the looks shared between the said adults suggests otherwise. Hey, they're already Buffy's parental unit .... why not have a hint of a relationship to go along with it!

Story - by JaKaL

     This weeks episode, Band Candy, was not exactly the follow-up I expected after the stacked episode of Homecoming. Thinking back to last season, however, I probably should have seen it coming. I am not saying that the story had no merit, but it simply didn't measure up to more powerful episodes we have seen to date.
     The main focus of the story line in this episode was the answer to a questionthat has been plauging dedicated BtVS fans since late last season: Just who is the mayor of Sunnydale and what does he know about the Hellmouth??
     Well, the writers certainly found an interesting way to go about answering this question for us. As in Homecoming, we have a mix of old and new villainous elements, bringing back Ethan Rayne from Halloween and The Dark Age, and mixing him with Mr. Trick, the mayor and the demon, Lurconis. Throw into the story a little cursed candy and boom - we have a story.
     The school band is selling candy to raise money - who hasn't faced this situation before? This time there's a little twist. Apparently, the candy makes responsible adults take a little personality time warp back to their teen years. This does provide for some interesting and funny / awkward moments, as our beloved slayer tries to figure out what's up and why.
     My favorite parts of this episode were Willow's reactions to Buffy's driving, and the whole scene between Giles, Buffy and Ethan once they corner him in the warehouse. Somehow, you can't help but laugh when you hear Giles, his usually stuffy British accent given a youthful twang, say "Hit him." or "Your my slayer, now knock his teeth down his ...". And if you think Xander's got the dance moves, check out Giles' little jumping "Yes!" when Buffy actually does sock Ethan.
     Of course, it wouldn't be a complete episode without touching on the two newest recurring themes - the developing Willow/Xander situation, and Angel's return. However, in this episode, the coverage of these subjects was very brief.
     As the episode progresses we find out the truth behind the Mayor's situation, which actually turned out to be just a little too predictable for my tastes - Man strikes bargan with Demon to achieve goals. Pretty standard fare, really. Now, the time has come to pay the piper so to speak. The Mayor has to pay the tribute to Lurconis to uphold his end of the bargin, and the tribute is the babies of Sunnydale. Of course, it's Buffy to the rescue, heading into Sunnydale's underground once more to fight yet another demon. However, there really wasn't a whole lot to the dispatching of Lurconis, as seems to have been the trend this season.
     One thing really did stand out to me as being suspicious in this episode's story line though: the absence of Faith. For some reason, one would think that a slayer, even the second slayer, would be present for such a goings on, but through the whole episode we never once saw hide nor hair of Faith. Was our newest slayer on vacation?Or was it just an oversight by the writers?
     On the whole, I'd have to say this was pretty much an average episode. It leaves both Trick and the Mayor around to deal with later, and Buffy learns a lesson about responsiblity. Perhaps, the only real saving grace that tipped this episode over the totally average mark, was at the end, where we get the implication that perhaps Joyce and Giles did a little bit more than smoke and steal ... Anyway, I'd have to give this episode 3.5 out of 5 eh's for just slightly surpassing the average mark.

Villian - by Kaboo

Character - by Jenny68
Jenny68 gives this ep 3 eh's out of 5. Buffy's preparing to take the SAT's. She's a little ticked that Giles and her mother have her on such a tight schedule. She has no time for other things like taking care of Angel. Of course she gets caught because Giles and her mother practically conspire against her. Her mother still figures she might run away again, so she's under extra watch. It's nice to have the continuity, especially since it pertains to the ep's storyline. Another issue that keeps on coming, is the driving thing Buffy wants to do so bad. Every season Buffy asks and her mother always turns her down. Of course some of that is Buffy's fault since she flunked the written. (hey.... Prophecy Girl deja vu? g) Notice how Buffy and Cordelia are right back to normal? Yay... The game of footsie under the table in study hall show Willow and Xander still have the forbidden attraction going. Now the episode goes to hellmouth. Because of the candy bars, the adults start acting like their back in their teens. This is really cool to watch, because we've all wondered what Giles was like when he was a teenager. No ugly suit, no glasses, smoking cigarettes, and disregard for authority. Notice the accent is stronger and the language is a little different. Joyce is layed back, and obviously has some attraction to the bad boy Giles. Her tone of voice is a little annoying after a while though. I thought Snyder was annoying as his usual self, but he is even more so as a `teenaged' Snyder. As soon as he sees Buffy and Willow at the Bronze, he decides to make them his friends. You'd think he'd remember this when the effects of the candy wore off ..... he willingly tagged along with Buffy, his favorite worst student. Nevertheless, it becomes obvious with Snyder's really strange behaviour that he wouldn't have had many friends when he was younger, so the tie-in to Buffy's group of friends has reason. So, when everything was said and done....did Giles and Joyce share more than smoochies? Buffy doesn't think so, but the looks shared between the said adults suggests otherwise. Hey, they're already Buffy's parental unit .... why not have a hint of a relationship to go along with it!

Story - by JaKaL
This weeks episode, Band Candy, was not exactly the follow-up I expected after the stacked episode of Homecoming. Thinking back to last season, however, I probably should have seen it coming. I am not saying that the story had no merit, but it simply didn't measure up to more powerful episodes we have seen to date. The main focus of the story line in this episode was the answer to a questionthat has been plauging dedicated BtVS fans since late last season: Just who is the mayor of Sunnydale and what does he know about the Hellmouth?? Well, the writers certainly found an interesting way to go about answering this question for us. As in Homecoming, we have a mix of old and new villainous elements, bringing back Ethan Rayne from Halloween and The Dark Age, and mixing him with Mr. Trick, the mayor and the demon, Lurconis. Throw into the story a little cursed candy and boom - we have a story. The school band is selling candy to raise money - who hasn't faced this situation before? This time there's a little twist. Apparently, the candy makes responsible adults take a little personality time warp back to their teen years. This does provide for some interesting and funny / awkward moments, as our beloved slayer tries to figure out what's up and why. My favorite parts of this episode were Willow's reactions to Buffy's driving, and the whole scene between Giles, Buffy and Ethan once they corner him in the warehouse. Somehow, you can't help but laugh when you hear Giles, his usually stuffy British accent given a youthful twang, say "Hit him." or "Your my slayer, now knock his teeth down his ...". And if you think Xander's got the dance moves, check out Giles' little jumping "Yes!" when Buffy actually does sock Ethan. Of course, it wouldn't be a complete episode without touching on the two newest recurring themes - the developing Willow/Xander situation, and Angel's return. However, in this episode, the coverage of these subjects was very brief. As the episode progresses we find out the truth behind the Mayor's situation, which actually turned out to be just a little too predictable for my tastes - Man strikes bargan with Demon to achieve goals. Pretty standard fare, really. Now, the time has come to pay the piper so to speak. The Mayor has to pay the tribute to Lurconis to uphold his end of the bargin, and the tribute is the babies of Sunnydale. Of course, it's Buffy to the rescue, heading into Sunnydale's underground once more to fight yet another demon. However, there really wasn't a whole lot to the dispatching of Lurconis, as seems to have been the trend this season. One thing really did stand out to me as being suspicious in this episode's story line though: the absence of Faith. For some reason, one would think that a slayer, even the second slayer, would be present for such a goings on, but through the whole episode we never once saw hide nor hair of Faith. Was our newest slayer on vacation?Or was it just an oversight by the writers? On the whole, I'd have to say this was pretty much an average episode. It leaves both Trick and the Mayor around to deal with later, and Buffy learns a lesson about responsiblity. Perhaps, the only real saving grace that tipped this episode over the totally average mark, was at the end, where we get the implication that perhaps Joyce and Giles did a little bit more than smoke and steal ... Anyway, I'd have to give this episode 3.5 out of 5 eh's for just slightly surpassing the average mark.

Villian - by Kaboo

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