HMPC 0219 – IOHEFY

June 10th, 2010 | Author: Hellmouth

Here is the Hellmouth Podcast for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series Season 2 Episode 19 – I Only Have Eyes For You. (mp3 version here)

I am joined by Stephanie who co-hosts this episode with me. Stephanie’s website and podcast can be found at www.confessionsofaninternetaddict.net.

Their is a book review in this episode of the Hellmouth Podcast for Traci Hall’s book, Beauty’s Curse. Traci’s website and the book can be found at www.traciehall.com.

The sponsor for the month of June is Audible, Hellmouth Podcast listeners get a free audio-book and 14 day trial when you sign-up at www.audiblepodcast.com/hellmouth.

For those of you with the iPhone app, here is the link to the TV show trailers that I discussed in the news segment. http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/player.html

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:26 — 24.9MB)

HMPC 0219 “I Only Have Eyes For You” -

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Welcome to the Hellmouth Podcast for the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series, Season 2 Episode 19 titled “I Only Have Eyes For You”
If you want to be a part of the Hellmouth Podcast Community, head on over to the Hellmouth Podcast website at hellmouthpodcast.com and click on the community page. There you will find all of the different ways that you can connect with the Hellmouth Empire community. Facebook, twitter, email, etc.
I want to remind everyone, about our sponsor for the month of June Audible.
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- For Hellmouth Podcast listeners, Audible is sponsoring a free 14 day trial of their services including a free audiobook of your choice when you sign up.
- Go to audiblepodcast.com/hellmouth to sign up.
- Support the Hellmouth Podcast and try out a great service at audible for free.
I want to introduce Stephanie Smith from Confessions Of An Internet Addict, you can find her podcast and website at www.confessionsofaninternetaddict.net.
- Stephanie say hello and tell us about yourself
  - Your podcast
  - How you got into Buffy
  - Why you chose this episode to co-host the Hellmouth Podcast.
Let’s get into the episode discussion, just like last week, here is this Buffy episode recapped in 2 minutes or less.
- Buffy rejects Ben at the bronze which is too bad because Ben was such a crucial character this season.
- In the after school hours at Sunnydale high a boy chases a girl through the halls.
- They have a passionate heated discussion about love, it is a heated breakup.
- Boy gets ready to shoot the girl, Buffy stops him.
- Everyone’s confused.
- In principal Snyder’s office, he needs a new bookshelf, a yearbook drops off the shelf for Buffy to peruse.
- Willow is turning out to be a good teacher.
- Gives Giles a rose quarts/ healing crystal to heal Giles’ pain.
- Giles’ is going to try the Spencer Pratt method of healing for all of you talk soup fans.
- Willow is using Jenny’s computer to get into witchcraft.
- Buffy dosing in history class has a vision from the past. A teacher and student meeting after class showing obvious affection for each other.
- Buffy’s vision ends just in time to catch her teacher having a case of chalkboard turrets.
- Buffy’s confused.
- Xander gets attacked by his locker.
- Sounds like a poltergeist to the Scoobies.
- That night the Janitor and a teacher act out the same breakup in the hallway.
- Giles hears the poltergeist talking and thinks it’s Jenny.
- Janitor shoots the teacher, Giles tackles him.
- They’re all confused.
- Angel, Spike and Drusilla check out their new real estate.
- Giles is convinced the poltergeist is Jenny Calendar, the Scoobies think that’s a stretch.
- The Scoobies identify Jim Stanley and Grace Newman from 1955.
- Buffy is angry at Jim for killing the teacher and himself, but is that really who she’s mad at?
- Poltergeist is playing havoc on Sunnydale High, snakes in the cafeteria.
- Snyder tries to cover it up, doesn’t want the Mayor to have to get involved.
- Willow comes up with a spell to get rid of the ghost.
- Spell goes bad, they all run out just before the school is surrounded by wasps.
- The ghost doesn’t want revenge, he wants forgiveness.
- Buffy and Angelus are possessed by ghosts and play out the scene again, only Buffy is the one with the gun.
- She shoots Angelus, but this time the story is different, Angelus lives.
- They kiss, the spirits are released and things return to normal, if you want to call it that.
- Buffy relates to Jim a little more than she would like.
- Angelus needs a violent kill to get the feeling of love out of his system and oh yeah, Spike gets out of his wheelchair.
Back to the future reference – 1955, sadie Hawkins dance.
Compare the two relationships
- Teacher/Angel are much older than Jim/Buffy
- A love that society would never understand.
- The relationship is ended abruptly.
- Jim/Buffy kills Ms. Newman/Angel.
- Jim can’t move on because of his feelings of guilt and lost love.
  - Buffy is the same.
- Jim needs forgiveness to break the cycle of pain.
- Buffy needs forgiveness to be able to come to terms with the past and move forward with what she must do.
- Buffy feels like she killed Angel, this is all her fault.
We see that Giles still isn’t completely over the death of Jenny. When the poltergeist is discovered he immediately jumps to the conclusion that it is Jenny trying to contact him.
- He is willing to ignore specific details and reasoning that would suggest that Jenny is not the poltergeist.
- He is desperate to have some kind of contact with her, he is having a hard time letting go.
Willow is beginning her journey into magiks. Sparked by the breadth of knowledge about the subject on Jenny’s computer.
What is the reason for the Spike, Angelus and Drusilla storyline – sets up Spikes betrayal.
- When I first watched this episode I got frustrated with all of the scenes that cut to Angelus, Spike and Drusilla. I still think that to some extent these scenes kind of break the rhythm of the episode.
- I think that these scenes are not intended to contribute to this episode, this plotline. I think that with these scenes the writers are setting up events that are going to happen leading up to the finale, the most obvious example being the reveal at the end of the episode that Spike is no longer injured and can, in fact, walk.
End Episode.
Rate the episode
- Bonus point for the switch of having Buffy be possessed by Jim and Angelus possessed by Ms. Newman.
- Bonus point for the nod to Back to the Future
  - dance in 1955.
- Bonus point for Willow getting into Magic.
- Lose a point for the Spike, Drusilla, Angelus scenes which kind of broke the momentum of this episode at times.
- Stephanie – Bonus point for the emotional scene between Buffy and Angel/Angelus.
- For me the episode starts at a 7 and ends with a total of 9 out of 10.
Listener Emails

Dear Bryan

I got into Buffy in 1999 after catching a few episodes of Season 1 and 2 when I was at university … A Surprise/ Innocence double bill sucked me in and the quality blew me away. I have been a fan since then.

I have really enjoyed hearing your insights and perspectives. I don’t necessarily agree with all your views for example your Jenny Calendar gypsy tramp views (mainly because I like the character and don’t like to think she was using Giles) but they have made me think and re evaluate my thoughts. I decided to email after hearing your excellent Passion recap. I really liked your point about the start and end narrations reflecting the changing balance in power. I also liked your musings about what Giles must have been going through that we didn’t see. I love Innocence for the very human nature of the story and the twisted genius of destroying the superhuman heroine in such a human way.

In terms of Buffy’s culpability for Angelus’s return, we know from Angel the series that sex alone does not cause Angel to lose his soul. However it was perfect happiness as a result of Angel sleeping with Buffy that caused the soul loss. Morally I do not think they can be blamed as they were clueless. One of my big issue is why is it played as if buffy made such a huge personal error by deciding to sleep with Angel. She loved him, felt ready to have sex with him, thought about, discussed it and did it. Not to mention the whole life and death nature of her relationship. Did she act rashly? Should she have researched and consulted e.g. Giles about her decision? I don’t see that she did. I think that Buffy treated Angel as a man first and it was an emotional decision.

Janey

Weekly Poll Results

What was the most ‘sinister’ and ‘creepy’ Angelus moment in the episode Passion?

Angelus’ narration about passion throughout the episode (5%, 1 Votes)
Angelus’ violent reaction to Jenny Calendar’s attempt to restore his soul (21%, 4 Votes)
Angelus’ desperate/menacing conversation with Joyce (68%, 13 Votes)
Willow finding her fish strung up in an envelope (0%, 0 Votes)
Buffy waking up to find a picture of herself on her bed (6%, 1 Votes)
This weeks poll is another Angelus poll. Angelus is one of the most interesting characters for me in Season 2 and is one of my favorite seasonal villains. Through the course of season 2 we have seen Angelus in a number of different episodes that give us a peek into what his character is like. What I want to know is which of these character traits do you think is the dominant characteristic or best defines Angelus and his evil ways.
- His abhorrence for all things good and pure, like his reaction to the feelings of love in this episode.
- His affinity for playing games and emotionally torturing his victims.
- His arrogance about his abilities to be such a masterful villain.
- His disregard for everyone around him heroes, villains, and ordinary people alike.
- The pleasure he takes in the violence of the kill.
Thanks to everyone for tuning into another episode of the Hellmouth Podcast.
- Remember www.hellmouthpodcast.com
- hellmouthpodcast@gmail.com
- See you guys next time for the episode titled “Go Fish”, Stay Classy Sunnydale.
Book Review – Beauty’s Curse
- www.traciehall.com
- Another fantasy novel with an element of romance in it.
- About a young girl, Galiana Montehue, who becomes the object of a contest between three knights ordered by Prince John to make her their wife.
- Galiana ends up nursing one of the knights back to health after he is injured and loses his sight.
- They do not get a long but must work together because their fates are intertwined in an attempt to save the throne left vacant by the absence of King Richard.
- This book was great for me because it had a larger cast of characters than some of the books I have talked about previously. Very similar to the Buffy series the books tells the story of more than just the hero, the love interest and the villain. This book has a cast of 10 – 12 characters who are all important to the story and those types of books really appeal to me.
- Once again, this book is for the 17 and older crowd. There is some sexual content and some violence. However, it is all important to the story and is not done just for effect.
- The characters in this book are interesting, entertaining in the way they all interact with each other and you can’t help but investing yourself in this book from the very beginning.
- Here are some of the things I liked about the book:
  - This book touches on a lot of different genres that I enjoy – action, fantasy, romance, mystery, political/royal intrigue.
    - Set in the days just before King Arthur in Europe, it is obvious that the author has spent some time trying to ensure that the book is true to the time period and the place. The speech in the book, the description of places are all true to the world in which the story takes place and it adds another layer of enjoyment and reality to the story.
    - Great character development, nearly all of the characters in this book are changed or affected by their interactions with one another and it is exciting to read.
    - At just over 470 pages, there is plenty of time to really develop the characters well and tell a story that is involved and has multiple twists and turns in it.
      - The epilogue for the book kind of wraps up parts of the story, letting you know what happened a few years down the road.
      - I wish that the epilogue had been a little bit longer and given more detail as to what happened after the conclusion of the main plotline.
      - Once again, it’s just a case of me wanting more, wanting to know more about the characters and what happens next.
    - This isn’t a straight forward book, there is a clear hero and villain in the book but there is also a lot of grey. The book paints multiple pictures of both heroes and villains and the circumstances in their lives that have placed them in those roles. There was a lot of thought put into these characters.
- All in all, this was a fantastic book.
- The story and the character development in this book, all of those things that you all love so much about the Buffy series are the core strengths of this book as well and you will definitely like this book.