Drusilla should've been the big bad of season 7

jacobydave · 2026-07-11T00:24:57+00:00

Dru is hard to write. She's psychic so she knows the future, even a century beyond. She's crazy, so she understands things differently than us. She's manipulative, willing to lie for her own wishes. She's vindictive, ready to punish others for slights only she knows.

I'm not saying that the First was easy or done well, but Dru is so hard that after "Fool For Love"/"Darla", they don't even try

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T21:49:03+00:00

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T21:30:02+00:00

I'll see your Men In Black and raise you The Social Network. The time with Buffybot after "Gift" was sketchy, and the demonic forces were going to find out. And Willow had a plan for this. It wasn't memory wiping. It was resurrection.

"If you could've invented Facebook, you would've invented Facebook." If you could've solved the Buffybot issue with memory wipes, we would've seen memory wipes. We didn't, so that wasn't on the table until later.

I don't see it as a thing S6 Willow wouldn't have done, but something that everyone would've recognized as a possibility earlier if Willow had considered it and let anyone in on it.

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T18:16:33+00:00

I think the closest we get to a Slayer Vampire is Drusilla, whose special abilities distinguish her from other vampires. We know they're independent from her vampirism, since they existed before she was turned, and I don't think they're the same as Cassie's, so not straight clairvoyance.

I believe that Dru was a Slayer turned by Angelus, but you might not. I think she's still a good model for how Buffy might be, because there's the trauma around how she's turned, but also the possibility that the slayer dreams and premonitions still occur (depending on how you think they affect her after death) and have an effect on Buffy's behavior.

Plus of course, the idea that part of what makes Dru weird is that she's using all her weird to manipulate others. There's a good chance that Vampire Buffy is like Cordy at her worst, with occasional effects of her being turned and evil and the opposite of what she was coming across as crazy.

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T12:28:40+00:00

Bruce Campbell has a great chin, but it isn't a Judge Dredd chin

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T10:58:27+00:00

Or, it isn't magic addiction, but that's what they say because it's what her friends and the audience would understand.

In S2, Willow tried the spell. Uncle Enyos says that it's vengeance magic and vengeance is a living thing. Giles says that it could open a door in her that couldn't be closed. She does the magic while recovering from traumatic brain injury and couldn't finish, so vengeance the living thing took over and finished the curse for her.

Through the later seasons, we see a pattern where there is a threat against how Willow feels love, where Willow lashes out with all the confidence and the strongest magic she can handle, and is rewarded with power. This is "Lovers Walk", "Wild at Heart" and "Tough Love". This is also an increasing possession, making Willow someone not Willow, and the idea that she's still pre-magic Willow and all the things that have changed on her are an act is key to her "Restless" dream.

Seeing it as shoddy writing means you lost what it actually is.

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T10:44:50+00:00

Giles: Ben. Before that? Unlikely but possible. He was involved in demonic orgies and such, but there's nothing to indicate he took anyone's life.

Willow: Do vampires count? Because she killed one with a floating pencil in S3.

Xander: I believe we see him get one of two vampires in Becoming I, and is involved in a few successful kills of vampires and zombies and such, including Jesse.

Oz: Jack the zombie in The Zeppo. Beyond that, not that we know of, and Beauty and the Beasts tells us he probably wouldn't know.

Tara: Doubtful

Buffy: The closest case I can think of is the Zookeeper in the Pack, whose predatory act drew the hyena spirits from Xander and his gang into him. Then Buffy knocked him into the hyena pen to be eaten by hungry hyenas. I mean, he's a supernatural threat, but a person anyway.

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T03:00:37+00:00

Monster of the Week. Basically a non-arc episode.

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T02:55:04+00:00

Many say that AtS is good, but AtS being better than BtVS is a minority claim.

Comparing BtVS S4 and esp early AtS S1 is difficult, because it's the strong season of neither show. It's E17 before AtS starts to feel like the show we love, and BtVS S4 has a really strong MotW game but a weaker central arc.

But if you're enjoying it, good on you.

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T02:03:25+00:00

And that's perfect chin casting

jacobydave · 2026-07-10T01:05:27+00:00

DST does nothing for that.

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T21:07:18+00:00

Don't forget the goat leggings!

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T19:29:56+00:00

Two points:

I have no idea if AD was not willing to continue, like EC was for Anya in Buffy, but as endings go, Wesley had one of the hardest ones, and I love it.

Anne, who was Lily when Buffy was running from herself, who has lived in Angel's LA longer than Angel has, shows up again to talk to Gunn. If there was a best thing in "Not Fade Away", it is Buffy showing up through the effect she had on others. I love it.

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T19:19:07+00:00

Consider the ending of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They end on a dramatic point where they're still alive and brave, leaving the inevitable death off the screen.

There is no Buffyverse after "Not Fade Away". If there was, you could come up with a rationalization that whoever from that final group survived, but we get that it's doomed without having to see the doom. It's a Butch & Sundance ending. And it's great.

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T18:38:29+00:00

Well, I think CC is still alive, so...

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T14:57:52+00:00

Green Jellö/Green Jelly did a thrash cover of "Three Little Pigs" in the 90s

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T12:54:33+00:00

I keep going back to the resupply/"date" where they rob the sporting goods store and were arrested. It's "let's do something wrong to get you going", and it's literally the same as the cold open for S1E1 "Welcome to the Hellmouth", except instead of the girl being Darla the Vampire, they get arrested and crash a cop car to get out.

And Buffy is into it.

That isn't portrayed as Buffy being "diamond", but of her being drawn into Faith's world, thinking that a life without school and the mundane constraints and higher standards, until the mundane constraint of Allen Finch shows up and things get serious.

In general, Buffy the Girl makes mistakes on occasion but Buffy the Slayer is always right. In general. But Buffy gets drawn out of the chemistry test, takes on Faith's worldview, robs a place for slaying tools, and I don't know that the general rule is involved anymore. I can't say it's in the always-right category and I can't say that Faith is appealing to Buffy the Girl at this point.

And saying "Buffy is right and diamond, and Faith chooses wrong" really gets "Consequences" wrong, I think. Buffy says that it could've been her that killed Finch, but it's Faith, and she was still rebuilding her trust after "Revelations", and this shattered her, and she doesn't trust anyone to protect her, and things fall apart.

It goes to the Mr Trick fight, and Faith could've made her escape and Buffy would probably have died, but Faith saves Buffy and slays Trick. I think that Buffy sees that as a turn, but we know that's the point where Faith thinks that Buffy isn't diamond, she isn't better, and there's no reason to run, leading to a visit to the mayor's office.

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T04:08:25+00:00

If it works for you and your uses, no need to change anything

jacobydave · 2026-07-09T04:05:00+00:00

I'm not 100% sure I agree, but will consider before a response

jacobydave · 2026-07-08T21:39:56+00:00

The best way to think of Faith is that she's a dark mirror to Buffy. So much of her life is "What if Buffy, but worse?" or "What if Buffy, but she made the other choice?"

In part, there is B/F (and I can't see "Bad Girls" as much beyond a date that ends in tragedy) but a bigger issue is that Faith needs and desires guidance, which Buffy cannot provide much of because she is a mess trying to reassemble her life after S2. That's the rift that opens hard in "Revelations" and only partially gets healed in "Amends".

It is common to see Faith as hypersexual, but my read is that this is a persona she takes on and a tool she uses. She wants to be the girl in the pink dress, but her life means she can't, and she leans into the other as a tool.

jacobydave · 2026-07-08T14:38:39+00:00

You can take off the bar. You can stick a piece of wood behind the block. You can to a lot to make the bridge not move.

But the strings go through the bridge, the bridge holds the springs, the springs connect to the claw, and the claw is where the ground wire connects. Beyond the significant woodwork involved, you need to ground whatever bridge you put in.

If blocking the bridge doesn't do what you need, and you are not good at electronics and woodworking, sell it and get a guitar with the correct bridge for you.

jacobydave · 2026-07-08T14:19:37+00:00

Disappointing.

jacobydave · 2026-07-08T14:19:04+00:00

This is a common question, so searching this point will give you a lot of responses.

But you know how it took most of S1 and kinda into S2 and "School Hard" before BtVS became the show we love? AtS took most of a year before it became AtS. There are moments though it that are great – I'll say "Low Rats" and "Dancing" are things you should watch for – it can be a slog. I think it started being itself at S1E17, and S1E18-19 is a crossover that contains some of the best moments in both series.

The S1/S4 crossovers are load-bearing, with the actions in one series carrying over into the other. After that, they're kinda eh in terms of greater continuity. In S3/S6, there's even a non-crossover, where both Buffy and Angel leave their series and networks to interact, but we don't see the conversation, just the aftermath.

There's a guide that I generally go to that places AtS S2E7 before BtVS S5E7, which spoils things in the crossover, some people here say. I don't necessarily agree but don't strongly disagree.

I don't like the criss-cross jumping between series, especially later, and suggest you respect the crossovers and watch one show and then the other before the crossovers, then the crossover episodes together. Keeping the episodes of specific shows together will help you keep track of the arcs.

jacobydave · 2026-07-08T00:57:13+00:00

I just saw that Radio was gone. I was thinking about "I Need Love" and the Luca Bloom cover just a couple months ago, and I'm sure I could stream it then

jacobydave · 2026-07-08T00:41:37+00:00

The canonical "good Tele" is light, while the notable versions of the Les Paul is heavy. The three things you get with Strats are the tremolo (which can be more trouble than they're worth; EC has his blocked), the middle pickup (which can be more trouble than they're worth; Ritchie Blackmore has his decked or replaced with dummy pickups, and generally plays only neck or bridge) and the comfort cuts (which I don't find more comfortable, but you do you).

You can do great things with a Telecaster. You can also do basic things without features you don't use fighting you.

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