I'm not sure, because I wasn't watching, but I think it was Wrecked?

Wrecked is next week.  We've just had Smashed, hence the possibility that people are gouging out eyes and tearing off their own arms to throw them at the TV.  Me, I like it.  It makes for good viewing.

I'd already seen this one, but watched it with my sister, a Buffy fan, though not as 'holic as those of us here.  Loved seeing her reaction!  The minute the end credits came up she turned to me with her eyes wide and her mouth open.  Hee!

Did anyone have a heart-attack?  Are you all okay after seeing that?  Do we need to call for a doctor?

Heh, I think everyone's still too stunned to post.

You know what?  First time I was all with the 'aargh!'s and the 'no! no!'s, which may have coloured how I saw this one.  This time ... I kind of wanted to cry.  God, it's so very, very sad.  I see now Buffy just wanting to just physically express the screaming pain inside her (okay, not THAT way, pervs).  It's almost ... it's almost like people who harm themselves.  How people can read that scene as hot or romantic or two souls giving into their secret desires ... I mean, each to their own and all that, I'm not judging, but I simply cannot see it that way.

And this time I actually felt sorry for Spike a little, as well.  I mean, what she says to him is true: he's fucked up and desperate too.  Short of killing himself (and, I've just remembered, he actually did want to do that in S4 and it's suddenly seeming more serious now), he has no options.  He can't live as he did, he can't really change, being what he is.  I can actually see him as slightly tragic too.  Or, I dunno, maybe I'm just in a maudlin mood or something.  Because then I think of him smashing her face gleefully and think: this is the guy who said "Every night, I save you"?  He's gone from that to this because she snubbed him a few times and used him for kisses?

God, and who would have thought it?  I don't think Sky cut anything.  Unless I'm misremembering, but the zipper noise was there, the, uh, impaling and the, ah, staggering around with her riding him.  I can't think of anything missing.  So it's okay to show that but not to show Willow sicking up a snake?  Riiight.

It's still a disturbing ending (and it's notable that no one ever has much to say about the other 40 minutes of the episode!) but I found it a better show this time round.  I mean, what BTVS is doing this year is difficult to watch and uneven and sad, but they're doing something so brave and big that I do want to applaud them for the effort.  Mind, I only say this because I'm so utterly, utterly positive that the intention is for Buffy to come out of this, and come out stronger.

Actually I do have something to say about the rest.  I just got that if Willow & Amy were going to go 'somewhere bigger' than the Bronze, being that the Bronze is the biggest place in town (unless the new airport has a club), they must have gone outside Sunnydale.  Which means that they couldn't have got there and back by natural means.  And therefore ... translocation spells?  Flight?  Cor.

What a long post!

Sky didn't cut anything.  I was surprised.  I was sat waiting for the Big Scissors of Indignant Editing to swoop in and chop it up, but all was left intact.  So, um, Go Sky!  Hmm, feels weird to congratulate a TV station when I'm so used to berating them.

I agree that the Spuffy sex is the only thing anyone remembers about this ep.  I've seen it lots of times but had completely forgotten that this is the one where Amy gets de-ratted.  For such a long-awaited and fairly large event, it get's burried under the sex.  Not literally though.  Although with the falling house...

I was stunned.
I really didn't see that coming, I haven't been watching many on SkyOne recently.

Could anyone give me a little recap/history of Jonathan and his two geek mates, and where they came from, who they are, what they're doing etc.. They crack me up.

But back to the ending. Whoa.
And I wonder what Buffyis?

Didn't watch Angel, I'm more of a Friends/ER/Club Reps man.

Club Reps?!  You don't deserve a recap Cazoz.  Oh (sighs), okay then.
Jonathan: UberGeek of Sunnydale High.  Nearly killed himself in Earshot (S3).  Made everyone worship him with a spell in Superstar (S4).  Seemed to have learned his lesson but obviously not.
Andrew: brother of the more famous guy who trained devil dogs to attack the Prom.  Andrew meanwhile made flying monkeys attack the School Play but we'd never seen him before S6.
Warren: creepy guy who made RobotApril in I Was Made To Love You (S5).  Later made Buffybot to Spike's specs.
They've teamed up to take over the world, but so far they've only tested Buffy, stole a diamond and discovered free cable porn.

Heh.

Leeb, I think it would have been a lot funnier if Amy's deratting had gotten buried literally under the sex.

"I'm human! I'm human! I'm hu... ow! Was that an elbow?"

"I really hope that was an elbow."

Hee. I set 'em up, you knock 'em down.

I feel so dirty. I enjoyed that episode, not the last part, eww, but the rest of it was kinda funny. I kept getting previous season flashbacks from some of the performances. Willow at times acted like the old willow from S1, though it was pretty fleeting and I was getting an S2 vibe from Buffy until the last ten minutes.

Must go to Woolies for Buffy chocolatey goodness. There is no bad there.

Well, I thought the Spuffy sex was revolting but as was said earlier - it's so sad that these characters seem to have nothing in their life but this obviously unhealthy relationship.

What I thought was worse (in terms of stupid writing, anyway) were the magical hijinks got up to by Willow and Amy. What a load of ****! Is this now the Harry Potter-verse for grownups or what? I mean black eyes and vomiting snakes is bad enough, but at least that took an incantation and pain on Willow's part. But crappy magical 'effects' and 'spells' that take no effort is not so much suspending disbelief but hanging it by its neck until it's dead.

Possibly I'm overreacting, but I just thought it was laughable.

What I'm really interested in seeing is how Buffy came back 'wrong'.

Want a Buffy egg!

My mother is still steadfastly refusing to let me watch it. Dammit.

I've seen them all so far, but next week's I'm just going to have to watch again. HAVE to.

Sheesh.

Uh, Pandrea, can I impose on you to borrow tapes or something? If this dictatorship doesn't improve, I mean.

Oh, that's intriguing ...!
Yeah, sure, or come over or something.

Why... oh.  Right.

Your mother's not letting you watch _Buffy_, Ginni?  Is she worried you're going to get corrupted?  'Cause I think she may be a bit late on that one.

No - she claims that it's one of those scary type things that she doesn't like. From the woman who watches that Alien Nation thing where they drink sour milk and eat goose entrails.

So a big fat WHAT EVAH! to that.

*sigh*

OK.

Amy - glad she's back, it was nice to have some season 3 reminiscences (sp?) but her and Willow's magic-fest at the Bronze just got silly.

The, er, other: Wow. Very sad and brutal. I agree it's not about soulmates or romance, it's about two people being so damaged and lonely that they resort to a physical release that isn't a good idea for either of them. I found the violence-leading-to-sex quite disturbing but I noticed that they made sure that Buffy was, er, on top, both when they were vertical and when they were horizontal, I thought so as to stress that she wasn't in any sense pinned down or compelled, but was an active participant of her own volition. Those are two very confused people. Can't wait to see how they follow it up.

I havent seen it yet, but I was spoiled to hell about it anyway. I get to watch it next week when I visit home for my birthday, so yay! Not sure how I feel about the whole Spuffy shagging, cause I'm something of a shipper (so sue me!) but by the sounds of you guys it's not quite the hearts and flowers I would have liked to say the least.

Hmmm. Is there anyone who actually enjoyed the ending (not like that you pervs)? I'm intrigued...

Well, I enjoyed the ending... I thought it was profoundly sad and moving and, yes, a bit erotic. And I don't even like Buffy and Spike together. But I liked this.

Gin, why don't you give your mother ten bucks to go to the movies every Tuesday night?

If she's still on about the Buffy-watching, you could just tell her it's because you want to have sex in peace.

Like ejg, I found the end of "Smashed" very affecting, though actually I didn't find it erotic.  (I actually wanted to, but... no.)  It was a well-done moment.

That about sums up my reaction first time round.  I think the words 'You could have warned me' were directed at BJC as she was in hysterics at my reaction.

I video it (out at a cookery demonstration, Yum) but haven't watched it.  So, no cuts?  wow!

Well, I got my Buffy Easter Egg today and I've eaten it all up already.  I just adore the 'Mood-o-meter' on the back and the mousemat, while small, is actually quite nice.

Ooh, and I saw an ad for the next ep on Sky which was exciting.  This year, I've noticed, they actually seem to be doing proper previews for the specific episodes and not the crap, 'she's sexy, he's sexy' generic rubbish they used to show.

However, in less good news, I've been phoning the SFX Con lady since Friday to no avail.  I've left my number, so maybe she'll call back.  I'm comforting myself with the thought that if I can't get through, then neither can anyone else to seize the last howevermany tickets and prevent me getting into the awards ceremony.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Andrea - you';ve got to get to the awards ceremony.  I'm thionking we;ll be trying to bag seats together, somewhat near the front?

I'm warning everyone now, I get tipsy extremely quickly, so please make sure that I don't do anything too embarassing.

I can't wait for us all to get together for a big Con!

Hiya dudes, just sharing the joy of Season 6 starting in Australia tonight!

Hooray finally!

One Smashed thing I forgot to mention (or maybe I was still in shock) was Spikes Fugy ensemble (purple shirt and deeee-sgusting heavy gold chain. Is that in reaction to finding out he can be bad again (sort of) or is it an attempt to be alluring to Buffy? Either way it was a bad bad bad move and I hope he sees sense next week. I'm no fan of jewellery on men at the best of times, but heavy gold chains do no-one any favors.

Keep trying dude!!  I had to ring back in the end, mainly cause I'm impatient like that.

Howdy raen!

When is series 6 on terrestrial coz I'm into Buffy again after about 2 years away, and I wanna catch up on the build-up to Smashed.

I only saw the one where Jonathan and crew fucked with Buffy's head, and that was funny. But weird.

I'm well up for Spuffy. Anyone seen the promos for next week's ep? Spike's quite well-built, I always presumed he'd be emaciated because of his freaky cheekbones.
But then again, unless you're a token fat man, I doubt you're allowed on US TV unless you have pecs and a six pack.

Latest news from BBC Buffy Site:

I'd forgotten, until everyone was saying, what my reaction was at the end of "Smashed". I think my jaw literally hit the floor, and I was speechless for about 5 minutes.

Luckily for me I was able to watch the next episode straight after, so I was spared a week of going around saying "huh? What? Arrrrgggghhhhhh!"  

I want a Buffy Easter Egg now! My girlfriend has promised me one, but Easter Sunday's not for another 27 days. (Sulking now.)

Ooh, I got my Buffy easter egg at the weekend and demolished it straight away, easter be damned. The mousemat is very cool.

I'm really looking forward to wrecked. The promo's make it look very interesting. I was watching it with my mother (who's now an avid Buffy fan after me wittering on about it for years) and she said 'poor Spike, Buffy's always belting him one.' Aargh, my mother's a spuffy lover.

What are the three different types of "extras" that come with the Easter Egg?  I've seen the mouse-mat and the silver tin thingy - is there a third type out there?

This week on Buffy, SkyOne, Thursday 7th, 8pm:

I believe there's a mug, though I've not seen it.

Cor, Wrecked.  I'm really quite excited.  I'm pretty spoiled for this one ep though, but I don't care.  I mean, Dawn in danger, that's got to be a thrilling new twist, right?

Shaken to the core?  Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Hee!!

I thought exactly the same thing, but couldn't think of the right way to say it!!

Okay, I'm now starting to have Sky One withdrawl.  It doesn't matter that I have Wrecked on tape and can therefore watch it at 8pm tomorrow (which I will be doing), it's just not the same.  Also, no Angel, and I don't have that on tape.

It's next week that the real crunch will come, when it's a Buffy episode I haven't seen.  I will just have to send Nalian lots of emails asking if she's received my blank CDs and sent me episode CDs back.  I hope she's a patient person.

Out-takes.

Ba-dum-bum tssch!  He's here all week, folks!  ;)

hey, you could take that on the road.

Can I be the roadie?

Latest exciting news out of the getting ever slimmer official Buffy magazine (must be on the JM and SMG diet) - the first half of the season six videos will be released in June.

Woo hoo!!   Hopefully in time for the Cons!!

I finally got my SFX Con tickets!  Ah, the benefits of being off work for another train strike.

The crappy news: We're not in the first 1,000 (1052 & 53) so we'll have to watch the Awards Ceremony from the bar.  Unless there's a cancellation, in which case they've promised to phone me.  Feh.

The slightly better news: We might all get famous.  I spoke to someone in the editorial department and he's interested in my idea ...

Pandrea, what is your idea?!?  Please tell, please tell.  You can't just say something like that and not give more details.

Yay to you finally getting your tickets, crap that you can't come join us inside at the ceremony.

So, I'm gueesing this is the up-to-date list of Fugee's attending SFX and the Barmy British BuffyCon:  Me, leeb, Heatherbelle, madammolly, trifling_matter (+ partner), Khari, Pandrea (+ partner).  

Is anyone else planning on booking tickets?  Is everyone ok for accomodation?

Maybe my idea was that we should all be employed as James Marsters' personal dressers.

Or maybe not ...

Shhhhhh, Pandrea, we are already going to have enough problems keeping certain people under control at SFX without you going around putting ideas like that into their heads.

I'm still a maybe. Include me in the maybe category, and I won't feel so left out.

*sniff*

I'm trying, dammit, but I really do have to do this whole 'budget' thing for a while.

Budget, smudget!  This is a special case!  It's like an emergency that you have to spend money on!

By Certain People I hope your not suggesting that I may misbehave....James .....James Who???.....I am going to the con to visit and artificial intelligence stand that is going to be there...In order to help me prepare for my....Ummmmm...Exam....for uni....I cant think of the class name off of the top of my head.....But there is one!!....and it involves computers.....And apparently according to my tutor, my whole degree is about computers.... am not so sure.....I am pretty sure my degree is about staring at the hot identical twins in my lectures.....but who knows!!


Besides aussie Bird I am standing with your porn in my hands about to post it so.....Nernernernerner....U ought to be nice or I may...*Forget*...heh!!

I think I need serious help, The shock of imported Angel has made me insane!!!! Bron U could'a warned me!!

Later Dudes

Wow, Wrecked really wasn't a very good episode, was it?  I had heard that, but I wanted to judge for myself.  
Quickest.  Drug Addiction.  Ever.  
I mean, I was trying to give them it, thinking 'okay, so if we assume that the addiction was already setting in and that's why she couldn't stop even when Tara asked her ...' but then I couldn't square it with Amy also getting addicted so quickly.

Although Mr McGiles made me laugh in the first adverts, right after Buffy finally tore herself away from the ickiness, by saying "If you were Buffy, don't you think you'd want to go and shower forever right now?"  Heh.

Haven't sorted out a hotel room yet, I'm disorganised as usual. What nights has everyone else booked for, Friday and Saturday? Or the Sunday too? I'm mulling it over. I hope they've still got some rooms left.

I was out so missed the Sky One action, could anyone give me a recap, spoilers for welshy methinks...

Thanks.

Well, leeb, Heatherbele & I are staying Friday and Saturday night.  I'm waiting to see how late the program of events run on the Sunday before I decide about that night.

I think trifling_matter and partner are staying the Friday & Saturday night but not attending the convention on the Sunday.

As for Wrecked, I don't have the energy to comment on it, the abismal Angel episode that followed it drained me of all me thoughts.

I've booked my room and pretty much got the last one. I'm just glad I don't have to stay in a different hotel up there, as that'd be a real menace.

For some reason, I rewatched Wrecked last night. Ugh. Pretty much as bad as I remembered it from a couple of months ago. The magic addiction 'plot' is an abomination. I realise they shied away from making this about her addiction to power as they probably didn't want to make Willow evil, and people to hate her etc. The trouble is, I'm not exactly loving her right now anyway. I think I made it worse by watching my season 3 DVDs recently, I adored her in that season.

Yep, pretty much disappointed by 'Wrecked'. The magic=drugs storyline makes no sense. I did think AH sold the part after Buffy arrived. I got a sense that she was pretty devastated by what happened. Didn't make up for the rest of it though.