Two Guys, a Girl and a Blog

Each holiday we’ll watch one holiday related show and offer up three opinions. As always sometimes we’ll agree and sometimes we’ll violently disagree enough to justify an appearance on Jerry Springer. That episode will probably be too hot for TV but whats left is One Show, Three Opinions. This week is “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Pangs

Matthew [ 8.5/10 ]

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was one of my favorite shows on television. Really all three of us are Buffy freaks in our own way. I own the lunch box among other things, Nicholas collects the “action figures” and Bunnyfear, well her name says it all if you know much about the Buffyverse at all. Oh! Anyone keeping up with season 8 in comic form? Guilty. It is the perfect storyline to follow up buffy season 7. The eighth episode of season four, “Pangs”, brought back all kinds of great feelings and a longing for something fun and addictive on television like Buffy was. *Sigh* Okay I’m over it. This particular episode had for some reason completely slipped my mind with it’s cheesy special effects and just as cheesy “monster of the week” the revengeful spirit Indian. But with Buffy preparing for the Scooby gangs first Thanksgiving, despite the new chaos in Sunnydale and Xander coming down with the all kinds of diseases (Go syphilis!) there were plenty of laughs. The best scene of all was when Buffy and Giles decided they needed help and we cut to Xander, Anya, and Willow riding bicycles rushing to the scene complete with triumphant 80′s music. This could have saved the entire episode for me. Season four is notorious for an overall poor season but with a few outstanding episodes that became the best of the entire series. This forgettable episode was unfortunately not one of them. Other highlights included (microchip) Spike’s appearance as well as Angel’s, fresh from his own series for what I think was the first of those badass crossovers. How could anyone hate it? If you’re a fan of the show, this is definitely worth the rerun, but if you’ve never seen Buffy at all this definitely wouldn’t lend you any interest in the amazing phenomenon. Sadly it gets a low Buffy score of 8.5 out of 10.

Nicholas [ 9.5/10 ]

Finally, we get to officially review a Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode. Just so everyone knows, we at TGGB are huge buffy fan(atic)s, and though it’s been off the air several years now, we will use any excuse to post about the buffy cast or anything buffy related.

This thanksgiving I give thanks for my family, and for this Buffy thanksgiving episode called “Pangs” from season 4 in which “Little Orphan” Spike watches a family of vamps feast on an innocent through the window, and Xander catches Mystic Syphilis…lol.

Pangs was about making a difference, and I believe it is the perfect thanksgiving special for the simple fact the scooby gangs thanksgiving feast was nearly ruined by a Chumash Indian Siege on Giles’ Home front.

The story was well weaved, the jokes were right on…["You made a bear!! undo it, undo it!" -Spike]…and did Anya compare thanksgiving to a sacrificial ritual? ["...you kill and eat an animal to remember a past event"] Yep, she did.

Though Pangs is not one of the most memorable of the buffy episodes, it definitely had a lot of laughs and a great ending with Xander accidentally telling Buffy that Angel was shadowing her. I think I may have found a new thanksgiving tradition.

Bunnyfear [ 9.9/10 ]

My love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer is like whoa. I’d love to write a book describing each scene, each character, each prop, each facial expression used in the show and describe why I loved everything about the show but no one needs a 4,000 page Buffy Book (except me) so I’m left with naming various pets, myself, my websites (including coming projects such as a buffy episode guide), and possibly my future child after something Buffy related. Despite those revelations I am going to shock you by saying I love this episode. This episode is one of my favorites. I will always remember it for the logical quote of….

“Spike: You won. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That’s what conquering nations do. It’s what Caesar did, and he’s not going around saying, “I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it.” The history of the world isn’t people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story”

The fun thing about this episode is like Matthew said season four was a bit….shaky. Okay its the worst of all the seasons but this is one of the standouts of the season. Sure the random Angel showing up probably felt like a cheap stunt at the time but Buffy never sees him and the look on everyone’s faces at the end as Xander reveals his hidden presence is priceless. So overview of the episode is basically Buffy (who as you may know is a vampire slayer) has to slay Pangs and other Native American spirits who have arose as the result of their mission being unearthed. There is lots of debate about whether to slay them or try to find a way to give them peace. Angel shows up to help due to a vision Doyle received about Buffy. Angel wants to keep his presence hidden because of how they left things the last time they saw each other. So we have humor with Angel showing up and people thinking he’s evil. We have fun shadowing of Buffy. We have just a funny episode. This episode didn’t add to the arch of Season Four but it was a welcome funny relief from all that was annoyingly Adam so I thank Pangs many times over for that. So this episode deserves a 9.9/10 because it was a great episode in the middle of a not so good season, because of the wonderful lyric it contributed later on to OMWF, because of the laughter in this episode, and the true debate stated by the characters. *sigh* It’s just good stuff. Additionally I have to respectfully disagree with my esteemed colleages Matthew and Nicholas with their insane proclamation that this episode was forgettable. If anyone doubts that then ask any Buffy fan about Pangs. They’ll know who and what you’re talking about and will probably be able to point out their 5 favorite things about the episode. mine 1) bicycle ride 2) I’m not evil 3) previously mentioned spike quote 4) previously mentioned disease 5) cowboy hat. If you are or aren’t a fan then you should take the time to watch this episode because it (and all that is Buffy) is awesome.

27.9/30. Call me crazy but I think those people at TGGB really like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you should too. Go, watch , love!