#Amarice

[girl4music]

This is an interesting bit of information I actually never knew until now. They partly brought the character Amarice (Jennifer Sky) into the show in Season 4 to alleviate Gabrielle from being the "stupid character". But that's really funny to me because I never saw Gabrielle that way. I saw her as young, naive and innocent. But I never thought she was "stupid" or that she was a character that "needed to learn a lesson". I always thought she was pretty intelligent to be honest. Definitely very streetwise for someone who never adventured outside her hometown until meeting Xena with the bartering and persuasive skills and empathetic persona she carried. But I do acknowledge the fact that the character did have to evolve out of the "helpless, damsel in distress" role and that's why she became a warrior in her own right. Although, that wasn't just because of travelling around with Xena but also becoming an Amazon Princess. I know that Joxer became a prominent character in the show so Gabrielle wasn't always leaned on as the "comic relief" character but there was never a point where I thought she was "the irritating blonde" or "the irritating tag-along"

The whole stereotype with the butch/femme thing is just silly to me. I think the swapping of who was the "butch" and who was the "femme" worked well for them because it worked with the role-reversal transitions. The times when swapping their positions. So I don't think either of them had to look a specific way at any point to be honest.

Also I quite like Gabrielle as a butch thank you very much. One of the only reasons Season 5 wasn't a slog to get through was due to the eye candy of Gabrielle looking like a female Rambo. Built like a tank and the short blonde messy hair was a very appealing look on her. But I guess that's just me because I'm a lot more attracted to butches. I may have been like 9 years old at the time but watching Gabrielle go butch never bothered me. Very much the opposite actually.

[unbindingkerberos]

COD MONSTER 141 AU: BABEL

Tags: @onehornedbeast @unpetitoiseau @shegetsburned @children-of-epiales @chadillacboseman @scentedcandleibex

Hellhound/ Black Shuck (inspired by the various black hound folklore in some parts of Europe)

Can dematerialise into smoke and rematerialise in his hellhound form

Leaves a trail of ash and soot wherever he goes

When you stare into his eyes in his hellhound form, you are guaranteed to die within a year and the rest of your family will recieve the same fate

Saliva is venomous and flammable; must be treated immediately if bitten; the scars that the bites and/or saliva leave are similar to burn marks and jellyfish stings

Can give good fortune to anyone who sees his hellhound form once, for misfortune will come to anyone who sees Henry twice or thrice or multiple times.

[shegetsburned]

For the smash and pass ask, Braise with Babel (R6 and COD) and Patriot.

Yesss them! Tysm for the ask! ♡

rainbow six siege au

𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐇 -> Babel

For some reason, yeah. But it would be a one time thing and nothing more. His attitude is what gets her, but again, working for the enemy? Not really attractive.

𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒 -> Patriot

I have mixed feeling about this one, because the age would definitely be a problem as well as her attitude, so I’m gonna say that Braise wouldn’t choose smash.

cod au

𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒 -> Babel

Absolutely not. This man is a true psychopath and she’s definitely heard of the soldier who slaughtered an entire group of insurgents including the mothers and the kids. A definite pass.

[jasmancer]

JENNIFER SKY IN THIS EPISODE OF BUFFY

[bloodraven55]

i never noticed amarice’s reactions in this scene before but they’re absolutely golden

while i'm remembering xena moments we can't forget gabrielle demonstrating the most heterosexual reaction to finding out your bestie's pregnant too

[marley-manson]

Xena season 4 finale(ish) post, warning for spoilers for certain mutuals who are currently watching the show, or anyone else.

FANTASTIC climax to Gabrielle's arc this season, good god. When she throws that fucking spear... chills. This is another contender for favourite Xena scene of all, it's so incredibly effective. The way these last few episodes have really hammered down Gabrielle's pacifism with her arguments with Amarice, her choice to let Brutus go instead of having him executed, her stupid powder and non-lethal fight shenanigans, the return of Eli in this episode - and it's all there just to make the moment where she picks up that spear as impactful as possible, and it works. Even her first kill and that fallout all the way back in season 3 now feels like it exists just to set up the emotional impact of this scene, it's that good.

And god the scene itself is amazing to watch. The way she mows down soldier after soldier as brutally and efficiently as possible, the way she visibly shifts from fighting to protect Xena to lashing out in frustrated rage as she realizes that escape is impossible, her lack of regret afterwards. The cheffest of kisses.

This episode was fantastic in other ways as well. I love that the show makes it clear that Xena only lost here because Callisto is a fucking cheater lmao. She would've killed Caesar when she intended to if Callisto hadn't intercepted her chakram, and she would've escaped the prison if Callisto hadn't broken her back. Caesar didn't defeat Xena, Callisto did, and only because Callisto has ghost magic going on. And that's very fitting too, because if it was just Xena vs Caesar it might've felt a little thin for an epic conclusion - but with true fan-beloved archnemesis Callisto involved, it feels appropriately impactful. Also love that Xena intended to just quietly assassinate Caesar lol. Circumstances are a little different than The Debt, since Caesar did declare his murderous intentions first, but the vibes are similar and I love them.

Also Caesar's sexualized vulnerability in this ep sure was a choice, but a good one imo - the sex nightmare (including a prolonged shot where they're positioned to mimic gender-reversed missionary) as well as Callisto getting handsy with him. And again like, idk exactly what the intent was here, but the vibes do feel like a call-back to his dubconny sexual encounter with Xena, and the fact (? taking their exchange in When Fates Collide into account, when Xena says she must've been his worst nightmare) that he was/is afraid of her. Idk, it adds a nicely complex layer to their interactions and mutual enmity, not quite undermining Xena's resentful hatred, but suggesting it's a two-way street, and for a good reason, especially with v traumatized Callisto drawing a parallel between the two of them in how Xena fucked them up. And given that they both simultaneously die by each others' hands-by-proxy in a pair of intercut scenes at the end, it does fit this story nicely. Both achieve a cathartic, and arguably deserved, vengeance.

Idk if I can say that was the intent definitively, I mean, the show also just has a hard-on for dominant women lol, it doesn't frame Xena as an actual rapist at any point, and it certainly hasn't made an impression on fans either based on the fact that I've like, never seen this dynamic between them discussed before. But Caesar waking up in terror after dreaming about Xena fucking and then stabbing him - in a context that suggests this is a recurring nightmare, given Caesar saying "dreams" plural and the fact that he hasn't even seen her recently - sure is a striking image to start us off with and contextualize Caesar's obsessive hatred, yk?

Oh man and finally I adore Callisto in this ep, and not just because she looks good with short hair lol. Also like, that shot when Xena and Gabrielle are being brought out to the crosses and she catches a snowflake on her tongue like a delighted child might be my favourite Callisto moment of all <333 And speaking of that moment, the direction and editing of this episode was also just amazing. Beautiful, many striking images, excellently paced.

Basically this was a nearly perfect episode, extremely satisfying and poignant and engaging and intriguing, and if it had actually been the end of the series it would've been a very fitting end. In some ways seasons 5 and 6 almost feel like bonus seasons lol, take them or leave them, with this as the true thematically resonant and emotionally satisfying ending.

[batfamiliar]

the biggest problem with season 5 wasn't the heterosexuality, it was the male gaze. after all, the fact that xena and gabrielle kept rejecting ares and joxer can be viewed as a further confirmation of their wlw identity and their love for each other, even if they had fewer moments together. so if it wasn't heterosexuality, what was it?

which characters were given focus and when.

joxer was in love with gabrielle long before season 5, but he actually has been coming to terms with the fact that gabrielle doesn't love him that way and even began moving on with meg. but then suddenly his feelings are back in full force in season 5 and it apparently becomes gabrielle's problem. before, joxer being in love with gabby was part of joxer's character story but not gabrielle's. gabrielle was a warrior for good first. she was a bard, xena's partner, adventurer, even hope's mother. she was joxer's unrequited love interest dead last. but in season 5 it's flipped. most of what little focus gabrielle had this season was managing joxer's emotions about his love for her. her story isn't about her, but about a man and how he feels.

same thing with xena. precious screen time was wasted trying to make us consider that maybe ares feels teeny bit bad bc xena doesnt want to have sex with him even when he is threatening the life of her child, when the time could have been used to give amarice a proper death scene.

draco returns in the musical episode and his feelings for gabrielle also take a whole musical number. gods are trying to kill xena's baby i wonder what hercules feels about this. joxer spying on the amazons is fine actually and the amazons have a case of collective female hysteria for wanting to cut his eyes out. there's a cleopatra episode and she is killed in the cold open. whatever the fuck male fantasy married with fishsticks was. xena's mother keeps bothering her about the father. the whole season is asking: what about the men? what about men? what about men?! shut the fuck up about the men

[raisinchallah]

still haunted by the fishing joke from the beginning of endgame... amarice interrupting xena and gabrielles fish/fisherman sexual roleplay thinking gabrielle needed to be protected and then xenas like oh i surrender to gabrielle in fake serious voice like ok

[girl4music]

Kinda surprised how many of the Xena videos in my collection aren’t even about Xena or Gabrielle. But like side/season regulars/recurring characters/guest stars.

But they do seem to all be Amazons so that’s probably why. Because I really love the AMAZON episodes. I kind of wish they had spent more time on them tbh. But then that would have taken away from the love story. Because let’s be honest, Gabrielle chose Xena.

Gabrielle had so many different paths she could have taken. So many places she could have stayed. She could have stayed home. Perdicus could have lived and she could have stayed with him. She could have stayed with the Amazons as their Queen. But every single time she chose to stay with Xena. Always Xena.

GABRIELLE: “Xena’s path is my path.”

So the show did its best to represent The Amazons for what they were but they couldn’t really do that if Gabrielle would continually choose Xena and the story of the show was so fully focused on their relationship and the ever-evolving love and devotion to each other.

Xena is a love story and in a love story you choose your love over all else. It’s not an Amazon story. But it tries.

And that’s all that I could ever ask for because I want the love story so much more than the Amazon story.

[unbindingkerberos]

Preparation

Warning(s): Blood

Author's Note: IM BACK BABY!! Sorry haven't been posting as much was busy with writer's block and personal matters. Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoy!

Words: 831

Tags: @onehornedbeast @shegetsburned @chadillacboseman @illmetbymoonlight @children-of-epiales @linoleum-ice @scentedcandleibex

------

Marius has never felt pressured to pull a trigger before.

He has done the action countless times that it has integrated into his body. But under the hard gaze of Amarice Locke, all muscle memory vanishes instantaneously. The German shudders tensely and his finger moves to the trigger–

And it hits the target. 

Marius lets out a shaky sigh but sucks the air back in once Amarice spoke. “15 seconds…” 

“What?”

“It took you at least 15 seconds for you to shoot the target.”

The older woman tuts and crosses her arms. “I would have shot you under five.” Grace and Masaru did not exaggerate when they said Amarice was… well they said a lot about her. Marius didn’t believe it at first but then he saw what they went through. He was just passing by that day when he saw Grace, Masaru, Dominic, Olivier and Mark doing bench presses outside in the middle of a thunderstorm with Amarice on the sidelines holding out an umbrella for Gustave who looked like all the blood had been drained from him. 

So when Amarice had offered some shooting practice earlier, Marius was visibly nervous.

“Oh sorry…” Was all Marius managed to muster out. The older woman huffs and gestures for Marius to retry. Marius gulps and does it–

“Again

Again

Again

Again

Again

Again

Again…”

By the last round, Marius’s body is slick with sweat and his grip trembles. Amarice moves to inspect the target, her finger traces the outline of each individual bullet hole with keen inspection. “Not bad..” The look she gives Marius is enough for him to start internally panicking and deciphering the strange emotion behind that look. 

But unfortunately, he didn’t decipher the punch that sent him to the floor. Marius groans in pain, muttering curses in his native tongue as he tries to lift himself up. He tastes iron in his mouth and realizes the blood trickling down his nose.

“You should be more alert.” Amarice cracks some knuckles. She offers a hand for Marius to which he hesitantly takes. The older woman pulls him up only to sweep him off his feet. “What did I say?” 

“That I should…. Be… more..” Marius pants. “Alert…?” Amarice sighs and spares him a stern glance. “Get up.” Marius does not want to get up and at the same time he wants to. His legs feel like a stack of cards as he stands. Amarice moves to jab her knee in his stomach, but the German anticipates the attack and blocks her knee. He swings his fist forward only for the older woman to headbutt him in his already leaking nose. 

The pain was electrifying and Marius could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He staggers back, droplets of blood make small spots on the floor. Marius notices Amarice too reeling away, a noticeable bruise in her right cheek.

“Why?”

Amarice’s eyes flicker to Marius. “Why are you doing this? Why did you ask me to come here?” The older woman feels her throat run dry when she answers, “So that when you see Henry again, you’ll know how to kick his ass.”

–

An infectious dread makes Marius’s stomach sink to the bottom. The news spreads like wildfire throughout the base: Deimos has been captured and is being brought back to HQ from Emerald Plains. 

Had it not been for Julien’s quick reaction, from what he heard, Fisher would have died and Deimos would have gotten away. He should be feeling happy that the man who killed Harry, who lit the fuze to the fire was in chains.

But…

He wondered among the Keres in Deimos’s squad, was he part of the dead?

Marius closes his eyes and buries the thought. He glances down at the shuffling in his pocket and silences with a tap. If you are still here, then he might be too.

–

It’s done. Proceed to the second phase.

He snaps the phone shut and turns to the Keres behind him. They stand tall and firm, ready to obey their commander. He clasps their hands together. 

“Listen up–”

His footsteps echo as he strides towards them. “Keres-01 Actual has been detained by RAINBOW as according to plan.” The screen flickers alive with Deimos’s picture and his coordinates. “It is expected that in a few days he will be taken to a black site where all RAINBOW operators will gather.” Pictures of various operators pop up in the screen. “We go in silently, then when the moment comes–” he snaps and the Leeches around the room glow in an ominous red– “shoot as many ducks as you’ll like.”

The Keres pump their fists in the air and yell, before they spread out and prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. His eyes wander back to the screen just in time for Marius’s picture to come up.

He fights that primal urge in his body to reach out. He balls his fists to the side.

And Henry wears his mask.

[shegetsburned]

💭 Braise and Amarice (Dismiss the first one I sent you... My phone kinda freaked out on me and I didn't get to finish typing)

“She really thinks she’s all that just because she’s more experienced. I do respect her many years of service, but she could at least show some respect and not treat us like incompetent children. Let me prove my worth to this grandma.”

[ravenya003]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Pack, S01E06

Tonight’s episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is brought to you by the metaphor: peer pressure and bullying. I’m actually rather fond of “The Pack”, even though it’s a middling episode, simply because I had the novelization of it as a pre-teen. My parents would buy me those cheap Buffy and Charmed tie-in paperbacks to keep me occupied on summer camping trips, and I’ve fond memories of reading them in the sun.

But are we really getting two Xander-centric episodes before we get even one of Willow? At least this one’s better than “Teacher’s Pet.”

It opens at Sunnydale Zoo. Who knew that Sunnydale had a zoo? It’s a place that we’ll never visit again, so try not to think about the fact that all these animals were probably killed when the town gets fully destroyed in six years.

The high school is on a field-trip, and Buffy is approached by four mean kids who bully her in the bizarre sort of way that only fictional bullies do. I mean, “careful – she might beat you up!” Dude, what?

According to the script (and my novelization) this quartet of troublemakers are known as Kyle, Heidi, Tor and Rhonda, though I think only Kyle is called by name on-screen. Of more interest is the fact that Kyle is played by Eion Bailey, who is still working regularly and is probably best known to genre fans as August/Pinocchio in Once Upon a Time. Jennifer Sky is also present, someone who is not working regularly, but who you might recognize as Amarice from Xena Warrior Princess.

The bullies move on to torturing another student called Lance Lincoln, who is makes the difficult call not to snitch on his tormentors when Principal Flutie turns up. Kyle pretends to be impressed by this and they drag poor Lance into the hyena house, which has been cordoned off. Buffy, Xander and Willow see them at it, and Xander takes the lead in going to the rescue of a fellow perceived-loser.

Buffy and Willow are about to follow when they’re stopped by a zookeeper (he’s never named either, but his nametag identifies him as Doctor Weirick) who gives the girls some creepy exposition on why exactly the hyena house has been fenced off. They’re fresh from Africa and are in quarantine, but are said to have the ability to understand human speech. They’ve been known to call out a person’s name to lure them away from the safety of their campfires, at which point, their unlucky victim is devoured.

Yeah, this episode has some “darkest Africa” vibes that haven’t aged particularly well, but it’s not too bad. The person doing the most cultural appropriation is the bad guy, after all.

Inside the enclosure, some very dodgy-looking hyena animatronics (?) note the arrival of the bullies, Lance and (soon after) Xander.  A scuffle unfolds as Xander comes to Lance’s defence, and as he makes a run for it, the hyenas seem to entrance everyone that remains, a green light glowing in each pair of eyes – including Xander’s.

That night at the Bronze he’s acting agitated and mildly aggressive, much to the confusion of Willow and Buffy. As soon as Kyle and the rest of the Pack arrives, the stare-a-thon begins (and honestly, I’m a little surprised more slash fiction wasn’t written about these two) though the girls aren’t remotely impressed when Xander chuckles along at a joke made at the expense of another student.

The next day at school we’re introduced to poor doomed Herbert the school mascot: a piglet that’s dressed up as a Razorback (established as the basketball team back in “Witch”). Principal Flutie is pretty excited about it, and we’re treated to him giving a lecture on the lack of school spirit in his students to Buffy, the girl who saves people’s lives on a daily basis. The main purpose of the scene seems to be establishing that something is up with Xander when he strolls by and Herbert reacts with squealing terror.

Ah, the dodgeball scene. Once again it serves to showcase Xander’s increasingly aggressive tendencies (as well as Buffy’s physical prowess since she’s the only one left standing on her own team) but the whole thing is stolen by Coach Harrold, who (as far as I know) only appears in this single episode, but gets three of its funniest lines (see below).

After some hyena-esque giggling at having turned on their own teammate and pounding him with dodgeballs (it’s poor Lance again), the Pack go on a slow-motion prowl through the Sunnydale courtyards, which culminates in them finding poor defensive Herbert in his cage. And they’re hungry...

Giles is rather uncharacteristically brushing off Buffy’s concerns about Xander by telling her that he’s behaving like a typical sixteen-year-old boy, though he comes around when Willow arrives with news that Herbert has been found eaten. Buffy twigs that all this started when Xander and the bullies entered the hyena enclosure, and the research party begins.

This next scene is... a lot. Blaming the Pack for poor Herbert’s death, a furious Principal Flutie calls Kyle, Heidi, Rhonda and Tor into his office, where he quickly loses control of the situation. We’re at least spared the sight of him being cannibalized on-screen, but I feel desperately sorry for the poor guy as the now-feral bullies advance on him. Being literally eaten is an extremely gruesome and terrifying way to die, and is quite possibly one of the cruelest deaths on the show.

Xander isn’t present when this goes down, which is a bit of a cheat – but then, I can’t say I’m sorry that they spared one of our main characters from committing murder and cannibalism, even if he was possessed at the time. And it’s not like he’s peacefully sleeping under a tree during all this either; rather, he corners Buffy in an empty classroom and assaults her.

As with the attack on Flutie, the act isn’t shown in any great detail, and I suspect Buffy got the drop on him pretty quickly after the scene cuts away, as she doesn’t seem to be particularly rattled over what she explicitly describes as “felony sexual assault.” (Then again, this was shot in the nineties, an era of television which was in no way equipped to handle this kind of subject matter. Heck, it still isn’t more often than not).

Giles has narrowed the most likely explanation for Xander’s behaviour down to a sect of animal worshippers known as the Primals, who can draw the spirits of certain predatory animals into themselves. Somehow Xander and the rest of the bullies seem to have undergone this ritual, so after locking him up in the book cage (the book cage! Being used as a holding cell for the first time!) Buffy and Giles head out to question the zookeeper on what he knows. Willow is left behind to guard Xander.

We get to see Willow’s steely side when Xander tries his hand at manipulation and plays the “us against the world” card, leaning on their shared history together – but Willow doesn’t fall for it and Xander remains where he is.

Unfortunately, Buffy and Giles are in the midst of hearing from Doctor Weirick that if the Pack are separated, it’s only a matter of time before they try to find each other again. They come up with a hasty plan: to lure the Pack back to the school, where they’ll all attempt to restage the trans-possession ritual and get the hyena spirts back into the hyenas.

There’s an effective scene when the bullies advance on the library and start softly calling Willow’s name (ah, a chase through the Sunnydale High hallways in the afterhours – another staple of the show in its early years) and Buffy lures the Pack away, acting as bait while Giles and Willow rush back to the zoo to help prepare the ritual.

There’s a lot of backwards and forwarding in this episode, not to mention splitting up. Willow stays outside to wait for Buffy, which conveniently leaves Giles vulnerable when he goes into the enclosure and notices that the ritualistic symbol has already been painted on the floor – and has evidently been there for some time. The zookeeper has been trying to draw the hyena spirits into himself, only he missed one crucial step: a predatory act.

So Giles gets knocked out (not for the first, nor for the last time) and Willow rushes in when she hears Buffy coming, somewhat naively letting herself get tied up by Weirick with a knife held to her throat as “part of the ritual.” But she’s not so dumb that she doesn’t shout a warning to Buffy when she comes in, and in a pretty perfect case of Hoisted by His Own Petard, the zookeeper shouts the incantation, draws the hyena spirits out from the teenagers and into himself, and then drops the knife to attack Willow with his bare teeth.

Xander, now himself again, rushes to her rescue, and after a brief tussle, Buffy throws the zookeeper into the hyena enclosure. As he said earlier, they haven’t been fed.

This is actually rather funny, as in later episodes/seasons Buffy will make a HUGE deal out of how wrong it is to take human lives, but here has no qualms about essentially throwing this guy to his death. She does lunge after him in an attempt to save him, but hey – no biggie that she failed. The hyenas chow down and nobody ever mentions him again.

Also never mentioned again? The bullies and the fact they’ll presumably have memories of killing and eating a man. That’s going to require some serious counselling.

Xander feigns memory loss of the whole ordeal, and if the girls suspect that he’s fibbing, they take pity on him and let it go. Giles isn’t fooled at all, but also promises to keep schtum. For the record, I very much think that apologies are necessary when wrong-doings are committed, but I’m lenient when it comes to matters of brainwashing, outer body experiences, demonic possession, losing one’s soul or exposure to red kryptonite – in other words, things that people aren’t truly responsible for.   

My point is, Xander isn’t himself when he assaults Buffy, and is clearly so mortified at everything he did while under the hyena’s sway that he tries to get himself off the hook with the amnesia fib... so I’ll give him a pass on this particular fabrication, as  ultimately it’s pretty low on his seven-year list of transgressions. He’s way more culpable when it comes to that stupid love spell in season two.

Plus, we get a nice Giles/Xander scene out of it. It’s clear that Giles is now becoming just as fond of Buffy’s friends as he is of Buffy herself.

This was a very simple story and a rather middling Monster of the Week episode, which in the grand scheme of things doesn’t really do anything significant besides kill off Principal Flutie so that Snyder can take his place. The high school/teen drama metaphor was a bit obvious and there was so much padding (the slow-motion prowling, the extended dodgeball game, the completely extraneous scene of the young woman with her baby chancing upon the Pack at night before she just... turns and walks away) but it gave Nicholas Brendon a chance to stretch his acting muscles, and I liked the logistics of the spell (the comparison to demonic possession, the need for a predatory act to take place) and the zookeeper twist.

I feel like it’s a story that knew what it wanted to do, and ends up being precisely what it wanted to be – no more, no less.

Miscellaneous Observations:

This episode vibed with “Teacher’s Pet” not just because it was Xander-centric, but because it’s a story that really could have taken place anywhere (that is, it didn’t need the proximity of the Hellmouth to happen). Unless of course the She-Mantis and the hyenas were deliberately drawn to the mystical energy of the township. Perhaps the zookeeper fully intended to use its power to supplement his ritual, and had the hyenas shipped there on purpose.

RIP Principal Flutie. You were clueless, but not evil – especially when compared to your replacement. And no one deserves to go out like that. Sheesh, I think victims of vampires die quicker and less painfully than Flutie did.

We never see the bullies or Lance again, though I like to believe they all made it to Graduation Day (with the likes of Blayne and Owen) and fought in the battle against the Mayor. Though I have to say Lance was a bit of an odd character. They set him up to be fairly important and then he just disappears halfway through the episode, when his role could have probably been filled by Willow.

I also enjoyed James Stephens as Doctor Weirick. He only had a couple of scenes, but he had an unassuming, helpful manner which effectively concealed his true nature. I remember watching this as a teenager and actually being disappointed that he was evil.

Also, this doesn't come up a lot, but Doctor Weirick is one of the few villains on the show that isn't a demonic or supernatural creature - just a human being trying to accumulate power.

During their research, Buffy mentions that Noah didn’t want the hyenas on the Ark because he considered them an impure blend of cat and dog. This piqued my interest, and some basic Googling tells me this little factoid seems to have come from Sir Walter Raleigh’s 1614 History of the World, where he also mentions that hyenas didn’t need to be on the Ark, since the species could easily be reconstituted after the flood by breeding cats with dogs.

That guy who questions Xander about a guitarist at Sunnydale High (right before the Pack steal his lunch) looked familiar, and sure enough – it was the same guy who talked to Cordelia in the computer lab in “The Harvest.”

Xander’s genuine attraction to Buffy and (somewhat) understandable disappointment that she doesn’t reciprocate once again turns eye-roll-y when he brings up Angel again. And this time it doesn’t even make much sense when he says: “Dangerous and mean, right? Like Angel. Your mystery guy.” Um, since when has Angel been mean? Jealousy does not look good on anyone, and it’s these moments where I most strongly hear Joss Whedon’s “why won’t girls date nice guys?” complaining.

However, I did like the fact that Buffy was initially the only one who really felt something was off about Xander. Willow has known him longer, but her lack of self-esteem makes her certain that she’s the problem, while Giles handwaves the whole thing away with testosterone levels. (A part of me wonders if he was recalling his own delinquent youth). But in realizing that it’s something external, Buffy proves that she knows Xander quite well by this point. Or maybe her Slayer-sense is just tingling.

Poor Principal Flutie didn’t get much of an obituary – just Giles looking sombre and Willow sitting down suddenly. Also, they’re going to blame his death on wild dogs? That’s rough. And Giles is almost chipper when the girls point out that Xander wasn’t involved, though I suppose it’s hard to know how on earth people would actually respond to the news that a man has just been eaten alive by highschoolers.

No Angel or Cordelia this time around, which isn’t so surprising in the former’s case since he’s still being credited as a guest star, but the latter is in the opening credits!

As far as audio effects go, I appreciated the high-pitched laughter and the growls in the back of the Pack’s throats. That was very effective.

Best Line: Coach Harrod scores a hat trick: “it's raining, all regular gym classes have been postponed, so you know what that means: dodgeball,” “for those of you that may have forgotten, the rules are as follows: you dodge” and “God, this game is brutal. I love it!” It’s all in the delivery. And as I’ve said before, the Sunnydale faculty must see some shit.

Best Scene: Willow showing her mettle when she faces down Xander in the book cage. There are hidden depths to her, just waiting to be plumbed.

Most Random Scene: When the Pack are out hunting and come across the Anderson family just leaving a party. The parents are arguing about whether or not Mr Anderson insulted his wife by paying his hostess a compliment, and little Joey is being instructed to chew before he swallows. Then they get attacked by hyena people.

We never see this family again, but like the real Miss French in “Teacher’s Pet,” I love seeing little glimpses of ordinary people living out their lives on the Hellmouth.

Death Toll: Herbert the pig (sorry animal lovers, but I’m not going to count him in the grand total). Principal Bob Flutie. Doctor Weirick.

Grand Total: Twelve civilians, ten villains.

[7of9ers]

Giggling at the thought of Ephiny marching to that cliff to save Gabrielle and seeing her and Xena hugging and kissing on the shore post The Bitter Suite and saying, "What the fuck?"

I'm glad we didn't see the fallout with the Amazons. That was the writers sparing us from more misery lol.

Ephiny is great. She should have lived. Amarice too. RIP hot and sweet amazon ladies.

[faithandbuffy]

WAIT did they kill amarice OFFSCREEN??????????

[amaricee123]

What’s up, I’m gonna start making YouTube videos sooo.. go subscribe!

https://youtube.com/@amarice123?si=hEVcySQXeaEOBUGL

[ilvinoeoltre]

Birra Italiana Senza Glutine Lager N.02 – Coop (Birra Castello per Coop Italia)