Supernatural, let me count the ways I love you

Or, the ways I started to love you, or the ways that I realised I loved you from the beginning.

The music.  Oh the music.  I can't remember ever watching a TV show where the music was so integral to the story.  Guardians of the Galaxy did the same, with Quill's mixtapes (I wanted to call him Kevin there... why.. brain...just why...).  Dean's taste for classic rock permeates every episode, until approximately season 6/7.  It sets the tone, it establishes the brothers' background, it tells you about their tastes, it provides a constant in their chaotic lives.

I found Dean's playlist on Spotify (it's probably this one), and started listening to it and then stuck the songs onto a playlist for myself and now I have a Supernatural theme wherever I go.  As an added bonus, the child now likes Kansas' Carry On Wayward Son.  Don't know it?  It's played at the start of every season finale and it takes all my self control not to whack it up to 11 and throw my arms about.  Here are the lyrics:

Carry on my wayward son
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreamin', I can hear them say

Carry on my wayward son
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say

Carry on my wayward son
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you

Carry on my wayward son
For there'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

I have ALL THE FEELS.  Honestly, the song makes me emotional and it wouldn't have done if it were not now indelibly connected with the Winchester brothers.

Dean's appetites. For food and sex.  I think that Dean is a pretty uncomplicated man.  He hunts, he's loyal to his family, he'd do anything for his family, he drinks, he eats, he has sex, he watches Westerns and Scooby Doo and horror films and he's not filled with existential angst.  Mostly.

He loves his food. He takes such great pleasure in his food.  It's an ongoing thing, not a couple of throw away scenes or pieces or dialogue.  I don't recall ever seeing this on a telly show before.  Buffy's Giles had a hankering for jaffa cakes and tea, but usually the specifics of the food isn't such a big thing on telly shows.

Same for the sex.  Dean likes sex, he's often out hooking up with a woman, he'll flirt with everyone, he's usually successful when he's hitting on women, but we also see the times when he's not.  I'm used to prudish America telly, where enjoying sex is reserved for villains, and casual sex is frowned upon.  Again, my mind casts back to Buffy, which had a horrible attitude to sex.  Thinking of Smallville, it was all very vanilla and lovey, until Lois came along and it was clear she liked sex too.  That struck me as unusual when I was watching it, and then she obviously ended up with Clark, presumably having lots of hardcore sex and introducing Clark to kinks.

Dean Winchester doesn't really do long term.  There's a few longish term relationships, but mostly he's just shagging around.  Importantly, these one night stands AREN'T criticised by the show, it's not used to show that he's gone evil, or is possessed, or is on a morally downward spiral.  He just likes sex.  And porn.  He doesn't disrespect the women he shags or watches either.  He just enjoys sex.  I love that.

Sam and Dean's unspoken conversations.

They have all the facial expressions and all the reactions.  They don't need dialogue to get feelings or opinions across, it's all there on their faces, plain as day.  I don't know if the show was planned like that or if it developed from the two main's chemistry, but it works.  They are brothers, growing up they just had each other, their Dad and Bobby.  These physical conversations reinforce that and it;s a really good use of screentime.

The actors' camaraderie.  They just seem like they genuinely like each other.  I like that.

It's a show about brothers.  Family too, but mostly brothers.  I don't usually like such male oriented shows but this works.  I have a lot of thoughts about how the women in the shows are treated too, but that is a whole other blogpost.  It will include joy and rage. 

There is a frigging twitter called Jared as Cats.  How can you not love a show that inspires such delightfully mad fandom?

That's it for tonight. More tomorrow. Probably.

All Supernatural, all the time

Hello world.  It's been 21 months since I last posted here but now I have Thoughts I want to gabble on about.

If anyone has looked at this blog over the last 5 and a half years they will have noticed a distinct lack of posts, and of those posts, the tone changed somewhat from mid 2014.  As much as I feel strange bringing up my dead child into what seems every topic conceivable, the death of my child changed everything.  It took me out of everything I was enamoured with and my connection to random internet dudes with seemingly normal, happy, un-traumatised lives.

Yes I know that you can never tell what is going on in someone else's life, especially when you just read internet personas, but that's how it felt.

I kept buying comics, irregularly, and I tried really hard to regain the enthusiasm I once had, and it was in there, but buried, and I still can't quite connect with it.  I've been a comics fan my whole life, and a serious comics reader from age 23 ish.  Comics, superheroes, DC comics, are part of my DNA.  I really wanted to take part in them again.  For fuck's sake, I named my child after Superman.  I fucking love comics.  But because of all that, 5.5 and a bit years on, I am still finding it difficult to get swallowed up by them.

I've watched tons of superhero telly and films.  I've got my fix that way.  Some shows are better than others.  Some gave what I want, some didn't.  Titans series 1 is fucking awesome.  I haven't managed to watch series 2 yet.

Then last year I cancelled netflix and got Amazon Prime.  I watched a few shows and got very into them.  Then I settled down to watch Supernatural.  A friend has been into it forever, and it's always been on my list to watch, and then Prime had seasons 1-13 available.

So last October 31st, I watched episode 1.

It's now mid March and I've watched all available episodes, which is mid to season 15, the final season, now airing in the States.  They went on filming hiatus, presumably to do cons, and now the poxy plague has halted filming.

But that's 318 episodes (assuming I can count right), in 4.5 months.  I think I watched 1 episode of Picard and a few Teen Titans Go eps in this period, but no other telly really.

I fucking love this show.  I haven't felt so excited about anything since pre-2014.  That includes all the Star Trek episodes barring TOS that I marathon'd a couple of years ago.  And I bloody love Trek.

I care about the characters haircuts and food choices, and relationships, and personality depths, and in jokes, and the depiction of the monsters, and I have got my own headcanon for various episodes, and I love to hate some characters and plot developments, and I have shouted about my passion for this on facebook, and on twitter, and I CARE.  I care about who they fuck and who they fight, I imagine what would happen if they crossed over with the Discworld, I do comparative analyses of Supernatural vs Buffy in my head, I care about the philosophy of the show, the theology, the morals, the music, the actor's acting styles, the clothes.  I care about what the show has to say about women and about men and about justice.  I care that it has queer characters where being queer isn't a plot point, it's just normal.

I have fallen hard and fast for it and I am a fan again.  I fucking love fandom.  The passion and the nitpicking and the camaraderie and the jokes and the seriousness and the passion.  Fandom of nay sort can be pretty toxic, Supernatural has it's own toxic fandom, but on the whole I'm happy to be a part of it again.

Over the last few months I have had Thoughts about The Show buzzing around my head, but I was too busy watching it to write anything down.  Now I'm all caught up I have time to write, and to get my thoughts down.  Some will be Serious Thoughts, some will be Fluffy Thoughts.  This is the first post and now I need to work out what I'm going to do next.  And how to tag these posts because I swear, I have totally forgotten what my lists of labels are.

Charmed

I watched seasons 1-8 of Charmed for the first time recently.  I've wanted to watch it for years but only ever caught the odd episode on telly.  Breastfeeding does have it's perks as it gives you the time to rocket through telly shows.

I very much enjoyed Charmed.  Seasons 1-4 were best, then it seemed to glamourise itself.  The sister's wardrobes suddenly went high fashion.  I quote enjoyed the high street, everyday clothes they had before.  Phoebe used to dress like a hippy, then at about season 5 she suddenly looked all office smart and high end sexy.  The new wardrobes took away part of the sister's personality.  Seasons 1-3 showed you the difference in Prue's, Piper's and Phoebe's characters through their clothes.  By Season 5 Piper, Phoebe and Paige looked like every other high fashion female character on a popular telly show.  It was disappointing.  It was also odd because the wardrobe was the only thing that got more expensive.  The special effects stayed the same throughout, and oh boy they were cheap.  Cheaper than the worst of Buffy's special effects.

Some other things irritated me.  When Paige was first introduced (season 4) Rose McGowan was a pretty wooden actor.  She got better, but then started really hamming it up, she was sort of caricaturing herself.  I never really cared for Prue, so was happy to have her replaced by Paige.  I didn't really see the bonding process between Paige, Piper and Phoebe.  They seemed to be thrown together just because the plot demanded it.  Mind you, this could have been because I was losing interest and was only half watching some episodes.

There was a two or three season theme where Phoebe and her love interest Cole, a demon, then a reformed demon, then an ex demon, then a demon again, then the ultimate evil, then possibly reformed and then evil again (maybe) were together and then not, mostly because of his demon status.  The season that introduced Cole and their relationship did it well, but all their future arcs were utterly boring.

Similarly Piper and Leo's on again/off again, married/split up story arcs irked me.  This idea was repeated far too often and simply became dull.  When they were first flirting and got together it was great.  Season 8's plots of freezing him to drive the sisters to action also worked well.  In between I lost all interest.

There were a lot of themed episodes - evil versions of themselves, body swaps, de-aging episodes, noir episodes, a battle of the sexes, a superhero episode.  It got a bit gimmicky and I couldn't help thinking that Buffy did themed episodes better.  And Smallville now I come to think of it.

Phoebe started off the series really fun and optimistic and the heart of the sisters.  Piper was always grumpy, Prue seemed above it all and Paige was a bit of comic relief.  Around about season 5 Phoebe got really serious and combined with her terrible romantic plotlines, she got really boring.  Towards the end of Season 6 and in season 7 she got fun again.

The season 7 finale felt like it was creating a new status quo, the sisters has faked their own deaths and anything was possible.  By mid season 8 they'd reappeared to the world, but it was interesting getting there.  Since seasons 5 and 6 felt stagnant, this was a welcome improvement.

I never really bought the power of the sisters or the threat of the demons.  No one seemed particularly scary and the threats didn't seem that impressive.  Especially when I compare them to other supernatural/fantasy shows, like Buffy and Smallville.

What was really good about it was the themes of sisterhood and female solidarity, especially at the start.  The three most powerful people in the supernatural world were the Charmed ones, the sisters.  The threats against them and innocents came from warlocks, who for a while seemed to only ever be men.  This idea seemed really powerful.  As the series progressed it became less clear cut but it was still there.  Unfortunately it got undermined by introducing evil women who were always dressed in sultry makeup and very skimpy costumes.  Enough with equating sexiness with evil.  One other thing undermined the female power themes and that was a sudden change to dress Phoebe in the 'slutty' clothes certain episodes required.  It was always Phoebe and it was always done to show some flesh for ogling reasons.  I imagine the show's main audience demographic was straight women so this decision makes no sense.

But on the whole I enjoyed the series and will keep the discs to dip in and out of in future,

Now I am watching Arrow season two (far better than season one), to be followed by season three and Constantine.  All over the next month before my Amazon Prime membership runs out,  Then I shall watch the Flash.  Then I reckon it will be time for a netflix subscription and more superhero telly shows.

The weekly comics review

I'm going to start it up again.  I think.  I must admit I'm a bit disillusioned by DC's recent output.  The new 52 has been a big disappointment.  There's too much to say about why this is at this point, so I'll start the reviews and elaborate as I go.

Spoilers ahead for:
Justice League 13, Superboy 13, Supergirl 13, Birds of Prey 13, Green Lantern Corps 13, Wonder Woman 13, Swamp Thing 13, Ultimate Spider-Man 16, Angel and Faith 14,  Justice League Dark 13, Teen Titans 13.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Justice League 13
I am utterly disappointed in this title.  The first issue was fabulous.  Really good fun.  Energetic.  Exciting.  Cocky.  Brilliant.  The rest of the arc that #1 kickstarted was fun, but not as memorable as #1.  Now it's turned into utter rot.  I'm not even referring to the Wonder Woman/Superman romance.  As much as that is not to my taste it could still be a good story, if told well.  Unfortunately the dialogue and plotting is boring and the art is awful.  Where the art matches the characters and the plot, it's dull and by the numbers.  Where it's meant to be romantic it looks stilted and awkward.  The anatomy is sometimes bad and there is too much emphasis on showing Diana's arse and her sexiness.  The colouring, inking and the movement lines are nice.  But overall the art detracts from the story.

I was keeping this on my pull list because I enjoyed the Captain Marvel backup.  It frustrates me that we have lost the old innocent Batson family, but if I forget about them I did like the new Marvel.  However in this issue it is gone and replaced by On the Outs which looks like a link in to the Justice League America title, and is also utterly boring.  It doesn't help that Amanda Waller is now a skinny little thing.

Rubbish. I've now dropped this title. 

Superboy 13
Egads, all I can see on the cover is a pair of enormous metal boobs.  This is not a good start.  I'm also thinking about dropping this title.  The art is lovely, but I'm not invested in the characters.  It turns out that this Superboy just isn't doing it for me.

Supergirl 13
The art in this series has been absolutely gorgeous.  Unfortunately regular artist mahmud Asrar did not do thsi issue and the guest artist Sam Basri just cannot make Kara's skirtless/trouserless costume look right.  It's fine until you get to the bottom of the leotard and then it just looks stupid.

I have been enjoying this series but it doesn't really feel like Supergirl to me yet.  Kara should be more innocent, she should be happier, she should be trusting of her cousin.  I know that her reactions to date have been more realistic given her new history, but this still feels a little like someone else in the Supergirl costume.  Nevertheless I shall keep buying it and hope I get more attached later.


Birds of Prey 13
Another disappointment.  It started off so well.  Starling is great, so is Black Canary.  Katana I can take or leave (I have always been that way) and I really enjoyed Poison Ivy's inclusion.  The Batgirl came on the scene and my enthusiasm level dropped.  Then Ivy left in the most obvious-standard-ex-villain-betrays-the-team-storyline possible, and now I'm ceasing to care.  Black Canary no longer seems to have that essential goodness or mothering instinct to her character.  Add to that some occasionally exploitative art, Black Canary losing her legacy identity and the Penguin giving Dinah her superhero name, and I'm really narked.

Another one to possibly cancel.  3 out of 4 so far.  We're not doing too well are we?

Green Lantern Corps 13
This I just picked up off the shelf because it looked fun, and it actually caught my interest.  Guy has been promoted to Lantern Sentinel and then jeopardises it because of some ugly alien threat.  the Guardians appear to have let a super criminal out of his cage.  I enjoyed this but I don't think I'll necessarily be picking up the next issue.  We'll see.  I'm far more interested in what the Guardians are up to than I am in Guy's new job.  It was pretty obvious that he'd wreck it as soon as he'd been given it.

Wonder Woman 13
I love the depictions of the Gods in this.  It's my favourite thing about the new 52.  Diana is portrayed as a lot tougher than previous incarnations, which is a viewpoint I can get behind.  OK, so I find Zeus being Di's father dull and the Amazon's as man haters obnoxious, but the rest of the series is well executed.  It could do with a little more pizazz, but this one is a keeper.

Swamp Thing 13
Bought this one as it's a crossover with Animal Man, which I have been loving.  Unfortunately as a one off issue it's crap.  Well maybe it's not.  Maybe crossover issues are just not to my taste.  I prefer series that run by themselves, referencing the rest of the DCU but with little direct input.  A few pages of art are lush, but overall the inking is a little too heavy handed for my tastes:

Ultimate Spider-Man 16
I have been LOVING this series.  It is quite serious so if you prefer your comics lighter in tone, you should get hold of the Spider-men mini series.

Issue 16 is smack bang in the middle of the United We Stand crossover.  It starts off strongly with Miles deciding he should join the Avengers and assist the country in the throes of civil war.  Because Miles is 13 years old, Captain America says no way.  Then the military stronghold where they are gets attacked, and Miles helps out, and so the Cap'n changes his mind and lets Miles join the Avengers.  Rrrriggghhhttt. I sense editorial insisting that a Spider-mask is part of this event.  And then on the final page we find out the Captain is now President of America.

Sigh.  This is stupid.  The sooner this is out of the way and we can go back to Miles everyday life the better.


Angel and Faith 14
This was really good and made me regret selling my Buffy season 8 comics.  I may continue to pick this up on an ad hoc basis.


Justice League Dark 13
I've picked up the last 3 issues of this on an ad hoc basis and have really liked it.  I miss Zee's old costume and the pre 52 Black Orchid I was familiar with, but I do like the tone and plotting of this series.  This may get put onto a standing order.  Maybe.

Teen Titans 13
This is on my pull list.  It is a surprise success as the solicits looked awful, but it's actually great fun.  Ale Garza does the pencils, and I think I preferred his work from a few years ago, particularly the Supergirl issue he did.  This panel is particularly distasteful:

Cassie's new armour reminds me of Genocide.  But this issue shows us that her armour is linked to Trigon.  I'd really like to find out how Cass is linked to Wonder Woman now.  If at all.  I am not at all interested in Trigon.  But, the comic remains fun and the interplay between characters make sit worth the cover price.

On the plus side, while researching Genocide I found this handy wiki of Wonder Woman villains.

And that's my feeling on the last 2 weeks comics.  Not very optimistic is it?

It feels good to be doing reviews again :)

Last batch of reviews...

Green Arrow 9 - hot damn this has gotten enjoyable.  Not great, not a masterpiece, but enjoyable.  I still do not care for the art though, inside and out.  The cover is terrible.  Etrigan looks like he has breasts,  if this was soem bodl new direction where he was actually going to develop both male and female attributes I'd like it.  However it's not, it's beefy muscles gone mad.

Yuck.


Gotham City Sirens 20 - a victory for Harley.  She's ingenious, driven and bright.  I really look forward to seeing how this turns out.

Teen Titans 92 - Jeanty a la Buffy portrait atrist extraodinaire did the pencils on this issue.  This meant I kept thinking the Buffster had replaced Cassie, and that Xander had snuck in and painted himself green.  Tthat was bizarre.  Damian has left the team and this makes me sad.

Batman: The Brave & The Bold #4 - Bats and Wondy get hitched.  'Nuff said!

30 days of Buffy! Day 30!

Day 30: What You Think Made Buffy So Great

And so we come to the end of this meme.  I feel like I should go out with a bang here and write a long essay about the greatness of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  But I don't think I will.  Instead, here's my short reasoning as to why it's so great:

Women characters on screen, not just talking about boys, in a show that wasn't a romcom.  Kicking ass and not being guilty about it.  There was nothing else like this before Buffy came on our screens.  Combine that with awesome dialogue, some really good character development and wonderful relationships and I was sold.  The fact that the characters were women wasn't important.  It was a sci -fi magic monster beat em up comedy drama tragedy apocalypse end of the world saving the world heart wrenching life affirming wonderful wonderful show.

Thanks for reading this everyone.  I'd like to invite you to leave your thoughts on what made Buffy great, in the comments section.

30 Days of Buffy!! Days 26 and 27

Day 26: Favorite Scooby Moment

What does this even mean?  Favourite team work?   Favourite group scene?  The scoobies at their dore don't mean a lot to me.  Buffy/Willow/Xander are not the most interesting characters to me.  Giles is awesome, of course, Oz is great. Cordelia and Wes have their moments.  But when I look back over the show my favourite seasons and my favourite chars are those from later in the programme's life - Anya, Spike (reformed), Tara, the potentials, Dawn, Joyce, Faith.  All those on the peripheries who were really important to the show but weren't at the heart of the Scooby gang.

So, I have nothing for favourite Scooby moment, because the core group of 3 are not the most interesting.

Day 27: Cutest Moment
Preparing for Joyce's funeral.  I know that may seem odd, but take cute as to mean something that makes you feel warmth for the chars, and I reckon it would be Willow despairing of not having grown up clothes and Anya despairing of how humans cope with death.

I don't really like 'cute' things.

30 Days of Buffy!! Days 24 and 25

Day 24: Favorite Example of 90s Special Effects
The bloke dressed up as Buffy carrying dawn away from Glory in the finale of Season 5.  Hilarious.  They didn't even try there did they?

Day 25: Favorite Buffyverse Saying
Cup of tea? Cup of tea? Nearly got a shag, cup of tea?

Oh Spike, how I love you when you mock other people.  He's describing Giles.

30 Days of Buffy!! Days 22 and 23

Day 22: Best Xander-centric Episode
Xander - another character I have little love for. Let's be honest, he's a bit of a prick.  He treated Anya abominably, he mooned over Buffy for years and regularly put his feelings ahead of hers (when he told Buffy to kick Angel's ass for instance?).  He liked Riley for gods sake.


But, I enjoyed the split Xander episode, if only cos Anya suggested she have a threesome with the two of them.


Day 23: Two Characters You Wanted To Get Together That Never Did
I did rather enjoy Joyce and Giles.

30 Days of Buffy!! Days 20 and 21

Day 20: Best Spike-centric Episode
The one in Season 7 where they work out what his trigger song is and then Robin takes him into a warehouse and attempts to kill him.  Spike then beats the crap outta him.

Don't mess with Spike guys.  He may be good, but he's still vicious.

Day 21: Best Willow-centric Episode
Erm, I'm not really keen on Willow.  Doppelgangland for evil vampire Willow was good.  The finale of season 7 where she turned into a goddess was satisfying.  The one at the start of season 7 where she's in England and you see Giles riding on a horse is hilarious.  The start of season 6 where they resurrect Buffy is important for Willow, but not really Willow centric.  Same for Once More With Feeling.  The one where Oz comes back and she tells him about Tara was good. Gut wrenching, but good.


I can't decide which one I prefer.  You all pick one and we'll pretend I agree.

30 Days of Buffy!! Days 18 and 19

Day 18: Character Who Didn’t Get Enough Screen Time
Spikes skin condition demon friend.  Or evil vampire Willow.  However I suspect vampire Willow's potential extra screen time may have been relegated to showing how hot she was, whereas Spike's scabby demon friend was actually interesting.

Day 19: Character You Like That Everyone Else Hates
Dawn.  I used to hate her, now I have a lot of time for her.

And Kennedy of course.

30 Days of Buffy!! Days 16 and 17

Day 16: Episode You Like That Everyone Else Hates
I have no idea what episode everyone else hates.  Unless you count Season 7.

Day 17: Character You Relate To The Most
The most huh?  I can relate to Buffy's misery, Anya's awkwardness and straightforwardness, Dawn's cutting, Giles love of jaffa cakes, the potentials who realise their influx of power and think it's awesome, Tara's shyness, Faith's flirting and desire to get loaded and have a good time and Spike's couldn't give a fuck attitude.

I don't see myself in any one character.

30 Days of Buffy!! (Days 14 and 15)

Day 14: Favorite Female Villain
Drusilla.  Or evil vampire Willow.

Who to choose who to choose?  Drusilla, we see more of her.

What's not to love? Her choice of clothes, her utter utter bonkersness, her awful English accent, the way she speaks and explains herself, the very physical way of acting that Juliet Landau has, her specific set of morals.

What's not to love?  Drusilla is an absolute delight.

Day 15: Favorite Male Villain
Spike.

He's tough, he's hot, once the chip is in his brain he gets to get really interesting, and he's hot.

Oh wait, this is for a villain right?  Well, for me, Spike only got interesting when the chip got in his brain and he became less villianous and more friendly.

So, this will either be the Mayor or Caleb.  Caleb is a religious fool who hates women.  The Mayor is a very well to do fool who on the surface is nice if a slight bit creepy, and he cares about things like doilys.  Below the surface he's a megalomaniac who's willing to be turned into a demon in order to rule the world.

The Mayor it is.  Doilys are evil.

30 Days of Buffy!! (Days 12 and 13)

Day 12: Least Favorite Episode
Innocence.  I hate the whole bullshit morality about how sex is bad that went along with that storyline.  I've written about this before, here.  Even if I wasn't bothered about the bloody sermon that was not a great depiction of a woman's first time of having sex, even if it's with someone you love.

Plus, I hate Angel.  Have I mentioned that already?


Day 13: Favorite Potential Slayer
I've been thinking and thinking about this, and I just can't decide.  It doesn't help that I can't remember their names, but I do remember watching season 7 and loving all of them.  Even the ones with terrible English accents.  All the slayerettes are special and they are all amazing and deserve to be honoured.

30 Days of Buffy!! Days 10 and 11

Day 10: Least Favorite Season
Season 5.  Ok, so we got Dawn, and she is a great addition, and we got Buffy's death, but I really really dislike Glory.  She is the most irritating character ever.  She's got no depth, no redeemable qualities and to be frank, she's a pretty shit god.

This meant I spent a lot of season 5 getting very annoyed.  There are good bits in there, Amber Benson did great with Tara getting her brainmind eaten, and Joyce dying was unbelievably sad.  But, when I think of season 5 I think of Glory and a I cringe.

Day 11: Least Favorite Romance
Buffy and Angel.  I hate Angel.  Their relationship didn't make sense.  I don't hold with this pre-destined made for each other nonsense, so their falling in love felt like a plot device and not something natural.  I never believed in them together.

30 Days of Buffy!!! Day 9

Day 9: Favorite Romance
Buffy and Satsu?
Straight girls can fuck women too you know!  And I'm all up for giving Buffy some meaningless fun sex.

Howabout Xander and any women he desired? (Not including Anya).

But honestly, It's probably Dawn and Xander in season 8, or Kennedy and Willow in season 7.  Kennedy made Willow more interesting, more capable and less bloody woolly.  She made her a better person.

30 days of Buffy! Days 7 and 8

Day 7: Least Favorite Male Character
Angel.  What a fucking waste of space

Or Riley.  But I think I despise Angel more.  Riley didn't get a spin off show and he's not such a posing emo prick.  Angel is stalker like, but Riley went out of his way to hurt Buffy because she's stronger than him.  Old fashioned sexist chauvinism there.

However, I get the feeling Riley might have changed his point of view, given training. Angel was never gonna change and Buffy would never try to change him.  Ergo, Angel wins this round.

Day 8: Favorite Friendship
Spike and Dawn.  It's lovely how he looked out for her but never patronised or condescended to her.  No one else treated her that well at the time, and so she responded by trusting him and talking frankly to him.  So he was doing it out of respect for Buffy, not Dawn.  That's not important.  He became fond of Dawn and treated her like an equal.

30 Days of Buffy!!! Days 5 and 6

Day 5: Least Favorite Female Character
Oh, um, it used to be Buffy, but today I think it's Willow

EDIT: at least when I wrote this, 4 days ago, I thought it was Willow.  Today I feel that Harmony has less going for her.  But on the other hand, I have never felt anything for Jenny.  I feel for Giles, having lost jenny, but not for Jenny herself.  She made so little impact on me.  So, Jenny it is.

Day 6: Favorite Male Character
Spike. Hottest thing on screen.  Until Justin Hartley as Green Arrow came along.

I also did enjoy Caleb, as a villain.  He was a good villain.  The mayor was pretty good too.  A very intriguing character.  He had morals, but not about the right things.  He always wanted Faith to be polite and a proper young lady, but to him, proper young ladies were also allowed to kill things.  A twisted morality and a fun character.

But still,  Spike wins out.  There's the shallow reasoning, and then there's also his journey of redemption.

30 days of Buffy! (Day 3 and 4)

Day 3: Favorite Song Used In An Episode
The montage song in Once More With feeling where Giles and Tara are singing about leaving Buffy and Willow.  Or, Walk Through The Fire.  Because it's a team up, and team ups get me in the centre of my being, every time.

I've never really registered the bakcground music that is played.

Day 4: Favorite Female Character
Hem. Illyria always seemed to have a lot of potential, her and Spike were the only good things about Angel.  I empathise with Tara a lot, but when it comes down to it, I think evil vampire Willow is my favourite (that leather corset? Hot as).  Or Drusilla.  Or actually, Anya.

Most of the regular 'good' Buffyverse characters have too much of the negative in them for me to really adore them.  At their worst, Buffy is an isolated wreck, and I empathise too much with the loneliness and abandonment she feels to love her too much.  Plus when she's peppy she's irritating.  But I admire her strength, determination and straightforwardness.  And she's a great leader and warrior.
Regular Willow I have always found annoying and not assertive enough, cutesy doesn't do it for me.  Dawn is a brat most of the time - not through any fault of her own, the others treat her abominably, especially after her mother's death.
Cordelia suffered from having to star in the godawful Angel seasons.

But back to my possible favourites.  Evil vampire Willow is hot as anything.  Drusilla is wonderfully bonkers, and I love her accent.  Anya, although meant to be annoying, I have never found her so.  I sympathise with her difficulties understanding cultural references and she's just damn funny.

I can't choose between the 3 of them.

30 days of Buffy! (Day 1 and 2)

Day 1: Favorite Season
Season 7.  I know it has it's weak points, but the bringing together of all the slayerettes, and the epic fight scene, and Willow's a goddess, and it links so much stuff from earlier episodes.  And it's got Kennedy in it, and Andrew.  And Dawn finally grows up and gets mature.  It's full of hope.  It ends on a really positive note.  I know I like tragedy, but you gotta have a little hope at the end (or all the wway through) to counteract all the misery.


Day 2: Favorite Episode
Oh lordy, Hush maybe,  Or the Prom episode, for Buffy's umbrella.  But I think I'll be going for the musical episode, Once More With Feeling.  So much important stuff was revealed in that episode, and it's got the mustard song in it, and I just love musicals and choreography.  Tara singing to Willow just breaks my heart, as does Buffy singing about her death.

Of course, that episode where Warren, Andrew and Jonathan are testing Buffy and she gets stuck in that loop in the shop, love that one too.  Or the double Xander episode, where Anya suggests a threesome because it wouldn't really be cheating.

OK, Buffy has too many good episodes.  I'm gonna go back to Once More With Feeling.