The Prom
Well we are at the home stretch for season 3 here at the challenge, and it is time for the second Prom based episode, I hope things work out better than last time for Buffy, I don't know what is worse being hunted or having to spend the entire episode with Cordelia!
I wonder how Buffy explained sleeping over at Angel's to Mum? Oh she is giving him the whole "maybe we better let me keep some stuff here" routine? Ah Buffy Angel is kind of allergic to the sunlight (he gets a burning sensation to prolonged exposure) Aniya is still stuck as a teenager and she needs a date to the prom. "Men are Evil, will you go with me?" Xander that is disgusting, keep the sock puppet of love to yourself mate!
So it's Buffy and Angel 4 ever, (or at least until the show is canceled.) Oh Mum has found out that Buffy has spent the night with Angel and she is grilling the boyfriend! I'm sure Angel has not faced such horror for 200 years. Joyce is laying down the law to Angel and letting him know that it is up to him to make the right decision. So the Ascension is more of a metamorphosis for the mayor as he jumps from his human form to a demon of some sort.
The Buffy wedding special, in her mind, wouldn't Angel have issues in the church with all the crosses and holy water around? I do like the 3/4 length coat. Buffy burns in the sun? Wait it was in Angel's mind. (My bad, I thought Buffy would be dreaming of her wedding day.) "I think we need to talk!" Famous last words, in the sewer no doubt! Sometimes the bad guys say the right things but they say it for the wrong reason. Angel is showing some spine by making the hard decision, he has let her go because he loves her. That is cold Buffy, Angel might be a Vampire but he has feelings also! Angel breaks up with Buffy in a sewer! (I guess that should of been her first hint. Ladies if your man takes you for a romantic evening to the local sewer, you know it can't be good.)
I wonder what is worse? Buffy losing Angel when he lost his soul or losing him because he loves her too much to be with her? It was never going to work out, she is a teenage slayer, he is a 243 year old Vampire. Now why does this show have to go down the whole cheesy looking monster route as a threat? and the "cage" it was trapped in looked so flimsy my puppy olive would of broken through.
Cordelia's secret has come out. Do I feel upset? NO!, do I feel sorry for her? NO! The creature is a hellhound that attacked the poor guy in the clothing store. (looks more like a hell-monkey) Another threat against students at the school on prom night by a fashion seeking hound. At the butchers Buffy runs into Angel as he is buying dinner. AWKWARD!
Buffy takes charge and is using the disappointment of being dumped by Angel and focusing on stopping the monster. While Xander is on a date with a monster, regaling him of gory stories from her past. Talk about not taking rejection well, this kid has issues as Buffy has taken out 3 of the hellhounds just in time. (It seems that the kids at school are not shaken up by the monsters that show up any more.) We are family is a touching song, it makes me tear up all the time!
What an achievement that the class of '99 has the lowest mortality rate in Sunnydale High history. I'm not sure if that should go in the advertising flyer. Finally Buffy is recognized for all the protecting she has done. I do like the umbrella and the award for class protector. Oh I didn't see that coming from a mile away, Angel shows up to give Buffy her perfect highschool moment. Even though it is not represented in the final moments of the show, but I do feel for Giles who is the only regular in the show who has no one to be with. (Minor point I know but it would of been nice I guess.)
Now what a pointless episode! Other than Angel saying that he is leaving if they survive the graduation, nothing much came out of this. Sure they tried to play with Buffy's emotions but I thought it was poorly executed. Even though the episode was pointless in the scheme of things for this season it wasn't a boring episode which I hate more. There were some nice moments but overall it was not necessary in the grand scheme of things.
6/10 (lots of little things bumped up the score.)
Graduation parts 1 & 2
Here we go the double length season finale, what we have been building up to since "Bad Girls" and been looking forward to since "Enemies". Now April has already pre-empted the score for the finale and there is no shock that she gave it a 10. However I do look at the season finale through tougher lenses as it is the culmination of the previous 20 episodes and this season in particular has really built up to a solid finale.
Get out the gowns, Cordelia is complaining about the colour of the graduation gown. "The power of positive giving up!" something that many students have mastered I must say. Oh Willow is missing everything including PE! Buffy will miss stuff! Ching Ching (product placement "coke-a-cola") Now talk about setting up the conflict! The mayor will be speaking at graduation, maybe he heard about the class of '99 having the lowest mortality rate in the history of Sunnydale High and he is going to do something about it?
For a professor he is not really smart letting Faith in. (no, you dope she is not hitting on you by asking you if you live alone!) Faith is truly a monster as she is killing in cold blood without any hesitation or asking why, and Whedon's revenge on teachers continue! (If I ever meet him I'm telling him I collect cans for a living!) Faith in a summer dress, the mayor has really got a strangle hold on her!
Ah, Percy a B- doesn't make you a scholar. Hangman, the classic way to kill time when the year is over. Anya is asking Xander out which must be hard for a chick who is 1000 years old. However her response to hearing about the ascension is a look of horror. Buffy has the line she is not going to cross, she will not kill Faith. Anya has attended the last ascension and is letting the gang know what is about to happen and it is not going to be good. Synder believes in order and the mayor is ready to reward him.
The mayor bursts in to let them know that they can't stop him and he is going to eat them, to which Giles shoves a fencing sword into his chest! Now here is a TELEVISON SIN!!! NEVER HAVE THE BOOM MIC IN THE SHOT!!!!!!! Joyce walking through the door and the boom mic is shown swung across, at 17:08 mark of the episode! not only is the boom clearly in the shot but you hear the sound of it hitting the ceiling. (Normally I would take marks off for such a crime but I will forgive it this once!) Anyway back to the episode.
Buffy is doing the right thing for her Mum by asking her to leave, her response was, "I wish I took you to a different school" Not sure that would of made a difference. Amy the rat makes a cameo in Willow's room. Ok it seems the best way to stop your hysterical girlfriend is to kiss her passionately. It's the end of the world so of course they are going to go all the way. Buffy however has her mind set on saving the world, as Angel makes a classy entrance, sure mate they were mopping in the hall. Even though the relationship is over Angel still has her covered.
You would think that after 200 years Angel would figure out how women think? I guess there is no hope for me then. Faith has sniped Angel with an arrow out of no where and she missed the heart on purpose, I think that she will pay for that in the future. (If you get an opportunity to put away your enemy then you should take it.) I didn't think vampires bled. The arrow seems to be tipped with some type of vampire poison which makes no sense to me what so ever. SHUT UP AND ENJOY IT WILLOW!
Faith has a blood lust! I find it interesting that she has lost her soul yet she is wearing a sacred heart tee-shirt. Has Anya found someone who has won her humanity over? Xander shows her that there is more to life than life itself and is willing to sacrifice himself for his friends. Angel is not looking in good shape. The council is useless to me a bureaucracy that only sees the slayers as employees. Buffy quit the council and Wesley is not amused. Whoa, a slayer has to die for Angel to live and now Buffy has a reason to cross her line about killing Faith. There is no coming back from this Buffy, we saw what taking a human's life has dome to Faith.
Faiths pad is sweet, it seems that being evil does pay! Buffy confronts Faith in a showdown that is highly anticipated since the last time they crossed paths. Slayer Vs Slayer, former friends going at it to the death and this time BOTH of them wants the other dead. Oh I forgot...... CAT FIGHT, CAT FIGHT! Giles may have solved the mystery of what the Mayor is about to become as we cut away to him enjoying a spider snack! (Even the vampire is freaked out!) Being regular is very important if your planning to become a demon.
I didn't think Buffy would go through with it, she plunged faith's knife into her stomach but Faith was able to escape through a conveniently passing truck, So now Buffy has potentially taken a life without achieving her goal as it jumps to be continued.........
To part 2
The one thing I have to say is I am enjoying the fact that they don't recap what happen on the dvd but it would of been nice to show both episodes together without going through the menu. Faith is missing, and the mayor wants to know where she is, he has a real affinity with her it is almost as if the man who cares for nothing, cares about faith. While this is happening Buffy escapes with the guilt of stabbing Faith holding the blood soaked knife.
Wesley is leaving the country because Buffy has quit and all Cordelia thinks about is surprise, surprise....... Her selfish needs! Angel is delusional and thinks that Willow is Buffy. Ah young love, not the best timing though as Buffy is clearly distraught from her actions and her inability to save Angel. Buffy is sacrificing herself for Angel yet he refuses to alow her to do so. What does Buffy do to convince him? Well she punches the living daylight out of him and in one of the more graphic and in a really weird way beautiful scenes that I have seen in this show Angel drinks from the blood of a slayer.
Angel runs Buffy straight to the Emergency Department for a blood transfusion as we see the fate of Faith lying in a coma in the same hospital, in the same ward. (is there only one hospital in Sunnydale?) The mayor and Angel show down in the hospital. Xander once again puts the boots into Angel without knowing the facts of the situation. Buffy and Faith are having an out of body conversation, the type of dream that seems real, this wakes Buffy up and she is ready for war!
Buffy has given a plan that seems crazy (when we find out I guess) But I like Oz's plan with the hummus. What is the Mayor's human weakness, germs is one but chasing after him with a box marked Ebola is not going to cut it. Another voice for the Hummus! Wesley is back and Cordelia is smitten. This is a great scene as we see both sides working and the mayor and buffy the general planning their strategy for the final showdown. Do we really need to see the two most annoying characters in this show make out really really badly? (At least they have realized what we all knew, they are not compatible. A poor attempt at forcing humor in what should be an intense moment.) More making out from Oz and Willow as they are putting Buffy's plan into action. The slow build up is making me anxious, the sound of the graduation theme signals the real beginning of the end! Synders welcoming speech is fantastic "You all proved to be adequate." That is excellent writing oh and the line under his breath "Spit out that gum!" Good Stuff! "I saw that gesture, you see me after graduation!"
Here comes the Mayor to deliver his speech and he points out that the kids couldn't care less about the 100 year graduation and he is truly evil because he is giving the full speech. There was the slight hint of his weakness when he mentions that Faith is not there. Eclipse happen and his metamorphosis has began, I really wanted to hear the bit on civic pride, but unfortunately we get the mayor turning into a giant snake thing! Nice work Buffy by getting the students decked out with weapons. This truly is a war! (where did they get those flame throwers?)
I just want to interrupt this Blog to to morn the devouring of Principle Synder, he was a good man ..... Oh who am I kidding, the one teacher I wanted dead is! I'm over the moon!
Back to the war, Angel is on the front line fighting his souless kin, Xander and Oz are rallying the troops. Even Cordelia kills a Vampire! Nice effect with the monster chase cam. Buffy leads mayor snake into the library where he is blown into kingdom come! Suck it up Wesley, if you want to be knocked unconscious I'd be more than happy to obliged, true to his word Angel is gone without saying goodbye. Giles hands Buffy her graduation scroll as Angel stares from afar and walk away never to be seen again ............... unless you bought his own series entitled (ANGEL!)
All that is known over the last 3 seasons is no more. The good guys won ant they survived high school. As we fade to black on the year book. Once again if this show had ended at this season then it would be a satisfying end. The finale of this show seems to have this type of pattern which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Really did enjoy the finale, a grand battle where the good guys win. Still a little slow in the first part of the finale which may hinder it getting the coverted 10 however this is without a doubt the best of the 3 finales that I have seen.
9.5/10
Well so ends another exciting season of the Challenge. Soon we'll move to season 4 and we'll see what the good people at Mutant Enemy have installed for me. For those who are wondering I will be watching the first season of Angel at least, but I doubt I will be able to blog it. (although, I might throw in an Angel special now and then.
For all my Vampire friends out there "Stay out of the Sun!" See you next season!
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