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Buffy The Vampire Slayer 5x15

🕑 Added 2023-01-26 15:23:40 +0000 UTC

Comments

Chris Knuth

I joined because I couldn’t wait… and I was not let down! Now, time to grab the tissues and check out the next one… cheers and be well everyone!

Brian Dworak

When you started Season 5, I was both dreading and looking forward to your reactions. I really love this episode and Shonda Farr did a great job as April. The end scene was heartbreaking and anxiety-inducing, and your reaction was so real and heartfelt that I flashbacked to 2001 when it first aired. When Buff said "Mommy?" I teared up both then and now.

William Lawrence

Damn...

William Lawrence

lol :D been waiting for this ending since you started episode 1 to be honest.

Leafsdude

Buffy is more than just a TV show. There's a reason it's lasted in the consciousness of so many people for so long. It's over 20 years old and it still manages to be one of the most immersive reacting experiences out there, not to mention all the shows since that have been influenced by it (*cough*Warrior Nun*cough* lol). A large reason is because of how every big moment emotionally resonates with everyone, and also because the characters are so easy to fall in love with. You feel their pain as if you know them, because they've made complex characters that feel real, and not just people on a screen. Not to mention how everyone can relate to what these characters experience.

Stargazer1682

Fun fact, the actor who plays Warren in this episode dated Amber Benson (Tara). Not sure if they met through Buffy, but they were together for several years.

rattusprat

Yes, an "intimate" connection between Ben and Glory was revealed toward the end of 5x13. Maybe Dakara was empathizing too much with Dawn and forgot seeing this along with her.

Ryan Martinez

That end scene. I'm pretty sure I had your exact same reaction. I was watching this episode with my best friend in the times where we watched it week to week on the WB. I was in shock, she was too for about 3 seconds and started crying in wretching fits. I just held her saying, "No, this is a dream, not real, you'll see next week." I'll never forget that moment in a silly monster of the week episode.

John

Forgetting about that final scene, this was overall a fun MOTW episode. Buffy helping April in her final moments and talking to her makes me cry every time. I hate Warren so much. He's such a pos creep. Tara continues to be a big bright light for me. I love her and Willow's relationship; and I love that her "spicy talk" really isn't that spicy but still seems so out of character because of how sweet and genuine she is. I love that Joyce got to share some laughs with her girls and had a really great night out with a nice dude who sent her flowers after. I love how happy she is in this episode. (and I'm not crying as I type this, seriously). Sending love your way for the next episode. It's one of the very best episodes of the whole series and I'm looking forward (?) to seeing your reaction and reading everyone's comments about it.

Merkavar

did i miss something? Did dakara realise ben is glory in this episode? During the "orgasm" jump scare scene? Wasnt that revealed a few episodes ago?

Johnny

this is a rough one that blindsides you. xoxo

Ed Green

What affects me the most about this episode is Buffy's conversation with April. Right before the Joyce reveal, you have this deep conversation about always making the most of life and how things will get better, and then Buffy comes home and is plunged right into the episode's final moments of increasingly terrifying anxiety. She goes from the incredibly adult decision to lie to April and say that she accomplished her purpose, to give her satisfaction in her final moments, and then she reverts right back to early childhood when she finds her mommy unresponsive. Rewatching that dynamic play out really just makes me feel so vulnerable: you can keep trying to tell yourself good things about the future, and you can even believe them, but that doesn't mean there won't be bad moments as well. It's at vulnerable times like that that I also draw heavily on the previous conversation about Buffy needing to get comfortable being alone with herself. Self-acceptance is one of the best first steps in facing the things the world has to throw at you. It helps build friendships too.

Neil Silverman

I'm gonna chime in and reassure you that your reaction to the end of this episode is pretty typical. That image, combined with Buffy's "mommy", was indelibly burned into my brain the moment it aired. I was going to warn you to make sure you have ALL the tissues at hand for the next one, but from the previous comments it seems like you've already watched it, so you already know. I look forward to the next one, even as I dread it. Good luck.

Mattias Swing

Which reactor was this, if you don't mind? I must have missed one. :) (Also: full agreement, only love and support for anyone watching that scene for the first time. <3 We were all there once.)

Kate

I promise you...no one is gonna be laughing at you in the comments through this.

Raven Dark

First, let me start this off by saying, Buffy is not just a television show. Buffy, is life. Dak: This episode hurt me... physically hurt my heart. Right there with you, Dak. Let me tell you a little story. I watched a reactor who recently did this episode. He got to that ending, and he literally screamed. I kid you not, Dak, this man screamed SO LOUD, he scared living crap out of me. His parents came rushing in, panicked, asking if he was alright. He had to leave for a minute and tell them he was okay. I say this simply to tell you that we all have emotions, and that ending is rough on a lot of us. Your reaction is perfectly normal, and anyone who puts you down for it is a troll. Believe me when I say, we know. I cannot stress this enough, my friend. No one is laughing at you. We get it, we are here, and you are not alone.

R. Chang

Spoilers don't bother me and sometimes I even actively seek them out. If other people want to watch things Spoiler-Free, though, I respect that. I don't think one way is inherently superior to the other. It's just different strokes for different folks and I don't see any reason why we can't all get along and let people consume media however they want to do it.

Sharon Owen

I had my hands covering my face a little at that end scene. Knowing what's coming on a rewatch it worse. You clocked it quick. Joss loves killing off people as soon as happiness is achieved. Jenny - just when her and Giles were getting back together, Angel, just when his soul got restored... and now Joyce, recovered from her tumour and starting to date. Supernatural definitely took that element of 'everything seems too happy' and made your dread what was coming...

Raven Dark

LOL

Sharon Owen

Dakara's watched ep 16 now, she watched it the same day I believe...

Joshua Bull

If there is one thing we learned from Xander in highschool and Anya's stories, it is that using shortcuts when dealing with love always workout. ;-P

Joshua Bull

Technically Spike would just be a simp for Buffy, not an incel. In fact, he doesn't even come close to the latter from what we know about him.

Jack

Joss Whedon writes incels so well…

R. Chang

I have a lot of thoughts about the ending of this episode and everything that leads up to it, but it's pretty tough to talk about without spoilers for future episodes and I don't know how far ahead you are. So I'll just say that my first time watching I had the exact same reaction as you. I think we all did. Nobody's going to be throwing shade for that. Leaving aside the ending, I really love this episode. I love the themes about relationships and love. One of my favorite lines was when Buffy asks if she's dangerous and Warren says that she's only programmed to love and then Buffy immediately understands that means that she's extremely dangerous because of how strong that feeling is and how twisted it can get. Like you, I also love how much Xander demonstrates his maturity in this episode. The scene where he's fixing the window and is so confident in his own self-worth is really great. He's come a long way. To me this is sort of the payoff from the episode where was split in two. I think that episode really showed him what he could be and he's worked to become it with his whole self. I like it a lot.

Gabe Morales

That last scene…. No comment. Although fun bit of trivia about this episode is that the April robot was supposed to be played by Britney Spears but she backed out at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts

Bart Aansorgh

Your reaction is indeed about the same as the rest of us when we first saw this. It is Joss Whedon being a cruell bastard but brilliant story teller. The thing that does it for me in this episode is right at the end, where buffy goes from 'Mom' to 'mommy'. Painfull but brilianntly acted. I think Xander had tremendous growth during this season, and this episode really showcases that. He's really find is spot, he has his skills now with the carpentry/contracting etc, and just more comfortable. As you said, he's now genuinely giving advice as friend, and the flirtation is kind of gone, but the humour and quirkyness is still there. Anya is still somewhat skittish but trying her best not to be and to trust Xander. Willow and Tara are adorable, and their little interplays during the episode were great. Spike is falling further, and who knows what he would do with a buffy bot. I look forward to the next reaction. I know you've already seen it so sending the feels forward. GL on the edit.

Collinson

I don't think your reaction is any different from most of us when we first watched it. The reason we still love the show so many years later is because of how well written and acted the show is you feel connected to the characters even if it is just a TV show.

Raven Dark

Uh-oh. Or In the words of Giles, oh, as usual, dear.

AlyAdmirer

This episode... Full disclosure: I haven't watched your reaction before leaving this comment. I've been DREADING you getting to this episode, because of the palpable fear and concern for Joyce's wellbeing I've seen from you all season. I wish you strength through getting this. One of my biggest issues with modern mass media and media consumption is the culture of spoilerphobia that has arisen in the last 15-20 years or so, and the end of this episode is something I always go back to when discussing that. First off, the obvious preface: deliberately spoiling something for someone you know cares about spoilers is a dick move. Having said that... I've never understood spoilerphobia. It absolutely baffles and bewilders me. And if I did subscribe to spoilerphobia, I don't think it's a stretch to say I'd be a very different person than I am today. My favorite show of all-time is Doctor Who. It's been that way since I way 7 years old, when I saw my first episode in the summer of 1983. To this day, its one of the three shows I credit with shaping my beliefs, my values, and my approach to life. Like most Americans of that age, my first exposure to the show was the Tom Baker era. And I quickly became obsessed. But when Who had its first wave of cult popularity in the US, where I grew up *wasn't* part of that. It disappeared from my local after that summer, and two cycles of the first half of Tom's run. I wouldn't live in an area where I could watch the original series over the air again until 2014. It's 1983. No internet. No BritBox. No Netflix. My family wouldn't even get its first VCR until 1990. There were only two ways I saw new-to-me episodes again during that stretch of time. The first was scanning primarily the UHF dial for signal skips, where if conditions were juuuuuuuuust right (best conditions being after dark with particularly warm and clear weather) you could pick up snowy broadcasts from out of the normal television market. (I grew up in coastal Virginia, and IIRC the farthest signal I was ever able to pick up was a Pertwee Dalek episode airing one night in New Jersey.) The other method was seeing episodes when my family would go down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina on vacation, where it was still showing regularly on PBS. Usually a single episode Monday through Friday nights at 11PM, and then a movie format serial compilation on Saturday afternoons. The first single Pertwee episode I ever saw was part one of "The Silurians", when we got in town Friday night early enough to catch. (And even able to set up a tape recorder to make an audio copy!) I wouldn't see the rest of that serial for about 10 years. Ironically, IIRC, the first full Pertwee serial I ever saw was his final one, and the first Davison serial I ever saw was "Earthshock", a story FAMOUS for its dual surprises. And to this day, one of my favorite memories of my brother is his jumping up and punching the air when that title appeared on screen... ... because he knew what was coming. Which brings me to the OTHER way I sustained my fandom in that time. Local TV had stopped showing the program, but my local bookstore was still stocking the Target novelizations. And I would buy as many of those, as often as I could. I'd say the majority of Classic Who stories I read the novelization of before I ever watched them. My brother had read the "Earthshock" novelization, and was EXCITED to see that story on screen. When my brother came back from college, he brought with him the Peter Haining and L'Officier reference books that had been published around the 20th anniversary. We'd later get the FASA tabletop roleplaying game. All of these had what would today be consider spoilers, revealing plot information for stories we'd never seen, and didn't have any idea when actually WOULD see. (It wasn't until 2011 that I could finally say I'd seen every surviving Classic episode.) And NONE of this lessened my enjoyment of those episode, when I was finally able to watch them. In fact, the story that's my favorite Classic story is, I think, BECAUSE I'd read the novelization first. Because the novelization helped bridged the gap between what the story was going for, and what the production was able to achieve on-screen. If I'd ever cared about spoilers... none of that happens. My fandom would have withered and died. Maaaaaybe when the revival made it across the Atlantic in 2006, I'd have remembered this show I'd seen as a kid and checked it out, out of curiosity. But there's something about the way you fall in love with a show or a movie as a kid, that I don't think can be replicated as an adult. Getting back to Buffy... The day before this episode aired, I picked up my weekly copy of TV Guide at the grocery store, with the listings for NEXT week's TV. Which had a little one to two sentence blurb detailing what next week's Buffy would be about. Which tipped me off to how this episode would end, one day before it aired. So I don't have the personal frame of reference to relate to the gut punch I see when reactors get here. And I'm honestly kinda grateful that I was prepared for that moment in advance.

Paul Thomas-Humphreys

Oh no… (grabs some popcorn)

Steveo

Wasn't expecting this reaction so soon, I thought watch orders would've had you watch the next two Angels first. Either way, indeed a shocking ending.