Survivor: One World "Thanks for the Souvenir"

 

Manono:
Alicia - Gloats about how funny tribal council was (blind-siding Monica).  I really dislike this woman.
Colton - Adds insult to injury by telling Christina that she's on the chopping block and will be gone soon too.

Salani:
Kat - Had a dream that Alicia killed her.  Omen? 
Troy - He's feeling quite confident about Salani's abilities in the upcoming reward and immunity challenges. 

Speaking of the reward challenge, each person races up a platform and has to bounce a coconut onto a trampoline and hit a target.  The first tribe to hit all the targets gets an afternoon of ice cream party goodness.  The best part of this is Jeff hurling insults (mostly at Alicia) at how bad they are at this.  I bet Monica would have been good.  Idiots.  Salani wins.  Shocker.

Manono:
Christina - She fusses with Alicia and then POVs to the camera that she's ready for a fight and basically wants to show everyone how awful Alicia is.  Good for her.  It won't work but yeah, give it a shot.  She makes an effort to get Jonas and Leif on her side by pitching it as a numbers thing.  Alicia hears the whole thing and then gets super bitchy about it for no reason.
Jonas - He's no real help but he does find Colton and Alicia's personal attacks on people "interesting." Dude, grow a pair.
Leif - sleeps in a box.  Sure, it's a large box but it's still a box.  Cozy:

Colton - He's in pain and apparently feels so icky that he receives comfort from Christina.  He has pain and Tarzan the doctor thinks he could use a coconut water enema.  Ew.  The Survivor medics, escorted by Jeff, declare that Colton quite possibly has appendicitis and must be removed from the game.  He's pretty bummed about having to leave and declares: "I wish I could have done more." My mom replies, "Damage?"  Heh.  Also, instead of granting his partner-in-crime, Alicia, with the immunity necklace (THAT WAS GIVEN TO HIM), he keeps it as a souvenir.  Ha!  I love a vulnerable Alicia.

Both tribes get a note saying to report to tribal council that night.  Jeff tells them about Colton's status and poor, dumb Kat have never heard of an appendix and is now suddenly concerned that she needs to protect hers.  There's no immunity this week but there is a merge!  We're back to 6 guys and 6 girls.  The producers sure are changing things up a lot. 

Raising Hope, Cougar Town, New Girl and Breaking In - Didja watch?

Raising Hope “Poking Holes in the Story”

- One of Virginia’s clients needs a live-in to take care of his awful daughter while he’s away on business.  Did I mention she’s awful (the daughter not Virginia)?  ‘Cause she is.  However Virginia agrees to do it because they need quick money to replace Hope’s faulty bed and recalled toys. 

- Everyone misses Virginia, especially when it’s time to bathe Maw Maw.  She keeps thinking Jimmy is her dead husband so he goes with it because Maw Maw makes him breakfast, gives him a foot rub and all he has to do is kiss her (closed lips!). 

- Burt sneaks in to see Virginia and they find out that awful girl had a boy sneak in too.  Virginia shows her what teen sex and pregnancy can lead to.  Awful girl wants a life of her own after high school so she dumps her boyfriend.  This bums Burt out so he shows them the good stuff about being teens in love.

- Virginia gives awful girl one last talking to and adds in that if she does get knocked up and her boyfriend stays, she’ll always wonder if it’s out of guilt or because he really does love her.  Burt can’t keep his mouth shut any longer and admits he poked a hole in their condom all those years ago because he figured it was the only way he could get her to marry him.  That’s sweet.  Totally twisted and wrong but still kinda sweet.

Cougar Town (aka You know what would be cooler than this title card bit? A new title.) “Something Big”

- Greyson was a ho-bag so it’s hard for Jules to escape his exes.  She proves her point and one of them comes running.  He’s even got a lost & found bang box..

- Ellie goes surfing to get some alone time.  Really it’s just her sitting on a surfboard but it’s just as annoying when she runs into Bobby.

- Jules wants pre-marital counseling to ensure they’re heading into marriage with no baggage.  Their therapist is Nicole Sullivan!  Love her!

- Laurie misses Travis and all the doting on her he used to do.  She makes a few attempts at getting him to leave the house but to no avail.  Plus the helmet is kind of a buzzkill.

- Jules and Greyson think they’re baggage free until the ex from earlier shows up with a kid…Greyson’s kid.  Yep, that’s baggage.  The little girl’s name is TAMPA!  And Laurie’s her god-mother.  Poor thing.  Jules correctly insists on a paternity test and they plan out their Maury reactions.

- Bobby offers to teach Ellie to surf but Andy warns him that she’s un-teachable.  This proves to be true but Bobby sticks it out and she catches a wave!

- Laurie teaches Travis’s roommate to step dance (he’s pledging an African American fraternity) and turns out Travis is pretty good, but won’t leave the house.  Also, he got tired of being in love with Laurie and having no hope of a relationship.  She gets it but also misses the attention he gave her.  He gives in and dances for her, which I’m hoping also helped his roommate get into the frat.

- The paternity test comes back and…Greyson, you are the father.  Jules isn’t sure they can get through this but Ellie helps her think it through and all is well.  So Greyson is a dad!

New Girl “Fancyman Pt. 1”

(the “Pt. 1” of this episode concerns me because maybe that means the fancyman is only going to be around for 2 episodes and I want him to be around more than that.)

- Nick is trying to get a new phone but his credit score is 250, which cracks up all the employees and customers at the phone store.  Jess tries to convince him that not having a cell phone could be his thing.  Really he just gets down about rich people and their rich people life styles.

- Schmidt is a trivia god and this makes Winston feel inferior in front of his girlfriend, who was with them at the bar for trivia night. So Winston studies useless trivia and is quizzed by the kid he’s babysitting.  It’s cute but he totally blows it.  Doesn't matter though because his girlfriend likes him just the way he is.  Awww!

- Speaking of cute…Jess meets with a parent of one of her students and it’s Dermot Mulroney!  Mmmm hmmm.  He’s not thrilled with her curriculum and thinks there should be more math and less art.  The principal (Rachel Harris!) thinks Jess should apologize because he’s a rich donor.

- Jess is on a mission to give Dermot a piece of her mind when her car breaks down near his office and causes a large tie-up.  He just happens to be driving by and very generously offers his car to her and then even invites her to a cook-out at his house.  Handsome, wealthy AND generous?!?!  There’s got to be something wrong with him, right?  I mean guys like that don’t exist without being a puppy slaughterer in their spare time.  Right?

- Cece correctly tells Jess she’s just intimidated by a man who has his life together and doesn’t need her to take care of him.  Jess brings Nick to the party but he’s no help because he gets sucked in by the beautiful house.  Dermot (who has a character name but may not be around long enough to need it) actually gives Nick his phone and the sweater Nick’s wearing without permission.  Nick promptly falls in love with him and thinks Jess should give him a chance.  She does and accepts his dinner invitation and then falls into a fountain.  Oh and this was after being attacked by his Japanese toilet (she had it up to 6 happy faces!)

Breaking In “The Blind Sided”

- The gang at Contra have a job catching a hacker who turned the lights on a building into a videogame. Cool.

- Cam’s crush on Mel is going nowhere, no matter how hard Cash tries to get them together through suggestions of epic gestures.  In fact Mel shoots him down point blank and tells him to give up.  Of course the two of them get stuck on a stakeout in front of the hacker’s house.

- Speaking of the hacker, he turns out to be a 14 year old kid (that kid from Role Models…you know him) who brings them Pop Tarts in the morning. 

- Veronica puts her foot down and won’t let Oz bust the kid.  She talks to his mom (holy crap, isthat Jaleesa?!?! I feel old) who let’s Veronica have her “Blind Side” moment with him.  Wow, that’s kinda racist.  She even brings the kid to Contra as an intern.  He proceeds to steal stuff and hack corporate.  Oops.  Luckily Oz threatens him into returning the stolen stuff and letting Veronica get her Blind Side moment. 

- Oz tries to explain to Cam about Mel and emotions and Mel’s fear of emotions and Cam gets it. He even tries to let Mel off the hook but apparently that works for her in a way that paying attention to her doesn't. She finally kisses Cam and they do it.  In a car.  And then she leaves!  Poor Cam.

Being Human - The Day After

“Dream Reaper”

If you remember from last week, Sally was shredding ghosts left and right and blaming her friend the Reaper for it.  The guys managed to trap her on the stairs with their clever salty jail.  Currently Sally is still catatonic on the stairs and imagining a pleasant life with her boyfriend,  “Scott” the Reaper.  It’s worth noting that in Happy Sally Dreamland (HSD) she wears lots of purple.  At least she gets to be in different outfits than the leggings sweater combo she’s usually stuck in.

To make things a bit more interesting, it’s the full moon (didn’t we just have one of those?) and Josh is a bit testy.  Oh and Aidan hasn’t fed in over 24 hours.  This will be fun!  So yeah, go find Zoe to help.  I’m sure this will go well.

In HSD, Sally is on her laptop and keeps getting IMs from someone named Aidan who is trying to tell her they want her back, and he’s there with her, and so on.  This creeps her out and forces “Scott” the Reaper to take notice of their efforts.  Also the house is shaking and this is when I wonder if the neighbors ever notice how only one house on the street experiences earthquakes.  It’s at this point that Reaper seals them inside.  Too bad there are only 4 hours until the moon comes up!

Zoe does think there’s something she can try to get to Sally, an old school mind-meld!  Aidan only seems to care about the blood flowing through Zoe’s veins and less about the fact that her subconscious could get stuck in Sally’s subconscious.  Before they can get to it Reaper gives them a talking to through Sally.  It’s pretty goofy to watch but he does know an awful lot about them.  And he uses their continual ignoring of Sally against them. This is when Zoe gets the news about Sally shredding Nick and no one is surprised when she doesn’t want to rescue Sally.  Of course this forces Aidan and Josh to reveal their true monster selves to her and the fact that she’s in mortal danger if they can’t get out.

Back in HSD, “Scott” the Reaper is getting her to leave the house and throws a big party.  Zoe gets in and tries to get Sally to understand this isn’t reality.  Aidan is super hungry and Josh wants to lock himself in the fridge so he doesn’t notice when Aidan starts feasting on Zoe’s arm.  Zoe notices though and tries harder for Sally to understand.  Josh gets Aidan off Zoe’s arm and gives him a good talking to about all that’s been happening since Aidan’s started feeding off of live humans again (like killing those two girls last week).  Aidan crumbles and knows he’s been terrible but doesn’t know what to do about it.  Josh offers himself up but Aidan refuses at first and then has trouble feeding off him because he tastes funny.  Quickly Aidan gets a little high from Josh’s blood but then starts choking violently. 

Sally starts remembering and Reaper tries his best to convince her to stay with him in HSD.  Thankfully she chooses to go back and the only way to do it is to go back down the stairs in the same fateful manner she went down them the last time.

She wakes and gets rid of Josh who then releases her from her salty jail.  Aidan’s still a mess but actually stops to talk to Sally for a minute before excusing himself to go to bed.  Sally thanks Zoe but she’s still REALLY pissed about Sally shredding Nick and has no interest in ever forgiving her. 

At the end dear Sally is alone again.  Naturally.  Wait!  Nope, Reaper is there with her.  Sally wants him gone but he’s a part of her now and isn’t going anywhere.  He’s quite happy to wait for her to slip again.  Poor Sally.

How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls - Didja watch?

Didja watch HIMYM “The Broath?”

- Barney’s been missing for a couple of weeks but pops back up to tell Ted a secret.  Before Ted can know the secret he has to take The Bro Oath, or The Broath.  They wear robes and there are monks chanting in the background.  It’s serious.  Barney doesn’t want Ted to tell the others what Quinn does for a living. Too bad Ted can’t keep a secret.

-The group doesn’t know if they can trust Quinn because she’s controlling and obviously is using him for his money.  However she is moving out of her apartment and in with Barney so Robin and Ted are all over that.  Robin’s been staying with her co-worker, Patrice and Ted’s been living in university housing.  He has even found replicas of him, Lily and Marshall.

- They figure it’s intervention time, er Quinntervention time, because they’re only looking out for his best quinnterests.  Barney schools Ted on the history of broken broaths dating way back to guys in togas.  Quinn is pretty pissed that Barney was ashamed of what she does and the gang feels guilty.  Robin admits to Ted that she’s possibly losing her job because she’s been so distracted at work lately because she’s lost her best friend, blah, blah.  I just don’t care about these two anymore!!!  She says some crap about going back to being normal friends but he can’t or something.

- They go to apologize to Barney and he makes them take an oath and kiss each other (girl/girl and guy/guy) to make it up to him.  Quinn’s there and it turns out she and Barney planned the whole thing. 

- Instead of getting fired Robin gets a promotion and finds a place on the westside.  Ted gets Quinn’s place and he and Robin try to do normal, or their version of but apparently it doesn’t last because he doesn’t see her for a while. 

- Also, hypothetically, Quinn would stop stripping if she got married.  So marinate on that, Barney.

Didja watch 2 Broke Girls “And the Spring Break?”

 - The girls have a new website but no orders are coming in so Caroline is pretty bummed.  Also, it’s 3am and Oleg has dropped by to borrow sensual oils for sexy time with Sophie.  Ew.

- The gay couple from the baking class episode (who are also their only past customer) are back and not only think Han is gay but also have a “rice queen” to set him up with.  Max assures Caroline this is a step up from the people who think Han is a lesbian.  Ha.  The guys hire Caroline to dog-sit for her and she’s thrilled to do it because it’ll be like a mini-vacation.  She insists Max come with her and make it into a spring break. 

- Caroline finds an invitation to a foodie party in honor of a new bacon cookbook so the girls go and Max gets chummy with the cookbook author (he's hot and has tattoos).  Caroline hits the after-parties without Max and meets a Greek shipping magnate.  She tries to convince Max to come with them to Tahiti (or somewhere; I can’t remember) but instead they stay home and bake cupcakes for a bitchy food blogger.  The cupcakes are a hit so they made the right decision.

21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street
Directors: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Stars: Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum

I'm gonna make this a quick review because I don't have much to say.  21 Jump Street was as funny as people are saying.  It definitely earned its "R" rating too so beware if you're a little shy about that kind of humor.

So it's pretty dang funny.  There were a number of things that I laughed out loud at and I was alone on a couple of them.  My lonely laughs were at the meta, self-aware type jokes. I'm ok with movies making fun of themselves and getting it out of the way early on and then getting into the meat of why they're there.  A lot of the laughs were in the trailer but rest assured they saved plenty of stuff for the movie too.  Oh and the cameos were perfect but sadly I may have been in the minority on their appreciation too. 

Plus it's an old-school buddy movie.  These two were born to partner up.  We know Hill is funny.  Heck, the dude helped write this film (well he's credited with the story at least).  But I'm glad Tatum is getting a chance to work his comedy acting chops.  He's one of those rare guys that's totally hot and totally up for throwing himself into any situation.  He doesn't mind being goofy or picked on or objectified.  He often gets a bad rap but I think his biggest problem is picking some so-so movies (GI Joe was not his fault).

And the movie is just well-done.  The pacing was good, not great, but good.  It was shot well and directed well, especially considering there are two directors.  The story was predictable but fine.  There was tons of chemistry all over the screen and not just in chem class.  Ha!  See what I did there?  Sorry.  My only problem is a small one and it was the eye-rolling cop stuff.  There's no reality in what they get away with in this movie but it doesn't matter.  If you go to 21 Jump Street in search of realistic police work then you're in the wrong theater.  If you want a raunchy, fun comedy, then you're in the absolutely right theater.  
 
Tracy had to see Project X this weekend.  She didn't hate it so go read her insightful review at Examiner.com!

The Walking Dead - The Morning After

“Beside the Dying Fire”  aka “The Ricktatorship”

Our previouslies gives us the many scenes showing that Shane lost it mentally and then lost his life, twice.  Good job saving your dad’s life, Carl!  That totally makes up for taunting the swamp-walker.

In the city there are walkers feasting and are suddenly distracted by a helicopter flying overhead.  They wander off together, down a highway, through a field, and right into a large fence.  Like a crowd at Lollapalooza, they push and push until the fence goes down.  Wait, what about that chopper?  Anywhoodle, the walkers are in the woods now and hear a gunshot.  They follow it and guess where they end up?

Titles!

Inside the house everyone is worried.  Darryl and Glenn show up and share what they found out in them there woods.  Darryl heads right back out to locate Shane and Rick.  We join the latter with his young son who is asking lots of questions and getting no answers because daayyum! that’s a really big herd.  Please be aware that this is another suspend your disbelief episode.  I thought Rick and Carl were between the herd and the house and therefore could have run straight to the house but then were suddenly surrounded.  If you argue that fast-moving zombies could outrun a 9-year old I’ll buy it.  Also though I have issue with the way the whole thing went down and I realize it all happened to get them off the farm and to the prison but still.  Couldn’t they have hid in the house (basement, maybe?) and waited a day or two for the herd to move on?  How long would it have taken the herd to eat the cattle and kept moving?  So setting that all aside, I’ll get back to what went down.  Ok, so Rick and Carl lead the walkers to the barn and get them inside where they set the place on fire.  The folks at the house have armed themselves and notice that the barn is aflame.  They jump in the cars and practice their drive-by shooting skills on the walkers loitering around the barn in search of, I’m assuming, sticks and marshmallows.  Or flesh.  Meanwhile, Lori is just now noticing that Carl is missing and freaks the hell out.  Jimmy, who is driving the unwieldy RV gets feasted on but at least he pulled up where Rick and Carl could use the RV to escape the burning barn. 

-Commercials!  Did you see the Prometheus trailer?  Thoughts?  Ukie’s not impressed but I think the scope of it looks pretty cool and will pay a bit extra to see it on an IMAX screen.

Hershel’s picking off walkers and doesn’t join the ladies who are escaping the house. In fact he’s so in the zone I don’t even think he heard a shrieking Lori.  Otis’s wife, whose name I never bothered learning gets it bad and poor Beth takes a bit too long letting go of her hand.  T-Dog and Andrea pull up to get the ladies and the latter hops out to give them some coverage.  Maggie and Glenn take off.  Hershel runs out of ammo and almost gets bit from behind but is saved at the last second by Rick.  Andrea gets left behind.  Holy crap, that sucks.  Darryl is on his chopper (not the flying kind) but hears a scream and backtracks to get Carol.  Is it too much to ask that we all have a Darryl during the upcoming zombie apocalypse?  Rick, Hershel and Carl jump into a Suburban and head off.  Poor Hershel looks back onto his burning farm.  Dude’s been through a lot since these knuckleheads showed up.  The herd is starting to move on and the barn’s roof crashes down.

-Commercials!  As a steadfast Whedonite I am very excited about Cabin in the Woods.  I’m excited that it’s finally being released (after being shelved for quite a while).  And I’m totally excited that reports from SXSW say that it’s as good as Iwant it to be, better even.  YAY!!!

Darryl and Carol are on the road (and now I have a little Willie Nelson song in my head), zigzagging around walkers.  Maggie and Glenn are together and she’s flipping out.  Glenn gets the hysterical woman out of the driver’s seat and calms her down by reminding her they both made it and that he loves her.  Typically this is when the walker in the back seat would pop up and eat Glenn but that doesn’t happen and I love this show all the more for it.  Rick, Hershel and Carl make it to the spot where they left Sophia a message on the car windshield thinking that’s where everyone will end up, except no one seems to know this.  In fact, was there a plan for this kind of occasion?  Or was it just an understood?  Carl is pretty stressed that his mom’s not there and Hershel offers to stay behind so that Rick can take his son to safety?  Rick reminds Hershel that he’s supposed to be a man of faith and he should exercise that a little and wait for the others to show.  I giggled a bit when Hershel admits that his thoughts on Christ resurrecting the dead would be a bit different than it turned out.  T-Dog, Lori and Beth are together and Lori’s trying to get T-Dog to head back to the spot on the highway but he refuses saying it’d be suicide.  So she opens the truck door and threatens to jump out and he relents.  Rick is just about to try and talk Carl into leaving when everybody rolls up like it had been the plan all along.  They take a headcount and no one can confirm seeing Andrea actually get bitten.  Darryl offers to go back and get her but then doesn’t.  They leave and the camera focuses one last time on the message to Sophia, the whole reason they ended up at the farm.

-Commercials!  Thoughts on The Raven?  Personally I think they’re riding Sherlock Holmes’s successful coattails but it could be good. It helps that I’m a Cusack fan too.

Andrea’s still alive, ya’ll!  She’s running from the walkers and if you watched Talking Dead after (you should have!) you know she spent 12 hours on this scene.  Apparently she couldn’t get out of bed for two days after.  Rick’s gas-guzzler is on empty so they have to stop.  He’s trying to be positive and believes there’s a safe place for them to live.  The group brings up Randall’s turning without being bitten and Rick spills what he found out at the CDC…they’re all infected.  He thought the guy was crazy and didn’t give any credence to it until now.  They’re all pissy that he didn’t tell them sooner but I kinda get it.  Lori is back to whispering in his ear until he comes clean with the entire Shane scenario.  She looks surprised and loses it when he adds the part Carl played.  Have I mentioned how much I dig Andrew Lincoln and how annoying Lori has become? 

-Commercials!  Wrath of the Titans looks just as bad as its predecessor and I just don’t care.  I’m gonna see it and I’m gonna laugh at it and enjoy every ridiculous second of it.

Andrea is understandably running out of steam and gets jumped by a walker.  This looks like the end for her but then the walker's head is swiftly removed from its body.  Behind it stands a dark figure armed with a katana and hoodie and two armless walkers chained to her.  For those who haven’t read the books, you’re gonna love this chick.  Seriously.  At the un-fun campfire there’s a noise off in the distance and most everyone flips out.  Also they’re questioning Rick now because of his decision to keep the infection thing to himself.  He spills to them about the Shane situation and invites them to try and survive without him.  If they stay it won’t be a democracy or even a cheerocracy.  It’s a Rickocracy and he’s Il Duce.  The camera floats up over the un-fun campfire to reveal a rather large building in the distance.  It’s prison time!  See ya in the fall!

"Judgement" (Angel 2.1): Angel sings "Mandy"--that's all you need to know

Both mine and my intrepid co-watcher Jenn's favorite quote of the season 2 opener comes from our favorite vampire with soul identifying the "Three things I don't do: tan, date, and sing in public." You and me both, bro. But by the time "Judgement" is through, one of those taboos will be broken.

Spoiler alert: It's this one.

On the way to this glorious performance, we take several strides away from the series's noir roots, and several more toward further solidifying family as the show's central concern. This strong episode serves as the Angel guide to making up for a pretty epic "my bad."

DO acknowledge extenuating circumstances. Still at this point officially a trio, Angel Investigations is working out of Cordy's haunted apartment due to the old offices being a little bit exploded in last season's finale. A PTB-vision sends Angel off in search of a particularly nasty demon, and only after he dispatches said target in a sewer while a pregnant woman sobs does he learn that the demon was actually protecting the expectant mother, and intending to serve as her "champion" in some sort of mystical medievally tinged trial by battle.

Oops. Vampire on road to redemption foul.

Now Angel always has his bags packed for a guilt trip, and he spends most of the episode tied in knots about his mistake. However, allow me to take up for the King of Pain. Cordy only lets him know after the fact that she didn't feel fear when seeing the demon, and crucially, preggo in the corner did an excellent job saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as Angel battled and executed her champion. I know it's shocking and scary, but not one "Stop!" or "Please don't" or "Perhaps this is merely a case of a misinterpreted psychic vision from the Powers That Be"??? Especially once it became obvious that Angel wasn't attacking her, as the later would-be assassins do? But whatever. Plot has to come from somewhere.

DO accept assists from Angelettes current and future. Gunn's Scoobification continues in this episode, as he guides Angel to the good demon's lair and meets Wes and Cordelia when they're actually conscious. We also get our first appearance from Lorne, everyone's favorite precog karaoke bar owner. Hey, honey. Welcome to the party.

Somebody get this demon a Sea Breeze!

Lorne can read a person's soul when they sing, and though Angel is initially resistant--see quote above--he ultimately acquiesces, leading us to . . .

DON'T let your big brooding ego get in the way of fulfilling your mission.

Admittedly not as splendid as the dancing sequence from "She", but I do enjoy the unadulterated terror in his furtively darting eyes.

DO establish a home base, both literal and figurative. As Jenn notes, with the elements of the pregnant woman trying to protect her daughter, which Angel manages to help her do through some pretty comical looking jousting,

Since there were no vampires in Medieval Times, there are no vampires . . . oh, never mind.

Darla's reappearance, Cordy's not (yet) creepy declaration of loyalty, and the excellent prison visit to Faith where the two recovering killers compare notes on the hard road to redemption, the centrality of family to Angel's ontology is undeniable.

She talks about a girl with a shiv, he talks about "Mandy." It's sweet.

So it also makes a nice thematic rhyme that he discovers an old abandoned hotel in this episode. Next week, we'll learn how important this space was and will be to the Angelverse. Season 2 is looking pretty good, kids!

"Buffy vs. Dracula" (Buffy 5.1): When Buffy fights Dracula, everybody wins

This episode (plus "The Body") might be the only reasons 6 nudges this season out of the basement in my personal Buffy rankings. But they are very, very good reasons. Season 5 starts strong with the Buffy guide to rebooting a classic.

DO make the hero in question hot enough for a rebooting call. I went a long way for that pun, but puns are never unwelcome in the Buffyverse. And the actor they cast as Dracula, Rudolf Martin, is dead sexy. Another pun, totally intended.

The cheekbones, my God, the cheekbones.

DO highlight the power and the adaptability of the original text. This episode keeps a lot of details from Stoker's novel--we've got a creepy manse, three vampire brides, and Drac himself, able to turn into a bat or a wolf at will, and arriving in a coffin full of, as Spike terms it, "special dirt."

Went up as fast as a Bed Bath & Beyond.

But the legendary text also fits pretty seamlessly into Sunnydale. Dracula wastes no time in selecting Xander, a "butt monkey" to the supernatural from way back, as his bug-eating Renfield.

You can't tell in the screencaps, but, perhaps in an eerie foretelling of Twlight, this shirt sparkled.

He also enters the bedroom of a sleeping girl to ravage her. Except in this case, that girl is our Slayer, who is getting another reminder of the dark roots of her power.

I wish this is how I was reminded of things.

Though I'd give this a skip.

My intrepid co-watcher Jenn feels that the "killer vs. slayer" debate in which Buffy and Dracula engage when they're not drinking each other's blood is an articulation of the central question of B's identity. What is the difference? Is the line always stable? Something to consider as the season(s) continue.

DO heed the warning signs. This has nothing to do with Dracula. This has everything to do with Riley. He's jealous of the Count in a really annoying and red-flag-y way. Spoiler alert: He will spend most of the season either berating Buffy or pouting.

He also uses the phrase "cow me," to ask for a hamburger. Unforgivable.

Full disclosure: My hatred of Riley reaches supernova during this season, and Jenn's patience is also wearing thin. She adds "okey dokey" and "no more chick pit for you" to the absurd and witless lines he utters during this episode.

DON'T let your own story fall by the wayside. This isn't just a stunt episode. Some serious work gets done, story-arc-wise, and it's not at all unrelated to rebooting, for that matter. We learn that Giles's sense of marginalization and impotence from last season has led him to decide to leave Sunnydale, convinced that Buffy doesn't need him anymore. Luckily, her brush with Drac prompts B to realize how much she still doesn't know, and she very sweetly asks him to be her Watcher again.

And he doesn't even hesitate to say yes. Love!

Oh, and there's also this little situation.

Do you remember where you were when you first said, "WTF?"

Jenn points out that the episode begins in the very familiar space of Buffy's house with a mother-daughter dinner, making the audience feel very comfortable and secure, only to fix our little red wagons but good with this reveal. You've got to admire the ballsiness.