I thought I’d start a new thread for this. After the Shut up Evan podcast, lots of the trade and industry publications posted on their Instagram accounts about the Buffy update including the official title for the series. If anything I think this will be a good thing, and it almost feels like it was set up to go this way. What do you think?
I am now thinking the series will debut early 2027. When SMG says fans are expecting it all now, I think she is suggesting that they are going to take time with the remainder of filming and next March is still over a year away which is a very long time for us…
I wonder if it’s the curse of the Buffy/Angel universe but man season 4 of Buffy was my least favorite (took forever to get through) and I’m half way through season 4 of Angel and I really don’t like it. I’m just so uncomfortable (you all know) and the tone is completely different.
I’m hoping it’ll get better because the first 3 seasons were amazing
I know, I know, this pops up pretty much every week on here, but hear me out!
I saw this article online and at first didn't even want to open it, as I usually disagree with how the majority of fans rank the seasons, and expected it, like many other ranking articles to deliberately say something controversial so people share and comment.
HOWEVER, this one precisely matches my ranking, and even the majority of the reasoning behind it!
So yeah, quite happy with it! For people too lazy to open it (even though it provides also a list of notable episodes from each season and arguments for and against them): (I added the tiers in brackets according to my own personal opinion)
7th (for me, outright worst)
1st (2nd tier)
4th (2nd tier)
6th (2nd tier)
2nd (1st tier)
5th (1st tier)
3rd (1st tier)
The only thing I disagree with is re Season 6 - Dark Willow, and even that scumbag Warren were quite decent villains, with Willow being the Big Bad, even if only for 2-3 episodes explicitly. Best Big Bad: The Mayor
So yeah, just wanted to share this, feel free to agree or disagree, of course, season preferences can be quite subjective, depending on if you value the storyline more, the character relations, the power of the outstanding episodes in each, the Big Bad, etc
To each theirs own but many people making Spuffy playlists put too much Taylor Swift in there…
now I am not against Taylor Swift in playlist because certain songs are nice even if I don’t like her as a person/popstar/musician.
But Spuffy are NOT Taylor Swift coded.
They are much more Florence And The Machine, Hozier and Bat For Lashes coded.
Now Bangel? Immediately second (or was it third?) post-break up Bangel is absolutely Taylor Swift coded from Buffy’s pov. Especially songs from the Red album. (All Too Well, Sad Beautiful Tragic, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, I almost Do- btw it’s the first time I am listening to these songs in the new songs and they are better than I remembered? Which is weird because I thought Jack Antonoff or whatever it’s his name was responsable for the low qualities of TS’s more recent albums, but apparently he is able to make music whose purpose is to sound nice in the background while I write, the new songs just suck even for that lmao.)
This is specifically for folks who have seen all of Buffy, maybe even more than once, but have never gone to check out Angel. First off: I totally get it. No shame, no judgement, especially if you gave season 1 a shot, and bailed for whatever reason. Season 1 of Angel is for sure my least favorite Buffy-verse season. Light spoilers for Angel, but nothing major, and honestly if you care about spoilers, for sure just go ahead and give the show a watch!
So, Buffy Fans! Remember in season 7, near the end, when Faith comes back and she talks about someone in prison coming after her with a "wicked looking knife", trying to kill her, but she never knew why?
Well, I'm here to tell you, you owe it to youself to go see exactly what happened to Faith and why. Her whole arc in the 4th season of Angel is phenomenal storytelling. It legit cements Faith as one of the most 3 dimensional, well drawn, and most "completed" characters in either show. If you loved her story on Buffy, you're gonna be blown away by the twists and turns she takes on the road back to Sunnydale.
Remember in season 4 of Buffy? When Faith and Buffy body swap, and at the end of that amazing two parter, she escapes? Well, guess what, she immediately goes to LA and is hired by an evil law firm to assassinate Angel.
Now, don't get me wrong, Faith isn't a main character on Angel, and she's certainly not the only reason to watch. Obviously, Angel is the main draw, but if you hated Angel on Buffy, I totally get why that wouldn't be a real selling point. Thought, I always say that if you hated Angel on Buffy, then you'll LOVE him on his own series, he goes through so many well earned and drastic character shifts and growth, it's astounding.
The other major draw is Cordy, a character I liked just fine on Buffy as comic relief and a member of the gang, but I didn't miss her when season 4 rolled around. Cordy is such an amazing character, and 90% of that is on Angel.
Other highlights: The best "Bangel" episode ever, "I Will Remember You." A singing demon who owns karaoke bar, leading to much singing over the years. A gorgeous companion to Once More With Feeling, where Angel and the gang go to the ballet, super romantic, and arch, and a stand out "high concept episode". SO. MUCH. VAMPIRE. DRAMA. Darla, Spike, Dru, Angel and MORE show up all over the place, including in flashbacks to when Angel was Angelus. A POC in the main cast starting in season 2. It's not much, but it's still nice to see a black person in every episode. Amy Acker. Literally everything about season 5. Puppet Episode. A more adult, cynical worldview. Wes (remember him, Faith's watcher in season 3?) goes on the wildest transformation of any cast member in either show. Ann/Chanterelle (remember her?).
Anyway, feel free to call me crazy, but I think if you really dig Buffy, you should at least check out the big Faith cross over episodes, and honestly all of season 5, lol. You're missing out on some absolute gold, I promise, and hey, nobody's gonna arrest you if you only watch the "good episodes" and read a wiki to get the context clues you're missing.
For those that DO commit, a few words of warning: as stated, season 1 is a rough one for me. It picks up substantially in the last few episodes, and the big "Bangel" episode is episode 8, so early on you get a great reward with a legit wonderful episode. You might have heard that some terribly stupid plot stuff and character assassination happens, and you heard right. Season 4 goes off the rails so hard, it's fascinating. AND, frustratingly, season 4 has some of the best episodes and story arcs in either series, BUT they're tied directly into said stupid plot and character assassination. It IS as bad as everyone says (if not worse, I feel like I rationalize it more and more every re-watch, just to try to make it more palatable, but it's legit horrendous lol), but it's certainly not boring, and if you just wanna bail at a certain point (it'll be obvious, MAJOR ICK scene) and just jump to season 5, DO IT. Season 5 is just phenomenal TV. There are no bad episodes, and even the lesser ones still add compelling character details and thematic resonance to the series.
One other word of warning: Angel gets VERY dark and has some VERY dark episodes. Nothing as viseral and real as "The Body", but many episode of Angel leave me in a bad mood, on purpose. Remember, "Lie to Me" from season 2 of Buffy and that bummer ending with Giles and Buffy at the graveyard? MOST episodes of Angel end with that kind of bitter sweet tone. Content warning for all kinds of stuff (it's set in LA in the early 2000s, so you can imagine) and mood warning if you're sensitive to depressing tv. If you skip episodes like "The Body" or "Seeing Red" or "Wild at Heart", be aware that Angel is jam packed with episodes like that (and most of them are of the same level of quality. Angel is really well made show, great sets, costumes, make-up, effects, you name it).
Anyway, happy 2026! This is it! The year you finally give Angel a shot, and watch his show!
*edited to add: the series finale is one of the best finales of all time. It's better than the Buffy finale, and I ALWAYS cry at the Buffy finale lol. Seriously, "Not Fade Away" is up there with like, "All Good Things..." or "Family Meeting" or "The Avatar and the Firelord" or Twin Peaks season 2's finale. Leaves me stunned and speechless every single time, it's just perfect and it's SO worth watching the preceding 109 episodes. Great great great.
The Pitt continues to know what it's doing, while my own accomplishments largely consist of having cooked a pilaf for some upcoming lunches and arranging a short-term gig for a few days next week. Not too much editing, largely on account of global events and flashbacks to 2020 and a little bit on anticipation for the new episode. Hopefully more soon would be nice.
Also, since tagging on Tumblr is the new version of fandom icons, I decided on a Pluribus tag: we'll eat you up we love you so.
Just stated watch g the shoe in tandem with Buffy and I love it. My only question is, is Cordelia meant to be aged up a bit? She definitely feels older but maybe that’s just because of the shows more mature vibes but she definitely seems older because she’s always getting in to hard and clubs no problem (obviously this ca be explained by a fake ID or something) but I thought you had to be 21? It feels like in Angel she’s meant to be in her 20s but just wanted some clarity.
On her latest podcast episode for “Some Assembly Required,” Charisma Carpenter had screenwriter Ira Madison III on as a guest, and there was something VERY off about the entire exchange between them, specifically Charisma herself.
She was constantly speaking over him, asking questions and then being pretty combative, not really allowing him to share his opinions if she disagreed with them. The most egregious example of this, that really icked me out, was her reaction to him saying he likes season four. As soon as he said it, very lightheartedly at that, she immediately got defensive and started demanding that he give her three reasons why he likes that season. He started to tell her his reasons (none of which had anything to do with her,) and she would just speak over him and basically shut him down. But what really disappointed me was when she asked him what he thought about her having an affair with her “stepson” and he said something to the effect of Cordelia didn't actually raise Connor since he was kidnapped as an infant (true,) and she called him a Woody Allen apologist. I just found that really gross, and definitely not something to joke about. Although to be honest, the entire episode really turned me off.
Being a stand-in moral compass for a soulless vampire isn't all it's cracked up to be. Especially when he's the only one who can see you...most of the time.
Explanation: "heroic ambitions" is how much the character strives/commits to be a hero and help people, "inner conflict/reluctance" is how naturally these heroic qualities come to them/how easily will they stray from that path or how much they struggle with temptations, darker impulses, or genuine belief in the cause.
Buffy has moments of reluctance or wanting to give up, such as the start of the show or after killing Angel or in The Gift, but in general she commits without question regardless of how it messes her life.
Cordelia started out as selfish but in the end fully committed by keeping the visions that could lead to her death.
Angel has to fight his nature as a demon and did not always believe in the cause, but he is arguably the one who dedicated most to fighting evil after Buffy. Anya similarity had to learn to care for humanity, but is mostly an ally.
Spike as devoted only works for Buffy S7 or Angel S5.
Willow's magic started out as good but she briefly lost sight in addiction. Giles dedicated his life to be a Watcher, but did want to quit multiple times.
I wonder .... Anya works full-time at the magic shop and lives in an appartment with Xander. Xander works at the construction site and lives in an appartment with Anya. Willow is a student and works part-time at the magic shop, while taking care of a 15 year old kid. Tara lost her family ties, and is a student, so she probably lives off a scholarship, and she also takes care of a 15 year old kid.
Where did this widespread Iie, that they "all" lived in Buffy's house and that they "didn't have jobs" come from, please?
It's 2006, and a desperate and guilt-ridden Giles finally has a plan to save his slayer from herself. And from the grief his betrayals have caused her. He may not be able to resurrect Spike after the Fall of L.A., but he can send Buffy back in time, creating a new timeline full of possibilities, choices, and the chance to finally make things right with the love of her life. What will an older and wiser Buffy do when she finds herself back in 1999? Well, one thing is for sure - she will not be dating Riley Finn this time around. Time has been unraveled, and only Buffy has the power to reweave it into something different. Something beautiful.
There's just a tiny bit of magic floating around after Willow ends the Will be Done spell, and it turns the resident captive vampire into a duckling. And he's so adorably angry about it. Question is now... who's going to take care of duckling!Spike? Oh, it's Buffy, of course.
But Spike being a duck doesn't mean everything else goes away. He's got a new perspective, and over time, so does Buffy. Changes to Season 4 grow as time goes on.
Another re-host from AO3. Crack treated seriously, which then grew tiny ducky legs and made a break for things like plot and character development.
Banner by the lovely Nina (HappyWhenItRains), who did the ART and put the banner itself together. That is my sweet littleevil adorable ducky boy!
me and my wife have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer since the middle of last year. I like this cranky weirdo, no matter what weird things the later seasons do to his character!!
BUFFY: You'd think. (Willow pours hot water into a cup) That for the other patient?
WILLOW: Yeah. Thought I'd bring her some tea, help her feel better.
BUFFY: (smiling, teasingly) Mm-hmm?
WILLOW: It's just tea!
It was just to fill a hole; feed a need for them both. A pretend (and secret) engagement to cauterize the loneliness in them both. No feelings involved.
Yeah, right.
Meanwhile, Spike is intent on tracking down the soldiers that put a chip in his head and enacting some very much needed comeuppance, and as luck would have it he's not alone in that goal.
It was just to fill a hole; feed a need for them both. A pretend (and secret) engagement to cauterize the loneliness in them both.
No feelings involved.
Yeah, right.
Meanwhile, Spike is intent on tracking down the soldiers that put a chip in his head and enacting some very much needed comeuppance, and as luck would have it he's not alone in that goal.
When Buffy is kicked out of her house, she is faced with an ambush by Caleb and another Turok-Han, an encounter she definitely doesn't think she can survive - and she doesn't...
The Shanshu prophecy is a very big deal throughout Angel. The prophecy that he will become and live as human, that will be his reward. It’s prevalent from the end of the first season up until the show’s ending when he gives it up. And throughout the show it’s frequently discussed, when will it happen, will it be when he saves x amount of people, will it happen to him or to spike, blablabla. But I’ve just had a realization about it all.
The prophecy has already come true. Angel DID turn human and he did live. For one day, in I Will Remember You. So my theory (obviously like, an in-world one, I dont think it was intended by the show) is that that Was the Shanshu prophecy coming true. Because when that happened, that was Angel’s destiny. The Powers That Be oracles confirmed to him that this is what was meant to happen. It was only his decision to turn back time, to take it all back, that actually reverted it. He decided to do so to save Buffy’s life. If it wasnt for that, Angel would have lived as human for the rest of his life.
So that’s pretty much it, that’s the thought. Throughout this show all of these characters, whether good guys or Wolfram and Hart are trying to figure out when the prophecy will come true, or who it will happen to, or how to prevent it. When in reality, it already has happened. It’s what was meant to have happened. And it was Angel who rejected it, not in the series finale in order to fight Wolfram and Hart, but in season 1 episode 8.
I’m watching Angel and i can’t stop myself from saying Angel like “an-hel” like the Spanish pronunciation. I’m like “you go little an-hel” or “angelito” lmao
truly cordelia chase girl of all time. rich. pretty. bitchy. popular. thinks tact is a waste of time. secretly far less dumb than she lets on. half the evils in town hate her guts and for a solid year the only reason she doesn’t die is that she’s frenemies with the local monster hunters. drives her car into the school in the apocalypse. wants to know if the world’s ending because if so she won’t bother to study for her test. wishes a new reality into being and is immediately killed. her entire personality is a facade yet she always says exactly what she’s thinking. consistently puts herself in danger to save the world and sometimes her peers. complains the whole time. i would do anything for her
but I read about what Faith does in them from her Buffy wiki page …….why do her and Giles spend so much time together ???? I get that he was her watcher in way but ..he didnt seem to care that much about her ?
Also what do you mean he and Buffy werent at speaking terms at one point and he gave his inheritence not to her but Faith ???
I like that they wrote stuff with her and Angel and even Spike but the Giles stuff seems really out of nowhere….
Just thinking about how fascinating it is that Buffy paired Giles’ long term emotional struggle/arc—around whether or not to let Buffy rely on him, how long he should stay in her life, whether she was becoming too dependent on him—with Buffy’s issues around male abandonment. I mean, that is a genuinely interesting dynamic…
HOT TAKE: Xander and Cordelia would sooooooo work for me if Xander wasn’t just generally insufferable! Like nerdy boy and popular girl is amazing especially when she picks on him but he gives it right back to her.
Aw yeah that is a good scene! 😊 Giles surprising the scooby gang with his actual personality was always a good running bit 😆 and on my latest rewatch (last year) I found him pretty effectively charming a lot of the time 👀🤭
I believe in pretty much every possible spike pairing except for the ones I don’t like and even for those it’s like well. I can’t really argue against them all the material is there he could fuck a brick wall and I’d cheer
Let’s start with Dru’s playlist because obviously she’s my fav:
Yes I have a Darla’s playlist for each one of her death/soul-unsouled status. She is the character who come back from the dead more often (to be fair it depends how much you count dying and being made a vampire immediately coming back from the dead; we know Buffy would not think it counts but Angel/Ats does.) And she deserved more playlists, plus I like that each playlist have a different vibe. I had a longer Darla playlist with all those songs together but it’s private, and the vibes were more all over the place. I like the concept of dying= a new playlist.
(I plan of having also three different Buffy’s playlist since she died twice, but the issue is that I think Buffy s1 fits better with Buffy s2 and a single playlist from Buffy s2 to Buffy s5 included will likely be too long… that’s why my Buffy’s playlist for now it’s just a six+ hours of work in progress.)
Faith: similar concept, one playlist for her season three arc (and my femslash fanfiction in the first part) and one for when she wake up after the coma.
(Yeah, there will be another playlist for Faith s4 Ats/Btvs season 7, but the issue is that to make it I have to re-watch in its entirety Ats Season Four. Horrible experience you know.)
Fun fact the first Faith’s playlist (I’ll be the bad guy in the play) and the Drusilla’s playlists are my favourite and they are both exactly 4 Hours and 0 minutes long. Neat.
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