Buffy Episode 3.4: Beauty and the Beasts

Welcome to our discussion of Buffy Season 3 Episode 4: Beauty and the Beasts; wherein all men are beasts, Buffy.

Our drinks this time are the Toxic Heteronormatini and the Irish Tourist—for recipes make sure to check out our Buffytails page at www.worldwithoutshrimp.com. 

Now on to the show: after Snard reinforces her theory of episode 3 being from Angel’s point of view, we begin our long-running discussion of episode order and how they match a similar pattern on Buffy’s journey through each season. This episode is working under almost pure metaphor for all of our poor scoobies, and we realize early on that it might just be the queerest episode of Buffy—and possibly television—ever. Faith has shown up and presented herself as a possible love interest for Buffy, and so our cast and parts of Buffy suddenly halt and catch fire in their attempt at reinforcing heteronormativity. 

Please make sure to take advantage of the amazing deal on Plottr our friend Cameron Sutter is offering for National Novel writing month and help support our podcast at the same time. Also, if you want to read more about writing and track Snard's National Novel Writing Month, make sure to visit www.michelletuckett.com. 

Thank you as always, for listening, sharing, commenting, and generally being the best Gentle Listeners in all the land. Stay tuned next time for Season 3 Episode 5: Homecoming.

Buffy Episode 3.2: Dead Man's Party

Welcome to our discussion of Buffy Season 3 Episode 2: Dead Man's Party; wherein Buffy's family and friends are incomparable assholes except for Giles who snaps off one of the funniest lines we have ever heard. We have had schnapps to wash down the bitter comments, and also work to try and understand why Buffy's friends are terrible. We postulate many ideas, among them that this episode is from Joyce's point of view, and have some very interesting ideas about the origin of Pat and where she fits into the greater Buffyverse (seriously, Snard found evidence). We also discuss the function of the mask as a reflection of Joyce's consciousness and her need to keep up appearances and activates in her absence of the ability to maintain control - a theme that feeds well into the mythological metaphors of this season. 

We have to do a lot of heavy metaphor and character gymnastics in this episode to arc Buffy from her freedom and slayer awakening back into the confines of Sunnydale and the role she is supposed to play as the hero who never shows emotion - setting her up in a way that will prevent her from opening up to Faith when she gets here, and thus creates tension in the story. Our metaphors broadcast all sorts of internal workings and conflicts, and the characters indicate many trends and issues that foreshadows upcoming actions. Love it or hate it, this is a pivotal and telling episode. Plus, Gile's car rant makes it all worth it.  

As always, thank you fro much for listening and all you do for the show. Make sure to like us on Facebook, go to our website to comment and see what else we're up to, and contact us at info@diogenesclubpodcast.com. Until next time, when we get to the the thing Jen has been waiting for since we began.... FAITH!! 

And because you'll need it after this episode, Richard Simmons being fabulous:

Buffy Episode 2.21: Becoming Part 1

In our show we discuss Buffy Season 2 Episode 21: Becoming Part 1; Wherein Angelus demonstrates once again that he is really smart, but also really fucking stupid; Kendra, Slayer of the Vampyres, breaks the first rule of slaying; and, offscreen in Boston, the next slayer is called.

This episode is the first half on one of the most impactful season ends in the history of television. There is an incredible scope of storytelling and foreshadowing going on, all while masterfully expanding our understanding of Angel as a character as well as seeing the origin story of our vampire cast, our knowledge of the Buffyverse, and our big feels that lead up to the heartbreak at the end of the season. We also see very interesting work at expanding our conversation about what happens when you become a vampire and how who you were before and how you are turned dictate much of what type of demon you will become. 

We talk about a lot and cover a ton of very interesting ideas. Among them, the possible origins of Acathla, our glimpse into Scoopy normality, the brilliant conflicts between the characters as both metaphor and people, and work at moving forward with queer metaphors. 

Thank you so much for listening! Please make sure to like us on Facebook, visit our website, comment wherever you see fit to keep the conversation going, and as always we are happy to hear from you if you email us any time at info@diogenesclubpodcast.com. 

We’ll see you next time for Becoming Part 2

And in case you wanted to get more information on queerness and production coding, allow us to present The Celluloid Closet: