Hellmouth

Buffy Episode 2.22: Becoming Part 2

Today's episode is all about Buffy Season 2 Episode 22: Becoming; Wherein Buffy loses everything but herself and we need a f***ing truckload of Kleenex. We talk at great length about this masterpiece because So much happens in this episode, and all of it is crazy important; we discuss some (we think) theories about Whistler and his origins and why maybe we’re supposed to not like him, discuss how the story progresses through both metaphor and character in masterful strokes that show us what is happening to Buffy, defend and also discuss Xander’s worst lie ever and why he says what he does.

This episode transcends all that comes before it in many ways; marking an end of the innocence and previous reality for Buffy and all of her Scoobies, both as metaphor and as characters. One major hallmark of this is the strong and blatant correlation to Buffy showing her mom that she is the Slayer as a coming out, and coding Slayers as bi-sexaul, a trend that if you are watching for it (and believe us, as we're watching) is thick and fascinating as a motivator for much of the rest of the show. This is the event horizon that catapults Buffy into a new world of storytelling and metaphor from here on out. 

As always, thank you so much for listening! Please comment, like, share, and participate in any way you see fit to help us boost our signal. Make sure to like us of Facebook and feel free to email us at info@diogenesclubpodcast.com. 

After some technological near-disasters where the audio of this episode was saved only by the talents of Michelle's techno-pagan boyfriend Alex, we are finally back on track and ready to go! You can ignore our discussion of taking a week off and get your engines running for what comes next. There will be custom cocktails, more explicit discussion of myth in Buffy, and maybe even some Mad Libs. 

Stay tuned!!! 

Buffy Episode 2.11: Ted

Today we celebrate Valentine’s Day Hellmouth-style with our discussion of Buffy Season 2 Episode 11 Ted: Wherein Buffy performs several acts that she will deny for the rest of the series. We investigate the possibly Greek myth themes of Ted and the other robots found on the Hellmouth (hint: it’s Pygmalion) and also it’s heavy foreshadowing of Faith’s character arc and vulnerabilities along with some incredibly strong similarities between Ted and the Mayor. We also track Joyce’s downward momentum as Buffy’s mom and introduce the Faith and Buffy Bell. 

One of the very interesting aspects of this episode is how much it exposes the vulnerabilities and character arc of Faith later on and sets the stage for a lack of understanding that leads to her to working with the Mayor. Once again, we see that there’s no such thing as a standalone episode of Buffy.  

We’re still trying to get 10 reviews on iTunes to help boost our signal, and Michelle (Snard) is eagerly working on incentives and rewards for as soon as our milestones of 10, 15, and 20 reviews are reached. 

Thank you so much for listening! 

For reference, Manslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as discussed in our episode.