Buffy Re-Watch!

As we continue working our way through Season 1 with "Angel," "I Robot, You Jane," and "The Puppet Show" (scary ventriloquist dummies - always a guaranteed crowd-pleaser!), we also get to enjoy the thoughtful commentary of the very observant, dryly funny and in no way reminiscent of Giles, Matthew Pateman. I've known him for a number of years now and his commentary never fails to make me go "hmmm." (He also has a tendency to make me metaphorically smack my forehead and say, "Of course! Why didn't I see that before?" Not a bad thing in a critic. That he also manages to be funny while doing all of this - there's your superplus. Click here and you'll see what I mean.) Anyway, this is his week.

Season 1 was a while back and Pateman points out that some of the references (especially to technology) don't hold up well in a contemporary context. Then again, texts need to be met on the ground on which they were created - Jane Eyre didn't have a cell phone, either.

In these three episodes, Jenny and Giles begin to circle their mutual attraction. Under duress, Xander, Willow, and Buffy perform at a school talent show (stay for the credits!). And - oh, yeah - the mysterious, brooding, somewhat-older-than-Buffy Angel (played by a very young David Boreanaz - that bit about vampires not aging is a total lie) turns out to be a vampire who has been around long enough to have read the first edition of Jude the Obscure when it was hot off the presses. Well, what relationship doesn't have its quirks?