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shadowkatI'm procrastinating dinner, mainly because I don't know what to eat? (I have to throw out the chicken and chicken soup that I made last weekend - and haven't touched, after getting incredibly ill. I didn't get ill because of it? But the idea of reminds me of it - so just no.)
Both Crazy Workplace and Apartment Complex are having holiday parties the second week of December, and since I will be around - I should probably go to them. There's really no excuse not to. They are easy to get to, convenient, and I don't have to do all that much. Can't really eat that much at them, but I'll survive. Gluten Intolerance or Ceiliac (I'm not as severe as some - so gluten intolerance is probably the better description, although I have the gene for ceiliac disease) - means I can't eat a lot of things. And being diabetic kind of makes that even more true?
But I can stay a short period of time at both, then pop off elsewhere? The Apartment Complex one is in the lobby and sigh, a potluck. The Workplace one is in a conference room down the hall and around the corner, before I hit the bathrooms, from my cubicle - so close proximity and into ugly sweaters (I don't own any). I don't have travel to it, or take an elevator. There's really no excuse to miss them. (Social Anxiety is NOT a viable excuse or so I keep reminding myself.)
There's a new list of top 100 books - that is kind of interesting? - it's the Australian Radio List or what I want to call the Top 100 Books that have been, will be or are soon to be adapted into movies or television series. I've either read, tried to read, seen or tried to watch over half of them - some I have on my to see/to read list, and actually own. I could literally go down a good portion of that list and give recommendations. I'm tempted.
Decided on the left over baked salmon, celery, carrots and some quinoa.
Then watched Buffy S4 Primeval, after watching Yoko Factor the night before.
Buffy S4 Rewatch - Yoko Factor and Primeval
After watching Yoko Factor again, I get why the fandom split over the character of Spike to the degree it did? I'd forgotten how cool Spike was as an anti-hero character, and how good an antagonist. You can tell that the actor playing him - really understood the character. Also, the writers left the character up to the actor to interpret - they gave him little to no direction on what to do with his character, outside of being evil, enjoying killing people, with the intent of being killed off. Actually the best antagonists/anti-heroes in Buffy were Angelus/Angel and Spike, they were also ironically her best and most effective (from a storyline, character emotional arc, and thematic perspective) romantic love interests.
And, I think a portion of the fandom really wanted Spike to stay an antagonist or the cool anti-hero. One of the things I've realized over time is folks watch television differently, which makes sense, since we all think differently. Unfortunately for that portion of the fandom, the writers wanted to explore the character a bit more, and see what the actor was willing to do. The actor, who was a desperate theater actor struggling to raise not one but two kids, was more invested in that show succeeding than anyone else. This show if it lasted, and continued to be well-written - could save him. He was also quite a bit older than most of the cast - so knew the landscape a heck of lot more and what was actually available for him out there. He was the oldest cast member, outside of Head, who was desperately homesick for Great Britain at this point. So, you're a television writer, and you have to come up with 22 episodes a year, each 40-45 minutes in length, and keep an audience interested - and most of your actors are getting burned out, as are some of the writers - but here is this actor who is exciting, has chemistry with everybody, knows his lines, doesn't cause any problems with anyone, and his chemistry with the lead is off the charts, plus she's energized when she works with him. What to do? I give the writers credit for what they did. Not everyone would.
Spike basically plays Iago, and manages to split apart the Scooby Gang on Adam's orders. It may well be the best arc episode in the season. Actually the best arc episodes, weirdly, focus on Spike - The Initiative and Yoko Factor. We're in Spike and Buffy's perspective for the most part, and Buffy is having a really bad day, while Spike is having a really good day. He has help, ironically, from Angel- who manages to piss off Riley and separate Buffy and Riley again, setting Riley up to be taken by Adam.
What's interesting about Angel and Buffy's cross-overs to each other's series - is that Buffy only crosses over to Angel in S1. She doesn't come to visit Angel in LA again during the entire series. Not at all. They wanted her to in S5, but Gellar was unavailable due to scheduling commitments. Angel does make one final visit in the second to last episode of S7 of Buffy. So Angel visits Buffy on screen in her series approximately twice in S4, and once in S7. Buffy visits Angel on screen in his series twice in S1 Angel and not at all after that. Clearly the writers wanted the two series to stand on their own, and in order for that to work, the leads couldn't be together.
Angel is the other reason Yoko Factor works. Also an unnecessary reminder of why Riley and Buffy don't quite work on-screen. Buffy sizzles with Angel, they aren't touching and they sizzle. Riley...is not quite there? Angel is just more interesting. When I was watching this live in 1999-2001, I liked Riley and Riley/Buffy. I still do. It's a very different dynamic than it was with Angel. And it doesn't work for very different reasons, some of which are largely situational (Dawn is thrust into Buffy's life, and her mother gets ill - so Buffy is juggling to much, and one ball has to get dropped, and it ends up being her relationship with Riley). Add to all of that, Riley's own insecurities, and issues. And it just can't work. It may have worked, if Dawn didn't exist and Buffy's mother had lived. Also, if Riley wasn't so jealous of Angel, and needed a mission - which may have always been an issue and eventually come between them regardless. I don't know, I've not re-watched S5 yet and haven't in a long time.
At any rate, Yoko Factor reminds me of why I love this series. Snappy banter, which is just a joy to behold (a lot of television writers ironically can't write dialogue - how they become television writers without being able to write good dialogue is beyond me?). Also, Adam is actually palpable in the episode - due to Spike. I was actually rooting for him to get his chip out and disappointed he didn't. Although, they'd have to kill him off. So that wasn't happening.
There's a hilarious scene where Xander gives Spike a gun, and Spike gleefully points it at him - only to get a migraine. Xander then informs him it is a fake gun, which makes it even worse. Apparently Spike can't physically hurt anyone himself, he can verbally hurt them or watch while someone else does or plan it. Just not do it himself. So, Yoko Factor establishes the rules of the chip to both Spike, the Scooby Gang and the viewer, as does Doomed.
Primeval - eh, this feels like watching a bad comic book brought to life. I remember liking it better in the early 00s. It doesn't age well, and is kind of on the campy side? Forrest is ...annoyingly misogynistic - so much so, that it doesn't surprise me that Whedon went there again with Warren and Caleb. I prefer the villains who aren't misogynistic. I really did not like the villians in S4 at all. This episode just reminds me of why.
The production, stunts, makeup, etc are stellar for a low-budget television production on a small network. Amazing actually. Considering. The storyline of the episode, including the spell that they use, was more or less uplifted from various comics that the writers were reading at the time. (IF you are at all curious? It was Alan Moore's Promethia comics, I think? I read them, they are overrated like most of Moore's comics, and kind of skeevy, making me wonder about Moore. There's a sex scene of tantric sex between a young woman and an old man which I can't unsee.) I wish the story was better. There a good moments here and there? But overall - it is reads like a cheesy comic book. This episode was written by Fury, so, there you go. Some people love it, because the four main characters (Giles, Xander, Willow, and Buffy come together and defeat the villain via a spell, using mysticism.) I liked it when I was in my early 30s, now I think it's silly.
Note while this is the last arc episode? It's not the last episode of the season. Which is interesting, and different from S1-3, in which it would have been the last episode. Showing that S4 was meant to be a bridge episode between S3 and S5.
Some say this is the best episode of S4, IMBD did, which makes me wonder about some of their reviewers? I mean obviously HUSH is the best episode, with several others coming close. HUSH is among the best of the series. Each season has one or two standout episodes. S4 is hands down - HUSH.
***
Crazy Workplace
Breaking Bad: I swear this place could be a Paddy Chafesky play. It is a Paddy Chafesky play. It might even be better if it was.
Me: Paddy Chafesky wrote Network right?
Breaking Bad: Yup, excellent writer.
ME: Agreed. I read all his plays in high school. (Don't remember them, but I did read them.)
I even put a Paddy Chafesky quote from NETWORK in my high school yearbook. "I'm Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take any longer." I kind of regret doing that. But I found it amusing at the time.
***
Now that the Vertigo is blessedly gone, I've a ENT on Monday about it. (Taking the day off.) I'd rather have had the ENT appointment on Tuesday when it was still there, bugging me. On the other hand - I wouldn't have been able to get to the ENT appointment or provided coherent information, so maybe not.
Both Crazy Workplace and Apartment Complex are having holiday parties the second week of December, and since I will be around - I should probably go to them. There's really no excuse not to. They are easy to get to, convenient, and I don't have to do all that much. Can't really eat that much at them, but I'll survive. Gluten Intolerance or Ceiliac (I'm not as severe as some - so gluten intolerance is probably the better description, although I have the gene for ceiliac disease) - means I can't eat a lot of things. And being diabetic kind of makes that even more true?
But I can stay a short period of time at both, then pop off elsewhere? The Apartment Complex one is in the lobby and sigh, a potluck. The Workplace one is in a conference room down the hall and around the corner, before I hit the bathrooms, from my cubicle - so close proximity and into ugly sweaters (I don't own any). I don't have travel to it, or take an elevator. There's really no excuse to miss them. (Social Anxiety is NOT a viable excuse or so I keep reminding myself.)
There's a new list of top 100 books - that is kind of interesting? - it's the Australian Radio List or what I want to call the Top 100 Books that have been, will be or are soon to be adapted into movies or television series. I've either read, tried to read, seen or tried to watch over half of them - some I have on my to see/to read list, and actually own. I could literally go down a good portion of that list and give recommendations. I'm tempted.
Decided on the left over baked salmon, celery, carrots and some quinoa.
Then watched Buffy S4 Primeval, after watching Yoko Factor the night before.
Buffy S4 Rewatch - Yoko Factor and Primeval
After watching Yoko Factor again, I get why the fandom split over the character of Spike to the degree it did? I'd forgotten how cool Spike was as an anti-hero character, and how good an antagonist. You can tell that the actor playing him - really understood the character. Also, the writers left the character up to the actor to interpret - they gave him little to no direction on what to do with his character, outside of being evil, enjoying killing people, with the intent of being killed off. Actually the best antagonists/anti-heroes in Buffy were Angelus/Angel and Spike, they were also ironically her best and most effective (from a storyline, character emotional arc, and thematic perspective) romantic love interests.
And, I think a portion of the fandom really wanted Spike to stay an antagonist or the cool anti-hero. One of the things I've realized over time is folks watch television differently, which makes sense, since we all think differently. Unfortunately for that portion of the fandom, the writers wanted to explore the character a bit more, and see what the actor was willing to do. The actor, who was a desperate theater actor struggling to raise not one but two kids, was more invested in that show succeeding than anyone else. This show if it lasted, and continued to be well-written - could save him. He was also quite a bit older than most of the cast - so knew the landscape a heck of lot more and what was actually available for him out there. He was the oldest cast member, outside of Head, who was desperately homesick for Great Britain at this point. So, you're a television writer, and you have to come up with 22 episodes a year, each 40-45 minutes in length, and keep an audience interested - and most of your actors are getting burned out, as are some of the writers - but here is this actor who is exciting, has chemistry with everybody, knows his lines, doesn't cause any problems with anyone, and his chemistry with the lead is off the charts, plus she's energized when she works with him. What to do? I give the writers credit for what they did. Not everyone would.
Spike basically plays Iago, and manages to split apart the Scooby Gang on Adam's orders. It may well be the best arc episode in the season. Actually the best arc episodes, weirdly, focus on Spike - The Initiative and Yoko Factor. We're in Spike and Buffy's perspective for the most part, and Buffy is having a really bad day, while Spike is having a really good day. He has help, ironically, from Angel- who manages to piss off Riley and separate Buffy and Riley again, setting Riley up to be taken by Adam.
What's interesting about Angel and Buffy's cross-overs to each other's series - is that Buffy only crosses over to Angel in S1. She doesn't come to visit Angel in LA again during the entire series. Not at all. They wanted her to in S5, but Gellar was unavailable due to scheduling commitments. Angel does make one final visit in the second to last episode of S7 of Buffy. So Angel visits Buffy on screen in her series approximately twice in S4, and once in S7. Buffy visits Angel on screen in his series twice in S1 Angel and not at all after that. Clearly the writers wanted the two series to stand on their own, and in order for that to work, the leads couldn't be together.
Angel is the other reason Yoko Factor works. Also an unnecessary reminder of why Riley and Buffy don't quite work on-screen. Buffy sizzles with Angel, they aren't touching and they sizzle. Riley...is not quite there? Angel is just more interesting. When I was watching this live in 1999-2001, I liked Riley and Riley/Buffy. I still do. It's a very different dynamic than it was with Angel. And it doesn't work for very different reasons, some of which are largely situational (Dawn is thrust into Buffy's life, and her mother gets ill - so Buffy is juggling to much, and one ball has to get dropped, and it ends up being her relationship with Riley). Add to all of that, Riley's own insecurities, and issues. And it just can't work. It may have worked, if Dawn didn't exist and Buffy's mother had lived. Also, if Riley wasn't so jealous of Angel, and needed a mission - which may have always been an issue and eventually come between them regardless. I don't know, I've not re-watched S5 yet and haven't in a long time.
At any rate, Yoko Factor reminds me of why I love this series. Snappy banter, which is just a joy to behold (a lot of television writers ironically can't write dialogue - how they become television writers without being able to write good dialogue is beyond me?). Also, Adam is actually palpable in the episode - due to Spike. I was actually rooting for him to get his chip out and disappointed he didn't. Although, they'd have to kill him off. So that wasn't happening.
There's a hilarious scene where Xander gives Spike a gun, and Spike gleefully points it at him - only to get a migraine. Xander then informs him it is a fake gun, which makes it even worse. Apparently Spike can't physically hurt anyone himself, he can verbally hurt them or watch while someone else does or plan it. Just not do it himself. So, Yoko Factor establishes the rules of the chip to both Spike, the Scooby Gang and the viewer, as does Doomed.
Primeval - eh, this feels like watching a bad comic book brought to life. I remember liking it better in the early 00s. It doesn't age well, and is kind of on the campy side? Forrest is ...annoyingly misogynistic - so much so, that it doesn't surprise me that Whedon went there again with Warren and Caleb. I prefer the villains who aren't misogynistic. I really did not like the villians in S4 at all. This episode just reminds me of why.
The production, stunts, makeup, etc are stellar for a low-budget television production on a small network. Amazing actually. Considering. The storyline of the episode, including the spell that they use, was more or less uplifted from various comics that the writers were reading at the time. (IF you are at all curious? It was Alan Moore's Promethia comics, I think? I read them, they are overrated like most of Moore's comics, and kind of skeevy, making me wonder about Moore. There's a sex scene of tantric sex between a young woman and an old man which I can't unsee.) I wish the story was better. There a good moments here and there? But overall - it is reads like a cheesy comic book. This episode was written by Fury, so, there you go. Some people love it, because the four main characters (Giles, Xander, Willow, and Buffy come together and defeat the villain via a spell, using mysticism.) I liked it when I was in my early 30s, now I think it's silly.
Note while this is the last arc episode? It's not the last episode of the season. Which is interesting, and different from S1-3, in which it would have been the last episode. Showing that S4 was meant to be a bridge episode between S3 and S5.
Some say this is the best episode of S4, IMBD did, which makes me wonder about some of their reviewers? I mean obviously HUSH is the best episode, with several others coming close. HUSH is among the best of the series. Each season has one or two standout episodes. S4 is hands down - HUSH.
***
Crazy Workplace
Breaking Bad: I swear this place could be a Paddy Chafesky play. It is a Paddy Chafesky play. It might even be better if it was.
Me: Paddy Chafesky wrote Network right?
Breaking Bad: Yup, excellent writer.
ME: Agreed. I read all his plays in high school. (Don't remember them, but I did read them.)
I even put a Paddy Chafesky quote from NETWORK in my high school yearbook. "I'm Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take any longer." I kind of regret doing that. But I found it amusing at the time.
***
Now that the Vertigo is blessedly gone, I've a ENT on Monday about it. (Taking the day off.) I'd rather have had the ENT appointment on Tuesday when it was still there, bugging me. On the other hand - I wouldn't have been able to get to the ENT appointment or provided coherent information, so maybe not.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-22 02:40 am (UTC)I liked your reviews of the episodes. Gave me some things to think about.....
no subject
Date: 2025-11-22 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-22 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-22 08:46 pm (UTC)