Episodes
Monday Apr 27, 2020
Episode 52 - Normal Again / Entropy (feat. Elizabeth Rambo)
Monday Apr 27, 2020
Monday Apr 27, 2020
“I know the world feels like a hard place sometimes, but you’ve got people who love you.”
We live in interesting times, my friends. So returning guest Elizabeth Rambo and I first talk about how we’re both surviving the latest apocalypse, before diving into the uplifting palate cleanser that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Six. To lighten the mood we discuss the divisive and possibly controversial(?) episodes 617, “Normal Again” and 618, “Entropy.” In the former, there’s discussion of Didgeridoo Demons, metacommentary, and how literally to interpret the “Asylumverse.” And in the latter, scary, re-Vengeance Demonized Anya provides some much-needed humor; my Buffy-rage returns with a, well, a vengeance; and gyres widen.
Next: Elizabeth is back for more good fun times as we take on episodes 619, “Seeing Red” [Note: I am NOT looking forward to this one] and 620, “Villains.”
THE BREAKDOWN
Run Time: 01:32:05
00:00:55 - Intro / Guest
00:09:20 - Main Topic
01:28:20 - Outro / Next
THE LIBRARY
Buffy Goes Dark: Essays on the Final Two Seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Television, edited by Lynne Y. Edwards, Elizabeth Rambo, and James B. South
Television Finales: From Howdy Doody to Girls, edited by Douglas L. Howard and David Bianculli
THE LINKS
“‘They told me Sunnydale was gonna be interesting’: Metaphorical Schizophrenia in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” by Vicki Japha, Watcher Junior 10.2 (Fall 2017)
“‘Those whom the powers wish to destroy, they first make mad’: the classical roots of madness in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” by Naomi Alderman (presented at Slayage 2004)
THE MUSIC
“Conversations (feat. Wesley Mead)” by Azura (2017)
“That Kind of Love” by Alison Krauss, Forget About It (
“I’m Going Slightly Mad” by Queen, Innuendo (1991)
THE SCHOLARS
Whedon Studies Association is a non-profit academic organization devoted to the study of the works of Joss Whedon and his associates. They put out Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies, and Watcher Junior: The Undergraduate Journal of Whedon Studies, both blind peer-reviewed twice-yearly online publications. They also host the biennial Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses, which brings all these incredible scholars together to present papers, discuss ways of incorporating Whedon Studies in education, and basically just geek out together.
Wednesday Apr 08, 2020
Episode 51 - Older and Far Away / As You Were / Hell’s Bells (feat. Jessica Hautsch)
Wednesday Apr 08, 2020
Wednesday Apr 08, 2020
Look, my ability to establish and maintain a reliable podcasting schedule has degraded, to say the least, as this process has gone on. I know it. YOU know it. I’m sorry. But this past year of March and April has seriously thrown me off my groove, and not in the fun Disney way with llama faces and maniacal kitten laughter. It’s difficult I think for any of us to bring the fun in at the moment. But I will persevere! WE will persevere! We will get through this thing called Season Six if it’s the last thing we do. (Which it won’t be, because the threat of Season Seven looms menacingly in our future.)
Anyways, Jessica Hautsch is back with me again to share in the joy of James Marsters’ eyebrow acting in 614, “Older and Far Away.” She is also positively GIDDY that 615, “As You Were” is the very last time she’ll ever have to deal with Riley Finn. And how weird is it that Xander’s family cheers for him straight-up murdering a “circus folk” at his almost-but-not-quite wedding?
Next (Week? Month? Year?): Elizabeth Rambo returns to take on the uber-divisive episode 617, “Normal Again” and the 0h-yeah-that-was-an-episode 618, “Entropy.”
THE BREAKDOWN
Run Time: 01:53:25
00:00:55 - Intro / Guest
00:09:37 - Main Topic
01:50:00 - Outro / Next
THE LIBRARY
Library Closed For Filing - Please Come Back Tomorrow
THE MUSIC
“Conversations (feat. Wesley Mead)” by Azura (2017)
“Hells Bells” by AC/DC, Back in Black (1980)
THE SCHOLARS
Whedon Studies Association is a non-profit academic organization devoted to the study of the works of Joss Whedon and his associates. They put out Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies, and Watcher Junior: The Undergraduate Journal of Whedon Studies, both blind peer-reviewed twice-yearly online publications. They also host the biennial Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses, which brings all these incredible scholars together to present papers, discuss ways of incorporating Whedon Studies in education, and basically just geek out together.