Episode 64 - Chosen (feat. Nikki Stafford, Elizabeth Rambo, and Arlo Wiley)

“What are we gonna do now?”

 

All good things, as the saying goes. It’s been quite a journey, this rewatch and analysis of a show I’ve had a mostly-love-but-just-a-little-bit-hate relationship with for the past 20+ years, and I’d like to think we’ve all learned some things. For example, in this very episode I learn how to stop worrying and love the flawed metaphor at the end of the series, and you all have learned that I’m an insufferable twit. But fortunately I keep pulling y’all back in with wonderful guest hosts who are always more intelligent than myself, and this discussion of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer finale “Chosen” is no different as I welcome back a panel of fan-favorites. Original guest Nikki Stafford, most frequent guest Elizabeth Rambo, and most barely tolerated guest Arlo Wiley are here to pay their respects to a pop culture phenomenon that has spoken to and shaped each of us in immeasurable ways.

 

NEXT: As we leave the smoking crater of Sunnydale behind us, we head to the City of Angels, or one Angel in particular at least. After an as-yet-undetermined pause, Conversations with Dead People will return for a five season exploration the first vampire with a soul and his quest for redemption.

 

 

BREAKDOWN

00:00:55  -  Intro / Guests

00:04:14  -  Main Topic

01:39:46  -  Outro / Next

 

LIBRARY

Bite Me!: The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Seven Seasons One Book), by Nikki Stafford

Buffy Goes Dark: Essays on the Final Two Season 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 Deli Counter of Justice, written/edited by Paul Smith, Arlo Wiley, and Eric Sipple

 

LINKS

Nikki Stafford’s Great Buffy Rewatch Archive 

Whedonology: An Academic Whedon Studies Bibliography

 

MUSIC

“Conversations (feat. Wesley Mead)” by Azura (2017)

“Look What We’ve Become” by Grace Potter, Midnight (2015)