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Post by Clare on Sept 23, 2008 8:08:19 GMT -5
2.06 Halloween - Episode #018
The Scooby Gang get trapped in 'cursed' costumes
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 10:58:35 GMT -5
An ok episode, revealing how giles came to fight for the good guys, it turns out he was seeking redemption after a childhood of misguided demon worship. There was a great storyline about the gang turning into their costumes (nice scene with willow walking through a wall right in front of giles), I only wish it happened to more of the gang, buffy and xander were the only ones to loose their memories. From this episode on, xander draws on his 'army experience/memories' and becomes a slightly more useful member of the team.
An enjoyable episode, I give it a 7.
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Post by jennf10 on Nov 25, 2008 18:50:58 GMT -5
It's the most quiet night of the year for the undead, which would mean a quiet night for our Gang, except they're pressganged by Principal Snyder into baby-sitting the kids of Sunnydale while they trick or treat. The gang go to buy their costumes at a new place run by a mysterious Englishman called Ethan Rayne. Xander saves money on a soldier's costume, Buffy chooses a noblewoman's costume to impress Angel, while Willow chooses a revealing outfit, at Buffy's urging. She chickens out and wears a ghost's sheet over it. Ethan is clearly a bad 'un, since he casts a spell to turn people into their costumes. Buffy is now powerless and at the mercy of Spike, Xander is a real soldier, Willow is the Ghost of Hookers Past and everyone else is a monster. Ethan and Giles have some bad history it seems, and Giles brutally beats the spell reversal out of Ethan. This brings everyone back to normal, much to Spike's displeasure.
My Review:
I actually liked this episode. It gave us an insight into the past that Giles never talks about. It also allowed for more screen time for Alysson Hannigan, who is always entertaining to watch.
I thought it was interesting that Buffy was trying to be what she thought Angel would want. Buffy did not think that maybe Angel had grown with the times.
Interesting note, in this episode, Cordy still did not know that Angel was a vampire.
Overall score: 7/10.
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Post by partcynic on Oct 19, 2009 10:24:10 GMT -5
2x06 “Halloween”Episode Rating = 8 It feels so good to be only six episodes into S2, yet have already had two editions worthy of being called classics. While not being a tip-of-the-tongue slice of awesomeness like “Hush” or “Restless”, “Halloween” is an amazing standalone that helps set the precedent for what foe-of-the-week episodes should be like. Introducing an excellent new villain, the story is tightly plotted, well-paced, gives massive development to each of the core four, and is stuffed with laugh-out-loud comedy moments – and strangely enough, it all comes from a freelance writer who never worked for the show again (though I’m assuming Joss was up to his usual tricks in rewriting every script before it was filmed). It’s a powerful counterpoint to the ‘S2 sucked until Angel went evil’ line of reasoning, and is certainly a good candidate for the title of ‘most underrated “Buffy” episode’. What I Liked about “Halloween”:- The teaser scene is unique, establishing that it’s Halloween while having little in common with the main plot. However, the ‘film Buffy fighting’ scheme worked perfectly as an extension of Spike’s behaviour in “School Hard”, and shows how different his approach is to that of the Master. His continued intelligence and love for Drusilla (who is as brilliant as always) makes him a compelling character, and I liked seeing him use the spell event to his own advantage. - This episode has a very simple theme (‘be careful what you wish for’), but executes it flawlessly. It’s also paced well, with every single scene being relevant to its plot, humour and character growth. As a result, it feels like a satisfying, full story, especially in comparison to the flimsiness of its immediate predecessor. - Despite repeatedly stating my annoyance with the omnipresent ‘normal life’ plots for Buffy, this episode had a much more developed and interesting exploration of the concept. I could understand Buffy relishing a chance to be someone else (in particular, someone more traditionally feminine), and she looked gorgeous in the princess gown (it was particularly neat how her hair was an obvious wig at the start, but appeared to be completely natural once she was changed). Her eventual metamorphosis into a flighty noblewoman provided a large portion of the episode’s laughs, and the contrast between the two beings was excellent. It pointed out just how much better the Buffy character is than the usual vapid nitwits teen girls are portrayed as, and her closing scene with Angel was effective in bringing the couple closer. - At this point in the show, this is one of the best Willow development episodes. Her friendship/closeness with Buffy is continuing to blossom (and their ‘girl talk’ always sounds real), and I loved the symbolism of her two costumes. Through the mechanism of the spell, Willow was placed in a position where she was forced to take charge, and she did so admirably, gaining more self-confidence in the process (as we were shown when she finally rejected the ghost outfit and walked home in her ‘sexy’ clothes). It was a lovely way to show the character become more comfortable in her own skin, and having her catch Oz’s eye yet again was a nice bit of continuity. - Although it was brief, I liked the mini Xander plot with Larry. It’s interesting to think that the only male we really see him interact with is Giles, and his weird reaction to being ‘rescued’ by Buffy suggests that he’s not happy with things that might undermine his masculinity. As with Willow, his costume transformation allowed the writers to play with this a little, and I found it humorous that even as an army tough guy, he was still taking orders from the ladies. It was also intriguing to see how Cordy reacted to the new Xander, and her gratitude at being given his jacket (and the way she briefly eyed him up) were cool foreshadows of things to come. - Ethan Rayne is a great villain, and I’m happy that he was granted recurring status. The revelation that he and Giles knew each other was a fascinating development, and twelve years on, it’s still wonderful to see Giles display his Ripper side for the first time. - Cordelia is continuing to be a great character. Her angry rant to Oz about Devin was amusing, and there was a real comedy factor to seeing her run down the street in a cat costume, being chased by a giant beast. It was also clever how she was the one that tipped Willow off to what was happening (since she’d bought her costume at another shop, and hadn’t transformed); which was smart plotting. - Besides the excellent development for all the main characters (honestly, there are few other editions of “Buffy” that give so much to so many), this episode is consistently funny. Buffy and Willow’s scheming is fantastic, and I especially love the cut from their discussion about how taking Giles’ diaries would be wrong to their sneaking session in the library. The whole sequence is hilarious (“A burning hunk of what, exactly?”), and things only get better once the spell hits. There are too many awesome moments to list them all, but my favourites included noblewoman Buffy passing out; Xander’s “She’s a 17th century girl, and you/re a ghost… I just want you know I’m taking a lot on faith here”; “You would take orders from a woman? Are you feeble in some way?”; Giles’ card-scattering reaction to ghost-Willow’s appearance, and his asking her just what she was supposed to be the ghost of. What I Disliked about “Halloween”:- I enjoyed the early parts of this episode, but the ‘Buffy is held up by slaying, heads to the Bronze and finds her love interest with Cordelia’ scene was a straight lift from “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date”. It didn’t help that it was promptly followed by the “I want to be a normal girl” complaining that’s now been in four consecutive episodes – I’m sympathetic towards Buffy, but at this point she needs to ‘get with the program’ (as Cordy would say), else risk becoming a broken record. - In the Willow/Buffy scene set in the girls’ toilets, there’s a little error with the book they examine. Willow clearly states that no name is given for the depicted noblewoman, but when we see the pages, her name is listed right by the picture. - What happened to the invitation rule for the vamp that entered the Summers house after Angel? Was he just a costume wearer who’d been transformed, and did that mean the rules didn’t apply? - The mass warehouse convergence at the end is sloppy. Angel, Xander and Cordy inexplicably know where Buffy is (despite Angel saying he had no clue where she’d gone only a couple of scenes earlier), and then Willow magically appears (when as far as she knew, everyone was still at the Summers house). And how did Spike and his demon horde know where to go? - Why would Spike even need to assemble a group of costume demons? Why not just head out with his own crew and perhaps supplement them with a few of the more powerful newbies? It’s not like they’d look strange walking about. - Angel is restrained too easily at the end. I liked that he was at least struggling against the monsters’ grasps, but he’s supposed to be a good fighter, and should thus have been able to break away. - As so frequently occurs, Spike sure takes his time in biting Buffy. I’m sure he was savouring the moment, but when you’re presented with a chance to eliminate a huge threat who’s already defeated you once, you should take it. Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?I think I like it even more, and while I’m keeping my former rating of eight out of ten, I’m moving it up within the category, to a high eight. Although it doesn’t move me in quite the same way as the nine- and ten-rated episodes do, “Halloween” is definitely a minor masterpiece, and one that’s made more impressive when contrasted with the relative feebleness of “Reptile Boy” before it. After my last review, it was wonderful to have an episode where I didn’t need to reach for positive things to say, and it’s definitely rekindled my enthusiasm for this rewatch and review session. 
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Post by cyclica on Oct 22, 2009 15:45:55 GMT -5
I'm sticking with my '7' rating. This is a fun episode, we get to see character development for willow (going from hiding behind her ghost costume to happily wearing a more revealing costume later, after gaining some confidence by being the leader of the gang for a while), backstory for giles, lots of funny scenes, some development on the willoz relationship, and an insight into what spike's been up to (taping the slayer to see how she fights). All good stuff. Well except the backstory for giles, I could have done without that.  Up to this point they never gave any indication that he was anything other than an academic, certainly that's what dialog from 'the witch' implied. To suddenly say he used to be a badass demon worshipping magic user (which admittedly comes from a later episode, but they laid the groundwork in this one) seems like such a 180. Though on the plus side this storyline brought ethan into the show, and he was a great character. I liked his motivation of just wanting to cause chaos and have fun, and it's nice that giles finally has someone who's arse he can kick. Buffy finally has 'buffy hair'! Yay! I find it interesting how so many later episodes had borrowed ideas from this one. Aside from establishing ethan as a recurring character and making the 'halloween episode' a part of the show, it also introduced the recurring plot device of xander drawing back on his army training. The idea of buffy being jealous of noblewomen was brought back later this season when she first sees drucilla, the idea of cars = demons to someone from the past was used again in 'spin the bottle', and amnesia was used again in both 'stb' and 'tabula rasa'. Plus we get an early hint of xandelia as they bond over trying to break buffy and angel up. This episode really does set up or influence a lot of episodes to come. One thing I only just noticed upon rewatching- at one point buffy mentions that she's known angel less than a year. Since she first met him on her first day of school, it would mean buffy didn't start school in sunnydale at the start of the school year. Which would mean the events of s1 don't take place over the cource of a year like the later season do. There were no big flaws in this episode, though like I said I'm not totally on board with giles's new backstory. And like I said in my previous review I find it a little disappointing that only 2 main characters lost their memory, though I admit I don't know what could have been done to improve this. Overall though the good in this episode far outweighs the bad, and this is one of my favourite episodes of season two. A couple of minor nitpicks- - Where was joyce? They said she wasn't home, but they didn't say where she was. - Why did G.I. xander try to walk through willow before he knew she was a ghost? Was he planning to just bump into her? |
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Post by cyclica on Oct 22, 2009 16:04:22 GMT -5
Buffy and Willow’s scheming is fantastic, and I especially love the cut from their discussion about how taking Giles’ diaries would be wrong to their sneaking session in the library. The whole sequence is hilarious (“A burning hunk of what, exactly?”) I agree, it was a hilarious scene, and I loved watching these usually good, moral characters doing something 'naughty'. It made them feel more real. - In the Willow/Buffy scene set in the girls’ toilets, there’s a little error with the book they examine. Willow clearly states that no name is given for the depicted noblewoman, but when we see the pages, her name is listed right by the picture. -What happened to the invitation rule for the vamp that entered the Summers house after Angel? Was he just a costume wearer who’d been transformed, and did that mean the rules didn’t apply? Good catches, I missed these. - As so frequently occurs, Spike sure takes his time in biting Buffy. I’m sure he was savouring the moment, but when you’re presented with a chance to eliminate a huge threat who’s already defeated you once, you should take it. At that moment she wasn't a huge threat, he had no reason to beleive she would suddenly turn back into her old self. Like you said he was savouring the moment. |
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Post by Clare on Nov 3, 2009 13:49:55 GMT -5
This is one of my favourites of season 2! The whole episode is just fun, the characters are developed really well and there are a few hints at things to come in future episodes (e.g. the Xander/Cordelia and Willow/Oz relationships). Cordelia never gives up - she's supposed to be dating Devon but still flirts with Angel (who looks odd in a pale blue shirt, lol).  It's funny when Cordelia goes into the toilets (where Buffy and Willow are looking through Giles' diaries) and she gets all serious and says she's the "Slayer of Dating" then not much later she gets stood up by Devon.  I love the little "meeting" of Willow and Oz when they bump into each other, but Willow is in a costume again so he doesn't see who she is (until the end  ). I loved the whole idea of Willow becoming a ghost, the scene where she goes to the library and scares Giles by accident is hilarious, and the fact that she grows up a bit in that episode and decides not to put the ghost sheet back on at the end is really nice. It was ironic how even when Buffy and Xander aren't themselves, they still end up pairing with Angel and Cordelia respectively - even though costume-Buffy says she likes "the man with the musket". The part where costume-Xander saves costume-Buffy from costume-Larry (when he tries to kiss her) was really neat because it reflected the scene near the start of the ep when Buffy saved Xander from him. Plus, as costume-Xander says, it gave him a kind of closure. So vampires can be videotaped? I'm sure it was mentioned in the show that they couldn't be captured on film (to do with the 'no reflection' thing) or am I thinking of another show? The dialogue throughout the episode is very good; Cordelia has some great lines: (About Angel) "Oh, he's a vampire. Of course! But the cuddly kind. Like a Carebear with fangs?" and then later on (to costume-Buffy) "It's okay. Angel is a good vampire. He would never hurt you." She doesn't know how right she is! I liked the Xena reference from Willow ("She couldn't've dressed up like Xena?") and when Angel meets costume-Buffy and costume-Xander they both look at him and say in sync "Who are you?". - The teaser scene is unique, establishing that it’s Halloween while having little in common with the main plot. However, the ‘film Buffy fighting’ scheme worked perfectly as an extension of Spike’s behaviour in “School Hard”, and shows how different his approach is to that of the Master. His continued intelligence and love for Drusilla (who is as brilliant as always) makes him a compelling character, and I liked seeing him use the spell event to his own advantage. I agree, it was good to see an Spike showing his intelligence by trying to learn more about Buffy and her fighting style (like how she uses the objects around her in a fight, i.e. the pumpkin, which she throws at the vampire ) rather than just going and fighting her again. I liked how the opening scene was shown from the vampires P.O.V. - since Buffy was fighting a vamp and not with any of the Scoobies, it kind of made it feel like we were spying on her too. They're pressganged by Principal Snyder into baby-sitting the kids of Sunnydale while they trick or treat. Lol, whenever there is an event at Sunnydale High that the students can "volunteer" to take part in, I like how Snyder forces people into doing it (like in "The Puppet Show" too)! - Besides the excellent development for all the main characters (honestly, there are few other editions of “Buffy” that give so much to so many), this episode is consistently funny. Buffy and Willow’s scheming is fantastic, and I especially love the cut from their discussion about how taking Giles’ diaries would be wrong to their sneaking session in the library. The whole sequence is hilarious (“A burning hunk of what, exactly?”), and things only get better once the spell hits. I love the scene where they sneak into the library and Buffy distracts Giles by talking about Jenny ("Ms. Calendar said you were a babe" ). There was a great storyline about the gang turning into their costumes (nice scene with willow walking through a wall right in front of giles), I only wish it happened to more of the gang, buffy and xander were the only ones to loose their memories. I read somewhere that Willow kept her memory and personality (although she actually became a ghost) because her costume was generic. I think it was a shame that most of the little kids that became their costumes just became demons; there could have been more variety, or was that part of Ethan's plan? Well except the backstory for giles, I could have done without that. Up to this point they never gave any indication that he was anything other than an academic, certainly that's what dialog from 'the witch' implied. To suddenly say he used to be a badass demon worshipping magic user (which admittedly comes from a later episode, but they laid the groundwork in this one) seems like such a 180. Though on the plus side this storyline brought ethan into the show, and he was a great character. I liked his motivation of just wanting to cause chaos and have fun, and it's nice that giles finally has someone who's arse he can kick. I liked Giles' backstory, it added more depth to his character and was good to see that even Giles has a darker side ("Ripper"). I love all the scenes between Giles and Ethan throughout the whole show, they are true arch-nemeses! - Why did G.I. xander try to walk through willow before he knew she was a ghost? Was he planning to just bump into her? Perhaps he was just going to push her out of the way... or he expected her to move. - Where was joyce? They said she wasn't home, but they didn't say where she was. No idea, Buffy just says she's gonna be out on the night (Willow: "Where're you meeting Angel?" Buffy: "Here. After trick-or-treating. Mom's gonna be out.") - What happened to the invitation rule for the vamp that entered the Summers house after Angel? Was he just a costume wearer who’d been transformed, and did that mean the rules didn’t apply? I noticed that too. I was thinking it was either someone who was in a vampire costume and became one because of the spell, but since he wasn't a real vamp he didn't need to be invited in, or maybe because Buffy was temporarily someone else and not a member of the household and her mam was out of town, the house became open to vampires... - Why would Spike even need to assemble a group of costume demons? Why not just head out with his own crew and perhaps supplement them with a few of the more powerful newbies? It’s not like they’d look strange walking about. Maybe, because at least if the costume demons got injured or killed it wouldn't matter to him because he'd still have his own crew left afterwards - why lose members of his gang when there are plenty of "demons" walking around that he could take charge of? - The mass warehouse convergence at the end is sloppy. Angel, Xander and Cordy inexplicably know where Buffy is (despite Angel saying he had no clue where she’d gone only a couple of scenes earlier), and then Willow magically appears (when as far as she knew, everyone was still at the Summers house). And how did Spike and his demon horde know where to go? I never questioned how they found each other when I was watching it, I guess it's because it's done a lot (not just on Buffy tVS) - characters just happen to know where the others are and turn up there. Overall pros: Excellent character development, great plot and twist (Giles knows Ethan from the past), just a generally entertaining episode. Overall cons: Not enough variety of costumes (from Ethan's) for the children, the characters manage to meet up when they shouldn't know where the others are. Rating: 8.5/10 (subject to change ) |
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Post by cyclica on Nov 3, 2009 17:16:10 GMT -5
Thanks for reviewing clare. I was beginning to think no one was going to do any halloween reviews, I was feeling a bit foolish reviewing them all on my own. So vampires can be videotaped? I'm sure it was mentioned in the show that they couldn't be captured on film (to do with the 'no reflection' thing) or am I thinking of another show? I remember cordy looking at photos of angel and saying "it's not that vampiress don't photograph, it's just that they don't photograph well". Perhaps you're thinking of that line? I read somewhere that Willow kept her memory and personality (although she actually became a ghost) because her costume was generic. I think it was a shame that most of the little kids that became their costumes just became demons; there could have been more variety, or was that part of Ethan's plan? I've never heard the explanation that willow's costume was generic. I just figured willow kept her memory because she was still willow (only dead), she hadn't become another person. I agree that most of the kids seemed to be demons. I think maybe the other kids just ran away, even if they became their costumes they would still run after seeing demons. But still I would have liked to have seen the other kids change too. I love all the scenes between Giles and Ethan throughout the whole show, they are true arch-nemeses! I agree. I loved all the scenes they had together in 'A new man', it's a shame ethan didn't come back after that. I noticed that too. I was thinking it was either someone who was in a vampire costume and became one because of the spell, but since he wasn't a real vamp he didn't need to be invited in, or maybe because Buffy was temporarily someone else and not a member of the household and her mam was out of town, the house became open to vampires... I just had a thought - maybe the person who used to be a vampire was someone buffy had invited in her home at some point previously, and since they're invited once they're always invited. Maybe, because at least if the costume demons got injured or killed it wouldn't matter to him because he'd still have his own crew left afterwards - why lose members of his gang when there are plenty of "demons" walking around that he could take charge of? Plus demons are stronger than vampires, even little ones. |
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Post by partcynic on Nov 4, 2009 17:32:50 GMT -5
Ditto from me. Apologies for not taking part myself, but rewriting the reviews I lost has been my priority. It hasn't helped that I really dislike "All the Way" and "Life of the Party", so they invariably lost out to me sitting down to review "Surprise" and "Innocence" again. I agree with cyclica on this one - I always assumed Willow stayed herself because she just transformed into her own ghost. I think he was intending to do the 'manly' thing and escort the supposedly helpless woman out of harm's way. He approaches her as if to take hold of her, but then obviously finds that she's incorporeal. |
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Post by cyclica on Nov 6, 2009 17:39:19 GMT -5
Apologies for not taking part myself, but rewriting the reviews I lost has been my priority. It hasn't helped that I really dislike "All the Way" and "Life of the Party" so they invariably lost out to me sitting down to review "Surprise" and "Innocence"; again. I didn't want to watch 'all the way' again either. As I put the dvd in, I said to myself 'wait, what have I gotten myself into?' If you didn't want to do the reviews then fine, but I would appreciate any comments you could leave on mine. The only reason I'm re-reviewing these episodes again is to spark discussion, and if I do a review that no one replies to (or gives me any indication that they've even read) then what's the point? |
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Post by partcynic on Nov 6, 2009 18:21:37 GMT -5
Haha, my condolences. Little would make me want to watch that episode (or to be honest 90% of S6/7), but I will knuckle down to it if this rewatch and review fest gets that far. Sure - I understand where you're coming from. I personally prefer not to comment until I've written my own review (so I don't unintentionally copy anyone), but I will reply to your future S2 reviews since I've already done a decent number of mine. |
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Up to this point they never gave any indication that he was anything other than an academic, certainly that's what dialog from 'the witch' implied. To suddenly say he used to be a badass demon worshipping magic user (which admittedly comes from a later episode, but they laid the groundwork in this one) seems like such a 180. Though on the plus side this storyline brought ethan into the show, and he was a great character. I liked his motivation of just wanting to cause chaos and have fun, and it's nice that giles finally has someone who's arse he can kick. 
It's funny when Cordelia goes into the toilets (where Buffy and Willow are looking through Giles' diaries) and she gets all serious and says she's the "Slayer of Dating" then not much later she gets stood up by Devon. 
).