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Post by Clare on Sept 26, 2008 9:51:02 GMT -5
5.08 Shadow - Episode #086
Buffy struggles to deal with the news of Joyce's illness, but must keep it together to fight a snake-demon summoned by Glory to find the Key.
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Feb 9, 2009 17:22:18 GMT -5
Shadow is an ok episode. Theres a little too much joyce hospital drama for my liking though. And I'm not totally on board with the plot - glory summons a giant snake to find the key, but not to retrieve it? That snake could easily have grabbed dawn and taken her back to glory.
But there's a few good moments, enough to keep me happy. Like spike sniffing buffy's clothes (slayer musk, its bitter and aggravating), and giles selling spell ingredients to glory without realising who she is.
I give this ep a 5.
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Post by partcynic on Aug 11, 2010 13:08:39 GMT -5
5x08 “Shadow”
Episode Rating = 5
Your standard S5 episode, “Shadow” is a respectable example of the year’s template done properly. While hardly being a classic, it strikes a good balance between drama, comedy and action, and almost everything that happens is important to the character and story arcs. That doesn’t quite excuse the ‘”Dawson’s Creek” with a monster’ vibe present here, but I’ll concede that if this were a ”Dawson’s Creek” episode, it would be in the top two percent of that show’s output, thanks to its emotional heft and great acting from Sarah Michelle Gellar.
What I Liked about “Shadow”:
- Despite being pure soap opera in its execution, the scenes with Buffy and Joyce were powerful. I truly felt for both of them, and Buffy’s emotional journey made sense. I liked how we were shown her struggling to keep on top of things, attempting to prioritise Dawn’s welfare despite her own fears and pain. The first act break was excellently done (particularly how the dialogue faded out upon Buffy hearing that Joyce had a brain tumour, which was a perfect symbol for her state of mind in that moment), as was her difficulty keeping it together when the doctor was questioning her. Her later determination to ‘fix’ things was understandable (and built nicely upon concepts introduced back in “Killed By Death”), and it was fitting how she used the snake as an outlet for her grief and frustration.
- Kristine Sutherland and Sarah Michelle Gellar work well together, and they ably portrayed the emotion of their scenes. It’s a shame that the first time Joyce was given a substantial storyline was also the last, as Kristine is capable of performing beyond the level of the material she’s typically been provided with.
- With the exception of her screaming when the snake appeared (that sound just goes right through me), Dawn was good. The ‘sleeping angel that Buffy must protect’ shots in the early hospital scenes were a bit much, but she was generally likeable, and her conversation with Riley was one of her more mature and sympathetic moments.
- It was neat to see Ben again briefly, and sending the doctor away so that Buffy could have a minute to regroup was a kind gesture.
- I liked the goings-on at the Magic Box, and the shop’s new ad was comedic (the proud proclamation that they carry “death charms!” in the bottom-left corner) and nicely plot-relevant. It was novel and interesting to have Giles unwittingly sell Glory the items she needed, and it was unnerving to think that the characters came close to disaster, almost without realising it.
- Anya is particularly good here. Her bewildered “are you stupid?” to Giles was funny (as were the responses he and Xander gave), and I also laughed at her comments about bunny worshippers, as well as her excellent statement about not wanting to begin the day with a slaughter being a commentary on how much she’d changed. She’s fitting into the show brilliantly now that she has a role beyond ‘Xander’s girlfriend’, and works well in tandem with Giles.
- Tara’s comments about Glory were interesting, and it’s pleasing that she’s being more pro-active when interacting with the other Scoobs. For character development purposes, I would have liked to have seen her behavioural change given a tie to the gang’s accepting her in “Family”, but the basic message came across fine.
What I found to be a mixed bag about “Shadow”:
- Spike’s token scene at the Summers’ house is passable on the surface (“Slayer musk - it’s bitter and aggravating!”), but I don’t like how the show is presenting his attraction to Buffy. For all of Joss Whedon’s “I’m a feminist” posturing, it’s frankly creepy how the series is acting as though a man entering a woman’s home without permission, rummaging through her personal belongings and violating her privacy is funny. It’s not – it’s called stalking.
- I enjoyed all of Glory’s scenes, which had great dialogue (with the sole exception of “chill worm, I’m gonna make you a star!”) and plenty of amusing exchanges with Dreg. I also liked the contrast between she and regular demons (living in a high-rise apartment, etc), and how it was acknowledged (the cut to her after Xander’s line about “the usual”). However, the poor quality of Clare Kramer’s acting dragged everything down – she’s a big ham, and not in a good way. As a character, Glory had the potential to be both funny and disturbing, but she instead comes across as histrionic.
- Now that Xander has a steady job, it might be good to refer to him actually doing it. It’s plausible that he could be on a day off during this episode, but he shouldn’t have the same amount of free time as the college-student characters.
What I Disliked about “Shadow”:
- The recap section is overlong and includes information that isn’t necessary for understanding the episode’s story.
- As always, the music bugged me. Bits and pieces of it are okay, but huge portions suck. I wasn’t impressed by the return of that dreadful, horn-led fight music, nor the sappy piano stuff playing over the montage. Are if we are going to forced to listen to this kind of amateurish dreck, could we at least have it played on real instruments, and not those Casio monsters best relegated to the dark realms of Eighties synth-pop?
- Since this episode takes place the day after “Fool For Love”, shouldn’t Buffy still be troubled by her nearly-fatal staking?
- The snake costume would have been cringeworthy in the low-budget days of S1, and it’s no more acceptable in S5. I couldn’t engage with its scenes thanks to the glaring fakeness, though it at least supplied some (unintentional) laughs to offset the Buffy/Joyce material. The CGI version was slightly improved, but it had its own issues – such as the multiple instances of bad greenscreening (like when Buffy leaps atop the snake and chokes/kills it) that spoiled its believability.
- When the snake identified Dawn as the key, why didn’t it just grab her and transport her to Glory?
- I have no idea what the writers were attempting to accomplish with Riley. Considering that they’ve usually tried to present him as a decent guy (and will revert to this portrayal at the end of “Into the Woods”), I’m confused as to whether he was intended to come across as badly as he does here. His visible discomfort upon hearing Dawn say that Buffy doesn’t cry over him all the time made him seem like an ass, and I had no interest in his vampire-biting excursion. On top of that, we also got the bizarre ending, which tried to emphasise his disconnection from Buffy, but missed the mark entirely. It was horrendous that he was pouting because Buffy chose to tend to the needs of her newly-diagnosed, cancer sufferer mother over his, and I really hope the writers weren’t misguided enough to think that people would find this reaction acceptable.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
I feel roughly similar. Like a lot of S5 material, it has that certain amount of stodge that comes from taking the ‘chapters in a book’ approach over the ‘short story’ one, but the bare bones of the writing are strong, and the only real issues come from secondary problems like the mawkish music and bad monster costuming. Due to its heaviness and the difficulty in divorcing it from its surroundings, I can’t say I’d watch ever this on its own, but I still enjoy seeing it when it’s on. As such, I’m going to score “Shadow” a five out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Oct 20, 2010 15:00:17 GMT -5
The first act break was excellently done (particularly how the dialogue faded out upon Buffy hearing that Joyce had a brain tumour, which was a perfect symbol for her state of mind in that moment) I liked that scene too. - I liked the goings-on at the Magic Box, and the shop’s new ad was comedic (the proud proclamation that they carry “death charms!” in the bottom-left corner) and nicely plot-relevant. It was novel and interesting to have Giles unwittingly sell Glory the items she needed, and it was unnerving to think that the characters came close to disaster, almost without realising it. That scene was both scary and funny. You'd think someone as powerful as glory would just steal the supplies, the fact that she politely buys them is very amusing, as is giles's ignorance of who she is. - Anya is particularly good here. Her bewildered “are you stupid?” to Giles was funny (as were the responses he and Xander gave), and I also laughed at her comments about bunny worshippers, as well as her excellent statement about not wanting to begin the day with a slaughter being a commentary on how much she’d changed. She’s fitting into the show brilliantly now that she has a role beyond ‘Xander’s girlfriend’, and works well in tandem with Giles. Yup - Spike’s token scene at the Summers’ house is passable on the surface (“Slayer musk - it’s bitter and aggravating!”), but I don’t like how the show is presenting his attraction to Buffy. For all of Joss Whedon’s “I’m a feminist” posturing, it’s frankly creepy how the series is acting as though a man entering a woman’s home without permission, rummaging through her personal belongings and violating her privacy is funny. It’s not – it’s called stalking. I found it funny. Having spike go from being a killer to a mere stalker really shows how patheric he's become. What troubled me was how the show keeps changing the rules in regard to sunlight. Spike was thrown out and managed to survive about 5 seconds in the sun with no protection before being thrown a blanket. And if everyone in town by this point knows about vampires, wouldn't they notice a guy sheilding himself from sunlight and rip the blanket away, and rid the world of a potential killer? - Now that Xander has a steady job, it might be good to refer to him actually doing it. It’s plausible that he could be on a day off during this episode, but he shouldn’t have the same amount of free time as the college-student characters. By this point I'd forgotten he even had a job. Have we seen him at work at all since he fell in a hole in 'pangs'? - The snake costume would have been cringeworthy in the low-budget days of S1, and it’s no more acceptable in S5. I couldn’t engage with its scenes thanks to the glaring fakeness, though it at least supplied some (unintentional) laughs to offset the Buffy/Joyce material. The CGI version was slightly improved, but it had its own issues – such as the multiple instances of bad greenscreening (like when Buffy leaps atop the snake and chokes/kills it) that spoiled its believability. Call me crazy, but I prefer this snake to the one in reptile boy. At least this one actually looks like a snake. - When the snake identified Dawn as the key, why didn’t it just grab her and transport her to Glory? Yup - I have no idea what the writers were attempting to accomplish with Riley.... and I had no interest in his vampire-biting excursion. It was pretty stupid that that the writer(s) had him deal with his inner pain by letting himself be bitten by a vampire. It was nice continuity that they brought back a vampire from a past episode... but then again, as I said in the doppelgangland review, it makes no sense that sandy would have turned. On top of that, we also got the bizarre ending, which tried to emphasise his disconnection from Buffy, but missed the mark entirely. It was horrendous that he was pouting because Buffy chose to tend to the needs of her newly-diagnosed, cancer sufferer mother over his, and I really hope the writers weren’t misguided enough to think that people would find this reaction acceptable. By now I'm not even paying attention whenever he's on screen. I have no interest in watching him. Like a lot of S5 material, it has that certain amount of stodge that comes from taking the ‘chapters in a book’ approach over the ‘short story’ one, .... Due to its heaviness and the difficulty in divorcing it from its surroundings, I can’t say I’d watch ever this on its own, but I still enjoy seeing it when it’s on. Totally agree, especially with the word 'stodge'.  Whenever I think back to this episode, all I can remember is the snake, and a vague recollection that it's part of the joyce-in-hospital storyline. While I can't find many real flaws with this ep, it's still one I only watch in marathons. I think my old rating of 5 was a bit generous, so I'm bumping it down to a 4.5.
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Post by partcynic on Oct 21, 2010 13:01:01 GMT -5
He was offered a new position in "The Replacement", which he ended up taking (hence being able to afford the deposit on the apartment). So he really should be busier during the day. I don't have any extra comments, as we're pretty much identical in our thoughts on this ep. |
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Post by cyclica on Oct 21, 2010 16:14:09 GMT -5
He was offered a new position in "The Replacement", which he ended up taking (hence being able to afford the deposit on the apartment). So he really should be busier during the day. Oops! I really should have remembered all the construction site scenes in The Replacement. |
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