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Post by Clare on Sept 26, 2008 11:13:03 GMT -5
6.15 As You Were - Episode #115
Riley returns with his wife in tow, hunting for a black market dealer known as ‘The Doctor’.
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on May 30, 2009 12:10:54 GMT -5
Ok this episode wasn’t so much bad as it was boring. In addition to the usual willow/tara crap, and xander/anya/wedding crap which we’ve seen a hundred times before, we have the return of riley. He and buffy go fight a demon. Then he leaves. Whoop de doo.
Oh and it turns out he’s married. After knowing sam only for a few months, even though he knew buffy, the love of his life for a year and a half and they never even moved in together. And sam turns out to be a demon hunter too, and what’s more she seems to be just as strong as buffy, at least in the fight scenes. And she has nothing but praise for buffy, even though sam is the one risking her life fighting demons without superpowers, and even though the only way she can know anything about buffy is if riley is constantly telling his wife how amazing his ex was.
Oh and it turns out spike also goes by the name ‘the doctor’, and he sells demon eggs, while simultaneously trying to prove to buffy he’s a good person. Which makes no sense at all.
The only good thing about this episode was the end to the spuffy (or at least for this season). And there’s an ok joke at the start where a vamp won’t bite buffy because she smells of doublemeat burgers. But that’s nowhere near enough to make this a good episode.
I give it a 2.
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Post by partcynic on Dec 15, 2010 12:20:57 GMT -5
6x15 “As You Were”
Episode Rating = 3
Coming after the last three unpalatable episodes, it’s a relief to see something that appears to have had some kind of thought put into it, and while “As You Were” has more than its fair share of problems, it outdoes many of its S6 siblings in actually having a plot, theme and character development. With the exception of the dopey ‘Spike’s the Doctor’ twist, the issues that do arise are more down to execution than concept, and having Riley back permits both a satisfying conclusion to his story, and a sorely needed kick-up-the-butt for Buffy, showing her how badly she’s been doing and sparking the much-welcome demise of Spuffy (no matter how temporary). Although big portions of “As You Were” are cringeworthy, it and “Gone” remain the more salvageable eps from the otherwise disastrous midseason, and it deserves a modicum of credit for that.
What I Liked about “As You Were”:
- I hadn’t really missed Riley, but I surprised by how pleased I was to see him again (though that might just be the comparison effect – the show’s quality has dipped to the point that the character is much more appealing now). His progression felt believable to me, and although his marriage seemed abrupt, it makes sense when you consider that he’d been anticipating his break-up with Buffy long before it actually happened (“The Replacement”). I was pleased that he’d moved on, and had continued to contribute to the fight against evil. His interactions with Buffy over the course of the episode were uniformly excellent – I loved that there were no hard feelings, and his final talk with her was heartfelt and possessed genuine emotion.
- The change in Buffy once Riley arrived was marked, and you could see her regaining some of her sense of purpose and joie de vivre. It was also interesting to see the conflict of emotions he’d stirred in her – she’d clearly maintained an interest in him, and I liked how she almost wanted to hate Sam, but couldn’t. It was an important sign of maturity that she decided to refrain from telling him exactly what happened the night he left; and it was great that she took his closing words to heart. Her break-up with Spike was a long time coming, and it’s important that it was finally motivated by the right reasons.
- The other characters’ reactions to Riley and Sam are good fun. Willow offering to hate Sam on Buffy’s behalf was the first time she’d been funny since “Once More, With Feeling”, and Xander and Anya’s chat about the difference between a wedding and marriage was the most meaningful thing they’d discussed in almost a year.
What I found to be a mixed bag about “As You Were”:
- Sam left me with uncertain feelings, which weren’t necessarily intentional. Although I loved how she was written (kind, strong, caring and self-effacing to a fault), the actress couldn’t pull the role off. If I go over her dialogue in script format, she works very well, but the bad acting renders her insincere and forced. After a while, her constant praise for Buffy started to have an ‘obsessed fangirl’ flavour, and you have to wonder just how much time she and Riley spent talking about her (and why Sam would move ahead romantically with a guy who’s clearly still enamoured with his ex).
- The bulk of the monster-hunting plot was fine, and the Suvolte was decent for a generic reptilian demon. It made sense that it would come to the Hellmouth to spawn, and the idea that its offspring were considered potential weapons fit with the ‘governments attempting to harness the supernatural’ concept from S4. However, the reveal that Spike was the Doctor made zero sense – the guy doesn’t even own a phone, so how exactly is he going about and meeting military officials? It seemed like a contrivance to hammer home the idea that he’s evil, and was blatantly inserted to try to dissuade Spuffy fans from supporting the couple.
- It was good to see Dawn apparently grow from “Older and Far Away” and make more of an effort with Buffy, but she went right back to childishness in her first meeting with Riley. I didn’t get why she was being terse and acting like he abandoned her, given that they weren’t particularly close prior to his departure.
What I Disliked about “As You Were”:
- Everything that happened before Riley’s arrival was unnecessarily repeated from prior episodes. The stories have been incredibly repetitive, so further reminders that Xander and Anya are getting married; Buffy’s having a hard time keeping it together; and Willow’s dealing with an addiction were pointless (especially since none of them were constructive or provided us with new information). Scenes like Buffy ironing and missing the trash collection were little more than padding, and caused the first act to drag.
- The sex scenes this season have been grotty and over-the-top, and Buffy and Spike on the Summers lawn was no different. Even if she was up for it, would Buffy really be okay with having sex where her neighbours (or even Dawn) could see?
- Shouldn’t Dawn be able to fix her own meals by now? Even if she’s not cooking properly, there’s nothing to stop her putting something frozen in the oven. Why should Buffy have to bring Doublemeat burgers home every night?
- As Riley and Buffy had a decent amount of time to discuss their mission objective, why didn’t he mention that it was important to not kill the Suvolte?
- While Riley and Sam both have military training and fight experience, they shouldn’t be able to battle as effectively as Buffy does. Do Slayer powers mean nothing anymore?
- Willow’s cantankerousness upon Riley and Sam mentioning her magical abilities was positively Dawn-esque (after all, it’s not like they knew what she’d gotten herself in to), and her “I got addicted. Like addicts do” line was terrible.
- With the exception of their final talk, Xander and Anya’s material was dull. The Bronze discussion and car talk were interminable, though at least they provided a jokey reason for Xander looking so bloated.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
I enjoyed it within reason, and have decided to keep my rating the same. Amidst so much of the empty fluff from S6, it’s nice to get an episode that attempted a story and appropriate character development, and while “As You Were” is too flawed to be great (or even to stand among the mediocre eps from the first four seasons), it’s certainly worth a respectable three out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Feb 2, 2011 16:34:36 GMT -5
Wow, you felt this episode was good enough to deserve a three? Please tell me your 'rating' is actually just a pair of sideways arse cheeks. - I hadn’t really missed Riley, but I surprised by how pleased I was to see him again (though that might just be the comparison effect – the show’s quality has dipped to the point that the character is much more appealing now). His progression felt believable to me, and although his marriage seemed abrupt, it makes sense when you consider that he’d been anticipating his break-up with Buffy long before it actually happened (“The Replacement”). I was pleased that he’d moved on, and had continued to contribute to the fight against evil. His interactions with Buffy over the course of the episode were uniformly excellent – I loved that there were no hard feelings, and his final talk with her was heartfelt and possessed genuine emotion. To me it felt like riley's return was nothing more than a case of bringing back an old character for the novelty of it and to bring in viewers. I was ok with the character back when he and buffy were dating because I could see a future in her dating a human/non-vampire, but having him come back at this point and knowing it's just for one episode seemed pretty pointless. We've already seen him leave and we knew what he was up to, and his return told us nothing other that the fact he now suddenly has a wife- whose addition to the ep just seemed like the writers' way of making sure no one would consider riley and buffy getting back together. Besides, I was waiting for the arc and the main characters to get some progression, and didn't appreciate everything being sidetracked just for another character coming in, who you know isn't coming back anyway. - The other characters’ reactions to Riley and Sam are good fun. Willow offering to hate Sam on Buffy’s behalf was the first time she’d been funny since “Once More, With Feeling” It was nice having willow act a bit more like the old willow, though put a scene like that in any episode of the first 5 seasons and it would be completely unremarkable. - Sam left me with uncertain feelings, which weren’t necessarily intentional. Although I loved how she was written (kind, strong, caring and self-effacing to a fault), the actress couldn’t pull the role off. If I go over her dialogue in script format, she works very well, but the bad acting renders her insincere and forced. After a while, her constant praise for Buffy started to have an ‘obsessed fangirl’ flavour, and you have to wonder just how much time she and Riley spent talking about her (and why Sam would move ahead romantically with a guy who’s clearly still enamoured with his ex). I just found her too perfect, annoying, and I have no interest in her. I've basically gone over the reasons why I don't like her in my earlier review, the biggest problem for me being how much sam admires buffy. Sure buffy saved the world a few times, but sam is doing the same job without the superpowers, and what's more she chose that life, whereas buffy only fight demons because she (at this point wrongly) believes no one else will, and whines about it. And besides, I'm not buying that riley would be constantly telling his new wife about how great his ex was, and her being completely ok with that. - The bulk of the monster-hunting plot was fine, and the Suvolte was decent for a generic reptilian demon. Agreed, this ep did at least have an interesting looking demon. However, the reveal that Spike was the Doctor made zero sense – the guy doesn’t even own a phone, so how exactly is he going about and meeting military officials? It seemed like a contrivance to hammer home the idea that he’s evil, and was blatantly inserted to try to dissuade Spuffy fans from supporting the couple. I literally cannot believe in the 'spike is the doctor' storyline, I have to just mentally edit it out of my head and pretend it never happened. - As Riley and Buffy had a decent amount of time to discuss their mission objective, why didn’t he mention that it was important to not kill the Suvolte? Because then would wouldn't have arbitrary drama! - While Riley and Sam both have military training and fight experience, they shouldn’t be able to battle as effectively as Buffy does. Do Slayer powers mean nothing anymore? Nope. A woman with supernatural strength who is described as having 'the strength of ten men' and 'spiderman strong' is exactly as strong as an ordinary woman with army training. They are both equally capable of fighting demons - it's a combination of demons being weaker than humans and sam being perfect. ...... I'm glad you were able to 'enjoy' this episode more than I did, though my feelings haven't changed. I regard this one as one of the worst episodes of the entire show, and it won't be until mid-season 7 that there'll be another episode this bad. Rating- 2. |
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Post by partcynic on Feb 18, 2011 14:00:32 GMT -5
I see where you're coming from, but this isn't that strange. Different relationships work and progress differently, and it wasn't like Riley and Buffy had the option of moving in together/doing anything serious - they hadn't known each other long enough to contemplate that during S4, and Buffy had Joyce to focus on in early S5. Plus, we know from "The Replacement" that he realised that he and Buffy weren't meant to be rather quickly, so he's had quite some time to get over that relationship. Besides, when 'the love of your life' treats you like a toy or a trophy instead of a person, you tend to have fewer problems moving on from them.
Yep - those strength inconsistencies are always annoying. I think Justine in "Angel" takes the crown there, though.
I agree with the last bit of that point (Riley constantly telling Sam about Buffy), but not the first. Why wouldn't Sam be impressed and willing to praise her? In demon-fighting circles, Buffy's pretty much a legend, and has been doing it since she was 15 years old. Sam's just giving credit where credit's due, and will have heard all of the cool stories that Buffy told Riley. By this logic, do you have a problem with Riley and Walsh being impressed/complimenting Buffy in S4? Surely they could also have shrugged and said "yeah, well we do it all without superpowers (just extensive military training, a full squad of people and hi-tech weapons)".
Agreed. The plot there was monumentally stupid and contrived.
This is certainly solid enough to get a 3 - it's nothing special, but I liked the development and some of the humour. That said, I did laugh when I saw you'd scored this a two. Being shocked that I gave it a three and then scoring it only one point lower is pretty funny.
I guess there would have been the shock factor of Riley's return, but I doubt if he was brought back to increase viewers. Remember how 95% of the viewing audience responded to him in S4?
Given the 'quality' of the S6 arc(s), I can't really see how being pulled away from them is a problem. At 15 eps in, it was pretty obvious that they were going nowhere, so I welcomed having something else to focus on. I get how you'd find the here-and-gone Riley stuff pointless, but since this story wasn't actually about Riley, I don't find it an issue.
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Post by cyclica on Feb 26, 2011 16:00:37 GMT -5
Yep - those strength inconsistencies are always annoying. I think Justine in "Angel" takes the crown there, though. I have a much easier time buying justine as a demon fighter than sam. We saw justine being trained by a 'watcher' / demon expert, she was motivated by revenge, and she had nothing to loose. I agree with the last bit of that point (Riley constantly telling Sam about Buffy), but not the first. Why wouldn't Sam be impressed and willing to praise her? In demon-fighting circles, Buffy's pretty much a legend, and has been doing it since she was 15 years old. Sam's just giving credit where credit's due, and will have heard all of the cool stories that Buffy told Riley. By this logic, do you have a problem with Riley and Walsh being impressed/complimenting Buffy in S4? Surely they could also have shrugged and said "yeah, well we do it all without superpowers (just extensive military training, a full squad of people and hi-tech weapons)". That's not the same thing though. Walsh and riley were impressed that this girl had defeated more demons then all of their trained soldiers put together, and did it while she was a teenager for the most part. They didn't really know the full extent of her superpowers yet, they discovered that later on ("if you thought that was enough to defeat me you really don't know what a slayer is" ... "wow you're like spiderman strong"). ... Whereas sam would have been told all about what buffy's abilities are. I'd buy that she considers buffy a 'legend' because of all the times buffy saved the world, but I still think someone who risks their life fighting demons wouldn't be such a huge fan of someone to whom fighting a demon is virtually no risk at all. If anything, buffy should have been more of a fan of sam. This is certainly solid enough to get a 3 - it's nothing special, but I liked the development and some of the humour. That said, I did laugh when I saw you'd scored this a two. Being shocked that I gave it a three and then scoring it only one point lower is pretty funny. I would have given it a 1, but I'm saving that grade for even worse episodes. |
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