Here’s the podcast for Season 7, Episode 7 – Conversations With Dead People
Holden’s therapy session
Download: Conversations With Dead People
RSS Feed: The Buffy Rewatch
The next podcast will appear on Monday 23rd December 2013 for episode eight of Season Seven: “Sleeper.” The one where Buffy investigates more murders to see if Spike is behind them.
Comment on this post to get your views on the podcast.
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The Buffy Rewatch 
I just really needed to share the awesomeness that is this gifset this is one of my favorite quotes and I love how it ties together the whole series (with no spoilers for what we’ve seen so far) http://thecomfortador.tumblr.com/post/70370243076/liar
By: Derek on December 18, 2013
at 6:27 am
That is brilliant. Really well put together. Though thanks to the final line I then expected to see the Governor decapitating someone.
By: thebuffyrewatch on December 19, 2013
at 10:45 am
gorram SMG can evoke emotion with just a look.
By: William on December 20, 2013
at 4:56 am
I’ve never been a Spike supporter and I haven’t been engaged in a Spike story besides a “huh, that’s interesting” response since season five so there wasn’t a whole lot of excitement on my end for this episode. But surprisingly while I’m not torn up about it or even really that emotionally effected by it Spike’s breakdown in the basement was very sad and extremely well acted. My emotional attachment to Spike has been completely eroded due to the fact that his story and character has pretty much solely become his love for Buffy but that was an extremely sympathetic moment and I like that Buffy spares his life because of it.
The other Spike aspect of this episode I enjoyed was how they played the “mystery” of Spike being a killer. I use “mystery” because we as the audience know that Spike is a killer we just don’t know his culpability. Buffy has a long history of bad misdirection and James Marsters plays all of Spike’s scenes in a way where he could easily not know anything or is just acting innocent.
But perhaps the most successful part of this episode is the crystallization of the Big Bad’s plans. The reason Angelus worked so well was because his aims were perfectly in line with the set up a television series. The villain needs to stick around enough to be a recurring presence on the show without seeming like the show is stalling time. Angelus wanting to torture Buffy for as long as possible and then kill her is what made his threat seem plausible and real throughout the season. Similarly this Big Bad doesn’t just want to destroy the world it wants to break apart the Scoobies or at least take them out one by one. That’s a great structure for a season and especially the last one.
By: Derek on December 19, 2013
at 6:27 pm
I’m concerned that Xander obviously thinks very little about climate change. He wastes huge amounts of energy keeping his apartment so warm that Spike barely covers himself with a thin sheet when he’s in bed – even though he’s naked.
By: Kate on December 20, 2013
at 10:51 am
First time commenting, a little late in the game but I’m almost caught up, awesome stuff!
Having done numerous re-watches I can say pretty confidently that this is one of my least favourite episodes of the series. I don’t know why exactly but I’ve probably seen it fewer times than any other episode. I would rather watch Inca Mummy Girl ten times over before this one.
I do like how the episode continued on from Conversations with Dead People and how the season arc is progressing.
Okay, my main issue and first off let me say, I respect James Marsters a lot, he is an amazing actor, however, Spike’s story arc this season has not worked for me at all. Him going crazy in the basement bored me and this episode as a sort of a culmination of all that did not affect me at all. I know I am probably in the minority here and maybe it’s just me resenting the writers for giving Spike all the screen time in the past few seasons at the expense of our precious Scoobies. Maybe through the discussion I will better be able to pinpoint why this episode falls so flat for me.
Best things about this episode: GILES! How I’ve missed that face.
Thanks again!
By: Lindsay on December 20, 2013
at 3:25 pm
I haven’t been commenting a whole lot on recent episodes because everything I want to say is in context of who the Big Bad is, and it still hasn’t been named!
I do like Conversations with Dead People a lot, I think the style is interesting and I also like how it starts off pretty low-key and really hits a huge crescendo by the end with the Bad telling Dawn and Willow those things and then the revelation that Spike is biting people again. Some behind the scenes stuff: Jesse was one of the ideas as someone to appear (I presume to Xander), but it didn’t work out. Also, the song that is in the beginning and the end was co-written by Joss for this episode. Some dialogue was cut from Joyce where she makes it clear (to the audience, not Dawn) that she is the Big Bad (spoilery so I won’t copy it here, but you can look it up if you are curious.)
Sleeper isn’t really a favorite episode of mine because it is such a placeholder. It fills in important information that will be useful later, but the episode itself is a little dull. Spike and Buffy’s moments were emotional and well-acted, but aside from Spike discovering he has some form of biting amnesia, we don’t learn much. And apparently Dawn is taking secret-taking lessons from Buffy because she doesn’t come clean about what fake Joyce told her. Didn’t she just yell about this a few episodes ago?
Oh, and the word Robin was looking for, re: the opening music of Once More, With Feeling is an Overture.
By: meags on December 20, 2013
at 5:18 pm
Hey Robin and Cordia, I was planning on leaving a voice mail on this one but I’m not sure when you record nor do I have easy access to an internet connection right now so I decided to write for this one and I will go audio for Never Leave me.
Anyway, here is what I have to say about sleeper.
The main point in this episode is Buffy’s reaction to finding out Spike may or may not be killing again, specifically the fact that she goes to Xander with the information. As recently as episode two of this season we have seen Buffy keeping information to herself if she is having a hard time dealing with the details on an emotional level. From Spike’s soul backtracking through to Angel’s soul and all the secrets in between, Buffy keeps the hard emotional issues to herself and I can’t help but be a little proud of my favorite fictional female for the character growth this action shows.
I also want to bring up the moment with Anya and Spike in the closet. Now I assume most of the women watching this show missed it, but there was actually dialogue happening even when Spike’s abs where on the screen. Obviously Anya’s attempts to seduce Spike where based on her desire not to get killed by the maybe evil vampire, but I very much enjoy the fact that she was offended to realize he was not interested. We have seen nothing so far to indicate that Anya has had any sexual partners since being with Spike and, under developed character or not, one of the few truths to have been made clear about Anya is the fact that she is an extremely sexual being. It makes sense to me that she could forget herself for a moment with the last man she has connected with on a physical level. A nice moment for us Anya fans I think.
Saving both my favorite scene for last I want to comment on the bar fight in the Bronze. First of all I can’t wait to hear Robin’s point of view on this scene. I am sure he will see it for what it is, namely a lantern hung by the writers on their own inconsistencies., but I am curious to see if he is going to accept it or not. The show has obviously gotten far to outlandish when it comes to public vamp face and battles. The dusting of a vampire in the middle of the Bronze with literally no consequence save a break in the song is clearly a message to us saying ‘Look we know we have gotten out of hand with the public fights but it looks cool and forwards the plot so do us a favor and just go with it.’ From my point of view we have less than a dozen episodes remaining and I would rather see them do justice to their final story than see them toe (tow?) the line of the reality they themselves have built. Also it was freaking hilarious.
Another essay for you to read, perhaps it is best I have stuck to the text format for simple cropping. I will try to better edit myself when I try for audio.
By: Nicki on December 21, 2013
at 1:21 am
I forgot one quick thing I wanted to add for Selfless. Robin commented that he was not as fond of the song in this one and I just wanted to come to Joss’ defense. He was approached about writing the song one day and said no, but the next mourning he showed up in the writers room with the song written. I think it was a good job for a song that was literally tossed together over night.
And while I am here a quick bit of trivia from Lessons and From Beneath You. Most of the scenes shot in England where shot on Anthony Stewart Head’s property. I just love that Giles’ house is the real Giles’ house. Makes me smile.
Okay truly done for the week now.
By: Nicki on December 21, 2013
at 1:28 am
I don’t have much to say about Sleeper. I like finally learning about whats been going on with Spike and the whole comment about Billy Idol. Its a good episode and I found it engaging to watch. But I just wanted to comment on some other thoughts that I have had about the show.
I went back to listen to your podcast about Who Are You? and I was wondering if the scene at the end where Baith stakes the vampire thats attacking
Fuffy, is suppose to be a reference? In Bad Girls, Faith stakes
a vampire from attacking Buffy and then in Consequences she
stakes Mr. Trick from killing Buffy. Instead its Buffy in Faiths
body who does the staking to save Faith in Buffys body, so
visually its the same but reversed characters. Its a great scene
and definitely demonstrates the relationship between the two.
Another thing is that, I think I found my reasons for not liking the last 4 seasons of
Buffy as much as the first 3 seasons. My conclusion is the lack
of vampires. Its called Buffy the VAMPIRE Slayer, there should
be an emphasis on that. In season 1 we have Darla, Luke and the
Master, very good villains. Season two has Spike, Drusilla and
Angelus which was the best big bad ever. And those two season
finales involve, slaying a vampire. Even season 3 has a lot of
good vampires, Mr. Trick, Kikistos, Kralic, Balthazar, vampire
Willow and even Spike. And seasons 2 and 3 introduce new slayers.
But vampires are not as present in the last 4 seasons. Season 4
has Sunday and Spike, even though he gets the chip, but thats
about it. Season 5 has Dracula and some cool flashbacks of
Spike, but season 6 doesn’t have any and Season 7 only has the
Turok Han. So for me I think this lack of vampire presence has a
lot to do with why I don’t like those seasons as much. What do
you guys think?
One more comment. So I’ve been watching the show Once Upon a Time and found something interesting that correlates to Oz. Spoilers! In the
show Red riding hood is the wolf and she comes across a pack of
wolves that teaches her how to control the wolf inside, and I
feel it is very similar to Oz. She is told that her mind senses
the wolf and if rejected she blacks out and loses control of it,
but if she gives into it then she can control herself and
remember everything. This sounds like exactly what Oz goes
through. He blacks out and never remembers what happens, he has
no control over the wolf so he locks himself up. But when he
goes away after hearing Veruca tell him to give in to the wolf
he comes back having somewhat control over it. I like the
explanation they give in Once Upon A Time and feel it applies to
Oz and him being a wolf. What do you guys think about it?
By: Ashlie M on December 21, 2013
at 5:18 am
Sounds like they stole it from the graphic novels where they discuss Oz and how he learned to control the wolf. (I believe that was covered in Season 8, Retreat.)
By: meags on December 21, 2013
at 5:49 pm
I started watching Once Upon a Time too because I quit watching The Walking Dead and wanted to watch something that didn’t make me violently depressed. Glad I wasn’t the only one to make the Oz connection.
I’d recommend watching it though because it does feel heavily influenced by Buffy (maybe because it shares Jane Espenson as a writer) and their are similarities outside the obvious of a plucky blonde heroine as the lead.
By: Derek on December 22, 2013
at 12:52 am
I agree, there are some similarities you can draw and it s a good show I also recommend to watch. Another show I watch is the new American Horror Story:Coven and I see a lot of similarities in that too. the one scene that comes to mind, is when one of the girl characters that dies and comes back to life and sleep with a guy that also died and came back, and she says that the only time she feels anything is when shes with him. I saw that and immediately thought of Buffy and Spike in season 6. It just shows how much of an impact buffy has on the writers and the viewers.
By: Ashlie M on December 22, 2013
at 7:36 am