Anyone else think 'Lies My Parents Told Me' was the best BTVS of the season? by Hjermsted

BUFFYVERSE

Anyone else think 'Lies My Parents Told Me' was the best BTVS of the season?

POSTED BY: HJERMSTED
UPDATED: Sunday, April 6, 2003 09:42
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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 7:29 AM

I think 'Lies My Parents Told Me' was one of the best episodes of the season (right up there next to 'Conversations with Dead People'). The thing I enjoyed most about it was the way in which it opened up a whole new dimension in the series. Just when you thought the Buffyverse couldn't expand any further... we see baby Wood helping with "the mission" and we learn Spike sired his own mother!

Each of the main participants in this ep were changed somehow by the time the credits rolled. The conversation between Wood and Giles was excellent and the 'Son of a Slayer' notion (which could have been cheesy) was adequately mined for truth, tension and believability. both eras of flashbacks were revealing and well produced. It was great to see Dru again.

Great job Mutant Enemy!!

mattro

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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 7:58 AM

RIVERSIDE

I agree, it was a great episode. I especially liked Buffy's comments on "Have you heard my speeches?"...effectively lancing the tension in so many of the episodes, and agreeing w/ the fans who have complained about those rousing speeches.
I thought the Wood and Spike stuff was amazing. I was only a bit saddened by Buffy effectively telling Giles, he's no longer welcome. Sigh. I love Giles.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 9:41 AM

MERLINDREA

I love flashback episodes. Both in Buffy and in Angel, I am always amazed at how much effort they put into it to make that old time believable. I mean, it is "just" a TV show, but with movie like qualities.

However, does anyone think like me that Giles is acting weirder and weirder? I mean Buffy has proven on and on that she can make hard decisions. Her decision to keep Spike is reasonable, not just because of her emotional involvement but because she needs every fighter she can get. So why is Giles not accepting her arguments at all? He is treating her like a 15 year old, not one to make her own decisions. I can easily see him as an evil impostor, much more believable than Cordelia, by the way.

Or if he is still Giles himself, maybe he gets played by the First, like Andrew was...

Merl

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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 3:03 PM

ZELDA

After last night my Buffy friends and I have a new theory on Giles: they're deconstructing his role as authority figure, because Giles has always done evil to further good, and for this fight Buffy can't afford that.

In both his personas - as a Watcher and as Ripper - he is willing to do wrong for the sake of the greater good. That's why he beats the crap out of Ethan Rayne, that's why he drugs up Buffy for her Slayer testing, and most dramatically that's why he kills Ben in order to get rid of Glory.

But this fight is against the ultimate evil, and Buffy has to play it 100% up front, or the First will win. That's the reason they gave for why she had the chip taken out of Spike's brain. Her decisions are the most important, because in the end it will likely be her vs. the First (they've also been driving home the point that the Slayer ultimately always fights alone).

So as much as it's hard to watch (I LOVE Giles-as-mentor more than most, I think, and this new tack they're taking for him is really hard for me), I think they're deliberately showing that he's not equipped to fight this war they way it needs to be fought in order to win. He's too willing to compromise, and to fight the Ultimate Evil, Buffy in some sense has to become the Ultimate Good. So she can't have any mentors - more than ever she has to be the one who draws the lines.

"Well this is just...NEAT!"

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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 3:19 PM

AKFIREFLY

Aye, it was. However, one can't help but wonder...with all that nifty fighting equipment Wood was putting on, makes it seem like he's gonna be a real bad ass if they put him on a crossover show. I can see it now: Wood, Willow, Anya, Kennedy, Dawn, Andrew...only thing missing is Oz. (yes, I purposely left Xander out)

"If Joss wrote FRIENDS, Rachel would have killed Ross is season two."

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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 5:37 PM

KOBAYASHI

I was surprised by this episode on so many levels.

I've been spoiler-free for about two months and this was the first episode that I really didn't know what was going to happen next. Wow, I've been ruining things with spoilers for too long.

I was literally screaming at the TV... "What the @#*!?" So many twists and turns I couldn't keep up...

And the biggest surprise? It was directed by David Fury, and it rocked. The direction was great. Loved the shot of Spike dusting the vamp with the shovel. The flashbacks were intergrated into the story seamlessly... A much better directing job than Fury did on 'Gone' last year...

Storywise it was great too. I love how this episode made alot of the previous episodes of this year better by association. Spike, Wood, Giles. The guys took the center stage and the girls were not missed.

Best episode of the year behind CWDP, just ahead of Selfless.

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Thursday, March 27, 2003 3:56 PM

BEOZOR

im not sure... i mean, i loved the episode (i give it a 9 out of 10), but i think it was missing a bit of spookiness that buffy used to have. i mean, same time same place was the only episode this season with a creepy demon. oooo... the gnarl and his skin-eating habits really got me spooked. wait... was gnarl in same time same place? o wel, not the point.

im just saying that "L.M.P.T.M" was a bit disturbing too.... spike's mom was coming on to him (yuck!). ha, but she called dru a trollop! hehe....

i loved the flash backs... i thought that it was really sweet (in twisted way, if not freaky) when spike sired his mom. angel killed his family, but spike had enough human left to care about his mom... wonder why...

wel, the next episode is supposedly very good. faith will come back, i think, and so will some dude named caleb... he's suppose to be really strong.... i wonder how buffy will kill him...

newho, in conclusion, i think that the last episode was ONE of the best so far this season...

momo

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Thursday, March 27, 2003 7:58 PM

ZELDA

And Caleb will, I believe, be our sterling Nathan Fillion, making another appearance in the Jossverse before he's condemned to his NBC sitcom with Jamie Pressley. (I'm trying to be positive about it, but it's really hard.)

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Friday, March 28, 2003 6:58 AM

HJERMSTED

Quote:
angel killed his family, but spike had enough human left to care about his mom... wonder why...

I guess that spark of humanity that Spike possesses has always been there (in spite of his vamping). The chip in his brain and his feelings for Buffy forced this spark back into the forefront of his personality.

Spike's being re-souled seems almost a formality just to prove himself to Buffy.

mattro

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Sunday, April 6, 2003 9:42 AM

AREYOUALION

Areyou kidding? Lies was an excpetionally good ep in a rather slow season - all hail Drusilla, back for possibly the last time? - but in no way holds a candle to CONVERSATIONS WITH DEAD PEOPLE.

THAT ep was a masterpiece - with Tarantino-esque dialogue, genuine horror - I am STILL freaked out by that demon strangling Buffy's dead mom - Spike's siring, Jonathan's murder and that very cool cool song. It even had title cards. (Well, maybe that wasn't so cool, but...)

CONVERSATIONS WITH DEAD PEOPLE not only was remarkable ep for Buffy, it was something completely different for television. and Buffy hasn't been equaled this season since.

But then Nathan's coming, so...

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