Buffy the Vampire Slayer - 5x03 “The Replacement” FULL REACTION

Liam: "Fuck me up, season five." Wheden: Challenge accepted."

Raven Dark

Finally Catching up on your reactions after my vacation! <3 Kelly Donovan really can play Xander forever if he wanted to. LOL

Stephen Mintac

love the throwback to Passion when Willow says she loves to watch Xander do the snoopy dance

Sarah McKinlay

I was at a con panel a few years ago that had Nicholas Brendan on it, and he did the Snoopy Dance live. :D

Katherine Thoreson

You didn't ask me but I'm gonna butt in anyway 😂😶 I always thought he was English until I started watching reactions and I'm English so..🙄😌 When I watched 'school hard' again recently and Mark Ward mentioned it then I noticed it wasn't great at first .. oops

I love the snoopy dance!!!

Sherlyn

I really love this episode. Probably because Xander is my favourite character and just the way the episode was done. So good. Can't wait for you to see more of this season.

Mel Saville

I was in a relationship once where I had serious doubts about the relationship. Months later, SHE had doubts, and I DIDN'T. Love is not for the faint of heart.

UTU49

I agree on the coin. They could have just left it out I think.

UTU49

Liam, I’m sure you’ve been asked this, but I didn’t start watching your reactions until recentish- what do you think of James’ accent?

Alexis Cardarella

I somehow always forget this episode until it pops up, I love Xander-centric episodes though! Great reaction as usual Liam :)

Jenn Rose

It didn’t happen until they went up on Dropbox. I noticed it on the last few. I too thought it was my WiFi. Twas not.

Collector of Stuff

Great reaction and thoughts at the end. I never fully thought of the fact both Xander and Giles have a new physical place this season after feeing so lost and displaced last season. Its very clever... helping them feel more centred physically. Gahhh, I’m just soooo excited for you to watch more of this season. I hope when you have time you might be super nice and throw us a few extra eps in the buffy/angel line up now and then lol! 😁 (i’m greedy and impatient. I know this lol)

Holi117

I havent much before but I did with this episode - in the final basement scene it kept stopping. Thought it was my wifi tbh 😂

Holi117

Does anyone else get stop and start issues toward the end of the videos?

Collector of Stuff

Really? It's one of my top 10 for the series.

Roger C Lackman

I was indeed aware

I'm surprised Liam didn't wonder how the show made such a convincing double of Xander. Maybe he already knows Nicholas Brendon has a twin?

Tania

That’s not exactly the way I heard it. Both Brendan and Donovan played both Xanders at various points in the episode. Brendan had all the dialogue. So, sure, in the pay phone scene, Donovan was suave Xander. But other scenes it wasn’t so clear cut.

Steve Maxey

I never cared for this episode. It's sloppy writing imo.

Tania

I agree I had real issues with Xander earlier on and more to the point I had issues that no one ever pulled Xander up when he was doing or saying stuff that was out of line! I found it really frustrating. From season 4 onwards we see an adult Xander who I like a lot .. it's like he left the jealous little boy behind and a new likeable Xander appeared 😍

I LOVE this episode! Zander-centric episodes are always a hit or miss for me. Especially since, depending on the day, I either hate him or love him. But this one. . . maybe it's a testament to S5 (which, in my opinion, doesn't have an inferior episode in the whole line up), but Zander is pretty much the most relatable person in the whole show at this point in time and I think this episode perfectly encapsulates that. I rewatch this one sometimes because I love it so much! I think it might be on my top 10 list of Buffy episodes. Also, the comedy is on point here!

Abby

The Snoopy Dance isn't new information. We learn in "Passion" that Willow sneaks off to Xander during Christmas to watch Christmas cartoons and watch Xander do the Snoopy dance. In "Gingerbread," we learn that Shelia Rosenberg is also very critical of the Mr Rogers Show. And similarly to how Willow sneaks off to Xander to watch cartoons, Amy would sneak off to Willow to eat brownies whenever her mother put her on a diet. There's so much information about the characters homelives that is just sprinkled across the early season, making it easy to miss, though it helps understand who they are as people. For example, there is a quick exchange between Xander and Willow all the way back in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" about Chinese take away that gives some early insight into the difference in homelife and class between them. It is only later that we learn that Willow's parents are liberal intellectuals, while Xander's are barely functioning alcoholics. I don't think Xander ever had an innocent childhood. We know that Buffy longs back to the days before she became a slayer and before her parents divorced, but I don't think Xander has that. I think that is why Xander and Willow still are so important to each other, because they didn't have loving parents or siblings or a lot of friends growing up. They were the one safe, stable part in each other's life. Of course, Willows parent aren't violent, they're just emotionally unavailable and strict.

Moon Logic

Xander's heroics saved Buffy from being the one split in two so she doesn't have to deal with an issue she's had since the very beginning of the series. Maybe Xander needs to deal with that issue too. And I love how this show handles multiple story lines. Dawn and Joyce are there as a little teaser to let us know that the writers know we want more. Then we check in on Spike to see what he's up to and a little bit about Giles becoming a businessman. Like the writers know we want more but aren't forcing to many things into each episode but they aren't ignoring those characters and their stories either.

Bruce Trogdon

Finally we see the Snoopy Dance!

Jarrod Wild

I know a lot of people think the Riley comment came out of nowhere... but I'd been waiting for it for a while. He said I love you to her in twice in the past, and never got the words back... but I don't think that's even the point. I believe when you love someone, and they don't love you the same way, you can feel it. It's intangible. It's something you just know... and Riley feels that now. I felt it too, watching (which is a testament to SMG's acting)...

Bisibia

It’s true that Nicholas Brendon’s twin brother appeared as the Xander double when necessary, eliminating the need for split screens, but of course it was Nicholas Brendon playing both parts when they weren’t together and doing the bulk of the acting when they did share a scene. ... The comic relief aspects of Xander were notably amped up for that half of the X-Man. ... I like that you like Xander, and I also like that you like Riley. And the two of them together get to be a bro friendship that is rare for Xander and kind of rare for BtVS in general. ... Toth has kind of a Darth Maul quality to me. He also used a body slam and I like occasional pro wrestling moves being incorporated into fantasy fights. 😁 ... Riley’s revelation is a bit of a jarring one. I like Riley too, because he IS a good guy, which sometimes I think is the real reason some fans don’t like him. ... I thought that was a humdinger of a good job o’ reactin’!

Koz

Also, when he told her her was so in love with her he couldn't think straight (or whatever the line was), she said "tell me about it." I think it's just harder for her to say the words now than it was with Angel, because she's been through a lot.

cs

You're right that we've never seen Buffy say that she loves Riley, but he has told her a number of times now (albeit one of those was to Faith in Buffy's body). Also agree with you about the shiny coin in this episode - it's always bugged me a bit, because I feel like no-one would sit there shining light into their boss's eyes like that as he gave them a promotion. Feels really unrealistic and bit hamfisted, which is pretty unusual for the show.

Dentarthurdent

That's one of those Buffy iconic moments right there at the end that captures the Buffyverse spirit the exchange with Riley and Xander about relationships. That's my favorite part of the episode. When I first saw that scene and Riley turned and said, ..but she doesn't love me. I sat up from lying down because it caught me by surprise because I think it was known but to hear it actually spelled out by Riley well, I felt like Xander looked at Riley. Just finding out something deep that I didn't see and Xander I think was thinking many things cause the look he gave was silent and feeling sorry for Riley. Xander's been there. And personally it stuck cords with my many crushes never came to be because those simple hard little words Riley spoke. That's a key moment right there. Plus the always epic sad feeling music Buffyverse is known for was perfect to end the scene. And Buffy face when Xander empties the gun bullets was impressive to her lol I think next episode is gonna be fun to watch reaction to G

Juan Sanchez

In Sanctuary Buffy told Angel that she loved Riley, perhaps she doesn't realise she hasn't actually told Riley himself..?

I like that it was Nicholas Brendan's twin (Kelly Donovan) that played the Replacement Xander. That's pretty cool.

Louise Rigg

Liam, Meet Kelly Donovan, twin brother of Nicholas Brandon 😁