Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 7x16 Full Reaction
Added 2025-08-22 14:00:17 +0000 UTC"Storyteller"
Comments
And for everyone who's starting to enjoy watching Andrew become steadily more relatable, here's some bonus Tom Lenk, along with Eliza Dushku (Faith) in a completely non-Buffy, spoiler-free context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTf9LSi7Slc
Andy Darley
2025-09-09 21:17:14 +0000 UTCExactly. And the seal hadn’t been opened yet when Andrew said it happened to him.
Mrs. Peacock
2025-09-03 06:11:05 +0000 UTCfirst time I'm realizing that it's literally been a year since anya and xander wedding episode which was 6x16 and this is 7x16. So cool, i love this show
Billy Kearney
2025-08-26 20:46:48 +0000 UTCI said this in a comment a few episodes ago, but up until now Andrew had never "stopped" being evil. He was stopped by others, which is not the same thing. Him refusing to serve the First by killing the Potentials (and trying to record the First) was the very first time he made a choice of his own volition to not be evil, so I would consider that the START of his redemption. Since that was only two episodes ago, we're still very near the beginning of his turn to goodness. His admission here is the next step on that journey. He's not "there" yet, but yes this episode put him on that path. It's obviously a minor part of the episode and not the main focus, but my hatred of Xander flared RIGHT up again when he said he had apologized enough about leaving Anya at the altar. There's several earlier points in the series where he said the same thing after having done something wrong. In some cases he literally hadn't even apologized in the first place, and in others he said it in the next episode so the event had JUST happened and he was already moaning about how people were holding a grudge and dragging things out. Being only a year later -- so literally on what would have been their first wedding anniversary -- is not long enough for him to feel like it should all be forgiven and forgotten. I just find him so....aaaarrrgghhhhh.
JBK405
2025-08-25 00:23:00 +0000 UTCFrom now on in your reaction intros you should call us "Gentle Viewers" 🙃
Gaius Frakking Baltar
2025-08-23 02:53:12 +0000 UTCThe opening tableau that Andrew imagines for himself is a satire of the old PBS series "Masterpiece Theater," which always began with Alistair Cooke, a well-spoken and distinguished-looking English gentleman, sitting in a tasteful book-lined study where he would introduce that week's show, usually an episode of some BBC-produced adaptation of a classic novel. Cooke was the host from 1971 until 1993, so Andrew conceivably could have some memory of him (and obviously this episode's writer and director remembered him well 😁).
DanielOrme
2025-08-22 23:55:32 +0000 UTCYeah, she missed the part right after when Buffy said, "You just changed your entire story!"
Maia Brodsky
2025-08-22 20:06:04 +0000 UTCAndrew the vampire reactor!
Rey R
2025-08-22 19:01:37 +0000 UTCZima was calpico (japanese fruit) soda with lemon-lime and a low-concentration of vodka, in came in a bottle like beer, but was discontinued. Huge hit on campus. Not so much anywhere else. Once it got real popular they raised the price to like $10 a six pack, and ain't nobody got time for that. But it was delicious and you could drink like 3 of them and still not be drunk. The beer guys all acted like you were "a gay" for ordering it if you were out with the guys, and were drinking "man drinks" like Heineken and Michelob. By the time these eps aired Zima was just a punch-line, and any guys that mentioned it must be "the gay". It was a big hit in Alaska, tho, where I grew up. You could still find it in liquor stores up until the mid 2000s. I guess the closest thing to it these days is maybe "Smirnoff Ice" with a touch of lime, but it still isn't quite it. The Zima joke pops up in several Whedon shows, and other shows with Buffyverse writers. I think it heard one the other day in an episode of "Grimm", and I know it was a running joke in "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" .
spikeysnack
2025-08-22 18:35:54 +0000 UTCMy reading of those scenes is not that Andrew actually was possessed. He keeps changing the story, like he does the whole episode, to pick the one that seems the most sympathetic to him. Buffy calls him out for exactly that. Sure, he was being influenced by the first, but he was fully aware and in control of his actions. Other than that, though, i think your reading of the character is spot on.
R. Chang
2025-08-22 16:43:45 +0000 UTChe didn't tell the possession story until he heard it from Buffy, you should rewatch that scene. he definitely just stabbed jonathan suddenly, he never saw it coming. And Andrew admits he did it despite knowing the first wasn't actually Warren, likely because he was just happy to be part of the story.
Jason Harrelson
2025-08-22 16:42:41 +0000 UTCYeah Andrew wasn't possessed when he killed Jonathan. Like the version of events he told where Jonathan attacked him first, the whole possession angle was just an excuse he gave to Buffy. An idea he ran with after hearing Buffy talk about how the seal affected Principal Wood. The two scenarios he presents to Buffy both end with over-the-top dramatic displays from Andrew, indicating they are just more of his fantasies. The actual murder played out exactly like it was shown in Conversations With Dead People. Andrew finally admits this to Buffy as he cries over the seal.
Funkachute
2025-08-22 15:45:26 +0000 UTCSo just to be clear, or at least my takeaway, was that the possession/eye thing did happen to Principal Wood over the seal, it *didn't* happen to Andrew. What we were seeing was him reimagining the past, he took what Buffy told him happened to Robin and basically retconned it into his story as another reason that he wasn't responsible for what happened to Jonathan.
Preaching to the Horse's Mouth
2025-08-22 15:38:57 +0000 UTCIts interesting that you came away with the impression that Jonathan was possessed by the seal when he killed Jonathan. I always interpreted that as just another fantasy of Andrew's to absolve his guilt. But I suppose it could be true. I just think it weakens the story a bit. I think Andrew coming to terms with the fact that he killed Jonathan of his own free will is an important character point for him and is more powerful. But I guess it is up to interpretation.
Matthew
2025-08-22 15:38:27 +0000 UTCZima was a carbonated alcoholic beverage. Jane Espenson (the writer of this episode) pitched the name 'Zima' when she was contracted by Coors marketing team when they were looking for a name for their product. ie She is the one who first called that drink Zima.
James Smith
2025-08-22 15:05:53 +0000 UTCAnd just like that, Andrew invented vlogging!
anna
2025-08-22 14:19:24 +0000 UTC
