Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 5x10 Full Reaction
Added 2024-08-01 21:49:39 +0000 UTC"Into The Woods"
Comments
"that felt like cheating" It was. Riley's problem is he saw Buffy's relationship with Angel and Dracula using his powers on her as her having a thing for vampires so he thought "I should see what that's about" HE's literally cheating on her. I appreciate the nuance you're giving Riley but I reject this show's take on how this is Buffy's fault. I do not see Xander confronting her as emotional maturity. He's projecting and taking Riley's side purely based on Riley talking to him. With everything Buffy was going through with her mom and Riley is all making it about him. His reaction to Buffy admitting to crying is the most telling. He is butthurt that she didn't cry on his shoulders He sees his relationship with Buffy like a drug addict and is relying entirely on her as the way to make him feel complete. All that and how he never once tries to tell Buffy herself what he was feeling until its too late. The ultimatum is the last straw for me. All of this is so unfair to Buffy and I hate that how Xander is blaming her and she buys it.
Nathan Conarroe
2025-03-25 18:35:37 +0000 UTCI think Buffy almost let the girl vampire go because she didn't want to just be killing "the other woman" basically - out of her anger and resentment. She didn't want it to be this ugly, personal thing where she killed her for the wrong reasons. Then remembered - still a vampire. Still her duty. She can't LET HER GO for personal reasons, either.
dreamsofspike
2024-08-08 18:55:32 +0000 UTCYes Xander is growing, but in this case it wasn’t emotional maturity it was transference.
Vicky N
2024-08-07 22:15:13 +0000 UTCYes! Second! Well said.
Brandon Scott
2024-08-05 12:12:45 +0000 UTCjust gotta tell you how much i agree... i don't have a single ounce of sympathy for riley. he's just so incredibly selfish and entitled. much like xander, who i also eternally hate!
jenny from montana
2024-08-04 02:41:15 +0000 UTCI'm one of the ones who does hate Riley (Whooooo do I hate Riley), but you don't need to hear that rant from me. I think I already gave part of it on an earlier episode, and even that was me holding back. In this episode, I feel like Xander's speech to Buffy about Riley is him still dealing with his unrequited crush on Buffy from the beginning of the show. He's still angry that Buffy never liked him since he was a Nice Guy, and she chose the Bad Guy (Angel) instead. Riley is how Xander wants to view himself -- 'normal' but also tall and strong and Manly -- and so he takes it personally when Buffy doesn't like him the way she 'should'. I find it infuriating how everybody else keeps telling Buffy how she really feels. Riley and Xander both say that they know how she feels better than she does. And I actually agree with them that she doesn't 'really' love Riley -- somebody already pointed out above that Buffy never did say "I love you" to him -- but from my perspective she's a fictional character so it's okay for me to say that. For them to so continuously dismiss and belittle her feelings makes them automatically the bad guys. She's THERE. She's WITH Riley. If he's not happy then he can and should leave, but to say that he's leaving because of HER feelings...I can tell I'm starting into that rant I said I wasn't gonna do so I'll just keep walking.
JBK405
2024-08-03 21:57:54 +0000 UTCI just wanna say I love your nuanced takes on the characters... So many people just go "Riley bad, Xander bad" but you always try to see all perspectives and understand why and how things get to the place they are.
Bisibia
2024-08-03 17:24:29 +0000 UTCMe too! I’ve never disliked his character and I think he was good for Buffy. I’ve never understood the hate tbh, and yeah Marc is a sweetheart and he got so much shit from fans in the early days. It’s so nice to see a reactor that doesn’t just outright hate and dismiss Riley, because I’ve seen some other reactors do this.
Melissa Reynolds
2024-08-02 09:38:57 +0000 UTCI just want to say that I love that you don't hate Riley 🥰 Marc Blucas is a really nice guy, it's such a shame that the buffy fans feel all this negative stuff for his character, Riley doesn't deserve it.
CeNedra
2024-08-02 08:48:54 +0000 UTCI agree! It’s so funny, I feel like the show always gives us what we want in the only way we don’t want it. I love it so much.
Ryan Kerr
2024-08-02 07:43:42 +0000 UTCGlad we got the "Penthouse" thing covered in a previous comment. As to Xander... I think he really got a start with the "divided Xanders" episode. It seems like that subtly changed him (it wasn't the "great Xander" that put him in position for a permanent job, it was just Xander for example). Riley? well, he had an opportunity to be "the guy" presented to him and he was either going to take it or he was going to possibly languish in the background and fully self-destruct. Buffy not having the chance to give herself fully to the relationship and go full speed with it all (including admitting her need for Riley)... I felt that and I experienced that myself and it hurt at the time that it was/is a lost opportunity. I can say that as far as breaks go, it was a lot cleaner than it could have been and some of us got those too in real life. Looking forward to further discoveries for Cass in the Buffyverse.
Michael Labs
2024-08-02 05:43:34 +0000 UTCBuffy came close to saying it when she said "Tell me about it" in response to Riley saying "Because I'm so in love with you I can't think straight" in the episode "The Yoko Factor", but you're right that she never technically said "I love you" to Riley.
Lime Pie
2024-08-02 04:52:22 +0000 UTCI think she told Angel and maybe her mom or Willow she loved Riley. But I don’t think she ever told him she loved him. If someone can give me a clip where she said it to him . Happy to be proven wrong.
Sean Stuart
2024-08-02 04:22:02 +0000 UTCI appreciate watching a reactor who sees the nuance of Buffy and Riley. Loving the reactions as always.
Sara Something
2024-08-02 04:09:11 +0000 UTClove your predictions so much, cass!
Carol Gonçalves
2024-08-02 04:03:39 +0000 UTCPosting on my favorite Buffy forum during the show's original run was one of my favorite things to do ever.
DanielOrme
2024-08-02 02:45:01 +0000 UTCThanks for another great reaction! I always liked the ending for Buffy and Riley - I guess, I'm a fan of tragic love stories. PS. "Penthouse" is a men's magazine that was pretty popular all over the world. I've heard that from a friend! ;-) PPS. A Buffy musical episode is a strange idea. That would never work. Better forget about it!
Michael Hoffmann
2024-08-02 00:29:21 +0000 UTCI think I have said it before but I love your predictions, hits and misses. So many reactors seem to afraid of being wrong. For me there is a lot of nostalgia involved in watching good BtVS reactions, it reminds me of going on internet BtVS forums and debating various theories on what was happening or would happen in the future.
slypeartree
2024-08-01 23:58:52 +0000 UTCXander's two big speeches do seem to come out of nowhere. It took me a few viewings of this season to notice how Xander was concerning himself with the Buffy/Riley relationship, short scenes and asides after Riley tells hm that he knows Buffy doesn't love him. It took me even longer to realize how the second speech is prompted by the first, Xander showing Anya (and himself) that he can be as emotionally honest as he tells Buffy she should have been.
DanielOrme
2024-08-01 23:55:47 +0000 UTCXander has grown so much since the gawky boy in season 1. But it isn't a steady growth. It has happened in fits and spurts and sometimes he backslides.
Rod B
2024-08-01 23:55:39 +0000 UTCI actually kind of like the messiness at the end in the context of the show, since a lot of the show is about how messy Buffy's role as a Slayer makes all her relationships. It'd be interesting to see how this unresolved stuff with Riley ends up affecting Buffy's journey for the rest of the season.
Raymond Simon
2024-08-01 23:50:43 +0000 UTCYes, there was a Broadway musical titled "Into The Woods," music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
DanielOrme
2024-08-01 23:28:50 +0000 UTCYeah would've preferred he just missed the heart on purpose.
Jorgalorg
2024-08-01 23:16:03 +0000 UTCI wish Xander did have an evil doppelganger because then we could call him Scamder.
Jorgalorg
2024-08-01 23:15:28 +0000 UTCI never liked the plastic wooden stake fake out. It kind of feels like Riley knows that he is setting up the commercial break. It makes the Initiative even more sinister if they made plastic stakes that look real, presumably to mess with vampire captives via psychological "experiments".
James Smith
2024-08-01 22:58:23 +0000 UTCLight blindness would just be blindness ;)
Captain Hammer
2024-08-01 22:33:42 +0000 UTCSometimes you see a title in the description here that just makes you go "Oh" loudly. Fun! edit: musical episodes huh. hm. hmmm.
Jon D Arthur
2024-08-01 22:09:02 +0000 UTCWooo! That’s my morning watching sorted :)
Melissa Reynolds
2024-08-01 21:57:00 +0000 UTCAre we out of the wood yet are we out of the woods yet are we out of the woods yet, are we out of the woods?
CoreyIsSus
2024-08-01 21:51:05 +0000 UTC
