Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 5x8 Full Reaction
Added 2024-07-24 22:08:02 +0000 UTC"Shadow"
Comments
So many people have sympathy for Riley but I've lost all sympathy for him at this point. He is turning everything about him and I'm not here for it. I think he's being very selfish. Everything is about him. He's mistaking Buffy's problems as "proof that she doesn't love me" and everything apparently is. Nothing proves this to me more than his reaction to any mention of Angel. Dawn says he doesn't make her go crazy like Angel did..... and he takes that as "she doesn't care" ignoring or not realizing that the reason Buffy went crazy for Angel was cause he went evil and tried killing her and her friends. Furthermore back in season 4 Buffy tells him about Angel and based on one convo with Xander he jumps to the very insane conclusion that Buffy is cheating on him. He meets Angel and takes that as more proof "clearly Angel is evil because he's fighting The Initiative" you mean the same Initiative that tortured Oz and called you a traitor for trying to put a stop to it? As if that's not enough his take on Dracula using his powers on Buffy = Buffy has a vampire fetish. Hence why he met up with the vampire and let her bite him. He wants to see what she sees. And I'm tired of hearing that Buffy being distracted with her mother sick and learning the truth about Dawn as her not loving Riley. She may not have said it outright but her actions speak otherwise. The lengths she was willing to go to for this man such as break into the Initiative to get him out and dropping everything to get him to see a doctor in Out of My Mind. Her words and face in that one scene as she begs him to see the doctor is all the proof I need honestly And even if he's right and Buffy doesn't he should have talked to her about how he was feeling. Only time he does is when he was close to dying. Buffy thought that was resolved when he agreed to seeing the doctor. The fact that Xander is the only one in the group who knows and Buffy doesn't speaks volumes to me. From my point of view Riley has no one to blame for all of this than himself I don't think he's holding a strong front at all. He went to a vampire to let her feed on him in some misguided attempt to feel what Buffy felt for Angel and Dracula.
Nathan Conarroe
2025-02-15 05:24:18 +0000 UTChttps://www.instagram.com/reel/C9drQGPtv_Q/?igsh=MWRkcHdpam0ycW1yeg== This video exemplifies what I think most people discount about Riley’s situation (solely from the perspective of his feeling a type of way about Buffy not opening up to him)
Brandon Scott
2024-07-28 02:42:38 +0000 UTCI don't know what the rest of the comments are saying but I love, love how gracious and compassionate you're being with Riley. People tend to be really harsh on him without considering his arch. First, I do think there's a hint of su*cidal ideation, though passive it is real. There is a strong "self-harm" metaphor here as well. Most people look at it as a buffyverse metaphor for adultery and I've just never seen it that way. Second, I just think people don't consider, after the initiative fell and Riley was booted from the military, he literally had lost his entire world. His whole identity was anchored in being a soldier and fighting for a righteous cause and having that mission. Without that, unhealthy as it may be, he anchored his entire identity in Buffy. Again, not really healthy but it makes sense. And lastly, I've heard so many arguments, but they've been seriously dating for nearly two years. Finding out that Joyce was in the hospital from Spike, even her sidelining him when the doctor came to talk to her, and all of the in-between, it would hurt. I know you said, "she needs to be with her family" and that's valid, but from his perspective (and mine, honestly) at what point does he stop being outside of that paradigm? I don't know. It would sting me a little bit. And you're right that it's not about being selfish. It's just a matter of realizing you're not as central to someone's life as they are to yours.
Brandon Scott
2024-07-27 22:24:23 +0000 UTCNo? She literally said that.
dreamsofspike
2024-07-27 00:11:52 +0000 UTCI actually thought you was going to go through the whole episode without noticing Glory had a name 🤣 They even mentioned it before the opening credits 🫣 I think she suits her name perfectly, she really is Glorificus 🥰
CeNedra
2024-07-26 14:13:45 +0000 UTCSo yes, the Beast has a name and it is Glorificus aka Glory. There is some foreshadowing about her name in episode 5x5. In the scene at the Magic Box, when the scoobies are exhausted from all the grand opening commotion, Anya is the only one who is peppy and standing at the cash register, and she offers suggestions to Giles about managing the store. Right before Giles interrupts her by offering her a job, Anya says: “and The Hand of Glory packs some serious raw power...”. Interestingly, she says this just as they cut to Buffy who is getting pummeled by the hands of (a yet unnamed) Glory. There's even a little foreshadowing in the last episode about her name (though maybe this is just me reading too much into it). When Spike and Buffy are by the pool table and Spike tells her about when he first learned about Slayers and then became obsessed with seeking the Slayer out, he tells her: "If you're looking for fun, there's death, there's GLORY, and sod all else, right?"
Ariel17
2024-07-26 04:26:27 +0000 UTCSo you're saying Ben and Glory may have some kind of connection?
dreamsofspike
2024-07-25 20:54:28 +0000 UTCThe reptile cult is just where the spell Glory used came from. Glory herself is older than any known cult
Neill Shaughness
2024-07-25 18:01:38 +0000 UTCRiley is incredibly insecure and that is why he's acting this way.
carly powell
2024-07-25 03:52:57 +0000 UTCI've got a lot less sympathy for Riley than you do, but I've had issues with him for a while. My issues with him right here and now boil down to what Oz said to Willow in season three after the Willox/Xander affair was exposed: Willow wanted to apologize to Oz and for him to hear her out to make HER feel better, not to make Oz feel better. And Riley wants Buffy to let him "in" for Riley to feel better, not because he actually wants her to feel better. Willow took the hint and backed off when Oz walked away, but Riley keeps getting huffy that she's doing this TO him. If Buffy is the only thing in his life giving him meaning, that's on him. Why hasn't he started any hobbies since leaving the Initiative? Gotten a job? Joined a book club? He had a major lifestyle change when he left the Initiative, this is absolutely true and he gets some sympathy for that, but people have these kinds of changes all the time in real life. They move on. He's locked onto Buffy and expecting her to make it all "worth it", when nobody -- in any circumstance -- can expect one person to be solely responsible for the mental health and happiness of another. Not even soulmates in True Love. This all just makes him come across as a user who has convinced himself that he's a Nice Guy. And to support that he acts out being kind and caring and considerate, but he's still a user. Joyce was always a very human character. And part of humanity is that people get sick. And everybody who knows and loves them gets hurt when they get sick, and in turn they hurt others in their attempts to deal with it all. That's part of the tragedy that comes with a mortal existence.
JBK405
2024-07-25 02:51:03 +0000 UTCI found Ben weird on first watch as well. I kept thinking he had to have some kind of connection with the larger plot.
Raymond Simon
2024-07-25 01:41:46 +0000 UTCI loved the face made during Spike's clothing adventure, that was perfectly splendid and also appropriate. Fun part aside, Riley is in great danger due to his unresolved issues with the Buffy relationship and also being adrift with the dissolution of the Initiative and part of the danger of vampires seems to be their having ways to find and weaponize the needs of a given victim. I expect there will be confirmation of that suspicion.
Michael Labs
2024-07-25 01:26:46 +0000 UTCBuffy channeling her inner Faith there with the overboard pummeling of the snake 👀
madfem
2024-07-25 00:51:16 +0000 UTCthank you so much💜
Cassie
2024-07-25 00:26:04 +0000 UTCYour understanding of Buffy is dead-on. The enormous responsibility she feels makes it impossible for her to let up on herself, not even for a minute. It's the same thing that makes her so hard on herself should things go wrong and why she can't forgive herself if they do.
DanielOrme
2024-07-25 00:23:14 +0000 UTCremember how Spike said the word "glory" at least twice last episode? It was a nice wink to what was coming 😉
madfem
2024-07-25 00:15:43 +0000 UTCYes the Beast's name is Glorificus, shortened to Glory. To clarify, she herself wasn't part of the Egyptian reptile cult, she was just using their tools, magic and rituals to get what she needed. Your empathy for Riley is actually quite a nice change of pace from other reactors who are, at this point in the show, almost unilaterally over him. He's not my favourite character by any means, but it's refreshing that you're actually seeing things from his point of view. The Joyce plot continues to hurt my heart - damn these actors for being so good! 💜
Jordan McLaren
2024-07-24 23:30:10 +0000 UTCYou've got an empathy that really makes one of if not the best Buffy reactor IMO.
Captain Hammer
2024-07-24 23:07:09 +0000 UTCThe woman in the red dress's name is Glorificus (Dreg said it earlier in this episode) so Glory is a shortened version of that name. I really liked Xander's insights this episode about Buffy needing something to fight and finding the root of the problems with Riley's rash behavior. Also, CAT scan is abbreviation of computerized axial tomography scan
James Smith
2024-07-24 23:01:00 +0000 UTCRecently watched the Hank Green stand-up special, where he talks about how speed in hospitals is scarier than waiting because it means something is actually wrong. Some things never change.
Jon D Arthur
2024-07-24 22:25:46 +0000 UTCYay that’s my morning watching sorted!
Melissa Reynolds
2024-07-24 22:12:47 +0000 UTCGood lord you’re going nuts with the reacts this week. It’s brilliant
Jorgalorg
2024-07-24 22:11:28 +0000 UTC
