Season Five, Episode Three: The Replacement

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This week's critics:
Arianna
Celisse
Cyn
Danielle
Red
Rikki
Sandy
Steven
Sunny
Toya


Random Comments:

"Hey, we get to see Xander do the Snoopy dance!!!! Clearly Xander and Anya's episode. I'd say 3 stars easy." -- Rikki

"My boy [Spike] is figuring out how to bypass that chip!! Whoo Hoo!!!" -- Arianna

"Honestly Shab I don't care if anyone else likes Riley. I love the character AND the actor. My only complaint is that some people have to turn EVERY discussion into an I hate Riley rant. Ok, we know some of you dislike him, but some of us DON'T dislike him and I, personally, would like to have the opportunity to discuss aspects of the show pertaining to him without having to read through a plethora of Riley bashing posts to get to the ones that are relevant to the subject under discussion. :::Sunny steps off her soapbox:::: whew, I feel much better now. :)" -- Sunny

"I almost know how you feel. Being I seem to be the ONLY person on this board that likes Joyce. Poor Joyce. Joyce rules damnit. lol." -- Cyn

"When Charles Schultz died I wrote that they should have Xander do the Snoopy dance as a salute. I think maybe someone fom Mutant Enemy is reading fan posts on the net." -- Steven

"This was one of Riley's best episodes ever, but what is with the "Buffy doesn't love me line? Are they already begining to write him out?" -- Steven

"Joyce has to have those idiot moments and little times when she annoys. If she was cool, and, "Yeah, Buffy, go slay, have fun, bring back some milk!" we'd suspect something demonic was up with her. :-)" -- Red

"Why do they have Spike holding a gun? Guns don't make Spike scary. Also what is with weak Xander packing a gun? I smell some Charleton Heston influence here." -- Steven

"I really think that stupid dummy looked more like Harmony than it looked like Buffy." -- Celisse

"I liked the episode. I want to know what Spike's going to do... AND I WANT TO KNOW WHEN SPIKE AND BUFFY ARE GONNA GET TOGETHER!!!!!! lol.
But yeah. Two Xanders. If I were Anya I'd wanna keep both. Poor Anya." -- Cyn

"Did you not LOVE the expression on his face when he pointed out the "tall, robey thing right there" & the demon was behind Giles? I love Spike :)" -- Arianna

"There were a lot of really good lines, but the plot was a blatant rip-off of a "Star Trek" classic episode. At least they had the honesty to put in the classic Kirk line as a tip of the hat." -- Steven


Danielle's Review:

I love it, I love it, I love it! Definitely the best episode so far this season. You know how I always have one moment in each episode where I have to exclaim "I love Xander!" (actually...you might not know that)? Well, this whole episode was an "I love Xander moment!", it was great.

*First of all, Xander's hair at the beginning of the episode was so great. It was still long which I can deal with because it was clean and combed! Yay! Then later on it deteriorated because one Xander was all slicky and the other was all dirty.

*This episode was so excellent because there was minimal Dawn and no Tara. I used to really not like Tara but I've gotten over that. I don't mind her now, but I still see no point to her, she just adds stupid comments to every single thing Willow says. Willow's a better character when Tara's not around. Let the flaming begin!

*Anya does not want Xander to rub her. Xander can rub me instead.

*Have I mentioned how much I enjoy the James Marsters credits during the theme song. What excellent shots of that man!

*"La La We're on our way to Xander's!" That was a gorgeous apartment. I'm moving on in! I heard a rumor (spoiler space?) that the Scooby Gang was all moving in together, could this be there new place? Because if Xander can afford that on construction worker pay I am SO going to be a construction worker.

*That real estate agent lady looks familiar. Do we know her?

*This whole episode was so funny. I just want to quote everything but then I would end up transcribing the whole episode and I don't really have time for that.

*It bothers me when Riley gets all worked up and defensive every time someone's after Buffy. Get over it! She's the Slayer, people want to kill her, she can take care of herself...most of the time.

*"Oh, There's a nice lady vampire who set up a charming tea room over the next pile of crap." I adore Spike.

*I'm still trying to figure out who Nick's brother played. Was he the Strong Xander whenever he wasn't talking, cause both Xander's sounded like Nick. I was so confused!

*Weakness Xander was so cute and vulnerable. Hugs!

*Weakness Xander talking to the operator on the pay phone. LOL, Quarter excitement!

*I can deal with Dawn because she only had a small cameo and because Buffy and Riley kissing all the time makes me want to make strange gagging noises too. The choking on the tongues thing was funny. For those of you Dawn defenders I've realized why I hate her. She is my sister. She is channeling my annoying younger sister and when I see her on the screen I get angry, I just want to start yelling and tell on her. That was the stupidest little fight they had, I was like BUFFY SHUT THE DOOR! Plus Joyce is such an airhead, she just gets dumber every episode.

*Spike made a Buffy dummy? Whoa, someone has too much time on their hands.

*Anya's house! Anya's house!

*Awwwww, W/X memories! How sweet! Let me pull out my W/X shippiness.

*THE SNOOPY DANCE! YAY! How adorable was that??

*"Xander, stop dancing!" No! Don't stop now!

*Weakness Xander's speech to Willow! ohhhhh, he was so sad! I just wanted to hug him, even if he was all soggy.

*X:"Wait 'til you have an evil twin, see how you handle it." W:"I handled it just fine."

*Anya's hair looked good when it was all highlighty and wavy.

*"I'm dying" Oh God! "I may have as few as 50 years left." I love Anya.

*I also loved her denture description.

*Just have to mention that I love how they had another evil twin episode, yet it was nothing like "Doppelgangland." Go Buffy crew!

*Willow had a cool coat.

*See! Strong Xander is Xander too! He's capable of getting a promotion and everything. Don't we feel all warm and happy now?

*"He's the demon...or possibly a robot."

*Riley makes too many gushy "I love Buffy" speeches. He's all like "There's no part of you that I'm not in love with" and I'm like Riley, if you're "pushing 70" please keep your eyes on the road!

*"If Xander kills himself he's dead." Thank you Buffy.

*"Cover your eyes! It'll melt your brain!" XANDER!

*"It is kind of cool. Washington's still there but he's all smooshy...and he may be Jefferson." I just feel the need to quote everything Xander says. I can't control it, it's like a drug.

*"The gun! Pick up the little gun pieces!" See?

*I love how Weakness Xander hid behind Strong Xander when Toth came into the apartment.

*And Xander has duplicate clothing just in case his personality gets split into two different bodies and they feel the need to dress alike?

*"How was it when she called me Mr.?" It was great : )

*I loved the Xander interaction between the two Xander. How cute.

*"Let the spell be ended." I SO could have done that.

*The Xander basement memories were kind of sad, and funny.

*Anya wants to load Buffy up like "one of the those little horses." Hahahaha

*OK, Riley's speech was really cheesy but Awwwwwwwwww! "But she doesn't love me". RILEY! Come here, Dani just needs to give you a big, big hug!

I'm done now, if you finished I'll do the Snoopy Dance for ya! Why is this so long? I'm such a dork!


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Sandy's Review:

I like the Dawn/Buffy/Joyce part...'I'm going to let you work this out for yourselves...'

When does college start? are the gang even going this semester?

I liked the glow in the dark monster--no lurky stalky stuff here...and Giles was too funny in this ep...Good to see the giles/buffy banter back 'toth? It's an english slang thing he just called youa moron...' hee hee..ok im evil...

Nick Brendon's twin has a different voice, am I the only one who noticed this...?

I felt bad for Xander with the real estate lady...as a twenty -something that had to deal with nasty real estate people for 3 months while looking for a house to rent, I understand (luckily I rented a house through an owner)

Also felt bad with the Xander parents part...

But loved the twin/two Xanders at the end...they were too funny

This is in no order whatsover...

Buffy is into her slayer thing..she's studying--she used to hate history...now she's engrossed in the crusades...(I had flashback to BTVS Season 1: The Angel Ep, Willow tutoring Buffy for history, then Buffy saying Angel was a college student tutoring her)

Riley's coughing...this is someone they gave a lot of drugs and was really sick last season..hey guys he's coughing--wait now look at next weeks preview...see!!

Anyas afraid of getting old....she really didnt want to be human--a good contrast for Angel wanting to grow old and be human...

Willow handled having an evil twin just fine thank you very much...and Willow was really funny this week too...glad to see Willow/Xander bonding...AND THE SNOOPY DANCE!!! heehee

I like Xander's new apartment....

Is spike ever going to get the chip out??

Sword! Oh I liked the sword..sorry I collect swords...

Did I mention I like Buffy's hair this season?

She doesn't love him...I know that...you're part of that normal life she was trying to embrace--what happens when she embraces her inner slayer? Now I didnt feel sorry for Riley...he chose to be in this type of a relationship...I'm not going to get into my theories on love etc (well I am a little)...but I don't think you CAN be 'in love' unless both people are 'in love.' If it's one way it's a crush or 'in like' or to love someone and not be in love with someone--tricky sounding I know but it happens ..it can also be infatuation or obsession..

Ok that wasn't my Riley-hating talking just my kaleidoscope of experience with relationships.

I'm going to stop here because I have strong opinions on love and the matter...(I believe you're only 'in love' with one person in your life...I can go on and explain this from my experiences but I don't think anyone really cares...lol)

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Sunny's Review:

I felt sooo bad for Riley at the end. Marc did an incredible job. It was so heartwrenching when he said that and then for Buffy to come in and him to act like nothing was wrong when we know how he really thinks. He's just got it so unbelievably bad for her. I'm hoping that Joss will prove all the Riley leaving rumors wrong and clear up Riley's misconceptions about her not loving him in return. I mean, if he is comparing her feelings towards him and her feelings towards Angel (which seems to be the case), it WON'T be the same. Anyone else remember their first really intense relationship with someone? You NEVER forget that person, and anyone after that, you love just a little differently, but not any LESS!

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Toya's Review:

"But she doesn't love me."

Earth to Riley, I could've told you that. I wonder when he realized it. I never thought he was intuitive. I was hoping that he say why or how he came to that conclusion. But man I was happy when he said that.

Well aside from that pleasing realization, I loved this ep. It wasn't as action pack as I wanted it to be, but it was cool. I loved the fact that it was a Xander based ep. I am still waiting for an ep that is based souly on Giles. So far I am satisfied with the eps this season.


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