Buffy board game

Happy Halloween! It's time to talk about spooky things! A friend who knows me well gifted me with the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game! I can't wait to play it. I own a much earlier version of the game, which came out in 2000 while the series was still on the air.  In the original game, there were 4 possible stories to play, each one fighting a different villain, a.k.a. the 'big bad.' 

Through the phases of the moon, the vampires and wolves got different powers and the good and bad guys delivered damages. It was elaborate! Check out more information about the original game here. I can't wait to play and report back on the new updated game (with stories and characters for all 7 seasons). 

Happy 20th Birthday, Buffy! - Now Supergirl Slays (W/ SPOILERS)

     This past March, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In April, Entertainment Weekly reunited the cast for a chat about the show's impact. Star Sarah Michelle

Buffy explaining her relationship with
Angel - via GIPHY

Gellar and creator Joss Whedon agreed that their literal manifestation of "high school is hell" often played on multiple thematic levels and that their portrayal of happy relationships were far and few between. Gellar looked radiant sitting next to the still-hot David Boreanez, who played the sensitive soul-cursed vampire Angel. She admitted her personal choice would be for Buffy to live happily ever after with Angel instead of Spike (James Marsters), a bad vampire that gained his own conscience after falling in love with Buffy in the later seasons. Boreanez and two other cast members, Alexis Denisof (Wesley) and Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) left he show after the 3rd season for Angel's spin-off, where the vampire "moonlighted" as a detective and saved L.A. from demons and lawyers. Carpenter incredibly looks as young as she did when Angel began filming 18 years ago. Denisof's rugged looks won him the hand of another cast member, Alyson Hannigan. The couple married in 2003.

The wisdom of 'Oz' via GIPHY

     There were deeper issues to discuss in the reunion than choosing a side in the Spike/Angel debate. Actresses Amber Benson (Tara) and Hannigan (Willow) spoke about their beautiful lesbian relationship on the show and how it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on TV as little as 15 years ago. As Hannigan's other major love interest, Seth Green spoke more in this interview than his entire time on the show as laconic musician/werewolf, Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne. He offered to host cast potlucks! The loveable duo  Nick Brendan (Xander) and Emma Caulfield (Anya) agreed their characters would have stayed together if Anya hadn't been killed in the final episode.  By the end, Caulfield performed a dramatic then performed a eulogy for her character, who despised bunnies.

'The Body' - Season 5 via GIPHY

     The effervescent Kristine Sutherland (as Buffy's mom Joyce Summers) spoke about her role as the clueless mom and how she slowly became a mother to all of Buddy's marginalized friends, her ball of energy fake sister Dawn (Michelle Tractenberg), and some demons (Clem!!). This sometimes came at the expense of getting kidnapped or knocked unconscious. Sutherland spoke highly of the cast and their commitment to telling stories with multiple levels. Sutherland's character's unexpected death in the 5th season had a dramatic impact on the season, and I would go as far as to say, the course of the last two seasons of the show. Whedon addressed the story (Buffy's mom had first a brain tumor that made her see demons, and after healing, was found unconscious from an aneurysm.) and Buffy's absolute helplessness. There was nothing she could kill or beat up to help her mom, and she went through all of the feelings of grief  in one scene. Whedon also shared his mother passed away when he was a teenager. As he worked through his feelings, the writer found a catharsis and was grateful for fans to share their own experiences of losing a parent too young.

My signed postcard from
Sarah Michelle Gellar, 1999.

     In my 90's Buffy binge haze, something has become abundantly clear to me. While some of the fashion fuzzy sweaters camisoles over t-shirts, knee socks) and  Xander's dialogue is questionable, the messages and themes still hold up. The lessons are timeless and the gains are huge.  Buffy has very heavily influenced the current CW show Supergirl. Read on as I discuss both shows and the continuing legacy of kick-ass female superheroes.

Image from Comic Vine

TROPE: The Dual Identity
     This is pretty obvious, so I won't spend too long on this point. Gellar's Buffy always looked chic, and in the early seasons, Buffy seemed to own an unlimited closet of trench coats and leather jackets for all of her lurking.Buffy spent her high school career sorting through pencils and stakes in her bag and running from math class to stakeouts to graveyards.  She struggled to hold down a job after dropping out of college, although construction work seemed promising given her super strength.  While she didn't often get a restful night's sleep, being the slayer is her calling. She doesn't have a choice. She's lied to her family, dates, hospitals, police, and the entire town. In the end, her graduating class knew there was something funky going on and awarded her the class protector award.

Image from GIPHY

     As you may know, Melissa's Benoist's  Supergirl has a disguise. I'm not saying it's clever, but taking off the suit and throwing up a messy bun and thick glasses transform the hero into plain old Catco Media worker Kara Danvers. I am seriously in love with her red Supergirl boots! In her daily life, Kara dresses pretty boring, classic sweaters and button down shirts, trousers and pencil skirts. A casual game night will land her in some jeans. In her demure persona, Kara get bullied by both of her bosses. First, as an assistant to Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart), she gets shade for the the long coffee runs end with defeating aliens and warming up the coffee with her eyes.

GIF from Timblr

     In season 2, she moved up to the rank of  magazine reporter (yes, that's still a paying job in National City). At times Kara stands up for herself to her Editor-in-Chief Snapper Carr, but writes way too many basic pieces about her buddy, Lena Luthor. She, like Buffy, fired. Then like Buffy, she saves the world, stops an alien registry (so timely with politics), gets re-hired by Catco. Cat reveals after a traumatic battle that she knows Kara (often purposely called Kira by Cat, like in Devil Wears Prada) she's Supergirl. Cat had a great friendship with Sueprgirl over the course of season 1, but was always tough on Kara. On top of all of this, Kara is a super hero because she's an alien that crash landed on earth. She was supposed to protect her baby cousin, but she got lost on her way to earth, and he was grown up and fighting bad aliens off his new planet by the time she arrived. With her powers from her homeland and parental-instilled sense of right and wrong, Kara can't sit by and watch other aliens bring chaos and destruction.

TROPE: The adopted sister/Protecting Family

GIF via FanPop

     Buffy was an only child until some  monks with no eyes combined a dimensional portal into a human body (season 5). They called the teenage girl 'Dawn' and wrote her into everyone's memory. This was an interesting plot choice and became the key arc of season 5. A demon (Hell-God if we're being precise) named Glory (Clare Kramer) was trapped in our dimension and wanted to go home. The way out was a portal with a special key, which was running through Dawn's veins. This led to the phrase "Dawn's kidnapped? It must been Tuesday night."  A super creepy guy named Doc (the legendary Joel Grey) finally lured Dawn away and put her up a big tower in  a junkyard as her blood began to open the portal. In order to save her sister and the dimension, Buffy jumped in to use her blood to close the portal, killing herself in the process. Buffy's sacrifice (in the 100th episode, titled The Gift)  is one of the most devastating season endings of any show. Joss broke the rules by killing off his heroine (twice), during a time of network uncertainty and a season already marked by Joyce' death weeks earlier. The show was cancelled by the WB after contact renewal discussions and "The Gift" ended with a sappy title card from the network thanking the show for 5 years.

     Buffy didn't take things lying down. The show was quickly acquired by UPN and lived on for two more seasons. (Ironically both networks merged a few years later to form the current CW). Whedon also found loopholes to bring Buffy back after both deaths, however damaged she might be. Both times, Buffy's friends jumped in to rescue her. If she was a typical slayer, Buffy have no friends and would have probably died the second she arrived in Sunnydale. But as the every-woman slayer of the 90's/2000's, Buffy made connections with friends that were committed to save the world. As Xander once said, "Here to help. Want to live..." 

Kara and Alex celebrate a rough day. - via Tumblr

     Supergirl had a different family structure from the start. Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) became Kara's big sister when the young alien landed on earth and met up with her cousin, now known as Superman. Kara's cousin placed her with the Danvers family because they protected and raised him.  This new family struck Kara odd at some points but provided her a foundation for being a normal kid.  Sure she could melt things with her eyes and fly, but she was asked to keep those under wraps. As the younger sister, Kara always wants to please Alex. First, she saved Alex's commuter plane,  revealing herself to the world as a superhero. In their many adventures with the Dept. of Extraterrestrial Operations (DEO) Alex has dram jumped and done many stupid things for a human, all in the name of saving her much-powerful sister. The girls became very close to their mother as teens, much like Buffy and Dawn, although for much different reasons.

     The Danvers girls were told their father died on a professorial mission, which was a lie because it was  a mission for his secret DEO work and he is very much alive, minus a hand. Read my take here. The Summers girls were a product of divorce. Buffy's unpredictable all-night slayer schedule and school trouble for 'fighting' put a strain on her parents' already-fragile marriage. Mom moved the girls to a new town and their dad just stopped showing up after a few years. Even Angel came to Joyce's funeral, but Mr. Summers was off on an island (allegedly with his secretary).

     In both cases, the girls became close to their mothers out of necessity. In the season 2 thanksgiving episode, both sisters were trying to outbid each other to out themselves to their mother. Kara planned to come clean about being Supergirl (where has her mom been living by the way? How could she not notice or suspect?). and Alex about her newly discovered feelings for a woman, Maggie. The Danvers girls found a great amount of respect from their mom when everything resolved, which took a lot longer for Buffy. In late season 2, she began letting her mom in on more things, explaining her creepy (vampire) ex was not invited inside the house anymore. The season closer finally brought Buffy, Joyce and Spike to a conversation where Buffy declared herself a slayer. "Did you every try not being one?" asked Joyce. While the subtext for a different coming out is here, Joyce represented the 90's parent, much more naive and willing to believe her kid was out doing good instead of bad. But after a summer, [Buffy ran away to be a vampire-free waitress (possibly the longest non-slayer job she ever had] she returned home again and was welcomed in with a new sense of understanding and maturity.
   
Other Future Tropes to Discuss:

• "GIVE ME SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT!" -Musicals
• The Surrogate Father
• The Delicate Balance: Romance Vs. Saving the World
• The Scoobies vs. The Justice League

Cop Fridays 5: After 8 Seasons, the Sheriff Can't Stop Doppelgangers and their Vampire Diaries*

     Happy 20th Anniversary today to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the grandmommy of all teen vampire dramas! We'll touch on BTVS briefly tonight as it relates to The Vampire Diaries but devote more time to it soon.

"Evacuate the town. Yeah, it's another gas leak." -- Sheriff Matt Donovan

     This is the Mystic Falls town slogan. I would also accept, "Come for the vampires, but stay for the lies that everything is going to be okay," because nothing in Mystic Falls is ever going to be okay. This place has been haunted by vamps since the Civil War! I find it ironic that in the last episode of the series, we're going back to the old classics. Similar to the old Buffy adage, "This crime was committed by a gang on pcp." The Vampire Diaries had their share of police cover-ups. In the beginning, Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Lockwood put the town at ease by straight up lying. Vicki Donovan (sister of Matt) was bit by vampire Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) during a party in the woods, and everyone believed she was bit by an animal, another Buffy lame excuse. When in doubt, all of the vampires could glamour humans and make them believe whatever they told them in a trance-like state. It worked fine until Stefan became human again. All of his glamours became undone and the town was ready to riot before the gates of hell were being opened. Much like Buffy, TVD also has a gateway to hell lurking around their school. This is more a recent development as the "Hells Bells" came to town with TVD's siren sisters this season.  
     

Image fro GURL.com

     Let's talk more about the concept of a vampire going back to being a human. This concept has been a big part of TVD and I believe the cure was introduced around season four. The cure would only work for one person, and it looked like a large capsule of blood. Apparently, some Internet reading led me to find out the cure came from a brotherhood hunting The Originals witches as early as the year 1100. It was buried in some remote part of the earth and everyone wanted it for their own reasons. The idea was to give it to Elena (Nina Dobarev) because being a vampire was kinda an accident and it made her miserable.

Multiple Dimensions, Bonnie's Deaths and "The Cure"

     When a few witches created alternate dimensions to trap people {1994 for Kai Parker (Chris

Bonnie and the Bennett Witches
Image from Youtube

Wood) and 1903 for Mama Salvatore}, there were multiple cures created in those prison worlds. This brought the number of cures to 3. The first cure went to Katherine Pierce, a big bad doppelganger of Elena, also played by Dobarev. (The total number of doppelgangers she played was three.)The second cure went to Silas, a doppelganger of Damon's more saintly brother Stefan (only two doppelgangers for Paul Wesley). The third cure went into Elena's body before a season 6 wedding. Instead of Elena dying (and Dobarev leaving the show forever), she was put in a coma, her life tied to her best friend, Bonnie Bennett (Kat Grahm). For all her witchy ways, Bonnie could not figure out how to bring Elena back, aside from killing herself. Bonnie died three times over the course of the series and almost a record 4th time in the penultimate episode (Buffy only dies twice). But Bonnie is a fighter and she made it back through a loophole every time, so things were not looking good for Elena in this lifetime. After the big battle (see below) is over, Elena wakes up. Suddenly, Bonnie realized she knew how to break the spell. This was a stretch of convenience for the last few minutes of the episode. We don't know how she did it after barely practicing magic for the last 3-4 years.  I sincerely hope she channeled the power of her ancestor witches, in the image above. Bonnie used their strength to win the big battle (like Willow when she gave slayer hopefuls their powers early from the cool slayer scythe). Bonnie ends the show along, but she keeps seeing the ghost of her dead boyfriend Enzo, and she seems to be cool with it. Bonnie finally got out of that town and was headed off to see Europe. You go, Bonnie Bennett.

The Big Battle- "I was Feeling Epic"

     A few episodes ago, Bonnie injected some of  the cure out of Elena's sleeping body so she could give it to her boyfriend, Enzo. Then sweet Stefan went evil (just like Angel lost his soul and became Angelus) because he turned off his humanity to serve the devil for a few years. Also known as "Cade", the devil made the Salvatore brother work for him collecting bad souls in exchange for not taking Caroline and Ric's twin witch toddlers, which is like a magical full house. Bonnie punished Stefan by stabbing him with the cure, and turning him human for the first time in 150 years. At this point, the cure rules become unclear. Stefan got the cure, but it's still in Elena's sleeping body. It does, however, becomes clear that doppelganger Katherine is pulling the strings in hell. Surprise! She's had Cade torturing the gang since she died a few years ago.  Through Stefan and Caroline's wedding, they lure Katherine back to town. Here's the plan, trap her in the underground tunnels, and hope Bonnie can channel hellfire through the tunnels (like when an earthquake swallowed Sunnydale into the Hellmouth) to swallow Katherine back to hell and destroy the whole construct, once and for all. Stefan volunteers, he has a family to protect now. Damon volunteers, because he's done some bad stuff and has spent the last season pondering if he would ever be worthy of Elena when she wakes up. As Heath Ledger said in 10 Things I Hate About You, "Does this chick have beer flavored nipples?" The blind love and devotion for Elena is at times, completely revolting. So  now Damon is going to trap Katherine in the tunnels. Psych! Stefan comes at the last minute and stabs his brother with (you guessed it) the cure, so he can also be human, and live out a human life with Elena. Stefan goes down in hellfire with Katherine as a hero. He is officially, dead. Everyone was pretty upset about it, especially his brother (after 150+ years on earth, you get attached). I was near tears when they had a  "woods funeral" for Stefan, playing The Fray's Look After You. This song was significant for two reasons, it was callback to Stefan and Elena in the pilot, and Candace Accola (Caroline) actually married one of the band members. We saw Stefan pass over as he jumped into a car with his old (dead) pal, Lexie, where he proclaimed, "I was feeling epic!"

What exactly is hellfire? 

      Now we come back to Sheriff Matt Donovan and what he did for the town. First of all, Matt is the only character on the show that (a) did not die and (b) remained human the entire time.  Secondly, he only became the Sheriff because enough people died, moved away, or quit that he was the only one dumb enough to stick around in a town that was at one time, preventing non-vampires from entering at the "welcome" sign.  Does that make him a good cop? I can't say. I can say that Matt was the Mystic Falls equivalent of a Xander Harris. He had a pure heart, and he needed to do just one thing to prove he was worthy of being part of this extraordinary group. 

     Matt finally got parents this season, and they revealed he was from one of the founding families (he could have been Miss Mystic Falls). This means Matt wasn't the white trash he always believed he came from. The Maxwell family designed the founders' town bell, and the Bennett witches put a spell on it to drive away sirens. But a different number of rings would open the gates of hell, located just under the town square (just like the high school library). Before the grand plan to eradicate Katherine was developed, Matt agreed to ring the bell.  Then his 20-years absent dad jumped in to ring it, but hey changed their minds after hearing the town would be eradicated. Then Matt's mom came back from the dead (don't feel bad, Matt didn't even know she died) and got his (also dead) sister Vicki to ring the bell, bringing hellfire. Matt and Damon tried to kill Vicki, but remember, she's been dead since about episode 5. At least by this point, the crack team had a plan in place to take down Katherine and preserve the town. The town later presented Matt with a bench (for still having a town to come back to) while the ghosts of his sister and friend Tyler watched.  

Caroline/Rick/Stefan- One Happy Family?

     Caroline and Stefan got married in the penultimate episode. I know they've been engaged all season, but something about their relationship has never won me over. Maybe I am a sucker for the chemistry Stefan first had with Elena, and that fact that they're doppelgangers, souls reborn into identical bodies over and over again. That means something! Does it mean something that Caroline was hard core hitting on Stefan in the first episode? I choose to believe it was just a way to show her personality at that time, she was a boy-crazy friend of Elena, light and airy until she (within the first half of the season) became a vampire. That being said, a more grown up Caroline was forced into this family with Ric because she was gifted with carrying his wife's mystical twins. We all remember Jo's devastating murder at the hand of her twin brother (Kai) during her wedding. She is the only mom these kids will ever know, and Ric is the dad to all of the kids in mystic falls, because they have terrible family situations. Ric almost married Elena's aunt at one point (before she died), and it turned out his first wife was Elena's biological mother. Talk about an awkward family reunion... So Caroline and Ric called off their wedding a few years ago because she was really in love with Stefan. But, I always believed Ric had fallen in love with Caroline and I wanted to see them end up together. With Stefan gone a day after he got married, I am hoping Caroline and Ric come together again, this time with love and gratitude fro what they've faced with these twin terrors (siren nannies and the like). Their last scene is opening a magic school (just like Charmed) with Elena's brother Jeremy, much like the Derek Zoolander center, except books catch on fire and there may be Harry Potter robes. I guess the idea of the school is to prevent kids from spinning out and becoming magical super villains, like Kai. Despite their generous endowment to begin the school from creepy vampire Klaus, I choose to believe Caroline and Ric are together. 

Elena and Damon- Happily Ever After, or Are They Dead? 

     Elena and Damon are living happily as humans. I'm not happy with it, but I'm accepting it based on the circumstances. Elena writes in her journal, with a big rock on her finger, back in the graveyard again. In the first episode, she went to the cemetery to feel close to her recently deceased parents. Now, I think it's mostly for Stefan's benefit. I assumed she was writing ho him in her journal. As a typical back from the dead over-achiever, Elena completed college, med school, and actually became a doctor. I guess she handles blood well. She finished journaling and Damon met her to walk somewhere. There's a crow in the graveyard. It's another callback to the first episode. I also think Stefan's soul may be in that crow. Yes, it's a stretch, but it makes me happy.

     Here's where TVD lost me: the last scene. I'm going out on a LOST limb here, so bear with me. From all the interviews and pieces I have read, we are flashing forward to the end of Damon and Elena's lives. Otherwise, all of this was for nothing because it seems like we're following them into the not too distant afterlife. Elena and Damon were strolling down the street. Elena stopped at her home, (which she burned down upon becoming a vampire) and her dead parents were out on the porch. She ran up the steps, hugging them and her dead aunt, Jenna. Then her dead biological father (Uncle John) came out with a bottle of wine and hugged her. To me, one reunites with dead people when they have also crossed over. The last shot was Damon ringing the bell at the old Salvatore house, which a second ago was being converted into a magic school by Caroline and Ric. Stefan opened the door and greeted his brother home with a hug. The last words are another callback to the pilot, when Damon breezed into town to murder people. He said to Stefan, "Hello brother." If Damon was worried he would never see Stefan again, and here they are together in their home, they must be dead. If they really did destroy hell with it's own fire, they must be in heaven. So it seems like both brothers found redemption for being such vicious killers.

     While that's a great note to end on, I want to believe Stefan got another shot with Elena in the afterlife. They had such a beautiful (but too short) moment saying goodbye while Elena was in her sleeping beauty coma that I can't be completely satisfied with this ending.

 NOTE: A "woods funeral" is a memorial held for someone who is dead on TVD. I coined this term because it's happened multiple times, and at least a few of them were for Bonnie.  I guess this group needs to say their goodbyes in private, so a real funeral may also be held. They meet in the woods near the graveyard, possibly by the Lockwood family crypt. They say some nice things and often leave tokens for the dead. 

     *My original intent was to call this "Twins, Doppelgangers and Time Jumps", but there was only one jump, three sets of twins and a gaggle of vampires, diaries and doppelgangers to discuss., so we paired it down. 

Cop Fridays 3: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Bones

Image from Pintrest

     It's time for another installment of Cop Fridays! This time we take a look at the rapidly approaching series finale of my most beloved cop show, Bones. Aside from COPS and American Idol, the 12-season running Bones may be one of the longest-running shows FOX has ever had the pleasure of airing.

      I'm going to get sentimental for a moment and explain why the show is so emotionally enmeshed in my viewing past. The show premiered in the Fall of 2005. I was a college freshman looking for new friendships and television shows. All you had to say was that David Boreanez "Angel from BUFFY" was playing a hunky FBI agent, and I was hooked. I invited my close friends over for a viewing party of the first episode. We all cheered when Emily Deschanel's Dr. Temperance Brennan grabbed a gun and shot a suspect in the leg to prevent him from getting away. It was illegal, it was wrong, and it was awesome! Remember, she is the forensic scientist - hence the name Bones- and she should not have done that at all for various ethical and legal reasons.

The show became a bonding experience over subsequent seasons, I had regular Bones dates with a group of friends. We held out hope that one day Brennan and said hunky partner,  FBI agent Seely Booth, would get together. It took years... She was with child before the audience discovered they were fooling around. From that moment in the 6th season finale, Booth and Bones seemed inseparable. With two kids, several kidnappings, and trips to faraway places like Peru and London for cases, it seemed like they could handle everything. They even tried giving up their crime solving at the end of season 10, quitting their jobs in an attempt to give their family a normal life (it didn't last).

     This week, it all stopped making sense. Brennan's ex-convict father Max (the incomparable Ryan O'Neal) died at the end of last Tuesday's episode. In another psychotic revenge plot, Max protected his grandkids from an attack at home. [Sounds like just another day at the F.B.I, right?] He came through surgery for a gunshot wound, passing suddenly as he talked with Bones. After that moment, Bones lost it. The father she spent years not knowing (due to her parents faking their deaths and going on the lam, leaving Bones and her brother to grow up in foster care), was gone and died doing what he could to protect his family.

      What would someone do after suffering a tragic loss? She would be the subject of this week's episode "The Grief in the Girl." Bones flipped out, becoming distant from her husband, telling him that he should go to Canada to work a case, and it's really not important if he makes it to the memorial. She catches up with an ex-boyfriend (sorry, I forgot you existed, FBI Agent Sully). She works the case from D.C. She writes a eulogy. She is at best, her pre-Booth robotic self. She is at best, completely falling apart in her own Bones way. I really can't understand why she is/was so into Sully. By the time she reaches the memorial, Bones is finally ready to open up to Booth like most normal people do when they lose a parent. Bones justifies her time with Sully, saying that relationship prepared her for a relationship with Booth. That's cool, but I thought his coming to town just for her dad's funeral and putting in a several-day hang was odd and inappropriate. It seemed bizarre that he left the FBI, skipped town and ghosted Bones, and then wanted to be there in her hour of need. He has a girlfriend he might want to marry back at home. For the record, their relationship was not a Buffy/Angel after Joyce's death situation. It was also odd that Bones would abandon her evolved emotional arc and become so distant from her husband. I have not been this upset over and episode since  Dr. Hodgins got confined to a wheelchair, and before that, when Dr. Sweets unexpectedly died.  While I'm willing to give this episode a pass, I hope this is a justified  plot device that will help the characters move on as we go to the last episode.

I was okay with Bones through this weekend. Then, I got upset again. David Boreanez appeared on The Huffington Post's Build Series this Monday. It was a delightful interview, until he teased there might be several  more deaths in the last few episodes. I went right back into a glass case of emotion. and I cannot keep doing this again. Usually Bones is known for keeping death to the corpses in the lab. Do we as an audience need the schadenfreude of the writers killing multiple characters to help ua walk away from a show? Absolutely not, no bones about it.

*Updated 2/28
See the amazing Forbes recap of the episode here.
See the first COP Fridays post here.
See the second COP Fridays post here.

Holiday Road.... Top RT Audio for the Holiday Season

     I have been spending so much time in the car lately. It's easy for me to get tired of the radio. I've tried everything (but cassette tapes) to keep me sane behind the wheel. I've put together my top three songs and top 5 podcasts that have been helping me deal with holiday traffic.

SONGS:
     It's that cold time of year again. My current local temperature is about 22 degrees, which makes car travel less fun toff the bat. I need music to get me in the car. A good holiday song will make you forget you're in traffic. A great song will turn your boring commute into a party-like atmosphere , which is great when there is a bottleneck to view an accident on the other side of the highway.

3. Florida Georgia Line: Cruise
"I've got my windows down, and my radio up..."
This 2013 radio staple get me to roll down my windows and relax (if it is above 40 degrees out). I caught FGL in the summer of 2013 touring with Luke Bryan as this song was burning up the country, pop and hip hop charts. It was a near religious experience on a sweltering Labor Day weekend in Pennsylvania  as Tyler Hubbard (Georgia of the aforementioned Line) yelled out "Yeah Girl" to my "Let's cruise" sign. Something about the song on the radio takes me back to that concert and the memories of that weekend. Cruise and other songs about sipping beers, falling in love, dancing in fields, and other summer fun can be found on Here's to the Good Times.

2. Maren Morris: 80's Mercedes
"...Feel like a hard to get starlet when I'm driving...." 
I love listening to this song in the car. It reminds me of summertime, no traffic, and it's very catchy. Maren Morris has blown up the country scene this year, winning Bes New Artist at November's CMA Awards. Her mix of pop, soul and country make her Summer 2016 album Hero on repeat.

1. Tim McGraw: Shotgun Rider
"...No I don't ever want to know... no  other shotgun rider beside you, singing along to the radio."

(c) PipPepPop

PODCASTS:

     Everyone has a podcast these days. All you need are some good microphones, the gift of gab, and an iTunes account. All you need to listen are ears. I have been devouring the following podcasts in no particular order :

5. Shondaland Revealed
     TGIT fans can rejoice! ABC super EP Betsy Beers is back bi-weekly this season and  interviewing her beloved Shonda Thursdays actors. Stars of Grey's Anatomy, Scandal (premieres next month), The Catch (premieres March) and How to Get Away with Murder come to chat about their shows. I also believe this started as a Scandal podcast and expanded out to the other shows. In the news, I have to know who is under the sheet (dead) on HTGAM! I know Betsy will have that interview (and the actor's fashion report) soon. The podcast is on iTunes alternate Fridays with first looks on EW.com Thursday nights.

4.  Buffering the Vampire Slayer
     Real-life couple Kristin Russo and Jenny Owens Young have just completed a watch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's season 1. January is the perfect time to jump in on the emotionally crippling season 2. There's some important conversations to be had here about the dialog (mostly from Xander) and situations from the 90's (just yell "The Patriarchy") that are no longer politically correct.  There's also much amazing fashion to discuss (t-shirts under camis and dresses, velour everything, anyone?) Buffy fans new and old will enjoy this podcast. I loved the interview with Armin Shimerman (aka Principal Synder) and hope to hear more behind the scenes tidbits as Buffy turns 20 this spring. Each episode ends with an original composition the ladies have written  about the theme of the episode. I know the upcoming School Hard already lends itself to an easy chorus. The podcast drops on iTunes Wednesday nights/Thursday mornings. Visit the podcast website here.

3. Bitch Sesh- A Real Housewives Breakdown Show
     Hosts Casey Warner and Danielle Schneider are celebrating year on the airwaves with special guest, Bravo's King Andy Cohen. Both women come from comedy writing and acting backgrounds, and they launched the Hulu original mockumentaries "The Real Housewives of Orlando" and "The Real Housewives of Las Vegas." This podcast is all bravo, all the time. The episodes recap all of the Real Housewives franchises (mainstays Orange County, Beverly Hills, NY, NJ, Atlanta, and the less successful Dallas, DC, and Potomac forays.) The podcast is usually found Wednesdays! Catch the crew on iTunes here.

2. Gossip Guys
     Andy Greene and Aaron Davitian have steered the ship USS Gossip Girl for nearly three seasons, and only spoiled one major plotline. If you listed to the "Never Have I Ever" episode, you and Andy will find out who is Gossip Girl.  The L.A.-based pair always have something to say as two guys watching a post-Internet boom teen drama. They push through the party and scheme of the  week, coining phrases such as 'manipiate': a manipulation, usually involving Nate. I've found myself yelling "It's not enough," when they honor Blair's stepdad Cyrus, or "It's a small island," whenever a character unfathomably appears in the next scene after going from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Join the guys as we head into the (personal opinion) turbulent and off-putting season 4. Let's hope next season will end with a "Summer of Serena" movie binge of Blake Lively classics. Episodes usually release Mondays. Spot the guys on iTunes here.

1. The Shipping Room
     If you've ever rooted for a TV couple, this podcast is for you! From The Wonder Years to Chicago P.D. and everything in between (usually 902010 or One Tree Hill), Christine and Tamar fearlessly plunge into important TV relationship topics. Past episodes have been about affairs, pregnancies and engagements. The ladies share weekly listener "Tip 10 Ships" lists and talk with top T.V. writers. Episodes drop on Fridays. Check them out on iTunes.

Buffy Halloween

Image from Twitter.

     Happy Halloween! In honor of the night Buffy the Vampire Slayer one referred to as "Undead for the undead," I'm bringing my favorite Buffy quotable memes from the 3 Halloween episodes. The first ever spookfest was Season 2's "Halloween." Our heroes turned into their costumes and ghost Willow was the only one who could save them. Smartly preparing for season 4's "Dead Man's Party," a simple frat party turns into a murder house, and Giles wears a sombrero. The main lesson here: never paint your floor with the spooky symbol from an old book because it will probably release a demon. Finally in season 6's "All the Way",  Anya and Xander announce their engagement, Dawn has a date with a vampire, and Buddy attempts to protect her sister.


SEASON 2: After Buffy turns from a helpless maiden back to herself:

Image from Pintrest. 

Season 2 (left): Willow testing her friends to see who hasn't turned into their costume.
Season 2 (right): Buffy confronts shopkeeper Ethan Rayne about his spellcasting costumes.

Image from Pintrest

Image from Pintrest

Season 4: Our first inclination that Anya has something against bunnies. It must be bunnies!

Image from Pintrest

Season 4: Buffy muses about her relationship status, when compared to the life of a pumpkin, and feeding her feelings with candy.

Gif from Popsugar

Gif from Whitman's Blog

Season 4: Willow and Oz presenting their couples' costume.

Image from Pintrest

Season 4: Anya goes to get Giles's help and he answers the door in a crazy costume.

Image from Pintrest
This is more of a visual joke

Season 6: Anya explaining her Charlie's Angels Costume. This is followed by the dance of capitalist superiority (dancing with money).

Gif from "Once More with Extreme Prejudice" Blog
Anya on her  "Charlie's Angels" costume

Season 6: Xander and Anya announce their engagement. 

There don't seem to be many memes for this episodes, but Xander tells Buffy he's going to marry that girl. Buffy thinks he means her 15-year old sister and then realizes she is about to be a bridesmaid. This episode is also the one right before the Once More, with Feeling musical episode. 

Image from Panels on Pages

Why Peggy Carter Was the Best TV Superhero

"If I'm working with him (Vernon Masters*) to take down a woman

 killing people with black space goop, the I'm in."

 -Chief Souza (Enver Gjokaj) to SSR Director Thompson 

* Vernon Masters is Kurtwood Smith, Eric's dad from That 70's Show, just to assist in this visual).

Image from Google

     Did you ever have one of those dreams with singing and dancing that was supposed to bring clarity to a decision you had to make? British-born SSR Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell)  did, after getting swift knock in the head and thrown in a van on its way to the desert. After that, she tried to escape put of the desert with loyal friend (and recent attempted murderer) Mr. Jarvis. Good thing Agent Carter wore a pantsuit before this mission. How did she come to arrive here? What will she do next? It's not such a simple story.

     Season 2 of Agent Carter was poorly sandwiched between breaks of Agents of the S.H.I.E.LD., a show that one must watch religiously if they want to understand each Marvel Avengers movie. The second round picked up shortly after the season 1 capture of Russian spy "Dottie." The SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve) is a post-WWII, CIA-type organization that evolves into the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. In closing  the Dottie case,  NY office member Daniel Souza is sent to head up a new branch in Los Angeles, fronted as a talent agency.  When a woman turns up frozen in a lake, Chief Thompson (Chad Michael Murray) sends Peggy to Hollywood,  where she settles into old pal Tony Stark's (SR., not Ironman) mansion and gets into some good old-fashioned spy work. This eventually lands Carter and Stark's butler Jarvis (James D'Arcy) in the desert, captured and plotting escape.

     Why is Peggy Carter such a badass? I've never been much for superhero stories, but I think part of the character's appeal is that she is a positive female role model. To be honest, I started watching this shoe because I missed Chad MM, but I stayed for the likable heroine. She doesn't have super powers like Supergirl or Buffy or any of the powers-driven Avengers (I'm still trying to figure out if  Scarlett Johanson's (Black Widow) super power is disapproving, pouty stares) but she is out fighting bad guys, breaking codes, and sneaking into dangerous parties to save the country. Plus, she is doing this all in the 1940's  when most women were at home having babies and riveting to help the war effort. Agent Carter is part of the actual war effort! She chooses her career over love (time and again) and she may not always be rewarded, but she fulfills her deep commitment to duty and to her home country and adopted home of the U.S.A.  Agent Carter was introduced in the first Captain America movie, which I could not watch all the way through on T.V. tonight (it got a little boring). Peggy takes a liking to Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a test subject in a  super soldier program, who becomes Captain America. But Peggy is not doting or wallowing too much when she loses Capt. into the ocean (2nd Capt. America movie). She is out fighting Nazis and Russians with the best of them while she moves on with her life. Plus, she looks like Carmen San Diego in that flowy trench coat.

     Agent Carter and Mr. Jarvis get out of their predicament and prevent total chaos in a studio back lot. In a nutshell, a delusional scientist-turned-actress Whitney Frost (played by Wynn Everett, and what a nice name for a villain) has accidentally dosed herself and Carter's possible love interest Dr. Jason Wilkes with a substance called Zero Matter*. Zero matter gives you a ghost-like quality and some weird powers. See below for some more clarification. Frost ( tries to take all the Zero Matter for herself and feeds the evil inside her, destroying anything that gets in her way. Bodies start to pile up as Zero Matter further falls into the wrong hands and the secret government committee that once OKs it gives up. Frost tries to open up a time rift and the gang gets a gamma ray to zap all of the Zero Matter into another dimension. Crazy Frost is partially deformed and locked up in a mental institution. Chief Souza thought moving to L.A. would help him get over Peggy, and he gets dumped by his fiancee because of how much her still cares for Peggy. Mr. Jarvis's wife is shot over the whole Zero Matter fiasco and in her the recovery, discovers she can never have children. Peggy is more confused than ever over choosing Jason (now corporeal again) or Chief Souza (freshly jilted).  Finally, Director Thompson steals an incriminating file on Carter from baddie Vernon Masters and gets shot as the episode closes.

     Where are we now? The show has been cancelled, so we are lost. Technically, nothing is ever over in this crazy T.V./Movie Marvel universe, but it's unlikely people will go back in time and spend much time with this lovable gang of (misfit) spies without some major retooling and selling the story off to someomone like Netflix.  But the fan support is still there. We need more shows like Agent Carter. There's  such a strong reliance on technology in modern-day adventures that it's refreshing to see characters using their resources like their knowledge to help solve a problem (pre-Google era, everybody). The themes present in Agent Carter and other stories of its time also ring true to today's society. America is fighting many foreign threats that may destroy the way we live. The enemy may change, but the bravery of a hero is s story that will live on. Also, Peggy and her friends show us that even super spies cannot always leave their feelings at the door, and a true hero uses emotion and instinct to get results.

*Zero Matter per Wikipedia: 

"It is a powerful, extra-dimensional energy that can be manipulated in slightly different ways by a handful of beings that are attuned to it. There are slight yet inconclusive hints that it may be a corruptive influence of some kind (at least to Cloak, possibly to Darkhawk as well) and perhaps even a sentient entity." 

6/2 UPDATED: Star Hayley Atwell would love to play Peggy again.

Boy Bands + Zombies - Music = Dead 7

     I thought it was a joke when I first heard it, but there was going to be a movie starring members of boy bands.  It was going to be on SyFy on April Fools Day, and this is the same network that green-lit the Sharknado trilogy. Even better than that, it was going to be a western... written by Nick Cater from The Backstreet Boys.  It was not the highest of cinematic fare, but I loved seeing the 90's pinups (BSB, N*SYNC, 98 Degrees, O-Town) fighting zombies. There was also the interesting (and somehow perfect casting of bay boy A.J. McLean as the head zombie's crazy henchman. What can I say, I'm easily amused.

Here are 10 important things I learned from watching Dead 7:

Chris Kirkpatrick sans eye
(Photo courtesy of Mashable)

10. Chris Kirkpatrick is still the last one picked. The N*SYNC guy played the town sheriff, not a member of the 7, and he somehow managed to lose an eye to the evil zombie queen, Apocolypta.

9. Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees) still looks dam good covered in dirt. He may be the hottest member of the 98. But what confused me greatly about Jeff's place  in general in this movie is his motive. Something terrible caused a rift between Jeff's character Billy and his brother Jack (Nick Carter) before the zombie apocalypse, and it had to do with "can't make up my mind" Daisy Jane. This was a fairly big plot point that was never explained. More importantly, where are people still getting hair gel after the zombie apocalypse?

8. Joey Fatone (N*SYNC) will never be a mustache guy. He can absolutely be a goatee guy, or  a  5 o'clock shadow guy, but his Yosemite Sam 'stache makes him look like a civil war general.

7. Nobody in the costume department knows what a ninja looks like. Erik-Michael Estrada's (O-Town) character was a ninja with a man bun, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shell, two swords, cargo pants, and sneakers.

The Men of Dead 7 (Photo from of Zap2It)
Jeff, Chris, Howie, Nick, A.J., Erik, Joey

6. Faced with too many Latinos in the cast, Howie Dorough (BSB) became The Vaquero and Erik-Michael became the ninja known as Kimodo. Somehow A.J. McLean (BSB) looks like a bloody clown.

5. Zombie henchmen look a lot like... a vampire slayer. Compare A.J. (as Johnny Vermillion, not his early 2000's solo alter ego Johnny Suede) on the left with with the first vampire slayer Sineya (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Maybe there was something missing from the very confusing exposition about all of the vampires being wiped off the earth before "the plague"? Maybe A.J. was actually a vampire, or more likely, an insane clown posse fan (a.k.a. Juggalo).

     Both characters talked in a similar manner, mostly growling. Sineya the slayer's words translated to the following:
"I have no speech. No name. I live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute... Alone." 
     Sounds like a zombie to me. Also important to note, evil zombie queen Apocolypta had a Jamaican accent when she spoke, sometimes. What was that all about?

4. O-Town sticks together. Almost the entire band appeared in the movie. Erik was one of the 7, Jacob Underwood was in a card game with Joey, and Dan Miller was holding it down as a bartender. Even Trevor Penick made a cameo as another more legitimate sheriff than Chris Kirkpatrick. Who was missing? Everyone's favorite teen heartthrob and occasional diva  Ashley Parker Angel. (I once waited three hours at the mall to meet him, only to be told I could take a photo of Ashley but couldn't be in the photo...)

3. Nobody likes the guys that flunked out of O-Town. Yes, during the groundbreaking reality series Making the Band, there were about 8 guys going through training to eventually form O-Town. The guys that were not chosen (and Ikaika Kahoano, who quit for some ridiculous reason) formed a group called LMNT. They were not cool enough to be be involved in this movie. Also important to note, Matthew Morrison (the teacher from Glee) was briefly in this boy band.

2. All the women left in the world are regarded as whores. Literally some of the guys end up in a whorehouse. All of the other women (the zombie queen, caught-between-two-brothers Daisy Jane and tribal priestess and guide Sirene (Lauren Kitt Carter) all are dressed similar to Laura Croft. I take that back, Laura Croft is dresses classier than all of these women as she raids tombs. At least the women were all wearing sensible and flat soled boots when they were running, no stilettos in sight.

1. Zombies are called copperheads????
I've got nothing to offer on this one. I am not sure why they were called copperheads. In conclusion,  SPOILER: Sirene is the only one who survived so my moral of the story is that men should not be left in charge of a post-apocalyptic world. (DROPS MIC).

A Note About Bingo: HIMYM Board Added!

I have TV bingo fever! Thanks to the highly successful Hawaii 5-0 Bingo board, I've taken to making my own boards to hammer out the predictable (and loveable events of each episode). Today's post is on How I Met Your Mother. Over the last two weeks of HIMYM watching, I was happy to say the standard 5 x 5 (if you were just thinking I was making a Buffy reference, two points for you!) board was just not enough. Plus, in honor of Robin's new boytoy, Kal Pen, TMA on Hulu shares a list of her greatest boyfriends . So after the episode, I had to make a bigger board, 6 x 6 (not symmetrical, but nice)! I can't wait to play tonight! See categories below:

This is the original 5x5 board: Oct 10, 2011


A complete listing of the spaces (from top to bottom, left to right) appears here, with the revised
6 x 6 board, also from Oct 10th:


B
1. Barney talks about hookers/strippers
2. Ted tells his story out of order
3. The night ends back at MacLarens
4. Barney disgusts a woman
5. Ted talks about architecture...snore
6. Robin has to prove she's not one of the guys

I
1. Wendy the Waitress of Karl the bartender make an appearance
2. SUITS / SUIT UP!
3. Robin talks aboot life in Canada
4. Lily complains about being a teacher
5. Marshall makes up a song about something (slap song, laundry song etc...)
6. Barney wears a duck tie

N
1. Ted tells his kids a story with a lesson attached
2. An awesome guest star appearance
3. SPEND THE NIGHT WITH BARNEY FREE SPACE
4. Barney says AWESOME or LEGENDARY
5. We see the gang in high school, college, a few years ago...
6. Lily and Marshall high-five

G
1. Scene on fake NYC street
2. Lily meddles/ tells a friend's secret
3. Barney conducts an elaborate scheme for personal gain
4. Ted is called by a nickname: schmoesby, theodorea, ted eyelyn.....
5. LAWYERED!
6. Ted talks duchey and smart

O
1. People don't take Robin seriously
2. Someone from the group breaks out into song
3. Ted thinks this girl is "the one"
4. Marshall talks about life in Minnesota
5. Let's talk about Goliath National Bank
6. Bro Moment/ bro code reference

!
1. Ted and Marshall fight
2. Barney gives a fake statistic
3. Ted dates a girl with a major flaw
4. Someone makes an elaborate chart
5. The gang drinks
6. We get a clue about Ted's wife

A Note About Netflix Instant

I've been watching Netflix Instant on my brother's Wii the last few weeks with great joy. Yes, the "new to Netflix" movies are not usually first-run (Junior was just added, as well as the full run of Family Ties). I now have the joy of watching the early seasons of shows like WEEDS (yes, I never had SHOWTIME as a child). I also have caught up on childhood classics like Hey Arnond! and Rugrats. I just found out all seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, among other shows, are on netflix for instant watching (take that Hulu!)

A Note About the Best Bad Guy Name Ever

Truly, you cannot compete with the minds of Buffy. They gave us legendary vampire henchman:
<-----Mr. Trick.

How many people are evil henchmen and referred to as Mister? Not many. Plus he got an episode named after him- season 3's "Faith, Hope and Trick."

Would you mess with this guy? I wouldn't. And yes, he got dusted and all his plans were foiled, but he was good.

Musical TV Episodes- From Buffy to Greys

So a week ago, I watched the Grey's Anatomy- The Musical Event. It was good. I liked it. Although as the Ew.com review clearly pointed out an alarming details -and I always notice those alarming details in shows- but why was everyone singing and having happy sex while Callie lay there possibly dying? That major fact aside, and the way too liberal amount of singing they gave Dr. Hunt, it was a good episode. There were stronger songs- Running on Sunshine, How to Save A Life, Chasing Cars, and The Story (watch the live version- its so much better than the recorded one)- to name a few.

FLASHBACK MOMENT- I looked up the clip where "Chasing Cars" was first used, back in the 2006 season 2 finale- when Karev had a heart and pulled Izzy off her dead fiance's bed. Check it out, George is alive, Meredith is still dark and twisty,Callie has a horrible mess of hair, and even the slutty redhead nurse is in the background. Meanwhile, McDreamy is acting all McShady because he just met Meredith in the exam room and he's supposed to be working things out with the wife. Christina is going to reconcile with Dr. Burke (and how weird was it for her to constantly be touting his procedure in this episode, I mean the dude left her at the altar). To further add to this nostalgia, check out Chris O'Donnell as McVet. Ah, memories.

First of all, thank you to Greys for letting Eli (AKA Franco from Rescue Me) dance Dr. Bailey all around the nurses' station and Scott Foley sing. I'm a big fan of the Foley and I'm 99% sure he is going to make a complete career comeback!

Second, I love Sara Ramirez's voice more than life itself. This is why the musical worked. she led the cast in her ephemeral half-there/floating ghost form, singing everyone through their pain.

Third, wonderfully sexy singing came from Karev and McSteamy! They deserved to sing more. And Mr. McDreamy was mysteriously silent- and he did sing the tiniest bit in the movie Enchanted. On second thought, I think he was the only one that didn't sing.... but he had beautiful jazz hands during "That's How You Know."

Fourth, what is going on with the Lexie/Mark/Avery thing? she wants Mark, she cares for him through the birth of his kid, and when Avery gives her an ultimatum (good for you, Avery- don't be a shelf-boy, there is a fine line between waiting outside her door and waiting for someone who will never give their heart to you!), she goes home with him.

So to return to musical episodes, it all started with Cop Rock, but that was too high concept at the time. Without VH1- nobody would have known about CR. But if CR is the founding father, the Teddy Roosevelt if you will, of musical tv show episodes, then Buffy the Vampire Slayer is certainly the hell-raising Alice Roosevelt daughter of them. And that is why I will be posting about the groundbreaking season 6 episode, "Once More, With Feeling"(view the original trailer in the link) tomorrow. Check it out!

A Note About Re-Watching TV Shows

I have a lot of shows I like on DVD. I also have a lot of shows I used to like on DVD. I just got BOY MEETS WORLD season 1 on DVD now. One of the most important things I've realized is that like a song you listen to over and over again, a show you watched growing up means different things to you as you age.

FOR EXAMPLE: Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Season 6 was very dark. Although the first few episodes brought great comedy: "Flooded," (Buffy beat up a demon in a bank and asked for a loan), "All the Way" (Halloween, Xander and Anya's engagement), "Life Serial" (Buffy trying to find a job) "Tabula Rasa" (group memory loss) and the critically acclaimed and groundbreaking musical episode, "Once More, With Feeling," it got pretty dark.

At the time, I wasn't a fan of the dark parts. I was in high school, and i naturally related to the earlier seasons (read- the seasons before Buffy died and switched to UPN). As I've been re-watching season 6, I've found love for many other episodes for one simple reason: I get it! Season 6 wasn't about darkness. Well, to some extent it was about darkness- (I mean, Willow did almost destroy the world and all).

But with my life establishing in my twenties, I can appreciate season 6 and recognize the simplicity of it. Season 6 was about growing up, trying to fix your life, find your life, and be an adult. Giles left, the kids had to grow up. Everyone made some bad decisions. Tara was killed. Life is hard, and season 6 was all about that. Sometimes people make mistakes (Buffy's whole relationship with Spike). Sometimes you have ato take a job you hate (at the Doublemeat Palace), and soemtimes you're not as ready to be as grown up as you think (Xander leaving Anya at the altar). But in the end, you have your friend that remembers you being upset about your broken crayon, and you know it will all be okay in the end.

A Note About SMG on TV

I'm very excited to read about Sarah Michelle Gellar's new TV show pilot getting ordered by CBS! Read more about "Ringer" here.

A Note About Thanksgiving Leftovers: Buffy-Style

In honor of the late holiday of Thanksgiving, I present my favorite holiday cliches the 4th season Thanksgiving episode of Buffy.

3. Native Americans taking back their land.

2. Holiday guests being tied to their chairs.

1. Exes coming to visit.

A Note About Celebrating Halloween Part 4: A Final Note and More Teen Dramas

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
I have rescinded my blowing off Buffy season 6's Halloween episode "All the Way." This is a great episode! After re-watching it this past weekend, I have re-awakened my love for this episode. Its not all about Dawn. It's about Xander and Anya getting engaged, Buffy dealing with the lonely afterlife (by avoiding responsibility and leaving all the work to Giles), and the deterioration of Tara and Willow's relationship. This episode also sets up the wonderful (and at the time highly original) musical episode "Once More, With Feeling." -Remember this was about 8 years before GLEE.

CLASSIC QUOTES:
Anya: "This is the dance of capitalistic superiority."
Dawn: "Shiver me timbers."
Buffy: "Did anyone actually come here to make out? Aww that's sweet. You run!"

ONE TREE HILL
I always cite Season 3's "An Attempt to Tip the Scales" as the ultimate OTH Halloween episode. Haley is slutty Sandy, Nate is Batman, Luke is Tommy Lee, Peyton an Angel and Brooke- the Devil. Drama plays out at the Tric Halloween Bash. Mouth and Peyton also do the hustle in front of a supportive crowd. This (season 8's) Halloween episode also gets a shout out. Again, we find ourselves at Tric, where Haley is a pregnant cheerleader Brooke is an Orange, Nate is Don Draper.. it seems like we all got a little less creative. But again, drama plays out at Tric, and yes- it was drama-ful.
For more about OTH Halloween, read here.

GOSSIP GIRL
In a show where every episode has a themed or dress-up ball, it is tough to enjoy Halloween. Season 3's "How to Succeed in Bassness" had a Halloween theme. Season 1's "A Handmaiden's Tale" also had a Halloween-time masquerade ball.

THE O.C.
Generally when I think "holiday" and The O.C., I think of the annual Chrismukkah episode. But Halloween in the land of white beaches and palm trees is never so simple. Season 1's "The Best Chrismukkah Ever" has summer donning a Wonder Women costume. Not exactly Halloween, but pretty close.

VERONICA MARS
In season 3, Veronica goes to a Halloween party/casino night at her college. The episode, "President Evil," has Veronica solving a robbery at the casino. Runner up is a season (1- I think), episode where Veronica and Deputy Leo go to a 80's dance.