5/26/08 to 6/2/08 Episode Discussion: Band Candy

[SpikedBuffy]

"Let's hear it for the band"

Episode title: Band Candy
Season: Three


Time to discuss the next episode of Season 3.

I love this episode. The only time that I actually like Snyder. He has so many great quotes in this episode!

Opinions? Comments? :)

[percepto girl]

I always like Snyder (in the sense that he always looks constipated and I find that funny) but he's on top form here. ''Summers, you drive like a spaz!'' - this always makes me laugh out loud, how brilliant to make him want to be a part of Buffy's gang. Or the moment when he's hitting on Joyce and she rolls her eyes and walks away. Or when Giles whispers ''yes!'' and gets this ridiculously happy look on his face after Buffy's punched Ethan. Priceless.

Yep, one of my favorites.

[Joyce Summers]

As many know this is my favorite episode of all time. Not only does it feature my favorite characters- Joyce and Giles, my favorite Buffyverse couple- Joyles, and my favorite oneliners- Summers! You drive like a spaz!, but it also written by my favorite Buffy writer- Jane Espenson.

And in Jane's words 'It's just a funny episode'. And quickly became a classic within the Buffy fandom. I love every minute of it. I mean I always found Snyder amusing- he has some great lines and scenes that are oftentimes overlooked because of the main dislike for the character which is a shame, but in this episode he really gets a chance to shine. And he really tries so hard to fit in with the in crowd.

I love getting a glimpse of what each of the adults, all those that are constantly telling Buffy and co that they need to act more responsibly, were like as teenagers themselves. I mean they are so much worse.

Ms Barton- All play and no work. I love Drunk!Ms Barton, haha. (Are there any nachos in here little tree?). And I just loved how they did Joyce and Giles as teenagers and how they worked together as teens. And I loved their Band Candy outfits. Cynthia Bergstrom who did the costumes for Buffy said she had really fun dressing those two for that episode because usually she's always picking them the same thing. Giles is suit-wearing British guy while Joyce always dresses like the typical suburban Mom, but for this episode Cynthia got to have them dress sexy which was a lot of fun (For her and the actors, I'm sure, haha).

And Giles is just hot with a capital everything in this episode. The outfit (Though how that particular ensemble denotes teen of the early 70s I'm not sure....haha) was just grr, and his attitude, and the walk, and the ACCENT!!! And well, everything. You can totally get why Joyce was smitten. Any girl with a brain and a heatbeat would be. Heck, screw the heartbeat part: If Dru had seen him she'd no doubt have been taken too. And it's that constant grin he has on his face throughout the episode. Sure it says he's full of himself but it's in a totally hot way. And the total kick he gets out of chasing after Ethan- and he just leaps over that ledge, keeping up with Buffy. Until Smoke!Lung kicks in that is...which admittedly, is a total turn off. And you see the Eyghon tattoo on his arm. Heck, you see his arms.
Okay, I'm going to stop now before this becomes a Giles-is-Hot discussion and not a you know, episode discussion.

But since I've totally droolled over Giles' outfit, I might as well drool over Joyce's too. Though while for Giles it was in a healthy-heterosexual-female way, this one is in a healthy-female-shopper way. That outfit was the kick! Before this episode aired I had seen a picture of my Mom dressed in like an almost exact same outfit (She's nearly the same age as Joyce. Actually, she was born a month after Kristine Sutherland I believe. Haha) except instead of a minskirt it was hot pants (God save us all). And I remember thinking it was a totally neat look then, so when I saw it on Buffy I thought it was darn rocking. Especially since I had my own black denim mini skirt (Which lead me to believe she'd raided Buffy's closet. Black denim was SO in then, haha). But the outfit was just pure 70s and I loved it. More so pre-Juice Newton-Coat. And Kristine Sutherland was what? 42 when she shot that episode? And she was wearing mucho miniskirtness and as Tony Head said 'Looked absolutely at fantastic'. At 42 I hope I look that good in a miniskirt. Not that I'll be trying, but you know...nice to have options.

Now did anyone notice that Snyder's outfit didn't change? Throughout the entire episode? He was always in his prinicpal suit? Therefore in comparison to everyone else looking like Lord Dorkdom, of Dorkonia. I mean was this a way of showing us that he dressed that lame in high school? Which, you know, totally plausible.

But yes, one of my main loves of this episode is that it found a way to get Joyce and Giles together. I remember reading an essay one time, I think it might have been on Slayage Online, which they compared those two to the Spuffy couple. It was really interesting. Giles is upper class man, rebelling from what previous defined him by adopting an attitude and working class accent, much as was revealed to us about Spike in Fool for Love. Also they both adopted violent nicknames- Spike and Ripper- to distinguish them from their upper class backgrounds- William and Rupert. Joyce and Buffy are both obvious pop culture teens- Buffy uses pop culture constantly and Joyce mentions Seals and Croft and refrences Juice Newton. Both are mainstream in that they both wanna be where everyone else is- The Bronze. Also, they are both instinctively good girls- Buffy for obvious reasons and we are shown it through Joyce by her being a new smoker and the fact that she doesn't break into the store herself but watches. She also stays behind when Buffy tells her too. They are both protective of others first- Buffy in her role as the Slayer and Joyce's concern is instantly for the babies and not herself. Even when the demon attacks she gets the children out of the way and worries about herself last though that could be argued because teenage mentality or no she's still a Mother. That's seperate character similarities that I remember and as for couple similariies the writer said that the guys both become infatuated with a Summers woman, whilst in turn the Summers women fall for guys who are obviously bad influences. Spuffy is known for violent and risque sex, and Joyles pretty much does the same in the short time we see it- sex on a police car (public place) twice. Plus there's the implication they used handcuffs and in, I believe it's Dead Things, there's a direct comparison to that when Spike holds handcuffs up to Buffy. There were many more comparisons but I'm doing this from memory and so that's all I got, haha.

And speaking of comparisons anyone else think that scene where Buffy shouts at them all in the hospital and Giles murmurs 'Sorry' while Joyce says 'We'll behave' was SO similar to that scene in the library in The Dark Age where Willow flips out causing Cordy to say timidly 'We're sorry' and Xander to say 'We'll be good'. It just seemed weirdly similar.


Favorite moments have to be (And there's a lot)

- "Summers! You drive like a spaz!"- Need I say more?

- Giles trying to be cool rocker guy as he head bops to the music in his apartment. He was like an exact replica of a guy at my school that at the time my friend had the hugest crush on. He used to annoy the hell out of me- he was such a music snob. But here, Giles just made me laugh.

- Giles' music snobbiness combined with Joyce's faux pas of referencing Seals and Croft. Giles look said it all.

-Actually this whole scene in the apartment is classic. They have the whole mocking-the-teen-scene thing down. Giles going for a too-cool-for-school thing and talking about 'Man, I gotta get a band together'. Joyce trying her hardest to pay attention to him in an attempt to get him to pay attention to her (I think Kristine Sutherland said something about the sense of wanting to make a connection with a guy coming back to her as she did the scene 'Of how do I get his attention back onto me and off those records?!'). Giles rolling his own (dubious) cigarettes and passing one to Joyce who is so clearly, as the script says, a new smoker.

- The whole Bronze scene.
-Ms Barton "Willow, that's a tree. Hehe, you're a tree. Are there any nachos in here little tree?"
- The shirtless doctor "He's usually less topless"
- Snyder bragging to Buffy and Willow to impress them, followed by seeing those women and saying 'Wow! There are some foxy ladies here tonight'.
-Snyder liking Oz's hair and Oz looking understandably concerned. Oz looks as though he's contemplating shaving it all off right there.
- The three guys singing Louie Louie. Dear GOD!!!

-Joyles kissage (and offscreen comshucking. Twice. In a stevedorey way apparently. And involving handcuffs.) mainly because of that reason alone- Joyles kissage.

-Willow's "Everyone else all creeped out and trembly?"

-Willow thinking Cordy meant swap boyfriends and not books. Teehee.

-When Buffy catches her Mom and Giles kissing and without breaking the kiss Giles tells her 'Go away. We're busy'.

-The role reversal between Buffy and Joyce in which Joyce says 'Screw you'

- I love the shot when Buffy catches Ethan (Plus Ethan's line of 'Might wanna hurry') and Joyce and Giles walk up on either side of her looking decidedly pissed off. Scoobies: The Last Generation or what? Haha. With Snyder hovering loserifically. And Ethan going for the flight, of the flight-or-fight mechanism. Haha.

- Giles' little whoop of joy when Buffy hits Ethan. But what I love more is when Buffy glares at him and he puts on this innocent expression of 'What? I didn't even do anything'.

-Joyce rejecting Snyder. With style. Not even words- Just a sigh and a roll of the eyes before moving far away.

-Snyder's 'Tai quan doe'. I can't watch that without laughing. Ethan just looks at him with disdain.

-Joyce's unfortunate yet amusing wording of 'It's uhm, Willow, she wants you real bad'. Unfortunate because of how Willow comes out the following year.....haha.

-Joyce handing over the handcuffs. Buffy looks as though she might die. Joyce looks as though she could care less. She's grinning for god's sake.

- Buffy in the hospital catching Joyles kissage and saying simply 'And don't DO THAT'.

-The closing scene where both Joyce and Giles walk off camera in opposite directions with total repressive embarrassment with Buffy oblivious in the car. Sweet, innocent Buffy.


I believe I've rambled enough. I'll go into my corner now.

[InsaneMystic]

JS didn't leave much to say there, GREAT ep (even though, once more, a number of great lines were significantly lessened in translation... just reading you guys here quote stuff so often gets me in on jokes you wouldn't know were there from watching the German synch. e.g., "master...bater". Utterly ruined in German.).

Heck, this ep is even one of the veeeery few where I *gasp* deeply enjoy watching Joyce on screen. Couldn't they have kept the candy effect permanent for Mrs. Summers? :lmao:

[Joyce Summers]

Wait you mean there's a CURE for your Joyce hate? Just keep her high on Band Candy? Haha. Perfect! ;)

And it's a shame about the translations taking the funny out of some of the lines. :( That must be really annoying at times.

[percepto girl]

Wow, excellent post Joyce! It's obvious that this is your favorite episode ;). You brought up some very interesting things that hadn't occurred to me before, like the fact that Snyder's outfit didn't change at all during the episode and that this might mean that he dressed this way in high school - maybe he went to a very strict school (think: Dead-Poets-Society strict) where they drilled this kind of uptight/paranoid behavior into him. This could explain why he is the was he is (er, was) and why he ''never ever got a single date in high school'' (maybe he went to an all-boys school). I may have gone a bit too far with this, but it really is interesting to think about.
I really like that you brought up the comparison between Giles/Joyce and Buffy/Spike. I never saw it before, but the similarities you've mentioned are SO obvious to me now. There are also some striking similarities between Giles and Spike, and here I always thought that those two characters were as different as can be. Makes me think if part of Giles' dislike of Spike stems from the fact that he saw something in the vampire that reminded him of his younger self. Hm. There's a lot to think about here, and my brain hurts a little now, but great job!

[Aethra]

I actually watched this episode again last night. I'd only seen it once before, when I was watching Buffy all the way through a number of months ago. I'd forgotten how hilarious it was! And I think JS pretty much covered everything. One thing I loved, though, was Buffy the manaical driver. That was stereotypical, sure, but priceless. And then there is a collision, of course, because that happens to some people before they get their licenses ;)

Also, I agree, the ending to the episode was just perfect. Very awkward, very awesome!

[Joyce Summers]

Originally posted by percepto girl
Wow, excellent post Joyce! It's obvious that this is your favorite episode . You brought up some very interesting things that hadn't occurred to me before, like the fact that Snyder's outfit didn't change at all during the episode and that this might mean that he dressed this way in high school - maybe he went to a very strict school (think: Dead-Poets-Society strict) where they drilled this kind of uptight/paranoid behavior into him. This could explain why he is the was he is (er, was) and why he ''never ever got a single date in high school'' (maybe he went to an all-boys school). I may have gone a bit too far with this, but it really is interesting to think about.
I really like that you brought up the comparison between Giles/Joyce and Buffy/Spike. I never saw it before, but the similarities you've mentioned are SO obvious to me now. There are also some striking similarities between Giles and Spike, and here I always thought that those two characters were as different as can be. Makes me think if part of Giles' dislike of Spike stems from the fact that he saw something in the vampire that reminded him of his younger self. Hm. There's a lot to think about here, and my brain hurts a little now, but great job!

Yep, fell in love with this episode the first time I saw it, haha. I liked your added points about Snyder- all that you said seems especially likely if you consider the Buffy novel One Thing or Your Mother canon, since Snyder was shown to have a very strict, repressed upbringing. And I think this episode definitely confirms Buffy's, and our, suspicions about him never having a date in High School.

And I'm sorry I made your head hurt! Haha. But I like what you said about Giles disliking Spike because of seeing so much of his younger self in the vampire. Very neat point. I think we may definitely be onto something there....

[InsaneMystic]

Wait you mean there's a CURE for your Joyce hate? Just keep her high on Band Candy? Haha. Perfect! ;)
Let me answer with a quote:

Buffy: There's no problem that cannot be solved by chocolate. :lmao:


And it's a shame about the translations taking the funny out of some of the lines. :( That must be really annoying at times.
You can say that again... e.g., I had no idea what scene Willow's famous doodle line was in until someone pointed it out to me. And that was one where it really just got lost in translation because the punnyness wouldn't translate, the meaning itself got kept. In other instances the synchers seem not to have noticed the joke in the first place. e.g., Buffybots "knock-knock" joke - and no, I don't understand how they could be oblivious to that one, but they were. That line is simply weird, and not at all funny, in German... while it killed me when I read the original version here on site.

Still, the translation of Buffy is considerably better than that of the StarTrek shows. I know the original version of a number of eps of those, and everytime I see the comparison, I get the urge to beat the synchers with something heavy. :fuming:

[spark]

"giles at 16? less together guy, more bad magic hates the world ticking timebomb guy"

love this episode, giles and snyder are just amazingly funny in it. i love how snyder is so desperate to be a scooby and part of the gang, and how he wants to hook up with joyce but she just rolls her eyes... even before this episode, you just knew snyder would've been like that in high school!

[Darling]

Just love Season 3. Some much good episodes *_*

This one is funny, Giles and Joyce made me laugh the hole episode o/

Snyder is good to, he looks like a 12y-old child xD

[Tranquillity]

"Summers, you drive like a spaz!"

now that line realy is timeless.