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Season 3, Ep 20 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-03-08 17:13:49
Edited:
2023-07-01 15:33:49
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

okay but class protector award?!! 😭😭😭

Files

Buffy Season 3, Ep 20 - The Prom

Vidyard video

Comments

Holi117

God knows how many times i’ve watched this, and im still crying over buffy “right now im just trying to keep from dying!” And the happy tears at “class protector”… gah! Also, you made me laugh so much! ‘No more dating vampires - no matter how cute they are!’ 😂

indaeo

I have a lot of favorite moments from the whole run of the show, but when I *think* of Buffy, the image in my head is of her holding that award. I can't help but feel very emotional about that whole exchange, from the way Buffy's feeling before, to it being Jonathan presenting it to her, to the look of happiness and pride on Giles' face. It just really hits me every time I think about it. So excited to watch this reaction!

Jessica Roth

Having major computer problems, but I got the notification on the phone. And since I can still use this particular browser, I'm SO tempted to tell the techs to break for lunch so I can watch the video (I'm on hold atm)…but I probably won't do that, lol. Hold on, I'm coming, though. I have some meta-criticism of the episode (basically it kind of reads as a fanfic)…but it's effective on its own terms.

Whisper_dvm

Ok Discord went down while watching (grrrr). I love this episode and your reaction was so great! Never thought I’d see you cry over the Bangel breakup! SMGs cry face is just too good. She cries and I cry. The class protector award is one of my favorite moments in the whole show. I love that they brought back Anya from way earlier in the season. She’s so funny with her destroying men stories 😆. Xanders face while she’s talking to him at the prom makes me laugh every time. My ONE wish that we would have gotten from this episode is a Giles/Buffy dance

Melissa

This episode always gets me. I was a Bangel fan, but thought their breakup was for very valid reasons and made good sense. It's hard for me to watch this because I've had those breakups where you feel you can't breathe. Loved the X/C interaction in this one too. It's one of the only things I'll give Xander credit for. And it was nice to just see them not fighting for a change. Rupe wins the episode for his delivery of blueberry scone and every now and then. I want him to take me for ice cream too. One of my only criticisms of this ep is very superficial. Did Buffy shower before she changed into her dress? I always assumed no, which kind of grossed me out after fighting that hellhound on top of her and all. But I can fanwank that she ducked into the gym and got pretty there. Not that she isn't pretty already, but you know what I mean. Extra glam.

Jessica Roth

I seriously can not envision wearing a prom dress under my graduation gown. I was hot enough in just shorts and a tee…I know girls who wore nothing but panties underneath. I grant you, Canada is different, since it was probably only 5°C or so, but still ;)

Jessica Roth

It's perfectly okay to be sad about Buffy's sadness without caring about Buffy/Angel or Angel himself. Someone I know *coughs discreetly* always cries during "Becoming Part 2" even though seeing Angel getting sucked into hell out of context (like in a season-recap vid or one set to music) has me, er "them", waving to Angel and talking to him like a small child: "Bye, Angel! Byeeeee! Yes, you are going to Hell! Oh, yes, you are! Have fun! Bye!" (Every time. To quote Xander, "I'm sick. I can't help it."

Jessica Roth

I was in shock when you saw the full moon and referenced Oz. I had never thought of that, and was prepared to tear the show a new one over the lack of continuity. But of course, that's the night *before* Prom. We see in Act IV that the moon is waning by Prom Night. So Oz was in the cage in Act II…it just wasn't mentioned . Poor Oz. Not only is nobody even TRYING to cure him (Grrr…), not only would he have been totally screwed if Prom had been literally ONE DAY sooner…but now the show doesn't even find this worth mentioning. Ouch,

Andrew Pulrang

Every time I watch this episode I find something new to appreciate. This time it struck me for the first time how the Hell Hounds are played perfectly as a threat, but not a really serious one. Partly because Buffy has so much else on her mind, she treats them throughout as more of an annoyance and a messy chore than a real danger, and I love it! Also, when early in the episode you wondered whether you would cry at Buffy and Angel’s obviously coming breakup, I made a note to myself that: A. You wouldn’t cry at the breakup, but B. You would cry at Buffy crying from the breakup. Bingo.

Jessica Roth

So Angel is 243 now, is he? Well, that narrows things down a bit. In "Angel" (mid-April 1997), he was 240. In "Some Assembly Required" (September, 1997), he was 241. Now it's May of 1999. (The episode aired on May 11th, and while we shouldn't be too tired to the airdates, we know school ends in June [from the calendar in Giles's office in "Prophecy Girl"] and this is a few weeks before. So mid-to-late May seems feasible). And since Angel apparently just turned 243, his birthday is somewhere between mid-April and now. In other words, he's a Taurus. Just like David Boreanaz. (b. May 16, 1969). Neat. (Of course, this math also means Angel was born in 1756. Which tracks with the Watcher Diary from "Halloween" where they say that Angel was 18 in 1775 [obviously this was the first part of the year and he hadn't had his 19th birthday yet]. But it does contradict that "1753" title card that Joss put on his siring in "Becoming Part 1". All I can think is that Joss was drunk or something, lol.)

Sisnerdly

"The Prom" is everything! It's one of the only episodes of any show that makes me cry every single time I watch it. When they give her that little umbrella, I freakin lose it! 😭😭😭

Thom Purdy

This is Sarah Michelle Gellar's favorite episode.

Amy

Fun fact- tucker who lets the hell hounds loose is the singing voice of Aladdin. ‘I can’t breathe’ has to be one of the saddest lines in any show. Arrow to the heart every time

Noah

An alternate take on the breakup scene; when Buffy says “I want my life to be with you”, I don’t think Angel’s lying, I just think he answered the question as stated: I think he doesn’t want her life to be with him, however much he wants to be with him. With a neurochemical bomb detonating in her brain, those two things are the same; she essentially says as much in her very next question…which Angel doesn’t answer.

Jordan Haddow

Of course this is a great episode. I always love how Buffy threatens to killer every last person on Earth to ensure they get the Prom they deserve. It's like thanks, but also I'm so worried for you because you may be a little off there. Still, I really love this episode too because they stop just treating Xander like a jackass and show just how much he still really cares for Cordy. He's truly hurt by her recent loss of practically everything. Considering too that he dipped into his savings for his big road trip to help pay off her dress. On top of that, he didn't try to use it to get back together with her or anything. He knew he screwed up and damaged what they had, but he wanted to make sure that despite losing so much, she was going to get the prom experience she deserved. He has helped save the world and Buffy's life along with doing a bunch of other good things. Still, I always felt by this point in the show that they never did nearly enough of these types of things to really get the fans to really care about him. Not nearly as much as they've done for Willow or Giles. So, I was happy just how much you liked it too. I really enjoyed your whole reaction. And yes, that scene between Buffy and Willow on the bed is brutal. Good lord, when Sarah pulls out the tears, it's so hard to not have it grab you by the feels.

SK Elkins

"I guess it's later than we thought." I see you, Marti. I see you there. I hate the Bangel stuff in this episode, actually. Like, really, *really* hate it. But since that's sort of its own season-wide topic, I'll probably comment on that separately. I do adore the Xander/Cordelia subplot in this episode, though. I find it genuinely touching and sweet. And the hellhounds that Buffy is trying to lure away all turning around and running back towards the Prom when they hear the opening bars of Kool & the Gang's 'Celebration' will never stop making me laugh. One of Buffy's best...I guess 'sight gags' isn't quite the right term here. Sound gags? Anyway, it's a great joke. And I'm still a big dumb softie who has been known to feel my big dumb softie eyes getting a bit moist at the granting of the Class Protector award. Which is quite impressive, really, because it had to overcome quite a hurdle to get me so on board with it. See, one of the things that always got on my nerves about Buffy in the early seasons was the way that she was constantly redefining the exceptional as "normal." I mean, it's not "normal" to be the Homecoming Queen, right? That's not something that all 'normal' students or most 'normal' students or, hell, even *many* students ever get to do. It is something that by its very nature is restricted to one and only one student out of the entire class. It's not normal; it is the very opposite of normal. It's special! It is, in fact, *exceptional.* The fact that Buffy always seemed to view crap like that as her due was annoying AF, but somehow still not half as annoying to me as the way that she would then try to justify that sense of entitlement by reframing it as a desire for "normalcy." Look, if you always want to be the specialest and prettiest out of all the special pretty princesses, Buffy, just say so, all right? It's hardly an unusual desire. We can all relate to it (especially, I'm guessing, we only children!). But I'm sorry, that is *not* a desire for normalcy. It's just wanting to be the Special Chosen 'one girl in all the world...' in yet ANOTHER wheelhouse. Greedy little thing. I can't even get mad about it, though, because when the payoff for that irritating trait of Buffy's finally does arrive in this episode, it's just so lovely. Schmaltzy? Yeah, I guess. But lovely nonetheless. (It pays off in some even more interesting ways next season, IMO. But I dig S4 in a way that few others do, so I'll probably have more to say about that when it happens.)

ghostofdurruti

Another very good episode IMO. The monster-of-the-week plot with the hellhounds is whatever (though it is the vehicle for some pretty funny moments, like Tucker’s “I had my reasons!” flashback), but I really like most of the bits about the prom itself. I particularly like Xander this episode--he and Anya are hilarious together, and what he does for Cordy is really sweet--and *of course* I love the class protector award scene. The only bit of the prom that I don’t really like is Giles encouraging… whatever is going on with Cordy and Wesley, even if he couches in terms of an incredible insult (“you have the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone”). Like… come on, Wes, you’re an attractive young man. Stop chasing high-school girls like some sort of 243-year-old vampire. I will say that, while the award scene gets me every time, the Buffy/Angel breakup leaves me kind of cold. Maybe it’s because I didn’t really like them together to begin with, or maybe it’s because they’ve “broken up” and gotten back together so many times this season that my immediate reaction is “okay… but you’re *actually* going to break up this time, right?” I’m right there with you when Angel shows up at the end, by the way. I mean, it’s nice that he’s there for her big moment, but the whole time I’m muttering “don’t get back together… don’t get back together.” :D Let’s not put Buffy through that again, please! Not super related to the episode, but I never knew that Canada had graduation and prom on the same day! That's such an interesting difference from how we do it in the US. I wonder why such seemingly-similar traditions evolved along different lines?

ghostofdurruti

One other point: we're getting pretty close to the time when you'll need to decide whether or not you want to watch the spinoff alongside Buffy. My vote would be "yes", because while overall I don't like the spinoff quite as much as the original, I still think it's a good show, and there are some great episodes, characters, and arcs that I wouldn't want you to miss out on. Whichever you decide, I'll be along for the ride all the way!

Colleen

I just got a tattoo of that little umbrella :')

Jessica Roth

A few episodes back, I mentioned that there was an episode where I majorly disagreed with the critic David Hines. That episode was "Choices". Hines got hung up on the title (which I don't even know if titles should carry such weight), complaining that nobody makes any choices in the episode. What he misses, of course, is that the title is *ironic*. What David Fury is saying is that we sometimes delude ourselves into thinking we have options when we actually have gone past that point. Buffy thinks that she can go to Chicago, but as she says at the end of the episode, "I was kidding myself". She and Angel think that they can persevere despite their obstacles, that the Mayor doesn't know what he was talking about. But the relationship is built on sand, and all it takes is a few words from Joyce to push it over and watch it crumble. (Not that this excuses Angel dumping her in the sewer. Buffy's saying "no, I want to talk right now"? Well, that's your cue to say "I don't" and go home, and then you can break up with her there. Sure, she'll be angry that you're not talking when she wants to…but given that you're about to dump her, she's going to be angry anyhow. Show a little consideration, Brood Boy,) Faith thinks her choices are still ahead of her, that she could go back and be welcomed, that she's working for the Mayor because she's choosing to be a badass. But Willow calls her out on that. "It's way too late." and "You made your choice". So Faith can leave all the knives behind that she wants to; she's not going back to the team. No more than Cordy can choose to go to those colleges she was accepted at. (Occasionally somebody asks about financial aid. But universities are VERY reluctant to set up payment arrangements with somebody whose father committed a major fraud, I'm thinking. It's not that Cordy couldn't crush her interviews…but the schools can find somebody for that slot who doesn't have her baggage.

Jessica Roth

Of course, there is that Community College in town. [Where Buffy told Joyce that Angel was going in "Angel".] Their course fees are probably within Cordelia's budget, reduced as it is. Heck, probably Xander could scrape up the money for that. But we don't know if either of them is interested.) And of course "Willow vs. the Box" is a complete false choice, but I covered that last time. And so we end up with Buffy giving up her dreams of "deep academia" and trying to deal realistically with her situation…and being surprised by the unexpected choice Willow does make. A choice that Willow wouldn't have been able to make, if Buffy had bought into the false choice that Wesley was pushing for. Note: I'm not sure that Giles actually wasn't on Wesley's side, or at least giving Wes's points more consideration that they IMO deserve. But of course he was never going to go against Buffy once she made her feelings known. And speaking of Buffy's feelings, I'm not going to analyze "Choices" from a Buffy/Willow 'shipping perspective (or the "mochas" arc as a whole), but obviously I could. There's a reason that the fic archive was called "I Kind of Love You", after all. Instead, I'll just steal someone else's comment and note that the most remarkable thing about 3.19 is that Willow tells Buffy "Actually, this isn't about you", and lives to tell the tale. LMAO. (Oh, and Hines's other objection to "Choices" is that he thought Alyson Hannigan "stunk on ice". But that's why we don't engage with people who make silly arguments, right?)

Jessica Roth

Back to THIS episode, Hines had a long-standing gripe with Marti Noxon, which i sometimes thought was unfair, but here I can see his point. He said that Marti basically writes fanfic, that she tries to do fan-service for the audience at the expense of the story. He first made this comment about "I Only Have Eyes for You", which was designed to have Buffy and Angel have a Big Kiss, to quiet the B/A fans who wanted Forehead to get his soul back and everything to be as before by reassuring them that the Buffy and Angel were still soulmates, even if he was soulless. (Or whatever.) Of course, that's unfair to Marti, since 2.19 was probably largely Joss's idea. But I think we can blame her for this one's flaws. Since probably all Joss told her was to write a happy episode about the Prom. The details are all up to her. So we get a monster plot that barely-qualifies as half-baked (I like the joke about Tucker's weak motivation, but still), and instead we have lots of Buffy/Angel breakup angst and Buffy getting her One Perfect Moment where it turns out that everybody knows what she does and appreciates it and, oh, she's the reason nobody dies here any more. Yeah, right. And then Buffy woke up. That whole premise goes against so much plot history, like how Willow had to go back SIXTY YEARS to find a string of murders that might indicate the Master's arrival in town. Or how Larry referred to "mysterious deaths' in "Anne" and people believed ridiculous theories about Pete in 3.04, which doesn't sound like a clued-in SHS student body. Heck, how about the part where pretty much nobody voted Buffy for Homecoming Queen? For all we know, she got Scott's vote, and that's all. (Xander voted for Cordelia, out of guilt; Willow probably abstained, rather than take a side.). If everybody was so grateful for Buffy being the Protector, that's a weird way to show it. (Just two episodes ago, Nancy Doyle considered Buffy a show-off and resented her. Now it's possible Nancy represents a dissenting opinion, but I haven't seen any thing to counterbalance that. Did the students rush to Buffy's aid when she collapsed in the cafeteria? Nope. But now they're voting her special umbrellas because she's saved all their lives, blah blah blah. And, come think about it, none of the thoughts Buffy overheard referenced this respect and awareness we're just supposed to take as given.) It's still a lovely thought and SMG sparkles (literally and figuratively), but it really doesn't make sense. And it doesn't fit the concept of the show, either. Buffy can be a lonely hero, out there in the dark, trying to give people the normal life that she can never have…or she can be a popular icon, that the school builds statues to. But she can't be both. And just like the "12 cemeteries" gag, or the "obituary section" in the school paper (why would there be obits? Didn't we just say that Buffy saves everybody and the class has such a low death rate and such?), I can't help but feel that this represents the staff no longer taking the show seriously, which can't be good in the long run. No matter how much fanfic they write. JMO.

Sisnerdly

I have enjoyed watching this with you SO much! I laugh with you all the way through. And seeing how much you now love the show makes me so happy! We recently started Buffy on our channel. My sister has never seen it so it's the first time for her. We've watched other shows on our channel but I was always kind of afraid to start Buffy. It's so iconic! I've watched a ton of Buffy reactors and can honestly say you've inspired me the most. After watching you for a while I finally decided it was time. And here we are. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us, Darcie. It helps in ways you don't even know.🤗🤗🤗

Sisnerdly

Thanks Darcie. 🥰 To answer your question...sort of, my sister doesn't read comments, so ppl can talk about Buffy without having to worry about spoilers. And she rarely watches our completed videos bcs I'm making them for ppl who have already watched the show and sometimes there's a nod to long time Buffy fans hidden in there (iykyk kind of thing). I might give a knowing look to the camera once or twice,🤭 but never a blatant spoiler. So if u do check us out, just don't read the comments! 🙈 And u should be fine. You do such a great job with these reactions. Thanks for watching Buffy with us! *We try to get ppl at home to do it, but they won't until you start a YouTube channel, get a few thousand subs, then they're like: "Okay! Fine, I'll watch it! Gawd."🙄

Calvin Allen

"I feel awful. I need to pay more attention to him, but whatever." --Xander's parents