But it's late on a Friday afternoon, so who would fault me for goofing off just a little?

Probably no one but Alvin and Buehler, since they're responsible for paying my salary.

Angel - I withdraw my remarks about him being an annoying mouth breather. I mean, okay, he's like that later, but in the early eps he's a lot more fun. I like the episode where he talked about his jealousy and attributed it to spending a century 'feeling guilty and honing his brooding skills.'

Also, now that we're hearing excerpts of his early behavior (i.e., the Drusilla incident), I understand the crushing load of shame and self-loathing he seems to be carrying around (Although I still have issues with the demon vs. reanimated human thing and I'm wondering just where the soul, or lack thereof, fits into everything.)

One of the best parts about coming to a fandom late is that all I have to do is buy a new set of DVDs or whine at friends who have spare tapes to lay my hands on 20+ episodes all at once. It's much preferable to that whole one week at a time with long summer and holiday breaks system. I get to do all of this speculating and objecting and wondering all of the time, knowing that I have only to pop in a DVD and watch a few episodes to either get answers or get a whole new series of fascinating questions.

Spike - He's a verrry naughty demon. I still wonder why he's so smart and human-like and why the demons around him are mostly shambling ghouls, but whatever.

Drusilla - A character I'll never like but she's much more interesting now that I know how she got so crazy. And she's, you know, butt-ugly, so I don't understand why she's portrayed as being pretty or even beautiful on the show. I mean, it's possible the buck teeth and receding chin are some kind of fx they put on her right now to show how sick she is, but what kind of illness would eliminate someone's chin? It's a mystery.

Giles - If someone doesn't restrain me, I'm going to grab a spoon and dig in. When he took that first swing at Ethan, I fell even more deeply into lust. There's something about the combination of tea-drinking and street brawler that's incredibly sexy.

Willow - I remain convinced that she's one of the best things about this show. Totally. The more I see her, the more fabulous I think she is.

Xander - Continues to be irritating and so far I'm seeing no reason why I'd ever like the character. He's a typical teenage boy and I thought they were mostly nutcases even when I was a teenage girl so there's not much likelihood he'll ever grow on me. Yeah, yeah, he has issues. I'd be more impressed if my brief viewing of a couple of later episodes didn't indicate that he never really moves past them.

Buffy - Eh. In the same way I'm indifferent to most "hero" characters, paying attention to them only as they impact the more interesting (to me) secondary characters, I don't mind her, but I don't pay special attention to her either.

Cordelia - Watching her sail through these disasters has a sort of train-wreck fascination. She's a character who probably should annoy me, but doesn't. Maybe because she's pretty much the only person on the show who approaches Buffy as just another teenage girl, instead of with the Kid Gloves of Slayer Care.

I remain impressed by how creative these early episodes were.

And now, I really must get back to work.

(P.S. Sorry about the missing graphics. The crash of trickster's server has eaten my graphics. And my website, of course.)