Welcome, gentle viewers, to our taping of S7E16's "Storyteller" LIVE from Philadelphia!!! We have shirtless cereal pours, many mispronunciations of the word VamPYRE, two oven mitts and a smoking jacket, a history of mirrors, and many Andrew-feelings from special guests Jeremy Rodriguez, Caroline Orejuela, and our very own nemesis LaToya Ferguson!! Massive thanks to World Cafe Live for a wonderful evening and to all of the beautiful folks of Philly for making the night so special!!

We've got a heaping scoop of racism and colonialist bullshit this week, including but not limited to a very troubling (and problematic af!) origin story of the Slayer line! We also have a damn fine performance by Lalaine, a deep dive into the difference between puppets and muppets (unclear), and Buffy being REALLY OUT OF LINE. Yes, that's right, it is Season 7 Episode 15: Get It Done.

Robin Wood is taking Buffy on a date to a hidden restaurant in the alleys of Sunnydale (that makes brandied pears?!), Xander is helping Ashanti pick out the right rope to help tie him up over the Seal of Danzalthar, and the gang has really outdone themselves at home by trying to us a WIRE on Andrew to record The First. Wow. Here we are with Season 7, Episode 14: "First Date."

You know that feeling when you kiss a girl and it hits you so hard that you turn into the dude you killed last season?! And then you run into the girl who you kept as a rat in a cage for years?!?!?! It is a wild time in Sunnydale this week, folks, and to top everything off Riley Finn flirts with Spike from miles and miles away by lovingly calling him "assface." It is Season 7, Episode 13: "The Killer In Me."

Listen. We love Dawn, okay? She f*cking rules!! Join us and special guest Jessie Blount as we praise Dawn's virtues, question some of Buffy's choices as head counselor at Camp Potential, welcome Amanda into the fold and dig deep into the history of Snausages. It is Season 7 Episode 12, "Potential."

You know that feeling when you're a centuries-old vampyric ancestor named Turok-Han and you just want to kill a bunch of potential slayers so that you can keep the world's oldest evil happy, but then you wind up at a half-built library and the Slayer herself turns on the spotlights, dons a top hat, and promptly beheads you in front of all of your adoring fans?! It's Showtime, baby...

Giles is back in corduroy with some new potential slayer step-sisters, Drusilla as The First is wriggling and giggling about, Xander and Andrew *cannot* stop flirting, and Turok-Han is really, really strong. So strong, in fact, that he almost undoes Buffy... but, battered and bruised, she explains to the potentials and the Scooby gang that if the Hellmouth is gonna f*cking swallow them?? It is gonna CHOKE. ON. HER. It is Season 7 Episode 10: Bring On The Night, and we are ready to rock.

Dear friend of the pod Helen Zalztman (The Allusionist, Answer Me This!) joins us today for a deep dive into linguistics in Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Why does Giles' leatherbound book use a "Y" in Vampyre? Why does television rely so heavily on Latin to convey magic spells? Where does the word "coven" originate? Did Buffy coin the term "wiggins"?! In the words of one Jenny Owen Youngs, wow wow wow Wow WOW.

We celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Torrance High School, aka Sunnydale High, with hundreds of your beautiful nerdy faces — and it was one of the best nights of our damn lives. We are going through some of our favorite high-school moments from Buffy, including the infamous Oedipus Rex performance at the end of "The Puppet Show," (17:22) the meeting of The Mayor, Faith, Buffy, Angel and everyone else in "Choices," (33:12) and that romantically terrifying lovers-to-ghosts possession in "I Only Have Eyes For You" (55:14). Oh, and then we prove that Buffy and Faith absolutely totally entirely had sex with each other (1:10:20). It was truly a night for the books.

Andrew is cosplaying as Spike and being interrogated by Xander and Anya while Actual Spike is drinking blood out of bags and shattering chairs to bits (at the behest of another More Evil Spike). The scoobies would do well to remember that there are manacles in the basement, and everyone else would do well to remember that they could USE THE DOOR instead of BREAKING THE F*CKING WINDOWS AGAIN. It is Season 7 Episode 9: Never Leave Me!

Time to repair all of the broken windows at the Summers' house, see Aimee Mann at The Bronze, and get a little kinky with Spike in the name of detective work! The thing beneath us is also getting PARTICULARLY hot and bothered as we near the mid-point of the season, and perhaps relatedly, several women in Sunnydale seem to only be able to speak in breathy porn voices when they meet attractive vampires who want to bite them. It is Season 7 Episode 8: Sleeper!

Special Guest Hrishi Hirway joins us to discuss S7E7: Conversations with Dead People! Cassie is back in the library making Willow cry (which makes us cry), Dawn is microwaving marshmallows with poltergeists, Spike is on a date, Holden Webster is EXACTLY the kind of guy who would rise from the dead just to tell you about how your womanly mind works, and Andrew is doing very very bad things at the spooky seal underneath the high school. Also, Cassie swallows herself? It's a real journey, folks.

You know that feeling when something from beneath you is devouring and you're like, really trying to sort what the hell that is so you can save the world for like the billionth time, but then some high school student puts on a mystical letterman jacket and then instead of working on saving the world you have to try to bazooka the principal to win over the love of this letterman jacket wearing hottie? Life is hard!! It is S7E6: Him and honestly, scoobies, shit is getting W I L D.

We are BACK, the year is 2022, and everything is coming up Anya. We go deeper into understanding Anya's origins and past then ever before, we get a brilliantly horrible CGI spider, Kristin dubs the frat house "Murdercrombie" (did she miss the perfect opportunity to say "Murdercrombie and Witch" — yes, she did) and Jenny expounds on what it means when you call someone "Lemon Drop." We hope that someday we get a spin-off show at the Vengeance Demon Offices, but until that time we will revel in one of our favorite episodes: Selfless!

Buffy is using all of her slayer know-how to be a guidance counselor at the new Sunnydale High and it seems that, as many might have anticipated, those two skill sets do not have significant overlap — though she is great at sharpening pencils. Spike is still feeling very very sad in the basement, Zachary Ty Bryan is here to remind us that boys (in robes) will be boys (in robes), and Cassie's death hits the Scooby gang hard because... what do you do if you know you can't help?

Today's episode was taped LIVE and both of us were in the same place at the same time ...to talk about Season 7 Episode 3, "Same Time, Same Place"! HOW NOVEL. Will there be Gnarl impressions? Yes. Will we re-enact the entire scene between Willow and Anya with their sexy candles? Pretty much. Will we get weepy in the end when, as always, chosen family holds strong? Damn right.

This is a re-airing of "Seeing Red & 'The Monster Myth,'" which originally aired in our Patreon feed alongside Buffy's S6E19: "Seeing Red" We've chosen to re-air this episode in the main feed the week after Season 7's second episode, "Beneath You," to double down on the conversation surrounding accountability, and on the nuance that exists when there is a pre-existing intimate relationship that has to be navigated in the context of harm. You’ll hear Jess talk about those who share childcare responsibilities, finances, and in other ways still have to rely on the person who has harmed them, and also hear us speak to the importance of letting the person harmed — in this case Buffy — dictate the terms of the relationship. Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence, RapeThis episode contains spoilers through the end of Buffy Season 7 •••We are in conversation with Jess Clark, who today joins Alba Daza and Kristin Russo to foster a space for much-needed and nuanced conversation on Spike's sexual assault of Buffy as depicted in S6E19's "Seeing Red." We explore how media has historically shaped what we anticipate and assume about sexual assault, how this episode upends some of those tropes, and how the episode's depiction and the larger arc between Spike and Buffy can be used as a lens to explore much more beyond Sunnydale.

From Beneath You, This Episode Devours. That's it, that's the whole description.

Sunnydale High School is BACK, and so the f*ck are we!!!! Welcome to Season 7, scoobies. We've got ghost zombies, blueprints, and a brand new principal — not to mention a second ensouled vampire hiding in the basement with every single big bad we've ever met? Buckle up, buckle in, helmets on, let's do this thing.

As a part of a four-episode series surrounding 6.19 Seeing Red, Kristin curated a conversation with Emma O'Sullivan — a former Kitten Board member who met her wife on the Willow & Tara boards in the early aughts — and Jen Malkowski, our very favorite "scholar of death," who also happened to be hanging out on The Kitten Board when the show aired. This conversation is both its own capturing of queer history and also a more comprehensive look at the importance of queer representation, the impact of the death of Tara Maclay, and a celebration of Tara, Willow, and the community of queer viewership that has catalogued, spoken up, and held each other through decades of irresponsible media representation. This episode originally aired on our Patreon RSS feed, and we are now releasing it in the main feed! This conversation contains spoilers through Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET Kristin Russo: @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com Jenny Owen Youngs: @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com Never-ending gratitude to Emma O'Sullivan, former Kitten board member, who you can find on Twitter @osulliverse, and Jen Malkowski who writes and teaches at Smith College about digital media; documentary; death and dying; and race, gender and sexuality in media. Read more about their work here! Buffering the Vampire Slayer: @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram Learn more about our team at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/our-team  Episode Curated, Produced & Edited by Kristin Russo Logo: Kristine Thune Related Reading: • The Kitten Board's "The Lesbian Cliche FAQ" • Autostraddle's List of "Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters on TV, and How They Died" • Vito Russo's "The Celluloid Closet"  +++ Just Keep Fighting: Community Events Calendar: https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/just-keep-fighting-spotlight-on-community-anti-racism +++ JOIN OUR PATREON FAMILY!! Advance Music, Bonus Episodes, Live Concerts, Book Clubs, wheeeee!! patreon.com/bufferingcast

We are heading out of the grave and into the light, dearest scoobies — it is the end, the end of Season Six! WE MADE IT!!!! Dark Willow did not destroy the world, Giles did not die (but did smolder), Dawn efficiently fought off the lobster tree demons alongside her big sister slayer just like she always wanted, Spike, um, well... also got what he (maybe?) wanted?? Hard to really SAY, but we have a lot of feelings as you'd expect and we are so incredibly grateful to have had your company in a season that took us from copper pipes to musicals to depression on the local route, if you know what we mean!! Until Next Season, AWOOOOooOOOOOoOooo! +++ LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET Jenny Owen Youngs: @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com Kristin Russo: @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com Buffering the Vampire Slayer: @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram Learn more about our team at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/our-team  Produced by: Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Alba Daza Edited by: John Mark Nelson & Kristin Russo Logo: Kristine Thune +++ Learn more about the Yidaki: https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/yidaki Just Keep Fighting - Community Events Calendar: https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/just-keep-fighting-spotlight-on-community-anti-racism +++ JOIN OUR PATREON FAMILY!! Advance Music, Bonus Episodes, Live Concerts, Book Clubs, wheeeee!! patreon.com/bufferingcast +++ SEASON 6 CDS ON PRE-ORDER NOW + BORED MEOW TEES ONLY THRU OCTOBER! https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/shop +++ We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples. Alba occupies Tiohtià:ke of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. Mack, LaToya, and John Mark occupy the lands of the Kizh Peoples. Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting

Oh mannnnnnn Dark Willow needs to kick every square inch of Buffy's ass and is also driving a truck by standing on top of it and is also making cops take naps and by the way did you know she also has some shit to do with Rack and *also* she would like to do an impression of Dawn whining?!?! A busy day. It is S6E21: Two To Go. Oh, and one more thing? Daddy's home. +++ LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET Jenny Owen Youngs: @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com Kristin Russo: @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com Buffering the Vampire Slayer: @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram Learn more about our team at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/our-team  Produced by: Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Alba Daza Edited by: John Mark Nelson & Kristin Russo Logo: Kristine Thune +++ Just Keep Fighting: Community Events Calendar: https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/just-keep-fighting-spotlight-on-community-anti-racism +++ JOIN OUR PATREON FAMILY!! Advance Music, Bonus Episodes, Live Concerts, Book Clubs, wheeeee!! patreon.com/bufferingcast +++ BORED MEOW TEES ARE BACK! Scoop one up before they leave the store on October 31st! https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/shop +++ We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples. Alba occupies Tiohtià:ke of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. Mack, LaToya, and John Mark occupy the lands of the Kizh Peoples. Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting

She owes you! She owes you paaaain! Whewwwww, that's right scoobies: Willow has gone and smooshed her vengeance seeking hands into *all* of the dark magic books and slurped up so much dark magic that her hair and eyes have turned black and her voice got an octave lower. This is not a drill! Dark Willow is here and she doesn't need anyone's help because she is going to avenge the death of Tara and, according to her... "she's not coming back." It's Season 6 Episode 20: Villains and we are IN IT NOW. *panicked look to camera* Check out our extra episode today — an interview with Peggy Li, who designed jewelry for the show from Seasons 4-6, here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55320733 +++ LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET Jenny Owen Youngs: @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com Kristin Russo: @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com Buffering the Vampire Slayer: @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram Learn more about our team at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/our-team  Produced by: Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Alba Daza Edited by: John Mark Nelson & Kristin Russo Logo: Kristine Thune +++ BESS ROGERS IS BACK AS THE VOICE OF WILLOW! Follow Bess and learn more about her music at bessrogers.com / @bessrogers +++ Just Keep Fighting: Community Events Calendar: https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/just-keep-fighting-spotlight-on-community-anti-racism +++ JOIN OUR PATREON FAMILY!! Advance Music, Bonus Episodes, Live Concerts, Book Clubs, wheeeee!! patreon.com/bufferingcast +++ BORED MEOW TEES ARE BACK! Scoop one up before they leave the store on October 31st! https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/shop +++ We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples. Alba occupies Tiohtià:ke of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. Mack, LaToya, and John Mark occupy the lands of the Kizh Peoples. Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting

Amber Benson is here with us, in conversation with Kristin & Jenny, and we could not be more overjoyed!!!! We talk about witchcraft, memories from the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the impact of queer characters on television, the beauty and power of the Buffy fandom, and even that time that Amber thought no one noticed her dancing into a pole in Once More, With Feeling...  The biggest of all thank yous to Amber for spending time with us this week, and for everything she has done and continues to do in her brilliant work!! This episode contains spoilers through the end of Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Listen to our special episode "Unbury Your Gays" with Kristin Russo, Emma O'Sullivan, and Jen Malkowski: https://www.patreon.com/posts/54817720 ** This episode will also re-air in the main feed between Seasons 6 & 7 ** +++ FIND MORE & FOLLOW AMBER BENSON! • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebma_nosneb • Twitter: https://twitter.com/amber_benson • The Witches of Echo Park: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20949471-the-witches-of-echo-park +++ LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET Jenny Owen Youngs: @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com Kristin Russo: @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com Buffering the Vampire Slayer: @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram Learn more about our team at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/our-team  Produced by: Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Alba Daza Edited by: John Mark Nelson & Kristin Russo +++ Just Keep Fighting: Community Events Calendar: https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/just-keep-fighting-spotlight-on-community-anti-racism +++ JOIN OUR PATREON FAMILY!! Advance Music, Bonus Episodes, Live Concerts, Book Clubs, wheeeee!! patreon.com/bufferingcast Logo: Kristine Thune +++ We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples. Alba occupies Tiohtià:ke of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. Mack, LaToya, and John Mark occupy the lands of the Kizh Peoples. Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting

Seeing Red is here, whether we want it to be or not! This is one of FOUR episodes we produced and recorded to cover the episode as responsibly as possible. Making space for nuanced conversation on both the bathroom scene (a link to our episode with Jess Clark is below) and the Bury Your Gays trope (episode airing tomorrow on Patreon!) means that here, today, we get some space to have fun with Anya's hatred of men, fish metaphors, Andrew's pina colada, and Kristin singing Jenny's own songs at Jenny, to Jenny's horror.  Tomorrow you'll be getting our conversation with THE Amber Benson here in the main feed, as well as a conversation on Tara, Bury Your Gays, and The Kitten Board with Kristin, friend of the pod Jen Malkowski, and listener Emma O'Sullivan. Link to our conversation on "The Monster Myth" with Jess Clark, Alba Daza, and Kristin Russo: https://www.patreon.com/posts/54758651 ** This episode will also re-air in the main feed between Seasons 6 & 7 ** Time Stamps on our conversation on the bathroom scene: 55:41 - 1:02:19 +++ LOCATE YOUR HOSTS UPON THE INTERNET Jenny Owen Youngs: @jennyowenyoungs; jennyowenyoungs.com Kristin Russo: @kristinnoeline; kristinnoeline.com Buffering the Vampire Slayer: @bufferingcast on twitter, facebook, and instagram Learn more about our team at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/our-team  Produced by: Kristin Russo, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Alba Daza Edited by: John Mark Nelson & Kristin Russo +++ WELCOME SAM BARBERA AS THE VOICE OF ANYA! Follow Sam and learn more about her music at @sambarbera on Instagram + BEGINNERS + L.A. Exes! +++ Just Keep Fighting: Community Events Calendar: https://www.bufferingthevampireslayer.com/just-keep-fighting-spotlight-on-community-anti-racism +++ JOIN OUR PATREON FAMILY!! Advance Music, Bonus Episodes, Live Concerts, Book Clubs, wheeeee!! patreon.com/bufferingcast Logo: Kristine Thune +++ We acknowledge that we and our team are occupying unceded and stolen lands and territories. Kristin occupies the Lenape territories of the Esopus Lenape Peoples. Jenny occupies the Wabanahkik territory of the Abenaki and Pennacook Peoples. Alba occupies Tiohtià:ke of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. Mack, LaToya, and John Mark occupy the lands of the Kizh Peoples. Learn more about Land Acknowledgments + our continued anti-racist efforts at bufferingthevampireslayer.com/justkeepfighting