That Slayer Show

Madeline and Kaethe took to this bummer of an episode with the theme of shame. Angel: un-souled, Buffy: distraught but calm in the face of it all. We talk about how shame is seeped in the messages Buffy is getting from her peers, the way Angel weaponizes shame against Buffy, and also how Oz is so great he speaks truths without passing judgement?! New last segment starting this episode!!

Madeline and Kaethe unravel this plot-heavy episode through the theme of celebration. Why does Dru's celebration of The Judge's reassembly remind us of a middle school dance? And in what ways does the gang find small moments to celebrate despite a perpetually looming apocalypse? Madeline and Kaethe shed the podcast's typical structure in order to address some striking themes in this episode-- like gender and sexual agency. 

Madeline and Kaethe watch this peculiar episode through the gripping theme of Caretaking! Why oh why is giving students eggs going to make them not have sex?? How can find ways to empathize with Joyce when we've gone through adolescence but not motherhood? Xander gets a good boy award for not making moves on Buffy when they wake up together in a closet.

Buffy's sense of "normal" goes haywire this episode as Joyce brings her new boo into the picture. Ted, also known as Arsehole Ted, is charming, smart, and a serial-killer robot. In this episode of the pod, Madeline and Kaethe discuss how abusive behavior gets normalized, the normalization of not believing women in domestic violence situations, and Jenny's journey toward finding her new normal post-trauma. There is also laughter, I promise.

Tune in to hear Madeline and Kaethe's ORIGINAL content about love. Groundbreaking philosophies are waiting to be heard. They talk about the ways Buffy's friends are constantly showing love and how Buffy often acts recklessly when she is acting out of love for her friends or her boo. The final segment is a backstory on the mealworm assassin--like for real what's up with him? And how does he actually kill his victims?

Madeline and Kaethe watched this episode through the theme of future, pausing over the school career fair and why having your future predetermined sucks (maybe??) more than not knowing what it is at all, and what the order of Taraka (Tabarra??) means for Buffy's conception of her future. Also, did Dru dream of a different future, and why doesn't use her tarot cards more often when they seem to be really effective?

Join Kaethe and Madeline for what Kaethe declares to be the best filler episode yet! They use the theme of exposure to delve into Giles' past and how he deals with it, Jenny's experience with demon possession, and Willow's willingness to throw Angel under the proverbial bus. Tangentially, they try to answer the biggest question of the episode--does the Sunnydale hospital EVER get any blood?!

Madeline and Kaethe explore season 2 episode 7 "Lie to Me" through the theme of secrets. Secrets are bursting through the seams of this episode's pants: Angel is cagey about his history with Drusilla, Ford is tight-lipped about his plans to facilitate the slaughter of some vamp wannabes, and Miss Calendar is keeping Giles in the dark about the detes surrounding their upcoming date. At the end of this podcast episode, Kaethe and Madeline get to the juicy bit: What would be Miss Calendar's second option for a date?

Madeline and Kaethe look at courage this week as they watched the 6th episode of season 2! Considering courage as openness to change, they talk about Willow and her overall badassery this episode, whether Giles hiding his past had anything to do with courage or a lack of it, and what the sitch is when Buffy is suddenly not courageous. In a final twist, Kaethe switches sides and decides Spike and Drusilla's PDA is, in fact, quite hot.

What Buffy thinks will be a normal college party, ends up being a human sacrifice party. (College, am I right?) In this episode of That Slayer Show, Madeline and Kaethe explore the theme of arrogance. 

Kaethe and Madeline go into this worrisomely titled episode with the theme of sacrifice. They look at the similarities between Ampata's and Buffy's sacrifice of a normal life, the role gender plays in expectations and discourse around sacrifice, and the fact that it was super unnecessary for Xander to sacrifice himself to a girl he met two days ago. Also, what made Sven (who does NOT speak Spanish, Cordelia) decide to be an exchange student??

There's a new vamp in town! Spike let's his expectations of Buffy cloud his judgment, which contributes to his failure to kill her. In addition to analyzing Spike's expectations, Madeline and Kaethe sift through the different ways the characters either hold on to or let go of their expectations, and how that contributes to their ability to adapt.

Boys are chopping up dead girls and sewing their body parts together. Kaethe and Madeline look at this episode through the theme of 'escape' and ask: when is escape healthy vs. when is it maladaptive? Also, why is Eric so invested in Daryl's future honey?

 Join Kaethe and Madeline as they embark on the voyage that will be season 2, beginning with the theme of friendship. They talk about Cordelia's assertion of friendship with Buffy, Buffy's difficult relationship with her friends as she processes the trauma of having died, and test their own friendship with a divisive question--was Buffy's sexy dance a like or a dislike? 

In the season 1 finale Kaethe and Madeline take on the theme of crisis: how do different characters respond to crisis, and how we see our own reaction to crises during the pandemic, and how despite his showing growth we'd better not hold our breath waiting for Xander to become a better person.

Kaethe and Madeline get into the nitty gritty of loneliness as they parse through S1 episode 11 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whose responsibility is someone else's loneliness? And is Angel using Buffy as an excuse to get closer to Giles? I mean, probably not, but we're here for the imbued queer factor. 

In this episode Kaethe and Madeline take a look at reality: what happens when we experience different realities, what it's like to share the same terrible reality, and what does it mean for Kaethe that she and Xander share the same nightmare?!

Look out, a demon is on the net! In this episode, Kaethe and Madeline discuss the ways in which trust influences Willow's relationship with Buffy. They also dive into how trust plays a role in the anti-vaccine movement. More importantly, they privately wonder where Miss Calendar dangles her corkscrew.

Buckle up, Kaethe and Madeline dive into episode 7 using the theme of Betrayal. Topics of the day include betrayal by our own nature, whether it is chill for vamps to use guns, the questionable at best theory of vampires being stuck in the maturity level they were at when they get changed, and the 224 year age gap and subsequent efforts to make us feel okay about it.

Madeline and Kaethe watch this zoostravaganza through the theme of desperation. Picking their way around cannabalized high school principals and underproduced dodgeball montages, they discuss how desperation manifests in Willow and the bullies, and how Xander gets to use his desperation as a get-out-of-accountability-free card.

Kaethe and Madeline talk about episode 5 through the theme of judgement, exploring how judgement affects Buffy and Gile's relationship, Buffy and Owen's trainwreck entanglement, and how Xander can be a better friend and also not a creep.

This episode Madeline and Kaethe get serious as they look deeper at the mess attraction makes of teacher-student relationships, how to tell your friend he's crushing on a giant bug, and what would you do if your hot mysterious crush gave you his leather jacket? WWBD (what would Buffy do)? Wear it, duh. Trigger warning: we talk explicitly about sexual assault as it occurs in the episode, which may be triggering for listeners.

Madeline and Kaethe watched episode 3 through the theme of control. The different styles of control by Amy's and Buffy's mom, Xander's newfound self-awareness, and Giles' super-hot spell casting are all topics in this week's cauldron.

Welcome back for Episode two, through the juicy theme of responsibility. This week Madeline and Kaethe's riveting discussion hacked through the jungle of Buffy's responsibility as the slayer, Xander's lack of responsibility and general incompetence, and the connections between responsibility and privilege. 

In this first episode of That Slayer Show, Madeline and Kaethe explore the theme of identity, considering Buffy's role as the Slayer, Willow's comfort in her identity, and the effects Covid-19 has had on our own identity. They ask the big questions like: what is the difference between the identity you choose and identity that is thrust upon you? and why does the Master look like a ball sac?