Connect with us on social media!

• Email: tabularasabpod@gmail.com
• Twitter, Instagram, Facebook: @tabularasabpod

Connect with Allie on social media:

• Twitter, Instagram: @Daughterpick
• Tiktok: @futureblackcat
• buymeacoffee.com/AlliePress

We begin at the beginning with “Welcome to the Hellmouth,” the Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot episode. We meet the titular character, Buffy, and a slew of others who become the main characters for the coming seasons. Having just been kicked out of school in Los Angeles, Buffy is determined to have a fresh start in Sunnydale and leave her calling as the Slayer behind her. Buffy quickly learns that Sunnydale will not be as fresh a start as it seems, as her new friends are quickly put in danger, and she learns of an ancient vampire who may soon rise and bring about the apocalypse.

In addition to discussing this iconic pilot, Allie and Nick introduce themselves, share how their decades-long friendship started, and bask in their mutual love for 90s fashion.

Credits:

• Hosted by Allie Press & Nick Mercer
• Edited by Allie Press
• Music by InflatonCult
• Artwork by Charlotte Fleming Design
• Consultation by Evo Terra

[Intro Music]

Welcome to Tabula Rasa, B!tches!

[Intro Music]

Alright!

Hello, hello!

Hello!

My name is Allie.

And I'm Nick and I'm so excited!

And welcome to the premiere episode of Tabula Rasa, B!tches!

We are so, so glad you are here.

We are.

In Tabula Rasa, B!tches, you'll listen as two decades-long friends jump back into

the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and relive the show that brought them

close together and taught them so many of the values they still cherish today.

Each episode of Tabula Rasa, B!tches - and we do have to say it that

way every single time - we'll dive into an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and

discuss the lessons that can be learned from our favorite Sunnydale warriors

and the supernatural creatures they use their talents and friendship to overcome.

And today we'll be discussing season one, episode one, "Welcome to the Hellmouth."

And just settle in for a girthy, nice, long episode today, as we tell you

about ourselves, you know, and just kind of get into the rhythm of everything.

Not quite a good enough of a reason to use the

word girthy, but I'll allow it.

We are going to be so excited to jump into our first ever

episode summary here in a second.

But first, Allie, the light of my life, amazing, wonderful

human who I'm so glad to know.

Let's let's talk about this, Tabula Rasa, B!tches.

That's such a strange title.

Can you unpack it for what's going to be our vast audience?

I absolutely can do that.

So we were kind of struggling talking about what the title of

our show should be once we decided that we should indeed have a show.

And I feel like a title is an important thing, and we both knew that.

So I reached out to my good friend, Lianna Haupt, cause she is also a

big Buffy fan, and I thought, you know, maybe she'd have some ideas.

She's also a writer.

She's somebody I think of as a very creative person.

So I was like, Hey, we're starting a rewatch podcast.

We would like it to be, you know, something, something - A

Buffy Rewatch Podcast.

And she came almost immediately right back with "Tabula Rasa" because it is the

title of an episode in season six, comes on the heels of a very landmark episode,

uh, trying not to give too many spoilers.

Um, and it's her favorite episode.

And I do think it's an - it's not my favorite, but it's an excellent episode.

And as soon as she said that, I definitely, I was like, oh, clean slate,

which is what "tabula rasa" means.

And that's kind of us, we're, we're approaching this show with fresh eyes.

Like, obviously this is not our first time watching it.

This is a rewatch show for us.

But I do think that we're in a very different portion of our

lives than we were certainly when we first started seeing this.

So I think it's nice to kind of come with a clean slate, fresh

eyes, new perspective, to see what new things that we notice and learn

from this show that we both love.

And isn't that one of the most amazing things about Buffy, speaks

to how timeless it is that you really can come back to it during different

phases, different times, challenges that you're going through in life and kind of

take, take away something new each time.

Look at something a little different each time.

A hundred percent.

Yeah.

Like any good book or movie or whatever, it's constantly

evolving what it means to you.

Oh.

And, uh, the "bitches" part comes from, we didn't want to sound too hoity-toity with

"Tabula Rasa" so we added bitches just so you know that we're still here to have.

We're here to like

- Nick Mercer: We're a couple of bitches!

We are!

Yeah!

Yeah, we're here to have fun.

I mean, you're a bitch.

I'm perfect.

Yes, exactly.

Exactly.

You know, we can't both be the same.

Um, but yeah, like we're here to analyze and to pick apart and stuff, but for fun.

But for fun.

Just for fun, just for fun two, two, two old besties.

Um, I would like to share with, share with folks, uh, just a little

bit about ourselves and how I became to be so incredibly obsessed

with you, Allie, if that's okay.

Talking about me?

That's always okay.

So my older sister, uh, during - Allie and I, uh,

went to elementary, middle, high school, college together.

We've known each other forever.

But we got to be especially close when my older sister, uh, babysat

Allie and her older brother, Ben, over a summer in high school.

And thank goodness she did this, brought me along to hangout with you.

So yeah.

Yeah, I want to say it was actually like at least two,

if not three summers in a row.

It was, it was a thing.

It was a routine we had.

During the summers we hung out.

Yeah, it was elementary school and my parents both worked and Ben

and I were, you know, minors and stuff.

So they, so Melissa would come over and sometimes bring Nick and, Nick and

his older brother, Ryan, or sometimes just Nick and we would have vicious

pillow fights and go to Six Flags.

Do you remember your unfinished basement at the time?

Now it's the most gorgeous basement ever, but oh my god, so many good memories.

So I so do.

Half of it had carpet on it and it was freezing and it didn't have a bathroom

down there and yeah, it was just like creepy with lots of dark shadows.

And we still had sleepovers and stuff down there.

And it was great!

It was so great.

Oh, so many - I could reminisce forever, Allie.

I have so many fond memories of going over to your

dad's house and hugging Buddy-

Aww Buddy

- Allie Press: And the hot tub

- Nick Mercer: He was such

Yeah.

Oh!

And for, and for context, so I think and flavor, which I think is very important

to our friendship, our very special bond of friendship is that in third grade

I was obsessed and in love with you.

And how the roles have reversed because I am now obsessed

with and in love with you, but you've-

No, now it's just mutual.

You've decided - true.

Okay, well, I've asked you to marry me and you say you have a partner or

something, but I like Hayden so it's fine.

Well, you also have a fiance, so...

I guess I'm also engaged so.

I also, I also don't have a penis, which I think would

hinder your attraction to me.

I do prefer penises.

Man, I am about to put this out there and I just spoke this sentence out loud.

Okay, cool.

That's fine.

We're going to go with it.

I mean, you are going to marry a man.

That's true.

If he keeps me around, you never know.

Who knows, I'm pretty crazy.

Well, if he does, if he does something, if he does something

crazy, I will come to South Carolina and do something equally or more crazy.

Paul, you heard it here first.

Watch yourself.

Sleep with one eye open.

Allie, tell people where you live, what you do, tell, uh, walk us through

the amazingness that is Allie Press.

Awww, well, thank you.

So I am currently in Baltimore, Maryland.

I live with my adorable mut...

Hayden Muller, and our - [Laughter] Haaa, sorry, I couldn't resist.

You know I love you, baby.

[More laughter] That was good, that was good.

Um, no, he is, he is the love of my life.

Um, he makes my world so, so bright and shiny, and we also co-parent a dog,

an actual like dog, dog named Hazel.

And she is terrific.

And I honestly can't believe how I lived so long without a dog.

Uh, currently as we record this, I am in Los Angeles for the

month and I miss my dog so much.

It is so weird coming into a house without a dog, but I digress.

So professionally, I am an actor.

I work as many film gigs as I can get.

I'm working on getting an agent and doing more film stuff.

And then I also, to actually pay the bills, I work for Simpler

Media, which is a podcast production company, run by Evo Terra.

He is my wonderful boss and I do production assistant-y things.

So I schedule episodes.

I edit videos.

I do transcription.

I do some audio editing.

I'm really just any hat that Evo throws at me, I add it to the hat rack.

So yeah, so that's me.

What a hat rack it is.

Thank you!

And I live in Myrtle beach, South Carolina, which was never

a sentence I thought I would say, but here we are, with my incredible

fiance, Paul, who is a doctor.

And I

- Allie Press: OwOW!

OwOW!

And, um, I work in a fundraising role for a social justice organization.

And my real job in life is the, the, uh, proud dad/husband to my pug beagle

mix, Prince Joseph Edward Mercer IV.

He's stunning.

His friends can call him Joey.

So all of you can too.

And I would be remiss if I did not also, I cannot say enough amazing things

about our other amazing, incredible, perfect dog in our life, uh, Samantha.

Samantha is Paul's dog and he did not allow me to give her four names like

I have given Joey, but that does not indicate I'm any less obsessed with her.

So they are my callings in life.

And I guess this podcast now, too.

This podcast is...

Awww, it does feel, this does feel right.

It feels so right.

We should have always had a podcast.

That's right.

We should have.

Although, if we had done it any sooner, like my previous venture at

having a podcast, um, I would have not known what I was doing and now I have

five years of podcast experience under me.

So, well, no promises, but I know more than, than I did last

time I was hosting a podcast.

So there we go.

I'm grateful, I really am grateful for your expertise.

And, um, I'm, I'm gonna jump into this episode summary

right here in a second, Allie.

But, um, I kind of just want to, uh, Allie and I both wanted to

solidify one thing before we start.

And that is just to recognize the context around Buffy, the complicated feelings

that many people, including us, have about what we've learned over the years

about Buffy's creator, Josh Whedon.

We always have, and we always will cherish Buffy for the values and lessons it's

taught us, but we want to be clear that we believe the people who've shared their

experiences of abuse working with Joss.

And we are in solidarity with the brave folks who put their careers

and reputations on the line to call out his abhorrent behavior.

Um, we also know that Buffy, the character, would speak out

against Joss's abuse as well.

We believe strongly that Buffy's legacy is more than one abusive man.

And Allie, I am grateful, and I know that you are grateful too, for the opportunity

to celebrate the show and the impact it's had on us with everybody else.

Absolutely.

I'm so excited.

And yeah, I just want to add, it takes so many people, until you're

on a film set you have no idea how many people go into the creation

of even just one single episode.

It is so much bigger than one insignificant, horrible man.

It's as simple as that.

Yeah, fuck that dude, right?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Okay.

Shall we get into this episode summary?

Yes, let's dive right in.

You start us off, Allie.

I will.

All right.

In "Welcome to the Hellmouth," the first episode of Buffy the Vampire

Slayer, we meet young Buffy Summers, a sophomore entering Sunnydale High

School after getting kicked out from her last school in Los Angeles.

Buffy's mom, Joyce, is determined to make this a fresh start.

Buffy is...

trying to be optimistic.

On her first day, we encounter the friends that will be the main

characters for the seasons to come, including Willow, Xander, Cordelia,

Jesse, and the school librarian, Giles.

As every teenager does, Buffy struggles to fit in while hiding

her secret extracurricular activities, being a Slayer.

You know, like every teenager.

Buffy quickly finds out that not everything will be a fresh

start in Sunnydale as it seems.

Despite her best efforts, she cannot escape her Slayer calling.

We also meet who will surely be the Big Bad of the season, The Master.

And another figure whose motivations remain unknown, introduces themselves

to Buffy as simply "a friend."

This mysterious friend brings tidings of the harvest and, in a bold opening

move, gifts her a big-ass cross.

[Giggle] It is a bold opening move.

The first episode ends with a cliffhanger.

Jesse, Willow, and Xander are fleeing and are met by a pack of vampires

while Buffy is sure to have met her match in a fight with The Master's

key servant, a vampire named Luke.

Man, oh man.

Ahhh!

This first episode of the series!

Ahh!

This is so exciting, Allie!

I know!

So, for those of you watching along with us, uh, I am currently

watching this on Amazon.

Amazon has both Buffy and Angel for free on Amazon Prime.

And come on, I know all of you are get that, getting that

Prime free two-day shipping.

So you can do it, too.

And I love that Amazon includes the little intro that played on the box sets.

The "In each generation, a Slayer is born.

She alone will stand up against the vampires..."

And I was like, Ooh!

And, of course, I was three when this came out, I was watching it live, but I was

three, so I don't remember everything.

So I don't remember if that aired with it, but I don't know.

Maybe it did.

Um...

It's just that nostalgia of that it hits me every time.

It brings me right back.

Ugh, so good.

I'm instantly - Ugh!

I love Buffy so much.

I know, so many, so many marathons in my basement.

Oh my god, the school girl pleated skirt look is back and I am here for it.

You're going to hear me talk a lot about my deep affection for 90s style.

Buffy is styling...

so many of them.

I mean, I mean, Buffy the show is styling.

Like Buffy, like Buffy the character is styling, Cordelia is a style

icon, Xander, he looks good.

Yeah, as I shop on places like Dolls Kill and even Forever

21 these days, what I'm realizing is that what I am trying to do is

to dress like the mean girls in the shows that I grew up watching.

I have no idea what that says about me, uh, tall knee-high

boots, short skirts, sweater sets.

I love how this starts out.

And I think this is, this just, I love that they set the tone so early with this

first scene has us second-guessing thing.

This, this first scene, the who we learn a vampire, who we learn is named

Darla is going through uh, Sunnydale High with this other guy, and we're

led to believe that they're being either followed by something or there's

somebody something creepy happening.

But then it turns out that she's actually a vampire and kills him.

Ha!

Gotcha!

And they got us, the viewers!

Man, didn't see that one coming.

I do love a quick turn.

I do.

I love reversal of expectations.

Juxtaposition.

I love all of that because yeah, it's like, it's her that's the vampire not him.

I think there's a lot of stuff that now I've just come to like take

for granted with Buffy, but it's actually like a pretty big deal.

Like a lot of, a lot of the feminist stuff in here is pretty dope.

Um, I never broke into any places when I was young.

Did you?

Sure did not.

Sure did not.

Are we...

lame?

Yeah.

In terms of our - [Laughter] Like in terms of our extracurriculars?

Yeah!

Yeah, I mean like Anna and Emily, I think, ended up breaking into like

the women's asylum, the old abandoned women's asylum, like in college maybe?

Um, or they were going to, and then they like got into an accident or something

like that, or they were worried that they were going to ruin her sister's car.

And that was just not an okay thing because you don't piss off Lauren.

Uh, so yeah, so basically like my friend group was just, we were not adventurous.

We liked my basement, pizza, and romcoms.

Movie nights.

Yeah.

We were all - movie nights were the move.

Oh yeah.

We had a good time, too.

Yeah.

I mean, I certainly wasn't pining away, like, wishing someone

would invite me to a party.

Like, I was happy.

It's just by other people's standards, yes, we were lame.

Well, what can we do.

Yeah, what can you do?

Um, decades later and this theme still slaps.

[Weird silence] Oh, the theme of Buffy.

The theme song!

[Laughter] The theme of the show.

Ohhh oh oh.

I was like do you disagree?

[More laughter] Diving back into the show.

Uh, this theme song still kicks ass.

Oh, that's so funny.

Yes, it does.

Cannot, cannot agree enough.

That's gonna, I won't note that every episode, but yeah,

just an iconic theme song.

But I will be thinking it in my head every single time.

Absolutely.

Um, I like that, um, we're already seeing, we're already getting a glimpse

into The Master's lair in her nightmare.

It's creepy as hell.

It's creepy.

Yeah.

And that ends up being kind of a big thing of her not being able to escape

her calling when she moves to Sunnydale.

Like, well, she's still clearly being called.

She's still being given these, uh, these nightmares.

And that's actually something that ties into the movie, which is sort

of a prequel, which I still love.

And maybe we'll do that as like a bonus episode at some point?

Cause I, I do love the groundwork that the movie laid, even though there are some

differences as far as like what's canon.

Um, but that the dreams is a big thing.

Before, like when she's getting, when she is being called and before

she like meets Merrick, her first Watcher or whatever, she gets these

dreams that she cannot explain.

Can't run away from who you are, Buffy.

You can't do it.

So sorry.

Nope.

You can try.

Um, everyone on this show can get it.

I mean, everyone.

Yes.

Who is that, who are you thinking specifically of when you wrote that?

Buffy, Xander, Giles, Cordelia, Jesse, Willow.

Yeah, pretty much everybody.

So what I was thinking, I wrote a similar note, what I was thinking

of is even the first time we see Xander on his skateboard and being all cute.

I, yeah, everybody on this show can get it.

Yeah Jesse's super hot.

Yup.

Yup.

Well, and I just, I...

The guy best friend kind of like 90s role, that was absolutely who

I would had a crush on in school.

It is, yeah.

Like it wasn't who everybody would have said, like it

wasn't the captain of the football team, like that kind of guy.

Like, it was the geekier guy who would've been in like probably

the same clubs as me or in band.

And like, I would've been all over Xander Harris.

Got some Teddy bear vibes to 'im.

Mhmm.

And that like middle part, 90s boy hair, all about it.

The middle part is back.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

Some of us are not meant to rock a middle part and that's our cross to bear.

Um, but it is definitely, definitely back.

Um, yeah, you'll notice a lot of 90s girl fashion is back,

but not the guys' baggy pants.

Uh, that is staying in the 90s where it belongs.

Yeah, I love, I love, um, I love the boys, uh, uh, upper wear,

but the baggy pants have got to go.

I don't love them.

Somebody who can stay forever, and I wish did stay forever, is Principal Flutie

because he's, I find him just a gem.

Speaking of Teddy bears.

Aww, Principal Flutie.

Teddy bears, how he offers Buffy that clean slate, rips up

the permanent record, and then tapes it back together when he realizes

why she was - the thought was there.

The thought was there.

Yeah, the intention is absolutely there.

And he just definitely strikes you as that person who is genuinely in

education for the right reasons, which we don't get a lot of.

Um, interesting that Buffy is so in denial of being the Slayer but

she still packed a stake to school.

Can never be too prepared.

Yeah, no, no.

And I do think that maybe speaks to her, like, still her gut instincts of

like, it's just that second nature.

And once you, once you know about these things that go bump in

the night, you can't un-know it.

And we see this, we see this later in this episode, too,

this, um, she does, um, uh, uh, a student's dead body turns up and

she could choose to whatever she's

- Allie Press: Right.

That's not her job.

She's not a cop.

She can't do it though.

She has to go.

Maybe the stake is a similar, I got it.

Like, how can I - can't run away from who you are.

Right.

I think so.

Yeah.

There's definitely that, um, right.

Like you said, she can't, she can't not know, you know?

She may go in and find that it was, whatever, he had a

heart attack or whatever.

But, of course, he didn't cause this is Sunnydale.

Um, you never, this was an observation I had watching this, I'm watching her sit

down next, next to Cordelia in class.

You never stay friends with the first friends you make.

That's so true.

I just, that's something I learned after years

of going to summer camp of like...

cause on that first day, you're really just going with

like I need to not be alone.

So I'm going to sit next to you and we're gonna be friends and

cause I need somebody to talk to.

But that's not who you actually end up bonding with and who you're

still writing to after camp.

Or same thing happened in college with like the friends I made freshman year.

I could tell that they were not my forever friends.

And it's just, it's interesting the way that that works out.

I don't know if you've ever had this experience, Allie, but I remember

especially very vividly when I went to college, it was that same, very strange

for me being at college because I had had, so my, my, our friend group, we had

been friends since elementary school.

Elementary through, through high school.

So being in college, already strange, but then maybe even stranger cause I

hadn't had to make friends in a long time and I remember this vivid experience

I had just finished up a conversation.

It was, it was like one of those we all like sat and ate together or something.

It was like a don't eat alone kind of thing.

And I remember they walked away and I was like, are they going to be my

friends for the next four - oh god, this is going to be a long four years.

I had a very similar moment when we were sitting

in our freshman common room.

I think we all had our laptops out like doing work and stuff.

And they were chitchatting about whatever.

And I remember looking around and going, yeah, this isn't it.

These aren't them.

These aren't them.

Uh, yeah, there, it was just nothing in common.

They were very much

- Nick Mercer: Really trying to force it.

Really trying to force it, and it was - as far as

freshman year went, it was fine.

We had a great time.

Took a hard turn sophomore year.

You lived in Residence Hall?

Yes, freshman year?

Yeah, right?

Res Tower?

Res Tower!

Res Tower, Res Tower.

Yeah, that was, I remember.

Res Tower, which got a facelift.

Lucky it.

It doesn't look so sad and prison-like anymore.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Did give prison vibes.

Yeah.

Well, to anybody listening who's going through a transition right

now, you'll end up with the friends you're supposed to end up with.

Both Allie and I made friends in college.

It'll be fine.

You got this.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And you do have to take some, take some chances.

You have to, you do have to get out there, because friends will

not just knock on your dorm room.

Just saying.

Uh, okay.

Back to the show.

Giles's face when he pulls out the Vampyr book, he's just like so excited.

He's like a puppy, like his eyes light up.

And he's like, oh, uh, oh, well, I guess, guess not.

Guess I was mistaken.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That, Buffy books it as soon as, books it after she sees the book - haaa,

I didn't even mean to do that.

Buffy departs quickly when she's confronted with more evidence of

the fact that she's the Slayer.

Yeah.

And I think she's just so thrown off guard.

Cause she's just going to get her...

bio 101 textbook or whatever and that's what's thrown, what's thrown in her face.

I can, I can imagine being a little thrown off.

Um, that brings us to a great Willow quote when Buffy goes

up to talk to her and she goes

- Nick Mercer: [Gasp] I was

We're on the same wavelength.

Yeah!

"Why?

I mean, hi."

Such a mood.

I, I love, um, "Aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"

"Can't I do both?"

"Not legally."

I love, I love 90s speak.

as Cordelia comes in and Buffy asks about the body in the locker

room, she goes, "Morbid much.

I didn't ask."

[Laughing] Oh god, Cordelia has so many.

And then we get it - yeah, she is just the queen of quotes.

She's so quotable.

Um, then we get a really nice moment of show, don't tell of Buffy's Slayer

strength when she's going into the gym and the gym door's locked and she

just gives it a little extra oomph and like breaks off the whole handle.

And we're like, oh, okay, cool.

Super strength.

Like we didn't need some big expository thing.

Um, this is one of the things that confirms my like Buffy is an

amazing show knowledge of like, okay, yeah, it's excellent writing.

They do a lot of show, don't tell.

Um, that's a really great introduction to all of these characters, like I

said, without doing some big info dump.

And I feel like, too, the way they showed it not, but by, by

telling the audience would have gotten the full context of everything, maybe.

But by showing, we just get a little taste.

And oh man, if you thought that show of strength was impressive,

just wait till you see it.

It leaves us wanting more.

Absolutely.

Which is interesting.

Absolutely.

And it shows us where...

gives us room to grow.

Okay, yeah, right now she can snap off handles and stuff like that.

And you know, we see her do far more impressive feats later on.

Um, another great quote from, from Buffy.

"Gee, can you vague that up for me?"

Oh, she's so sassy.

It's so good.

Um, what, what do we think of this moment where she's just, uh,

flipped out at Giles, I don't want to do this, whatever, walks away.

Turns out, Xander's heard the whole thing.

So cool.

Uh, yeah, and such a really important thing because I don't know if he would

have gotten involved with the whole events that happen after The Bronze.

Like, I don't know if he would have even been out at The Bronze that night.

Cause he went to go - Well, I mean, maybe he would have.

Maybe he would've.

But like it's clear he like went to go find Buffy to ask her about this.

And, um, and when he's going to The Bronze, like he

happens to, well, we'll get into it.

I don't think that if he, I think you're right, though.

We'll get, I don't think, I don't think he would've continued to be

involved if he hadn't overheard that.

I haven't thought about that until now, Allie!

You're right!

Well, because he also, he opens the door because Buffy

never would have told him on her own.

She's like, well, he already suspects and I have to go save Willow from

a vampire right now anyway, so I guess like, yeah, it's true.

But she wouldn't have told him if he didn't already know.

And she would, and Willow meets actual vampires, which is why she believes

Buffy when she says that she's a Slayer.

Because they now have tangible proof, but she didn't have to go

through that part of like, do I tell my best friend if I'm the Slayer?

It's like, well, she didn't have a choice.

Right, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He found out.

Um, do, uh, so on the way to The Bronze we meet the sexy, mysterious, a

stranger whose name we don't know yet.

Played by the gorgeous David Boreanaz.

I know.

I feel like there's a whole section of people who grew up knowing him

as Booth from Bones and I'm like ha!

Booth.

Yeah, nah, that's Angel.

Although he is, he is also smoking hot as Booth as well.

Yeah, he's really good on that show too.

Um, shout out to David Boreanaz for helping me figure out my sexuality.

Really appreciate it.

Really appreciate it.

Yes, agreed.

We both Thank you for that.

Um, oh, before we got to Angel, who the fuck is the old

beardy guy lurking behind Luke?

He's not in vamp mode, is he?!

Yeah, there's like this one random guy in the lair

of The Master who's behind Luke in this shot and he's just this weird

beardy dude, just, I don't know.

And I, I swear it is either in that scene or

in a later scene in the lair.

I can't, maybe I have to go back and confirm, but I swear that I saw

another vampire walk in also in - well, presumably vampire - in human face,

too, and it just felt sacriligious.

It was like, you are around, you are in the lair.

You gotta be in vamp mode here.

Come on, man.

What are you doing?

Right.

So odd.

It was just something that it's like the epitome of like noticing

something you never noticed before.

Like I've seen this episode a million times.

I had never noticed weird beardy dude behind Luke.

What a creepy lair though, right?

Yeah.

Oh, epic, epic.

So cool.

All the candles.

You would need a whole cadre of vampire minions just to

keep all those candles lit.

That's a treacherous job for vampire, too.

Absolutely.

Um, so moving back to Angel, I have, I have a note, "Angel,

why are you like this?"

Like, in modern context, it is definitely weirder having him

come up, be super vague, and...

Super cryptic.

Super cryptic, and, but also like kind of weird when she's like, whoa.

Yeah.

What do I want?

He's like, "To hill 'em.

To kill 'em all."

And you're like, what?

Who, who raised you?

Why are, like, why don't you come here, like, first of all,

surprising a young woman in an alley?

What is wrong with you?

After following her, following her first.

He's crept up on a young woman in an alley.

Although, I love the pole move she does where she's doing

a handstand on the pole and then swings down and kicks him in the back.

Bad.

Ass.

Love that moment.

Homegirl's a gymnast on top of everything else.

Hell yeah.

So, super cool.

Love that.

But yeah, it was just like, it's definitely diff - cause I was like three

when I was first watching this show.

So I was just like stars in my eyes at this brooding, bad boy kind of thing.

I was totally all over that.

But definitely now, now knowing and having dated, and I'm just

like, that's, that's weird.

It's a weird choice, dude.

And you're not young.

That, that question that you posed at the beginning, "why

are you like this" is a good one.

It really is.

Um, isn't that just, I, I feel like, I feel like that's such a, I don't know

if it's still a trope in TV, certainly in the 90s, where it'll be like so much

of this could have been, uh, so, so much of what these characters go through, if

they had just talked a little more, if they just communicated a little better.

Right, I think we're starting, very slowly,

starting to get away from that.

There are newer shows where people actually like communicate, um, or they

eventually fess up to their thing.

And I think that's so much better writing.

Um, cause it's just, after a while I get that there's not, some people who

don't tell the truth or they, like, they don't tell all their secrets or whatever.

But like most people do.

Most people communicate.

And I think it's, at the end of the day, it ends up being lazy writing.

I think it works for Angel because it slowly gives us like who he

is and he is meant to be this brooding, mysterious, hunky guy.

Like that's his role.

Um, and Buffy doesn't do a ton of that, like, secret identity stuff.

There's not, there's not a ton of it.

It's not obnoxious.

No, they use that tool sparingly and I appreciate that.

They don't Clark and Lana it.

A li'l Smallville reference for, for the rest of the, uh, hot 90s guys fans.

Hot 90s guy indeed.

I'm going to my next note.

Allie, you go.

Okay.

Uh, well I have just a quick, oh my god, going to a club alone.

I, she's brave.

Like, beyond Slayer bravery, just going to a club alone.

Have you not had that experience where you walk in and you

wave to somebody or somebody waves to you and you wave back and it turns out

that they actually weren't waving at you?

Of course I have.

I, I am a human who has lived on this planet for more than ten years.

Yes.

I've had that experience.

It's the worst.

It's awful.

Sometimes I think about times I've done that right as I'm falling asleep.

Do you have that?

Do you think about embarrassing things you've done right before you fall asleep?

Course I do!

Yeah.

Or, or, or I'm just like, while I'm driving or it's not, it's not usually

like before I'm falling asleep, but it's at random points in my day.

And you want to just like, shake your head like an Etch-a-Sketch cause you're

like, why would I think about that?

There's nothing I can do about it.

I have to swerve off the road now.

This is how it ends.

This is how it has to end.

I can't do it.

I have to stab my eyes so that I can think about something else.

Oh, "stab my eye," that's a good reference to an episode of Angel,

which maybe we'll discuss at some point.

Um, so this does bring us to one of my all-time favorite

quotes, "Seize the moment, because tomorrow you might be dead."

Ah, that's so good.

She's giving advice to Willow.

Come on Willow.

Just talk to the talk, talk to boys, talk to a boy.

You can do it.

Seize the moment, you might be dead.

Yeah, but then she does seize the moment and it ends up being a vampire.

So...

And then it ends up being a vampire.

So that's what we get for being, for being brave.

That's what we get.

So stay at home, eat pizza, watch movies, and you won't end up in a mausoleum.

I think it's so funny and I wonder, this is a question for you.

Okay.

Buffy...

Giles, who is also at The Bronze implores Buffy to use her senses,

detect a vampire, and she's like, boom, got 'em, right there.

It's the clothes.

It's gotta be the clothes.

I love that moment.

"You look like DeBarge."

I think, I think she is using Slayer powers, though.

I think that, I think there's, um, his clothes do give it away, but

I think she's also being humble.

I think it's a bit of both.

I think, or a bit of all of it.

Yeah.

I see her being like kind of flippant.

Um, cause again, just this kind of like, who are you to tell me what to do?

You don't know anything about me.

Um, he may know about her last Watcher died, but he may not.

I think that is a lot of why she's reluctant.

I think, because I'm choosing to keep that as canon from the

movie of her first Watcher dying.

Um, so yeah, but I do think she probably has kind of a Slayer

sense, Spidey Sense type thing.

But I do think it is part of her unique power as what makes her

particular version of a Slayer is her noticing his fashion choice.

Like that's maybe her Buffy Summers brand of Slayer power because

that's her deductive reasoning.

She's smart.

It's a Slayer ability in and of itself, isn't it?

Yeah.

Like her intelligence level and her particular, um, attention to detail and

that kind of thing, I can see that as, just as, as being a power, because I think

maybe a lot of people would have maybe not like think of it as the height of fashion,

but noticing just how out of date it is.

"It's carbon dated."

"It's carbon dated."

That's good.

Yeah.

And we do see time and time again, examples, and we'll talk about this

in later episodes, but we see examples lots of times just how smart Buffy is.

Not to be underestimated.

Um, this next mini scene.

So, so vampire is escorting Willow out and Buffy

- Allie Press: Oh wait, right before that,

cause she thinks he's a friend of Giles'.

She says, "Gorgeous...

in an annoying sort of way."

I love that.

Cause there are some people who are just so gorgeous

you're like now I'm pissed off.

Like you're, you're so pretty now I'm angry.

And, uh, I, this, this feeling that she's getting at this

like forbidden kind of love thing is going to be a theme that comes up.

Mhmmm.

Yup.

Recurring theme.

Um, this, this scene with Cordelia is iconic.

"I mean, nobody cool has Epstein-Barr anymore."

As if there were cool and not cool diseases, I'm talking about

what her mom has or doesn't have.

"At least chronic fatigue syndrome."

Um, I love when, um, when Buffy's looking for Willow and

she like low-key assaults Cordelia.

"What is your emotional trauma?!"

"Your childhood trauma."

Oh, amazing.

And then, of course, the follow-up to that, "Excuse me.

I have to call everyone I've ever met right now."

I say that now.

That is a phrase from Buffy, and there's a lot of phrases from Buffy that I have

stolen and use in my everyday language.

This is one of them.

"Excuse me.

I have to call everyone I've ever met right now."

I used it this week.

I used it this week.

Somebody sent me a funny video through text message and I responded back to him.

I said, "Hang on.

I have to forward this to every person in my phone."

I love that.

Buffy has woven her way into our lives in so many, so many ways that I probably

don't even notice on a daily basis.

And we are blessed for it, aren't we?

For sure.

I mean, I wrote a college, my, one of my college essays

on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So.

That's incredible.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

I also, um, my final, my history final senior year of high school.

Um, I had done all of the math, the grade math to know like what

I needed to get on my final.

And it was like I could fart and pass.

So I decided, rather than writing about Vietnam, which we'd only had like a

week of classes on, I decided I would write about The Battle of Sunnydale.

Uh, which I will talk about, I guess, in more depth in three seasons.

But yeah, so that's, uh, if you want to know just an example of what a nerd I am.

I, and I think I got a C on it.

I was going to ask, what grade did you end up getting?

Did they give you any, any kind of gimme points or whatever?

You had to have.

That's impressive.

I think I got a C, which is impressive because I didn't

write on the topic at all, which means it should have been an F.

I should have gotten a zero.

If I got a C, that means I got points.

So that means he gave

- Nick Mercer: You made a compelling case.

I must have.

Um, it was well-written, as well.

So what class, tell me about this essay in college.

This sounds interesting.

Um, so it was about the influence of Buffy

as a role model on my choices.

Wow.

Yeah.

So in season four, she has a quote, " Fortune favors the brave."

I know some people say bold.

She says brave, which means that's what's correct.

Uh, and that became a motto for my life.

Um, taking, taking chances and being, being brave, being bold, uh,

and despite of, you know, nerves or not being sure if I was good enough

or, and those kinds of things.

Allie, you're being brave right now.

You're in, you're in Los Angeles.

Yes, I am!

By myself!

For a month.

For a whole month.

That was brave.

Thank you!

I, I forget that sometimes, and sometimes I need to be reminded.

Well, I'm here, Buffy's here to remind you.

I love you.

Fortune favors the brave.

I love you, too.

Goddammit.

Anyways.

Anyways.

So I, just, another shout out to The Master as an excellent villain.

Scary, not ridiculous.

Just like subtle.

And yeah, I just, and he looks great.

Like for practical, non CGI, old school effects, he looks fantastic.

He's suave, too.

He's a suave kinda, which makes him scarier in a lot of ways.

Absolutely.

Also, what's scarier is how much blood you have to drink to

permanently stain your mouth.

I, for sure, as a child watching this, I thought

his lips were just chapped.

[Laughing]

Dude's drank a lot of blood in his time, didn't he?

Yeah, I think so.

I think it was the blood.

I think that is

- Nick Mercer: Do you

I think we're meant to interpret it as such.

Come on, it could be dry down there.

You don't know.

Uh, it could be both.

Sure.

I don't know, I love, I love the picture of like Luke pulling out some

CarMex or like some Vaseline for him.

Do you need some Burt's Bees?

Actually no cause he emerges out of that, like pool of blood.

He's, he's hella hydrated.

That's a very, yeah.

Blood is, I guess, very hydrating.

It is very hydrating.

Yeah, maybe, maybe it's the blood.

Maybe you're right, Allie.

Yeah.

I can't remember who said this, but...

oh!

Oh, oh, oh.

So the guy who looks like DeBarge who's with Willow, the vampire who

takes Willow and they're walking through the cemetery, he says,

"Come on, what are you afraid of?"

And my thought was, "Uuuuhhh, you?

The white male?"

[Laughter] Yeah the, yeah the white dude who, good idea,

that, walking me through a cemetery.

Yeah, it's a shortcut.

What are you - Don't Gaslight me.

"What am I afraid of?"

There's tons to be afraid of here!

When he wants to go, okay, I can see cutting

through the cemetery, whatever.

Maybe it's a shortcut.

But then like sidetracking into the mausoleum?

No, I mean, neither of us would do that as we've already established.

We did not do crazy things and felonies or anything like breaking in places.

Absolutely not.

No, thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hard pass.

Um, I like when Willow establishes some boundaries here.

I love a good boundary.

She says, "That wasn't funny."

It wasn't funny.

Yup, call him out.

Call him out.

Yeah.

And she, she says she wants to go home.

She's like I don't like this.

I want to go home.

Atta girl.

We love to see it, Willow.

Love to see it.

Yes, leading by example.

Um, love the quip once Buffy comes in and is, and is fighting the vampires.

I love the quips.

Love a quip and it's something that the show ends up being famous

for her, her quips while fighting.

Yeah, the, the little, the Slayer vibes.

That's one of my favorite quotes from this episode.

"Well, this is nice.

It's a little bare, but a dash of paint, a few throat pillows, call it a home."

And that's sort of foreshadowing to someone who does

end up putting some throw pillows and a sound system and living out of a

- Nick Mercer: Fridge.

Yeah, fridge.

Yup.

Recliner.

Clearly found, he must have lots of extension cords, but yeah!

A recliner.

Yup.

Yup yup yup.

I wonder who that utility bill goes to.

Whatever.

I won't think about it.

He doesn't care.

Oh, well it goes to the city or whoever, whatever's in control of, because

I assume it's the cemetery's power.

So whether it's a government, a city-funded, uh, or a private cemetery.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's true.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I guess the cemetery owners are just like...

okay, boom question answered.

Where is all of this electricity going?

How is...

these dead people...

I dunno...what's going on...

Um, another Slayer vibe from this episode that I love,

um, she's baiting the vampires.

And she goes, she's like, are you sure you want to fight?

"Now, this is not going to be pretty.

We're talking about violence, strong language, adult content."

She stakes somebody and goes, "See what happens when you rough house?"

Man, don't pick a fight with somebody who's making fun of you while

you're thinking about fighting them.

It's not gonna go well.

Absolutely.

Cause it does speak to, like, their confidence.

You're like, how are they this confident that they're able, like they're not

expending enough energy fighting me.

They also have energy to quip.

So it's like, yeah, that's how you know you're outmatched.

I'm so little of a threat to this person that they are sassing me

while I'm getting ready to fight them.

Like yikes.

That's humbling.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

The last note that I have for this episode is Buffy starts at, oh, such a really

great place of like clearly capable, clearly strong, but, as we'll see when

Luke comes in, lots of room to grow.

Like, we can still see her newness.

Whereas, you know, she has been slaying for probably, I don't know, six months?

A year?

Um, about that if she was called towards the beginning of freshman year.

But she still has a ways to go and has a lot to learn, which is pretty cool.

Yeah.

It, they do a really good job of, um, setting kind of the bounds

of her power right at first.

It leaves us wanting more.

And, and, uh, she's not the only character who we're going to see

substantially grow in their power.

Absolutely true.

And unexpected, too.

I, definitely not something I would have called.

Yeah, for sure not.

Um, okay.

Each episode, we're going to talk about some sort of moral, some sort of themes,

some sort of, you know, what have you.

Um, I would, I would submit for this one, this idea that we talked about already,

that you can't run away from who you are.

In a couple of different senses, right?

Absolutely.

Buffy can't, Buffy, the dreams are going to keep coming to

Buffy whether she wants them or not.

The vampire, mystical forces are going to keep finding her.

But also she, she has an inner drive to, she goes to look at the dead student

to see if her fears were confirmed.

And she puts herself in great danger to go rescue her new friend.

Um, can't run away from who you are, can you?

Yeah!

And I also think there's sort of, yeah, she can't run away from who she is as

much as she is trying, as much as she is really trying to get back to where

she was pre-Slaying in her old school, where she was one of the popular girls.

She was a cheerleader.

So she wants to be friends with Cordelia off the bat cause she's cool.

She wants to be fashionable.

You know, she struggles over her outfit for the first day

and for The Bronze and stuff.

So you can see her trying to go back to that like popular girl life.

But then you see her face when Cordelia is a bitch to Willow.

Where, you can just see that, like the dust has been rubbed out of her eyes.

You know?

And she cannot go back to that ignorance of, you know, popular girl mentality.

Things are deeper than that.

She, she knows that there are bigger things to do than your

hair on a Saturday night.

So as much as she wants to, she can't deny what she now

knows, this new aspect of her.

Oh, that reminds me of that musical Children of Eden.

Have you ever listened to it, Allie?

I saw a show with you...

at Glenelg Country.

We did see that together!

Oh, that was one of my favorite productions of it, too.

One of the, one of the characters in it, Eve, it follows kind of

loosely the story of Adam and Eve, and Eve eats the apple or whatever.

And also the Garden of Eden is misogynistic as fuck.

Why are you putting all the blame on the - whatever.

It's fine.

Anyways.

Um, oh God in the, um, musical asks Eve, "If you could take it back, would you?"

And she says, I don't want to feel this pain, but no, I wouldn't go back.

And it's kind of like, I'm hearing kind of a similar thing there with Buffy.

It's like she is, what, what do you do?

Like, like you say, she knows what goes bump in the night now.

She can't turn back and it's both in her slaying life, but also just her

as a person who cares about people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She, she grew whether she wanted to or not.

Hmm.

Hmm.

Um, what are your final thoughts about this episode, Allie?

I think it is an excellent pilot episode.

I think it gives us such a great first introduction into all of these characters.

And I, again, I can't say it enough, all of the, the show, don't tell.

You know, just by the way that people talk to each other, you know, we can

tell that Jesse, Xander, and Willow have been friends for a very, very long time.

Probably since elementary school.

Like us.

Um, and they didn't have to say that.

You know, they didn't have to say like, oh, we've been lifelong friends.

Like, no, we, we get that.

And even in just little things, like we know that Giles is new because when

Buffy talks about the librarian to Willow and she's like, oh yeah, he's new.

He seems so cool.

And she's like, oh, he's new?

And it's just like a little, they drop little bits of information,

um, that I think has created just such a great foundation.

I think it's cool, too, how the characters are so

established in their little quirks and everything right from the start.

Like, it really feels like the characters that we see, like by the end of the

second season, for example, they've grown, but Cordelia is still a bitch.

Right, they're still them.

They go, they, they do shift and change with the things that happen to them.

Um, but it's not in the same way that like, like if you look at the

beginning of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the first couple episodes, Rosa is not the

same as she is in the fifth, sixth, seventh episodes of the first season.

You can tell that they were still figuring out that character and

they were still making changes and stuff, and there wasn't quite what

she was going to be the whole time.

No, these are the characters.

They're fully fledged.

They are three-dimensional.

Did, um, do you know, was, were these the

breakout roles for these actors?

Yeah.

Um, yeah, I'm pretty pretty sure.

Man, they got a couple of winners.

Oh, I love this show so much.

Yeah.

And it's interesting, Charisma Carpenter who played Cordelia actually

initially auditioned for Buffy.

I think I did know that.

I think you told me that before.

That's so interesting.

I probably did.

I used to come back from conventions with all sorts of information.

Do you think...

yeah, what if, no, no.

It's gotta be Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Gotta be Sarah Michelle Gellar.

There's no, I can't see those characters as - Can you imagine,

can you imagine a Willow-type Buffy?

No, of course not.

Can't do it.

No.

Can you, it's gotta be Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I can't, I really can't imagine anybody else as - I mean, and also

seeing her seven seasons and comic books and all that, it's very hard to

see anybody else playing Buffy Summers.

I could see other Slayers, but anyone else as Buffy Summers?

Just can't.

Can't do it.

Gotta be Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Do wanna close us out, Allie?

I will.

I think that about does it for this episode.

Thank you so much for joining us and we hope you'll join us again for our

next episode when we'll discuss season one, episode two, "The Harvest."

And if you are just too excited to wait until our

next episode to chat, send us an email at tabularasabpod@gmail.com.

And you can also say hello to us on Twitter, Instagram, or

Facebook at @tabularasabpod.

Allie.

Yes.

You, I do not have a social media presence.

You do.

Where can people find you on social media?

Well, Nick, you can find me on Instagram and Twitter

@Daughterpick, DAU-GHT-ER-PICK.

And @futureblackcat on TikTok.

That's spelled how it sounds.

And then if you would like to support my journey as a young artist, you can head

over to BuyMeACoffee.com/AlliePress, A-L-L-I-E P-R-E-S-S.

That would be much appreciated.

Yeah, great content from it, too.

You're a great writer, Allie.

Awww, thank you!

And I get some weekly, Not-So-Weekly Updates

from you that I love reading.

I appreciate that.

I do.

I share, on the Buy Me A Coffee you also get Not-So-Weekly Updates, which are

what they sound like, update on, you know, auditions and gigs and life stuff.

And if you're into that kind of thing, head on over there.

How bout that.

How about that.

Well, Allie, our friends, all of these social media handles

are going to be in the description.

Hit us up.

And Allie, I can't wait to talk with you again very, very soon.

Me too.

I love you.

Until then

- Nick Mercer: Love yooouuu.

Make good choices!

Bye!

[Outro Music begins fading in]

Byeee!

Tabula Rasa, B!tches!

is hosted by Allie Press and Nick Mercer with music by InflatonCult,

artwork by Charlotte Fleming Design, and consultation by Evo Terra.