The Cleveland Hellmouth

In this episode!

Cleveland Hellmouth listeners–wow, this one is tough. It is so dark, and Mark wonders if it needs a trigger warning…

(Mark here: just so you know, we talk about rape in this episode.)

• Katherine tells Mark that this episode epitomizes Whedon’s stance that “high school is hell.”
• Katherine and Mark talk about bullies and packs.
• Mark says there’s no such thing as verbal abuse that doesn’t hurt.
• Mark asks, Did the possession bring out the bad in Xander or did it make him bad?
• Katherine shares some important rules of the Buffyverse: Never kill a human, and Vampires aren’t human. But what makes the death of the zookeeper OK?
• Another important rule that bears remembering for those new to the show–you are never at fault if you are possessed. It will not be held against you.
• Katherine does a shout out to The Art of Slaying, another favorite podcast.
• Katherine says, remember this line from Xander: “Buffy, you like your men dangerous.” This will have ramifications.
• Mark notices that a favorite Whedon tactic is to say something funny and then have something horrible happen. Is Mark getting cynical?

Resources: The Art of Slaying podcast. One caveat: it is a great podcast, but the podcasters presume you’ve seen the episodes. Countless spoilers throughout.